War itself held no private grudges.
Or rather, wars between races, nations, and planes were too real and too cruel. Countless lives hung on victory or defeat. To dwell on personal grudges on such a battlefield inevitably seemed far too hollow.
"When you raised your sword on the battlefield to avenge a specific individual, you might take ten lives in ten minutes—lives that had never borne any grudge against you."
Lu PingAn, a God of War in a certain sense, made no attempt to hide his disgust for war.
As the Lord of Life, as a mortal who had once watched his own life slowly drain away in despair, he had always loathed the merciless, unjustified loss of life on a massive scale—even when it took place under some supposedly legal and legitimate pretext.
"Yet in reality, I can't refuse the enormous profits war brings. The arms industry chain and wartime logistics have always been the largest part of my business. Heh, in many people's eyes, I'm probably one of this century's greatest warmongers. Quite a few conspiracy theories even paint me as the mastermind behind wars, and several tabloids are just short of naming me outright."
"And you never refuted them? Never threatened them?"
"Why would I? Were they not telling the truth?"
Lu PingAn laughed speechlessly. He had always thought humans were fascinating creatures. Their ideals could be the exact opposite of their principles of action. Was he not a warmonger? Looking at this year's arms sales figures, no one could laugh at that joke.
Yet on a deeper level, the contradiction between such actions and goals was unified.
"War itself has no righteousness, no grudges, not even meaning. But its goals and the consequences it brings cannot be rejected. It is better to proactively guide war and