Then let me ask you

November 1515, deep within the Babylon Temple.

Sephiroth wore a pure white Doric chiton, a simple, sleeveless garment in the ancient Greek style. He sat here alone in silence, technically meditating.

Opposite the meditation platform was a divine emblem of three tomoe arranged in a cycle. According to Birka legend, it represented the original "Thunder God."

Sephiroth had come here to quiet his mind, not for religious reasons. Back on Blue Star, he had been a materialist who believed that "gods are not divine."

Now, he was talking to himself about the "impulses" he had acted on over the past year.

To a certain extent, his willingness to work hard in this life had come from two things: his reasonably good background and excellent looks, and his fear of Birka Island's original fate-destruction at Enel's hands.

He had always admitted that he was no great man. He was just an ordinary person who had gotten a little luckier in this life.

Selfishness, vulgarity, indulgence, vanity, laziness... none of them were extreme, but they were certainly there.

Perhaps he was not particularly cowardly, but he was nowhere near brave.

Perhaps he was not particularly vicious, but he still had dark thoughts.

He did have kindness in him, but whether he acted on it depended on the circumstances.

He did work hard, but once the immediate danger was gone, he wanted the music and dancing to resume. He had been working hard since he was three. What was wrong with enjoying himself?

Sephiroth believed in one thing: whatever face he put on for the outside world, and however much he lied, he should at least never lie to himself.

He would never dare call this "examining his conscience." He did not think he had reached that spiritual level.

All he could say was that, when doubts arose, he questioned himself as objectively as he could.

A guilty heart made words ring hollow; deliberate pretense made a man false.

(-Then let me ask you: why did you go to the Blue Sea?)

In truth, if all he wanted was a safe, comfortable life above the masses, he had essentially achieved that when he united the three islands and reached the moon.

He lacked nothing. He had status, beautiful women, and a life to enjoy. As long as he did not provoke the World Government or oppose the protagonist, there was nothing stopping him from living above everyone else right to the end.

(Answer: embarrassing as it is to admit, getting the Rumble-Rumble Fruit went to my head. I thought it would be a waste to have power and do nothing with it.)

He knew what that feeling was. The slight arrogance behind "Wouldn't coming here have been pointless if I did nothing?" was an impulse born of his omniscient perspective. And so, once the skies cleared and the rain stopped, he started feeling invincible...

(-Then let me ask you: why did you save Nami?)

There were plenty of reasons not to save her, such as avoiding interference with the "destined" savior's salvation of the world. He set those aside for now.

His reasons for saving her: affection, pity, personal desire.

(Answer: I'm a dirty old lecher. No, wait-not old.)

After he arrived in the Blue Sea, all his dealings with the outside world could be summed up by an old poem from the Celestial Empire: "Song of Inadequacy."

(-Then let me ask you: why haven't you changed Babylon's political system?)

Under Sephiroth's administration, Babylon currently looked like a city-state similar to those of ancient Greece. But because he was a real, physically present god whose immense power resided in himself, it was also a theocracy.

(Answer: publicly, "Chesterton's Fence Principle"; privately, "I benefit from the existing system and don't want to change it.")-Because he was kind.

Using robots and automation to free his subjects from arduous labor at least gave him some justification for claiming he had empathy.

If an ordinary person gained Superman's powers, would he become Superman?

(-Then let me ask you: will you stand against the World Government?)

(Answer: on that question, I'm an opportunist. If the day comes when I can afford to be utterly ruthless, that's another matter.)

As these internal conversations proceeded one after another, an invisible power flickered around Sephiroth.

The reason he did not dare call this "self-examination" was that it was merely "self-justification." There was no actual examination involved.

He did not think he was wrong. Or rather, even if he knew he was "not right," he still intended to live this way.

(-Then let me ask you: what kind of person are you?)

His questions merely warned him: the noble, glorious, righteous image you put on for others is one thing. Do not fool yourself with it.

(Answer: I'm not a good person, but I'm not really a bad person either.)

As long as it did not affect the people or things Sephiroth cared about, he might as well do whatever good lay within his power.

Each exchange calmed his restless heart and steadied his mind. He would not compare the effect to a sage's great enlightenment; it merely brought his own mind into harmony.

Dressed in white priestly robes, Conis stood before the sanctuary doors like a little angel, beneath the patches of light cast through the corridor's stained-glass windows.

Over the past two years, she had gradually come to understand Birka's religious culture. Together with her special position as the god's personal attendant, that now made her a qualified priestess.

The High God rarely visited this innermost sanctuary.

For the "god" himself to pray would have been far too strange. Apparently, ever since Lord Sephiroth became the god, the church had never asked-and would never dare ask-him to "pray."

As a result, some members of the church regarded his occasional visits to the sanctuary to "meditate" as an expression of compassion.

"High God, please have this..."

Seeing Sephiroth emerge from the sanctuary, Conis picked up a glass of juice and offered it to him.

"Ah, thank you, Conis. Where did Laki go?" Sephiroth drained the juice in one gulp and put the empty glass on the tray. Conis picked up the tray and replied, "She's overseeing physical training for Nami, Nojiko, and Carina."

Sephiroth did not intend to make them particularly strong. It was only basic exercise; he did not expect them to reach the level of knights, and there was no need for them to reach even a knight's squire's level. But they should at least build healthier bodies.

Although Sephiroth cheated at training by stimulating his body with electric currents, he still did the most basic daily exercises to build his physique.

Sephiroth walked through the corridor with Conis, chatting about recent events.

"Miss Carina really has a gift for singing..."

Conis was a little envious. She could sing herself, but not as well as Carina.

According to her original fate, Carina would become a singer working for Gild Tesoro in a few years, earning a measure of fame in the New World.

"You have an excellent gift for composing, too. It's thanks to you that I can 'create' those melodies."

