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But back then, it was Astraea who sent Erebus back to heaven.
Erebus merely returned to heaven, far from being dead.
People like Alfia and Chardo truly passed on their lives to the next generation. Even if they turned into evil, they would still contribute to the birth of a new generation of heroes. However, the evil god who claimed to be absolutely evil, clearly instigated an incident intended to destroy Orario, but in the end he was just sent back to heaven.
The person who could most hardly accept this result was probably not anyone else, but Erebus himself.
Other collaborators sacrificed their lives, but he, the evil god who planned the disaster, didn't even have to pay with his life in the end. Like a clown, he didn't even have to bear any decent consequences?
He clearly claimed to be evil, and he clearly failed, but the price he paid was minimal?
But what can you do if you are dissatisfied?
Even if you want to die, you can't. This is what a god is!
As a deity, Astraea has no ability to uphold the justice in her heart, nor does she have the ability to sacrifice herself for that justice.
But after coming to the lower world, she felt somewhat lucky.
If they were people from the underworld, perhaps they would be able to uphold justice without any shadow of a doubt.
There are many things in the world that justice cannot do anything about. Astraea has encountered them. In the face of those events, justice can never give an answer.
But given the short life of people in the underworld, there is a possibility that they will never encounter such an event in their entire lives.
The Astraea family is a family that takes justice as its banner. From time to time, members of the family discuss what justice is. If this is exposed to the outside world, people may laugh at their childish behavior.
But there are differences among Astraea's family.
Some people insist on justice, some people do it for justice, and some people were picked up by her and admire her figure.
Among all the followers, Liu is the most naive one, but also the one who is most serious about justice.
She hoped that all the followers would be happy, that Liu could find his own path to justice, and that he would never encounter any accident that would destroy his path to justice until his death. When the followers were out, Astraea would occasionally pray like this, even though she herself was a god.
But Astraea didn't get what she wanted after all.
Even though the lives of the children in the underworld are so short, less than a thousand years, fate is unwilling to give them a good ending.
With this feeling, she returned to Orario. When she learned from Uranus that the other world was open to visitors, Astraea herself could not describe the feeling at that moment.
Perhaps it was surprise? Perhaps it was happiness? There were probably several other emotions mixed together.
But at that moment, Astraea had only one thought in her mind.
This is exactly what I want.
As the goddess of justice, I hope to have the ability to decide the justice I want to uphold.
If you can't do that, at least give her the opportunity to work towards her ideal.
If she can't even make an effort, at least let her sacrifice herself for her ideals and pass on her martyrdom to future generations.
But after calming down a little, Astraea began to think about another thing.
Astraea knew that she was a very troublesome woman. Anyone who had a righteous mind actually had a troublesome personality.
Based on Astraea's experience in managing her clan in the netherworld, the so-called justice is actually synonymous with being at a disadvantage.
Under the rules of the gods, it is difficult for a clan that truly acts recklessly to develop, but it is also difficult for a clan that does not know how to exploit loopholes in the guild's rules and has a righteous mind to develop.
Astraea herself admitted that if she just wanted to develop her clan, then Liu's stubbornness would actually have a negative effect on the development of her clan.
This is how Liu is in her eyes, and in the eyes of visitors from another world, she, the so-called goddess of justice, is probably the same.
Astraea thought at that moment that this couldn't go on, she had to show her worth.
In such a hurry, all she could think of was to give up the principles she had been forced to uphold for hundreds of millions of years.
The principles she once adhered to were, after all, just her insistence on never going against the will of evil out of helplessness. It was essentially a helpless act on her part.
Astraea was 100% sure that was not what she really wanted. When she became strong enough and qualified to stick to her ideals, she would consider getting it back, but not now.
If she was so serious that she couldn't even tolerate the necessary evil in the process, she herself didn't know why the visitor from another world would recruit her.
Picture her good-looking?
When you are not strong enough, you don’t have the capital to have everything. If you want to get something, you have to give up other things.
However, it was a little surprising that Astraea originally did not intend to say such words in front of Liu.
At least in front of her family, Astraea still wanted to maintain her image as the perfect goddess of justice, although the perfect justice she had displayed before was just a joke that she couldn't help, and essentially she ignored the unavoidable injustice... but she couldn't stand being highlighted by others.
The gods are now in the underworld.
After going to the lower world, the gods sealed their divine powers, and mainly for the sake of experiencing life, they would not interfere in the affairs of the lower world on a large scale.
With such an historical background, she, the goddess of justice, turned a blind eye to the injustices in the underworld, and it became a consensus among the gods not to interfere in the lives of people in the underworld.
Astraea did her best to uphold justice within the rules, distribute relief, and go to the orphanage to help orphans in her spare time, thus becoming the gentle and kind goddess of justice.
Astraea herself felt that those were just her job and were not worthy of praise at all. However, these small things made her unexpectedly popular within her family and even in Orario.
