Sejak zaman dahulu, ada teknik rahasia yang digunakan para politisi setiap kali situasi internal menjadi kacau.
Yaitu, mencari-cari masalah dengan atau memprovokasi entitas eksternal untuk mengalihkan perhatian dari urusan internal, sehingga mengalihkan pandangan orang-orang ke tempat lain.
Ini sangat efektif jika targetnya adalah negara yang menjadi rival sengit sejak zaman kuno.
Metode ini benar-benar bekerja dengan sangat baik sehingga tetap bertahan bahkan ketika berbagai media komunikasi telah berkembang.
Tentu saja, kamu harus memiliki tingkat kemampuan tertentu untuk berhasil mengalihkan perhatian; jika kamu bahkan tidak memilikinya, kamu hanya akan berakhir mendapat kritik berat.
Secara khusus, karena satu langkah salah bisa menyebabkan perang, ini adalah area di mana seseorang harus bertindak dengan sangat hati-hati.
"Kalau begini, perang sungguhan bisa pecah. Dan bukan hanya Mountain yang akan mereka lawan; sepertinya mereka juga akan melawan Avalon."
Dalam hal ini, upaya Alfheim bisa dilihat sebagai bumerang dengan cara yang paling buruk.
Yah, sebenarnya, metode itu sendiri biasanya mengarah pada skenario terburuk—yaitu perang—jadi itu sudah bisa diduga.
Masalahnya adalah karena mereka menarik terlalu banyak aggro, mereka menyeret bukan hanya Mountain, tetapi juga Avalon.
Sejujurnya, kekuatan militer Avalon sendiri tidak begitu besar, tetapi pengaruh agamanya adalah masalah sebenarnya.
Mereka tidak hanya bisa memanggil semua paladin yang bertugas di seluruh dunia, tetapi ada juga pendeta Aris di dalam Alfheim sendiri.
Tentu saja, jika Alfheim punya akal, mereka akan mengusir pendeta-pendeta itu sebelumnya, tetapi melakukan itu kemungkinan besar akan memicu perang suci.
"Apa ada cara bagiku untuk melakukan sesuatu tentang ini?"
"Persis seperti yang Alfheim inginkan..."
"Bukan itu."
Ck.
Saat aku memotongnya seketika, reaksi aneh datang dari Elia.
Dia mendecak lidah, entah karena kecewa atau makna lain.
Aku menatapnya, tapi seolah-olah berpura-pura salah dengar, Elia sudah tenggelam dalam pemikiran lain.
"Kalau itu sulit, kamu bisa saja membantuku tumbuh, seperti yang kusebutkan sebelumnya. Fakta bahwa aku telah kembali saja sudah bisa menjadi semacam simbol."
"Seperti Ludwig ahjussi, kan?"
"Ya. Karena Ludwig juga telah menjadi orang dengan kedudukan tertinggi setelah Pahlawan."
Pertama-tama, untuk mencegah perang, kembalinya Elia adalah prioritas utama.
Masalahnya adalah tidak ada yang tahu omong kosong apa yang akan dilakukan Senat, jadi ini harus dicegah sejak awal.
"Kalau aku dibunuh, Senat akan dengan tak tahu malunya bertingkah seolah-olah aku telah naik takhta."
"Apakah kamu membicarakan para Peziarah?"
"Itu berbeda dari para Peziarah. Harus kubilang itu lebih dekat ke semacam keyakinan? Bagaimanapun juga, kupikir waktu kembaliku akan menjadi yang paling penting."
"Bagaimana kalau kamu tidak bisa kembali bahkan saat Natal?"
Ini hal yang paling penting. Karena itu membangkitkan kenangan Natal tahun lalu.
Meminta untuk meninggalkan Ludwig di kampung halamannya, berjanji untuk mengambil uang muka dari permintaan berikutnya.
Kata-kata itu terus terngiang di pikiranku, membuatku khawatir tentang Natal yang akan datang ini.
"Aku belum mempertimbangkan itu... tapi kalau benar-benar begitu, kurasa aku juga harus setengah menyerah, kan?"
"Menyerah untuk kembali ke Alfheim?"
"Bukan sepenuhnya menyerah, tapi itu berarti kembali dengan waktu yang tepat akan sulit."
Ada terlalu banyak variabel yang harus dipertimbangkan, yang membuat segalanya cukup merepotkan.
Akan berbeda kalau aku bisa bertindak langsung, tapi yang bisa kulakukan hanyalah menulis postingan di Galeri.
Terlebih lagi, karena aku punya banyak pekerjaan sendiri yang harus dilakukan saat ini, menemukan waktu yang tepat itu sulit.
"Tapi kamu bilang Senat mengedepankan supremasi ras mereka, kan?"
"Menurut seorang teman yang kukenal, ya. Apakah Elf memang seperti itu sejak awalnya?"
"Ya."
Elia menjawab dengan suara yang menunjukkan bahwa dia tidak perlu ragu sedetik pun.
Mengingat dia, yang biasanya begitu objektif, memberikan jawaban sesingkat itu, seseorang bisa memahami dengan kasar ciri-ciri ras Elf.
"Untuk permulaan, sejarah Pohon Dunia jauh lebih panjang daripada sejarah Holy Kingdom. Karena itu saja, Elf tidak bisa tidak menjadi sombong."
"Jadi bukan hanya karena Elf adalah yang pertama menemukan Pohon Dunia, kan?"
"Oh, ayolah. Sungguh ucapan yang mengecewakan. Para dewa sendiri yang secara langsung mempercayakan pengelolaannya kepada para Elf."
"Jadi kamu juga mengikuti kata-kata itu?"
"Tidak? Aku hanya murni suka pohon."
"..."
Benar. Itu memang sangat khas Elia.
Aku terkekeh dan membiarkannya begitu. Betapa tidak masuk akalnya para dewa kuno jika mereka melihat Elia?
"Lebih dari itu, yang membuatku waspada adalah supremasi ras... Aku semakin cemas."
"Supremasi ras? Bukankah kamu pernah berpidato di masa lalu mengatakan 'Elf adalah yang terbaik!' atau semacamnya?"
"A-Apakah kamu melihat itu? Sungguh memalukan."
Tentu saja aku melihatnya. Itu sangat populer sampai dengan bangganya masuk ke Recommended Posts saat itu.
Mendengar kata-kataku, pipi pucat Elia memerah saat dia berbicara dengan hati-hati.
"Sebenarnya, itu jauh dari supremasi. Itu bukan supremasi, tapi sekadar membangkitkan kebanggaan."
"Kebanggaan..."
"Ya. Sampai aku mengambil alih kekuasaan, Alfheim hampir tidak memiliki keunggulan yang berarti selain Pohon Dunia."
Elia sangat dikritik secara internasional karena kampanye menanam pohonnya yang unik, tetapi penilaian domestik terhadapnya berbeda.
Karena dia seketika mengangkat status Alfheim, yang sebelumnya dievaluasi sebagai negara paling membosankan di dunia.
Mulai dari mengimpor olahraga Mephisto, hingga menarik investasi besar-besaran ke dunia akademis.
Itu hanya tertutupi oleh obsesi gilanya, tapi dia adalah seseorang yang telah mencapai hal-hal besar.
Tidak heran Senat bahkan tidak bisa mengeluarkan sepatah kata pun untuk menentangnya, dan meskipun dia telah memasuki Forest of the Four Seasons, dia masih memiliki banyak pendukung fanatik.
"Tidak ada ras di dunia ini yang pernah berakhir baik dengan mengagung-agungkan supremasi ras. Bahkan pengusiran Dark Elf pun dianggap sebagai sejarah kelam."
"Itu terjadi sebelum kamu lahir."
"Masa lalu yang memalukan tetaplah masa lalu yang memalukan."
"Jadi menanam pohon bukanlah masa lalu yang memalukan?"
"Apakah ada masalah dengan itu?"
"..."
Sssip. Itu terdengar bahkan lebih berbahaya.
Aku tidak bisa menyembunyikan rasa pahitku pada Elia, yang bertanya balik dengan kepolosan murni.
'Mungkinkah ras Elf cacat di area tertentu?'
Aku tidak bisa tidak berpikir demikian.
Pada saat yang sama, aku menjadi semakin penasaran tentang siapa dewa yang menciptakan para Elf itu.
Kemungkinan besar itu adalah Sera, pencipta Hutan Daging dan Kolam Anggur, tapi itu belum dikonfirmasi.
Jika benar begitu, seharusnya ada beberapa catatan terkait yang tersisa, tapi hampir tidak ada.
Hanya ada catatan bahwa para dewa telah mempercayakan Pohon Dunia kepada para Elf.
