Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: The Language of Demons
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It was a casually tossed question.
But the fact that a boy who had just graduated from school could interpret the demonic language shocked many.
And for good reason—the difficulty of learning the demonic language was several times that of ancient languages.
First, its writing system, grammar, and word order bore no resemblance to any other language.
It also had a mixture of multiple writing and syllabic systems, and the same word could have various meanings.
It wasn't a language one could learn in a short period, so some were inwardly suspicious.
Magda asked.
"Where did you learn it?"
"At the Le Tell branch in Ollen."
The listening mages tilted their heads in unison.
Magda asked again.
"Have you been there before this mission?"
"No. This was my first time in Ollen."
"Then are you saying you learned it in that short time while raiding the branch and seizing the human-skin grimoire during this mission?"
"Yes. It's not perfect. I only figured out the meaning from the characters in that book. If there were other books, I think I could decipher a bit more."
It was truly preposterous.
While everyone was dumbfounded, Magda gave Loan a light gesture to follow her.
Naturally, Loan's position shifted to the center of the table, surrounded by the mages of the Honor Division.
Various human-skin grimoires were spread open on the table.
They were all clearly from Le Tell.
Magda spoke.
"Examine these as well. We must understand Le Tell's incantations to counter them, so it's a matter of urgency for the entire Union. But first, could you explain how you understand the demonic language?"
Oscar watched the situation from a distance with his arms crossed.
He felt a subtle sense of pride as everyone seemed to admire Loan's talent, but he couldn't understand a word of what was being said.
"First, I isolated and compared the most frequently appearing phrases and found that the characters, each and every symbol, held their own meaning. I also discovered that a series of words refers to the specific act of executing an incantation..."
Loan painstakingly retraced his method and process of interpretation, trying to make everyone understand.
As they were mages who had mastered ancient languages and were well-versed in the analysis and understanding of incantations, they followed along quite well.
The frustration he had felt with his friends at school was absent here.
Moreover, he was able to share in the research they had conducted through other books, further enriching his own knowledge.
"So you're saying a single word is composed of multiple morphemes, but the forms of the stem and ending are flexible?"
"The meaning changes completely for nominative singular, genitive singular, accusative singular, and genitive plural. So I looked for consistency centered on the phonetic value."
"This one's from a Le Tell farm. Look here. Some words are 86 characters long because they contain all sorts of parts of speech within a single word."
The discussion and debate continued for a long time.
A full half-day passed, but no one complained of fatigue.
While Oscar dozed off standing, the mages gradually solidified the system of the demonic language, which was soon completed as a single volume.
It was twice the length of the ancient language dictionary Loan had studied in school.
Based on this, Magda deciphered what appeared to be the most intricate magic circle and incantation written in the human-skin grimoires.
"...So this incantation isn't just for manifesting magic, but can be seen as a simplified form of a summoning ritual in the shape of a magic circle."
Loan, who had already read and translated it in his head, completed his verification after hearing Magda's words.
"Yes. They form the magic circle in advance, turn themselves into a sacrifice, and then manifest the incantation to call the target into their own body."
"And the target must be a demon."
In the end, the interpretation that the mutated dark priests were possessed by summoned demons was correct.
The mages had faced the mutated dark priests before, but this was the first time the theory had been so thoroughly substantiated.
They were people who did not believe without proof.
So this was a situation to be very pleased about.
The haphazardly woven, hole-ridden decoding system had taken on a perfect form after Loan's arrival.
Applause and cheers, started by someone unknown, continued for a while.
Oscar, startled awake, clapped along.
Seeing the mages patting Loan's shoulder, he could only guess that the youngest member had done something great again.
As the commotion died down, Magda asked Loan.
"Do you know much about demons?"
After feeling a brief, internal pang, Loan shook his head.
"Not much. Only that they are a race from the demon world, and that Le Tell and Brien draw upon their power."
"It hasn't been long since demons actually appeared before us. A hundred years at most. Before that, their existence was only known through possession and channeling, like with Le Tell's dark priests."
"It seems the current situation is a process of that 'occasionally' turning into 'frequently'."
"Yes. For now, they seem to be ordinary demons, and since they are still in the channeling and possession stage, it appears none have directly manifested yet."
"Ordinary demons?"
Loan's eyes lit up at the new concept.
Magda moistened her throat with wine before speaking.
"It's just a conjecture, but there seem to be countless demons. First, we need to think simply. The demon world has its own races, and those who live there are what we would call demonkin or demons. We see them as no different from us humans."
"Yes."
"Naturally, there are ordinary demons, like common folk. Just like us humans. And there are special demons, like you, Loan. Everyone has a name, but some names are specially remembered, just like that."
"...Yes."
Loan answered, unable to refuse.
The explanation was embarrassing in many ways.
"Then let me ask you this. Let's say a demon tries to summon a human from our world to the demon world. Which would be harder: summoning an ordinary person, or summoning you, Loan?"
It was an interesting question.
He didn't know what method they would use, so he assumed they would use one similar to Le Tell's.
He imagined murky mana rising around him, a magical force trying to pull him away.
