Chapter 364
Chapter 364
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: The Saint and the Completer (20)
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Clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter.
The jolting vibration of the carriage racing down an unpaved road and the steady rhythm of the horses' hooves.
“...And thus, the Great Light proclaimed that He is the light that illuminates this world—”
The voice of Gregorianus flowing out like a broken radio.
The warm sunlight and the drowsy afternoon.
It felt as if the world itself willed to grant a peaceful nap to the saint enduring his grueling journey. In that serene atmosphere, the Professor could finally enjoy a worry-free snooze for the first time in ages.
“Eugh.... Uuugh....”
“Ah, ahda.... Adae......”
“Hm? Brother Gregorianus. Did His Holiness just say something?”
“Shh. Looks like he's even dreaming.”
The saint writhing while tightly bound, and the knight commander gazing at him fondly.
Even the paladin driving the carriage smiled at the sight and slowed the horses to avoid disturbing the saint's slumber.
“Dreaming on the way to receive the title of Holy One.... It must be some auspicious revelation.”
“Latura. Perhaps he's already conversing with Lo Haram.”
The two paladins' hearts swelled with emotion at the thought of finally bestowing proper glory upon the saint.
Just as they imagined, the Professor was indeed dreaming.
“Euaaa.... Daa.... Muuuii haaa....”
『--- ----you. You---- won----』
“Ugh.... This is insane....”
『---give it to you? Surely--- it'll feel—good----』
“Aiaa.... Guh.... Aiaa....!”
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Whiiiir—
Clank!
“How's this? The surgery went perfectly, so now you've been reborn as the super-mecha Speed Wagon, capable of three-stage combination. Dome's tech is truly amazing, right?”
“Uwaaaaaah! Y-You lunatics! What the hell did you do to her!!!”
=========
....It was a far more extraordinary dream than they could ever imagine.
“U-Uwaaah!”
He bolted upright—
Crack!
“Your Holiness? What is it?!”
“Da-Dana, Dana transformed.... Flying up to the skyscraper and carpet-bombing....!”
“Please calm down. You've been quite exhausted lately. That must be why you're having such dreams.”
“...A dream?”
Only then did the Professor regain his senses and take in his surroundings. The finest four-horse carriage of the church, opulent in its antique style. Four white horses bulked up like monsters from all the buffs they'd received. The paladin at the driver's seat meeting his eyes and lightly clasping his hands in greeting. And his own head poking through the roof of the carriage.
Unwittingly leaping up and smashing the carriage in the process, the Professor ducked back inside as Gregorianus closed the scripture he was holding and welcomed his saint with a smiling face.
“Looks like you had quite the dream. You're quite startled.”
“Y-Yeah.... It was something. Ha, hahaha.... What an absurd dream.”
“Great beings often glimpse the future through dreams. As one closest to the Light, perhaps Your Holiness has foreseen an auspicious future—”
Smack!
And then, the furious saint's headbutt crashed into Gregorianus's peaceful face.
Clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter.
The paladin driving the carriage smiled faintly as he heard the once-peaceful interior erupt into chaos in an instant.
[Your Holiness! If it was a bad dream, you mustn't take it lightly!]
[Shut your inauspicious mouth! If that's a prophetic dream, then I ain't going out! No mutts for me!]
[Your Holiness! If you'd just tell us the content, I could interpret—]
“Hahaha. Latura. Brother Gregorianus and His Holiness have built quite the casual camaraderie.”
Even the sounds of the carriage being smashed from behind couldn't shake the trained paladin's composure.
Clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter.
The carriage carrying the saint rolled toward the headquarters' entrance amid the commotion.
****
“Whew, jeez. Even nightmares have to be that ridiculous....”
As for why he'd suddenly had such a dream.
It seemed his mind had wandered a lot during the idle time riding in the carriage.
Dana Elishia Hyacinths. AKA, Speed Wagon.
If I had to describe my relationship with her, in Wasteland terms, it'd be 'lovers who could get married tomorrow without it being weird.' In old-world terms, it'd be something like 'almost dating.'
The stark difference comes from how people's views on romance change with the era.
Living under constant life-or-death threats every day puts everyone in a perpetual bridge effect.
Not knowing when death might come awakens animalistic breeding instincts, and watching people die pointlessly all around stirs the desire to 'leave my mark on the world,' accelerating things faster than the parties involved realize.
In the Wasteland, calling someone your 'lover' means you're at the stage where you wouldn't grab your gun if they called for you at night. At that point, you might even live together. Plus, Dome is dead serious about encouraging births—they even sentenced a merchant selling contraceptives to 45 days of hard labor. So living together naturally leads to starting a family and settling down.
