Chapter 22: The Grand Cathedral (3)
Inside the dark stone chamber.
Abel's cast scattered.
<God of War, Lantern.>
A blue flame flickered from his hand.
Abel placed it in an Oil Lamp and hung it on the wall.
Finally, the stone chamber faintly brightened.
‘Is that the rumored cast shortening.’
Monika's amber eyes sparkled.
Even Monika, who was taking the beginner's course in divine magic, could tell. A rationality that seemed to mock the existing system. It was an incredibly simple process. To show something like that out of the blue, it's understandable that they'd be afraid. Monika thought, shrugging her shoulders.
‘By the way, what is that.’
Monika's gaze turned to the center of the stone chamber.
A model in the shape of a human body was enshrined.
It couldn't have been made just to imitate the form. The body was pure white and looked sturdy, and a hole drilled into one side of the chest indicated the position of the heart. In other words, it was like looking at a golem without a mana reactor attached.
“Do you know anything about Vincent Tremblay.”
Abel asked, placing his briefcase on the shelf.
The wide shelf was filled with tools of unclear purpose.
“I know he was an apostate.”
Monika looked around the interior of the stone chamber. Sarcophagi that had been sealed for centuries formed the inner walls. The musty, sweet smell of old incense stimulated Monika's nostrils.
“It was a big incident. The Inquisitors rummaged through CIAR for days. The janitors were also interrogated.”
“Have you ever met him in person?”
Abel opened his briefcase and shuffled through the papers. He quickly read the information he had received from Konstanze.
Vincent Tremblay. A professor in the Department of Theology at Cia-Harphe Academy. His area of expertise was healing through divine magic. He was a former executive of the Divine Magic Research Division, a subsidiary of the Imperial Technology Department. Among the five scriptures, he mainly studied the Fate Theory. It was a neat and tidy resume.
“Just once……, I ran into him.”
The hesitant Monika opened her mouth.
“It must have been last summer. A child from a noble family spat phlegm at me, and Professor Tremblay, who was passing by, became furious.”
He seemed like a good person, at the time…….
Listening to Monika's words, Abel nodded his head.
Before becoming an apostate, Professor Tremblay must have been a good person.
The professor evaluation form, filled with positive sentences, proved this. He did not conform to the status system and carried out fair education, and he also had a high level of interest in each individual student. Konstanze had recorded it so. It was a clear handwriting, as if full of conviction.
“He even comforted me. He told me not to despair just because I was a commoner, or because I didn't have a right arm.”
Here, look.
I am also a commoner like you,
and don't I also have only one eye.
Like that……, and.
Monika, who had been continuing her words, let out a sigh.
“How did a person like that fall into black magic?”
“It was because he craved power.”
Abel asserted in a stoic tone.
“According to the report from the Inquisition Bureau, Vincent Tremblay sought to achieve the regeneration of the body through divine magic. It must have been to regain his lost eye.”
It was an impossible goal, and.
Abel was certain without a doubt. Abel's blackish-blue eyes were scanning Vincent Tremblay's physical records.
“As with all magic, divine magic is also a power with clear limits.”
Vincent Tremblay had focused on studying the Fate Theory among the five scriptures. It must have been because the spells that make up the Fate Theory were specialized in physical recovery. It would have been possible to reattach a severed finger, or to purify an organ consumed by disease. But it was impossible to create a lost body part.
Because it was a domain corresponding to creation, not magic.
“Because he set his sights on an unreachable realm, he came to desire great power, and dirtied his hands with an irreversible sin. That is how an apostate is born.”
Abel examined the pieces of evidence lined up on the shelf.
One of them, he opened a sealed box and picked up the contents.
“Have you seen this before.”
“No.”
What on earth is that?
Monika asked back, tilting her head.
What was held in Abel's hand looked like a jewel at first glance.
Looking closely, it was different. A different color circulated on each of the many angled parts, and above all, the inside felt as if it were empty. Monika, who had been looking at it, suddenly covered her mouth. An unknown sense of displeasure sprang up.
