Are we inherently capable of the "Highest good"
this has been something I've wondered every time death came up as a topic since we're probably going to end up in one place or another once we die purely based on the fact we might've been shit or decent people. In a study I did for a college credit course, I learned the term "Summum Bonum" essentially being Latin for "Highest Good" It basically is the idea of the human good in some kind of a relationship with the highest good. The highest good of course is whatever we'd theorize it to be. But in all honesty, What is good? What is righteous? We're all preordained with views of what could be good or righteous at a young age but that naturally changes over time as we develop our own sense of self and independence so it's really a fallible concept to start.
for the most part.
Even with those striving to achieve the highest good throughout their life, I simply want to strive for some peace and time to myself but alas I'm currently being bothered by blonde bitch 1A, or Claris since I'm now forced to remember her name with our each interaction.
Upon the dramatic revealing that I can use Chordatta and Magecraft, I've basically been the talk of all adventurers and the news sure did travel cause by the time the next day came I was being crowded by a plethora of adventurers young and old looking to tutor me into their party.
This was exactly the opposite of what I had envisioned for myself.
The worse part about it was that it seemed like no one genuinely got the memo. The more I declined and made it public that I genuinely wanted to just learn everything then adventure by myself, they all made it a fuss that I should learn under them or join their party just to be sure with no regard for what I wanted.
But the one who was more persistent than the others was Claris. Whenever I went I saw her, each time I turned around she was right next to me. She was terrible in every possible way.
even now.
"You thinking about my offer yet! I'm capable of financially supporting you and your endeavors sumire! So come on... join the party, and we'll get you set up with the best teacher they have to offer here in the entire Astaren Province!"
"Ehhh noo, I shouldn't. Actually, no I genuinely don't want to."
"JOin." suddenly from Claris, it was almost like demons were coming out as a tiny bit of man voice came out of that cutesy skinny waist and nice assed figure. It was almost scary when that came out as it seemed her patience was finally running thin with this being her 292nd attempt in the day.
But I genuinely just didn't wanna join.
"Sheesh.. But like.—" muttered by myself
I couldn't manage to do anything against her as I literally had no real way of evading someone who knows their way around town compared to me who was still exploring and trying to find a suitable place to stay other than guild lodging.
But even then nothing is going to be easy so long as Claris is around
"Hey turn around real quick Sumire-Chan!" happily said by Claris, she had an innocent voice that would've been a pale comparison to what I had just heard earlier so I turned around anyway and saw nothing. Of course, I should've at least tried to ask what I was supposed to be seeing but it didn't really matter. The moment I turned around, frame one, all I could see were two things.
The entire street had been looking at me and Claris in shock and surprise, while some of the children had their eyes covered by parents. And Claris, she was holding the sheathe of her sword and swinging it towards my face. After that, I just heard a thud and I blacked out.
Now, whatever she did to my body while I was blacked out is beyond me.
It was just that, whenever I woke up I wasn't tied up or blindfolded but in a large green field with 5 others, one being Claris.
In the distance, I could see the capital. however, it was just a large plain. With little to nothing in it other than some trees every so often.
"Since you didn't willingly join the party, I'm simply just going to give you a free trial so you can get the experience first hand then I'll leave it to you on whether you want to join, and don't think I won't pull this again as I'm rather confident you don't know your way around town or how to get back." Claimed by Claris rather confidently.
That damn bitch, using my own lack of direction against me. I'm gonna get her back for this later.
"Fine fine.. who are those people anyway, actually that's a dumb question. I'm guessing they're your party members. Tweedle dee, and tweedle dumb along with the three musketeers. You're a part of the musketeers Claris. I'm guessing tweedle dee and dumb joined later." I was referring to a tall blonde and a loli mage looking person.
One of them would've immediately spoken up, it was the strong tall blonde dude with a large sword.
"We don't need to take this from her, I don't care if she has all the talent in the world, I still won't allow myself to take it from someone like h—.."
"Hyde.. She's able to use Magecraft and Chordatta, never has there ever been such a thing to exist. I'm surprised the Hansmen haven't scouted her out yet upon learning this, and we can only imagine what'll happen when other countries and great powers learn she's capable of these things. Not only would Mage's country be trying, but the Hattern Bayard eventually open their gates specifically for her." This came from a small loli mage I mentioned earlier, upon looking closer I saw she was wearing a generic mages outfit, however, the frilly outfit and corset she was wearing merely highlighted her tiny and cute appearance. She had this stubborn tsundere and Kuudere face on her which made me think she didn't really talk to people too often or only did it when it'd best suit her or the situation. The small breast she had were rather defined due to the clothes she was wearing. The whole outfit just feels like something you'd see in a semi-erotic harem-based fantasy anime where the protagonist has some legendary weapon.
