No matter how obvious the answer, the time it takes to reach it differs from person to person. Those who find the answer quickly are considered rational, while those who take longer are seen as emotional. But when the matter at hand involves something as heavy as a nation, anyone would become emotional.

It took quite a while. Yuel finally spoke, filled with resentment.

"...Has this nation gone so wrong? Wrong enough that you have to destroy it yourself?"

"There's no right or wrong in the world. Things just happen that way."

"I only wanted to fulfill his dream... to build a nation led by the people... There was nothing wrong with that..."

"There’s no such thing as right or wrong. Oh, and by the way."

She kept going on about a nation led by the people, but it really seemed like she believed it. So I decided to say something.

How is Gun-guk a nation led by the people?

"Gun-guk isn’t a nation led by the people. It's a nation that no one leads. From what I've seen, no one actually leads this country. If anything, it’s trampled underfoot."

"...That’s..."

"Don’t talk as if it was the only way. You simply couldn’t trust anyone. Not the soldiers, not the people, not even yourself."

For the people to lead, the people must be in charge. But people are far from ideal. The larger the group, the easier it is for individuals to make cruel choices without even considering them.

Unable to trust humanity, Yuel created a fictional entity—Gun-guk. It was Gun-guk that watched over, monitored, and judged them.

Like a god.

Perhaps because she’s a saint, she borrowed from the divine. The only difference is that Gun-guk judges in this world, not the afterlife.

"I don’t know much about 'him' or what kind of person he was, but I can be sure of one thing: this kind of country isn’t what he would have wanted. Unlike you, he probably trusted humanity more. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have dreamed such a foolish dream."

What he wanted to build was a beautiful sandcastle, not a cruel and eternal fortress made of steel.

The truth in my words weighed heavily on Yuel, and she screamed.

"How could I trust them?! I 'saw' everything! I watched them come to me with smiling faces, only to plot all kinds of treachery behind my back! I saw it all...!"

Even as the kingdom fell and Gun-guk rose, selfish people persisted. People who sought only their own gain, those who longed for the power they lost, and those who wanted to replace the fallen and become the new ruling class.

To someone like Yuel, who had only seen the most beautiful aspects of the world, the ugly side of humanity must have been jarring. She likely wanted to strip them of freedom, responsibility, and guilt, just to cleanse them.

"That's just how humans are."

But what can you do? All of that is part of being human, too.

Her voice, which had been breaking into sobs, cut off. Yuel clenched her fists and lowered her head. Her words, mumbled as she looked down, echoed off the stone floor and reached my ears.

"...Aby, you will either destroy Gun-guk, or it will destroy you."

"I have no such intentions."

"How nice it would be if things always went as planned. But they don’t. If you're incompetent, you'll be crushed by external pressure. If you're capable, guilt will eat away at you. Every sin committed in this country will become yours. Tragedies that have nothing to do with you will be laid at your feet, and every careless complaint will turn into a dagger that stabs you in the heart. You won't be able to withstand it. Especially not with what you can see."

In most cases, advice from someone with experience sounds like arrogance to those without. But this time, it was miraculously conveyed. Perhaps it was thanks to Captain Aby's empathy—pure empathy, not related to her synchronization magic.

With firm resolve, Captain Aby spoke.

"I am prepared to be resented. I will do what must be done."

"Must be done? Aby, what do you plan to do first? Are you going to stop the war that’s already started, as that little one requested?"

The ostensible goal of the regressor was to prevent the war between Gun-guk and the neighboring nations. I had assumed Gun-guk wouldn’t listen, but that was the claim.

Captain Aby glanced at me, then nodded.

"War is an extremely costly tactical action. Especially when a powerful force launches an assault to prevent it. If the situation can be resolved peacefully without war, there is no reason to continue the conflict."

"There is a reason. You weren’t listening when the communication was cut off, but the reason is clear."

"What is it?"

Yuel, watching Captain Aby with pity, spoke.

"The problem with war is that it happens even if only one side has the intention. Even if Gun-guk doesn't start it, as long as the neighboring nations want it, war will break out."

"So you're saying they intend to strike first, before they are attacked? That's irrational. To act based on something that hasn’t even happened yet…"

"No. I saw it. The neighboring nations have already started the war. Without a formal declaration, they’ve gathered their forces and are marching towards the wasteland where the Abyss once was."

"What?"

Now that I think about it, the Thousand-Mile Eyes really are a cheat.