"Bagaimanapun, kita tidak bisa merusak segalanya karena supremasi ras. Oh, kebetulan, apakah ada hal serupa di era tempat Grylls-nim tinggal?"
"Banyak, kan? Hidup saja di dunia ini, supremasi ada di mana-mana."
Untuk permulaan, membagi nilai orang berdasarkan ras.
Ingat saja diskriminasi yang dialami orang kulit hitam di Amerika Serikat sampai lima puluh tahun yang lalu.
Supremasi sebenarnya hampir merupakan penyakit kronis yang unik bagi umat manusia.
"Ada juga kasus menganiaya orang lain hanya karena kelahiran mereka, kan?"
"Banyak."
"Oh! Kalau begitu, apakah ada peristiwa seperti pengusiran Dark Elf?"
"Eh... yah..."
Ada. Dan relatif baru, pada saat itu.
Masalahnya adalah prosesnya begitu mengerikan sehingga tidak bisa diungkapkan dengan kata-kata.
Aku merenungkan bagaimana menjelaskan ini, lalu dengan santai berkata kepada Elia.
"Apakah kamu ingin pergi ke perpustakaan sebentar denganku?"
"Ya! Aku sangat ingin!"
Karena masih musim dingin, ada banyak pelanggan yang mengunjungi pemandian umum.
Namun, karena kami punya waktu luang saat ini, mengunjungi perpustakaan tidaklah sulit.
"Bisakah kamu memberikan buku yang berhubungan dengan Nazi Jerman?"
[Perjua...]
"Bukan yang itu."
Jadi, aku menunjukkan kepada Elia kejahatan ekstrem dari supremasi.
"...Mereka bahkan tidak akan berguna sebagai pupuk untuk pohon."
Aku bisa melihatnya terkagum-kagum dalam banyak hal.
Jika kamu ingin melihat sisi ekstrem dari kebencian, Nazi Jerman adalah contoh terbaik.
Genosida adalah kejadian yang sering terjadi secara historis, tapi Nazi Jerman adalah satu-satunya yang memperlakukannya sebagai 'industri'.
Tentu saja, mesin yang secara otomatis membongkar ikan terasa lebih brutal daripada manusia yang melakukannya dengan tangan.
Terlebih lagi, sementara membongkar dengan tangan memakan waktu lama, mesin melakukannya dalam waktu kurang dari satu detik.
Perasaan disonansi itu memiliki efek memperkuat kekejaman lebih jauh lagi.
"Kamu tidak boleh melakukan ini nanti saat kembali, oke?"
"Kalau itu aku, aku akan menginvestasikan semua tenaga kerja ini untuk menanam pohon."
"...
Chapter 799: Uncomfortable Neighbor (1)
Since ancient times, there has been a secret technique that politicians use whenever internal situations become chaotic.
Namely, picking a fight with or provoking an external entity to divert attention away from internal affairs, thereby turning people’s gaze elsewhere.
This is especially effective if the target is a country that has been a bitter rival since ancient times.
This method actually works so well that it has survived even as various communication media have developed.
Of course, you need to have a certain level of competence to successfully divert attention; if you lack even that, you will just end up getting heavily criticized.
In particular, since a single misstep could lead to war, it is an area where one must act with extreme caution.
"At this rate, a real war might break out. And it’s not just Mountain they’ll be fighting; it looks like they’re going to fight Avalon too."
In that sense, Alfheim’s attempt can be seen as having backfired in the worst possible way.
Well, in truth, that method itself usually leads to the worst-case scenario—namely, war—so it was to be expected.
The problem was that because they drew so much aggro, they dragged in not just Mountain, but Avalon as well.
Honestly speaking, Avalon’s own military power isn’t that great, but its religious influence is the real issue.
Not only can they summon all the paladins serving across the world, but there are also priests of Aris within Alfheim itself.
Of course, if Alfheim had any sense, they would expel them beforehand, but doing so would highly likely trigger a holy war.
"Is there any way I can do something about this?"
"Just as Alfheim wants..."
"Not that."
Tsk.
When I cut her off instantly, a strange reaction came from Elia.
She clicked her tongue, whether out of disappointment or some other meaning.
I stared at her, but as if pretending I had misheard, Elia was already pondering other thoughts.
"If that’s difficult, you can just help me grow, as I mentioned earlier. Just the fact that I’ve returned can serve as a sort of symbol."
