Chapter 111: There Was No One 3
“I conclude the first report on the Blood Contamination Zone in the Caracas Step.”
[Hmm-hmm! I see! I see!]
“……”
Alice, with her hands clasped behind her back, was delivering a direct report to Rilstia through the hologram communication system in the Silion Residential Zone.
She left nothing out.
She explained the discovery of the Blood Contamination Zone in the Caracas Step.
She detailed how crime organizations occupying the heavy industry zone had colluded to hide the contamination zone from Ark and failed to report it, resulting in an area teeming with late-stage infected individuals and vampires mimicking Progenitors.
It had been less than a week since the investigation order was issued, yet such a thorough report had already been submitted. For a third-class Overseer on her first mission, it was an impressive and swift job.
[But Alice, what is this?]
As she flipped through the electronic document she received, Rilstia waved a paper containing a long list of names.
“These are the Pernovis Academy students I killed during the mission.”
[Aha! I see! But it’s strange. You could’ve just noted them as ‘confirmed dead’ during the investigation. Why did you honestly confess that you killed them yourself?]
“…Because it’s the truth.”
[Aha-ha, you’re quite lacking in guile, Alice!]
Rilstia burst out laughing.
She already knew about Alice’s actions through close monitoring, but she hadn’t expected her to report so candidly that she had killed academy students.
At that moment, Rilstia’s body on the screen began to distort, and her holographic electronic form materialized into her physical presence.
Electronic Net Materialization.
Rilstia’s ability activated, and she directly crossed into the Silion Residential Zone where Alice was.
“Haha, Alice. At times like this, you could’ve just said you found no one during the investigation, or only discovered deceased individuals, or claimed they had simply disappeared. Such honesty only stirs up trouble with the central families and the parents.”
“…I killed people, Riri.”
“And so?”
“…As you must’ve seen in the report, I didn’t consider them human. Anything wearing human skin but lacking a human heart—I don’t see as life.”
“Hmm, I see.”
“So, to put it crudely, I killed them because I felt like it. And instead of saving those promising academy students, I brought back a pitiful orphan who had died a horrible death.”
Even now, in the next room, the orphan Alice had brought back was likely sobbing with chicken droplet-sized tears as they ate meal kits purchased with Alice’s money.
Though Alice had once stated that all lives were of equal weight, she herself was doubtful whether an unknown, nameless orphan girl held more value than the academy students.
“So, if there’s to be punishment, I’ll accept it. It’s my responsibility if the central families or the parents make a fuss. So…”
“Aha-ha-ha! Alice! What could a discarded, soon-to-be-obsolete central family possibly complain about regarding my adorable little Pardak?”
They could try, but in reality, it would never happen.
“It’s strange, though. Killing academy students instead of saving them is a pretty big crime, isn’t it? As an Overseer, I have a duty to rescue missing academy students….”
“Well then, let me ask a question to our worried, adorable Alice.”
“What question?”
“The orphans who may or may not be infected with blood contamination, the academy students from Pernovis who dismissed and abandoned them as dirty nuisances, the criminal organizations in the Caracas Step who facilitated the contamination zone—”
Rilstia began listing all the people Alice had encountered today.
“Of these, who do you think is at fault?”
“…”
“Aha, it’s obvious there’s no need to answer. This time, it’s crystal clear who committed the wrongdoing.”
Rilstia smirked mischievously and placed her hand on Alice’s cheek.
Although her form was materialized through the electronic network, passing through Alice’s face, Alice felt a strange warmth lingering on her skin.
“You despised the academy students who cast out innocent orphans. You deemed them as having abandoned their humanity and treated them as beasts because they failed to act like humans. Yet, I haven’t reprimanded you for it! Why do you think that is?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Exactly! You wouldn’t know! My apologies! I keep answering questions with more questions! It seems my long administrative career has dulled my mind! Ha-ha-ha!”
Rilstia clapped her hands together, her exaggerated gestures making her resemble a clown averting her gaze.
“To tell you why I didn’t reprimand you, it’s because whether someone dies or not has absolutely no impact on Ark’s peace!”
“…What?”
“You asked earlier who committed the crime. But honestly, that’s not what matters. Even if the orphans infected with blood contamination devoured the academy students, and you, Alice, killed all the academy students valiantly fighting back, it still wouldn’t matter to me… nor to the great order and peace of Ark!”
Alice couldn’t understand what Rilstia was saying.
She had killed the academy students, who represented Ark’s future.
Though Alice deemed them beasts for failing to meet the standards of humanity, she didn’t deny the objective fact that she had taken the lives of promising Pernovis academy students.
Yet, Rilstia spoke as if they held no value at all.
“Wait a minute. Didn’t you assign me to investigate the Blood Contamination Zone and the academy student disappearance case in the first place…?”
“That’s right, Alice. I tasked you with investigating the lower realm. There was blood contamination spreading, and academy students went missing, but the assignment I gave was merely an investigation. It wasn’t about rescue, salvation, or eliminating blood contamination. Naturally, if there was something threatening Ark’s order and peace, you’d report it. Hah, you wouldn’t even think of not telling me, would you?”
“…Of course not.”
“Of course not! Then all is well!”
Alice felt a sense of unease emanating from Rilstia, who was speaking with a smile.
Though she was smiling, it did not seem like a genuine smile at all.
“Alice can kill the Academy students, save them and kill all the orphans, or kill everyone indiscriminately.
It doesn’t matter to me! Because their lives and deaths have no impact on the peace of Ark!”