Surprisingly, from a modern perspective, when it comes to relationships, Deer Drug Please has far healthier, more normal thinking than Speed Wagon— that's our Wasteland for you.
....From that viewpoint, I could somewhat understand why those around us were frustrated to death by the awkwardness between Dana and me.
* Do you know her well?
We've been internet friends for over seven years since the early days of the apocalypse. Back then, every survivor was depressed or half-psychotic, so we've vented every complaint imaginable. If anything, Dana with her good memory might know me even better.
* Do you dislike her?
Unless you're crazy, who could dislike a woman like Dana? She's pretty, capable, understanding, we click perfectly.... If that's not appealing, you're some kind of asexual with no interest in normal relationships.
* Then why the fuck aren't you living together already and making everyone around you lose their shit?
.
.
.
.
Here.... I get stuck.
After sending Anaya off like that, I'd been thinking a lot myself. Of course. Out there was a woman who only had eyes for me, and we'd just reached the budding stage of emotions when we parted. Then—right in that state—Anaya showed up, someone I'd parted from at a similar emotional stage with Dana, traveled with me, and died in my arms. For a total newbie like me in relationships, it was way too much emotional chaos. Time for an objective breakdown.
Surprisingly, my feelings for her were clearer than I'd thought. Just thinking of her name triggered thoughts like 'I wanna get out, get out get out get out aaah screw everything I wanna go—'
Thinking of her made me want to see her, seeing her made me want to do anything for her, she was hurting so maybe I should make her seaweed soup, is there any clean ocean left, does the exchange sell dried fish—thoughts sprouting like spring weeds.
In my head, which overthinks everything to the point no one else compares, the moment 'Dana' pops up, all other distractions vanish like an enlightened monk's, leaving only thoughts of her. Makes me realize I like her more than I thought. Hell, it's my first time liking anyone—what do I know? Just feels like 'this must be it.'
Well, I'd just sent Anaya off recently too. My heart was a mess.
As those complicated thoughts floated around my head.
The chat room idiots had to go and pour fuel on the fire.
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- Take a Look: You were mumbling nonsense in your sleep earlier. Bad dream or something?
- Professor: Shut up, you bastard. This is all your fault.
- Take a Look: ???
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They say your bad day is market day.
I'd thought the chat room morons' banter would be the perfect medicine to calm my turbulent mind until arrival, so I planned to just shoot the shit with them. But no, these guys had to pick this leisurely moment to update me on outside news, and that was the spark.
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- Deer Drug Please: Good news! Speed Wagon, who's been MIA from chat after entering a critical treatment phase, is set to return soon! Surgery went great!
- Heung An Mandu: Sadly, that precious 'frail' trait is now consigned to the dustbin of history.
- Professor: Oh. Went well? I heard it wasn't just a weak heart— all the surrounding tissues were shot too, with no real treatment options. Even old-world tech couldn't fix it, which is why she was just managing with rest.
- Deer Drug Please: If it hadn't worked, would I be blowing this horn? While you've been holed up playing games, the world's changed a ton~
- Professor: It's only been like two, three months outside time at most, right? What could change that much?
- Take a Look: That's exactly what someone clueless would say. Compare two months ago to now—the streets look totally different. Mutant byproduct engineering, or 'mutie tech' as we call it. The progress is blinding. By the time you get out, they might treat you like a relic?
- Jokasss: Talk of Gedroits's 5th Industrial Revolution has led to whispers of a 6th. Old-world tech isn't 'cutting-edge' anymore. Stuff that didn't exist back then does now.
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Mutie tech. Technology using mutant byproducts.
Though research time has been short, tech always evolves in the direction an era needs.
The materials they shared along with their stories were packed with photos that truly deserved the term 'another world.'
For example, Dome's outer walls, which they'd constantly been patching with cement, had evolved from reinforced concrete to reinforced-concrete-high-elasticity-aggregate barriers. Mammoth-tusk-sized bones protruded at intervals, making it look like an orc outpost.
The controversy that had set communities and society ablaze over [mutants = human corpses] ended absurdly despite its gravity. Why? Because among the countless mutant types, ones that could breed with each other emerged.
Public opinion on mutant foodstuffs flipped dramatically. Surging demand boosted byproduct dealer numbers too. Especially, individuals hunting for food turned many 'generator beggars'—non-productive populations—into producers. That was the biggest win.
Even medical tech, notoriously slow to advance, had made huge strides. Experiments with mutant tissues showed rejection rates under 3% with human tissue.
