Thought Experiment

I had a rough understanding of the situation I was in. Of course, this was assuming I could take Liliel's words at face value.

Either way, there wasn't much I could do in my current state, so Liliel and I spent time discussing her knowledge and brainstorming how I could make an impact after being reborn. We went through countless thought experiments.

"So, if we prevent the First and Second World Wars and reduce the number of casualties, that's a win, right?"

"Hmm, it's not necessarily about preventing wars entirely. It's more about minimizing civilian casualties. Soldiers go into battle knowing they might die, so even if they fall in combat, their souls don't carry as much sorrow or despair. But civilians? They feel like they've been unjustly killed. Those souls are filled with negative energy, which gets absorbed by demons."

"I see. So the victory condition is to allow wars to happen if necessary but keep civilian casualties to a minimum, and also reduce deaths from famine caused by poor governance. Is that about right?"

"Exactly, exactly! I don't have a specific number, but ideally, we'd want to keep it under 50 million."

"50 million is still a huge number, but compared to the historical 200 million, it's a quarter of that. Still, the First World War started in 1914, so even if I'm reborn and grow up normally, I probably won't be in a position to influence it in time."

"That can't be helped. The First World War and the subsequent Russian Revolution claimed over 20 million civilian lives. If you work hard, you might be able to exert some influence by the latter half of the First World War. Come on, give it your best shot!"

"What if I start a revolution in Japan, seize power, strengthen the military with 21st-century technology, declare war on the world, and unify it early to eliminate wars altogether?"

"That's one way to go. But if the revolution fails, it's game over. Worst case, you could end up in a prolonged civil war, and that would be a disaster. You'd need to gather allies and proceed carefully. Do you think you could pull that off by the time you're 20? You've got the skills, but I'm not sure if you'd have the charisma to rally people at that age. How about supporting a more charismatic figure from behind the scenes?"

"True. It's not like I can just reset and try again if I fail. So, I'd need to get close to someone with proven charisma and guide them. In that case, there's only one person I can think of."

"If you fail, you could always build that accelerator again and cause another meltdown. Maybe you'd get another shot at reincarnation."

"Don't say something so irresponsible! That thing was one mistake away from wiping out humanity."

"Wiping out humanity...? You people were doing something that dangerous? Are you insane?"

"We had multiple automatic shutdown programs in place for emergencies, but for some reason, none of them worked. I even hit the emergency stop button, but that didn't do anything either. It was an accident that shouldn't have been possible in theory. Looking back, it might've been sabotage by foreign agents."

"Wow, you guys were really hated, huh?"

"No, it's not that simple."

"Whatever. Just focus on figuring out how to reduce casualties!"

"Even if we can't stop the First World War, maybe we can prevent the Second. We could work to reduce Germany's post-war reparations, assassinate Hitler, or even sabotage the Russian Revolution. If we could take down Lenin or orchestrate his downfall, the world might turn out much better."

I began plotting.

"Assassination is one option, but if that's all we do, another faction might rise to power, and we'd end up with a civil war anyway. You've got a lot of knowledge—why not create superweapons and start conquering other countries?"

"Wow, you're suddenly getting pretty extreme. Even if I create a superweapon, one alone won't be enough. I could develop nuclear weapons and use fear to control others, but to make that effective, I'd have to actually use them and show the world the devastation they cause. As a Japanese person, I don't want to do that. Even if I create advanced weapons, I'd need to build a military structure capable of deploying and maintaining them, as well as the logistics to support it. There's a lot to consider."

"You're so slow! You're a man, aren't you? When it's time to act, just act! If you put your mind to it, you can make it happen!"

"I don't think sheer willpower is going to cut it..."

And so, our thought experiments continued.