Chapter 8: Good and bad selfishness.

— Self-knowledge is one of the most important things for an individual; how can he be useful if he doesn't even know his own strengths and weaknesses?

______

Riley Yuki

I woke up in a good mood. Yesterday, I had hunted and eaten well, as I became more confident when I subdued a demon lord using only my eloquence and wit.

Of course, I didn't become arrogant just because I managed to make Aria my subordinate; in fact, I felt compelled to hunt her down, because showing weakness might make her realize that I wasn't all that. So, even though I was scared, I pretended to be confident.

Even though I didn't know the forest and the monsters that inhabit it very well, I used the new nectar sensitivity technique that I had learned to know the places where strong monsters are, and those that are weaker than me. Of course, it's not a 100% effective technique, as there are other types of energies in this world, but it's still effective.

Unfortunately, although I was able to hunt and feed myself, I was unable to copy any skills.

"AND."

Furthermore, I also realized that I can feel other types of energy, even though they appear to be weaker than nectar.

I got up from the cave floor and walked outside. There, I contemplated the sunlight that gently touched my skin, and its heat that weakly warmed my body.

I looked up at the trees, admiring the bright green colors of the plants. I don't know if my new body had vision that allowed me to see more colors, but regardless, I found it beautiful.

I looked at Aria, who had a neutral expression on her beautiful face. Personally, I found that amusing.

So, our little Aria is the proud type who doesn't like to show weaknesses to others, right?

Obviously, I was in a sticky situation; I was almost fooled, and if it weren't for my nonsense ability, I would have already fallen for her line and believed that 'the goddess wasn't that cruel to me'. The truth is that Aria just wanted to use me to discard me like trash after she no longer needed me.

At least I figured out how my nonsense ability works: the goddess, besides providing incorrect information about herself, also deceived me; I can only use the mind-reading ability twice a week, and the ability to read emotions, once a day. Furthermore, mind-reading can even see someone's memories, discovering their traumas and secrets. Of course, it has obvious limitations that go far beyond the amount of use: I can only use it for a maximum of 20 seconds. Furthermore, I can't 'absorb another person's memories'; I see a kind of mini-movie of the person's life. Unfortunately, I had to use the mind-reading ability twice, because the first time, I could only see memories from the beginning of Aria's life, and the second time, it was like watching a movie at full speed and skipping to see the most important parts.

It's a pretty useful skill... no, it saved my life.

Anyway, I got out of a sticky situation and into an even messier one; I don't know what tricks Aria has in store.

I read her memories; not all of them; just the essential ones, so I don't know how she can try to trick me again. At least I managed to make her think that I can read her mind at any time. Besides, she depends on me to survive. However, Aria is a proud woman.

That is why I humiliated her by calling her little Aria; to put her in her rightful place. She is, of course, an arrogant woman; once a nobody on earth, and then, she became the daughter of a king. Cases like this, where pride does not go to one's head, are very rare. And indeed, Aria was part of the common people.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Well, Aria should thank me; the worst attachment a person can have in excess is to their own ego. This would serve as a ladder for Aria to evolve. Whether she climbs it or not is her choice.

I explored the forest jumping from tree to tree, memorizing the area and escape routes in case a fight broke out.

“Oh, a rabbit.”

As soon as I saw him, I immediately climbed down from the tree and killed him with a punch strong enough to blow his head off.

After that, I went back to the cave.

“Damn, I almost lost it,” I muttered before biting the rabbit’s leg. Even though it was disgusting to eat it raw, what could I do? Now, I was a wild animal with a conscience.

“Did you know…”

"What?"

I was momentarily confused when Aria started a conversation with me, but I quickly regained my composure and asked her, “What’s wrong?”

Unfortunately, little did I know that I would regret asking… because Aria is an annoying militant vegan.

“Did you know that before, eating meat was considered immoral?”

????????

“What do you mean? Who is the devil who would spread such a nonsensical ideology?! Survival has become immoral now?!”

“No; this assumes that there is an absolute moral right and wrong. In a scenario like this, even if it is not your fault that you have to feed on other living beings, you are still committing an immoral act, the difference is that your actions do not carry as much weight as they would if you did not have to.”

This conversation… is very random, mainly because Aria, someone who tried to deceive me, wants to talk about morals and ethics.

“I understand, continue.”

“Therefore, based on this principle of systems of weights of acts and non-insensibility of responsibility, even animals could suffer in the afterlife for committing some immoral act that did not have a valid reason to lessen their weight, as in the philosophy of absolute morality of the original people of the Full Moon Mountain. In the end, they believe that human beings were rotten and impure beings, not because of their acts, but simply because they existed and were forced to step on others to stay alive. For the original people of the Full Moon Mountain, every living being was impure simply for existing, because if it existed, then it killed others to continue existing.”

I let out a little laugh.

“It’s an interesting philosophy, although it’s probably just a religious ideology that wants to instill guilt in people.”

Religion is religion, even in another world.

“Actually, it’s not quite like that, you got it wrong.”

From the expression Aria made, apparently, she still despised me and was offended for being contradicted by a capybara.

I have a long way to go before I earn her trust.

“For example, if a 7-year-old child kills someone, even though he or she may not be aware enough to be responsible for the full weight of what he or she has done, it would still be morally wrong.”

“I see ethics as nothing less than a tool invented by human beings to improve coexistence, while morality, for me, despite the fact that universal values still exist, is based on the logic and problems of a society, which are almost always the same, but masked in other forms, it is also very subjective, even when measuring the weight of universal values.”

Aria interrupted me.

“Note that even in these terms, it is still considered morally wrong for a child to kill someone, but the weight of the action has been lessened because perhaps the child could be a good contributor in the future.”

“The child will not necessarily be a good contributor in the future, but he continues with the game”

“For this very reason; egalitarian morality is a moral flaw.”

What? Hmmm… this conversation is getting interesting.

“In our world, no one is the same; everyone has a different value, because everyone can do different things and even the same things, but with more or less efficiency. From the utilitarian point of view of society, only useful people have value. If a person is of no use, and even gets in the way, the chance of them being abandoned is enormous. That is why we feel guilty when we get in the way of others; in the end, we are just selfish people afraid of being abandoned.”

“So, is everyone selfish? So why do we care about the future of people we don’t know well?”

“The answer to this question is simple: everything influences our lives in some way, and everything is an exchange. Think about it: a stranger has gone through problems; helping them may not benefit you much, but if you felt pleasure, or even had some other kind of benefit, or felt empathy, etc., you are already selfish, because you would be doing that for pleasure or any other personal reason. Therefore-”

“Everyone always thinks about themselves.”

Aria smiled.

"Exactly."

“Therefore, there is good selfishness and bad selfishness.”

Aria looked at me somewhat confused… or feigning confusion; I can't properly read the expressions of a deceitful person like her.

".... What?"