“Be wary of that which you choose to feed. Some of them have bottomless appetites.” - Old folk saying.

“If the difference in wealth between people causes so many troubles, why not just share things evenly?” asked Kino rather naively as they continued their journey. Aideen had just explained to the girl how people often do bad things to others in order to accumulate wealth, amongst other things, which elicited the question from her.

“It’s not as simple as that, and besides, that suggestion has two major issues that it needs to tackle before it would even become a plausible one,” replied Aideen. “For one, it’s not a given that there were enough resources and wealth to be spread around to make everyone’s life better, depending on where they live. What are they supposed to use to better their lives when they’re already doing the best they can?”

“Aren’t there still a lot left unclaimed in nature? I recall hearing big sister say you want to claim such a place for our kind one day.”

“There are, yes, but the regions that remain unclaimed are still unclaimed for many reasons,” said Aideen with a nod. “Maybe there wasn’t enough manpower to claim the region. Maybe it was too dangerous to do so, or some other reasons that simply made it too risky or unprofitable. People only have one life, so they have to weigh the risks. We do not have that issue, so for us it’s only a matter of how much we want it.”

“Being mortal seems like it sucks,” muttered Kino under her breath.

“It is the norm that the vast majority of people have to live with, however,” Aideen added, as Kino’s muttering had not escaped her ears. “Those like us are… very lucky. We have been given the chance to live again, for as long as we wanted to, and even amongst our kind, there are some who didn’t see that as a blessing, but as a curse instead.”

“Big sister mentioned that there were two major issues, what’s the other?” asked Kino to change the topic.

“The other issue is that everybody dreams of living a good life and wants to set things up so their descendants could live an even better one,” replied Aideen with a shake of her head. “This is in general a good mentality to have, but the issue is that some people have no end to their desires. People like those tend to hoard the wealth of the world into their own hands for selfish reasons, leaving others to wallow in hardship without a care.”

“Now, tell me, Kino, do you think such a person would be willing to share their riches with others to make their lives better?”

“They… wouldn’t, would they?” stammered Kino.

“Most I have seen would rather die than give a copper coin to a beggar on the street,” said Aideen rather vehemently. “When those people have descendants, those descendants tend to be even worse. Fact of the matter is, few people, especially those of the shorter-lived races, could view things in the long term. Far too many are short-sighted, blinded by immediate benefits and neglecting the harm they are doing to others in the long term.”

“And that’s not even the worst of all, girl. More often than not, it’s types like these that rise up to power, be it through wealth and nobility.”

“Why… would that be so? Shouldn’t those in power be the good ones instead of the bad ones?”

“We do have good people in power as well, but they’re often rare compared to their counterparts. With power comes both privileges and responsibility. The issue is which of those the person in question thinks as more important.”

“Can you explain more, Big sis Aideen?”

“If a person in power saw it all as their privilege, something that was their right to use without caring for the responsibilities, that’s when you get all the corrupt and abusive ones. Those people often thought that because they had power, be it because they were lucky to be born in the right household or other reasons, it was their right to do anything they want with it. You should be familiar with this type. The nasty man was one,” said Aideen, referencing the late – the man was already hanging by the gate for a week when the trio left Sabaya – Baron Deyos.

“Ah.”

“On the other hand, you do get those who received power and considered the responsibilities that come with it first. These people are the ones who use their power responsibly and try their best to make life better for the people under their rule, in general. The problem is that their kind are rare, and those who just want to abuse their power would often get in their way.”

“The problem can often become widespread and chronic. The Second Empire fell and was replaced by the Third Empire because too many of their nobles and rulers had succumbed to their desires and considered their privileges as their right, without caring for their responsibilities. The current batch we have are much better off, but that’s a given since the dynasty is still young. Even then, cases like the nasty man show up from time to time.”

“Do you mean that this place would turn worse with time, big sis?”

“It’s a given,” replied Aideen bluntly. “It definitely won’t happen in this generation, Lucea’s too diligent for that. The next generation should be rather secure too, since she educated her children strictly. It’ll start being hard to tell the generation after that, however. There’s a reason why so few dynasties lasted more than a few centuries throughout history. Even if the roots were strong, eventually the branches would rot and fall off as the tree dies.”

“What about… the place big sis mentioned? Where Grandpa is?” asked Kino, referring to the Lichdom.

“The Lichdom is an exception to the rule,” said Aideen with a chuckle. “The main reason for that is Grandpa himself, honestly. No other nation has an immortal leader to keep them on their toes forever, after all. Even Grandpa had periods in his life where he would have been a terrible ruler, but that was far in the past, so the people of the Lichdom now benefit from that hindsight.”

“As for other places, it greatly depends on their ruler and nobility. Power corrupts, after all, and the question is whether they could resist its temptation or not. It is why some folks have a saying that the best ruler would be someone who never wanted to rule in the first place.”

“Does Grandpa want to rule?”

“He doesn’t, which is why he didn’t rule them. At most, what he does is to guard those living on his land, like a shepherd guards its flock of sheep.”