Bab 123: Blinding one's self to the Truth
Though I personally came to the underground prison cell of my palace to meet him, the vital conversation between I, Shogun Amanogawa Sora and Kirin Lord Iwasawa Hiroshi, was done after the latter has bathed and has sobered up after his week-long drunkenness.
"…Are you ready to hear everything, Hiroshi?"
"Yes."
"Well then…"
I heaved a breath before starting my story.
"Let me explain properly the events that brought you here."
"…"
"Twenty-eight long years ago, I was reborn in the province of Niijima as its prince. My father, having known that he holds no candle against me when it comes to ruling, chose to depose the throne and make me the Daimyo when I became fifteen-years old. By that time, I was already reunited with my friends and my wife who was either summoned or Strayed in here."
Hiroshi kept his silence, listening patiently to me.
"By that time, Niijima has already conquered most of the northern region and has formed tightly-knit alliances with some of the provinces south of it. Because of that, I was able to quickly conquer the rest of the provinces between my land and the province of Yamato and when I turned 20 years old, I took the Shogun's throne and continued onto the Imperial province of Hitachi."
"…"
"When I first arrived in here, I met someone who told me that she can help in forming a communication line between me and the Emperor which would ease our current war with each other. I accepted her offer and two years ago, we won in the war as the Emperor conceded from power and became a figurehead, with me taking much of the ruling in the country. Before the Emperor's announcement though, that's when I learned about the condition that she wanted me to help out with."
"She? Who is that?"
"You should be familiar with her name alone… Azusagawa Maya."
"Ma… Maya-chan?"
"It seems like it does ring a bell, huh?"
"O-Of course! She's my friend from the past world! If she helped you… then does that mean-"
"She's the current Chief Shrine maiden of Kyoga sanctum. She was summoned here years ago and worked as the aide of the Emperor's wife and daughters for a while until she resigned and returned to Kyoga sanctum as a Shrine Maiden. She rose up the ranks until she became the sanctum's leading figure. Well, the Kiyomasa clan's current situation are mostly to blame about it. After all, the Kiyomasa clan is running out of female members."
"Maya-chan… who could've known…?"
"Back to our conversation… Four years ago, she told me about a certain friend that she wanted to meet again and cited that he might be summoned even if he's already dead in the old world. Because I understood little about it, I consulted the Sanctum personnel of the Inazuma clan of Niijima and the Daigo clan of Kise about it and they all said that it is impossible, or it has never been recorded yet before. After hearing that, she accepted that I cannot be of help and did her own trial-and-error method by herself. But as you can already guess… you are here now and there is a reason as to how that happened."
"What is it then?"
"Because of Daigo Reika. The Priestess of Kingo Sanctum."
"-?!"
"When she heard that someone else asked for it, she lied about the Daigo clan's inability to help and waited until Maya has given up on seeking the help of the other clans before coming back to contact me and inform me of the truth."
"Why?"
"Because she needs you."
"What?"
"Before I tell the rest, I want to first hear your own words…"
"About what?"
"About how much you trust that woman named Daigo Reika."
"…She is a close ally and a good friend. But I cannot deny that she didn't catch my doubt before. There is certainly something beneath her ever-smiling face and kind demeanor."
Hearing his words, I sighed lightly before continuing.
"Good. Because what I am about to say would certainly make you suspicious about whether or not it is worthwhile for you to continue trusting her."
"…"
"When you two first met, did she show you the belongings of the first otherworlder, Narukami Ayaka?"
"Yes. A smartphone, a hair scrunchie, her ID card and a colored picture of her and some classmates."
"I see… so she used the same trick as she used on me."
"Trick?"
"It's something like being in a foreign land and some stranger suddenly tapped your back and talked to you in Japanese. It's a gesture to easily and instantly gain your trust."
"I see…"
"To put it simply, Daigo Reika approached me that day and offered me something that I found hard not to accept. She told me that like her, I really need you and she knows how to summon you even if you already died in our past world."
"About that, why do you need me after all?"
"I'll tell you about that later. But first, I want you to listen first about her."
"Alright."
I narrated to him the reason why Reika needed her.
"I believe that Lady Inari-no-kami already told you how the other great spirits departed the surface world, yes? I have also conversed with her once when I came near to Furuya province."
"Yeah. She said that the Sea dragon spirit returned to the bottom of the sea. The white tiger spirit died 400 years ago. And the phoenix spirit went to the middle of a volcano to become an egg and wanted to be considered as dead."
"Well then, why do you think the Daigo clan still exists if their guardian spirit no longer exists?"
"…I don't understand your question. Why does that affect the clan's existence?"
