Chapter 20: The Grand Cathedral (1)
A right hand comes down.
From the empty air.
It was a young right hand.
As if it would crumble if held in the hand.
The tip of such a right hand lightly stepped on the table.
Swish, and. The right hand, writhing as if the table were its stage. Again, Swish, and. The right hand, bending as if in a gentle greeting. Finally, Swish, and. The right hand, strutting as if showing off its pale joints. Swish, Swish, Swish. The sound of transparent skin tickling all around. A running right hand. A rolling right hand. A whirling right hand.
Finally, Swish, and.
The right hand, elegantly stiffening.
A salute that followed.
A flirtatious gesture as if demanding applause.
It was impossible. Monika lacked the hand to clap with.
“I'm sorry.”
And so, she held out her one and only hand.
“I can't clap for you.”
Monika extended her left index finger. With the tip of her index finger, she tickled the skin of the young right hand. The young right hand, flailing as if pleased. Then, tilting its head, it pointed to Monika's right sleeve. The absent right arm. The messily tied clothing. Monika smiled bitterly and hid it.
The young right hand was dyed red.
Pulsating at the end of the wrist, it poured out something red and sticky, soaking the center of the table.
And so, it extended its right index finger. With the tip of its index finger, it stroked the drenched table. Letters were formed along the path where the young right hand extended. Soon, a sentence steeped in a fishy scent was engraved like a last will.
Why do you, have my body?
Give it back.
.
.
.
Monika opened her eyes.
[You seem to have had a nightmare.]
Fabien, with a mechanical smile, was visible.
“……It was a nonsensical dream.”
Monika said, slowly raising her upper body. While her vision was blurry from not being fully awake, she reached out her prosthetic arm and stroked the surface of the table. There was nothing on the table but the breath of sleep.
The janitor's break room at Cia-Harphe Academy.
Amidst the dust-covered cleaning tools tangled everywhere, old wooden furniture was scattered, damp with moisture.
That's right. She had been resting here after finishing her dawn training. She had been chatting with the janitors of her age, had she dozed off? Monika guessed, picking up the sprawled training longsword.
[Trisha, Melisha, and Sasha have returned to their cleaning duties. They judged it would be better not to wake you, Lady Monika. I also agreed with their thoughts. As you have been overworking yourself ever since your admission.]
“I'm fine.”
Monika shrugged her shoulders.
“I'm far behind. It's only natural that I have to work hard. Swordsmanship, of course, but also divine magic, history, mathematics, etiquette, and even writing……”
A sigh escaped Monika's lips.
[It seems half right and half wrong.]
Fabien opened an old cupboard and took out a Tea Set. After wiping it clean, he quickly prepared milk tea and poured it into a porcelain cup.
[Certainly……, you are struggling to keep up with the progress, Lady Monika.]
Fabien said, placing the porcelain cup on the table.
[However, you know about a realm that even the professors do not.]
For example, the pain of losing one arm.
Like frustration, helplessness, and a sense of loss.
Fabien's expression, whispering so, was endlessly calm.
Monika took a good look at Fabien's golden eyes. A gaze in which not only ridicule, but also pity, was not steeped. Fabien's voice contained only clear facts. It must be thanks to that. Monika smiled with a light heart.
“No one would want to know about something like that.”
[How strange.]
A question crossed Fabien's lips.
[From a Golem's perspective, what you know, Lady Monika, is rare knowledge. Because people who have lost an arm are not common. Why is it that no one is curious?]
“It's for a simple reason.”
Monika's prosthetic arm stroked the porcelain cup. With her index finger, she traced the surface of the cup made of white clay, rubbing the outline of the leaf-shaped decoration. The prosthetic arm moved smoothly as Monika wished. But it did not transmit any sensation.
“Pain that has not been overcome has no meaning, and……”
A hairline crack began to form on the porcelain cup.
Without noticing it, Monika continued.
“Frustration, helplessness, and a sense of loss are……, closer to sensations than knowledge.”
──Jjaenggang!
A sharp sound that answered Monika's words.
The porcelain cup shattered. It was because it could not withstand the force applied by the prosthetic arm. How foolish. Monika muttered with a bitter smile. Knowing that she was clumsy at controlling her strength, why had she fiddled with a porcelain cup with her prosthetic arm?
‘Was it because of the dream?’
Monika thought, gathering the porcelain shards.
A cloyingly sweet smell was steeped in each of the sharp cross-sections. Picking them up with her left hand, she gathered them in the palm of her prosthetic arm. If it were flesh, it should have been cut, but the prosthetic arm did not allow even a slight damage, and no pain was transmitted.
[You will get hurt, Lady Monika.]
“I won't.”
Monika showed the palm of her prosthetic arm to Fabien.
“It doesn't hurt at all.”
Really, she didn't feel any pain at all.
Monika's amber eyes shifted cautiously. The porcelain shards held by the prosthetic arm. The prim leaf that had decorated the outer surface of the cup was broken.
