Chapter 64: The Original and the Fake. The Unknown and the Path. Innovation and Stagnation.

"You're wrong. You're wrong, Ms. Limient."

『—What?』

He was… Padron Zalfedahl, was he?

Fortress City Zalfedahl… A city of commerce belonging to the Yupiteria Empire, yet granted complete autonomy and independence by successive emperors themselves. People, money, cultures, values, knowledge, and all manner of things gathered there from every corner of the world. And all of it was made possible by the excellence of the Zalfedahl bloodline, which had governed the city for generations.

That was the source of its independence. The reason for its autonomy. A city so untouchable that even the emperor could not interfere.

And now, the words of the latest heir to that bloodline…

Hmm. This is worth hearing.

Now then, by what logic and on what grounds will you declare my innovation “wrong”? Let us hear it, Padron Zalfedahl.

"You don't know ramen. That's the answer."

『—Huh?』

—Huh?

—Some say that a forgery can be worth more than the original.

—I won't deny that. In fact, I think there's even a certain truth to it.

—However…

"Do you know ramen? Apparently, it's a dish from some other world."

『…I'm afraid I don't. But is it a kind of food?』

"It's made with an amber-colored broth, prepared by slowly simmering animal bones until all their goodness seeps out. The flavor of small dried fish and the richness of vegetables dissolve into it, and you eat it by coating long, thin noodles made from grain in that broth. The various toppings are delicious too, but what's truly wonderful is the exquisite balance between every single component. I doubt any one element came first. Someone made the soup, paired it with noodles, chose the toppings, then improved the soup, improved the noodles… And on and on it went, each element striving to become the 'best' it could be in harmony with the others. They kept evolving to bring out the best in one another. What lies at the heart of it is the pride of a chef who never stops moving forward. It's nothing less than a dish of eternal innovation…"

『…………』

"Hey, you food-obsessed idiot. Both they and the rest of us have completely lost interest, nya. Get to the point already, nya."

…Tch. This is what happens when you try talking to barbarians with uncultivated palates.

Well, still… I suppose I did go on a little too long. I was getting off track.

『I understand that a dish unknown to me exists, and that you have an almost pathological fondness for it. …But what does that have to do with anything?』

"The important thing is that this dish makes effective use of bones that would otherwise have been thrown away."

『…You mean recycling them or making use of something that would otherwise go to waste? If so, that is precisely our area of expertise. How to make the most efficient use of limited resources is one of our most important concerns, and…』

"That's not what I'm talking about. This isn't about efficiency. It's about how much you can bring yourself to care about the things that get thrown away, the things you throw away."

『Feelings? Is this some form of animism?』

"When you decide something is unnecessary for progress and discard it, do you ever look back? Even once in a while, do you ever feel sorry about it? Think it was a waste? Wonder whether your calculations might have been wrong?"

『…Hmm. Of course not. If I spent time looking back at the enormous amount of things I've discarded, it would be far more efficient to use that time to seek the next advancement. And indulging in unnecessary emotions would only waste more of my brain's capacity. Therefore, I have no reason to look back.』

Just as I thought.

I knew you'd answer that way. After all, that's exactly how I used to think.

If, hypothetically, I hadn't joined this journey to save the world, and Father hadn't opposed my succession…

If I'd simply become the next lord…

Then I probably wouldn't have felt a thing about discarding the people who mocked me. I would never have considered that they might have any value. I would never have looked back.

"None of us can be omniscient or omnipotent. Just as you didn't know about ramen until now, I didn't know about it until recently either."

And what's more, the world we stand in now is—

"Stop shutting yourself away in your own little castle and take a good look at this chaotic world. All sorts of worlds have gathered here. All sorts of laws and principles exist. The rules that were right yesterday aren't necessarily going to remain the same tomorrow. That's the kind of place this is."

You might wake up one morning and find an unfamiliar city right next door.

You might sit down to breakfast and find an exquisite dish you've never seen before, one that developed in some distant world.

In Chaos, such things are entirely possible.

In a world like this, can an unchanging formula really exist? Can there truly be an absolute answer that will remain valid forever?

"In a world where everything has changed, is there absolutely no chance that something you've discarded as unnecessary could become the solution? Is that really impossible? Are your calculations, the calculations of Machine City, truly absolute?"

『…I agree that perfection does not exist. Neither zero percent nor one hundred percent exists. Especially in this world. But that is precisely why we must take the most reliable path available to us. We should seek a path that is even one percent better, discard everything else, and move forward.』

Now I see where your limits lie, Limient Cornerstone.