"Let me educate you about how the Sanctums and their clans work then… During the Naisen period when the northern islands became a land of unending wars, the White tiger spirit died because it cannot take the massive amounts of negative ki from all of the suffering and bloodshed in his area of control. With his death, the Inazuma clan became nothing more but record keepers of the north's history and keepers of our cultural heritage practices."
"…"
"When the Sea dragon spirit retreated to the bottom of the sea, the Kiyomasa clan took on the work of taking care of the summoned Otherworlders and finding suitable masters for them to serve."
"Wait…"
"And so, I ask you… why does the Daigo clan insist to remain a religious clan if their guardian spirit no longer exists?"
"No way…"
I told him what he might have already realized.
"The Daigo clan may have lost the Pheonix spirit as their deity figure. But they just had to change who it is to remain a religious institution. And a certain person was a suitable replacement for it… the first otherworlder, Narukami Ayaka."
"It can't be… so that attack and the extravagant titling ceremony was all for-"
"For publicity… and an indirect announcement for those has come under the new cult surrounding the Otherworlders. You, Iwasawa Hiroshi, has come as the second great Otherworlder to supplant the foundations made by the first great Otherworlder, Narukami Ayaka."
"How… how can I not notice it back then…?"
"Because she made sure not to make you realize it… because as I said before, she needs you to remain ignorant to it in order to continuously let her family reign without opposition."
"But then, what about Daigo Aiko?"
"Aiko did come from the pure Daigo clan lineage, but she and Reika shared the same sentiment regarding the possible collapse of the Daigo clan's influence and power. In short, the attack that happened during that day, the wounds she gave to Reika, and the clues she left in order for you to think that she is working with the enemy, was all part of the conspiracy to make you the new savior of their cult."
"W-what…?"
"Listen here, Hiroshi. I allowed for you to be summoned to this world in order for you to continue where I can no longer go, but when I was about to finalize my way to inform you about this new world and what place you will have under me as I train you to become my successor, the Daigo clan already made their move and summoned you back at that cave near Kiko."
"That cave… don't tell me that-"
"Yes. The dead samurai you met there was the body they used to summon you to this world. The memories you have regarding waking up in a herbalist's home and travelling by foot from somewhere was a fabricated memory they implanted in your mind. After all, even when you travelled across the Southern triad, I don't think you ever found that place again, right?"
"Wait… yes! I can't find that place again! It never crossed my mind again because I was busy being the Daimyo of Kiko, but I am sure that that place doesn't exist anywhere there!"
"Yes. Because you didn't wake up and travelled around back then. You truly woke up in that cave that has your horse and some books that they stole from my library. Books that they knew you will be using in order to further advance Kise's technology and way of life… an advancement that they need to fool the people of Kise to believe that you are the successor of Narukami Ayaka's legacy of being an Otherworldly savior."
There was a look of utter disbelief and shock on Hiroshi's face. But I wasn't done yet with it.
"I learned about their sudden action and found a way to detract their next moves. In order to do that, I needed the help of people that I can trust down in the southern triad. And those people, are the village leaders of Kiko and the old man from the Misanagi clan."
"Wait… don't tell me that-"
"In order to let you quickly rise to power so I can justify my visit to you, I told them to help you become the Daimyo, upsetting the whole line of plans that the Daigo clan has for you. Instead of being swept back to Kise where they needed you, I arranged for the Kiko Three to take you in and pin the Daimyo's title to you as quickly as possible."
"Wait, wait, wait! I don't understand… are you saying that the Daigo Three and old man Jirou already knows about you?"
"Of course. After the Akizuki lord was poisoned by his treacherous subjects to turn him insane, they formed a secret line of communication with me if ever Kiko becomes a fractured state, and they needed a casus bello to make it become whole again. If they can state that they are reclaiming Kiko under my support, no one will stand against them. As such, I was essentially the reason why you became a Daimyo."
"Then what you said back then in Haguro province…"
"I made you… that is not a lie. Although I did withhold and bent some information back then in order to make you question it by yourself… Such as the truth behind the Daigo clan."
"Back then, you said that you provided all of the things in that cave, and now, you said that it did came from you, but the Daigo clan was the one who placed it there, right?"
"That's right. I consented for the ritual that will bring you here, but I didn't consent into making you a cult god of that insane clan of power-hungry and greedy people. I wanted you to become my successor after everything that Mana-chan told me back then about you."
After confessing to him about how and why he got here, I started the next part of our conversation.
"I could've visited you back then, but there was trouble that brewed in my homeland, and I knew that the Daigo clan was connected to it. When you had meetings with Reika, did she mention something about me?"