Administrators were entities responsible for maintaining the peace and order of Ark.
Overseers monitored Ark’s peace and order under the administrators, and Executors carried out administrative procedures and forceful actions under the Overseers’ orders.
This was the basic role of Ark’s public servants.
And Rilstia knew that neither the lives of Central Academy students nor lower-class orphans had any impact on Ark’s peace.
“Do you know what happens when those little brats, desperate to cling to their privileges, gather together?
At best, they become Fourth-Class Overseers who couldn’t even reach a fraction of our dear Alice’s potential!”
“But there are so many…”
“Oh! Yes, there are quite a lot! Was it 187? Or 192? I’m a little unsure! But even if ten thousand of them gathered, they wouldn’t be able to match even one First-Class Overseer!
There’s not a single one among them with the potential to become a First-Class Overseer who maintains Ark’s order and peace, so how much could those Academy students Alice deemed as beasts contribute to this noble peace, even if they lived?”
“……”
“Oh dear, you’re contemplating, Alice!”
“So, unless one of those Academy students had the potential to become a First-Class Overseer, I should be criticized?”
“Ahaha! It seems our Alice wishes to be criticized or disciplined! Quite the perverse disposition! But to answer, even if that were the case, it wouldn’t matter.
Because, objectively speaking, our dear Patak here will make an even greater contribution to Ark’s future! Hahaha!”
At those words, Alice realized something.
Rilstia.
No, perhaps the administrators, including her, did not see humans as humans.
They regarded them as numbers, as statistics, and embraced sacrifices and offerings as necessary to protect something greater, much like ruthless utilitarians.
“…Rilstia.”
“Oh my, are you upset? I told you to call me Riri, yet you call me Rilstia. I’m a little hurt!”
Rilstia raised a hand to her face, as if wiping away tears, her lips curling into a sly grin.
“So, let me offer some advice to poor Alice, who will spend a long time weighing values and agonizing over what’s important.”
Rilstia’s projection leaned in close to Alice.
So close that, if it were her real body, Alice could have felt her breath and warmth.
“Don’t think.”
Rilstia’s eyes were closer to Alice’s than ever before.
“Don’t feel guilt. It’s to your detriment.”
Those eyes seemed to carry traces of someone who had once been profoundly human.
“There are too many humans in Ark.
Guryong, Pilahote, Oranion, and the Central district—population counts in each region are staggering, with the lower layers being even worse.
If we estimate, we’re talking about hundreds of billions, perhaps even trillions of humans crammed into this tiny piece of land.”
“So you’re saying life has no value?”
“There are too many people in Ark. It’s impossible to consider the past and unfortunate circumstances of every individual among the billions whose values clash every moment. And you are an Overseer. An Overseer I appointed, and one you accepted to become! A fine Patak Overseer who focuses solely on Ark’s peace and order!”
“So what I’m telling you is not to think of humans. Don’t let their pain make you suffer. It’s to your disadvantage. Simply consider whether conflicts of values threaten Ark’s longstanding peace and order.”
“It sounds like you’re telling me to stop thinking altogether.”
“Ahaha! If you don’t, you won’t last!”
“If I give up thinking, I’m no longer human, am I?
Humans define themselves through thought and recognize others as human.”
“So, what can our Alice even do? We only need to fulfill our duty of preserving true peace and humanity’s final ark for our time! If you try to preach humanistic love like compassion or tolerance and engage in pointless acts, you’ll only destroy yourself.”
“And you think you know what I’m thinking to say that?”
“Hahaha! Of course, I know! I’m me, after all! I also harbored foolish and naive notions of protecting and embracing everyone! Decorating my mind like a flower field, only to burn it all down again and again!!!”
Rilstia, who had been speaking in an agitated tone, abruptly shut her mouth as if she had said too much.
“Ahem. My apologies. I rambled on too long.”
Perhaps, once, Rilstia had been someone who embodied pure dreams, tolerance, and affection for humanity.
But to maintain Ark’s peace and order, she had to ignore too much of what she witnessed.
She had sacrificed countless things to an almost natural degree.
There were simply too many humans.
And to save the majority, she had countless times reduced lives to mere numbers and discarded them without hesitation.
“Alice, so whether you kill them all or save them all, it doesn’t matter.”
“I didn’t expect our administrator to harbor such feelings.”
“…This is fine.
Just consider it my concern.
Anything without humanity’s heart isn’t treated as life.
You can do the same.
No one will blame you, and I won’t either.”
With that, Rilstia’s projection vanished.
The physical manifestation of the electronic network was gone.
“Sigh.”
【Human, do not overcomplicate matters. Ultimately, you will face neither criticism nor disciplinary action.】
“So that’s why this is so f***ing infuriating.”
Theresa’s reassurances aside, Alice faced no repercussions.
Despite the deaths of so many Academy students.
The few nameless orphan girls she had saved were insignificant, yet Alice’s mission completion faced no objections.
Rilstia had even praised Alice for her quick report and performance.
The mission of a Third-Class Overseer had been executed flawlessly.
Without any issues.
Without a single flaw.
But that fact.
The fact that she bore no fault, that the deaths of so many had left the world unchanged, and that their deaths were buried as if they had never happened—left Alice feeling profoundly sickened.
Now she understood.
Alice was not a fool.
She knew Rilstia’s words were meant to comfort and encourage her.
But Alice, for some reason, felt she should have been reprimanded and punished accordingly.