Worthless Skill Escape (WN)

Chapter 259

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TL: ALT

Chapter 259 – One’s Own Place

“Can you leave us alone?”

Tozaki said that.

His expensive suit was torn to shreds and stained with blood.

He got up from the sofa and examined his completely healed body, looking puzzled.

Todou of ECRT was trying to take Harukamiya Hayato away.

“It’s dangerous!”

He glared at me before addressing Tozaki.

“I said it’s fine.”

“…Excuse me. However, he is an unknown explorer.”

“I know that. But he won’t hurt me unnecessarily.”

“If you say so… Let’s go.”

The ECRT members left the room.

Haruka-san seemed to hesitate but decided to stay behind.

“Press Secretary Shinozaki…”

“I’ll stay here.”

“…I see. Well, that’s fine.”

Tozaki took a clean shirt from the wardrobe near the wall of his office that had been spared the damage.

His shirt and jacket were in tatters. Instead of taking them off, he brushed them off and put on the new shirt.

There was still blood on his body, so the new shirt would get dirty quickly.

He didn’t have the energy to tie his tie.

“Don’t think badly of Todou. He’s just a man who is passionate about his work.”

“I heard he used to be part of the Rakan Group.”

“Ah, it seems my words struck a chord with him.”

“You mean your ridiculous dreams?”

“Ideals are often like that, aren’t they? He was blessed with exceptional self-discipline and superhuman physical strength. Even in brutal situations where 99 out of 100 people would give up, he saw them as opportunities to improve himself. As a result, he’s now the captain of a special forces unit and looks up to me.”

There was a hint of mockery in Tozaki’s words.

“Even if 99 people are sacrificed, as long as you have one useful pawn like Todou, that’s enough, right?”

“I didn’t force the 99 people to do anything. They saw something in my words and took up the challenge. But they were unlucky in battle and died.”

“That’s irresponsible.”

“Even the one who survived—can he truly be called a person of strong character? If he can’t hold onto himself without blindly believing my words, then he’s a person without a shred of independence. He has no value other than as a well-trained hunting dog. His overly pure admiration for his master is childish and inappropriate for his age.”

“…That’s your limit, Tozaki.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can only see the positive emotions people show you as proof of your own foolishness. Those who swear loyalty benefit more than those who are given loyalty. Swearing loyalty is tantamount to asking to be used and abused. Is that what you think?”

“Yes. Would you argue otherwise?”

“Todou is, in a way, childish. But he’s not dishonest in his devotion to you. A man who mocks that devotion and smiles smugly at having a pawn he can use for his own convenience has no right to stand above others.”

“Hmph… How naive. But I was defeated by you. A loser’s excuses are pathetic. I must have lacked something to be a ‘king’s vessel.’”

“I heard that your grandmother tried to raise you to be a ‘king’s vessel.'”

“Oh? I thought only a select few knew about that. You seem to have some talented friends.”

“So you became king to fulfill Yoruha Tozaki’s obsession?”

“I thought it would take me my entire life, but I ended up getting this position surprisingly easily.”

“What about you? What did you want to do as king?”

“I just wanted to be the king the people desired. I’m skilled at hearing the ‘voices’ hidden deep within people’s hearts. I don’t know if you understand, but I can ‘bring down’ another person’s personality into myself as if it were my own.”

“That’s the same as Yoruha’s spirit mediumship, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s different from my grandmother’s. She brought the spirits of the dead into her body. I don’t need to do that; I can reproduce the personalities of people I know within myself to a certain extent. She specialized in dead spirits, but I specialize in living spirits. Actually, I can also bring dead spirits into my body, just like my grandmother.”

“So, you learned all kinds of tricks from the living spirits you summoned.”

“Exactly. Eventually, madness in the form of dungeons plagued this world, and I awakened to my unique skill: Change of Strategy. The strategies I can grant others are based on the mental attitudes I learned from the spirits.”

“Why did you take in that girl—who was known as Junko Himuro at the time—as your adopted daughter?”