All Wasteland survivors carry the mutant virus, and mutants are its evolved mutants, so the hypothesis is the virus acts as a cellular mediator. A photo showed a [Cell-Patch]—mutant tissue patch— instantly staunching bleeding from a severed thigh.
Beyond that: a Metal Joe tenderly raising 'bomb rats' packed with flammable compressed gas; a photo of Vex wielding what looked like some creature's tongue as a whip while Cynthia freaked out; BDSM buddies gifting bedridden Dana a heavily modded wheelchair with an 8-cylinder engine and dual miniguns as a 'get-well present.'
Flipping through those photos and docs, he passed out cold.
His head was full of missing Dana, how soft her lips were, now healthy she could live a normal life, so maybe this and that.... Fuzzy thoughts floating around. Then images of machine-mutant tissue inventions overlapped, birthing that bizarre dream.
Good lord. [Super Mecha Battle Babe DAH] spewing level-7 particle beams from her eyes and transforming into a bomber for carpet strikes? Has my mind been irreparably broken by GG already?
“Your Holiness. What are you thinking so deeply about?”
“Uh.... Honestly, thinking she was eight times scarier than Dragon Phalcatas....?”
“....Pardon?”
“N-No, nothing.”
The shock must've been too much. Still out of it.
Archbishop Norman looked concerned at my dazed face and repeated his warnings once more.
“Your Holiness. Today's canonization will go down in church history as a monumental event. Every detail—from your attire, to every word you say, your gait, even the position of your gaze or fingertips—can carry profound religious and symbolic meaning! Understood?!”
“Um.... Norman? No matter how I look at it, I'm not the type for this kind of event. Maybe we should reconsider even now—”
“You must become the type from this moment on! Your Holiness, personal divinity is already gathering around you! If you become even more 'personally' divine, there'll be no turning back! It'll be a real disaster!”
“Disaster?”
“Sigh. How do I explain this to someone who doesn't even know the scriptures....”
Norman smoothed his impeccably ornate canonization robes—plain yet luxurious—and thumped his chest in frustration before pointing outside the church.
“Whew. Shall we gather some divinity for a moment?”
“....Using that rots my muscles and stuff.”
“You used it to communicate with me! Just do it already! Before this old man keels over from anger and meets Lo Haram!”
“Fine....”
As Norman instructed, he summoned the still-somewhat-unfamiliar sensation of divinity.
“....Cleaner than expected. Now, relax the ritual a bit. Like you're slightly drowsy, spaced out.”
“Uh.... Like this?”
“Good. Now, eyes closed, maintain the divinity.... Recall the sensation of divinity communication, but manifest it spreading outward widely.”
Drowsy state, communication magic. Widely.
Focusing on the archbishop's words amid the temple's unique incense, he unwittingly sank into a floating-head sensation.
....Voices.
Voices?
A distant murmur, like echoes from a well, drew near, closer—
『!〇*&^%+〿!!!!』
Zzzzzzzing—!
“Gaaah! Wh-What the hell?!”
It swelled uncontrollably, slamming into his eardrums like a locomotive.
No, eardrums? Hard to describe.... Like voices hammering straight into his brain....
“....As expected, you can hear it. Good thing it wasn't a few days later, or it'd have been disastrous.”
Knowing it would happen, Archbishop Norman extended a hand to the fallen man.
“Wh-What is this? A divinity-based attack spell?”
“I did nothing. You simply 'heard' it.”
“Heard? What?”
To my question, the archbishop gave a 'that's why I told you to come sooner' look.
“Prayers. Prayers. From countless brothers of the Light across the continent, praying while thinking of Your Holiness. All those voices mingled and rushed to you at once.”
“....Pardon?”
“Once canonized, the personal faith in Your Holiness will revert to faith through Lo Haram, so don't worry. However, if you miss the timing....”
“....Miss it?”
“Soon, every moment the sun rises and sets, you'll face mental strain incomparable to that. Not malicious— that's just what divinity is. Mortals can't endure it.”
Pat pat.
Norman straightened my disheveled robes from the fall and pointed to the prepared podium.
“This way.”
“Ugh.... I'll go. Ow, my head....”
Shaking his still-ringing head, the saint stepped into the brilliant light.
Norman watched his back with a pleased smile.
“Hmm. Latura, Lo Haram. O Light, are you satisfied?”
The old archbishop's prayer continued as—
.
.
.
.
.
『Waaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!』
The saint finally appeared before the congregation, and the gathered faithful roared so loud it shook the church.
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In the past full-scale war between Dome and Raptor Society, the Raptor's main heavy frontal-armor tank. Aka, Triceratops tank.