The Alchemist’s Test Subject Was a Witch (2)

I felt a chill run down my spine.

“The… brain, you say…?”

“Precisely. The plan is to make the brain resonate with a magical creature so it can be manipulated from the outside.”

My instincts screamed that this would not end well.

This was exactly the kind of scenario you’d find in those perverted, delusion-filled adult comics from Earth—where they mess with someone’s brain in every conceivable way until the victim can never return to who they were.

Naixon must have noticed my frozen expression and decided he needed to reassure me, because he continued his explanation.

“Kaira, do you know where human thought originates?”

“Well…”

I almost answered “the brain” out of habit, but caught myself.

It was common sense to me, but the idea that the brain was the organ of thought was only common sense in modern Earth. Even on Earth, until around the nineteenth century, there probably wasn’t anyone who could state that with absolute certainty.

“The heart… perhaps? Or, since you’re talking about the brain… maybe the brain?”

I deliberately made myself sound uncertain.

“You’re a sharp one. My colleagues and I—the alchemists I exchange academic discourse with—believe it is the brain. The heart seems to serve only an auxiliary function.”

He studied my face for a moment before continuing.

“We have evidence. Disgusting evidence, I’ll admit. With the Empire’s permission, we’ve been given condemned prisoners—both living and dead—to study. In particular, we focused on horrifying creatures that use humans as hosts: parasitic wasps, giant spiders, parasitic slimes, and the like.”

Parasitic wasps. I grimaced. The main ingredient in the drug Zophy had injected into me for so long had been the venom of a parasitic wasp.

“When those creatures attack humans, they usually target the spine or the head. The host’s behavior is altered to suit the creature’s needs. They might fall into a deep sleep until the parasite’s larvae hatch, or wander about spreading parasitic slime.”

I nodded, my face twisted in mild nausea.

“And through dissecting the condemned, we discovered that the brain inside the skull and the spinal cord running through the spine form a single connected organ. In the academic society that shares my views, we believe that some kind of mucus or bodily fluid secreted from that organ is the true source of human behavior and intellect.”

Well, that made sense. In an era without microscopes or electricity, it would be impossible to imagine neural electrical signals. If you thought in terms of hormones secreted by the pituitary gland, it wasn’t entirely wrong.

There was no need for me to interrupt and correct him. There was no point in causing confusion with modern Earth knowledge, and even if I did, a non-doctor like me would never be believed.

“Therefore, I believe that by directly influencing the brain or spinal cord, we could control all behaviors related to reproduction. The reason I specifically summoned a free citizen working at a brothel—rather than using prisoners or slaves—was because this matter involves sexual functions. Naturally, I will pay the promised compensation for calling in a free citizen.”

“Y-yes…”

“If this project succeeds, many people will benefit. Everyone will be able to enjoy sexual freedom like proper free citizens, without ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠having to calculate menstrual cycles or resort to unnatural methods like pulling out. And I… well, I will profit by selling this creature.”

There was no lie in Naixon’s words. Beneath his scholarly goals, I could glimpse a sincere nobility aimed at improving humanity’s welfare.

There was a touch of self-interest, but that was only natural for a person.

Still, the thought of becoming a lab rat—especially one whose brain would be tampered with—made my skin crawl. I asked cautiously.

“Have you performed any animal experiments?”

Naixon’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Animals? The human body is a sacred gift personally crafted by the God of Light, Justice, Day, and Wrath—the one whose name cannot be spoken aloud. The same applies to the other races who owe their existence to the various gods of order that govern different powers.”

He spoke so confidently even though he had dissected human corpses. In the end, it meant he planned to skip animal testing and go straight to human trials. That made me a little nervous.

“But safety…”

“Even if we obtained results from testing on lesser creatures, it would be absurd to extrapolate ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠those results to noble beings like humans or elves. Worms can eat poisonous mushrooms, rats can survive on rotten bread, but a person ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would die from either.”

Once he brought up poisonous mushrooms, it was hard to argue.

He’s good with words.

“I understand your anxiety at becoming the test subject yourself. However, I will treat you properly—not as a prostitute hired for the night, but as a research assistant. I have no need for nighttime companionship anyway. At my age, I barely have the energy for such things. I only ask that you agree to a few conditions.”

“Thank you for your consideration. Please tell me what I must do.”

“Very well. You may move freely within the mansion, but I cannot allow you to enter any laboratory other than this one. Since you’ve done research yourself, I’m sure you understand.”

It was a very alchemist-like condition.

“I promise.”

“Ah, one more thing. Do you happen to smell like food right now? Bread, perhaps? I’ve been catching the scent of freshly baked bread. Just to be clear, eating in the laboratory is strictly forbidden. We never know what harmful substances might be floating about.”