“To learn from her personality, of course. She was a genius sadist and a natural-born ruler. A fragile man like you would never have been able to resist her.”

That’s harsh, but I can’t deny it.

Junko Himuro’s ability to control others was unparalleled.

“You did the same. You gathered people with the ability to dominate others into places like Cold House or Genron.net. You used them to build your own personality as a dominator.”

“You understand well. I call the fragments of personalities I gathered ‘human shells.’ They are ‘shells’ that give me the human form I lack. In Cold House, they were called ‘children,’ but in a sense, I am their parent, and they are my children.”

“…It’s like Frankenstein.

Combining human parts, patching them together, and creating a fake human being.

The monster of domination was born from Yoruha’s obsession—that is, the man known as Seiji Tozaki.

“That’s how I became the all-powerful king who could fulfill everyone’s desires. But you destroyed it. This country is about to enter a difficult era. You are responsible for that, Kurashikii-kun.”

“I don’t want prosperity gained by oppressing others. It’s not just me. Many sensible, ordinary citizens feel the same way.”

“Are you really sure? They say such things, but aren’t they the ones who want better products at cheaper prices? It’s been known for a long time that the cheap products on the market come at the cost of harsh labor conditions.”

“The truth and the façade may be different, but that doesn’t mean the façade has no meaning. The desire for an ideal society is also part of what you call ‘everyone’s wish,’ isn’t it? Why do you only focus on the dark side of humanity? People have bright sides, too.”

“I don’t deny that. But deep down in the human heart lie twisted desires. The most extreme of these is the desire to be abused.”

“…Huh?”

“As long as we live, no one can escape suffering. What is the greatest salvation in times of suffering? Having someone to hate. It’s that person’s fault that I’m suffering. Therefore, my suffering is not my fault. Therefore, I don’t need to make a conscious effort to escape it. If you think this way, you can remain content with your current situation without getting involved in the troublesome and dangerous business of trying to change it while complaining about others.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“No matter how hard you try, there will always be a hierarchy in this world. Only a select few can earn large sums of money by utilizing their abilities. The places where people live are far from fair, and the gap between the types of people you can date is so vast that it’s ridiculous. Modern society shows us this gap and then acts as if to say, ‘You can’t have it because you don’t have the ability.’ They need someone to hate with all their hearts.”

“That’s…you?”

“I’m one of them. Men who can’t get ahead in life envy women’s social advancement and try to heal their humiliation by spreading misogyny online. Similarly, economically disadvantaged men and women vent their frustration by rejecting low-wage foreign workers, who have become increasingly visible in recent years. Young and middle-aged people who have given up on their dreams and hopes for the future attack those who seem to have a bright future. Kurashiki-kun… Have you ever felt that way? When you were alone in a dark room, didn’t you hate those living their lives in the sunshine? In a world where people like Junko, who don’t care about others, tend to be successful, haven’t you ever spent nights seething with anger?”

When I didn’t answer, Tozaki continued on his own.

“They want to be oppressed. It’s ridiculous to be exploited by something invisible, like ‘the system of society.’ They want there to be a giant evil entity oppressing them, and they want to believe that their suffering is that entity’s fault, not their own. If such an entity doesn’t exist, they’ll resort to conspiracy theories and invent one. These are the ‘ordinary people’ who live around you as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Black companies that treat their employees like slaves and dictators who brainwash their citizens into going to war are perfect examples of despicable villains.”

“That’s an extreme view. When people are suffering, they may seek the source of their suffering. Normally, though, they would try to alleviate it by more reasonable means.”

“Reasonable means? Is that really the case, though? When something absurd happens in this country, the prime minister is the first to be blamed. Saying that politics are always bad means people don’t want to make an effort to improve the situation themselves. If you think politics are bad, vote the politicians out of office. If that doesn’t work, run for office yourself with a strong sense of purpose. Most people have forgotten this basic democratic principle—or rather, they pretend to have forgotten it.”

Some people are suited to certain things, and others aren’t. There aren’t many people suited to being politicians.