"So wait, even the bayards would try to take her..? I guess she is a big deal." The blonde shut up after the lolis explanation, I guess I can't address them as a blonde but Hyde now.
Above all else I kind of remained silent since I didn't really know what I was doing here or if I should've tried to escape but then it came back to me I had no way to really escape or get back to where I was so I just decided to speak up.
"Well, since I'm here.. does anyone actually have the ability to teach me Chordatta or Magecraft at least..? and can someone explain to me who the bayards are?"
I wanted to get straight to the point since if I tried to work around the issue I'd simply be wasting time and energy.
But strangely enough, they'd all look at me with a surprised look on their face as Claris spoke up this time.
"So.. wait. How do you not know who the bayards are?" exclaimed slowly by Claris as she genuinely seemed baffled with my statement.
"I came from a small mountain village far east, we're pretty secluded you see..— It took all of the village's savings to get me and two of my other friends in Astaren but we got split up in a monster attack so I'm kind of just on a small search to fi—." She kinda cut me off right there but I wonder if they saw through my fabricated story which I took from an anime I watched a little while back.
"Oh..— I guess I understand." uttered by Claris as she was still just a bit confused but tried to shake that off.
L mans.
It was only then a female wearing what it seemed to be an actual conductor outfit but it seemed to have been tailored a tiny bit different as her cleavage came out a bit where the collar usually would've been covering, she had the two tails on the back of her tuxedo while for her waist she had a skirt and lacy stockings with over the knee black boots straight from a power rangers outfit. She had medium-length hair that came down to her shoulders and was also a brunette strangely giving diversity to the crew, but on top of all that she had really nice makeup on the closer look I got of her.
"I'm Arisa, a certified Class A nearly S rank conductor. I can teach you everything I know about Chordatta Miss Sumire, I'm a temporary hire unfortunately so I cannot stay for much longer than a few days." She had said this with a calming and soothing voice, a nice and light air enveloped her, from my guess she was someone who surely seemed to be a great teacher overall
"Ah— well I'll be in your care then." managed by me as I thought we were going to have a really nice teacher-student experience.
"Alright, let's go over the basics of what Chordatta is."
it was then the rag tag crew of misfits realized they just needed to go since there wasn't really a need to introduce themselves while I was being taught so it was basically just a chance for me to get a few things understood about chordatta so they just walked away for a bit.
"Mhm..—" I simply nodded hoping I could get through the entire thing only doing that and making vague noises signaling my understanding
"Chordatta is the fundamental driving force which poses an opposition to magic, an art where you bring forth complexity from yourself as an organism and channel it throughout the world where your will becomes exactly that. The very laws of nature bend at your finger tips due to this."
"I see..—" I kinda got the gist of it already but this was still helpful nonetheless.
"In order for someone to start using chordatta a physical jolt must be caused in most cases, sometimes it'll come out naturally without help but this usually takes a week which I simply don't wish to wait for. And so, we're just going to get the jolt out of the way." She said this so casually I thought the jolt was basically going to be a pinch pain-wise
It was then she put her palm on my forehead and randomly it seemed like a ripple came from out of her palm and appeared in the air. In that same instance, I could feel a terribly painful shock that felt like knives piercing every bit of my body but it only lasted an instant. Yet, I felt something dripping from my nose.
"Blood—..? what even happened?"
"You see, I more or less just forced a plethora of 'background' knowledge into your system so you'll be able to execute the basics in just a few tries, probably less since you're destined to be adept to a genius level conductor according to the guild evaluation." Confidently boasted by Arisa who seemed to know what she was doing for the most part.
I tried to draw to the background knowledge I had but nothing really occurred especially when I tried doing poses to start my powers or something.
"Ah.. it's not working Arisa, what do I do—.."
"Well for starters— force your index finger to tap the palm of your hand twice then flick your wrist into the air like so." She said this like I was stupid as she'd show the palm of her hand before making the index finger bend down twice hitting the space between the palm and wrist right where the thumb was more or less, right before flicking her wrist into the air as it was then a massive shockwave was emitted from her hand and suddenly popped causing a massive breeze of wind to come hurdling towards us.
"WOAH! LET ME TRY THAT!" I was eager now that I saw it up close, but instead of just using one hand I tried both in rapid succession only causing multiple shockwaves to be shot outside my hand. The sensation was like nothing I've ever felt before, it was like a river came surging from out of nowhere and into my body. It was like a gate had opened to let a surge of people inside and immediately closed when a certain number came inside.
