Epilogue: Aftermath of Unscientific Faith
The villain organization that had seized Baphomet Enterprise immediately restrained the company's executives, employees, and devil worshippers, confiscating all their documents. They acted as if they were the prosecutors and the police.
Had it been the old Baphomet Enterprise, they would have fought back using the power gained by offering their souls to the devil. Yet for some reason, they offered no resistance at all now. Instead, they displayed reactions that suggested a few screws had come loose.
“What’s with these guys? They call themselves devil worshippers and yet they’re reacting like sick patients?”
“Eight did something, right? Must be because of that.”
“You’re not kidding? He really neutralized people all the way over here from his seat……”
While the executives groaned at the feat Eight had accomplished, the heroes and police in charge of B City finally arrived on the scene.
Faced with a villain organization’s raid on a major corporation, they broke into wide smiles like fish returned to water and unleashed their superpowers.
“That’s far enough! You villain bastards!”
“Anyone who moves is a villain! Anyone who doesn’t move is a trained villain!”
As the heroes who had burst in began subduing and arresting the rank-and-file combatants one by one, Galrm glanced back at Lize.
Lize, who had been on the phone with someone, trembled with humiliation. A moment later she stepped forward and shouted.
“What is all this commotion?”
“Anyone who moves is a villain, I clearly—”
“Hey, hey—! You crazy idiot! That’s the president of Baphomet!”
“What? Ah, um. Madam President, please come this way. We’ve come to rescue—”
“I really hate having to ask twice. What exactly is all this commotion?”
The heroes of B City tilted their heads in confusion, as though they had no idea what she was talking about.
But Lize, who had already reached an understanding with the others, erupted in fury and roared at the heroes.
“We are currently conducting villain response training. How dare you cause such a disturbance?”
“Excuse me? What are you—”
“I said we are in the middle of villain response training. Binding our precious employees? Have you lost your minds? I will file a formal complaint about this incident.”
At the mention of an official complaint, the heroes hurriedly released the captured rank-and-file combatants. The combatants rotated their wrists and glared at the heroes with eyes full of resentment. They had roughly grasped the situation and decided to play along.
The words of the Baphomet president, the decidedly un-villain-like reactions of the combatants, and the fact that no villains had appeared in the city for many years—leaving the heroes completely unprepared for such a situation—left the heroes’ heads spinning.
In the end, the dispatched heroes and police bowed their heads and quietly withdrew from the building.
“……We apologize for the disturbance. We will offer a formal apology later, so please reconsider the complaint—”
“That won’t be necessary. I have no desire to see your faces again. Leave at once.”
“Understood……”
Once the heroes had left, Galrm whistled as he looked at Lize with open admiration.
“You’re pretty calm. Guess it’s because you people have already devoured quite a few humans?”
Lize ignored Galrm’s comment entirely and lifted her phone once more. She brought it to her ear and spoke carefully.
“Yes. I’ll leave the Baphomet matter to you.”
“However, the fact that you brainwashed my subordinate and attacked my territory—I will never forget those sins. They are crimes you will carry on your back for the rest of your life.”
“Thank you……”
“I will keep it in mind……”
Click.
Lize stared at the disconnected call for a long moment, then let out several hollow sighs. She looked around at the ruins of what had once been the Thousand Year Kingdom. Baphomet, which had flourished beneath the devil’s majesty, had collapsed so pathetically.
If they had clashed with full force, perhaps things would have been different. But because the devil had abandoned them for some incomprehensible reason, they had been unable to mount any meaningful resistance.
It was still hard to believe. The devil’s scream, laced with agony and shock. The incomprehensible words that followed.
‘What did you touch?’ it had said.
Lize glanced cautiously at Galrm. With his beast-like appearance and crude way of speaking, he looked like the most simple-minded of the bunch. He would probably spill the information easily.
Slipping into a gentle, performative tone, Lize spoke to the beastman.
“……There’s one thing I’m curious about.”
“What is it?”
“Now that I’ve joined your group… I suppose we’re colleagues now?”
“If that’s what the boss told you, then yes.”
“Then I can finally ask. ……Who exactly did I touch?”
Galrm grinned widely.
“The scientist.”
“Scientist?”
“That’s right. Our proud scientist.”
Yet even after hearing the answer, Lize could only tilt her head in confusion. A scientist? This entire catastrophe had occurred simply because they had touched one scientist?
She couldn’t understand any of it, from beginning to end.
Even though she had once offered her soul to the devil, she simply could not comprehend it.
Unlike Z City, which had lost all function as a proper city, B City still operated as a genuine urban center. Naturally, the Baphomet Company that ruled it was not an easy target like Omega Industries.
If Z City and Omega Industries were a tasteless piece of junk that offered no real benefit even if swallowed, B City was a mountain of rich meat that would cause your stomach to burst if you tried to devour it.
Regalia had explained that greedily trying to swallow B City whole would leave them waddling with a full belly while the other cities launched an all-out assault.
“It is not that I look down on you. This is simply the more rational and efficient choice, which is why I have left them alive. Please understand.”
“Yes, well. I don’t particularly care how you handle Baphomet.”
“……Truly? You won’t throw a tantrum about this later, will you?”
“I don’t have the luxury for that. Right now I’ve found something fun to play with.”
“Something fun to play with…? The scientist? What exactly is that? Give me a hint as well……”
I ignored the rest of Regalia’s words and returned to the laboratory. The Devil’s Right Arm floating in a formalin solution greeted me.
It was the item I had obtained from one of Baphomet’s apostles not long ago. Ever since acquiring it, my attention had been completely absorbed by this right arm.
‘Baphomet Enterprise or whatever… I don’t have the energy to care about any of that.’
Just look at this Devil’s Right Arm. Galrm had been satisfied with simply gaining an ability that ignored distance, but as a scientist I could not think on the same level as that ignorant beast.
I traced the origin of the right arm. Since it was the Devil’s Right Arm, there had to be a devil who owned it.
Following the trail to find the owner, I searched beyond the dimensional veil and discovered a devil hiding in an obscure corner. The creature noticed my approach and began thrashing wildly in an attempt to flee.
‘What is it even saying?’
This too was a research subject. The ecology of an otherworldly organism known as a devil. It was a topic that could easily produce multiple papers back on Earth. If I played my cards right, this single project might even earn me a doctorate.
Of course, a doctorate no longer held much meaning. The path back to Earth was still distant. Yet whether a reward existed or not, the fundamental desire that drives a scientist never wavers.
Curiosity. The desire to uncover the world’s secrets had not vanished even after I fell into this world.
‘Ah—I think I get it. This hand doesn’t simply ignore distance, it……’
This was exactly why I could not stop researching. Discovering something new was incredibly enjoyable, and being the first to uncover a secret gave one a sense of superiority—as though billions of humans on Earth were beneath one’s feet.
It was an act that fulfilled both self-realization and self-satisfaction at the same time. As I studied the devil’s hand, I slowly began to understand the devil itself. Then a proverb from Earth suddenly came to mind.
When you gaze long into an abyss,
the abyss also gazes into you.
I briefly worried that studying the devil might turn me into one, but I shook my head and immediately dismissed the concern.
‘I’m still perfectly fine. I can keep going.’
Above all, for the sake of truth, becoming a devil would be acceptable. That was precisely what a scientist was.
Early morning. After finishing an all-nighter, I stepped into the corridor thinking I might finally get some sleep. The moment I emerged, I ran into Regalia accompanied by several secretaries.
“Scientist. Perfect timing.”
“Boss? What brings you here……”
“I need something. Could you give me some of that energy drink?”
At the request for an energy drink, my expression stiffened slightly.
“If you drink that, you won’t grow any taller.”
“It can’t be helped. I’m extremely busy right now. It looks like I won’t sleep a wink for at least a week.”
“……Then I suppose it can’t be helped.”
The drink could let an adult male stay awake for three full days and nights without issue, but nothing in the world possessed only beneficial effects. Every item had side effects.
The same applied to this energy drink. While harmless for adult males, when consumed by a child it stole energy that should have gone toward growth. Even adults would face serious problems if they overused it.
Of course, I understood that the situation was busy enough to warrant accepting those side effects. Victims had appeared in E City because of villains, so they needed to be comforted and given proper funerals. On top of that, having swallowed B City—which was just as massive as E City—they were surely suffering headaches from the aftermath.
“Take care of yourself, Boss.”
“Aah, thank you for worrying. If only you would cause fewer accidents.”
“Ahaha—what kind of accidents do I cause?”
I handed over the energy drink with a hollow laugh. Regalia downed it in one gulp and immediately hurried away, clearly pressed for time.
Watching her retreating figure, Vira muttered quietly.
“The young lady must be having a hard time. Her birthday is coming up soon, yet she won’t even be able to celebrate it.”
“……Excuse me? What did you just say?”
“Hm? I said her birthday is coming up but she won’t be able to celebrate it. Don’t tell me you didn’t know?”
“Of course I didn’t……”
“Eek—Eight. You prepared a gift, right?”
I shook my head. Vira looked at me with an expression of utter disbelief. But what could I do? No one had told me the boss even had a birthday. Not even the boss herself.
‘A birthday present, huh……’
It felt a little late to start preparing one now, but I quietly drank an energy drink of my own and returned to the laboratory.
There was no time to sleep. Not when even the boss was working this hard.
And so I began preparing the boss’s birthday present. Something that would surprise her greatly.