Billion Derange Devils Part 1: On Having a Corrupted Governance

         I signed the check on top of my desk. I specifically made the numbers “4,000,000” written larger on the rectangular sheet of paper. I want to see my money when I write it and I want to see my money when I claim it. This is supposed to be the country’s money, but it’s mine now.

         My daughter ran to me when I finished signing the documents for the money. Hey princess, I said while holding the check in front of her face. Do you know what number this is? I exclaimed while pointing at the only nonzero number written in the check.

         She smiled and held up four fingers.

         It’s 7:30 in the morning already. My husband and I have been up with our daughter for almost seven hours. She still refuses to tell us where she got those four random disembodied fingers.

         Ah, corruption, a very cliché tribulation that rivals the creed of democracy and the infamous pest that hinders the growth of our economy. You will encounter this word for at least a hundred times in just a day. You’ll see it on television; it is an extremely important matter that requires the cooperation of the people for it to lessen. However, the only thing the masses can do is to prevent it from worsening. After all, attempting to purge corruption is child’s play, it will never leave.

         What in the world is corruption in the first place? It’s not rocket science but it’s still possible to be confused on what the word “corrupt” means. There are two types of corruption that we know for certain exists and one of them is called Political Corruption. The use of power, particularly by officials in the government, for illegitimate private gain; this is the desire to attain excess cash for their personal desires. As the old saying says, “the love of money is the root of all evil.”

         However, corruption doesn’t always involve the desire of one to have money. Corruption also involves one’s intelligence, skills, and your ability to manipulate another human being’s state of mind. This leads us to the second type of corruption, the state of having a Corrupted Mind.



         Enter the lore of King Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, commonly known only as King Nero, the former king of Rome. Though opinions about him vary upon whose views you ask, (some scholars may him a vile incompetent ruler, however, the community of Fate/Grand Order might say otherwise) his misadventures as a king are not particularly praised. Though he was regarded as a wise king who reveled in the artistry of Rome and expanding his empire's culture, his ambiguous commands, ridiculous decisions, and the countless grave crimes he committed is an oxymoron of his reputation as a ‘wise’ man. Perceived by many historians as the antichrist or the Whore of Babylon (referencing The Bible's Book of Revelations; particularly Revelations 17:4 about a woman dressed in purple and scarlet) for his historically scarring decision to burn Rome into dust in order to oust Christianity away from his kingdom, Nero became one of the first kings to be impeached by his own citizens.

         At this time, a courier arrived with a report that the Senate had pronounced Nero a public enemy and that it was their goal to execute him by beating the life out of him. To put it bluntly, armed men had been sent to apprehend the king. The Senate was still hesitant and pondering on the correct strategy as Nero was the last member of the Julio-Claudian Family. Without a doubt, the greater part of the senators had served the imperial family all their lives and felt a sense of loyalty to the bloodline, if not to Nero himself. The men really had the objective of returning Nero back to the Senate, where the Senate planned to work out a compromise with the revolting governors that would save Nero's life, so that no less than a future heir to the dynasty could be produced.

         Nero, however, did not know this, and at the news brought by the courier, he set himself up for suicide, pacing here and there mumbling "Qualis artifex pereo" which translates to English as "What an artist dies in me." Losing his nerve, he initially begged for one of his companions to set an example by killing himself. Finally, the sound of approaching horsemen drove Nero to confront the end. Regardless he couldn't force himself to take his own life but instead, he forced his private secretary, Epaphroditus, to play out the undertaking.

         Nero's final words were "Too late! This is fidelity!" He said this when one horseman entered his chamber while trying to stop the bleeding in vain. Perhaps we can safely categorize Nero as someone with a troubled mind far from what society perceived as normal. It may not be wise to categorize him as such but let's take the liberty of marking him as a person with a corrupted mind.

         Read the second and last part of Billion Deranged Devils here: