Mythology: Ragnarok

Chapter 338 A clear conscience

“Because I wanted to come here to experience the purest joy, this atmosphere is very comforting.” Agreed said, pointing to the children on the playground, his eyes full of affection.

"Pure happiness? Your understanding is quite unique."

Agreed explained, "Happiness is actually very simple. In a sense, it can be understood as a kind of foolishness. To be happy, you just need to be silly. If you think about it carefully, the happiest time of our lives is when we are children. At that time, we don't understand anything and we can't do anything. We don't care about other people's opinions and we don't have any extra considerations. Even if we make a fool of ourselves, we can still laugh out loud with our friends. So we are happy at that time, and our feelings are pure."

Joy stems from simplicity, and simplicity is sometimes called foolishness. But actually, it's good to be foolish sometimes in life. By your standards, I've lived for over five thousand years, my friends. I can no longer laugh. Reason and experience have brought me wisdom, but also pain. I believe no one understands this better than me. I can no longer cry, nor feel the joy of yesteryear, because everything is as I expected. All I can feel about this is helplessness and loss... and perhaps anger.

Therefore, I think the true meaning of my creation of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Races is perhaps simply that I wanted my people to truly feel joy and the meaning of life while they were still young enough to laugh. Seeing their smiles gives me an indescribable joy. I like seeing them enjoy their lives; it makes me feel that I am at least a competent emperor.

At this point, Agreed suddenly changed the subject and cried out in self-reproach, "But I have failed the title of Emperor. I have caused them harm that they should not have suffered. I have failed to manage my henchmen. It is all my fault. I have failed my people. Although I have made the media publish my apology to my people and I have provided financial compensation to all the affected families, it still cannot change the facts."

I'm sorry, my friend. I am ultimately just a god, not a perfect being. There are so many things I cannot do. The only thing I can do is try my best to prevent these things from happening again.

Xuan Yuan Mu Ze looked at Agreed and felt a pang of heartache for some reason, so he comforted him, "It's not entirely your fault. Nobody wanted this to happen."

Agreed handed a document to Xuanyuan Muze and said, "No, I could have prevented all of this from happening, but I was too lenient with the officials of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Races. This incident has exhausted my remaining patience and trust in them. From now on, the new official system will be reinstated."

From now on, every high-ranking official will be subject to a soul search by the spirits of the dead at the beginning of each year to ensure that no illegal acts or abuse of power have occurred. Once discovered, they will be severely punished. From today onwards, officials of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Races will no longer have the right to privacy of their thoughts. All their thoughts must be transparent and open to the public. However, we have made some adjustments to the definition and punishment of the degree of crime, which can be regarded as leaving them a way out.

With the promulgation of the new regulations, the salaries of all officials, especially those in the Ministry of Education, will increase by half, and their benefits will also be adjusted. This time, the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Races will not give officials any more opportunities.

Xuanyuan Muze read the document through the translation software of the nano-armor. The terms were very clear, yet they left the officials speechless. Their salaries had been increased, which was like being hit with a stick and then given a pile of money. The officials couldn't complain after being hit, otherwise they would be seen as pretentious by the uninformed masses. Agred's methods were very clever; he wanted to make those people suffer in silence. Originally, officials in the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Races only had responsibilities and no status. This completely blocked the possibility of officials causing trouble, making them live under the dual surveillance of their behavior and thoughts for the rest of their lives.

Xuanyuan Muze slowly put down the document and said, "Is it really necessary to do this? It's just a very small incident, why introduce such a policy?"

Argreed sat down next to Xuanyuan Muze, closed his eyes, and said, "A thousand-mile dike can be breached by an ant hole, and a wonder of ten thousand years can be destroyed by wind and sand."

I was terrified of my friend. That very night, I had a nightmare in which my people lived a hellish life. They toiled from dawn till dusk every day and still couldn't meet their daily needs. In this hell, even having children was a luxury. A minority of people, lacking talent and morality, constantly exploited and squeezed the resources of the entire race, forcing countless people to live like dogs, groveling and subservient. Those with the talent to change the future ultimately faded into obscurity. This extreme distribution of resources not only failed to allow the race to develop but also completely locked up everyone's future.

Those beasts, in order to maintain their rule, constantly destroy their free will with a childish and intellectually insulting culture. As a result, my people have become ignorant and foolish. They arrogantly believe that they are the protagonists of this world and are not enterprising. In the end, lies have made them weak, and weakness is the cause of all tragedies in the multiverse.

Ultimately, my people were invaded by foreign tribes. They were trampled underfoot, and massacre after massacre was staged in my country, but I was powerless to stop it. This is terrible, my friend. I must not let the country of all races become like this. I must lead this country forward at all costs and nip all possible dangers in the bud!

That's how civilization works; stopping means death. If you're not ruthless enough, your enemies will trample you underfoot. You'll understand what I mean when you truly see the universe.

Xuanyuan Muze fell silent. He understood that Agreed's idea was not wrong, and even his actions were understandable.

After a long pause, Xuan Yuan Mu Ze asked out of the blue, "Presse committed suicide, did you know?"

“I know. Lingzi notified me immediately when he committed suicide, and someone took his place in his position just three minutes after his death,” Agreed said expressionlessly.

Xuanyuan Muze looked at Agreed and questioned, "Don't you have anything else to say? He dedicated his life to this country, he never even made a mistake, why didn't you stop him? You clearly had the ability to save him."

Agreed said matter-of-factly, “Because he is free, he has dedicated his life to this country, so I granted him the highest level of freedom: ‘Do whatever he wants.’ He could have left his position as the planet’s leader simply by reporting to Lingzi. I never said I wanted his life. Suicide was his own choice, and I would not interfere with other people’s choices. What good is it if you save someone who is determined to die, someone who can commit suicide without hesitation? His heart is already dead. Your actions are just continuing to torment him.”

"I have treated all the officials of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Races with utmost benevolence and righteousness. I have given them everything they were entitled to, but I will never allow them to take anything they were not entitled to. I, Agreed, can say with a clear conscience that I have done nothing wrong to anyone in the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Races. But if you only feel regret for his death, then I can understand."