Chapter 212: Teacher, You’re Moving Too Fast (2)
Chapter 212: Teacher, You’re Moving Too Fast (2)
My mind became a tangled mess.
Exactly how much of this was real, and how much was fake?
For that matter, what guarantee did I have that the being before me wasn't lying?
Was the desert a room that actually existed in reality?
Was the explanation of Otherworld Erosion that Zess gave me all a lie?
What if she wasn't relying on memory, but completely manifesting whatever she imagined and making others experience it indirectly?
That was why I opened my mouth.
"Wh—"
"Shh."
the moment I tried to speak, she was suddenly in front of me, placing a finger over my lips.
"Don't say a word. You'll draw their gaze."
Gaze? No, first of all, you've been talking your head off in a space where I don't even know what's real and what's—
"Don't even think it. That can attract their attention too."
What, did you learn telepathy or something?
"Ah, I know what you're thinking. You're wondering if it's telepathy or if your thoughts are leaking out. Relax. It's just that most people follow that exact line of thought, so I'm warning you in advance. Oh, and as a bonus, you can't use Otherworld-style Communication, so don't worry. That only works when you're under their influence."
What the hell is Otherworld-style Communication?
Explain yourself, you damn star.
"Good. You seem to have calmed down."
Despite my silent plea, Zess nodded briefly, returned to her seat, and stared at me intently.
"Now. What will you do? Will you keep the contract? Or shall we just end it here?"
Zess spoke with an air of intellectual sophistication, but...
...I could see right through her.
The hand she extended toward me was trembling violently, and her crossed legs were twitching as if she had a cramp—a truly bizarre sight.
I wasn't even sure if that Anomalous Entity's body was structured in a way that could get a cramp.
"So, about those things I'm not supposed to talk about..."
"I have no idea what you're talking about. And didn't I tell you not to even think about it?"
Tremble, tremble, tremble.
Her hands began to shake like someone going through drug withdrawal.
Looking at her physical structure, it didn't seem like a muscular issue.
Was it purely psychological?
Sigh.
No matter how much I prodded, it didn't seem like she'd give me more information. Since I'd made a promise, I might as well keep it.
"Fine. I'll tell you the story. But you know the deal, right?"
"Of course. Full cooperation. I'll give you the fragment with The Tomb's location, too."
As you should.
"Alright. Then where should I start..."
* * *
"Why did you let your guard down there?"
"Hey. Stop interrupting."
I wondered how many times this had happened.
I'd counted up to six, but after that, my patience evaporated, and I lost track.
If I'd learned anything, it was that while Zess loved hearing stories, she was a terrible listener.
If I ever had to tell her a story again, I'd just record it, tell her to listen to it, and run away.
"But with your combat power, there's no way you should have fallen for that. You could have just enlarged your hammer and crushed the corpse into paste."
"Listen here, Zess. No matter The Enemy, doing that to a corpse is a bit much, don't you think? It's not like we're thousand-year blood rivals."
Perhaps because of all the bickering, the polite tone I'd tried to maintain had vanished, replaced by the blunt speech one would use with a close friend.
"Hmm. I wouldn't know. After fighting me, they're either perfectly fine or nothing but ash."
...That was a depressingly realistic rebuttal.
Having nothing to say to that, I prepared to state the obvious.
"Regardless of your circumstances, in our culture, desecrating a corpse is considered extremely hateful and generally avoided out of courtesy. And in my experience, enemies don't usually go for suicide charges."
Most of those who came to Earth had a specific purpose, which was probably why.
"Hmm. Then you've learned and grown again, haven't you? That's the beauty of combat. You let your guard down once, so you won't fall for it again."
Well, I wasn't so sure. That Curator guy I met recently didn't let his guard down for a second, yet he still managed to pull some nonsense and stab me in the back.
Technically, it was my fault for falling for a final act of desperation despite having seen it a few times before. But if I didn't argue back like this, I felt like I was losing, so here we were, bickering like children.
