Cecilia beat Laura for a long while longer. Laura became Cecilia’s punching bag, scattering blood and bits of flesh in every direction so violently that it made the onlooker ache. The room was so dark that the traces were not very visible.
Roughly twenty minutes later. At last, Cecilia stopped throwing punches and wiped the beads of sweat from her brow.
The gauntlets that had undoubtedly been gold were, at some point, stained red. There was no need to ask what kind of dye had been used.
“Phew, I’m tired. Still, that hit the spot.”
Cecilia set the collapsed Laura back in the chair and fed bloody water into her ragged maw. Then she took off the gauntlets and placed them on the table. Sticky sweat had soaked into her palms.
“That’s the intimidation done. Now she’ll answer obediently no matter what we ask.”
“……Do most inquisitors interrogate people this way?”
Ian asked with an expression of utter disbelief. Cecilia shook her head as she wiped off sweat and blood with a handkerchief.
“No? If anything, I’m on the gentle side. There are brothers and sisters who torture people with scalpels or nail clippers. There are also a few inquisitors who inflict pain with supernatural abilities.”
“……Huh.”
“As you know, my ability is just regeneration. It’s a little hard to cause pain with that. I’m the only one who gets hurt.”
Schkrrk.
Cecilia pulled out the spear that had been piercing Laura’s abdomen.
Laura’s body began to regenerate, slowly returning to normal. Even so, she was covered in blood and dust, so she was hardly clean. Her clothes had also been torn away in many places, leaving her pale naked body almost entirely exposed.
Of course, seeing it did not exactly make lust boil up in him.
After all, as long as one was born human, it was impossible to feel desire for a bug.
And Laura was no different from a hybrid that was half bug and half human. It was obvious that even insect maniacs would take a step back, saying, “This is a bit much.”
In any case.
Ian looked down at Laura’s battered form and flicked the grimoire in his hand. She, too, forced her half-crushed eyes to move and stared at Ian. Their gazes collided in midair.
“Can you speak? It looks like your jaw regenerated.”
He spoke first. Laura was silent for a moment, then spat out the blood pooled in her mouth and answered.
“What are you curious about……?”
“……Hm, you’re calmer than I expected. I thought you’d have some kind of fit.”
“Doing that wouldn’t make the situation any better. Haa, after all the trouble I went through to survive the inquisitors, I end up meeting my end here. It would have been better to die by your hand.”
“I’m not curious about your circumstances, and I have no intention of asking. Just answer what I ask.”
“I’ll do that…… Hoo…….”
Laura lowered her head, enduring the agony rising through her entire body. Cecilia forcibly wrapped a cord around her neck and pulled from behind. Her lowered head rose again.
“……Ugh.”
“I have a rough understanding of your ability. Since the human named Maia is dead, it must be impossible for you to ‘restore’ people like before.”
Scrape.
Ian dragged over a nearby chair and sat down.
“But there should still be some remnants who have already been restored. Tell me their locations and numbers.”
“……The executives are Victor and Pitcher. Including the other minor ability users and ordinary people, twenty in total. They left to hunt Eric under my orders.”
“……Eric?”
“The gatekeeper of the Owl. I went through a lot to find him.”
Haa, Laura breathed with difficulty.
“However, the hunt did not succeed. Because an unexpected variable appeared, we only suffered losses instead.”
“…….”
“I heard a girl with a grimoire appeared, but I didn’t see it myself, so I don’t think I can explain in any more detail.”
A girl with a grimoire. The moment Ian heard those words, Amelia’s face came to mind. But he soon dismissed the thought.
The last time Ian had run into her had been only a few days ago. The gap between then and today was only a few dozen hours, yet in that brief time Amelia found a grimoire and immediately used magic? By common sense, that made no sense.
He could understand her picking up a grimoire. After all, a grimoire had suddenly been delivered to Ian himself like a package.
But obtaining a grimoire and being able to use magic were separate matters.
For Amelia, who was not even a mage, to use magic, she absolutely had to go through the process of becoming familiar with the four elements.
That process took a full month. In other words, it was impossible to suddenly awaken as a mage in a few days and start flinging spells around.
Reality wasn’t some game. Changing classes into a mage just because you talked to a wizard in a white pointed hat was nothing more than a dream.
So if Laura’s words were true, it was probably right to assume that not Amelia, but another mage had intervened.
‘Was it Eric’s guest? Or just a passing mage?’
Whatever the case, it was fine as long as Eric was safe.
Judging from the fact that they failed the hunt, it seemed they hadn’t captured Amelia either. For a mercenary corps, they truly seemed incompetent. It was to the point that he wondered if they really were people who had lived by the sword for so long.
‘Just how cost-efficient are the bastards who pay these guys to do work?’
Thinking that, Ian leaned his upper body forward.
It was a thought that would have made Laura feel extremely wronged if she had heard it.
How could anyone have known that the first mage they touched would be a mage favored by an Outer God? And how could they have known that there would be a grimoire full of variables in the house of the second prey they chose?
Of course, as far as Ian was concerned, that was none of his business, so he looked down at the stake embedded in Laura’s knee and spoke.
“The remnants’ location?”
“They’re probably still driving on the road. I didn’t tell them a separate destination, so they should be heading for Gyeongsangbuk-do, which I first told them about.”
