A Core Ship From The Start-Chapter 1577 - 1059: Self-inflicted Trouble

"I never expected the other party would come to propose, it’s really quite romantic."

Returning home and recalling that scene, Banriya couldn’t help but sigh.

"But I think it’s a bit too rushed."

Murasakifuji Ilina suggested her opinion while pouring tea.

"Although the two indeed have a bond, isn’t proposing right away a bit inappropriate? They should at least express gratitude for saving a life, then date, and seriously propose a relationship, considering marriage only after getting to know each other."

As she spoke, Murasakifuji Ilina looked at Isia.

"Miss Isia, what do you think?"

"Eh? I... haven’t thought about marriage..."

Faced with Murasakifuji Ilina’s inquiry, Miss Isia quickly waved her hand. It’s understandable; suddenly having someone propose would only be agreed upon by someone with mental issues.

"But I always felt his timing was odd."

Mary took a sip of tea and shared her opinion.

"Miss Isia was expelled by the Church long ago, wasn’t she? If he truly liked her, shouldn’t he have taken the friendless Miss Isia then? But after all this time, he suddenly appears with a proposal; it feels a little too fake..."

Women really do enjoy discussing such trivial topics.

Seeing everyone spiritedly discussing the matter, Duanmu Huai rolled his eyes helplessly and went to watch TV.

"Lord Duanmu, what’s your take?"

Banriya came over too, smilingly asking.

"Me? What opinion can I have? It has nothing to do with me."

Duanmu Huai snorted softly.

"Then how about from the Tribunal’s perspective? Miss Isia was expelled because she saved a demon. Do you think this was right?"

"Well... definitely not right. If it were the Tribunal, merely expelling is too simple; it would at least warrant being burned to death."

"Eh?!"

Admittedly, Duanmu Huai’s offhand answer startled the group, especially Naruse Mio, who jumped in fright.

"Burned, burned, burned to death? Isn’t that too much?"

"Too much?"

Duanmu Huai coldly glanced at Naruse Mio, then looked at Isia.

"Isia saved a demon. We know its identity now, but at that time Isia obviously knew nothing; she just saw the demon severely injured and saved it out of pity. What if it was a dissident demon, injured during exile? By saving it, Isn’t she enabling it to kill more in the future? So, every person the demon kills should be counted against Isia; burning her is too lenient!"

"I-I just saw it looking pitiful..."

"You only saw it as pitiful."

Frieren spoke calmly then.

"When I adventured with Simmel and others, we encountered a demon clan that attacked a village and killed the villagers. It begged us for mercy, and even the village chief, whose child was killed, requested us to spare it out of pity. Afterwards, the demon child lived in the village, played with village children, while the chief treated it like his own child, then..."

"Then?"

"Then one day, it killed the parents of the human child who befriended it. When the chief asked why it did that, it answered that because it had killed the chief’s child, it was giving him another child as compensation—this was its idea."

"........."

"That’s the demon clan."

Frieren silently turned a page in the book.

"They have no concept of family, parents, or human feelings; their thoughts are entirely different from humans."

"B-but... didn’t you say it begged for mercy?"

"Yes, I asked it why it said that, and the demon clan replied that simply saying this meant humans wouldn’t kill it... To the demon clan, that’s the simple meaning."

"........."

The narrative left everyone in silence.

"Mercy without limits becomes the greatest evil."

Duanmu Huai concluded decisively.

"Frankly, I find you unlucky and pitiful, but it’s your own doing. Isia, your self-assumed kindness could bring unimaginable consequences. What will you do then? If the demon you saved destroys a village, kills humans, and you stand there saying you didn’t know this would happen, you just wanted to save someone? What’s the use of your words? They are already dead, aren’t they?"

"........."

Isia lowered her head dejectedly, saying nothing.

"If it were the Tribunal, your actions would surely be judged, then directly burned to death. Because what you did, aside from fulfilling your dull hypocrisy, is meaningless, potentially leading a city, a planet’s humans to destruction and death. Of course, since it’s this world’s demon, the Tribunal might not care."

At this point, Duanmu Huai shrugged and looked at Naruse Mio.

"Also, as Frieren said, pity is not a reason to spare a target. Every target the Tribunal eliminates has its rationale. For instance, a trembling ten-year-old girl looks at you. Would you kill her?"

"........."

Naruse Mio shook her head desperately.

"You think she’s pitiful, don’t you? But what if I told you she’s a ghoul who lives by eating humans, and the only way she can survive is by consuming human flesh. What would you choose then? If you want her to live, it means humans will be eaten by her, and not only by her, but by her offspring too. So do you want her to live? Or let humans become her meal?"

