Danmachi IF - What if Alfia survived

Chapter 4 - What is Justice?

Alfia, who realized this, sighed and moved her lips

"..Gale Lion, in your eyes, how did I reflect?"

"..Evil, Orario lost many lives in your hand."

"It may seem thus in your views, but in my eyes, even if it's wicked, I don't regret or feel guilty about what I did; on the contrary, I was proud of it."

"-" Ryuu was about to open her mouth when Alfia interrupted her.

"Because it was necessary to do so, I told you the reason why before."

Alfia paused before moving her lips again.

"That is a form of justice to me. At that rate, humanity was bound to get wiped by the black apocalypse. Someone needs to break the status quo. Both Zard and I had the power to prevent that. If we just stand and do nothing but watch the world swallowed by that black apocalypse, that was even more horrible to us. You might argue that we sacrificed a few to rescue many."

"That kind of thing!" Ryuu was ready to react to Alfia's remark since nothing Alfia said is acceptable to her.

"Shut up, don't make too much noise. I don't need someone to acknowledge what we did back then. You might understand yourself when you saw that monster yourself."

"Gale Lion, what did you think when you slaughter everyone related to Evilus? Is that also a form of justice?"

".....I"

-What if forgiving was another form of justice?-

In her thoughts, the image of a blue-haired girl reappeared.

(Ardee... Forgive me... Instead of forgiving, I gave in to my desire to take revenge. A fool like me, in front of a genuine hero standing in front of me... How could I say childish nonsense?)

"I... lost the chance to pursue justice ever since I gave in to my desire... I lost the qualification of talking Justice already. I am no different with them since I also murdered innocent peoples along the way."

(Ahh, how lamentable, this is the problem of people who are blinded by justice. One simple mistake and they turned completely into the other side. How comical.)

"Gale Lion, that god once asked me a riddle."

"... A riddle?"

"A riddle of a trolley."

"-!"

"Assuming that god's nasty personality, I'm sure he asked you with that riddle too, am I right?"

Ryuu didn't answer, But Alfia noticed her distorted face and guessed that the god did so. What a nasty god, she thought.

"Now, what did you answer back then?"

"I... couldn't answer it...."

"Haaa... and here I thought Elf was an intelligent race, you and that stupid high Elf, was Elf, not an intelligent race after all?"

"Nghh!?"

"In my opinion, that riddle doesn't have a single correct answer."

"W-what?" Ryuu stared with a dumbfounded face

"What if all the 5 workers are murderers? What If by saving them, a city would collapse because of that murderers? What if that kid was your child? Would you save them even though they are murderers? of course, there's no way to know all 5 workers are murderers or not. That's why I think that someone who made this riddle is twisted in their head."

"Or, you could also choose the third option. Who decided that you could only save one? What if by running fast enough, you could save the child after turning the track? Isn't that kind of people what you call heroes? They kicked the scale and roared back in anger, though it seems foolish, those people are called heroes and justice."

"Why.. are you saying this to me?"

"Who knows, but for defeating me 7 years ago, let me reward you, Gale Lion."

"You, servant of justice who lost your justice, who are living with emptiness and waiting to die, You thought you finished your journey already. But what if you're still in the midst of a long, long journey? And this is just the beginning of your endless journey?"

"A man once said, what counts is how satisfied you are when you die... would you die with a grin on your face, believing you did well? Or do you want to die with regret and emptiness? I won't tell you that what you did was pointless or not, but at least to me, it's not wrong. I'm not your mother, I won't tell you what to do with your life, think about it carefully. Now get lost from here."

The blue-haired goddess, who had been quiet during the whole incident, finally opened her lips when she saw the back of the Elf exiting the chapel.

"I thought you hated trouble? I was sure you gonna blown her away midway after feeling irritated."

Artemis came and took a seat next to Alfia.

Alfia gave Artemis the spear she had been holding the whole time.

"She defeated me years ago. Though it is comical that a child of justice would fall to the evil that much, she deserved that much. If Erebus found out what occurred, he'd probably burst out laughing."

Alfia sighed, truly comical, she thought.

"Move forward, Gale Lion, don't disappoint me. At that battle, I saw you guys as heroes. I believe the brats that I entrusted everything with will overcome something like this."

Alfia smiled gently.