Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (WN) 2018

c94 - Mastermind

Sakaguchi Hinata thought herself fortunate to have been able to meet Izawa Shizue.
Though the time they spent to together was truly short, only to Shizue was Hinata able to truly open up her heart.
A single month.
In that short time, she had stolen all her skills and left her.
She was afraid to be rejected. As her theft ability was terrifying.
Moreover,

「We're bothering Shizu-san.
The Association is not so rich as to support people who don't work.
So would you like to work together with me?」

So said a boy from her world.
She understood that he was simply trying to recruit her, but his words – that they were being a bother – deeply hurt her.
That's when Hinata decided to leave.
When she was setting off, these were the boys parting words,

「We'll definitely meet again! When we do, help me!」

She took those words literally.
Lacking in information, Hinata opened her heart up to the boy just because he was a fellow World Traveler.
So she nodded at his words without any hesitation.
And set off on a journey.

A world filled with despair, where life could be taken easily, such a world.
She obtained power in order to survive.
A country she was staying in got attacked,
By a Disaster-class monster, leaving many people dead. There were plenty people fighting to protect the children.
The adults would not run away, but would desperately attempt to shield their children.
Even though she had thought they would run away without a second thought trying to save themselves.
Those fighting were called the Knights Templar (Holy Knights).
They would at times be passing through this city on patrol, protecting the people and enforcing justice.
"That's where I want to live," Hinata felt.
And thus without a doubt...
Ten years had passed.
Though Hinata did not believe in god, she had reached one of the highest posts in the church.
An ironic tale perhaps, but she was performing the sacred duty of protecting the lives of people and the citizens of the Holy Empire of Ruberion.
Hinata did not doubt anything, and believed this to be her justice.
Live for others. Even at the cost of your own life.
If you did so, then everyone could be happy. Similarly, the monsters must be destroyed.
Since every single time, it was the monsters that threatened the peoples' happy lives.
Though the capital was protected by a barrier, the same was not true for the cities and villages in the region.
The patrolling knights decreased the number of casualties while fighting off daily onslaught of monsters.
Unlike the monsters of Jura Forest region, these had no other food source.
A desolate wasteland spread to the west.
A result of a battle between two demon lord-like beings.
This wasteland has many areas of dense miasma from which monsters spawn. Thus, the knights embody the peoples' hope itself.
There have been times when the knights have been deceived and killed by monsters.
Due to these occurrences, the church decreed dealing with a monster was strictly forbidden.
This creed conveyed the many hundred year long wisdom of the knights who had survived while protecting people.
And at some point, Hinata had decided that peoples' happiness was directly connected to this creed.
Though she did not originally believe the creed, she was won over by its logic.
And, at some point...
She decided that protecting the creed was her justice, a truly ironic tale.

The days spent fighting the monsters.
When was it that she found this routine boring>
The day she became squad captain and started drafting plans, the number of casualties greatly decreased.
That was thanks to her Monster Spawn point prediction and Casualty prediction. Methods of communication, and patrol timing.
Thus people began to see the results of her optimization of the system.
This is why the knights have so much faith in Hinata, she thought.
This is why she absolutely could not violate the creed.
She has the responsibility, the mission to protect the people.
Having received the trust of her subordinates, she created a place to return to.
Even Nicholas claimed to love her...
In the end, Hinata was simply afraid.
Even though she tried not to get attached to anything, she was still afraid of losing everything.
People could live happily only under complete control.
Hinata so believed.
And the existence of the Controlled Society Ruberius only proved her point.
That's how it was supposed to be.