"Just like Ludwig ahjussi, right?"
"Yes. Since Ludwig has also become the person with the highest standing after the Hero."
First of all, to prevent war, Elia’s return is the top priority.
The problem was that there was no telling what kind of bullshit the Senate would pull, so this had to be prevented in advance.
"If I were to be assassinated, the Senate would shamelessly act as if I had ascended."
"Are you talking about the Pilgrims?"
"It’s different from the Pilgrims. Should I say it’s closer to a kind of faith? At any rate, I think the timing of my return will be the most important."
"What if you can’t return even by Christmas?"
This was the most important thing. Because it brought back memories of last year’s Christmas.
Asking to leave Ludwig in his hometown, promising to take an advance on the next wish.
Those words kept lingering in my mind, making me worry about this upcoming Christmas.
"I hadn’t considered that... but if that’s really the case, I suppose I’ll have to half-give up too, right?"
"Give up on returning to Alfheim?"
"Not completely giving up, but it means returning at the right timing would be difficult."
There were too many variables to consider, which made things quite troublesome.
It would be different if I could act directly, but all I could do was write posts on the Gallery.
Furthermore, since I had plenty of my own work to do right now, finding the right timing was tricky.
"But you said the Senate put forward their racial supremacy, right?"
"According to a friend I know, yes. Are Elves originally like that?"
"Yes."
Elia replied in a voice that showed she didn’t need to hesitate for even a single second.
Given that she, who was usually so objective, gave such a short answer, one could roughly grasp the racial traits of the Elves.
"For starters, the World Tree’s history is much longer than that of the Holy Kingdom. Because of that alone, Elves can’t help but be boastful."
"It’s not just because Elves were the first to find the World Tree, is it?"
"Oh, come on. What a disappointing thing to say. The gods themselves directly entrusted the management to the Elves."
"So you’re following those words too?"
"No? I just purely like trees."
"..."
Right. That’s so like Elia.
I chuckled and let it go. How absurd would the ancient gods be if they saw Elia?
"More than that, what I was cautious about was racial supremacy... I’m getting increasingly anxious."
"Racial supremacy? Didn’t you give a speech in the past saying ’Elves are the best!’ or something like that?"
"D-Did you see that? How embarrassing."
Of course I did. It was such a hit that it proudly made it to the Recommended Posts back then.
At my words, Elia’s pale cheeks flushed red as she spoke cautiously.
"Actually, that’s far from supremacy. It wasn’t supremacy, but simply inspiring pride."
"Pride..."
"Yes. Until I took power, Alfheim had almost no notable strengths other than the World Tree."
Elia was heavily criticized internationally due to her unique tree-planting campaign, but her domestic evaluation was different.
Because she instantly elevated the status of Alfheim, which had been evaluated as the most boring country in the world.
Starting with importing Mephisto’s sports, all the way to drawing massive investments into academia.
It was just overshadowed by her crazy obsession, but she was someone who had achieved great things.
It wasn’t for nothing that the Senate couldn’t even utter a peep against her, and even though she had entered the Forest of the Four Seasons, she still had many die-hard supporters.
"No race in the world has ever come to a good end by championing racial supremacy. Even the expulsion of the Dark Elves is treated as a dark history."
"That was before you were even born."
"A shameful past is still a shameful past."
"So tree-planting isn’t a shameful past?"
"Is there a problem with that?"
"..."
Sssip. That sounds even more dangerous.
I couldn’t hide my bitterness at Elia, who asked back with pure innocence.
’Is the Elven race defective in some specific area?’
I couldn’t help but think so.
At the same time, I became even more curious about who the god who created the Elves was.
It was highly likely to be Sera, the creator of the Meat Forest and Wine Pool, but it wasn’t confirmed.
If so, some related records should have remained, but there were almost none.
There was only a record that the gods had entrusted the World Tree to the Elves.
"Anyway, we can’t ruin things because of racial supremacy. Oh, by any chance, was there anything similar in the era Grylls-nim lived in?"
"There was plenty, right? Just living in the world, supremacy is everywhere."
For starters, dividing people’s worth by race.
Just think of the discrimination Black people faced in the United States up until fifty years ago.
Supremacy was, in fact, practically a chronic disease unique to humanity.
"There were also cases of persecuting others simply because of their birth, right?"
"Plenty."
