༺ No One Knows What This Is! (4) ༻
「Judas, today we’ll continue to test your endurance. We’ll be measuring the limit of your body’s durability so there may be some pain involved.」
I heard Elle Cladeco’s voice through the speaker.
If it’s an endurance test… will there be feral monsters like last time?
Fwooshhhh—
Soon, gas was released into the testing area from the exhaust pipes that were installed there.
It was purple-colored and stung my eyes, nose, and throat.
“A neurotoxin?”
「It’s a high-pressure gas from the Venom Viper. Normally it would have instantly paralyzed the nerves and body upon contact… but it doesn’t seem to affect you.」
That’s right.
I have resistance against poison.
It was because when I first came to this world, I ate whatever I could find in the forest I was wandering.
At the time, I was busy stuffing everything into my mouth, not knowing if it was a poisonous mushroom or an inedible fruit.
And then, after I became a thief, I was poisoned so much that my body built up so many antibodies; it was safe to say that I was pretty much immune to almost all poisons.
Spark— Flicker—
Soon, the purple smoke that filled up the room started to spark.
It was catching on fire.
“Hot.”
「Above 700℃. It’s hot enough to burn through bones, but do you not feel it? I will raise the temperature a bit more. 800. 900. 1000….」
I could feel the heat getting hotter.
Because it was an enclosed space, the lack of oxygen had me a bit lax but it wasn’t like I was dying of heat.
Still, it was feeling pretty nice when the alarm went off.
「The testing area cannot handle any more heat than this. We can conclude that you also have complete tolerance to heat. Judas, you are much stronger today than you were yesterday.」
“Is that so?”
I hadn’t done anything particular yesterday or today.
I just read some books, took a walk, and when Naru asked, “I would like money to buy a ribbon…!”, I gave the kids some allowance.
Nothing combat-related took place, basically.
But, saying that I was stronger today than yesterday.
“Is that possible?”
Fshhaaaaa—
I questioned as I watched in disinterest the room being extinguished.
Then the speaker in the room fell silent for a bit.
Bzzzt—
「We might have to change our hypothesis. Judas, I had thought you were advancing towards transcendence. But, it may be that transcendency is pulling you to it.」
“The hell is that.”
I couldn’t understand Elle’s explanation.
Then the other speaker beeped and this time I heard the Priestess.
「Judas, you are like a rock that is tumbling down a tall mountain. Once the rock starts rolling, it accelerates towards the ground.」
I see.
The analogy made it easier to understand.
Basically, without any particular training or practice, without combat even, my body started to gain experience on its own and was racing towards level 50.
“I see.”
It meant that no matter how much I avoided fights and pursued a peaceful life to prevent reaching level 50, I was set to be pulled into the depths.
「I, Elle Cladeco, expect that there is about a year left…. Judas, your body can no longer be considered human in nature.」
I thought so, too.
To feel like I was only in a sauna despite being in a fire that could burn bones—
If I were to be taken over by Nocturne in this state….
Was there a way to stop it, even?
Fwoshhhh—
A bit concerned, I stepped out of the testing area through the opened doors.
When I did, Priestess Iris handed me a gown.
As I put it on, my nose tickled.
“Achoo!”
“……!”
At that, Elle Cladeco started and looked my way.
The way she bristled like a cat who had seen a cucumber while eating had me surprised.
Elle, eyes wide behind her glasses, asked me.
“Judas, you sneezed?”
“I know, right? What is it?”
Did I become allergic to gowns?
I rubbed at my itchy nose with a finger and approached the tank.
In front of the tank, Brigitte was looking at a chart with a bunch of hard words written on it and walking back and forth, her expression rather serious.
“Brigitte, how’s the artificial Demon King side going? Will it take long to finish?”
“It won’t. Take a look. The vessel changed from an energy wave into a water bubble. I don’t know why it happened but the experiment is progressing properly.”
Indeed.
Where there had been a gently pulsing thing of energy inside the tank, there was now a watermelon-sized water bubble instead.
Just a water bubble.
However, the bubble moved back and forth, mimicking Brigitte’s movements, which to me felt like a living creature.
Swish— Swish—
Brigitte waved the pen she was holding in front of the bubble.
The way the bubble moved to follow the pen, it looked like she was a tamer taming an unknown organism.
Brigitte bit on the end of the pen and spoke.
“Why did it suddenly change forms? The day it happened, I heard Cecily was inside the lab. Is it related to the children…? Actually, this thing reacts strongly to the kids’ voices….”
Brigitte seemed lost in thought.
“The homunculus… was it originally made to respond to children? I did make Aru when I was young, too….”
Brigitte started chewing on the tip.
In this state, she wouldn’t hear anything that was said to her.
* * *
The deepest area of the lab.
“Ribbon!”
Naru said to the others in a vacant corridor.
Then Hina dug through the bag and pulled out a red ribbon.
“…Ribbon.”
It was a ribbon tied with a lace.
Good for tying up the children’s hair, it was a favorite of Hina’s.