"Anyway, continue. How did you escape Deva’s Spatial Defect? Deva’s technique is a high-level ideological skill that makes one's very existence forgotten. It should have been difficult for your method, which involves comparing your current body to a perfect one to restore it."
Wait, what?
"Hold on. How do you know how my regeneration works?"
For the first time, I was the one to interrupt.
She was talking about a method I didn't even fully understand myself.
"How could I not? You're that kind of creature. Given how old I am, do you think I haven't seen one or two like you? Ah, there was one thing that bothered me, though. Your regeneration is incredibly inefficient."
Inefficient?
My willpower gets drained, sure, but I'd never seen regeneration as efficient as mine.
"Even Al’shel acknowledged my regenerative power, and you're calling it inefficient?"
"Well, the speed is fast and the power consumption is low, sure. But there's something strange about the way you regenerate."
As she spoke, Zess waved her empty right arm, creating two humanoid flames in the air.
"Look. The one on the left is you normally. And..."
Whoosh.
At Zess's word, the flame on the right flared up, and one of the doll's arms vanished.
"The one on the right is you when injured. From here, when you regenerate, you perceive your current armless self, recall the version of yourself on the left that's etched in your memory, compare the two, and then reassemble your mana to match the original. The mana that composes your body is influenced more by will and ideology than by physical laws."
I see.
So I recognize that my right arm is gone, think of myself when my arm was fine, and then regenerate.
My knowledge was expanding.
"So at what point does it become inefficient?"
I understood up to that point. But I didn't see any way to shorten the process further.
"Why do you have to recall the 'left' version at all? It's your own body. The way your body looks should be etched into you at a primal, instinctive level."
...I didn't quite follow.
"Don't people usually not know exactly what they look like?"
It's not like I walk around with my eyes outside my body.
"Well, for a physical race, that would be true. But you're a mana-based race that would scatter and vanish if you didn't constantly visualize your own form. In the first place, didn't you assemble yourself that way because you wanted to? Your soul and your appearance are clearly different, and the gender you perceive yourself as is different too..."
...Huh?
Wait. Come to think of it, Zess had called me a man the moment she saw me.
"Wait. I have a question."
"Sure. Go ahead. We're on the same side now, aren't we?"
Wow. We haven't even finished the story and she's already calling me an ally.
Quite generous of her.
Well, putting that aside.
"Do you know what a Magical Girl is?"
"I do. It's a method where a specific gender sensitive to mana is refined until only the soul remains, then sublimated into magic itself. I don't know where that training method originated, but several races strangely seem to share it."
What is this? No, how does she even know that?
"That's what I am."
"Not a chance. You're not. I don't know what you are, but you're definitely not a Magical Girl."
Cackle, cackle.
Zess laughed as if she'd heard something hilarious.
"If you were a Magical Girl, your soul and your appearance wouldn't be that mismatched. If you'd been born as a mana lifeform from the start, that would be one thing, but for someone born with a physical body to change that much... they wouldn't be able to maintain their mana form and would just scatter and vanish."
...Some shocking truths were coming to light.
While I stood there with my mouth agape, listening intently...
"Hmm? Wait. Is that it? Ah, then it makes sense. That's why an extra cycle was added to your regeneration."
Zess began to mutter to herself as if she'd suddenly realized something.
I had a gut feeling that if I didn't speak up now, she wouldn't explain it to me.
"Care to tell me what you just thought of?"
Professor Zess, please share your wisdom...
"Hmm? Oh, it's nothing much. Assuming you really are a Magical Girl, one interesting thought occurred to me."
Zess grinned, clearly enjoying the act of storytelling, and began to spill her thoughts without reservation.
"In short, if what you say is true, it all makes sense. Why you have to recall your body's appearance, and the mismatch between your form and your soul. You're probably constantly thinking that your current body isn't your original one."
Zess, having seen through everything, continued.
"Normally, you should have collapsed instantly. But then again, the Otherworld is full of exceptions. I think there are two reasons why you haven't collapsed. There could be more, but I'll skip the truly bizarre cases and explain the likely ones."
Zess held up two fingers and folded one down.
