"With you like this, how can you guide racial equality?", Rosse chuckled and shook his head, reaching out to wave his hand in front of the dazed Otohime. Seeing her come back to her senses, he then spoke slowly and unhurriedly, "I rarely discuss these things with others, so let's first set a tone. Whatever we want, we need to have a clear understanding of ourselves and what we want. Can you agree with this point?"
"Agreed!"
Otohime pursed her lips and nodded; she definitely agreed with this statement.
If she herself didn't understand anything and still blindly worked in a certain direction, then that would be meaningless hard work.
"Well, in that case, let's first conduct a preliminary analysis of you and what you want."
"I'll ask you a question first. You say you want coexistence, to live in harmony without harm. Then answer me, is there no conflict between merfolk and fish-men?"
"Eh?"
No conflict between merfolk and fish-men?
Otohime wanted to say no.
But thinking about her experiences these past days, she just couldn't say it.
If there were no conflict, why was she kidnapped?
The ones who tricked and attacked her were fish-men.
She couldn't say something that went against her heart.
Indeed, there was quite a bit of conflict between merfolk and fish-men.
Ryugu Kingdom is a member nation of the World Government, but its main composition is merfolk. Most fish-men live in other areas and aren't even counted as nationals of the member nation.
However, for financial reasons, member nation citizens are few in number, and many merfolk aren't part of the Ryugu Kingdom either.
But Fish-Man District is undoubtedly the most chaotic place in the entire Fish-Man Island.
The name "Fish-Man District" alone is already very telling.
"Although you didn't answer, I think the answer is already very obvious," Rosse wore a calm expression, like a teacher patiently guiding a student, continuing to guide Otohime, "Since there's conflict between fish-men and merfolk, then does that mean your idea of merfolk coexistence is invalid from the start?"
"No!", Hearing this, Otohime suddenly shook her head, "Maybe fish-men and merfolk also have conflicts, but their relationship with humans is very bad. I want to change this situation, at least make our relationship with humans like the one between merfolk and fish-men."
In Otohime's view, if harmonious coexistence was level 5, then the relationship between merfolk and fish-men was at least level 3, but the relationship with humans was only level 1.
"Then, do you think merfolk and humans, fish-men and humans, fish-men and merfolk, are these three pairs independent, or the same?", Rosse asked again.
"Fish-Men, merfolk, humans?", Otohime froze again.
In her previous understanding, she treated fish-men and merfolk as one group and humans as another, and evaluated equality based on that.
But now Rosse's words were clearly asking her to step out of that.
Moreover, Rosse had already given a reason before.
There's conflict between fish-men and merfolk.
Since there is conflict, then these two shouldn't be considered as one group.
"But Fish-Man Island includes both fish-men and merfolk," Otohime tried to argue.
"Then, among the past kings and queens of the Ryugu Kingdom, were there any of Fish-Man lineage?", Rosse asked leisurely.
"Ah... seems like not," Otohime lowered her head.
Searching her memory, she couldn't find any examples.
Fish-Man Island had always been ruled by the Ryugu Kingdom, going back thousands of years.
Merfolk, fish-men, and even humans had no reproductive isolation, but there was indeed no example of a Fish-Man becoming king or queen of Ryugu Kingdom.
She had heard of mermaid princesses, but never Fish-Man princesses.
"I've heard merfolk and fish-men live separately?", Rosse asked again.
"That's true... Merfolk and fish-men live in different areas, but not absolutely. Because of marriage, there are still quite a few mixed living situations," Otohime admitted this, while also offering her rebuttal.
Though what Rosse said was a fact, there were still some exceptions.
"We can't take a few isolated cases as proof of something being universal. According to what I know, even those mixed-living cases aren't as numerous as the number of merfolk in Fish-Man District. But you should understand the situation in Fish-Man District better than I do," Rosse said calmly.
"Yes... I really can't refute that," Otohime dejectedly lowered her head.
Normally she thought she was pretty eloquent, plus with her Conqueror's Haki emotion-enhancing ability, she had always been successful in persuading others.
But she realized, once she stripped away this special ability, she couldn't prove herself through dialogue at all.
She was even being convinced by others.
Because the facts were just like that.
Fish-Man District is the most chaotic place on Fish-Man Island. People throw abandoned babies there, leaving them to fend for themselves. It's considered the gray area of Fish-Man Island, and also the place where she was previously attacked.
Only in such a chaotic place can you find more examples proving merfolk and fish-men coexist, but they are mostly abandoned merfolk infants.
Such a situation actually proves there's a problem between merfolk and fish-men.
The distinction between merfolk and fish-men is clear; unless born in Fish-Man District with no choice, otherwise the two groups hardly interact.
How could such two groups be grouped together?
Just because they are both under the management of Ryugu Kingdom?
Maybe Neptune or Rosse could come up with such a reason, but Otohime couldn't say it at all.
She wanted merfolk coexistence because she truly felt that way, not because she was the queen of Ryugu Kingdom.
"Mm... I guess they should all be independent," Otohime was slightly discouraged, but still agreed with Rosse's words.
This was something she couldn't deny.
In this aspect, Otohime was still very pure, and very honest.
"Since you've admitted they are independent, then about merfolk coexistence, do you want merfolk and humans to coexist, or fish-men and humans?", Rosse asked again.
To Rosse, Otohime was a blank sheet of paper.
As long as he grabbed onto her ideas, he could paint whatever he wanted on that blank sheet and shape her however he desired.
This was also what he enjoyed most.
"Can't I have both?", Otohime cautiously raised her head, a bit afraid of being refuted, but still expressed her thoughts.
"There are 100 races in this world, then why don't you wish for all of them to coexist with humans?", Rosse retorted.
"But... their relationship with humans is quite good...", Otohime mumbled softly, "Those kingdoms are all on land, and there are many humans there too."
Her voice was very low, but no matter how low, Rosse could still hear it clearly.
Rosse glanced at her and said calmly, "Then do you know that there are more non-member nations, and even the so-called strongest kingdom, the Giant Kingdom, isn't a member? Also, I bet you wouldn't want to know how much they had to pay to become a member nation," Rosse sneered.
"What price?", Otohime asked instinctively.
"Every year, they have to tribute 100 to 10,000 of their own people to the Holy Land and the member nations supporting them. As for what happens to those people, I don't need to explain, right?", Rosse said calmly.
This was a fact, and the price those demi-human races paid to join the World Government.
It was very normal. The World Government wasn't anything noble.
And the demi-human races that could become member nations definitely weren't innocent either.
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