Out in the wilderness, Raphael and Xio discussed war as they hurried along.
Raphael felt that "Blindly opposing war is really just avoiding the fundamental conflicts facing this world.
"Take the common people at the bottom of society. None of them are happy with their lives, so the government of the Loen Kingdom supports rhetoric that opposes solving problems through violence.
"And most of those people have no inclination to resist. They're easily misled into believing that problems really shouldn't be solved through violence."
He paused here, then added, "Especially when a nation has never experienced much struggle from the bottom up. Its people are particularly easy to deceive."
Xio thought for a while before saying, "But-but people always die in wars. There's always bloodshed. Shouldn't we oppose them?"
"It comes back to what I said before." Raphael smiled. "It depends on what kind of war it is.
"It's unrealistic to expect humanity to give up its own interests in exchange for social harmony and progress.
"If people want better lives, they can only achieve them through struggle.
"Look at those people loudly opposing war. They still have to struggle against their competitors.
"And you, too. When your life is threatened, you certainly won't preach against war to your enemies. You'll fight back."
Xio froze for a moment, suddenly feeling as though something had clicked.
On the one hand, she hated violence and war. On the other, when she herself was threatened, her first thought would inevitably be to solve the problem through violence.
Raphael could tell from her expression that she understood.
At the same time, he received clear feedback: his Devil potion had digested a little further.
Xio's earlier opposition to war had, in fact, been something innocent and beautiful. But some theories simply couldn't hold up under