Name: Irene.
A Greek-born ordinary person, the child of shepherd parents. A girl who had shown talent for painting from a young age, but ran up against her parents’ opposition and the practical problem of money. So she killed her parents, and with the payout from their death insurance, realized her dream—a criminal.
“Irene is an artist. More precisely, a painter. Her style is similar to that of the Renaissance, and the painter she admires is Leonardo da Vinci.”
“Mm.”
“I doubt you’re curious about her upbringing or how she became a mage, so I’ll boldly skip over that.”
Marianne adjusted her posture as she spoke. Ian nodded.
How Irene had become a mage did not matter either way. Whether she had picked up a grimoire or found herself a master, knowing it would not mean much. What mattered was the “magic” she used.
“Irene’s magic is deeply related to paintings. More precisely, the act of painting itself is one of the conditions for activating her magic.”
“……”
“There is only one spell Irene can use. ‘Magic that projects a painting into reality.’ That’s all.”
“……Projects a painting into reality?”
Just hearing it made it sound like a fraudulent magic. Strictly speaking, wasn’t that closer to reality manipulation? For something that was not even the magic of an Outer God, its effect was absurdly outrageous.
But unlike Ian, Marianne, who had crossed hands with her a few times, did not seem particularly grave. She swung her legs, which had regenerated up to the knees, and continued.
“It can’t go so far as to let her manipulate reality however she wants. At most, it’s specialized for killing. The conditions for using the magic are also strict.”
Marianne slowly explained Irene’s magic. To summarize, it was as follows.
First, what is drawn in the painting must happen.
If she draws someone dying, then someone in reality will inevitably die at random. In the exact same manner as the painting.
Second, to create such a phenomenon, she needs sacrifices identical to what is being drawn.
For example.
If Irene drew three humans dying and wanted to turn that into reality, she would have to personally kill three humans. She could receive help from others, but then she would need a number increased by the square.
Naturally, the preparation of the sacrifices takes precedence over the activation of the magic, so she can only use ordinary means, not magic, to procure those sacrifices. In other words, she can only use things like guns or knives.
How could someone like her carry out destructive acts other than murder? She could directly plant explosives in a building, bring it down, and also draw a building in her painting to bring down another building as well, but she could not do something like “smash the Earth” or “smash the universe.” By the same logic, she could not overthrow or annihilate a country either. How would she do that alone without magic? It would be difficult even with magic.
So her magic could not be considered omnipotent. In a way, it would not be wrong to call it a spellcraft to which the law of equivalent exchange applied.
Lastly, third. It is impossible for her to draw another person’s face with her magic. In other words, it is impossible for her to pinpoint and kill a specific target.
This was a trait that arose because of the special nature of her magic. The moment she draws a face, it projects the face of the person in front of her, so if she makes one wrong move, there is a high possibility it could lead to suicide.
Instead, it is possible to lay this trait down like a trap. Since the magic can be activated remotely, Irene often uses a method where she thrusts the painting at her opponent, stamps their face into the painting, activates the magic, and kills them then and there, Marianne explained.
“That is everything I know about Irene’s magic. As for anything more detailed than that, even I don’t really……”
“No, this is enough. Thanks for telling me.”
Ian exhaled and leaned back against the chair. Marianne wondered if there was anything more she could tell him, then suddenly brought up something that came to mind.
“Come to think of it, Irene has face blindness.”
“What?”
“Face blindness. She can’t tell at all what another person’s appearance is like. Instead, she feels inspiration.”
“……”
“As for the conditions for what gives her inspiration…… I don’t know. Sometimes she feels inspired by an ugly old man, and sometimes she feels inspired by a newborn baby. Whether she feels that inspiration or not is usually what determines, by her standards, whether someone is ‘pretty’ or ‘ugly.’”
“……What happens to a subject that inspires her?”
“They almost always end up in the next painting Irene draws. It’s the only way she can accurately designate a specific target and apply her magic to them.”
What a troublesome magic.
Ian clicked his tongue as he thought that.
Since the conditions for what made her feel inspired were uncertain, preparing in advance was impossible. The countermeasure that came to mind was wearing a mask, but that would stand out too much, making it awkward to use unless it was in the atmosphere of something like a festival. If someone wearing a mask suddenly appeared in front of her, even if she had face blindness, she would have no choice but to be wary.
What about simply wearing a face mask……? If it did not completely cover the face, he doubted it would have much effect.
……Well. In any case, he would not be running into Irene herself for a while. It was not something he needed to worry about immediately. He had only asked because he had heard a painting by Irene had been found.
He did not think she would share her vision through the painting. To begin with, all vision-sharing magic was concentrated on the Catholic side, so Irene could not use it in the first place. Ian could use it because he had the magic of an Outer God, but that was not the case for others.
“……Hoo.”
Let his thoughts end there. He had found out everything there was to find out, so no matter how much more he racked his brain, nothing else would come of it. The rest could be confirmed by looking at the painting Irene had drawn at the museum.
Thinking so, Ian let out a long breath and slowly rose. Marianne looked up at him.
“Was I helpful, Master?”
“Ah, yeah. Plenty. Get some rest now.”
“Hehe, okay. But, um…… how should I shower……? I don’t have my limbs……”
“……What, you want me to wash you?”
“Hehe……”
Instead of answering, Marianne let out an awkward laugh. Ian heaved a deep sigh and looked back at Cecilia.
“Cecilia, can you wash her?”
“……Me?”
“It’s not like I can do it.”
“……That’s true, but…… Mm, fine. But I’ll be taking payment in return.”
“Food?”
“No, there was something I wanted to ask you personally.”
Cecilia rose from the sofa. Ian’s slightly furrowed face was reflected clearly in her amethyst-like eyes.