"Ah.. so carefree—.." Arisa uttered.
"Hm?—" I kinda questioned this as the shockwaves reverberated through the air allowing me to feel the breeze they caused initially but at a greater rate.
"There is an inherent limit to how often you can use Chordatta since you are quite literally forcing a phenomenon which was made to rival 'truth' into your body than outside of it in rapid succession, typically you wouldn't be able to do what you did for two weeks but given the fact you're a destined prodigy I don't see why not." Arisa had explained this as it was only shortly after I'd feel a strange feeling bubble and surge in my gut.
"I'm gonna be sick—.."
After a bit of barfing and a more thorough explanation, I was revealed that Chordatta works rhythmically, in a way where the user can draw forth complexity and shape it. It wasn't uncommon to see a conductor with a wand since they forced their will through the wand letting them shape it easier or simply using their finger.
What I had just did earlier was a really basic way to execute Chordatta, typically a technique used to stun enemies or blow them a distance away.
That was a basic chordatta where it comes in 5 different variations according to each finger, I decided to break it down like special commands in a fighting game where you simply need to use each rapid succession in a different order to achieve greater results. But it was then I learned people do this but because it's so straining just to use a basic spell, no one really tries this or really desires to expand their capacity to take and use chordatta.
Until then I devised a method where I simply needed to wave my finger at certain points to execute a basic or complex command. Since Chordatta at it's core was simply: Rewrite, Force, Apply, Amplify, and Decrease which basically made up the majority of it if I was to sort it out but there's also a miscellaneous bit that I can't quite determine.
Force can be heighten to where it's now "absolute" and decrease to where it's "denial" other variations can apply depending on the circumstance so it makes all the difference.
As it was then a few weeks passed and my forced training with Arisa was finally done. I was able to pass a certification considering me to be a proper conductor but it was during that time other countries and powers began to catch wind of who I was and what I'd be capable of.
As a present to me for becoming a certified conductor, Claris and her party bought me this ornament which almost resembled a choker but not exactly. It was a neck ornament that had roses molded onto it on multiple sides, more prominently being the three roses on the front with the purple jewel in the very center. It was truly something I held in high regard as after that first day of kidnapping they basically took care of me and taught me all there was to know while I still basically hid the fact I wasn't from this world.
Even then I became more and more accustomed to this world and what I needed to adjust to, typically the floating islands and how the sky was a faint shade of green while the moon was constantly red or orange.
The only thing I'd say really stuck out was one day during training where I was attempting to use a complex technique I thought of.
The technique ultimately would've resulted in a barrier space that not only dragged people in but turned them into energy for someone. But the thing was the barrier space operated on a range where the moment you'd make contact with it, you'd instantly be forced into a space where only contradictions exist and every move you make constantly drives you further even if you don't intend on doing so.
Ultimately something like this was possible with chordatta but as a long-range technique it was rather impossible because of what was needed of the person executing it.
But I tried to use it anyway and a weird event occurred that strangely enough only I had noticed. The moment I tried to use the technique, everything in my eyesight became black and white and more or less inverted in color scheme as I could see the invisible force which was 'chord scripture' flowing in and out of my body then all of the complex instances that occurred for chordatta to activate when and how it did.
However the desired result I had for the technique didn't exactly occur but it was slightly better as the path I had for it rather differed and instead everything that was within range of the barrier stopped in its place and began to pulse in and outwards before becoming completely sucked into its center and disappearing from my sight. Only after the whole technique ended did my sight return to normal.
That one event had been sticking with me for a while as I generally couldn't understand what happened entirely but I wanted to recreate it somehow. But then it hit me, what that black and white note said to me a while back.
"You alone can adjoin and create things, ideas, and solutions which would ultimately result in failure for anyone else. No longer are you simply a slave to the causality of existence, duality doesn't apply to you as you're completely independent."
Is this what it meant? I can use techniques that technically don't work for anyone else since they'd technically just collapse on themselves?
Somehow I wanted to use it to my advantage but I didn't really know how I'd even access this "divergent" in the first place. But it'd simply have to wait as Claris was taking me out to the marketplace where we'd be looking for items to help us out since I'm being forced into one of their adventures and they're a bit short counting me in.
"Sumire! come here look at this, you'd look amazing in this!" She'd exclaim while holding up a white hood with rather fancy embroidered floral designs and frills.
"I'm not into stuff like that, you got anything less.. standout-ish.." shamefully admitted by me
"Awwhh.. that's no fun, I even got you a nice bathing suit for when we go out to this special oasis later!"