"You flatter me, High God... it's my honor."

In Sky Island's robot production lines, the thinking modules were assembled into arrays. An accidental discovery had revealed that completely blank modules could have brain waves inscribed into them as electrical signals through the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's power, creating "digital files."

The music buried deep in Sephiroth's memories could be played back in that form. Turning it into sheet music depended almost entirely on Conis.

Sephiroth had also found new uses for this interesting method. He could even have other people implant their "knowledge memories," then "read and learn" them himself. Through this shortcut, he had acquired Holy Knight-level combat skills, Conis's knowledge of music theory, and other knowledge he considered useful.

He had even inscribed his own understanding of "technology" and distributed it to the red-robed tech-priests, raising Babylon's overall research capabilities another notch.

For now, this thing had been named the Memory Crystal.

"Miss Nami seems very sensitive to the weather. Laki said she might have some special talent for 'Mantra.'"

They returned to the sitting room. At the sight of this "familiar" setting, Conis blushed and hurriedly placed the tray on the tea table. Sephiroth's intrigued gaze made her terribly shy, so she immediately brought up Nami to change the subject.

Sephiroth withdrew his gaze, sat on the sofa, and took out a book.

"I don't intend to force her to learn Mantra..."

His plan was to ask Nami what she wanted once she had more or less adjusted to life here. If she wanted Observation Haki, she could try his Memory Crystal first. If that did not work and she still wanted it, then she could train the traditional way.

Speaking of Mantra, there was a little girl among the Shandia named Aisa. Without any Devil Fruit power, her Mantra rivaled Enel's after he ate the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. She should have been six now and was currently attending a church school.

"Nami prefers drawing nautical charts. Once she saw that 'piecemeal' world map, she couldn't tear her eyes away..."

It was "piecemeal" partly because it was incomplete, and partly because, even after obtaining so many maps from CP8, he still did not have a truly complete "world map."

"Ahaha..."

Conis gently ground the coffee, remembering how Miss Nami's eyes had lit up.

In fact, after Nami joined the Straw Hat Pirates in the original story, her original dream had gradually faded from view.

Even without the rose-tinted perspective of his previous life, Sephiroth was very fond of Nami. He had not only given her partial satellite access but also supported her dream of charting the entire world, taking her on trips in an aircraft every so often to draw nautical charts.

Her older sister Nojiko, meanwhile, had no particular dream. She had become a technician at Birka's plantations and otherwise spent her time tending the family's Orange Grove.

"Isabella... looks like she's taken Gil to the theater again."

Ever since Isabella started nursing her child, she had grown increasingly maternal. Sephiroth was considering taking her out on an "adventure" once Gil was a little older and the situation in the Blue Sea had stabilized. This female knight's dream was to become a wandering knight.

Even though their decision to have a child now had involved many considerations, and she had wanted it herself, Sephiroth still wanted to make it up to her a little more.

"No wonder Her Highness Bella likes you so much, High God."

Conis had very long hair. She used to tie it up in a strange hairstyle, but Sephiroth had asked her to let it down. It now reached her waist.

When she turned her head, her pale golden hair drew the eye like a waterfall.

"Still, that little rascal Gil hasn't been giving me any chances lately."

"..."

Conis could hardly respond to that subject. She was not entirely ignorant; she lowered her head, remembering what had happened before, and her cheeks began to burn.

The moment she turned all the way around, she found Sephiroth standing behind her, as though he had been waiting for that exact moment.

"High... God..."

It was no mere appearance. He really had been lying in wait for her. Clearly, he had seen right through her personality.

"Ah, we're both adults."

Sephiroth reached for the white priestess's cap that held Conis's hair in place.

Conis looked innocent and adorable, but she had an excellent figure. In fact, she was roughly the same age as the members of the Shandia Guerrilla Force, and she was indeed an adult now.

"...High God, I'll use..."

Sephiroth led her through the sitting room's rather heavy door and straight into the bedroom.

"For what we're doing today, making you stay in the sitting room would be rather unfair."

Once inside, Conis understood that today would not end so easily. Her little wings trembled nervously.

"If you really don't want to, I..."

"No... I just..."

This bedroom was reserved for the personal attendant. Its interior was wooden, but finely detailed Western-style decorations could be seen throughout. The varnished, arched pillars had a rich amber color. It was somewhat luxurious for a servant's room.

Conis was very kind and had a rather yielding personality. She truly could not find a reason to refuse. Of course, she did not dislike the High God, either. She admired his benevolent rule over Sky Island, and his appearance... appealed to her as well.

"I'm a little nervous."

Even the soft creaking of the luxurious wooden bed under pressure carried a sense of history. It was very comfortable.

"It's just... ah!"

As the sound escaped her, Conis's movements froze.

Only now did she feel what it meant to proceed with the real thing. Were they going to continue here...?

"N-now?"

"It's all right... you can count the patterns on the ceiling."

Sephiroth gave a wicked little smile. Still, he had taken her condition into account, at least somewhat.

"Ooh... it's nothing..."

"Are you sure?"

"...Ah, next year."

Sephiroth looked at the face of the girl before him.

...Someone as yielding as Conis.

It really was a fresh experience.

This would be a sleepless night.

Whatever the case, just as his earlier self-analysis had shown, he would not deny his greed or vulgarity.

But... to put it in equally vulgar terms, he would certainly give them the happy lives he could provide.

(Some people who like to "think independently")

Praise bad people for being genuine and curse good people for being hypocrites.

Helping others without helping yourself = a bleeding heart, worthy of abuse.

Helping others while helping yourself = hypocrisy, worthy of abuse.

Helping yourself without helping others = ruthless decisiveness, genuine character, exactly what a transmigrator should do.

Then how am I supposed to write?