“It is Vincent Tremblay's prosthetic eye.”
“A prosthetic eye?”
A question crossed Monika's face.
“He always wore an eyepatch, though?”
“He must have. As it would have been a difficult item to reveal.”
Abel's hand, holding the prosthetic eye, clenched.
“This is an artifact.”
‘Fairy's Kaleidoscope’.
A supplementary-type artifact made by bonding the corpses of dead spirits layer by layer, and then shaping them into the form of a lens through a magical processing procedure. Vincent Tremblay had modified it into a prosthetic eye and connected it to his optic nerve.
“Are you saying he put it in his eye socket and walked around? The corpse of a spirit?”
“That's right.”
“He must have really been out of his mind.”
Monika shuddered as if disgusted.
‘The bodies of humans and spirits are different.’
Abel thought, looking into the prosthetic eye.
‘Fairy's Kaleidoscope’ was usually utilized in the same way as a magnifying glass. It was to overlay the five senses left in the dead spirit onto one's vision, to capture the other side of the world that only spirits could observe.
‘He must have had to endure a severe rejection reaction.’
To have attached ‘Fairy's Kaleidoscope’ to his optic nerve,
was the same as meaning he had transplanted a spirit's body into his own.
‘Was all of this nothing more than an obsession.’
The Inquisition Bureau had interpreted the existence of the prosthetic eye as an expression of madness. Vincent Tremblay had been born with one eye rotten, and had constantly struggled to reconstruct the enucleated eyeball. The transplant of ‘Fairy's Kaleidoscope’ was also just a type of struggle. Was it simply that? Abel had another possibility in mind.
‘I'll have to check.’
It was time to begin the restoration work.
Abel aimed the prosthetic eye at the model in the shape of a human body. The prosthetic eye, which had touched the part where an eye should be on one side of the head, adhered. The surface of the model, which had looked sturdy, had softened for a moment. As if feigning human skin.
“Um, Teacher Abel.”
Monika, who had been standing behind Abel, opened her mouth.
“What is it.”
“May I ask what you are doing.”
“I am about to bestow Vincent Tremblay's ego. To a golem without a mana reactor attached.”
So that was a golem's body.
Monika thought with a blank expression.
“Does that mean……, you're going to resurrect Professor Tremblay?”
“No, it's different.”
Abel took out the Sensory Stone from his briefcase.
The turbid color of the Sensory Stone caught Monika's attention.
“Vincent Tremblay is definitely dead. His corpse was burned, and his soul must have reached the underworld. Even the main gods cannot completely resurrect the dead.”
You know about the Evangelist, Fleur de Saint-Pierre, right?
She's the child who sits next to you every morning meeting.
Abel asked, glancing back at Monika.
“What about her?”
Monika's expression crumpled.
“What about that child?”
“I was just about to talk about the limits of the Resuscitation Ceremony. Even if one wields the power bestowed by the God of the Underworld, one cannot return flesh and blood to a dead being. I am not trying to resurrect Vincent Tremblay, but……”
Abel attached the Sensory Stone to the golem's chest.
“Merely trying to restore, or imitate.”
──Pajit, and.
A crack spread across the Sensory Stone. A streak of light that began to extend from it. It was like the process of blood vessels growing from the heart. A thin streak of light encroached upon the golem's interior, and the parts corresponding to the facial features were formed. Finally, the golem's body, with a flush of color. Its body shape also transformed to be like Vincent Tremblay's.
[I, I, I am…….]
The golem's faintly revealed lips.
A voice mixed with a mechanical sound leaked out.
[I am……, who am I.]
“You are Vincent Tremblay.”
[Verification complete. I am Vincent Tremblay. What should I do from now on.]
“Act based on the information stored in the Sensory Stone.”
[Understood. Analyzing the magic within the Sensory Stone. Beginning reconstruction of the body. Please wait a moment.]
The golem's voice gradually became refined, like a human's intonation. As a result of attaching the Sensory Stone as a power source instead of a mana reactor, the golem would think and act like Vincent Tremblay.
