"How about it, Isaac? I didn't lie to you."
Jules smiled as he waved the letter in his hand. "I told you, from beginning to end, our only enemy has been the gods. For that goal, any price is acceptable."
Isaac stared at him, his gaze seeming as though he wanted to walk up and punch him. In the end, however, his face merely twitched.
His voice was low. "The gods... Was the world truly like this in the past? I thought the Holy See was already corrupt and dark enough. I never expected..."
"You never expected it to be this bad, right?" Jules laughed so hard he bent over, the mechanical components in his body clanking against one another.
"You knew all this?"
Jules stopped laughing and slowly straightened up. "No."
"You expect me to believe that? You declared war on Castel to spur military-industrial development over there, didn't you? But why didn't you just tell them directly?"
There was both anger and confusion in Isaac's voice.
"No, I truly didn't know. I even suspected at one point that Bazel was 'that person.'"
"That person?"
Jules gently shook his head, his voice tinged with nostalgia. "I... only vaguely knew that [Father] had left behind contingencies. It might have been a person, certain things, or even me, or Lina. I don't know the specifics either."
"I could only test them one by one and stir up the situation. After all, turbulent times produce heroes."
Suppressed fury filled Isaac's voice. "Do you know how many people will die because of this? Perhaps even Theus will die in the war, and humanity's future will be destroyed!"
"If humanity's future can be destroyed by this little pressure, then it is unworthy of humanity's sacrifices over all these years!" Jules's voice turned cold, a