Danmachi: A Mage's Journey

Chapter 282 282: What Is Justice?

On the top floor of the Guild Headquarters.

"Captain! The evilus members from all directions seem to be responding to the attack from the northwest and are taking action one after another!" Raul reported to the door with a shaken and anxious voice.

Finn, who was looking around the battlefield from the huge building of the Pantheon, began to sweat as soon as he heard Raul's voice.

"Face the attack head-on! Protecting the people is our top priority!"

Now, black smoke could be seen rising everywhere in Orario.

You didn't even need to listen carefully to hear the overlapping shouts, the clashing of swords, and the sounds of magical bombardments. The closer to the city walls, the more intense the fighting became, and the adventurers were unable to cope with evilus.

Relying on the visual intelligence from the top floor and the reports brought back by messengers such as Raul, Finn issued orders precisely.

However—

"A small number of enemy soldiers lost control. Even though this is the case, there's a clear will intervening and causing the enemy forces to join the battle one after another. Was it the instructions of the evil gods?"

Judging from the current situation, it was obvious they could sense a god's will, and rash action was dangerous.

'If I give up command, it will delay the entire army's response. No, I can't move.'

Even though this was a sudden attack, if they randomly mobilized their troops, the enemy would definitely break through a single weakened point. To maintain the balance of the battle line, no more forces could be dispatched to support the Seventh District.

Just as Finn was concentrating on thinking through all possible means, Raul, who was waiting behind him, could no longer hold back and shouted anxiously, "Captain! If we can't send more reinforcements, it would be like leaving the people in the northwest area to die without any help."

Raul's pessimism was exactly the result of Finn's worries.

"No."

Finn fought off both his own worry and Raul's despair. He stared sharply toward the northwest and stretched out his arm.

"They are still here. Raul, convey the order quickly."

"...!"

Raul suddenly realized what Finn meant at that moment.

With hopeful eyes, Finn declared, "Those who can still move, Astraea familia, go."

...

"Received an order from the Loki Familia! The enemy's offensive is getting more intense! Quickly go to the northwest area they are surrounding to provide support!"

Noin received the message from Raul and quickly ran over to relay Finn's instructions.

"What! Why don't we go quickly?" Ryuu stood up impatiently.

"Wait, some people haven't arrived yet." After looking around, Kaguya asked about the two who were not present.

"Neze, where are captain and Akira?"

"Akira was sent by Finn to carry food for Orario, and captain has been working all day these past days, so she's resting in her room now."

Neze pricked up her ears and looked toward Base Camp C.

"No, she's definitely meditating. She must be thinking about the answer to justice again."

Alise was pondering the answer to justice. When she met Astraea, she learned the essence of justice. Astraea did not tell her the answer. To be precise, Alise seemed to feel that no answer is the answer.

"It's easy to show the 'justice' that children pursue. All we need to do is use our divine power."

One day in her daily life, Astraea muttered to herself, "The gods can fill all children with happiness with just a wave of their fingers."

"Everyone will be filled with smiles, and the concepts of 'good' and 'evil' will disappear. But that's not the right thing to do. That is not the 'justice' of the lower world."

Because if everything in the incomplete lower world were satisfied, it would mean losing the future of progress. Enjoying the comfort of creation would lead to degeneration and prevent people from advancing.

Justice is by no means a poison that kills the world. For the first time, Alise felt thatjustice was so heavy she almost couldn't breathe. On the contrary, she even began to feel a little envious of the evil temptation.

Happiness, enjoyment, impulse, even if you fall prey to all of these, evil never causes contradiction. It might even be said that perhaps evil is just following instinct, which is almost bestial.

So, is justice the opposite, a symbol of rationality?

The guardians of order always suffer from the discrepancy between hope and reality.

No idea.

Not clear.

Not understood.

But the answer, she had to think of the answer, she had to reach it.

Her answer was:

"Alise! The enemy has appeared! Come out quickly! The situation is urgent!"

Loud knocking sounds rang out.

In front of Alise's room, Lyra clenched her fists and knocked on the door repeatedly. Behind her, making a fuss like a child, Astraea and her group watched silently with smiles on their faces.

Seeing that Alise was so engrossed in her thoughts as if she were sleeping like a dead pig, Kaguya looked embarrassed and apologized, "Captain, I'm sorry, there's no time. I need to—"

Just at that moment, she put her hand on the sword at her waist and was about to use force.

Creak—

The wooden door in front of Kaguya and Lyra creaked slightly and slowly opened.

Alise slowly walked out. She carried a sense of freedom and ease that enveloped her whole body, as if she had attained a divine aura of enlightenment.

Ryuu and the others were unable to utter a word and gulped nervously.

"Now that you're out, have you figured out the answer?" Lyra and Kaguya demanded.

Surrounded by her companions, all nervously watching her reaction, Alise slowly opened her eyes.

She lifted her bowed head and opened her mouth, "Well, I can't do that."

"WHAT!!!?"

The serious atmosphere disappeared in an instant.

"No, I thought about it very hard. I worried for a long time. I even worried so much that the worms in my stomach kept growling. But I just couldn't do it." Alise announced loudly without hesitation.

All the members of the Astraea Familia showed expressions of shock and disbelief.

Lyra looked at her with eyes that said she was the dumbest idiot in the world. Her eyes widened in anger, her cheeks twitched, and she was speechless.

Ryuu said awkwardly, "As expected of Alise, ahaha..." trying to smooth things over.

Even Astraea couldn't help but break into a cold sweat.

Alise, you don't want to be beaten up before the battle, do you?

Kaguya, who had been frozen, suddenly snapped back to her senses and rushed forward, reaching out as if to grab her.

"Alise! Now's not the time to fool around!"

"I'm not joking!" Alise shot back with a voice full of conviction.

"Because this is the answer, the only answer, for people like us, who have stumbled, hesitated, gotten lost, and strayed down the wrong path over and over again. It's an answer we can only spend our entire lives trying to reach."

"...?"

With an expression more serious than anyone else in the room, Alise declared a "conclusion" that she herself didn't yet understand.

Her words left Lyra, Kaguya, Ryuu, and the others utterly dumbfounded.

"That's why we can't expect to figure it out right now. How could we? It's impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

That was Alise's answer.

She admitted it openly. She was too ignorant to reach the truth yet. But if she couldn't understand it now, then she would search.

Just like a traveler, she would lift her eyes to the heavens and keep searching for the one star that shone among countless points of light.