Chapter 73: I Want to Be Nio

"..." Nio, sitting on Stelaria’s lap, analyzes the information she obtained. She spent a good amount of time with Stelaria watching how everything is changing. The Theocracy’s economy has grown thanks to some other light ideas she gave.

Meanwhile, the Empire declared war on a small kingdom of beastfolk led by a humanoid dragon, which interested her since she doesn’t know why the Empire decided that.

Also, adventurers stopped coming to her kingdom because they plan to prepare a full invasion, so the attacks decreased, but in return, a massive attack will happen soon.

"Stelaria, what are Runes?" Nio asks, having no idea what Runes are. She had never heard of them before, and the message she received from Cristina is her first contact with them.

’And why are Haruna and Cristina outside my palace? I didn’t even ask them for anything...’ Nio feels confused by this, but decides to focus on the Runes first since they interest her.

"Runes? You don’t know what they are?" Stelaria stops what she was doing while stroking between Nio’s horns.

"No, I have no idea what Runes are."

"...Hmmm... I don’t know much about them. The one who would know is Ryu. Elves have a lot of relevance when it comes to Runes. What I do know is that it depends a lot on the person in question having an affinity with the power of Runes," Stelaria says to Nio, who nods.

"Great... could you call Ryu, please? I want to talk to her about runes!! Maybe I can make something new to help the Theocracy grow!" Nio says with a gentle smile, which makes Stelaria smile.

"I’ll call her. Wait a moment." Since Nio has helped the Theocracy a lot, Stelaria’s trust has grown, and since Nio never shows any desire to steal Stelaria’s political power, Stelaria’s feelings are almost entirely positive.

"..." Stelaria lifts Nio off her lap and sets her on the chair, leaving to go get Ryu.

"...I’ve been in this world for five months now... I think my progress is going well, don’t you agree?" Nio asks, uninterested, while poking a pencil.

"[Of course, the progress is good]," Nioh replies to her in an equally uninterested tone.

"..." Nio feels uncomfortable as she crushes the pencil between her fingers. In the last few days, she discovered that the real Nioh is even worse than some of her NPCs. She had no way of knowing before.

But Nioh has such an extensive list of crimes that she’s worse than Yomo. Of course, the difference is that Nioh isn’t necessarily sadistic, but she did so many bad things that she’s easily one of the most evil beings in the universe.

And that while being lazy and limited by Typhon, meaning that if Nioh were sadistic, she might be the most evil being in existence. Nioh’s universe only survived as long as it did because Nioh was lazy.

"Why did you need to destroy so many things? It’s so... bizarre... you’re like a super evil dragon..."

"[It’s not your concern, so why do you care? I am a cosmic deity, even if I don’t have that power right now. Besides, not everything was my fault. Gods like me caused severe disturbances in the minds of mortals.]"

"[I bear no blame for a bunch of lunatics committing crimes in my name. I never ordered them to worship me in such bizarre ways. I just never tried to stop them and accepted their worship.]"

"...If you accepted their worship, that kind of makes you partially guilty. Plus, you also gave orders... but whatever, I can’t complain much since now I am you..." Nio has gradually come to realize what she truly got herself into in this life, and it’s far beyond what she expected.

"Nioh, do you think there’s some other god who survived the mass extinction event of your universe?"

"[...Possibly, though I can only think of three options. One of them also had someone connected to her, a ’GM,’ and she’s strong enough to survive. She may have ended up in this world, but I can’t confirm it. She wasn’t as strong as me and Typhon.]"

"..."

"[Why are you looking at me like that? Does my past make you that uncomfortable? Mortals are so soft. You wouldn’t understand what it means to stand above everyone like I do.]"

"Whatever, think what you want about me. Obviously I don’t expect you to understand." Nio knows it’s unrealistic. It’s already been made very clear that Nioh doesn’t even think like someone who understands humanity.

Nio is actually surprised that Nioh doesn’t despise her for having once been human, to the point of it being almost incomprehensible.

"Besides, even if you don’t understand me, it’s obvious that I understand you. After all, I am you in a much lower position. You’re the type who eats when hungry, sleeps when tired, and kills when something annoys you. It’s pretty simple to understand."

"And it makes sense. It’s not like there were rules. Actually, I think I’m wrong. Yes, I’m 100% wrong. I’m trying to see you as human," Nio says with a sarcastic smile.

"[Oh, is that so?]"

"Yes, you’re not evil. Actually, calling you evil is a euphemism. You are you, and what you truly are is what evil is."

"It all depends on the observer. All the worlds you destroyed for nothing, the people who committed massacres in your name and you accepted it—thinking about it, it’s like a god watching ants trying to touch a piece of that power, right?"

"[...]" Nioh is surprised that Nio actually understood that, considering Nio always filtered everything she knew through her own moral lens. Nio’s ability to shift that interpretation was a genuine shock to Nioh.

"[Right, right, that’s a good interpretation. Almost a perfect simplification of what I am. I’m a goddess who could do almost anything as long as Typhon didn’t get in the way.]"

"...You sustained an entire universe..." Nio finally accepts that Nioh isn’t being arrogant. She REALLY was a God, a Divinity on whom the universe depended entirely to keep existing.

"[How understanding.]"

"...I’d call it envy instead. Envy made me better understand what I want..."

"[...?]"

"I want your place." Now that Nio feels a little more secure since she started formulating seemingly effective strategies, other emotions have begun to take hold. One of them is greed.

"[...What do you mean?]"

"You don’t want to come out anymore, right? You’re so traumatized by Typhon that you’d rather hide inside me! So I’ll be you! I want everything. I want the position of goddess!!" Nio smiles, because Nio has always been realistic. She only ever desired what she could truly have.

"[...Sometimes I wonder if you really were once human.]"

"...Ryu and Stelaria are coming, so let’s end this conversation here."

"[...I wish you luck then. I doubt you can steal my place, but if you manage it, then fine. You can keep it. But don’t forget—the crimes I committed are yours now, the power I accumulated is yours too, and the problems that come with it are yours. Envy only sees the benefits, but greed obtains both the benefit and the harm. I hope you don’t drown in greed born from envy.]"

"Heh, that won’t be what scares me in this life. Typhon already sees me as a wife too, so I have everything I need to take your place for myself! Thanks for allowing it!"