One of Gun-guk's weaknesses is its short history and lack of mysticism. When faced with asymmetric forces like Tyr or the regressor, who possess mystical abilities, Gun-guk has few means of countering them. This is especially true in the field of espionage, where Gun-guk lacks the ability to strike at unexpected moments.

...But if a saint with the Thousand-Mile Eyes has been providing information to the communications officers, the situation changes. They’ve been spying on the world from their hiding place. That was Gun-guk’s real strength.

"Nomadic tribes… One of the few advantages the displaced nations have is mobility. Our superiority lies solely in organization. Thanks to the communications officers quickly gathering our forces, there’s already a reconnaissance skirmish taking place in the wasteland of the Abyss."

Yuel recalled the information she had 'seen' with the Thousand-Mile Eyes.

While we were on our way to the headquarters, the army gathered by the Meta-Conveyor Belt was advancing north. The main heavily-armed force was heading there, and by the time the vanguard reached the wasteland, they had already established a foothold.

Then the cavalry from the neighboring nations arrived. The two armies met on the desolate land once cursed by the Earth Goddess, now an empty battleground. The situation was on the verge of exploding.

Even while the assault on headquarters was underway, Yuel couldn’t take her eyes off that scene. After all, our small group tearing through Gun-guk was nothing more than a guerilla operation, but on the battlefield, the fate of nations was about to be decided in full-scale war.

Perhaps the ease with which we infiltrated Gun-guk’s headquarters was due to most of its forces being deployed elsewhere.

"This wasn’t a one-sided war we started. It's a full-blown conflict where both sides’ interests are entangled. The neighboring nations desperately need land they can settle on. The land may have been useless when the Abyss was there, but now that the Earth Goddess's curse is lifted, it’s a tempting prize. While you were enthralled with him, I saw all of this and transmitted it to the communications officers. After cross-checking the information, all the officers determined that war was inevitable. So, should we suddenly stop just because an unknown armed force shows up and tells us to?"

With this new information, Captain Aby realized she needed to reassess all of her previous judgments.

When she made contact with the regressor, the regressor demanded that the war be stopped. At the time, Captain Aby had been cut off from the other communications officers and accepted the regressor’s request without question. In her mind, a ceasefire had seemed like the only way to prevent the assault.

But now, the war had already begun. The regressor's demands were unreasonable from the start. The only options left were to repel them or find some way to convince them.

"Had that information been shared, wouldn’t the other side have accepted it?"

"How could we prove something that hadn’t happened yet? Should I have revealed myself and pleaded in front of the ancestors? Should I have explained that I was once a saint and had seen a future that hadn’t yet come to pass?"

So she’s finally revealing that she’s a saint. I wasn’t surprised since I already knew, but the princess’s reaction showed she was. Saints aren’t exactly commonplace, after all.

With no secrets left, Yuel fired back sharply.

"Ha! I guarantee you, that would have been far more dangerous! What guarantee is there that the ancestors wouldn’t call upon the Empire? Can we handle the full force of the Empire descending upon us in the midst of this war? If we were going to repel them, this was the first and last chance while the ancestors are still isolated! It’s probably already too late!"

This situation was indeed a mess. Captain Aby recognized that.

'Yuel’s words are reasonable. At this point, stopping the war is impossible. Shay’s demands are irrational and unfeasible, leaving Gun-guk with no option but to repel them...'

However, that wasn’t the only difference between Captain Aby and Yuel.

Captain Aby had been the overseer of the Abyss and had frequently interacted with the regressor. She had spoken with him through me on several occasions.

Yuel, having witnessed the regressor’s overwhelming powers, had regarded him as a natural phenomenon, like a storm or lightning—or perhaps even like the ancestor Tirkanzharka. From her perspective, it was the most logical conclusion.

But Captain Aby understood the man behind the phenomenon—Shay. She knew that, despite his sharp and curt demeanor, he was surprisingly rational, with a strange vulnerability.

Humans are small compared to natural phenomena. They’re hard to believe in.

But it is humans, not phenomena, who answer the call of hope.

"It’s not too late. I believe there is still room for negotiation. In fact, negotiating may produce better results."

"Negotiate? How?"

"If his demands are sincere and he’s truly willing to make some effort for that goal, there’s a diplomatic way to channel this force heading towards Gun-guk."

Captain Aby made a suggestion that no former Gun-guk official would have ever proposed.

"Appoint him as a special envoy and send him to the neighboring nations. If he truly wants to stop the war, as he claims, and if he’s willing to use force for that goal as he did here, he could be the most effective means of quelling their war efforts."