Rules

In Belobog, education was provided through a unified public school system, with one school each in the Upper District and the Underworld.

That was why, when the teacher saw that Seele was not in her class, she instinctively assumed she had skipped another class to come here.

In the Upper District, however, another system existed outside public education: private schools exclusively for the nobility.

The parents of these private school students were the truly influential figures in Belobog. When the children grew up, they too would become members of the city's ruling elite.

Not a single student there was someone a lowly public school teacher could afford to offend.

That was why she had apologized to Seele with such fear and humility, disregarding the eyes of all the students present. If Oleg had not stopped her, she would have gladly dropped to her knees.

Only after receiving Chu Mu's assurance that he would not pursue the matter did she leave, still trembling with fear.

"Hahahaha! She looked so pathetic! She even tripped a few times on her way out!"

On a bench in the square, Seele laughed as she recounted what had just happened, praising him:

"Boss, you're amazing! You dealt with her with just one sentence!"

Chu Mu, however, remained expressionless.

Seeing this, Seele tilted her head and asked:

"What is it? Did I say something wrong again?"

"No, I was just thinking about something." Chu Mu looked toward Kliperburg in the distance. A long flight of stairs led up to the magnificent palace, its end beyond sight.

This was the residence of the Supreme Guardian. The young Lady Cocolia Landau was sitting inside it at that very moment, surveying the whole world from on high.

How did she feel up there?

The boy's voice slowly reached Seele and Oleg's ears as he said:

"When I was in the Underworld, I thought the only people above us were the residents of the Upper District. But once I came here, I discovered that above those residents, there was another layer: the nobles. Above the nobles sat the Supreme Guardian. Was there no one above the Supreme Guardian? I doubt it. In this world, each layer presses down on the next. No one wants to be crushed, yet everyone is crushing someone else."

He turned back to Seele and Oleg and asked:

"Rules like these bring people so much suffering. The lower you are, the more you suffer. Why do these rules exist? Why are they like this? Have they always been this way, or is this only how they are now?"

"Child, what you're saying is too profound." Oleg shook his head. "These rules have been in place for at least seven hundred years. On a planet ravaged by the Eternal Freeze, they have preserved all of Belobog.

"It's just that keeping these rules working has come at a cost. A necessary cost. But it's worth it. The sacrifice of some has preserved many more. That is the will of Preservation."

"But why... are we the cost?" Seele suddenly asked in a low voice. "Why are we the ones being sacrificed?"

"Seele, I understand how you feel." Oleg looked at her. "Let me tell you what I thought before I was stationed in the Underworld.

"Back then, I thought we Upper District residents had it the hardest. After graduating from public school, most of us could only enter the Military Academy.

"After graduation, we joined the Silvermane Guards and fought the monsters of the Fragmentum, battle after endless battle. People died at any moment, and new recruits were always picking up their guns and stepping into that meat grinder.

"In the Upper District, many neighborhoods have actually already fallen. We can only fight in those alleys corroded by the Fragmentum, stopping the monsters from invading the city's main districts.

"Back then, we thought the people of the Underworld had easy lives. All you had to do was mine some ore and send it up to us. You didn't even have to fight monsters.

"But when I came to the Underworld, I discovered just how hard your lives were. The vast majority of Upper District residents know nothing about this suffering!"

As Oleg spoke, his eyes brimmed with regret and anger!

"That's not your fault, sir. Someone is deceiving us, deliberately stirring up conflict between the two sides." Chu Mu's gaze grew distant as he listened to the music drifting from the opera house.

Some people were suffering, while others were enjoying themselves.

Chu Mu looked toward Kliperburg, towering into the clouds, and felt a strong urge to question the young Supreme Guardian.

Do you know how much people are suffering?

If you do, what will you do about it?

Or will you do nothing at all?

If you do nothing, what will you do when someone else takes action someday?

Even the most firmly established rules could be broken.

"Sir, where are we going next?" Chu Mu stood up, unwilling to linger here any longer. "I'd like to hear your plans."

"Of course." Oleg smiled. "I specifically took two days off. Today, we'll look around the square, have dinner at a restaurant this evening, then stay at the Goethe Hotel for the night. Tomorrow morning, we'll visit the History Museum, then head back in the afternoon. I've planned it all out!"

Hearing this, Seele asked:

"There's a Goethe Grand Hotel in the Upper District too?"

"The one in the Upper District is the Goethe Hotel, and its owner is old Goethe. The Goethe Grand Hotel in the Underworld is owned by Gertie. They're from the same family, the Goethe Family," Chu Mu explained.

"Oh, I see. Boss, how do you know everything?" Seele asked admiringly.

"I just happen to know a little about it," Chu Mu said sincerely.

He really did just happen to know. He had overheard it when the proprietress and the Old Director were chatting on the night they stayed at the Goethe Grand Hotel.

"Then can I ask you something else?" Seele asked expectantly.

"What would you like to know?"

"I want to know what my future would be like if I were a child from the Upper District." Seele wore an innocent expression. "Didn't you tell me to put myself in the role earlier, boss? I want to really try it."

Seeing this, Chu Mu knew that the children beneath the monument had stirred something in Seele's heart.

Those children her age had lives utterly different from those of children in the Underworld.

"You should probably ask Oleg about that." Chu Mu instinctively tried to dodge the question. "He just told us, didn't he? You finish school, then become a soldier, with barely a chance of surviving."

"Boss, my gut tells me you're lying to me!" Seele stared at Chu Mu, her cheeks puffed out in annoyance. "He also said only some people went to the Military Academy. What about everyone else?"

"Seele, are you asking about the others?" Oleg looked thoughtful as he recalled the past. "Let me think. Some of the students with good grades in my class went to the Medical Academy. Others studied music or art. One of the singers at the Golden Opera House was my classmate. If you'd like to go, I could try asking him for tickets."

"So many choices..." Seele's expression held confusion, yearning, and sorrow.

"Did I say something wrong?" Oleg looked at Chu Mu.

Chu Mu sighed and patted Seele on the head:

"Hey, snap out of it!"

"What is it, boss?" Seele looked up at Chu Mu, her eyes glistening. "Their futures are so full of possibilities."

"That's why I told you to snap out of it," Chu Mu said softly. "Think about it. With how much you hate studying, wouldn't you end up at the Military Academy even if you lived in the Upper District?"

"Oh, right." Realization dawned on Seele.

"So, essentially, you wouldn't have much choice." Chu Mu shrugged. "Being a patrol officer isn't bad either."

"It's The Hunt! I got it wrong earlier!" Seele corrected him.

"Is there a difference?"

"Uh, I guess not." In the end, Seele was hampered by her lack of education and could only nod helplessly.

If she had read more books, she would surely have written a paper of at least ten thousand words explaining the difference between The Hunt and patrolling, thoroughly refuting Chu Mu's prejudice!

Unfortunately, she could not.

With that little diversion, Chu Mu successfully dispelled the gloom in Seele's heart.