Lazy Salvation

Ashen and Alice’s assumption about the Narkals wasn’t theirs alone. It was also shared by all the higher-ups across the army theater.

But while one theater was left to wonder why such an inexplicable phenomenon was occurring, another knew exactly why.

“So…? Have you decided?” Gluttony’s obese form sat on a throne-like chair inside the tent as he looked at his lanky partner.

“We have already gone this far. Is there really a need to hesitate anymore?”

“Hmm… yes… but it’s still risky,” the Greed Lord hummed with an unreadable expression.

“It’s a hundred times safer than following that crazy warmonger to our deaths!” Gluttony hissed in frustration.

After the meeting in which Greed revealed the assassination attempt on his life, Gluttony could not remain still, despite all their plans.

He started looking for additional ways to keep himself safe. After many experiments, he had found one.

Surprisingly, it did not involve any killing; quite the opposite, he had to keep as many Narkals alive as possible.

The less he killed, the better.

And in exchange, he discovered an unexpected fact. The intensity of the Narkals had diminished.

But he didn’t care too much about that. What he cared about was the subsequent reaction of the Outer Gods behind them.

And their reaction was the same as the Narkals’.

He then shared his discovery with his fellow Sin Lord, asking what his thoughts were on using this knowledge to… reduce casualties, so to speak.

Greed, for his part, didn’t oppose it. From the start, he had been here for one reason and one reason only: to see that particular individual’s Innate Skill.

If they incurred fewer losses while doing so, then all the better.

And so, the two Lords started chasing the monsters away instead of killing them, while allowing the rest of their army to lag behind.

They focused solely on defense, never purposely going out of their way to kill Narkal tribes or pursue fleeing waves.

The soldiers did not understand the logic behind their superiors’ orders, but they had no choice but to obey anyway.

Gluttony thought there would definitely be consequences to this maneuver, so he contacted the other two theaters with hesitation. To his shock, aside from an increase in Narkal attacks, there had been nothing else of note.

It looked as though the Outer Gods were merely retaliating. If you were aggressive in your conquest, they’d repay in kind, and if you did the opposite, they’d leave you alone.

Gluttony wasn’t stupid enough to think such a thing was actually possible. But the facts spoke louder, and he planned to take it even further.

“You have already installed your little spying spell on their army. Whatever you want to see, you’ll be able to see. There is no need to linger here anymore…”

Right now, he was almost pleading… for what? Well, the answer was obvious…

“We should leave now!” his his sweat-soaked body shook with his words. “This is our best chance!”

The Sin Lord looked at him without a change of expression.

“Do you understand what fate would befall the others, Gluttony? Even if you run, when the others die, it won’t be long before it’s your turn.” Kokan explained patiently, as if he were educating a slow child. “It is impossible to protect our territory with only the two of us.”

“Who says it’s only the two of us?” Gluttony countered.

“Oh?” Kokan raised an eyebrow. “Have you convinced Envy? Well… that is not surprising. That man wouldn’t need much convincing if the prospect of ending this war appeared.”

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“Yes. Now are you in or are you not?”

“Hold it. Three might be better than two, but you are forgetting that the remaining two are far more vital than any one of us. One is the strongest healer humanity currently possesses; her faction also produces the majority of its healers. The other is even more vital. She is the guardian of our borders.”

He shook his head at the prospect of abandoning them to their deaths. “Not to mention, are you forgetting the one hundred million soldiers who would be lost alongside them?”

“No, no, no…” Gluttony shook his head in denial. “NO! You don’t understand! We have already conquered three of their bases! Don’t forget!”

“And so?”

“So? So?!” The man couldn’t tell whether Greed was feigning confusion or simply playing him. “Do you not know how many of those breeding flesh pillars we have destroyed?”

“I haven’t been keeping count. But it should be no less than ten thousand.”

“Exactly! The Narkals' reproduction will also go down by that much! And do you know how many Narkals we have killed so far?”

The Greed Lord finally 'understood' where he was going with this. “...We have killed so many… enough to populate this continent a hundred times over…”

“Yes! Yes…! So even if we retreat now, there won’t be a problem for centuries to come. Do you get me?”

