Modern Exploration (2)
I took Jeanne with me to a Korean restaurant.
“Sir Seojun, there’s pepper here.”
Jeanne’s eyes widened into perfect circles as she stared at the wooden pepper grinder sitting on the table.
“I take it you’ve never tried pepper before?”
“I only ever saw the bishop use it sometimes.”
In the Middle Ages, pepper had been a luxury good. People gifted it to one another, collected it like jewels, and stored it with care. Nobles would flaunt their wealth by showing off that they used pepper in front of commoners.
Seeing a pepper grinder on every table, Jeanne looked slightly nervous.
“Is this an expensive place?”
“Yes, it’s a bit on the pricey side.”
Her reaction was so adorable that I felt the sudden urge to tease her a little.
Soon the table was covered with all kinds of side dishes—kimchi, japchae, dried anchovies, and more. Jeanne looked visibly flustered.
“…Sir Seojun, should we leave? I’m really fine with just a single piece of bread.”
She seemed shocked by the sheer number of dishes. Even regular foreigners were always surprised by the variety of banchan at Korean restaurants, but Jeanne’s reaction was on another level.
If I kept teasing her any longer she really might get up and leave, so I quickly reassured her.
“It’s okay. These are all common foods that everyone eats.”
“All of these?”
“Yes. Eat as much as you want.”
When I told her that pepper was now a common spice anyone could get, Jeanne looked both amazed and a little pouty. She must have realized I had deliberately waited to tell her on purpose.
“Still… you already bought me clothes. Is it really okay for me to be treated to a meal like this?”
“You can just help me out later to make up for it.”
“If there’s anything I can do to help, please tell me anything at all.”
Once I framed it as a debt, Jeanne finally seemed to relax.
Before eating, she clasped her hands together and offered a short prayer. Of course, it was nothing like the long, drawn-out mealtime prayers of the modern world. Since Jeanne had never had the chance to learn how to read, she didn’t know the Bible very well. She simply brought her palms together, closed her eyes for a moment, then lifted her head again.
Jeanne watched me eat with great interest before picking up her own spoon. She scooped some rice into the doenjang soup and tried it.
To be honest, I was nervous. I had brought her here to introduce her to Korean food, but I had no idea whether someone used to the lightly seasoned cuisine of the Middle Ages would like it.
“It’s delicious!”
My worries had been pointless.
Jeanne’s small mouth worked busily as she chewed, her eyes once again round with surprise.
“This soup is salty but really tasty.”
“It’s called doenjang soup.”
She continued spooning small portions of the salty soup along with rice, but her spoon never stopped moving. She clearly liked it.
“Oh, this is good too.”
Starting with japchae, then kimchi, spinach, bulgogi—Jeanne ate everything without discrimination. I was relieved it suited her palate.
She’s eating surprisingly well.
Even though her bites looked tiny, the bowls kept emptying at an astonishing rate. It was completely different from the minimal eating habits I had seen from her before. During the entire Hundred Years’ War, Jeanne had either fasted or eaten only the bare minimum. That must have been her way of living as a saint.
The real Jeanne was just a girl who enjoyed eating anything and everything.
After we finished the meal, we wandered the city streets without any particular plan. The colorful neon signs lighting up the roads, the cars racing through the downtown area, the people hurrying along while staring at their phones… To me it was an everyday sight, but to Jeanne every single thing must have been a brand-new experience.
“Sir Seojun, look at that. It’s coffee.”
Jeanne pointed warily at the giant drawing of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee on a store billboard.
Coffee used to be considered the devil’s drink.
In the past, coffee had been seen as an evil beverage drunk only by heathens. Jeanne seemed amazed that something like that was being openly advertised on the street.
“That drink received a baptism from the Pope, Jeanne.”
“Coffee did?”
“They say he gave it a blessing because it tasted so good.”
The 16th-century Pope had been so impressed after trying coffee that he declared, “How can only heathens enjoy such a wonderful drink!” and eventually baptized it just so he could drink it without guilt. In doing so, coffee became the first—and last—beverage in history to receive a formal baptism.
“It’s secretly really good. Try it once.”
Feeling bold, I took her inside the Dunkin’ Donuts and ordered coffee and donuts. Since the weather was cold, I chose a hot Americano.
“How is it?”
“I think it deserves a baptism.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the saint’s joke. Then I finally brought up the words I had been holding back.
“Jeanne, you probably won’t be able to return to your homeland.”
“…I had a feeling that might be the case.”
“Aren’t you sad about it?”
“Even if I went back, wouldn’t they just put me on the stake again?”
She said it like a casual joke, but it seemed she was already aware. That France had abandoned her. Even after learning the painful truth that her own country had cast her aside, the girl calmly accepted reality. She even looked somewhat relieved, as if she had finally thrown off the heavy burden of being a saint.
“Sir Seojun, what is that thing everyone is holding in their hands?”
“It’s called a smartphone. You can communicate with anyone in the entire world using it.”
“Is it like a letter?”
“Similar, but it has far more functions. You can even talk to each other while seeing each other’s faces.”
“That’s amazing.”
She was working hard from the very first day to adapt to this new world. Jeanne kept asking me all sorts of questions, and I explained everything as thoroughly and simply as I could so she would understand.
Out of everything, what surprised her the most was the advancement of science.
“You’re saying humans can even travel to the moon?”
“Not just the moon. We’re exploring the sun and other stars too.”
“The sun…”
Jeanne, donut still in her mouth and violet eyes wide open, looked just like a rabbit. It was adorable.
“There are also airplanes that fly through the sky.”
“Don’t they fall?”
“They do sometimes when there’s an accident, but they’re usually very safe.”
Even though she hadn’t asked, I kept talking nonstop about Earth’s civilization. Seeing her amazed reactions somehow made me talk even more. There was a strange charm in watching her like this.
Well, even modern people were astonished by today’s world where AI was replacing humans. From the perspective of a 15th-century European, modern civilization must have sounded like stories from another world.
After that, I continued showing Jeanne various aspects of modern civilization. We rode public transportation, visited an aquarium, and looked around COEX.
Before we knew it, the streets that had been bright with daylight had grown dark as evening fell.
“Is there anywhere else you want to go before we head back?”
There were still so many places I hadn’t shown her—a movie theater, the forest of buildings at Gangnam Station. Modern times overflowed with things to see.
But then…
“I want to visit a place where history is recorded.”
Jeanne wanted to go somewhere that preserved the past rather than modern civilization. She probably wanted to see the history related to herself.
“Then we should stop by the library.”
I took her to the large library inside COEX. Since Joan of Arc was such a famous figure, records about her were easy to find.
Joan of Arc was executed by burning at the stake in Rouen on May 30, 1431. She was only 19 years old.
Twenty-five years after her death, she was declared innocent in a retrial. In 1920, she was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church.
…
Jeanne quietly read the history that had unfolded after her death. Her expression wasn’t bright. The fates of those connected to her could not, even as a lie, be called good.
Gilles de Rais, her closest holy knight, had gone mad after her execution and turned to black magic. Her patron and comrade, the Duke of Alençon, had his lands confiscated, was sentenced to death, and died in prison. The lives of the others were equally tragic.
“So this is how it all turned out.”
I asked while watching her carefully reread the history.
“Do you want to go to France?”
“I am curious, but it’s okay.”
Jeanne closed the history book and placed it back on the shelf, as if her role in that place had finally ended. Then she turned to me and smiled brightly.
“Right now, it’s enough if I can help you, Sir Seojun.”
*
When the sun had fully set and we returned to the shop, Jeanne suddenly turned into light and vanished.
Thud—
The plastic bag filled with the groceries she had been carrying fell emptily to the floor.
And then a status window appeared.
Jeanne d'Arc's manifestation time has ended.
Next Summon Time: 02:00
…
Just as artifacts brought from another world could not be maintained indefinitely in reality, the same was true for Jeanne. Having been expelled from her own world, she was now a being that belonged nowhere.
Could this truly be called salvation?
The higher the Connector's magic power, the shorter the re-summon time will become.
Hmm.
“I need to get stronger.”
Until two hours became one hour.
Until one hour became thirty minutes.
Until thirty minutes became one minute, and one minute became one second.
And eventually, until she no longer disappeared at all…
A new goal had been set.
And as if it knew that—
Napoleon's Rifle had spat out a quest.
(This is Jeanne d’Arc at the shopping mall. Uploading for those who missed it.)