──Ah, so that's what it was.
Monika wore a faint smile.
‘There's no way to make this prosthetic arm feel pain, but…….’
That must be why. The reason why the pain of what this prosthetic arm had broken could be felt.
It's a leaf that looks like it's in pain.
Not one that has sprouted from a branch,
Neither growing nor withering,
Even though it's nothing more than a decoration.
* * *
Cia-Harphe Academy's 3rd Training Ground.
Amidst the thick fallen leaves swept up by the autumn wind,
“──Monika Lohengrin!”
Felix shouted at Monika, who had been walking nearby. Felix had been supervising Dante's training. Dante, who had been panting, put down his sword, and brushed back his hair, looking back at Monika. Monika, walking as if waddling. Felix tilted his head with his arms crossed.
“Why is she walking like that?”
“I, I think she's walking to avoid the leaves……”
My, oh my. She looks like a duck with a hurt leg.
Muttering so, Felix chuckled. Monika, who had reached the two, bowed her head.
“Good day, Professor Christian.”
“Oh, good day.”
Felix laughed, baring his teeth.
“Where did you leave the Golem you always bring with you?”
“On weekends, I only asked him to work in the morning. Because he needs to rest.”
Rest for a Golem?
They don't even know what it is to be tired?
Felix's eyes curved with question.
“Good day to you too, Dante-sunbae-nim.”
“Ah, hello……”
“Dante is not having a good day. Because I've been training him since early in the morning. Isn't that right, Dante?”
I, I am also having a good day……
Dante muttered, knitting his eyebrows. Felix let out a hearty laugh and slapped Dante on the back.
“You fellow! I understand your heart of wanting to look cool in front of a girl, but isn't your face all sweaty right now!”
“Teacher, I, I had no intention of looking cool at all……”
Dante protested, twitching his tingling back.
“Alright, alright! Go to the water fountain and wash your face. Quench your thirst, and catch your breath. A man has to have composure to look cool.”
“Ah, no, Teacher……. I have no intention of looking cool……”
“Hurry!”
Dante, who had been hesitating, put down his sword and ran towards the water fountain. Monika took a good look at the sword Dante had been holding. A sword that looked excessively large and ridiculously old for its user's build. She thought it looked somewhat similar to Abel's beloved sword.
“It's a sword I used to use.”
Felix said, picking up such a Dante's sword.
“It's an item with not much life left in it. I was originally going to throw it away. But that Dante fellow kept pestering me to pass it down. What a cute fellow. Seeing my disciple, who is clumsy at asserting himself, being so persistent, I ended up giving it to him even though I knew it was a weight too heavy for him to handle.”
“I heard from Dante-sunbae-nim.”
That you took in Sunbae-nim, a war orphan.
Monika muttered so.
“He's a worthless fellow. A man should be tight-lipped, but there's a limit to embarrassing one's teacher.”
A smile welled up on Felix's lips.
“It's natural, Monika.”
Felix said, brushing the sand grains from the sword.
“I was also a soldier who participated in the Mirror War, and before that, an adult. Do you know what that means? It means a child lost their parents because of an adult's fight. Then one must take responsibility. That's what war is. It's not something that ends with a declaration from His Majesty the Emperor. It only truly ends when all the soldiers' responsibilities have been fulfilled.”
Do you understand, Monika Lohengrin.
To this Felix Christian,
The Mirror War is not yet over.
“Your teacher is in the same position as me. That's why he must have taken you in. The Papacy also participated in the Mirror War, and a skilled person like Professor Argento must have played an active role.”
But little one,
Monika Lohengrin.
Take my words to heart.
Felix whispered, smiling with the corners of his mouth turned up.
“Abel Argento and I are different.”
“That……, what do you mean?”
When Monika asked with a blank expression, Felix tilted his upper body towards Monika's head.
“How much do you know about that man.”
“I……”
Monika's words trailed off. The imposing shadow of the old knight covered Monika's body. Felix's white hair fluttered like a beast's mane, and his voice roughened as if growling.
“That man.”
He told me, and.
Felix's voice, piercing sharply.
“That his genitals are small.”
That his private parts are smaller than this Felix Christian's.
“……What?”
While Monika's gaze widened blankly,
“I have never said such a thing.”
A low voice from behind.
It was none other than Abel's.
“We meet again, Professor Christian.”
Abel, who had crossed the training ground, was standing beside Monika. Felix clicked his tongue and held up both his arms. Abel held out his hand to such a Felix.
“I heard you threw out your back from the very first lecture. I'm glad you have recovered without any trouble. You look younger than when I last saw you.”
“This old man must have been mistaken. I never imagined you would be a man who could pay empty compliments.”
Felix clasped Abel's hand.
A silence that followed. The clasped hands of the two trembled. Monika took a step back from them and scratched the back of her neck. Were those two on bad terms? She pursed her lips, having a vague thought.
“What were you doing here, Monika.”
Abel asked, shaking off Felix's hand.
