Chapter 417: Jeremiah, the Fortunate Child
For an existence at the level of Original Sin, there was no such thing as hatred or preference.
Time could take everything away.
Therefore, after Corleon had said this, Sloth—who understood Corleon’s authority—developed a rather unpleasant premonition.
Corleon continued, saying, "Jeremiah was a pitiful child. He was the illegitimate son of a minor family, born in a pigsty."
"His mother had been raised in that family’s pigsty since childhood. That family was too small—so small that even raising a single slave was considered an excessive expense. Because of this, Jeremiah was delivered by his mother in a posture with all four limbs on the ground. If not for the grass on the ground mixed with manure cushioning the fall, Jeremiah might have died back then."
"A child born of a slave was naturally also a slave, so Jeremiah grew up in that pigsty until the age of eight."
"He was fortunate. At the very least, he lived to this age instead of quietly dying like other children born in pigsties, becoming pig feed. Around that time, that minor family was accepted into the circle of the gentry, and their resources increased somewhat. Thus, the family took him out of the pigsty in order to train him to become a warrior."
"He was still fortunate. When he went out to fight at the age of fourteen, everyone in his squad except for him and that direct-line descendant died in battle. Yet he did not die. He survived and even brought that direct-line descendant back to the family."
"He remained fortunate. When Scholar Nyx was treating injuries, he informed that direct-line descendant that Jeremiah carried his bloodline. That direct-line descendant, disregarding the opposition of the family members, acknowledged Jeremiah’s bloodline and took him in as his personal guard."
"He was still fortunate. Two years later, when Jeremiah was sixteen, that direct-line descendant died. As a result, Jeremiah—who had lost the protection of that minor family’s core member—became someone who was sent to the Church."
"At that time, the Church’s status had not yet stabilized. No one knew what the future would be like after being sent to the Church. Thus, he—someone who was not a core member but still carried the family’s bloodline—became a sacrificial piece used for testing."
"He was indeed fortunate. Even compared to other monk apprentices, his starting point was excessively low and base, yet he still stood out among those monk apprentices and became a priest recognized by Agamemnon."
"His fortune continued. The lord of the land he was sent to gave him a group of slaves. Since he himself had been born a slave, he was deeply empathetic toward them. Coupled with the knowledge he had learned from the Church, he quickly gained the trust of those slaves, then their faith. In the end, under Jeremiah’s leadership, those slaves came to live lives even better than ordinary commoners. All of this was seen clearly by the lord’s advisory scholar."
"He had always been fortunate. He encountered a lord who could completely trust him, unlike other priests. Even when those lords appeared to place complete trust in priests, in reality they merely wanted the priests to help manage their territories. At most, the priests’ presence served to demonstrate the lords’ obedience to the Church. As for power, those lords never truly relinquished it."
"In the end, Jeremiah also responded to that lord’s trust. He allowed that lord to survive. In truth, many people wanted that lord dead—he was far too ostentatious. If that lord had shown even the slightest distrust after Jeremiah killed his entire family, he would have died. And the test that the lord was unaware of would have continued until Jeremiah’s death."
"This was Jeremiah’s fortune, and also that lord’s fortune—but it was also this era’s misfortune. It is difficult for me to imagine such a person: someone who did not trust a single one of his blood relatives, yet chose to trust a force he had only been in contact with for a few years, and one that had already revealed its intention to weaken noble power."
"And such a fortunate Jeremiah once said not long ago that even if the price of coming into contact with high-level mystery was his own life or death, he was still willing to die for it. He wanted those mysteries to understand that there would always be people in this world who did not fear them, who would denounce them as slaves."
As Corleon’s voice slowly fell, Sloth spoke, saying, "Who would care? There have always been people whose pasts were more despicable than his origins, whose lives were more miserable than his."
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"The Greed that caused his impending death would not care. I would not care either. What about you? Do you truly care? Does the Lord he believes in care?"
Corleon replied, "The Lord does not care, but I do."
Sloth smiled faintly and spoke no further.
From Corleon’s words, it had already become clear that after accepting that True Name, he himself had not merely taken on shackles, but—just like the slaves in Corleon’s words—had given humanity an opportunity to enslave him.
But who cared?
Among these Original Sins, not a single one cared.
The strong were meant to enslave the weak. And if they, as Original Sins, could truly be enslaved by humans merely because of a name, then they might as well stop calling themselves Original Sins altogether.
The Gluttony space fell silent.
Both sides merely continued to contend with one another using will. Even though both sides understood that such a stalemate could not trap Corleon for long—after all, Corleon’s essence was too high. Back when he had merely been a demi-god, he could directly erase their avatar wills, let alone now, when Corleon stood entirely on the same tier as them.
If it had been those Progenitor Gods or the Lords of Annihilation, perhaps they could have trapped him for a longer time. But those two groups of cowards had been killed into fear.
Especially those Progenitor Gods. They had obtained such powerful authority through theft, and under the tempering of time, they had long since lost the courage to take risks, instead becoming afraid of death.
Of course, if that trap had been set by those existences, Corleon likely would not have stepped into it.
Eyes that could see the future were simply too powerful.
It was equivalent to all of their plans unfolding right beneath the other party’s gaze.
Thus, the Original Sins and Corleon gradually grew too lazy to continue speaking.
What one wanted to say had already been known by the other in advance, while what the other wanted to say remained unknown. Such a conversation was far too boring.
Moreover, compared to idly conversing here, it was better to divert some will to carry out the planned matters.
For example, taking advantage of Corleon’s absence to have those hiding Divine Figures return as quickly as possible and dismantle Corleon.
Since he was unwilling to return, then let the multitude of Divine Figures disassemble him instead.
"But since you know that I can see the future, why do you still believe that your plans are not themselves part of my plans?" Corleon murmured inwardly, his gaze seeming to pierce through the nine hundred and ninety layers of hell, looking toward the starry sky of the Material Realm.