It’s the same logic as entrepreneurs who casually say that if you don’t have money, you should start your own business.

“Exactly. That’s why we need people who are hated. I’m not blaming people for their lack of political awareness. I think that’s just human nature, and I accept it. Or rather, I don’t have the emotional capacity to feel anything other than indifference toward it.”

Tozaki’s sense of self was erased by his grandmother Yoruha’s “education.”

With his arms spread wide, Tozaki said,

“Therefore, I will rule this country through absurdity. The people can blame all the absurdities that befall them on me. That way, they can endure all the inevitable pains of life by blaming them on me. If they blame everything that happens in this world on me, the world will keep turning. They can blame everything on me, demand that I alone improve the situation, do nothing themselves, and continue living their lives as before while complaining about everything. In the Middle Ages, people blamed God, saying, “God, why are you giving me such suffering?” Modern people are no different. They’ve simply replaced God or the devil with more secular and easily understandable targets, such as black-hearted corporate executives or the current government. I am here as such a scapegoat.”

“…Are you trying to say that you are what this era desires?”

“How else could I say it? I am the most desired and the most hated person in this country right now. To be hated means to be desired as a scapegoat. Every citizen now desires me. They don’t desire you, the ‘Summoner’ Yuto Kurashiki, the explorer, but me. What justification do you have to exclude me?”

“Let me make one thing clear. I have no intention of beating you with words. Doing so would not change the outcome.”

“I see. But I have justice on my side. No one may acknowledge it, but I have my own sense of justice. As long as I have that, I don’t care if I’m thrown in jail. My true value will never be tarnished. I have won.”

Tozaki’s expression was not one of triumph, though.

Rather, it was hollow.

This must be Tozaki’s true face.

With his somewhat handsome features, he looks like a Noh mask when his expression disappears.

“Are you saying you’ve achieved your goal? That you’ve proven yourself to be the ‘vessel of the king’ that Yoruha wanted?”

“My grandmother? I don’t care about her! She’s just a pitiful old woman in a monastery, losing her sense of self while mingling with ghosts from the past. No, I am…”

“Ah, so you’ve become a separate ‘personality’ from Yoruha. Is that what you’re saying?”

“That’s right. It’s no longer a makeshift self cobbled together from human remains. My own personality is here.”

Tozaki pointed to his chest and said.

“A scapegoat, a human sacrifice. You exist to take on the resentment of the entire country.”

“I am who I am! I chose this way of life of my own free will! The world has accepted me as I am! People didn’t need the ‘king’ my grandmother envisioned, but the king I envisioned! Fuhaha, fuhahahaha!”

Tozaki laughs loudly with a mask-like expression on his face.

“Prime Minister Tozaki…”

Haruka-san muttered that.

Her voice was filled with fear and a hint of pity.

She should consider Tozaki her enemy, but she must have had some contact with him in her role as press secretary.

“I’m sorry, but you’re mistaken,”

I said firmly.

“…Oh? Where exactly, Kurashiki-kun?”

“You said it yourself. You said you became what you are today because the people wanted you to.”

“Yes, and don’t forget that I said that includes being hated.”

“I haven’t forgotten. But that’s beside the point. You didn’t become prime minister through a legitimate election. You were at the top of your party’s proportional representation list because you controlled the party through the Change of Strategy, right?”

“No, there was no need for that. All I had to do was pay them off.”

“I see. But what about the party leadership election? I hear you did some strange things before that election. You set up several unnecessary study groups and invited prominent members of your party to attend. I hear you paid them off as well.”

“…What are you trying to say?”

“At that study group, you will naturally become the chairperson. Even the bigwigs in your own party recognize you as the leader, at least for the duration of the study group. I don’t know the details of the ‘Change of Strategy,’ but with such loose conditions, I suppose it’s possible to assign a ‘strategy.’”

A weak category, such as “voters who voted for his party in the proportional representation system,” was effective.

“In other words, you cheated in the presidential election. You weren’t elected by the party’s representatives. You lost in the single-seat district and didn’t receive direct support from the people.”