"What." I looked over to her direction as she was holding a two-piece which would've actually been rather nice in appearance but difficult to see myself in. But either way, all that matters was that we got the stuff we came for and didn't mess around here any more than we needed to.
"Don't look like that now.. let's just go and get our stuff from the main street so we can go ahead and leave,"
Only after her statement we'd both hear a blood-curdling scream from the main street simply causing us to run toward in an effort to see what was going on.
But this generally wasn't like me as far as I could remember, I was the type to tell dudes on the internet to touch grass after they basically flood the comments of whatever picture I posted of myself knowing I didn't do much outside my own room. I wasn't the type to simply run towards someone in trouble like a saint, in fact I was the type to run away to not get dragged in as I simply wouldn't know what to do in the first place.
It was a little different this time though
By the time we got there we'd see a stranged man with bloodshot eyes and a magical dagger in his hand holding a little girl hostage while the mom watched with a horrified look in her eyes basically crying at that point.
"YOU MOVE ONE FUCKING INCH AND I'LL MAKE HER FUCKING BLOOD SPRAY ALL OVER THE PLACE, GIVE ME WHAT I FUCKING ASKED FOR, DON'T TOUCH ME AND EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE YOU HEAR ME YOU INCOMPETENT PIECES OF HORSE SHIT?!" exclaimed by the man who clearly didn't take his daily dose of monster energy.
"PLEASE DON'T HURT MY DAUGHTER, I'LL DO ANYTHING YOU WANT JUST PLEA—"
"COME ON LADY YOU'RE KILLING MY HIGH, JUST GIVE ME THE STUFF.. YOU BETTER NOT CALL THE HANSMEN OR TRY TO GET OUT OF THIS YA HEAR?..—"
the dialogue between the two was simply too painful to keep listening to. It was then I tried to step forward and help before Claris put her hand on my shoulder stopping me. She had this look in her face telling me I'd cause more harm than good but I simply felt it was my chance to just make things right and give this guy a piece of his own medicine.
Actually that sounds dumb, making me look like some heroic Shonen hero.
"Let her go—.." uttered by me who really thought it was a cool line to say but immediately regretted it.
"WHO'S THIS BITCH OVER HERE, LIKE WHO CALLED FOR THIS PATHETIC, INSIGNIFICANT SNIVELING CHILD REALLY THINKING IT'D DO ANYTHING OR DID YOU ACTUALLY THINK YOOUUUU.. SPECIFICALLY COULD DO SOMETHING HUH? HM? I'M WAITING!—" ignorantly exclaimed by the same dude who was probably hopped up on rocks.
"Okay you're getting on my nerves cock meister.. Gonna need to show you whose boss around these parts you fucking addlepate.."
Just me talking kind of got him a bit more furious as he got to a point where he was just gonna slit the girls throat, actually scratch that he was literally about to do it but no one else was able to react in time except for me.
That same moment where everything went black and white happened again.
time slowed down seemingly, nothing seemed to have been happening in real time except for the fact I could move rather normally but I didn't know how long I could do this. So at the time I tried the same move I attempted earlier where target was trapped in a barrier vacuum but I forced it to be a bit smaller than it needed to be due to the face I couldn't accurately guess where his body ended and the girls began. So this whole time it was just an eye ball estimate.
However right when it activate the blade was nearly at the girls throat only for one thing to happen.
He began to rise into the air but his body was convulsey violently ultimately causing him to lose hold of his blade and common sense.
The technique had lost its original composition and now he was simply just convulsing outwards and inwards. Eventually his body would've completely collapsed on its own weight and got sucked into the center of the attack which merely brought him higher into the air.
The girl who had been hostage had her eyes closed crying still not knowing what was happening but it was only when her eyes opened did entrails and blood come splattering from the sky.
Everyone who had been present would not forget this sole moment as a man completely burst open from the inside screaming and crying asking for it to stop.
He was torn from the inside out, twisted and burst open onto everyone.
Immediately several people started crying and screaming at the very sight, even the girl who had just been held hostage immediately jumped backwards when a part of the dudes face landed in front of her completely disfigured from what it originally was.
We were all at a loss for words since what was generally supposed to be a good deed immediately got turned into something only seen in nightmares.
"SHE'S A MONSTER! WHO ELSE WOULD KILL SOMEONE SO INHUMANLY.." screeched by some random dude next to me but he was right. It was probably such a painful way to go I wouldn't be surprised if he's still screaming but we just can't hear it.
It was in this moment I realized the highest good can never exist so long as we're entitled to our own perception since in this moment, I was probably farthest from the highest good in their eyes. Sure I got rid of the problem, but the way it was handled was far from okay.
After that, all that I could do was watch in horror.