That's the limit of Machine City, too.

"Come to think of it, you said earlier that even if something is lost, there's no problem as long as you create an exact replica of it…"

『Indeed. As I said before, if we need it later, we can simply recreate it. Then there would be no problem—』

—Some say that a forgery can be worth more than the original.

—Yes, that may well be one truth.

As the son of a lord, and someone destined to one day take the helm of a city of commerce, I had plenty of opportunities to encounter works of art. I'd even been appointed as a judge in the arts on more than one occasion.

And that is precisely why I can say this. Why I believe it.

A forgery made by someone striving harder than anyone else to approach the original can sometimes become even more authentic than the original itself.

An artist from another world, unfamiliar with its history, might even consider the fake to be the superior work of art.

But even so—

"The original is the original, and a fake is a fake, Ms. Limient. You're not turning zero into one. …Isn't that something you, of all people, someone who seeks innovation, should understand better than anyone?"

『…………Oh?』

That's right. The original is the original. Its value can never be undone.

Without the original, the forgery would never have come into existence. That fact can never be overturned.

And as long as we keep pursuing forgeries, the original—the source of new beginnings—will never be able to create anything new.

"Let me tell you something, Ms. Limient. Your so-called righteous path is narrow. A narrow, dark road with nowhere else to go."

I remember Father's words.

—Your perspective is far too narrow.

Ah, now I finally understand, Father.

Thank you for rejecting me back then. Thank you for allowing me to join this journey.

"You'll build walls out of the corpses of everything you've discarded. Enormous walls on your left and right, stretching endlessly into the distance. And then you'll keep walking down that one road, the answer you've chosen to believe in. Never once looking at the things that should have been lying along the side paths… No, the walls will be so high that you won't even be able to see them. You won't even realize they're there."

『………………』

"All that'll be waiting at the end is a dead end. An inevitable wall you'll eventually run into. You'll find no way to break through it, no solution to overcome it… It'll be the final destination where you're no longer capable of creating any new innovations."

And even if she tries to rummage through the things she's discarded when that day comes, she won't find them.

Because they were beyond those walls, where she couldn't see them. Where she never bothered to look.

She'll search and search, wasting nothing but time. Whether they've been lost forever or she'll remain forever unaware of them, the outcome will be the same: she'll be crushed beneath an unavoidable end.

"In other words, you're hiding behind the word 'innovation.' Innovation in name, stagnation in truth. That's the name of your path."

『What did you say?』

"By constantly creating something new, you don't have to face the fact that you've discarded something. It's easier that way, isn't it? Turning your eyes away from the things you should carry with you and following a single road, convincing yourself there's no other choice. That's so, so much easier."

I understand. The weight of what you carry is nothing like mine. There's no comparison; mine must be so much smaller.

But I have things to carry, too… Things I want to carry.

Not out of resignation, compromise, or some special privilege. Not because of some superficial notion of willpower.

Simply because they're what I desire. What my soul longs for. What my very flesh and blood cry out for. There are things I want to bear as a lord.

『If you insist on saying all that, then answer me. What path will you take? What is your righteous path?』

At last, my path had taken shape. I could finally see it.

I don't know whether it's the right one. I'll probably spend the rest of my life questioning that.

But that's fine. That's the path I've chosen.

Yes. I—

"I will regard everything as equal. Everything within my domain, myself included, will be given equal standing."

Of course, that doesn't mean I can carry everything with me as I move forward.

Reality is merciless. Ideals alone cannot protect the world.

And so—

"To move forward, I will discard what must be discarded. I will make that decision myself, and I will be the one to decide what is unnecessary."

It will surely hurt as much as cutting away a part of my own body.

But that is precisely why—

"Through that pain, I will engrave it into my very being: the value, the preciousness, and the existence of everything I've discarded. And I will remember my own helplessness, my own inadequacy, for being unable to make full use of that value and having to discard it in the first place."

No one forgets having a finger cut off. And I will never forget having cut off my own leg.

And so I will move forward. Covered in wounds. Engraving countless values… countless “worlds,” each one belonging to a different life, into my very being. Carrying all of them with me, never turning my eyes away.

"I will keep looking at everything. I will keep struggling to know everything within my domain, striving to come as close to omniscience as I can."

I will carry the pain of innovation and keep moving forward. I will continue to struggle, to question myself, to seek answers within myself, and to use every possible set of values as a signpost along my path.

That is—

That, and nothing else, is my—

"This is the path I, Padron Zalfedahl, will carve out for myself."