"Uh...... this......"

Hearing this question, Naruse Mio was speechless.

"Remember, among the enemies the Tribunal encounters, many are like this. They might have been discriminated against and abused for certain reasons since childhood, which led them to despair and then tried to gain unimaginable strength to completely destroy everything — are they pitiful? Perhaps. But allowing them to destroy humanity just because of that? That’s absolutely impossible. No matter how pitiful they are, how tragic their background is, the Tribunal’s duty is just one — to protect humanity’s existence at all costs and eliminate any threat to humans."

At this point, Duanmu Huai stood up.

"From this perspective, I have no objections. If she wants to get married, let her. After all, it was her who stirred up this mess in the first place. If she hadn’t saved that demon, none of this would have happened."

After saying this, Duanmu Huai turned around and left the living room, heading to his room.

"The Tribunal sure is strict in this regard."

Watching Duanmu Huai’s retreating figure, Liliath sighed, deeply thankful that the era when demons exploited humans is over. Despite demons needing human desires now, it’s not a threat to human existence and can even be seen as mutually beneficial... otherwise, Duanmu Huai would have wiped them out without a second thought.

Seeing Duanmu Huai’s serious tone, everyone else refrained from joking about it. Clearly, Frieren and Mary support Duanmu Huai on this matter. From the demons’ perspective, Naruse Mio and Liliath couldn’t say it outright, but they had to admit that dissident demons do exist. If Miss Aisia had saved a dissident demon instead of Diadola, who knows what could have happened.

For Fujii Nashio, this was a very ordinary day.

Since his father remarried, it had been a while, and it couldn’t be denied that Fujii Nashio’s days weren’t going smoothly. The fact that his favorite teacher turned out to be the daughter of his father’s remarriage partner gave him a headache. If it were just this, it might have been a small surprise. However, what troubled Fujii Nashio was that once, when he saw his favorite teacher sleeping defenselessly on the sofa, he foolishly wanted to kiss her, only to be caught by the teacher’s sister!

Ever since then, Fujii Nashio felt like she looked at him as if staring at trash, which made him feel really...

"Oh......"

Sitting up from bed, Fujii Nashio instinctively stretched and yawned.

However......

Hmm? Strange, why does my voice sound sharper than usual?

Fujii Nashio touched his throat, confused, scratching his head.

Could it be a cold?

Thinking this, Fujii Nashio got out of bed and walked to the bathroom. However, for some unknown reason, he felt his view seemed much lower than usual... what’s going on?

Groggy, Fujii Nashio entered the bathroom and looked at the mirror in front.

Then, he saw a small girl with long black hair in the mirror......

".........Who is this ahhh!!!!"

"Hahahahahaha!!"

Listening to Tachibana Rui’s recount, Duanmu Huai laughed till he almost went crazy.

"Old man, this isn’t funny."

"Not funny?"

"Not exactly unfunny, but...... I really didn’t expect him to turn into a girl!"

"But now you’re at ease, aren’t you?"

Duanmu Huai spread his arms, looking at Tachibana Rui.

"Now that he’s a girl, you don’t have to worry about your sister getting entangled with him anymore. Of course, if they still manage to have tangled issues even now... then that’s destiny, you’ll have to accept it."

Facing Duanmu Huai’s rogue-like remark, Tachibana Rui was left speechless.

"By the way, old man, how did you manage this? I’ve never heard of a medicine that can turn someone into a girl."

"Now you’ve seen it, right? Of course, keep it a secret, don’t let it leak."

"I know, besides, even if I say it, no one would believe it."

"By the way, how’s that guy doing now?"

"It was hard enough to make his parents believe he’s really Fujii Nashio, but succeeding poses more issues, without any identification or anything. And no one knows why it happened. He checked at the hospital too but got no conclusions. For now, it seems to be a rare illness..."

"Actually, that’s not surprising; similar illnesses aren’t rare."

Duanmu Huai whistled, you often hear it in the news, like couples not conceiving for a long time, only to find the wife’s chromosomes are male after examination, or a girl who hasn’t had her period checks to discover she’s some kind of recessive something...

"Will he turn back?"

"What, you thought hot water turns him male and cold water female? Impossible, just let it be, isn’t it fine like this?"

"Uh......"

Facing Duanmu Huai’s answer, Tachibana Rui pondered for a moment, then nodded.

"Alright, honestly, it seems fine this way."

She had already given up thinking.