"Yes… she said that you came from Kyoga sanctum and even though you are very capable, you are a person who believes in Eugenics and would kill anyone who does not fit your standards."
"That is a half-lie. She structured that statement in order to pin to me the qualities and problems she had with the one who started my current problem in Niijima province."
"Who is that?"
"Miyazono Keiji… the craziest person in the Miyazono corporation's heirs."
"That-!"
"I know… you have a history with him since he was the one who led the Festival of Flesh that kidnapped and killed Miyazaki Hiro's beloved and later on, killed you, his Replicant, as well."
"But why… why does she have to pin Keiji's blames on you?"
"Because she needed to clean her hands of that mistake."
"What?"
"In order to place Kise, and later on entire the country, under their theocratic rule with you as a figurehead, they needed to dispose of me first. But because my people is devoted to me after all the peace and prosperity that I gave them, they cannot easily win them over or at least, make them rebel against me. Thus, they needed a bomb and what they got in the end was a dirty bomb."
"Dirty bomb… why do you call him like that?"
"Because Keiji's existence will not only harm me and those near me, but everyone else that they wished to keep safe in order to win over later."
"…"
"Daigo Reika bit more than she can chew when she summoned Keiji and thus, secretly ordered for him to be sent to Niijima to limit their losses and still function as a harm to me."
"That woman…"
"That is not all, Hiroshi. She also made Aiko to join the secret group under Keiji in order to force me to be the one to handle him. I cannot make drastic choices such as going back there to finish him because that will expose the Imperial capital and the other surrounding provinces to their movements, or declaring war and making Keiji hold my countrymen as hostages…"
"That do is a hard spot to get out of."
"Exactly… that's why our meeting here has to be as secretive as possible."
"Why?"
"Because once they learn that I have told you all about this, they would take your absence in the Southern Triad as an opportunity to leap into action and spread their influence across their borders."
"With how their cultist faith goes, it is hard to think that they will be able to actually spread around."
"You're right. But with the weapons that your technological advancement created, you must be aware that you only need a handful of radicalized people to topple a government and win over the populace."
"…"
"I need you to return to your homeland as soon as possible and handle the conspiracy being done by the Daigo clan… or else, you will become nothing but a figurehead for their plan to unify this country under a cult existing under your name."
"I understand… but we have a problem right there, Shogun."
I narrowed my eyes as a saw a strange expression on Hiroshi's face.
"What if I just side with them and finish you and Keiji? What would you do then?"
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
I don't care if they lied to me. I don't care if they didn't tell me why they brought me here or anything like that.
"None of what you told me changes anything. You are still a tyrant who brainwashes people who go against you and kills those who will never go under your rule."
"…"
"I don't care if I will become a figurehead of a cult or any other crap like that. Unlike you, I will not be forcing them to worship me or follow my words to the dot. Even if she repeatedly lied and hid her wrongdoings to us, none of it was made to harm the people… in how I see it, her actions and aspirations are more noble than yours."
"Well then…"
"…"
"I will let you roam around the city tomorrow with some guards. You call me a tyrant just because I once told you that I do not like to give freedom to just everyone… but you clearly don't understand why I arrived at that conclusion."
He stood up and opened the door behind him.
"…Once you have seen with your own eyes and heard with your own ears the reason why everyone agreed to be under my rule, you will surely come back to me with mind that cannot be in peace and a heart that cannot find comfort."
"You wish."
"No, Hiroshi… I am sure of it."
"…"
"I am sure that you will certainly see all of the errors that your unconditional belief in absolute freedom has. And how it blinded you from the truth that I came to see and side with after living here for so long."
As he left the room, three people entered after him whose identities made me narrow my eyes towards them in contempt.
"Kameko… Kisho… Yoichi…"
"Whoa there, buddy… no need to give us that murderous look."
"We're here to guard you until the day after tomorrow. We can leave now while the sun is still up."
These three… the traitors of Vega. They were assigned to look after me while I am going around in this tyrant's land.
But even though I am so confident with my own beliefs right now, I cannot say the same after I have truly heard and seen for myself why these people came under his rule.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
Ephraim_Chronia
Ephraim_Chronia "Oh man... Hiroshi really became a wrek his time."
-Editor ZERO
"Hiroshi certainly became too unbearable this volume. I guess we have Author Rai's decision to break him away from the typical isekai MC to thank here."
-Editor KEY
"Do you guys see now why I had to make that disclaimer in the Prologue? Yeah. This is very screwed up, but this is actually happening nowadays."
-Author Rai
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone