35. Frankenstein (1)
35. Frankenstein (1)
[Episode 35] - Frankenstein (1)
'Artificial human...?'
Frankenstein, who introduced herself as an artificial human, nodded with a slightly gloomy look. She was still expressionless, but if I had to call it an atmosphere? She was a girl who unexpectedly expressed her emotions through her actions.
At the mention of an artificial human, something chilling flashed through my mind. Come to think of it, Silphy had called Aurora, who became a Leanan Sidhe, an 'Artificial Fairy'. Could it be related to that?
For some reason, feeling worried, I unknowingly gripped the hand I was holding with the princess too tightly. Then, the princess, with her cheeks puffed out, tapped the back of my hand, saying it hurt.
"My hand, it hurts."
"...Ah. S-sorry."
Only then, surprised, I loosened my grip and looked at the princess's hand. Fortunately, I stroked the back of the princess's hand, which had only turned slightly red, and then glanced over to look at 'Witch Frankenstein'.
Really, as if she were a doll, she was still staring at me and the princess with a blank expression. Since she's constantly expressionless, I have no idea what she's thinking...
As I stared at Frankenstein as if glaring at her, the princess, perhaps having heard Frankenstein's self-introduction earlier, asked me with sparkling eyes. She asked if that person was the doctor who would treat Ainsel.
"Queen-nim, is Ainsel going to be okay now? She said she doesn't hurt anymore, right?"
"Th-that is..."
Come to think of it, I had 'lied' to the princess, telling her that Ainsel had gone to see a doctor. My reliability had just gone up, and if the princess found out I had lied here—
As I stood there unable to say anything and not knowing what to do, Frankenstein, who had approached my side at some point, stared intently at me and the princess. Then, she crouched down to match the princess's eye level and took a seat.
"Yes, Ainsel is currently in the final stage of treatment. Soon, Ainsel will be able to see you in perfect condition."
"R-really...?"
Frankenstein nodded with an emotionless expression. Because of her stiff, expressionless face and the feeling of being an 'artificial human', I thought she would feel very mechanical, but it seemed to be different in reality.
For now, I nodded, going along with Frankenstein's words.
"That's right. Ainsel will definitely get better and come back, so... why don't you go over there and play with Silphy for a moment? I need to talk to the doctor for a bit."
-Hm? You're looking at me and asking me to babysit now...?
"I'll give you two candies, so please just for a moment."
-...It's not good to overwork a fairy. This is the last time.
Silphy, who flew up into the sky with a flutter, circled around the princess a few times, then landed on the bed and started playing with the princess. Seeing that, a short sigh of relief escaped my lips.
"...First of all, thank you. Frankenstein-ssi?"
"You can call me 'Fran'. No need for honorifics either. Vivian."
"Alright, I'll be counting on you from now on, Fran."
As I reached out my hand to greet Fran, she stared at my outstretched hand blankly for a moment, then carefully took it and shook it up and down.
I thought she would be different from a normal person since she was an artificial human, but the warmth I felt from Fran's hand was no different from any other human.
"Then, first, could you show me Ainsel's 'main body'? I will begin the diagnosis immediately."
When I lifted Ainsel's main body hanging on the wall and handed it to Fran, she quickly sat down and began to examine Ainsel's main body.
Fran, holding Ainsel's main body, said she would begin the diagnosis and wiped the surface of the mirror, which was Ainsel's main body. Then, the surface of the mirror rippled for a moment before settling down again.
And Fran, who had examined Ainsel's main body up and down, nodded as if she understood, then turned her head to look at me.
"...I see. I understand. As Silphy said, it is a 'Rebound' of the contract. It is a common illness that fairies suffer from. I can cure it quickly."
"Haa... Thank goodness."
At Fran's words that she could cure Ainsel quickly, I let out a long sigh of relief. If Ainsel wakes up, I'll have to say a word or two to her—to never do something that makes my heart drop by claiming she'd take responsibility again.
As I was stroking my chest, Fran began to stare at me intently with an emotionless expression. For some reason, I couldn't get used to being stared at by those blue eyes.
"Fran...? Is something wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong. It's just that Ainsel's treatment requires a very small amount of time. So, during that time, I would like to hear about the 'incident' you wrote in the letter."
Ah... come to think of it, she did say she wanted to hear about the incident I experienced in more detail, didn't she? It's fine to tell her, but...
I glanced over at the princess, who was enjoying playing house with Silphy on the bed.
Noticing that I was looking at the princess, Fran snap! clicked her fingers. Then, a translucent dome-like barrier was cast around me and Fran.
"I have blocked the sound. With this, the content of our conversation will not leak outside."
I tried to stroke the dome cast around me and Fran as if it were fascinating, but perhaps because it only had the function of blocking sound, my fingers passed right through the translucent dome.
'When on earth will I be able to use magic like this?'
The most I had learned from Ainsel was creating a tiny flame or sprinkling water. Even that required immense concentration, making it difficult to use properly.
As I was marveling at the magic, Fran stared at me intently as if asking me to hurry up and tell her. I cleared my throat, ahem, and started to recount the things I had experienced one by one.
Like that, by the time I told her that the First Queen had become a Leanan Sidhe and killed the King.
For the first time, an emotion appeared on Fran's face. One eyebrow twitched and went up, and she covered her mouth as if something was strange.
Tap, tap. Fran, who was tapping the desk with her fingers and pondering something, rolled only her eyes to look at me and began to explain the reason why she had arrived late.
"Actually, the reason I arrived late here is that before coming here, I witnessed an incident very similar to the 'incident' written in the letter. And it took time to handle the aftermath of that incident."
"...Huh?"
"The witch of the Coven who was in charge of that incident requested emergency relief, saying something strange had happened. She said she needed me, a 'doctor'."
An incident similar to the one that happened in the royal palace...?
The moment I thought, 'Don't tell me, did someone else become a Leanan Sidhe and eat people?', Fran began to tell an even more shocking story.
"By any chance, do you know of the existence of a mermaid?"
"A mermaid...?"
*
The mermaids of this world that Fran told me about were very similar to the 'Little Mermaid' in the fairy tales I knew.
The lower body is a fish, and the upper body is a human.
'Fairies' who possess beautiful appearances and seduce sailors with their singing voices. And, it was said that there was an incident where one of the youngest princesses of such 'mermaids' fell in love with a person walking on the beach.
She said that fairies falling in love with humans is a fairly frequent occurrence, so she hadn't paid much attention to it until then. The mermaid's witch had told the 'mermaid princess' who had fallen in love with a human to give up, but...
The mermaid princess did not give up and craved love.
Saying she loved that person, saying she wanted to possess that person.
In the end, later on.
'Saying she wanted to become one with that person.'
Having heard the story up to this point, I felt goosebumps all over my body in an instant. As soon as I heard the story, 'Aurora', who had sucked blood saying she wanted to become one with her husband, popped into my head.
At the end of what kind of thought process does one conclude that they want to become one with the person they love? Is that even love in the first place? I couldn't understand it at all.
As the mermaid princess, who had been asking for a 'potion to become human' every day, stopped coming, the mermaid's witch said she hadn't paid any attention to her, thinking the mermaid princess's lovesickness had cooled down.
A few days after the mermaid princess stopped visiting the witch, that incident finally broke out. A vicious and terrible incident, similar to what happened here at the royal palace.
The 'mermaid princess' discovered at that time was said to have legs.
Her hair, which was originally red, was said to be even redder, stained with the blood of her loved one, resembling red coral beautifully blooming in the sea.
It is said that she sang a song while eating the corpse of her loved one on the beach where the waves were crashing. A song that was terribly beautiful and terribly disgusting.
"How is it? Isn't it a very 'similar incident' to the incident at the royal palace?"
Fran told me the reason she was late here in a calm, emotionless tone.
Certainly, the incident Fran told me about was so similar that I thought it was the same incident, not just similar.
Was it the 'doing' of someone that Aurora mentioned? The moment I thought that, as if reading my mind, Fran told me about the aftermath of the incident she had experienced.
"The Coven deemed this incident as someone's 'doing' and said they would chase the culprit. Even the 'Great Witch' of the Coven has begun an investigation."
"...I see. By any chance, is there anything I can help with?"
"It's fine. The Coven is not so weak that it needs to borrow the hand of a witch who isn't even a proper apprentice like you."
Snap!
As Fran clicked her fingers, the translucent dome that had wrapped around me and Fran disappeared. Perhaps having nothing more to talk about, Fran stroked Ainsel's main body placed on the desk.
Then, ripples slowly formed on the mirror's surface, and Vivian's face began to emerge slowly. Ainsel even let out a groaning sound.
Startled, I lifted Ainsel's main body, and Ainsel was frowning heavily, groaning as if she was still confused.
It was an expression like a young child who had just woken up from sleep.
"Oh my...!"
"To me, this level is an easy treatment. However, since it is still a time when stabilization is needed, I recommend leaving her as is."
When I made a surprised sound, the princess, who had been playing on the bed, also ran over in a hurry and looked at Ainsel. Seeing her groaning and trying to wake up from her sleep, the princess glared at Fran as if she were strange.
"She's still in pain...?"
Does Ainsel still look like she's in pain to the princess's eyes?
The princess frowned hard! and glared at Fran. However, Fran didn't care about the princess's expression at all and just stared at the princess with a blank face.
I thought she would comfort the princess by saying she would wake up soon, or something like that—
"I am sorry. The surgery ended in failure."
"...!!!!!"
At Fran's lie, the princess opened her mouth wide and was horrified. To the princess, who was standing there with her mouth open as if she were speechless and unable to say anything, Fran reversed her words as if playing a prank.
"That's a lie."
"...!!!!!!!!!"
Saying she didn't know what to believe anymore, the princess clutched her head with both hands. What on earth is the truth, and what is a lie? The princess shouted at Fran.
"Lying is bad!!!"
"Why is that?"
"B-because... lying is bad, right...? A-and witches shouldn't lie! The Queen said you'd have to eat a thousand needles!! Don't lie!!"
Fran glanced at me with eyes that seemed to ask what that was about, then crouched down and made eye contact with the princess, who was sniffling. And then, she opened her mouth wide in front of the princess—
"Bweeeh-"
Clatter-clatter-clatter-
It wasn't needles, but countless iron pieces like screws and gears poured out of Fran's mouth. For a moment, I was also surprised and stared with wide eyes, but the princess was worse than me.
The princess, who took a deep breath as if she were about to faint right away—
"Aack-!! Aaaaaaaaack!!!!!"
In the end, she burst into tears, saying it was scary.
The princess, who ran away from Fran in a hurry, grabbed the hem of my skirt and slumped to the floor. As I hugged and comforted the princess, who was lying on the floor crying her heart out, she began to cry even more sorrowfully.
"Waaaaah!! Waaaaaaaah!!!"
As I looked at Fran with a truly dumbfounded expression, Fran wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and, with a somehow confident expression, made a V sign with her fingers and held it out to me.
"This is a Fran Joke that only an artificial human can do. V."