“No… It’s just that I’m a baker’s daughter.”

Naixon looked me over as if wondering what kind of answer that was, then continued.

“I see. Also, while you are fused with the test subject, I cannot permit you to leave the mansion. This is to prevent any chaos that might arise if you, now in a symbiotic state with a magical creature, were to go outside.”

“Understood.”

They were all perfectly reasonable conditions.

“Finally, there is a record containing information about the test subject on that table over there. It would help if you read it before the experiment begins. Since this will involve using your own body, I hope you will study it thoroughly and prepare yourself completely.”

I nodded and glanced at the rather thick experimental notebook. Having something to read might actually be interesting.

“Then… well, we’ll begin the experiment a little later. Would you care to join me for dinner first? My cooking skills are nothing special, but I can at least offer you a warm meal. It’s been a while since I’ve shared a table with another person. It may take some time, but if you read the research notes while you wait, it shouldn’t be boring.”

“Yes. Thank you for your warm hospitality. I’ll make sure not to be a burden by familiarizing myself with the research records.”

“That’s very kind of you. Then—”

With those words, Naixon disappeared beyond the heavy iron door, leaving me alone in the laboratory smeared with sticky mucus everywhere.

Then, as promised, I suppose I’ll read the records…

I turned my head this way and that, examining the laboratory as I walked slowly toward the bookshelf, writing tools, and several research notebooks. Then I stopped, turned around, and looked back.

Oh, right. There’s something even better for killing time than the records.

There was the object Naixon had briefly shown me before placing it on the experimental table—a transparent cylindrical glass container that had held the magical creature, or slime, or tentacle, or whatever it was. I walked back toward that table.

Beyond the glass, I could see the creature I would soon have to experiment with… or, as Naixon put it, “symbiose” with. He had said he’d prepared several variants, so there were probably more besides this one.

The creature’s appearance resembled an amoeba seen under a microscope, but massively enlarged.

So this is a slime…

Unlike Earth’s amoebas, which were so thin they looked like faint transparent stains, this one was large enough to have visible thickness, and I could even perceive its color.

It seemed capable of changing color according to its environment or stimuli; the pale green mucus kept shifting into soft blue, pale orange, and similar hues.

I lightly touched the cylindrical glass. The spot where my finger made contact turned a soft pink. I didn’t know what kind of structure the creature had, but it appeared to possess some form of vision capable of detecting fingers. Or perhaps it sensed the heat from my finger through the glass, or felt the impact of my hand touching the container.

When Naixon had first shown it to me, I’d thought it was a bit gross. But now that I was looking at it properly, it felt like watching a pretty fish in an aquarium.

The way the faintly glowing nucleus inside its transparent body—also constantly changing color—drifted around looked rather cute.

I wonder if I can touch it.

He had said it wasn’t a wild slime, but one created specifically to symbiose with humans, so it probably wasn’t dangerous.

I examined the metal bottom and top of the container, trying to figure out how to open the lid, when I spotted what looked like screw threads visible through the transparent glass.

So it twists open.

I aligned the threads and applied force, but the lid wouldn’t budge. That wasn’t surprising. Since it contained a living creature, it would have been sealed tightly.

I wondered how it breathed, but without rubber packing, air could probably still get in.

I opened the spellbook inside my robe. Since I was a mage, I could solve this with magic. I picked up a piece of charcoal and prepared the formula.

It was a spell that instantly created an area of extreme friction. I quietly cast Menelon’s Honey on my hands and gripped the container again. When trying to twist open a metal lid on a cylinder too large to hold comfortably with one hand, friction was the most important factor.

If I put my whole body weight into it, it should open.

I relaxed the grip of my right hand on the glass wall so I wouldn’t break it, then placed my left hand on the lid. Once I confirmed both hands were stuck as firmly as if coated in glue, I poured every ounce of strength I had into turning the lid.

The lid opened easily. Since I had set the duration of Menelon’s Honey to the minimum, I was able to release my hands right away.

Apparently sensing the change in environment, the creature’s transparent body began flashing wildly with rainbow colors.

Fear? Or an alarm?

I touched the creature’s body. Whether that was its natural state or it had altered its physical properties upon detecting contact, my finger sank in without resistance, as if dipping into water, and came out just as easily. Nothing clung to my skin.

I brought my face right up to the container and spent a long time observing the fascinating creature as it wriggled, changing the colors of its outer mucus and inner nucleus in various ways. Then, at one point—

“Eek?”

The slime suddenly leaped upward and wrapped itself around my face. It covered my eyes, mouth, nose, ears—every part of my face. Completely enveloped by the amorphous magical creature, I fell backward, landing hard on my backside.