Astraea sometimes felt that she was unworthy of this popularity, and felt a little guilty inside... but along with the guilt, there was also a little joy of the goddess of justice.
In front of Liu, Astraea really wants to maintain her integrity and perfection. She doesn't want Liu to know that she is a bad goddess who can turn a blind eye to certain wrong things in order to fulfill her ideals.
...but finally we got here!
Astraea glanced at Su Qing, her eyes full of resentment.
She had to plot against me and make me tell her true feelings towards Liu. After thinking about it, she decided that as long as she revealed her true feelings, she could tell her little bit of privacy to comfort Liu.
The wrong things Liu did... apart from Liu himself, few people really care about them.
Even she, the goddess of justice.
In anger, Liu killed innocent people without trial or evidence, and targeted merchants who were mixed with innocent people. This was certainly against justice - but to the goddess of justice, this was definitely not unforgivable.
This impulsive killing of innocent people is not the same as the necessary evil that Erebus forces the new generation of heroes to grow.
But if we evaluate merits and demerits, the efforts Liu made to maintain the order of the city far outweighed the mistakes she made, and the number of people who survived because of Liu's activeness far exceeded the innocent businessmen she killed.
From the perspective of justice, human life cannot be calculated in this way.
But from a practical perspective, tolerating such behavior is necessary to uphold the banner of justice.
Liu's achievements far outweigh his mistakes. After being impulsive, Liu felt regretful and still wanted to act in the right way.
Even if the number of people Liu has saved and may save in the future is far greater than the innocent people she has killed, her merits cannot make up for the mistakes she has made - but from a realistic point of view, no country or family will take her, a level 4 adventurer and a hero who has made great contributions, seriously.
Even Astraea knew that Liu's behavior was not a necessary evil, but was just a product of impulse, but forgiving Liu's evil was necessary for justice.
If justice cannot be grasped even with the power that can be easily grasped in one's hands, then it will always be just a pure ideal and there will never be a day when it can be turned into reality.
……
The useless elf moved his lips.
Liu didn't know how to describe his feelings today.
At the beginning, it was 'Lady Astraea actually returned to Orario'?
After that, it was 'Lady Astraea has been worried about me'?
After that, it was 'the battle of Alfia was actually a slacking battle'?
Liu thought for a moment, with a lot of clues in front of him. Liu suddenly felt a little confused. Could it be that he was really a useless fairy as Kaguya complained, who could not guess something with such obvious clues?
...When we faced the monsters back then, it should have been me, a useless guy, who was sacrificed, so that Kaguya or Alyssa could survive. They definitely wouldn't be as stupid as me!
So when Astraea told me to give up justice, she meant to tell me to give up insisting on justice, but to protect justice in the dark, even if it was with the wrong methods?
Having said this, Liu felt somewhat relieved. Lady Astraea had done this for her, and she couldn't continue if she got depressed.
Allowing the Lord God to be exiled for several years was already an unforgivable mistake for her clan. If she continued to be depressed, she would not be able to face her dead companions after she died.
When the soul reaches heaven, the companions will reminisce about the past...
Alixie: "Leon, I died to protect you. Did you live well with me? Tell me about your legendary life afterwards!"
What will she say then?
Liu: "Not legendary at all. After you died, I caused Lady Astraea to be exiled to Orario. I hid in a restaurant as a waitress and shut myself up for several years. I didn't renew my Favor once in several years. I was level 4 then, and I'm still level 4 now."
Does this sound like a word?
She had been so introverted before, but after seeing Astraea, Liu felt better and suddenly realized something was wrong.
If this continues, the rest of her life will be meaningless... What will she do when she faces the souls of her companions after death?
Isn't she going to lose her parents because of Kaguya's foul language?
Thinking of this, Liu had the idea to cheer up and work hard.
But then... Lady Astraea revealed that she was planning to give up her insistence on justice?
It would be fine to let her, a member of the family, remain in the dark as the cornerstone of justice, but Lady Astraea is also going to give up that insistence and stop avoiding necessary evils?
Liu's eyes were vague, he laughed dryly twice, rubbed his eyes, and fell down staggeringly.
Has this useless elf of mine finally gone mad from the mental stress? Am I hallucinating?
After all, Lady Astraea has been exiled, so how could she suddenly return to Orario?
It's all an illusion, it's all an illusion. There's no such good thing in the world. It's good enough that Lady Astraea doesn't blame me. How could she enlighten me so gently? How could the goddess of justice give up her insistence on justice?
...But even if it's an illusion, this embrace is so warm!
Liu silently squeezed into Astraea's arms.
Astraea tilted her head in confusion, wondering what little Leon was planning to do.
The useless elf rubbed his little head against the goddess' chest... It was just an illusion anyway, so it would be okay for her to be a little bolder, right?
Astraea: “???”
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The goddess of justice tilted her head in confusion. Has her good-for-nothing elf reached this age? And is she still obsessed with her mother?