Transmigration: Forced to Be a Fake

59 - propaganda

What does this stupid girl know? Everything he saw was just him! He hid, got scared, whined, then said Meridians were born strong?!

"MY MOM NEVER TOLD ME WHY THE SKY WAS BLUE!"

The meridians shook the girl's body full of emotions.

"MY MOM NEVER SAID DON'T BE SAD AND EVERYTHING'S FINE! MY MOTHER SUCKS! HE SUCKS! NO MATTER WHAT MY PROBLEM WAS, HE ALWAYS TOLD ME TO BE FINE WITHOUT EVER HITTING ME! HE ALWAYS WISHED I WAS OKAY BUT NEVER TOLD ME HOW! I'M LEARNING BY MYSELF! I'M LOOKING FOR HER MYSELF! I ASKED, I FAILED, I MADE A MISTAKE, I EMBARRASSED MYSELF FOR ME TO UNDERSTAND MYSELF! THEN WHAT DO YOU CALL IT? BORN AS A STRONG PERSON?!! THEN TELL ME WHY I CRY AT HER ALL THE TIME!"

Meridian tears flocked out. While continuing to shout, he pointed at the empty air that he hoped to become a screen right now.

"RAISE THAT! BRING MEMORIES! LOOK AT EVERYTHING AND SAY AGAIN I WAS BORN A STRONG MAN! YOU WEAK! IT SUCKS! JUST BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T TRY, NOW YOU INSULT ME WHO TRIED SAYING I DIDN'T TRY?!! IT IS PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO ARE DISGUSTING! NOT DION OR LUKE BUT YOU!"

He just silently received the Meridian rage.

But when the Meridians removed his neck with the better intention they parted, he spoke again.

"You won't come back."

"SILENCE!"

"You ruined it."

"KUBILANG SILENCE!"

"You ruined what was supposed to happen." The Fake Meridian smiled. "You'll never come back. It never will. Forever. Even if you kill Dion and Luke, or destroy the temple, or marry His Majesty, or go with Lumiel, you will still be me."

The Meridian's hearing felt ringing.

"Show me, how not to despair in that situation, Meridian."

What remained next was the shrill hysterical cries of Meridians.

*

Be ill.

The pain makes no sense.

The widened meridians shouted a hysterical howl. His eyes could see the light of various types arranged to form a barrier, but it was too painful to be able to ask what was wrong.

Be ill.

Be ill.

Be ill.

His heart was skinned bit by bit.

Be ill.

Until Meridian wants to pluck his own heart so that the pain goes away.

Mamma. Why should he experience all these things when everything is just fiction and illusion? What can he bring to the real world with all this pain?

It all makes no sense. Everything is not system. Everything happens at will. Why did he have to experience everything?!

Be ill.

Be ill.

It hurts!

"You won't come back."

I must be back.

"You'll never come back."

I must be back.

"Would never be. Forever."

I must be back.

"You'll still be me."

I HAVE TO GO BACK!

*

Meridian opened her eyelids. The first thing he could see was a vast expanse of blue sky.

Where is this? His body felt weak, but the pain was no longer like yesterday. Is it over? Or is he back?

"Mama?" Meridians extended their hands into the air in despair. He really wished he could see his mother's real face, ready to nag because the Meridian slept too long.

It must be rooftop. Let's get up to nag her nosy lover to move Meridian here.

"Miss?"

The Meridian's hand fell limp.

"Miss? Miss can hear me?"

Wh why? Why is he still here? Why should he go through this?!

"I hear you." Meridian is trying to wake up. "Tell me the situation."

"Your essence is about to break due to the shackles being forced open." That's Dion's voice. "We tried to recover it and it took twelve days."

It suddenly held its beating chest as if responding.

So for twelve days he was mad by pain? He cried out for twelve days because the body wasn't even his?

"Miss, please don't move too much."

".... Thank you." Thank you." Meridian forced herself to get up to stand up. "Forget about it. I want to know about the temple and Reuben. Also, where's Lumiel?"