Abel crossed his arms and waited for the restoration to finish. Then suddenly, he looked back at Monika and asked a question.
“Are you on bad terms with Fleur.”
“……What?”
An unexpected question.
Monika's expression faltered.
“No, I'm not.”
Not at all.
Monika answered softly.
“That child seems to be very interested in you. Not only does she glance at you throughout the morning meeting, but she also laughed silently while watching you wiggle your toes. How about you try talking to her.”
“Why would I with her……!”
Monika's prosthetic arm trembled.
It was because it had reacted to her welling anger. Monika clicked her tongue and glared at her prosthetic arm. She placed her left hand on her prosthetic arm and soothed her flushing face. Damn prosthetic arm. To not even be able to properly hide my inner thoughts. Annoyance spread across Monika's lips.
‘Should I tell him everything as it is?’
What would change even if I did?
──Listen, Teacher Abel.
What do you know, the young lady of the family that destroyed my hometown is in this damned CIAR. And she's even in the same class. Fleur de Saint-Pierre. Isn't that surprising? I wanted to crush her head right away, but I managed to hold back somehow. It's not like that child cast the forbidden spell, and it's foolish to be unable to see straight, bound by resentment.
So, praise me.
Will you at least pat my head?
‘It's not like I'm going to say that…….’
In the end, it's an emotion I have to manage on my own.
Monika thought, clenching and unclenching the palm of her prosthetic arm.
‘This prosthetic arm is too sensitive.’
It reacts to emotions in a flash and moves on its own.
It gets more agitated than me by my anger, and senses the danger aimed at me faster than I do.
That's why I can't think of it as my own body at all.
It can fire a magic bullet or something. Besides that, various weapons are installed, and no matter how hard I pinch it, I don't feel any pain.
‘……Still, you should be punished.’
Monika struck her prosthetic arm with her fist.
‘Please, don't move around carelessly.’
After making such a request, she lifted her head towards Abel.
“I'm just clumsy at dealing with nobles.”
With a reluctant smile on her lips,
“Since Fleur is the young lady of a marquis's family……”
I couldn't possibly get along with her, and.
She would have been about to make an excuse somehow, but,
“Teacher Abel.”
Monika's voice sank.
The awkwardly made smile was gone. Monika's eyebrows were fiercely honed, and Abel, who had been meeting her gaze, tilted his head. Monika herself was glaring at Abel's back. While the golem, with the complete appearance of a human, was moving silently,
“That thing behind you, Teacher……”
That's not Professor Tremblay.
Monika recited in a dazed tone.
Just at that moment,
──Chaeng!
A metallic sound that answered Monika's whisper.
The back of the prosthetic arm opened, and a blade shot out. On the surface of the blade, aimed straight ahead, Monika's clenched-teeth face was reflected. Monika reached out her left hand to restrain the prosthetic arm. Though she pressed down with enough force to make her bones creak, the prosthetic arm steadfastly maintained its attack posture.
“That is……”
Monika's eyes reddened.
Her wet voice echoed as a scream.
“──That is my mother!”
* * *
“Stop!”
Stop, stop, stop.
Please, stop!
Monika pleaded with an expression that seemed about to crumble. She scratched the surface of the prosthetic arm with her broken fingernails. The prosthetic arm did not mind. Monika's body was just being dragged around by the prosthetic arm, stumbling.
“No……”
The blade that had sprouted from the prosthetic arm.
“……Listen to me.”
She barely managed to stop it from cutting.
She threw her body to block the prosthetic arm that was trying to cut, and cut, and cut.
“──Please!”
Monika's body tumbled onto the stone chamber floor. Monika held down her trembling prosthetic arm and lifted her head. Beyond her vision, wet with moisture, she saw the face of the person she had longed for for so many nights.
“……Mother.”
Monika's whisper fumbled through her drenched vision. Lips trembling as if having a seizure. Though her vision was completely distorted, she could be sure. I know that person. I longed for that person. If only I could meet that person again, if only I could at least touch her fingertips,
That's right.
