Chapter 86: The Era of Divide (1)
With the sun slowly climbing above their heads, the shade of the tree could no longer protect Adrian from the sunlight. With the grass acting as a light cushion for comfort and the occasional light breeze providing mild cooling, Adrian sat with his legs folded while the lesson continued.
Sir Avalon looked at him with a strange, mature expression and asked.
"If I had to summarise the concept of society in fewer words, it would be a situation where people come together and live in a group that is built on a framework of rules. The core logic behind it is that you must prioritize the group’s benefit above your own. But if the group benefits, you will benefit along with it since you are also part of the group. Simple, right?"
Adrian nodded.
What his teacher was telling him was not anything wrong; it was just extremely compressed.
"But that isn’t as good as it sounds. You will indeed benefit by being part of the group, but that benefit would be smaller than it could’ve been if you had only worked for your own benefit. The only ones who truly benefit in society are the weak. For the strong, it is no more than a restraint. So in an era where the strong trampling the weak was common logic, this divide was rather reasonable."
As Adrian focused and thought a bit deeply, that sounded... rather plausible.
’Indeed, he isn’t wrong. Though he phrased it in a somewhat wrong way.’
The concept behind society was mutual prosperity. All who are part of the group will equally prosper as long as everyone follows the rules. Those who don’t will be punished by those who do, ensuring mutual compliance.
But it was true that the ones truly benefiting were the ones who couldn’t have otherwise prospered on their own. The capable ones were indeed being restrained.
"The three factions were known as collectivists, individualists, and moderates. Though many now just refer to them as the good, the evils, and the neutrals."
Adrian frowned as he heard the last part.
’That’s a rather strange way to refer to them. Who even does that?’
"When the Idea of society was introduced, a large number of people were instantly fascinated by it. After all, society promised eternal prosperity to all without any conflict; who wouldn’t want that? And these fascinated people formed the core of the Collectivists. And since the collectives pushed for the society because they wanted mutual prosperity for all, they were referred to as ’the good’."
Sir Avalon let out a short sigh.
"But another group of people instantly saw the amount of restraints that would be placed upon everyone if the idea of society really came to be. These people had a mindset that was something like: ’If I am strong, then there is nothing wrong with me trampling the weak. And if I am the weak one, then I deserve to be trampled.’ To them, the very idea of the weak being allowed to survive was something that went against nature itself. They were the Individualists, and they mostly included the strong individuals of humanity. Now you can probably guess why they were referred to as ’the evils’."
Indeed, he could. It wasn’t even much of a guess, really. Anyone who opposes an idea like ’eternal prosperity to all’ would be obviously labeled as evil, regardless of the context.
’But they weren’t entirely wrong, though.’
Nature was indeed designed in a way that filtered the weak and only ensured the survival of the most worthy. There was even a term for that: ’The survival of the fittest’.
But what they were wrong about is that survival of the fittest existed even within society; it was just that the criteria for the ’fittest’ had changed quite a bit.
"But there was a third group. This group also wished for eternal prosperity for all, but they also believed that it was too good to be true. They were critical of the idea of society and believed that it would bring its own set of problems. Their concerns weren’t unfounded either. The initial idea of society had no punishment system, and anyone who broke the rules was to be killed, regardless of circumstances. These were the moderates, also referred to as ’the neutrals’."
Then Sir Avalon suddenly met his eyes and widened his smile as he asked.
"Which side would you have picked had you been in a situation to choose, little man?"
He was looking at Adrian rather expectantly, as if eager to hear his answer.
...but Adrian only stared back expressionlessly, not answering his question.
After interacting with Sir Joran for years, Adrian had learned that there were times when not answering a question was the best choice. And this seemed to be such an instance.
After waiting silently for a while, Sir Avalon’s smile slowly turned into a pout as he spoke in an unamused tone.
"Where did your enthusiasm from yesterday go? Children your age are supposed to be full of energy, you know."
Still not getting a reaction from him, Sir Avalon sighed and continued.
"These three sides solidified into three different societies and kingdoms with their own different beliefs. The Collectivists stood for order and stability; they valued following the rules above all else. Anyone who broke the rules was to be killed without a thought. The individualists believed in individualism and freedom. Although they formed their collective group, they were largely lawless and were all about the survival of the fittest. The moderates believed in restraint over the extremity of either side. Their society also stood for freedom, but within the boundaries of order."
Sir Avalon paused for a bit, as if tired from speaking so much. But the glint in his eyes was still there.
"The three sides were at each other’s throats, clashing constantly and trying their best to destroy one another. But do you know the funniest thing, little man?"
The corners of his lips curled upward.
"The ones who were the weakest and most disadvantaged among the three sides were actually the collectivists. They threatened to kill anyone who dared to break the rules. This rigidity caused the strong individuals who were suppressed by those rules to switch sides and either join the individualists or moderates. Meanwhile, those who were too weak to survive on their own joined the collectivists in order to use those rules as shields. This resulted in the collectivists becoming a group that mostly consisted of the weakest humans. The collectivists were feeble enough to be destroyed any time."
Then Sir Avalon’s expression slowly turned vague and hard to discern as he met eyes with Adrian once again.
"But they weren’t destroyed even though they were that feeble. Do you have any guesses as to why?"
Adrian didn’t reply this time either. But that wasn’t because he didn’t want to; it was because he wasn’t very confident in his answer.
Sir Avalon leaned forward and spoke in a low tone.
"It was all because of the existence of the gods."