“I came to return my training longsword. Because it's forbidden to take it outside of CIAR.”
“This old man will buy you a training longsword like that. How about becoming my personal disciple while we're at it.”
Felix, smiling with his thumb to his chest.
Abel's eyes narrowed.
“You seem to be going through severe menopause, Professor Christian. It's a shame that you're so lonely as to take on a personal disciple as a granddaughter.”
“Thank you for your concern, Professor Argento. You too will have a day when you can't stand the loneliness after living for over 60 years.”
“I have already lived for over 600 years, and I have never once felt lonely.”
“To be good even at jokes. Not bad. But my pride as a man is probably bigger.”
“Even a rice stalk bows its head when it's fully ripe. Would Professor Christian's genitals be any different.”
──Stop!
Monika shouted, covering her ears.
Monika's face was flushed red.
“Stop talking about reproductive organs! What does the size even matter?”
“One must consider it, Monika.”
Abel said, placing his hand on Monika's shoulder.
“Humans enjoy talking about what they don't have. It's impossible to change the nature of a species.”
“What did you say just now, Professor Argento. Are you saying I'm talking about genitals because I don't have them?”
Shall we measure them right now?
Felix asked, with a vein popping on his forehead.
“Stop it. Please!”
Monika waved her hands at Felix, and,
“Are you really a madman, Teacher? Stop it right now!”
She looked back at Abel and cried out urgently.
Abel took his hand off his pants.
* * *
Gugugu──!
While the sound of the route airship's propeller was prevalent,
Abel leaned against a shabby seat and reviewed a briefcase. Documents related to Vincent Tremblay, a certificate of qualification to enter the Grand Cathedral's Catacomb, and finally, the small crystal he had received from Konstanze were prepared.
‘The color of the Sensory Stone is turbid.’
Abel thought, holding the crystal up to the sunlight.
A Sensory Stone, as its name suggested, was a crystal hardened by collecting sensations.
In the Sensory Stone that Konstanze had delivered, Vincent Tremblay's five senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch—were preserved through magic. In other words, it was no exaggeration to say that the life that Vincent Tremblay had experienced was contained in it. Because sensation was close to the material that made up life.
‘The fact that the Vice President collected this means…….’
That she had personally peeked into Vincent Tremblay's inner thoughts.
A complicated procedure was involved in the creation of a Sensory Stone. Since it was the work of materializing someone's entire life. It was an achievement possible only for a mage of the 6th rank or higher, who was in the category of a sage.
According to the Imperial Mage Registry, the rank that Konstanze had reached was the 7th stage. A level at which it wouldn't be strange for her to be the master of a magic tower.
‘Why would such a woman…….’
Remain in the position of a Vice President?
The fame that CIAR held as an educational institution was self-evident, but it couldn't be compared to the honor bestowed upon the five magic tower masters.
“Teacher Abel.”
Suddenly, Monika opened her mouth.
Abel put the Sensory Stone into the briefcase, then shifted his gaze to Monika, who was sitting across from him.
“Are you an apostate, Teacher?”
Monika's question, shot with a listless voice.
It wasn't because she suspected Abel. It was because the whispering voices inside the airship were getting on her nerves.
- Isn't that person Professor Tremblay's successor?
- That's right. I heard he told the students not to believe in the five main gods.
- That's not the problem. He showed them how to shorten the cast. It was a method that only apostates would use.
- Like Professor Tremblay?
- That's right. Professor Tremblay also, at first, performed something like a miracle in front of us…….
Abel's eyes met with the chattering students. The students covered their mouths and turned their heads. Monika laughed hollowly. To Monika, who knew that Abel was a Sword Saint, the current rumors were just considered a joke.
“I am not an apostate.”
Abel said with a blank expression.
“But……, be sure to listen carefully to the stories about Professor Tremblay.”
“Why?”
Monika tilted her head.
“Isn't he a person who has already been caught?”
“He was arrested, and executed.”
Abel peeked out the window with an indifferent expression. The route airship was passing through the center of the capital, Naflansee. And so, it stood out. Near the Blue Arrow River that bisected the capital, the full view of the Naflansee Grand Cathedral, soaring white as if woven from platinum. Countless believers were lined up to offer their prayers.
“We will restore him. Using the facilities of the Naflansee Grand Cathedral.”
He'll be a good training partner, and.
Abel asserted in a quiet voice.
“Aha, so that's what it was.”
Monika wore a smile and peeked out the window. The route airship was beginning to land towards the center of the capital, Naflansee. The nobles walking around the Blue Arrow River. The believers gathered near the Naflansee Grand Cathedral. Some of them pointed at the route airship and opened their mouths.
‘It was my fault for being prematurely relieved.’
Monika thought with a desolate expression.
‘In a bustling cathedral……, I thought there wouldn't be a fight with someone like Tarkan…….’
……I was wrong.
That damned good training partner.
Monika's prosthetic arm was trembling powerlessly.