Last of Yours (1)
Just as I was about to head to the Southern Holy Sanctuary, a nuisance latched onto me.
“Why are you following me?”
“You’re the one following me.”
Zernya von Adelbein.
Traveling with her came with a thirty-percent chance per second of her picking a fight.
“Life really is ridiculous sometimes.”
“……”
“Wandering around like this—how are you going to manage your grades next semester?”
“……”
“For the record, I’m only looking out for you.”
“……”
Yeah. Exactly like that.
At least the trip wouldn’t be boring.
“Welcome back, young master.”
Sonia’s voice, after so long, had settled into a cold, flat tone.
“A great deal happened while you were away.”
“What kind of things?”
“Showing you once will be faster than explaining a hundred times.”
I had a bad feeling.
Something had gone wrong.
Following her guidance into the treatment ward, I found Ire Haslen slumped and gagged, her restraints pulled far tighter than when I had left. More importantly, the girl was unconscious.
“What the hell happened?”
“It was not my intention. Things simply… escalated.”
“Her complexion looks terrible.”
The one who cut in was Zernya. She shot Sonia a sharp glare before approaching Ire.
First, she lifted the girl’s eyelids with her fingers.
“Bloodshot.”
Next, she pressed a hand to her forehead.
“High fever.”
Finally, she checked the limbs and back.
“Chills.”
She delivered her diagnosis.
“The most likely cause is an Outer Deity.”
“Did the Mad Wind break out?”
“If it had, I would have contacted you immediately.”
The Mad Wind—an Outer Deity consuming its own kind to collapse a black hole and temporarily shred the Ether density inside a sanctuary. We had experienced it once before. I had nearly died.
But these symptoms weren’t from the Mad Wind.
No Outer Deity had been slain by another.
Which meant…
“It touched a Constellation. In a place like this, it can’t drive a human insane directly, so it attacked the stellar body instead to trigger an immune response. Not a common pattern, but not without precedent.”
“You know all that? Where did you hear it?”
“I studied Outer Deity immunology in advance.”
Zernya lifted her chin and smiled—the very picture of someone declaring, I’m smarter than you.
There was a method for handling this type of person.
“Wow, you’re actually really smart.”
Praise without substance.
People who loved bragging were usually starving for compliments. If you dangled the bait without making it obvious, they’d melt right into it. I had survived by buttering up professors exactly this way.
“Zernya, you’d make an excellent doctor.”
“Shut— haah.”
She almost said the full “shut up.” The word was practically glued to her tongue now.
Hmm.
Maybe I really had been spouting nonsense that often.
“She’s soaked in sweat. Looks like she’s been passing out and waking up repeatedly. Hey, tin can—how many times a day has this happened?”
Sonia’s brow twitched for a split second, but she answered evenly.
“Seven or eight times a day. The shrine maidens helped each time, but there was a limit. In the end, we had to restrain her when she started thrashing.”
So that was why Sonia looked drained.
“They’re trying to kill her outright.”
Sapaul’s doing.
Since it couldn’t use Ire Haslen as an energy source and couldn’t leave the sanctuary, it had chosen to simply end her. A very Outer Deity solution.
Thanks to that, her Fron count hadn’t dropped below a certain threshold. A new approach was needed.
“What? Why are you looking at me?”
Zernya edged backward.
“You’re smart, aren’t you?”
“So what?”
“Can’t you solve this too?”
“If even your father couldn’t, what do you expect me to do?”
She hit me with a sudden parental diss.
Ire Haslen stirred with a faint groan.
“You……”
“Yeah. It’s me. Idel.”
“Kyaaaaah!”
She recoiled violently. I had leaned in close—too close—and a sharp impact slammed into my philtrum.
Damn it. Probably a nosebleed.
Between Sonia’s fists, Rustilla’s wooden sword, Seti’s kicks, Zernya’s bites, and now this girl trying to add her own contribution…
“Don’t come any closer!”
I had forgotten. Ire suffered from a mild case of androphobia and aversion.
“You physics pervert……!”
“……?”
“What is it this time? Mechanics? Electromagnetism? Just stop already!”
Some kind of misunderstanding had taken root.
I checked what I had on hand.
1. The Caliper of Wisdom (A-rank).
2. The max Fron count increase pill obtained during the Celestine incident.
3. An envelope containing a strand of Cartesia’s hair.
The first two weren’t particularly useful right now.
