"I will save my comrades, without letting them know that it was me who saved them."

  Ez.

  With all that background explanation, even the 7 IQ Tristan should be able to understand why this 'particular' principle made me pretend to be Azell in this 'particular' situation.

  If not, I'll just throw him into the Information Dimension and be done with it, because he does not deserve any more effort than what I have already spent.

  "…" He silently stared up at me.

  "There is no punchline."

  "So… that's the principle?"

  "Unless I told you that I have a different principle, then by some divine miracle had my memory altered, yes, that's the principle I was talking about."

  Gotta count for all possibilities, though I would honestly be impressed if someone was able to tamper with my memories.

  Even the Memory System does not have the authority to do so without asking me, so I can only wonder what type of person could manipulate my memories without me knowing.

  I'm the Origin, after all.

  Hmm, now that I think that, that 'being' could. A shame that being does not exist.

  "Correct me if I'm wrong, but even though you want to save your comrades, you don't want them to know that you saved them," Tristan said.

  "Basically, yes. Though there are some criteria."

  "What type of criteria?"

  "Well, there are several. For example, how I define a comrade, what counts as saving them, and which acts of saving require me to hide my identity."

  What I revealed to him is just the tip of the iceberg, just a one-page prologue to a 45000-page novel.

  This man would probably bite his own tongue and bleed to death if I started listing all of my principles.

  "…" He raised his eyebrows. "Could you please elaborate?"

  Oh, come on. And here I thought they were self-explanatory.

  "Well, for example, a comrade is defined as someone who has lived in a proximity of 25 metres and has interacted with me in some way for 15 consecutive days. Of course, there are some more rules within this criterion, but I don't think there's any need to explain."

  "You… you define your comrades through a rule?"

  "Of course. Why else would I save Lecia?"

  In fact, Lecia barely made the cut; had Tristan kidnapped her 3 days ago, I definitely would have just left her and sipped coffee and have had an existential crisis while trying to sleep- wait, that kinda sounds worse.

  The baseline is; why the fuck would I try to save a girl who choked me to death? Because she falls under the category of a comrade.

  "…What?" Tristan's jaw slightly opened.

  Oh come on, not this again.

  "Yup. Anyway," I changed the subject. "If we had to take another example, let's say that one of my comrades was about to fall down the stairs. In that scenario, if I was nearby and knew that she was about to fall, I'd save her without trying to hide my identity."

  Tristan's brows furrowed.

  "And that's because my criteria says that I have to hide my identity IF my act of saving a comrade could elevate my 'position' in their heart. I must, at all costs, avoid reaching a position where my words could potentially affect how that comrade will live their life."

  "B-but… why?"

  Hmm, seems like Mr. Confusy McKidnapper can't wrap his head around why I'd do such a thing. It's such a simple concept though.

  "Because I don't want the responsibility that comes with it? I mean, come on, that should've been easy."

  Because like I say, the key to living a happy life is to never accept responsibility.

  Imagine the person you saved holds you in high regard and asks you what type of career they should go for, and you jokingly tell them to become a serial killer.

  And the next thing you know, they are showing you their 'artistic masterpieces' and thanking you for showing them their calling.

  That's a yikes from me.

  I'd rather slice and dice myself than go through that again.

  "So you want to save those close to you, but you don't want to take responsibility for what happens to them after that?" Tristan furrowed his brows.

  Jesus.

  "Yeah, that's what I literally just said."

  Except that I specifically used the term 'comrade', and that's because a person doesn't have to be close to me to be saved by me; they just have to be a comrade.

  I mean, I couldn't tell him the colour of Lecia's eyes if he asked me, yet she falls into the category of a comrade.

  "Isn't that incredibly selfish?" He asked.

  "You could say that, but in my case, if I try saving someone, I just go balls deep into the matter and save them completely, so it's not that selfish."

  "And what does that mean?"

  "You can take Lecia's example. I saved her from your clutches, I gave her a figure to rely on in the form of Azell, and her hatred for me as well as her powerlessness would fuel her desire to get stronger. As for your organisation, I'll deal with them on a day when I'm bored. So even if I don't take responsibility, it wouldn't affect Lecia."

  "When you're bored? Ha! They're not so-"

  "In case you don't remember, I wiped out the battalion outside like I was taking a fly out of my soup."

  Though it's another story that if a fly actually fell into my soup, I'll just throw the entire bowl away and hang myself I mean get something else to eat, because that's the mature thing to do.

  "…A battalion and an organisation are very different."

  "And a me who's taking a fly out of a soup and who is seriously hunting down an organisation are also very different."

  "You think it's so easy?"

  "Of course."

  I'm the motherfucking Origin, after all.

  The day I fail in taking out a shitty child trafficking organisation is the day I call it quits and Reset this Universe.

  "You also talked about your criteria like you were sure you could save your comrades. Just where does that confidence come from? You think you're so strong?" His voice suddenly turned cold.

  "Oh my."

  Looks like someone has snapped.

  "No matter how strong you think you are, you are just one man. No, you're just a boy. You think you can protect everyone around you? Reality doesn't work that way, boy. Sooner or later, you will fail and someone you cherish will die. Your hubris will be your downfall."

  Hmm, does he speak from experience? That would explain his sudden change in attitude.

  "Oh, please. I'm not confident in myself."

  "…What?" He frowned. "Didn't you just say that you can easily hunt down the organisation? What is that, if not confidence?"

  "If you think that the reason I claim to be able to save my comrades and take down your organisation is because I'm confident in myself, then you couldn't be more wrong. I say that because it's a fact; an unwritten rule, if you will."

  "Huh?" His expression turned into one of disbelief.

  "If I decide that I'll save someone, then I WILL save them. No matter the cost."

  Ez as that.