Naru then spoke.
“Sugar and spice!”
This time it was Cecily’s hand that moved.
She pulled a small vial the size of a child’s hand, and the inside was filled with colorful powder.
“Sugar and…spice! I brought it from the cafeteria’s kitchen.”
There had been some challenges in sneaking the sugar and spice after breaking into the kitchen with her Catwalk but…. That wasn’t important.
“Hmmm….”
Naru looked at the sugar, spice, and the pretty ribbon and thought for a moment.
Then she asked.
“Cecily, are these what Molu asked for?”
At Naru’s question, Cecily fell into thought.
Yesterday when she put the sugar inside the tank.
The bubble born within the tank called itself Molu and said it wanted to have more sugar.
And seeing Cecily dressed up in nice accessories and a ribbon, it also mentioned wanting pretty things like a ribbon, too.
Swoosh— Swoosh— Swoosh—
Naru repacked and filled up the bag with the items.
“Then, let’s hurry!”
Naru lifted her arms up high.
The children carefully left the lab and headed into the basement.
The path was now familiar.
There were no adults.
Blup— Blup—
A bubbling water bubble inside the tank.
Seeing it, Naru’s eyes widened.
“Wow, holy shh…! It really is a water bubble…! This is Molu?”
Blup— Blup—
The bubble moved to follow Naru and the other’s faces.
It was like an excited dog’s tail, shaking back and forth, up and down.
“Cecily, this bubble, isn’t it like a cat?”
“Really? It looks like a dog to me.”
Just then, Hina spoke nervously.
“Shouldn’t we…. tell the adults…?”
This moment.
Hina knew well that they were about to do something that couldn’t be undone.
It could be something that ruined many other things.
But Cecily shook her head.
“We have to do this without them knowing. And I don’t know why, but it doesn’t feel like the first time we’ve done it. What is this? Did we have this conversation before?”
“…….”
At Cecily’s question, Hina briefly wondered.
Come to think of it, it did feel like they once did something in the lab secretly.
It was at that moment.
Beep—
Naru pressed the red button and opened the drawer beneath the tank.
She opened the bag and pulled out this and that, putting them inside the drawer.
“Sugar and spice. Then the ribbon and… the heart-shaped pebble that Naru found…!”
Tak—
Beep— Beep—
The tank reactivated after closing the drawer.
The items Naru put inside started disintegrating when it touched the solution.
Sugar and spice, and the various, precious items that the children had carried.
Blup— Blup—
As the bubble bubbling inside the tank made an unusual noise, Cecily spoke.
“Ah, I remember now. We were playing inside the lab and accidentally dropped a doll inside the tank. And sugar, too!”
It was a sudden memory.
Cecily realized that she had met this bubble before.
It was the same for Hina and Naru.
“Oh, holy shh…! I remember! Before, we put a bunch of things inside the tank!”
Whoosh—
Someone lifted up Naru.
It was Brigitte.
“What did you remember? You put in what? More importantly, what have you guys done? You messed with the tank! What did you…!”
Brigitte was horrified.
The experiment that had been going well was now a mess from the children’s mischief!
“What did you do?!”
It was alarming, enough to make one faint.
However, as an experienced researcher, Brigitte was able to immediately grasp the situation.
“The numbers…they’re stabilizing. How? The bubble’s hue has become more brilliant. It still hasn’t developed a body but… its mind is already one of a stable being.
Swoosh—
Brigitte safely put Naru back down.
Then she bent down to Naru’s eye level and looked between her and the tank.
Then she put her hands together.
“If, I, a child attempted making a homunculus…the ingredients would be limited. As a child, I….”
Brigitte recalled the way she struggled to make Aru when she was young.
A ribbon stolen from her sister’s room, sugar stolen from the kitchen, spices, and pretty pebbles found in the garden were some of the things she remembered using.
“I collected things like broken glass and marbles taken from a crow’s nest.”
Of course, in hindsight, none of those things had any ‘meaning’, magically speaking.
Such was the experiment of a child.
However.
Looking at the result, Aru had come alive.
And the bubble in the tank was strongly reacting to the various items that Naru and her sisters had put inside. Observing this, Brigitte came to a big realization.
‘Is it childlike innocence…? Is the pure innocence of wanting a friend influencing the growth of the homunculus? It’s a sufficiently reasonable theory.’
To have a ‘mind’ meant to have a ‘will’.
And in magic, ‘will’ is an important factor.
‘You can tell from the incident with Enkidus and Cariote fighting against the Grand Abbot. The mind allows an exhibition of extraordinary strength beyond imagination.’
And unlike the will of adults, the will of children especially carried a note of innocence.
The will applied in a simpler way, one could say.
“Aru….”
Brigitte had used her precious teddy bear in a homunculus experiment.
A ‘treasure’ holding the precious heart of the children.
As her thoughts reached there, something flashed inside Brigitte’s head.
“Naru, can you bring more objects like those ones? It has to be something you think of as important! The more, the better!”
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