Lewd King's Bucket List-Chapter 79: Divide

Se’van placed her hand on Runa’s desk.

"Before I continue, is there anything you’d like me to clarify, Runa?"

"Ixion, Ixion! She’s doing it again! Se’van’s playing favorites! Tell her to stop. It’s rude. Hmph!"

"My jester! Of course she’d play favorites. You’re the one who keeps interrupting her!"

"Ixion... She’s corrupted you?! How cruel! How unjust — to make the king just!"

Runa glanced at the fool, then took a deep breath and flicked her tail. She looked back at Se’van and whispered:

"No, I’m good. You can continue."

Se’van cast an empty stare at the jester, who had slipped out of her chair and was now rolling around on the floor while pretending to cry.

"Well, then... The Divide."

Se’van continued her lesson, detailing how the three major human empires rose to power.

At first, the racism, segregation, and treatment of demihumans weren’t particularly severe. That was mostly because humans and demihumans rarely interacted.

However...

As the human empires competed with one another, they discovered terrifying weapons they could use in war.

’Less discovered. More... realized.’

They began enslaving the stronger demihumans, forcing them to use their power to aid in warfare.

The issue snowballed from there.

Once the humans realized the potential of the demihumans, they enslaved them for far more than warfare.

’Disgusting practices...’

It reached a point where each of the three major empires became sustained almost entirely by demihuman slaves.

Seeing the treatment of their own kind, various demihuman tribes formed a coalition to free their brethren.

Yet they waged a war they could never win...

’With typical means, at least.’

They were severely outnumbered — the disparity was unbridgeable. No might would make right.

Instead, they employed subterfuge and chemical warfare.

Demihumans who could pass for humans — or whose forms had been altered to do so — integrated into human societies. They built followings and slowly sparked a revolution.

After a couple of long decades, the abolitionists and revolutionaries made their move.

’The means... Did they justify the end?’

Ixion wasn’t one to judge. He himself was doing something whose end could never be justified, no matter the means...

In the dead of night, multiple poison bombs detonated across the capitals of each major empire — and in the cities of those who supported them. A squad of elite demihumans who had taken on the characteristics of bombardier beetles struck the palaces and key structures, sacrificing their lives in the process.

Overnight, the empires fell.

But outrage festered.

The next couple of centuries became a cycle of hatred — one that saw every corner of the world bloodied.

It only ended when the hands of two came together. A Lizardman named Crix Praxis and Vélez Catatran.

’Yes, Catatran! My great, great, great, great... and many more greats... grandfather.’

Those two led a worldwide reformation that ended the slave trade.

’Well, they didn’t do it themselves. But they were the catalysts that allowed future generations to achieve their goal of "peace."’

And it was a little ironic that the end of that change only came about at the start of the next — and what would be the last — world crisis.

Se’van’s gaze grew vacant.

"The Scourge. Four hundred years ago marked the first recorded sighting of them."

Se’van exhaled sadly.

"I’m sure you’re well aware of what they are, so I’ll gloss over the trivial details..."

Se’van looked away, avoiding all of their gazes.

"It started slow. A few Seeds sprouted here and there in remote regions. But before the world united, their spread went unchecked. A hundred years after their appearance, the first nation fell. Two years later, the next."

She exhaled a quiet sigh.

"The world came together. They stopped fighting one another and focused their efforts on battling the Scourge. At first, it seemed like the collective nations of Kaldora could win — that there was a chance..."

Ixion laughed as she trailed off.

"Oh? Are you of the mind that it is futile? I didn’t know we were like-minded."

Se’van’s expression darkened, clearly displeased by Ixion’s statement.

"Resistance is not futile..."

Ixion laughed.

"But you just said it yourself. There is no chance remaining for Kaldora. This world is destined for the grave."

Se’van swallowed sharply.

"The situation is certainly dire at the moment, Your Grace. However, the only chance at anything changing is to continue trying."

"Oh? So, you’re banking on some hero coming along and changing everything?"

Se’van turned away.

"I’m not... but the world is."

Ixion’s eyes narrowed. Then he broke out into laughter.

"What do you mean?! Catatran seeks no hero other than me!"

Se’van turned away, the king’s foolish words finally draining the last of her patience.

"Runa, do you have questions before we continue?"

A tremor of excitement ran through the jester; her hand shot up, her lips buzzing like an agitated bee.

Se’van waited, as if pleading for Runa to acknowledge her, but the cat woman was momentarily distracted by the Lord of Truth waking up and was working on lulling him back to sleep.

Se’van rubbed her forehead, then pointed at the jester.

"Fine."

"Se’van, Se’van! Question for you! Would you aid in destroying Kaldora if it meant stopping the spread of the Scourge to other worlds?"

Se’van’s annoyance soon vanished. An unexpectedly interesting philosophical question had come from the jester. She paused in thought for a moment, then said:

"There’s been many speculations about other worlds actually existing, and that being how the Scourge came to be... but I don’t think you want an answer based on what we know, as destroying Kaldora would likely do nothing to aid another world. But seeing it as a hypothetical..."

Se’van thought for a moment, then said,

"Who would one be to decide anyone’s fate of life or death? If you sacrificed Kaldora, you’d be killing millions. If you don’t, you may subject billions to the Scourge. But we humans don’t get to play god. We have no right to decide who lives and who dies. That question has no answer."

’Boring...’

As beautiful as she was, why was Se’van such a stick in the mud?

"I think... I think I’d sacrifice Kaldora."

All eyes fell on Runa.

’Oh, ho?’

"We’ve seen firsthand what the Scourge can do. We’ve seen that fighting back is merely a delay... If there’s a way to save life, why not take it?"

Se’van held a look of disappointment in her eyes as she turned and walked back behind the lectern.

"I’m sure a few others would say the same."