"First: something is interfering and holding your scattering mana together. It could be your absurd willpower, a magical interference, or some kind of artifact. I wouldn't know."
Is it because of The Hammer?
Or the curse of immortality placed upon me?
Or did The Queen of the Magic Kingdom pull some kind of trick?
"Second: this one is a bit unusual..."
Zess trailed off for a moment.
"By any chance, do you have the inability to discharge mana externally, or the ability to devour the power of others?"
"...I have both."
"Ah. Then theoretically, it would work. But... then the strange thing is..."
As if finding it fascinating, Zess reached out and poked my cheek.
"How are you maintaining your sense of self?"
"What do you mean?"
"If it's the inability to discharge, I get it. You're generating more than you're losing, so you can maintain yourself by force. But if it's the latter..."
Zess's smile twisted.
Just like the giant version of her I'd seen in the desert.
"You're constantly eating yourself to maintain your body. If that were the case, you should have gone insane. So, I don't think it's that."
"...I don't know anything about that."
Truly, I didn't.
Not about such a power, nor about the nature of my own existence.
And I had a gut feeling that hearing any more wouldn't lead to anything good.
Therefore...
"Let's stop talking about that. I'll tell you what happened after. The power absorption I mentioned comes up too."
I cut the conversation short.
"Hmm. If that's what you want. I don't mind."
Zess didn't seem particularly attached to finishing that specific topic either. She casually let it go.
And that subject ended there.
* * *
"Hmm. That was quite an interesting story."
Satisfied with my tale, Zess shed her childish aura and exuded a slightly more mature atmosphere.
"Are you satisfied? Then let's wake Al’shel up."
"Why?"
What do you mean, why?
"I have to hand over the memories. Though having his head shoved into Al’shel’s mouth and being sucked dry might not be the most pleasant experience."
If she's the one who agreed to it knowing the terms, it shouldn't matter.
"No, I'm not too fond of that either. It's quite disgusting."
...Wait, this is going in a weird direction.
"Then how are you going to give them to him?"
"Like this."
She waved her left hand—the one that had been wreathed in flame ever since we started talking.
The flame flew toward Al’shel.
"GYAAAAAAAH!"
Al’shel, who had been unconscious in the corner, bolted upright the moment the flame touched him, letting out a scream like a piece of seafood being flash-dried.
"Like that."
Wow. Setting her own comrade on fire.
A fiery betrayal immediately after forming an alliance.
I felt like I should probably save Al’shel, but since the octopus being drained of his moisture didn't look like he was actually going to die, I quietly watched the production of dried jerky alongside Zess.
After about two minutes...
The fire finally went out.
"Gasp... wheeze... Honestly... would it have killed you to hand over the memories a bit more gently?"
Al’shel pointed a shriveled finger at Zess, his voice sounding parched and raspy.
"Were the memories contained in that fire just now?"
"Exactly. Convenient, isn't it?"
Hmm. It certainly was a convenient method.
Being able to transfer memories just by scorching someone's head a little.
I'd hate it if it were happening to me, but since it was Al’shel, it was definitely convenient.
I didn't have to listen to Al’shel’s slurping sounds.
Zess didn't have to shove her head into Al’shel’s disgusting mouth.
And Al’shel got the memories he wanted.
It was an easy, convenient win-win for everyone.
Al’shel shot me a strange look, but it was probably just my imagination.
"Sigh... Fine. Whatever. I don't know what happened while I was out, but it seems you've persuaded Zess. We've got The Key Fragment, so let's go back to our rooms and re—"
Al’shel, looking truly exhausted, tried to leave while rambling about things I hadn't even asked.
"Huh? Why are you leaving?"
Our resident master of interruptions, Ms. Zess, chimed in.
"What do you mean, why? Look at the state of me. I need to rest. We have to assemble The Key fragments and find the location of The Tomb. It's good to see you again, Ms. Zess, but we can catch up after everything is over..."
Thud.
A wooden door slammed down between Zess and Al’shel.
"Here. The Tomb door."
"...Huh?"
At Zess's shocking statement, Al’shel’s voice and mine overlapped in perfect unison.