The thought of deciphering and resisting the hypothetical incantation naturally came to mind.
"It would be difficult to take me."
The mages, including Magda, burst out laughing at his somewhat brazen reply.
But no one refuted Loan's thought.
Magda said.
"Right. We believe the easier one would be the ordinary person. You would have the power to refuse or ignore it. By that logic, Le Tell is not yet able to summon powerful demons. The level of their magic circles and incantations shows that."
Loan agreed.
Judging by the difficulty of the deciphered incantations and the depth of mana and will required for each clause, they were not of a very high level.
The clauses specifying the target of the summoning were also vague.
It was generally known that the more difficult the conditions, and further, the more precisely the target was designated by their True Name, the higher the difficulty of the summoning incantation.
In that respect, Le Tell's incantations were still lacking, though there were omitted parts they had yet to fully grasp.
"If they keep testing and reinforcing their incantations like this, they might one day be able to summon those 'special' demons."
"That's what we think too. Named demons, ones worthy of being called as such, will likely appear through channeling or manifestation. We have to root out Le Tell before that happens."
Loan's thoughts briefly strayed.
He wondered if Aul, who had been sealed in the Stone of Goetia, might be a named one.
Quickly shaking off the thought, Loan said to Magda.
"If we can't do that right away... I believe we need countermeasures against ghouls more than preparations for enhanced incantations."
His tone was incredibly serious.
It was because he was laying bare something he had deeply considered.
But no one nodded in agreement with Loan's story.
Magda frowned and said.
"Ghouls may be a threat to ordinary people, but for anyone skilled enough to join the Union, they are of a level that can be ignored."
"Even so, it's nothing but the murder of innocent people. I want to find a way to turn humans who've become ghouls back to normal."
Loan still felt pity for them.
They were people whose circumstances were no different from his own, and from the children at the Deungteun shelter.
He couldn't ignore the considerable sense of responsibility he felt for the killings he had to commit while carrying out his missions.
But Magda was firm.
"Impossible. The ghoul transformation magic performed by the dark priests is as unfathomable as the authority of a god. It's different from the human trees. Those could be partially purified by Shion's divine power, but once someone becomes a ghoul, it's irreversible."
"Are you saying they used the authority of a demon?"
"You could see it that way."
"Still, we can't just be helplessly dragged along. We can't keep sacrificing people."
"..."
A moment of silence fell.
It would be hard to persuade them, but Loan took comfort in having made his voice heard.
He continued.
"If it becomes possible, it would mean we've made progress in understanding the authority of demons as well. It will surely help in deciphering the summoning incantations. I will find a way. Please, lend me the strength of the Honor Division."
"..."
Instead of answering, Magda looked around at her members.
None of them voiced opposition to the genius boy's determination.
***
Loan and Oscar left the Honor Division late in the afternoon of the following day.
A time when you could look directly at the sun without being blinded.
The two sat side by side on a bench on the path to the Faith Division.
Oscar glanced at Loan.
When had he grown up so much again?
He seemed to have matured a great deal in just a few days.
"You certainly scolded Commander Magda and the senior mages well."
"Ah, that wasn't my intention."
"Everyone probably knew that. That's why they promised to cooperate."
"I'm glad to hear that."
Oscar was proud of Loan, but on the other hand, he was worried that he might be getting ahead of himself with just his enthusiasm.
"Do you have a plan?"
"It would be best if I could see the incantation used to transform humans into ghouls, but that seems difficult for now."
"I'd imagine so."
"So I'm thinking of getting inspiration from their symmetrical counterpart."
"Symmetrical counterpart?"
"From Shion's divine magic."
"Hmm. You've already deciphered the human tree incantation, haven't you? Though no one knows except Director Lazaros."
"That's why I want to confirm it even more. Why it's called an 'authority'."
The power of the dark priests was said to be based on the authority of a demon.
It was a power similar to that of Shion's priests, though he had never actually seen it.
It was also said that the power of exorcism and dispelling evil resided in Shion's divine magic. Perhaps he could gain some insight from its principles.
That was why he had said it, but after a brief thought, Oscar shook his head.
"We can't just send a low-ranking member of the Union to the far-off land of Shion. We are people who are given missions and carry them out. Unless you're in a position to assign missions yourself, it's impossible for now."
"Could you perhaps assign such a mission?"
"Even so, you're not at a rank to receive a solo mission yet. If it's not a solo mission, a formal proposal has to be submitted, but a request from Oz lacks weight. It would be difficult to deploy personnel based solely on your assertion."
"..."
For a moment.
Seeing Loan's crestfallen expression, Oscar felt his heart sink for the first time in a long while.
There was an irresistible power in that gloom.
Oscar said in a soothing tone.
"Well, don't be so fixated on going to Shion. How about seeking advice from a nearby priest of Shion?"
"Aren't the priests of the Stability Division, where many of them are, not in the Union? They're in charge of local stabilization."
"No. I mean the school. Principal Gregor was a former archbishop of Shion, wasn't he?"
"Ah..."
Loan's expression brightened instantly.