“……Something to ask?”
“Yeah. It’s nothing difficult. Just something that would be a little easier with a mage’s help.”
“What is it?”
“A request came in recently to the Korean Catholic Association. They said their daughter seemed to be possessed by an evil spirit and begged for help.”
“Ah.”
Ian nodded after hearing her words.
Exorcism.
In Korean, it would be something like toema or guma.
In Japan, it was a ritual mainly performed by shrine maidens who served the gods, and in Korea, shamans tended to fill that role. In the West, on the other hand, exorcism rites were usually conducted by clergy. Their history was quite long, to the point that there was a formal title called exorcist priest.
But he was not sure whether a mage was truly necessary for their rituals. Couldn’t Catholicism handle an evil spirit well enough?
“It wasn’t an evil spirit.”
Cecilia grasped his question and answered immediately.
“One of the exorcist priests in Korea once went to visit the possessed victim, you see? But he couldn’t come out, and he died on the spot.”
“……What?”
Ian’s brow narrowed at the unexpected story. Cecilia continued.
“Fortunately, however, a recording was left behind, and after the Association secured it, they concluded that the possessing entity was not an evil spirit, but a demon.”
“……”
“And a great demon at that. We don’t know its true name, but it’s certain that it’s one of the seventy-two demons of Solomon.”
“Hah.”
Ian let out a hollow laugh.
The seventy-two demons of Solomon. Perhaps because he had just been with Eunha until a little while ago, her face came to mind for no reason.
Just because one possessed the Lemegeton did not mean one could contract with every demon. That was something only possible if Solomon returned. Eunha was certainly an outstanding mage, but she could not compare to Solomon. Naturally, there were bound to be demons she had not contracted with.
It would not be strange if one of them was causing havoc in Korea. Ian let out a low hum and stroked his lips with his hand.
“I’m asking just in case, but are there cases where a demon that already has a contractor possesses a human body?”
“No. As far as I know. Since Solomon’s appearance, there hasn’t been a single observed case like that.”
Then it meant this was not the work of a demon that had escaped Eunha’s control.
Ian nodded and looked at Cecilia.
“So, what is it you want me to help with?”
“When a possessed body rather than the main body is in the same space as a mage, a demon reacts quite sensitively. Sensitive enough that even the slightest prod will make it go into a fit. And you, of all people……”
“Have a grimoire written by an Outer God.”
“Exactly.”
Cecilia nodded.
Ian summoned Records of the Deep Sea and lightly grasped it. Though it had considerable physical weight, to Ian it was a grimoire lighter than a feather.
No one knew how a demon that hated gods would react to an Outer God. That only made him more curious.
There was a saying that curiosity killed the cat, but no saying that it killed the mage, so it would not be bad to experiment once.
And if it was only a demon, Ian could deal with it easily enough. Using only Records of the Deep Sea would be enough to kill it.
If worse came to worst, he could simply eliminate the possessed body along with it. It would be unfortunate for Cecilia, but what remained important to Ian was his own life. When a dangerous situation came, rather than throwing a fit trying to save everyone, it was better to kill decisively and secure his safety.
What could he do? If he had become a mage, he had to think like one. She should know what sort of beings mages were, so he had no choice but to believe she had proposed this with all of that in mind.
In any case.
It was not an offer he had any particular reason to refuse. He had made many one-sided requests of her until now, so settling that debt on this occasion was not a bad idea. Ian gave a faint laugh and nodded.
“Fine. When do we go?”
“Everything’s ready, so probably tomorrow? Is that okay?”
“No, tomorrow’s too soon. I went through a bit today. Let’s go in two days.”
“Got it, then. I’ll come pick you up in two days. It’ll probably be at dawn. Come out when I call.”
The two adjusted the time and made their appointment.
And so, two days later, at 4:30 in the morning. Around when the moon had somewhat declined, Ian’s phone rang. Ian, who had already been preparing, answered the call right away.
“Hello.”
[Yeah. You can come out.]
“Guuuugh……! Hoo, yeah. I’m coming.”
Ian stretched wide, hung up, and shoved his phone into his pocket.
He picked up the bag containing his alchemy items and rose. After checking whether he had forgotten anything, he put a loaded handgun into his holster. The heavy sensation of metal was felt near his chest.
“Mmn…… Masteeer……”
Marianne was asleep in the living room. Two days had already passed, and her arms and legs had grown back considerably. The rest were expected to regenerate by tomorrow. Once her regeneration was complete, he planned to properly use her as a spy against Laplace, so he needed to start preparing on that side as well.
‘For now, let’s focus on the exorcism.’
Ian placed the cross he had brought just in case into the inner pocket of his coat and left the house. When he opened the front door, he saw a large SUV parked in front of the house.
Whirrr.
The car window smoothly rolled down, and Cecilia, dressed in a nun’s habit, waved at him.
“Hello. Good morning.”
“It’s a little early to call this morning.”
Ian yawned and sat down in the seat beside her. When he casually turned his head back, he saw all kinds of items to be used in the exorcism rite packed into boxes. There was no exorcist priest in particular.
Ian asked.
“The priest? It’s not like it’s just the two of us going, right?”
“It is just the two of us, though?”
“What?”
When he asked again, Cecilia put on sunglasses and popped a sour candy into her mouth.
“I’m an inquisitor. A position no different from an exorcist priest’s superior. Naturally, I can do what they do. I’ve done it plenty of times too.”
“……”
“Let’s depart, trainee priest. May God’s grace be with us.”
Vroooom.
With those words, Cecilia skillfully shifted gears and stepped on the accelerator. Ian’s mouth twisted crookedly.
“Bullshit.”