Grass and rocks, clouds and streams.
People, people, people.
With everyone,
It would have been fine even if I had disappeared without a trace.
Along with the right hand I had extended with all my might,
Yes, like that……,
“Monika, my precious baby.”
A gentle voice stroked Monika's ear.
“It's okay to stop crying now. Everything is alright now.”
“……Really?”
A smile hung on Monika's lips. It was a messily curved smile. While the moisture hanging on her weakly lowered eyebrows glistened, Monika stuttered like a broken wind-up doll.
“Really? Is it really okay now?”
“That's right. It must have been very hard until now, right? You've grown so much I almost didn't recognize you.”
“That's right. I was really……”
Really……, it was so hard.
Monika muttered, letting out a choked breath.
“Everyone left me behind. I was left all alone. Why did you tell me to survive? It would have been better if you had told me to die with you. If you had, I……”
Would have hung myself right away, and.
While Monika's cry seeped into the stone chamber,
‘So that's what it was.’
Abel gained insight with a calm expression.
The reason why Vincent Tremblay had transplanted ‘Fairy's Kaleidoscope’.
It was not to look at the world. It was to show it to someone. The corpses of spirits mobilized for ‘Fairy's Kaleidoscope’ were countless, and a procession of a group of spirits inadvertently deludes people. A natural phenomenon like a mirage was a harmful effect caused by it.
‘He must have made them see the other side of the world through the prosthetic eye, and acted as if he were performing a miracle to delude the students.’
The sensory system of a spirit is mysterious.
They see the heart with their eyes, and savor memories with their taste.
They hear smells with their sound, and their sense of touch is on edge due to the emotions of other beings.
‘And so, the other side of the world that only spirits can observe is…….’
To a human, nothing more than a vivid illusion.
‘She seems to be completely deluded.’
Abel thought, looking at Monika.
‘Is she seeing her dead mother.’
Monika seemed to believe it without a doubt. She was considering the being before her eyes as her mother. Her sensory system was in chaos due to being exposed to ‘Fairy's Kaleidoscope’, and she was experiencing the form, scent, and sound of her dead mother through the five senses of a spirit.
‘And along with that, a few black magic spells are being activated.’
It must be a spell that tempts the mind.
Abel deduced through the flow of magic he felt on his skin.
‘Precisely because of that…….’
Abel's gaze narrowed.
“……Do you remember me.”
A longed-for voice was heard.
Monika's mother was not visible to Abel. The tangled sensory system through ‘Fairy's Kaleidoscope’ was drawing out the form of the being that Abel should never forget the most.
“Abel……, do you remember me.”
“Well, well.”
A hollow laugh spread across Abel's lips.
He took a step, staring at Ion Blanche's face.
A sigh that followed.
Abel stroked the hilt of his beloved sword, and scanned Monika's face, overcome with tears. Amber eyes without a focus. Monika seemed to have completely lost her heart. Had there ever been a time when that child had shown such weakness? Abel thought with a quiet expression.
“Teacher……, Abel?”
Monika opened her mouth, gripping her prosthetic arm tightly.
Her expression was as fragile as a child facing the anniversary of her parents' death, and as bright as a child celebrating her birthday.
“T, Teacher Abel……, in front of my eyes……, my mother is here right now……”
“That's a relief.”
Abel placed his hand on Monika's head.
“It seems I've found a suitable training partner for you.”
“That……, what do you mean?”
Monika's gaze, wavering blankly.
“It means the theoretical course is over.”
──Ppeo-eok!
A heavy blow that pierced through the stone chamber.
Abel's fist struck Ion Blanche's face.
It looked different to Monika. And so, she let out a scream. Monika, who had flailed and stood up, was about to reach out her hand towards her mother, who was rolling on the stone floor, when,
“We will begin the training now.”
Abel's hand, snatching her prosthetic arm.
“Listen carefully, Monika. Today's training objective is……”
Abel's wide-open blackish-blue eyes were cast beside Monika.
“To aim your blade at your mother.”