A bright red lesion stopped beside him. "Searching for me, my woman?"

"Where is His Majesty?"

"Your Majesty is preparing an army." Luke appears but sits on a tree, devouring an apple. "War is coming soon."

"To be precise, it should have happened." Herdian held out a glass of water at the Meridian. "Drink, Miss."

Meridian. Twelve days man should be dead if he does not eat and drink. But this is a novel so the rules don't apply.

"What do you mean it should happen? The temple hasn't attacked?"

"That's what we're looking for." Dion answered.

"What does that mean?"

"Why for so many days there has been no news of your magic power." Lumiel explained, while Dion removed some kind of fruit from its dimension.

Since Lumiel didn't say don't eat, Meridian ate it without comment. "So you mean the temple kept it a secret for a while?"

"Yes, Miss."

"That's weird. The only reason they cover it is because they benefit more when covering it."

"That's how." Lumiel picked up a fruit in front of the Meridian and ate it. "But I think there's an internal conflict going on within their own group. You remember Ruben? Normally, a person like him would not be able to volunteer to cooperate with the temple. I'd rather believe Ruben was manipulated by the temple than he was consciously working for them."

"Do you think there's a chance Ruben didn't tell the temple?"

"But the pastor was with her."

Meridian flicked his finger, rather spontaneously actually thinking of a chair, but actually created a chair out of ice that he could sit on.

Just ignore their shocked faces, Meridian focused on the problem. "I had His Majesty kill all the priests except that one priest. What's-her-name? Michel?"

"Marcel, Miss."

"Yes, whoever he is. I don't think it's too strange that Michel—I mean, Marcel is working in secret with Ruben. To justify it, an answer is needed from the question 'what's in it for the priest against the holy kingdom?'."

"I guess it's for the weapons stored in their royal palace."

"You mean the weapons of demonic destruction and the chimera?"

Lumiel with her waist next door. "Actually the weapon is useless now. They only exaggerated it by bringing legends so that the holy kingdom would still be seen as having power. But, the weapon will be awakened with a certain amount of stimulation."

"You mean chimera?"

"Magic power that transcends borders."

It is Meridian.

"That sounds reasonable." Herdian held his chin and thought seriously. "I heard that it can only be used by people with holy powers, Miss, so it could have been the goal of priest Marcel. Their current king also has holy power, but if they keep Miss's power a secret, then it's practically useless."

Ruben's character was made better than Meridian had expected.

Hmmmmmm.

"In other words he's after me? But, he only found out about my whereabouts a while ago."

"Previous dungeon grabs could be for that matter." Lumiel looked down at the Meridian. He just casually leaned back on his ice chair which could more be called the king's seat. "Ruben and the priest whoever he is may have planned to make an extraordinary witch as a stimulus for weapons in the holy kingdom. A priest, let alone a high priestess, was free to ignore some of the witches in order for them to grow past the temple's boundaries."

"Wouldn't holy power be lost if a priest ignored evil?"

"That's the propaganda that the temple created," Lumiel replied. "If everyone believed holy power was something that went up and down according to the person's goodness, then man would be sure that the temple was the representative of God."

"Not surprising."

"Holy power is different from magic, but just like magic, it depends on themselves. Witches have mana, those with holy power have 'where' themselves. Even if they don't call it that. I guess, if anything is different, it's just. It increases with the will of the god and the growth of the person himself. Different from the witch who trains mana."

Propaganda, huh? Then it can be digested. Ideology is often used as a political weapon to rule the masses.

"In that case, what is the need to prepare for war?"

"Of course, Stupid." Lukas snorts. "Even if the mad priest had allied himself with the cowardly prince, if they started attacking you, slowly people would know. The temple will definitely move to hunt you down."

"So that means I have two enemies when I don't care about their fate?" Meridian massaged his suddenly aching head.

Should he have a headache after suffering twelve days of fragmentation?

"But before that, there are two things I want to ask you."

"What?"

"What, Miss?"

Compact very. Is this a band or what?

"One, where is this? Two, why are you gathered here while His Majesty prepares for war?"

*