As for Cartesia’s hair… I still had no idea what it was for.
“Haa, hnn……”
“You okay?”
“M-my, tongue… hnnn……”
There was nothing I could do to help Ire, who was suffering from fever and headaches. Releasing her restraints was out of the question, too—if the target was present, there was no telling what Sapaul might attempt.
This was the normal state of affairs in this world.
Without method or hope, one simply crumbled away.
Ire probably wanted to bite her tongue right now and move on to the next regression.
“Zernya.”
“What.”
“Look after her for a bit.”
“Why should I?”
“You’re a doctor.”
“I’m not even a resident—I’ve never performed a single surgery. If I mess up and she dies, are you going to take responsibility in my place?”
I gave her a light smack on the head.
“I’m not asking you to treat her.”
“……”
“If anything happens, call me. I’m counting on you.”
Leaving Ire in Zernya’s care, I stepped outside with Sonia. Through the door came the sound of grumbling—whether volunteer hours would count, why she had to babysit some backwater idiot, and so on.
An ironic scene.
In previous regressions, Zernya and Ire had been at odds, and Ire had ultimately finished her off. That had been during their third year of college.
This time, I hoped things would turn out differently.
That wasn’t the only problem I had to worry about.
“The government demanded we hand Ire over?”
“It’s been going on for a while. At first it was just a formal request. Today they threatened to send someone.”
Strange.
“Why are they suddenly so interested?”
“They’re coming to demand an explanation, aren’t they?”
Back when we were at the Northern Sanctuary it might have been different, but after purchasing land at the Southern Sanctuary we had submitted patient records to the government. That had made Ire Haslen’s presence here official.
And now—
“Good day.”
Being official meant being within the government’s grasp.
A swarm of men in black suits descended from the spaceship docked beyond the pier. The one who looked like the leader approached with an outstretched hand.
“Humphkin Rockdalman of the Outer Deity Management Bureau.”
“Idel von Rheinland. This is my android, Sonia.”
The handshake felt firm and unyielding.
This guy had done some serious weight training.
Rockdalman gave Sonia’s maid outfit a suspicious once-over, then raised an eyebrow.
“First time I’ve seen an android dressed so… creatively.”
Translation: You’re a pervert, right?
“She’s fifth-generation. They say they have intelligence on par with humans. She just likes dressing up.”
Translation: Not a pervert.
“As previously stated, we’ve come to take custody of Ire Haslen, who is receiving treatment at the Southern Sanctuary. We would appreciate your cooperation.”
Rockdalman removed his sunglasses and blinked. He had a surprisingly gentle face.
But the conversation that was about to begin would be anything but gentle.
I needed to strike first.
Before he could take another step, I spoke.
“May I ask the reason for the transfer request, and, should it proceed, where her new location would be?”
“……Understood. I’ll explain step by step.”
He put the sunglasses back on. His expression grew heavier.
“According to Article 109, Paragraph 3 of the Outer Deity Management Act, when a sanctuary is operated as private property, it is simultaneously subject to the Medical and Health Act, just like private hospitals or nursing facilities. The Medical and Health Act requires that patient visit records be documented and reported to the federal government.”
“Yes. We reported it.”
More precisely, my father and Seti had handled it.
Because I was neither a doctor nor the building owner!
“Additionally, Article 121, Paragraph 1 of the same act states that the government may restrict the basic rights of those possessed by Outer Deities when acting for the public good.”
That was how they had been able to lock people up and beat them in Alcatraz.
Human rights hadn’t regressed.
If they hadn’t isolated and restricted people even like this, the Federation would have collapsed long ago.
I nodded, pretending to sympathize.
“I saw the report filed by the facility’s owner. Ire Haslen was diagnosed with an average of fifteen Outer Deities attached to her.”
It was true.
My father, renowned as the best physician in the Federation, had made the diagnosis, so its credibility was high.
And the fact that this man had come here meant the government hadn’t known until now—and was now watching closely.
Rockdalman raised his voice slightly.
“Fifteen, he says. That’s normally impossible. Most people lose their minds with even one Outer Deity inside them.”
“Is that why you want to take her?”
“That’s correct.”
I understood now.
The authorities weren’t sending people just to move her treatment location.
“Where exactly are you taking her?”
“The Outer Deity Biology Research Institute, located in the Tova star system in the northern galaxy.”
These people…
They were planning human experimentation.