Somehow, Living Life in Another World is Wrong, as I Expected Ch. 9.4

The needs of a populace outweigh the wants. This is the basic idea behind society. By the very nature of the world, there are a finite amount of resources to be shared around. In order to facilitate an ‘equal’ society, there must also be a balance between the various needs and wants of each individual person.

If, say, there was a limited amount of water, then it would be obvious that society would need to ration this water out. Seeing as this wasn’t a desert planet, this thankfully wouldn’t happen, though the feudalism here is already close enough that that point is moot.

Regardless, if some individual were to want more water than they necessitated, then they would be dragged down by the others who would lose out on their partition of water. This benefits the whole in two ways: they would get rid of some upstart who wanted to cheat the system, and they would get larger shares since there would be one less mouth to water.

A win-win situation.

Except, in doing so, they have gotten rid of a valuable resource - manpower.

The expertise of a single person can make or break society itself. A wise king could guide an entire nation to a new golden age, while a cruel one could make it all crash down.

This is the crux of the reason why the ‘needs outweigh the wants’ falls flat. If society wants to function with reasonable efficiency, with the most capable individuals at the top, then society must bend to the wants of these individuals.

Earlier, I spoke of how compensation is a requirement for work. This is still true. But the amount of compensation varies for each type of work. You do not pay an office worker the same salary as that of a CEO, that kind of model would be impossible to fund.

However, you also can’t pay a CEO the same amount you do an office worker.

And it’s not because a CEO wouldn’t take that money. No, that person would happily screw over their entire workforce if they could make more profit at the end of the day. Rather, it’s because no one would become CEO if they didn’t want to become CEO.

The head of a company has many responsibilities that come with the job - though it’s up in the air whether they do their jobs anyway - which also necessitates the increase in appropriate compensation. It’s this compensation that makes people want.

More compensation means more money. More money means that you can get what you need. When you already have what you need, you can get what you want. Therefore, the higher your status in society is, is equivalent to getting what you want.

Hachiman, Hachiman, aren’t you rambling too much about your thinly-veiled hate of black companies too much?

No Hachiman, I’m not talking about just black companies. I am talking about all companies in general! I hate the entire Japanese corporate system!

Hachiman, Hachiman, but this isn’t Japan!

Yes, but this doesn’t mean that I’m still not suffering the consequences of that very same system.

After all, if you think about it, this all also means the opposite, in that those of the lower echelons of society can’t get what they want. Only, if you had any amount of self-awareness, you’d also realize that these same people usually can’t even get what they need either.

Hard work is sometimes not enough. True, you’d have the satisfaction - or lack thereof - of doing a good job, but that doesn’t mean that it will be enough to get some food and water in your stomach. The only true compensation that you get is suffering for another day. Over and over again.

All of that to say that I realize that I am a part of that lower echelon. Why you may ask? Well, a simple enough look at what I was doing would make you realize that I was doing work for neither what I need nor what I want.

…

“Hachiman Hikigaya.”

My name was spoken with an air of calmness. Perfectly in line how anyone of reasonable thought would have done so. So calm, in fact, that even mentioning it would have bored people to sleep.

Until you realized the one who spoke was a damned Witch Cultist.

With an aura of stillness about him, Petelguese Romanée-Conti stood inside a purple bubble. Around him, his Fingers were similarly standing without a sign of distress.

Not that they had any choice in the matter, being dually trapped inside Beatrice's power and in the Forbidden Library.

I stayed silent for a moment as I stared at the Witch Cultist. I knew he must know something about the storm outside, provided that this really was a Witch Cult action. Indeed, if Karsten was to be followed, then we would already be torturing this guy for as much information as possible.

Except it wouldn't work. According to Natsuki back then, even if we were to kill him, Romanée-Conti would just transfer bodies into one of his Fingers.

I wasn't going to risk that.

“You’re not what I expected.” I admitted, crossing my arms, “I thought you’d be frothing at the mouth by now.”

A flicker of something - Annoyance? Amusement? - passed over his face, “Disappointed?”

“Cautious.” I corrected, “People who don’t act like their reputation suggests are either hiding something or planning something. So which is it?”

Bringing any healer around would be a fool's errand, too. The only healer that I knew would be able to keep a patient alive and cohesive was Argyle, and he would sooner ‘accidentally’ fry this guy’s nerves than heal him by any amount.

Above all else though, the idea of torturing someone like that was…disturbing to say the least.

I wasn't above doing petty crime, provided that it gave me what I wanted. Blackmail, threats, and other such things were well within what I would consider doing. Torture was another matter entirely. I would not wish that on anybody, let alone actually do the torturing.

It’s why it was me that was here instead of Karsten.

“You are strangely calm for the holder of Greed.”

“Don’t talk as if you know me.” I snapped out of sheer instinct. Annoyance bubbled at the forefront as this son of a bitch spoke.

“Then how should I speak?” A single eyebrow was raised, “You’ve been quiet for some time, after all. Did you just come here to gawk at us?”

“Awfully talkative now, aren’t you?” I sneered, “Where was all this when Natsuki and the others were here?”

“You should know by now that those who hold Witch Factors aren’t exactly known to be stable.” Romanée-Conti narrowed his eyes in a dangerous glare, “The fact that you haven’t gone insane tells me that you are either already completely insane, that it didn’t matter if you had the Witch Factor, or that you’re extremely compatible with it. Neither of those conclusions make me trust you any better.”

