Chapter 210
It took a while for Erik to calm down, sitting on the floor of his office, holding his tattered hair. Silas’s last words revealed how much Erik had missed when laying the foundation of his kingdom.
"For humanity, absurd," Erik thought to himself with a sad smile.
"I wonder what the humans would think if they knew that the core principle of their kingdom was an idea planted by a demon to control them easily," Erik thought, a mocking smile on his face.
His question to Silas about puppets in the rival kingdom and Silas’s response showed that the rival kingdom, because of their strong belief in the origin gods, especially Crepuscular, had a protection or immunity that his kingdom would never have due to their firm belief in human power.
Erik never cared much about the origin gods. His world had gods too, but they fled when the situation started worsening. One thing he understood was that their gods were never origin gods; instead, they were a few lucky individuals who managed to ascend.
Erik’s experience with his world’s gods made him disregard the gods of this world, as he saw them all as cowards who would run when things got tough.
This was why he made no corrections when he started his kingdom; he didn’t push for the humans’ belief in the gods. He even entertained the idea that humans were similar to him and could only depend on themselves for greatness.
Now, his conversation with Silas showed that their human motto, "Humanity," had been pushed from behind the scenes by Silas to better exert his control without angering the gods.
Thinking of this, he remembered Silas’s words: "Your kingdom is my kingdom."
Erik began laughing at himself. He realized he had really been a fun plaything for Silas, naive to think his revenge would go as planned. He now understood he knew little about the kingdom he led. He helped the kingdom grow by occasionally sharing his knowledge and letting the humans do with it as they wanted.
The same was true for his army, the Shadows. He had never fully paid them any attention, seeing them merely as tools for his revenge.