Sereriputa has been speaking nonchalantly without any emotions until now, but suddenly, his face became serious.
“I’ve been talking about my conjectures until now, but I want to make one thing clear. Ryouma-kun isn’t a bad person.” [Sereriputa]
“We know that perfectly well without you having to point it out.” [Kirillel]
“In the first place, we wouldn’t have taken him to this world if he were a bad person.” [Rurutia]
“Indeed. But in that regard, the Earth God seems to have done a poor job? What do you think, Fernoberia?” [Gayn]
“I agree. If he really wanted to, he could have created a human that could do exactly what he wanted. He could have even decided his fate for him.” [Fernoberia]
“But if he did it that way it wouldn’t be as interesting. After all, if a god were to empower someone without reserve, the answer would be obvious. So what the Earth God did instead was to give only the talents needed and prepare a suitable environment. By doing things in such a roundabout way, an element of randomness could be introduced, and not even the Earth God himself would know what the end result would be. And I’m sure he must’ve also tuned things to make sure that things didn’t escalate too much past human limits.” [Sereriputa]
“…I see. So you could also look at it that way.” [Fernoberia]
“This whole thing is making me sick… Damn it…” [Kufo]
“But it was precisely because Ryouma was ‘toyed’ with like that that he lived his whole life practicing self-restraint. It was by exhibiting self-restraint beyond that of the Earth God’s expectations and resisting the temptations that ever whispered by his ears that he was able to increase his resistance against mind control abilities to such high levels. So much so in fact that the simulation broke.
Thanks to that there are many traces of the Earth God’s attempt at bestowing him talents and trying to lead him astray. The earth god was being really hardhanded with manipulating Ryouma’s fate. It wasn’t just once or twice that Ryouma’s soul was fiddled with.” [Sereriputa]
“So that’s the reason behind his ability to resist…” [Willieris]
“Well, the person himself knew absolutely nothing about the god’s situation and just lived his life without knowing anything, though.” [Sereriputa]
Sereriputa said in response to Willieris’ mutterings. And then Grimp, who was sitting beside her, spoke in agreement.
“So that’s why you said something like that.” [Grimp]
“Ah…. Are you really going to mention that here, Grimp?” [Sereriputa]
Sereriputa has been aloof all this time, but upon hearing Grimp say that, his expression suddenly twisted.
It was as if Grimp knew something he didn’t want him to say, rousing the interest of the other gods.
“‘I pray that you are able to become truly happy. It’ll get noisy around you in the near future, so do your best. Enjoy your peaceful life at the village until then. If you ever find it too hard to live, you can come to my place…’
I think I got it right. It was so unlike you to say something like that, so it stayed on my mind.” [Grimp]
“Sigh… I’m sure he must’ve really wanted to take his anger out on someone in his past life. There was probably a lot of times he thought just that. After all, there were so many reasons he could have killed someone. But despite that he never killed anyone and never committed a crime… Even if his actions were really nothing more than hypocrisy, even if he knew nothing about the Earth God’s doings, he stuck to his principles until the very end.
It would have been one thing had he lived a normal human’s life, but to resist the temptations of a god while being a mere human… That’s more than enough to earn my respect.” [Sereriputa]
“When you put it that way, it is pretty amazing.” [Grimp]
“Even if the Earth God was just playing around, a weak will couldn’t have possibly endured his toying.” [Kufo]
“It’s frustrating, but the Earth God is also higher ranked than us…” [Tekun]
“Well, fortunately his soul ended up here. The Earth God shouldn’t be able to mess with him anymore… But his ‘personality’ which is a product of all those decades of abuse has remained, so I’m still worried.” [Sereriputa]
Sereriputa’s expression twisted.
“Just like how children who are told by their parents and those around them that they’re ‘bad children’ end up really thinking they’re ‘bad children’, the Earth God’s games have drastically affected Ryouma’s personality, causing it to become twisted.
Of course, there are children who are able to have a firm grasp of their ‘identity’ and live with confidence despite being told by their parents and those around them that they’re bad, and Ryouma has indeed managed to pick himself up despite the Earth God’s abuse; however, the self-restraint that he gained in order to resist the ‘temptation to commit crime’ is too strong.” [Sereriputa]
“Hmm? Wait a minute. Was Ryouma that kind of guy? Hasn’t he taken up bandit subjugation jobs?” [Tekun]
“Yes. That part actually makes it a bit more complicated, but basically, his attitude concerning the bandits is just him adapting to the laws of the country. He’s just properly adhering to the laws. He won’t kill needlessly, but he doesn’t have much reluctance when it comes to killing as long as it’s out of necessity – and that could be either for self-defense or to feed himself.
But that part about ‘not having much reluctance to kill’, and you know how he also has a tendency to go too far? He himself isn’t ‘aware ‘ of it, but he can already instinctively feel the danger of the talent sleeping inside him. And he blames it on himself under the guise of ‘his immaturity’.” [Sereriputa]
“Ah!?” [Kufo]
“What’s the matter, Kufo?” [Gayn]
“No, I just remembered. Didn’t Ryouma leave the duke’s family and suddenly started training himself because he beat up some ruffians at the mines?” [Kufo]
“Oh, my. Now that you mention it, that is the case.” [Rurutia]
“I remember too. But weren’t those bandits in the wrong? If I recall correctly, they were a group of no good adventurers and were threatening some kids so they could keep their profits for themselves. They also tried to threaten Ryouma.” [Tekun]