I scoffed at the hypocrisy of the statement, “And you think you deserve my trust? You, a self-admitted Witch Cultist?”

“I neither want nor need your trust, Greed.” Romanée-Conti clicked his tongue in response.

“Then we’re in the same boat.” I grabbed a chair and roughly sat down. I wasn’t in the mood for this, if I was entirely honest. However, that won’t stop me from doing it, “So, let’s cut the charade and get down to business: the storm outside, what do you know of it?”

For the first time since the conversation began, I saw Romanée-Conti’s features, and that of his Fingers, twist into confusion, “...You’ll have to be more specific than that.” He even scratched his head, “I’m afraid that without any windows, we don’t exactly know anything about what’s going outside.”

So he does know something.

Romanée-Conti might be trying to act coy by fishing for more information, but the mere act of answering with that makes me absolutely certain that he at least knows what could have been the cause. Even though he said he was part of the Moderates of the Witch Cult, the osmosis of information by virtue of still being part of said Cult made sure that they at least know of the other side’s capabilities.

Not only that, but his tone indicated just a slight bit of urgency. Had it been anyone other than…actually, thinking about it more, I feel like this guy just couldn’t hide jack shit from even a toddler.

Anyway, what I’m saying is that I’m willing to give him more information that’s already public knowledge, in exchange for what he knows.

“There’s a snowstorm outside that’s been attributed to originating from the Mathers’ domain. I-” The rest of my words were cut off as there was a collective gasp from the otherwise quiet Fingers. Almost as one, they turned to look at Romanée-Conti.

The Archbishop was, to put it mildly, absolutely terrified. You know how a child would look when they get jumpscared by some bullshit video on the internet? The look that tells you they’re about two seconds away from crying their eyes out? I should know, I’ve seen Komachi with that face more than once over the years.

It felt awkward when that same look was on a grown man’s face, let alone that of a Witch Cult Archbishop.

“Hikigaya, whatever you may feel about me, you must confirm whether this is the actions of Lady Emilia or not.” I’ll admit that I was taken aback when Romanée-Conti slammed his fists onto the barrier around him. That said, the frantic look in his eye was closer to what I expected a Witch Cultist to be like. Whether that was good or bad was up in the air, “If she is the cause, then you must evacuate everyone that you can, else you risk a repeat of what happened in Elior Forest!”

“Why would you care?” Despite the sheer desperation in Romanée-Conti’s voice, I didn’t let that break my composure, “Even if you say that your entire purpose was to prevent the Witch of Envy’s resurrection, what the hell does Emilia have to do with any of that, aside from her looks?”

Yes, that was it, wasn’t it? Romanée-Conti told us that he was the leader of the Moderates of the Witch Cult, confirmed by Karsten herself. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that he also wasn’t opposed to widespread chaos.

In fact, doesn’t the opposition for the resurrection of the Witch of Envy only exacerbate the chaos that they could cause?

By the very existence of Satella, should she come back, there would be widespread destruction. Armies would fall, cities wiped out. Well, that’s at least the thought of the general populace. Myself, I’m doubtful that it would go that far, since we still have people like Astrea on our side.

However, the point still stands; in that that sort of destruction and chaos would only last until one side dies to the other. Either the Sword Saint wins, or Satella wins, there’s no middle ground there.

And in the end, what would the world end up as?

Either a world free from the Witch, or a dead one.

In other words, a world wherein there is no longer a need for a Witch Cult.

Would these people want a world like that? Would they truly be willing to sacrifice everything they had in the name of the Witch of Envy? By all accounts, I would say no. For one, I knew of just what exactly tempted people into joining the Cult in the first place.

After all, it’s all to do with greed.

Each member of the Witch Cult has a Gospel, and according to my network, that Gospel supposedly leads to getting what you want most in life, provided you follow it to the letter. The how or why Gospels appear are largely irrelevant, just that they do so for individuals that are desperate enough to trust a suspicious black book. Humans, demi-humans, and everything in between - they’re all selfish, one way or another. I’ve spoken of this before, but the long and short of it is that each Cultist wants their own thing, rather than the overarching goal of the Cult.

So, it makes sense that part of the Cult wouldn’t want the Witch to come back, period.

It doesn’t make sense that Romanée-Conti would want Emilia and everyone else to be safe.

The Archbishop could just care for the half-elf, all things considered, but that doesn’t exactly convince me. If he truly cared, then why was it that it was Mathers that found her in Elior Forest rather than Romanée-Conti himself? If he truly cared, then he at least would have checked up on her village at least once over the years.

If Romanée-Conti didn’t care all too much about her, then the only other conclusion is that this has to do with his overarching goal of preventing the resurrection of Satella. This means that Emilia herself had more of a connection to the Witch than superficial looks, and Romanée-Conti not checking up on her was in the same vein.

That also means that, should this storm really be her doing, then it’s possible that we are already too late. That the Witch herself might be in the process of resurrecting. Of course, Natsuki likely would prevent that, wouldn’t he? Protagonist bullshit powers and all that.

Unless of course, he was already dead. We’ve already seen evidence in the unreliability of his clairvoyance, in the form of Romanée-Conti himself. If that happened again, when dealing with the Witch of Envy?

One wrong step could lead to death. For everyone.

…Goddammit, this is why I hate getting involved in this shit!

…