Book 6 Chapter 1.2 - Restart
"Are there a total of seven apostles?" Sally propped up her chin and asked.
"There should be seven, because in 'Revelation', before judgment day, seven apostles would descend onto earth." When the priest replied, he didn't stop his sculpting movements, his hands extremely steady.
"Judgment day… sigh." Sally released a light sigh. She brought out a piece of dry, hard, black bread made from mutated crop and nut flour, and then forcefully chewed at it. Her time was limited, needing to cut down on even the time needed to eat. When surviving in the wilderness, they were always running from death. After remaining silent for a few minutes, only then did Sally say, "Priest, don't you feel like we are already in our last days?"
"That depends on the person." The priest laughed, speaking with a deep, profound, and gentle voice, "Before the war, the world, for the human race, was heaven, while for other creatures, it was doomsday. Most species were wiped out, while the slow process of evolution wasn't enough to produce new species. Meanwhile, this war, for the creatures on our celestial body, was judgment day. This time, large numbers of species died, only a hundredth of the human race remaining as well, but ability users and mutated creatures appeared. The war wasn't the end of the catastrophe, because for ability users and mutated creatures with intelligence, this current world, is heaven."
While slowly chewing on the black bread, Sally said, "Priest, then how should ordinary people handle the relationship with ability users? What I wanted to say is, in the future, will there be a type of stable infrastructure in the future that'll give us a chance at coexistence? If there is, then we should do something about it right now, but if there isn't, then… I will do my best to turn everyone into ability users. However, after a year of observation, only a tenth of our people at most have the potential to become ability users."
The priest looked at Sally with a somewhat surprised expression, not directly answering her question and instead asking, "Then say, if that type of stable society truly has a chance of existing, how would it work?"
Sally replied extremely quickly, clearly already thought about this problem for quite some time. "First, it should be a hierarchy with clear difference in social class, the deciding factor for each class' privileges and obligations the difference in ability user levels. The difference in power and privilege between each class should be large enough to mirror the difference in strength between ordinary people and ability users. It is very likely that there'll be a paramount existence above the many social classes that grasps absolute authority, to the extent where it's greater than the olden era's dictators, for example, his abilities, compared to others, possesses overwhelming superiority."
The priest nodded, and then continued, "Then do you think this type of paramount existence will exist?"
Sally replied with any hesitation, "There is, the Spider Empress is one, if the historical resources are true. Even if the empress isn't the most powerful individual in the future, there'll definitely be someone else who will occupy the highest level of power."
"Why?" The priest asked. He still didn't stop the sculpting work in his hands.
"Because evolution and mutation have no end." Sally said.
If there was no end to evolution and mutation, then that meant that there was no limit to abilities, that there would always be an even more powerful existence that would appear. At that time, the only choice society had was a dictatorship. Meanwhile, if the human race's evolution hit a final ceiling, a group of individuals with roughly the same level of abilities would appear. Then, the most ideal way would be oligarchy or democracy. This was Sally's answer.
The priest stopped his work and looked at Sally with a somewhat surprised expression. He laughed and said, "You are an extremely intelligent child, what you surmised already quite close to reality. Correct, evolution doesn't have an end point, at the very least, with our limited field of view, we still cannot see its end. What you said is correct, I believe that there will be a paramount existence who will come in the end to rule our world. It isn't necessarily the most powerful, but it is definitely one of the most powerful. Of course, this type of structure still isn't the most stable, still needing several more layers of cornerstone. Now that I've spoken up to here, you have already understood that perhaps the olden era's feudal system ruled by a monarch is what's most suitable for this era. In one's own territory, the lord is the highest level of existence, the lord's will everything. As for the size of the territory they receive, it will depend on their own strength. An interesting system, don't you think?"
"But isn't this not much different from the current Blood Parliament? It might not even be as good as the Blood Parliament!" Sally's little face was full of struggling. The priest understood what she meant. She still carried hope, wishing to see a future where there was a place for ordinary people to live, even though 'democracy' was already a word that would only exist in history.
"That is why the Blood Parliament isn't exactly stable, a war inevitable. The other reason why war will erupt is because it hasn't been long enough since the olden era, with many people still not willing to accept reality, still yearning for the democracy and freedom of the olden era. Ordinary people were still under the delusion that they are equal to ability users, while low level ability users are under the delusion that they are equal to high level ability users. As long as these people still exist, war will repeatedly erupt, all the way until their delusions are completely extinguished. Only then would a new system of society be established on the ruins and corpses."
The priest used a melodious voice to describe the cruel reality and future. Sally knew that this was the reality most likely to appear, unless… unless ability users all died.
Even though inside this inhabited region, even though she received the love and respect of most people here, a contradiction still existed, and it was currently becoming harder and harder to regulate. For example, those ability users were already starting to hint that they deserved more resources and benefits, including but not limited to food, rest, and women. Meanwhile, from a different perspective, as those on the ordinary people's side, these tendencies were also starting to develop. The women with better appearances would secretly offer ability users services, obtaining protection or more food in exchange. The other free women even more so publically fought over the position of sleeping with the ability users. Meanwhile, there were a few husbands who would even encourage their own women to accompany those ability users in bed, obtaining some things in return or some type of preferential treatment. In short, the household infrastructure Sally worked so hard to construct based on the olden era's morality and ethics only lasted a single winter before starting to collapse.