"Of course I knew."
Indra's tone was flat, betraying no emotion, as though he were merely recounting something utterly ordinary.
"That land was barren to begin with, its water sources scarce. Years of water and food shortages had long since left it unable to sustain so many people."
"When I first passed through the village, I saw the root of the problem at a glance."
"Human effort has its limits. No amount of brute labor alone could change that."
Facing the bewildered Asura, whose face was filled with innocent goodwill, Indra curled his lips into an icy sneer. His gaze locked onto his brother, his tone dripping with chilling mockery.
"Asura, think back carefully."
"When you arrived at that plague-stricken village, wasn't every villager destitute, starving, and on the verge of death?"
"They had all suffered from the poisonous blight for so long that their bodies were terribly weak. Even staying alive was a struggle."
"You led them in clearing fields, digging wells, and purifying the land day after day, working around the clock."
"With physical labor that intense, where did a group of people on the verge of starvation get the extra food to keep going?"
At those words, Asura froze on the spot, his face full of shock, his mind suddenly blank.
From beginning to end, he had been immersed in the warmth of everyone working together. He had never considered such a profound, practical question.
He only remembered how hardworking, grateful, and united the villagers had been. He had never questioned the source of it all or the flaws beneath it.
Asura opened his mouth, but for a moment, he could not utter a single word in rebuttal.
Before he could recover, however, the Sage of Six Paths spoke first from his elevated seat. Shaking his head