“That was… I deliberately calculated to lose. It would have been meaningless to win in the proportional representation district.”

Even if I had won in the single-seat district, the change of strategy would have only applied to that district.

The proportional representation system is nationwide, and people vote for a party.

If he becomes president, all voters who voted for his party will be subject to a change of strategy.

“So, if you tried hard to get elected, there was a chance you could have won? I don’t think so.”

There’s no way this guy, famous for being a black company president, could have won in a hotly contested district like Shinjuku 1st.

“In short, the fact that you are a Diet member is a mistake. As for becoming prime minister, it’s almost a sham.”

“But I truly represent the voice of the people. For the greater good, such minor deception is…”

“Then why did you use the ‘Change of Strategy’ on the people?”

“What…?”

“If your words truly reflected the people’s wishes, there would have been no need for a ‘strategy.’ You should have appealed to them with your speeches. As a piece of agitation, though, it was well-crafted. It’s no wonder the foreign media calls you the Hitler of Japan. But at the end of your speech, you said, ‘Change of strategy.’ Why did you do that? It’s because you weren’t confident in your own words. You doubted that the people would accept your arguments.”

“Th-That’s…

“That’s why you used “Change of Strategy.” To brainwash people and manipulate public opinion. You had to do that because your words don’t truly represent the people’s hidden desires. At best, they represented the desires of an extreme minority. At worst, you distorted and misinterpreted them, making them vastly different from the original desires.”

“Th-That’s not true! I understand what people hide deep in their hearts…”

“That may be true. But you couldn’t accept it. People don’t always act according to their hidden desires. To make people act on their hidden desires, you need to remove some kind of restraint: Things like conscience, common sense, self-control, altruism, and other virtues humans are supposed to have naturally. Such things are not desired by most people in this country. In fact, people in this country tend to take pride in their civility and strong sense of morality.”

Well, whether we can truly say that we are more ethical than people in other countries would require a large-scale international survey. I think every country has its own ethical standards that align with its culture.

“In short, what you did is no different from what a fairy-tale devil would do. You dulled people’s moral sense, lured them with greed, and forced their dark desires out into the open. By doing so, you probably thought, ‘Humans are selfish creatures driven by greed,’ and secretly felt superior. That’s exactly what the devil would do.”

“A devil… Me?”

“You wanted to be a god, didn’t you? But the result is the opposite. You are a devil. You are not wanted in this country. The people accepted you? Nonsense! Look at the situation now that the “strategy” has been exposed. They don’t accept you. It’s impossible that they secretly acknowledge you. Most people must be thinking, “How dare you deceive us and expose our dirty desires that we have been desperately trying to suppress?” You didn’t understand the people; you mocked them.”

Tozaki kneels down heavily.

“Then…what will become of me? My grandmother broke my heart, stole my emotions, and made me live my life desperately fulfilling the desires of others and gathering the shells of other people.”

“Don’t tell me that wasn’t your choice, Tozaki. That was your choice. I feel sorry for your upbringing. Given your circumstances, it’s only natural that you would see only the dark side of others. But you could have chosen differently. You could have built your personality by collecting the traits of people who abuse others, or you could have built your personality by collecting the traits of people who help others and strive to make the world a better place. You had the option to escape, but you didn’t. Was it because you harbored a desire for revenge? Was it toward your grandmother or toward the world that wouldn’t help you? Isn’t that what you’ve been seeking all along—the cry of your own personality?

“That can’t be…”

Tozaki put both hands on the floor and stared blankly at the carpet in his office.

After a while,

“U-Ugh! Ah! Aaaahhhhhhhhh!”

He buried his head in the carpet and wept uncontrollably.

His appearance, crying with such abandon, did not resemble that of a mature adult.

Rather, he resembled a young boy.

A boy who had endured abusive training from his grandmother, Yoruha, and finally broke down.

Or perhaps he was crying out in relief after finally being released from that training.

“Let’s go, Haruka-san.”

“Eh, yes…”

Leaving the sobbing Tozaki behind, Haruka and I left the official residence.

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