“That’s a bit far-fetched. As you can also see, their numbers are still as infinite as ever.” Kokan countered with an almost nonchalant tone.

“And that’s where Wrath and Lust will come in.” Gluttony’s breathing turned labored, as if just the act of speaking were taking a toll. “When we retreat, every Narkal would be redirected to them. Do you think they would fall so easily?”

“No.” Greed shook his head immediately. “The death of a Sin Lord… It would take much more than these mere monsters, no matter how many.”

“That’s correct! And we have two of them! If they fight to their last breath, I reckon they’d deal far more damage than what we have inflicted since the start of this campaign.”

“Hmm…”

“And that is not all!”

“Oh, you have something else up your sleeve?” Kokan cast him a curious look.

“Of course! It’s the Demi-humans.”

“What about them?”

“We have been weakened so much already. We are about to lose two Sin Lords. We can’t have our neighbors remain in such a pristine condition, right? What if they get ideas, thinking they can take advantage of our weakness?” Gluttony grinned hideously.

“You are right. Something must be done about them if we want to continue coexisting harmoniously.”

“You finally understand… hee hee…” With an equally hideous crackle, he divulged his plan. “Instead of running straight to our territory, why not pay a visit to their empire…?”

Before Kokan could ask him to elaborate, he added, “Of course, we will bring them a present!”

“A present…?”

“Yes. We have countless presents lying around here. We can bring as many as we want.” He nodded faintly.

“...”

Kokan took a moment to comprehend what he was getting at.

“...You plan to bait the Narkals to their doorstep?”

“Exactly. Between the Sin Lords’ rampage and the clash that would occur between the Demi-humans and the Narkals… let alone centuries, we could buy ourselves as much as a millennium! If one of those Outer Gods dies in the process, all the better!!”

Silence hung between them, broken solely by Gluttony’s heavy breathing.

“Jhin…” Eventually, Kokan spoke softly, uttering the Sin Lord’s given name. “I can’t believe you’d go so far just because of your fear of death… You really are a wretched creature.”

Gluttony did not get mad; instead, a faint sneer marred his flabby cheeks. “That’s funny, coming from the greediest bastard humanity has ever known.”

Before Kokan could retort, Jhin added, “Do you think I don’t know what you are doing here? You keep righteously berating me while reluctantly following along because you have no choice. What a tragedy!”

“But I know that deep down… you would like to follow this plan more than anyone. After all, if that man is truly cornered, then he would have no choice but to show you what you want to see…”

“But here you are, standing before me acting like a self-righteous martyr, when our goals actually align.”

“Do you want to be seen as the victim so much? Fine by me!”

He threw his hands into the air and stood up in a huff. “If you want to keep your reputation, then keep it! I will gladly shoulder all the blame. All you have to do is follow like the unfortunate victim you are. I don’t care!”

“...”

“But don’t for a second think that you have me fooled!” He fixed his stare on the man before him with a hungry intensity. For a brief moment, Kokan felt as though he were a starving man standing in the middle of the desert before he cloaked himself in his own Concepts, negating the gluttonous aura.

“And when we go back, Paradise would be mine!”

“...”

Kokan looked at him expressionlessly before breaking into a sudden smile.

“I see.”

“Do you agree or not? Otherwise, you can forget about keeping your reputation when we get back.”

“Oh, of course I agree. Haha. I was just a bit surprised, Jhin. I seem to have underestimated you after all your unnecessary cowering. If you had started with this, I wouldn’t have had to play this charade either.”

He laughed like a good-natured uncle. “We have a deal. But you have to persuade Envy on your own.”

“That is my business.”

“Good.”

And just like that, the fate of a hundred million humans, alongside that of two Sin Lords, had been decided.

Humanity had guarded its territories against the Demi-humans, but it had failed to account for the fact that its own race could still covet those same territories.

And when Greed and Gluttony came together, sooner or later, something was bound to happen.

Unfortunately, the victims would have to learn that the hard way.

After all… the greedy, hungry fools had already started moving in the opposite direction, leaving their comrades to a woeful fate in pursuit of their avarice while succumbing to their cowardice.