Nagaril's ruling class had never truly regarded the people at the bottom as human. They treated them as slaves, expendable resources, or even just "things"! To them, accidentally killing some commoners was hardly worth dwelling on, let alone considering a "burden" of their own.
Religion also explained these matters to the people. For instance, they really had all accumulated many sins, but it did not matter—they would go to hell after death.
The victims, on the other hand, had been harmed by these "bad people" and even died because of them, yet they ascended to heaven. To them, this was not something sad, pitiful, or lamentable. Instead, it was a kind of... grace.
At least they could go to heaven. Those powerful figures covered in sin, however, could only descend into hell.
It was not that they could not tell right from wrong or sin from virtue. They had simply grown accustomed to enduring all this.
Until—
the Federation arrived.
The boundaries of the law became clear, and Theocratic Law continued to shrink. Only then did people realize that when they made a mistake, they had to be punished.
The ones who punished them were not gods, but people—the judicial authorities.
That was also why people began reporting crimes and why matters started to escalate. They no longer faced life with the numb resignation of the past. Under Akumali's ideological influence, they began rationally seeking answers to their problems and trying to express their demands through legitimate means.
That was social progress. Moreover, it was not barbaric. It had not been built through violence, war, and destruction. For the entire history of civilization, it was a miracle! A gentle process of social evolution, a social transformation known as the "Nagaril Miracle" or the "Akumali Miracle."
Now, those powerful figures also