"Oh! Then were there events like the expulsion of the Dark Elves?"
"Uh... well..."
There were. And relatively recently, at that.
The problem was that the process was so horrific that it was beyond words.
I pondered how to explain this, then casually said to Elia.
"Do you want to go to the library with me for a bit?"
"Yes! I’d love to!"
Since it was still winter, there were many customers visiting the bathhouse.
However, since we had some leisure time right now, visiting the library wasn’t difficult.
"Could you give me a book related to Nazi Germany?"
[My Strug...]
"Not that one."
Thus, I showed Elia the extreme evils of supremacy.
"...They wouldn’t even be useful as fertilizer for trees."
I could see her marveling in many ways.
If you want to see the extreme side of malice, Nazi Germany is the best example.
Genocide was a frequent occurrence historically, but Nazi Germany was the only one to treat it as an ’industry’.
Naturally, a machine automatically dismantling a fish feels more brutal than a human doing it by hand.
Moreover, while dismantling by hand takes a long time, a machine does it in less than a second.
That sense of dissonance has the effect of amplifying the cruelty even further.
"You shouldn’t do this when you return later, okay?"
"If it were me, I would have invested all of this labor into planting trees."
"...Yeah. That would indeed be better."
At any rate, as I shared trivial conversations with Elia, the end of winter approached before we knew it.
The situation outside was very complicated, but there was nothing I could resolve immediately.
"Wonmo-ya. Ah~"
"Ah~"
For now, I should just play while taking care of cute Wonmo.
Perhaps because he had hibernated, his fur and flesh had puffed up so much that he went beyond plump and became downright chubby.
That made him even cuter, and since he had just woken up, I was feeding him.
Although Wonmo had now grown strong enough to protect himself, in my eyes, he was still a cute baby.
"Tyranno too, ah~"
"Ah~"
Of course, Tyranno was just as cute.
Recently, he had been shedding his skin more frequently; what used to be once a month had decreased to once every fortnight.
Each time, his size grew, and now he was almost similar in size to Wonmo.
"Ppiiiik!"
Flash!
That wasn’t all.
Perhaps because he received education from Vanir once every two weeks.
He was gradually starting to use magic, and recently, he even cast Light magic.
In terms of circles, it was a simple 2nd-circle spell, but Tyranno was a hatchling who hadn’t been born long.
In essence, it was like a three-year-old child casting magic, which was truly an amazing achievement.
’The frequency of him walking on two legs has increased lately, hasn’t it?’
Watching the children grow up so rapidly filled me with deep emotion.
I didn’t know how much longer we would live in the Forest of the Four Seasons, but I worried about the time they would become independent.
’I wonder if these kids will be able to get along well outside.’
While looking after the children, I turned my head.
"Uhehehe."
Lackey, who was lying on the bed like an unemployed slacker reading a novel, caught my eye.
A famous game fantasy novel that had once caused a massive sensation in the Republic of Korea.
Watching him read that while greedily devouring roasted sweet potatoes, he looked like the definition of an unemployed slacker.
"Kids. You must never become like that, okay?"
"Woong?"
"Ppiik?"
"I’m telling you to live diligently."
Lackey was also living diligently, but whenever I saw him slacking off occasionally, I found him pathetic.
It felt like watching someone who had plenty of talent and could grow more if they put in the effort, but chose not to.
Yet, if I forced him to do something, he would just do a half-assed job, making him a real headache.
’Well, as long as he earns his keep.’
After taking decent care of the children, I accessed the Gallery during my break.
Perhaps thanks to Alfheim’s splendid misdeeds, there were quite a few posts cursing the Elves.
Of course, the Elves also claimed it was unfair, saying they didn’t agree with the Senate’s opinion, but their numbers were minimal.
They were pitiful in many ways, but what could be done? Unless the Senate purged itself, it was all in vain.
Title) Happy Husband
(Video of a father seeing off his wife and son boarding a train until the very end)
This is a father watching his wife and son leave for her parents’ home.
↳ Lmao, so...
↳ He looks happy
↳ I wonder how good he feels? lol
↳ Isn’t the dad liking it way too much? Lmao
It was while I was browsing the Gallery.
Ancient memes were constantly being unearthed, and occasionally, many interesting videos were uploaded.
’Wait a minute. Isn’t this a video where the father is left alone because of war?’
The problem was that there were many parts where people who didn’t know the context laughed hysterically.
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