“……That’s far. It’d be better to leave that side to the Bureau.”
Ian quickly gave up on mopping up the remnants and threw out his final question.
“This is the last one.”
“…….”
“How did you become a half-blood vampire?”
“……Heh.”
At Ian’s question, Laura wore a faint smile. Ian paid it no mind and continued.
“Vampires can’t increase their kin through reproductive activity. So the concept of half-bloods shouldn’t exist.”
“……You know quite a bit. You must have heard it directly from a vampire.”
Ian’s face was reflected in Laura’s blood-red eyes. Cecilia pulled the rope in her hand a little tighter, controlling Laura so she could not make any sudden movements.
“You’re right, Mage. Vampires, werewolves, jiangshi, banshees, elves, and so on. We subspecies, who are no different from a kind of mystery, can never continue our line through reproduction. Even if we force ourselves to give birth, only humans come out.”
“…….”
“We are born through evolution. From monsters without even reason, gradually into hunters with intelligence, and then into sapient beings in human form. Some spend a long time, others a short time, and become complete vampires.”
She tilted her head slightly so that she could breathe a little more easily.
“A vampire completed this way forms its body according to the sex it had in life, and can change its appearance however it wishes. However, it can only be decided once, so in most cases, they wear the shell of the last target they killed. In any case, since they look human, they won’t be rejected by other humans as monsters just by their appearance.”
“……Then you also wore a shell—”
“I am in my original form.”
Laura cut Ian off. Ian frowned in displeasure, but she paid it no mind.
“I had no reason to imitate someone else’s appearance. It wasn’t possible in the first place. I wasn’t a pure-blood vampire.”
“…….”
“Do you know this, Mage? There are a great many lunatics in the world, and among them are ability users capable of putting their thoughts into practice. And one of those ability users thought this: what would happen if the factors of a subspecies created from mystery were injected into a human?”
“……What?”
Cecilia’s face twisted at the unexpected story. Ian, feeling interest in her story for the first time, tilted his head.
“Keep talking.”
“……Perhaps because you’re a mage, you’re not very surprised. Then again, the human who ‘made’ me was also a mage. It isn’t strange.”
“A mage, huh. What type of magic did they use? If it was synthesis, was it alchemy after all? Chimera creation? Or something in the homunculus line?”
“Mystery Creation.”
At the answer that followed, Ian’s movements came to a sudden halt. Laura saw his reaction and let out a small laugh.
“It’s quite a famous magic, isn’t it? Mystery Creation. A unique magic permitted to only one person. A magic that cannot be imitated, much less replicated, by such an Outer God—”
“Did you see his face?”
Ian cut Laura off. At the atmosphere that seemed to change all at once, Laura blinked.
“……Pardon?”
“I asked if you saw Walter’s face. If it’s Mystery Creation, then it has to be that bastard.”
“Uh…… Ah, no. I don’t remember his face. I did meet him, but as the races mixed, my memories became confused. The memories of the owner of the vampire factor I possess and my memories from when I was human got tangled together, so my memories from before I became a half-blood are essentially gone. There’s too much uncertainty.”
“……So you don’t remember at all?”
“Yes…….”
“Cecilia.”
Ian called her name.
Cecilia immediately poured holy water into one side of the silver scale and filled the other side to the brim with her own blood.
The Scale of Truth and Lies. A sacred relic of the Vatican that made the side with holy water sink if the truth was spoken, and the bloody water sink if a lie was told. Cecilia held the scale in her hand and approached Laura.
“Say it again.”
“……I don’t remember the face of the mage named Walter at all.”
Tick.
At the same time Laura finished speaking, Cecilia rotated the cross attached to the top of the scale once. At that very moment, the bowl containing holy water sank down with a thud.
It meant truth. Cecilia turned back to Ian and nodded, and he let out a deep sigh.
“……Thorough as ever, that damned bastard.”
It was not as if Ian currently bore some great grudge against Walter. However, now that he had begun to be directly entangled with the mages of Laplace, he would have to catch the man in the end. Otherwise, he would only continue to be pursued by them. In order to live peacefully, he needed to start by catching and killing the root of the trouble.
But since he knew next to nothing about Laplace right now…… unless he infiltrated them and played house, there was no way to obtain any major information immediately.
Not that he intended to infiltrate them. Whatever the reason, he would not set foot in a terrorist organization even for a moment. He would kill them before he did that.
‘So in the end, I’m back where I started. What a shame.’
When Walter’s existence had suddenly popped out of Laura’s mouth, he had been somewhat excited, but since the answer he wanted did not come out after all, his interest cooled instantly. It seemed expectations really did lead to betrayal.
“…….”
The reason Walter put the factors of mystery into humans was probably because of his grand objective, something about the “elevation of the world.” Since mystery fundamentally had no concept of lifespan, he must have been trying to apply that to humans as well and make all of humanity one step closer to mystery.
Not all of the experiments he carried out would have been as successful as Laura. Most likely, the majority had failed, and only a few successful specimens were wandering the world.
He had no intention of chasing them down one by one and killing them. The extermination of mystery was originally the Bureau’s role, so Ian intended to keep his own benefit and safety as his top priority.
If someone directly interfered with that……
“Hoo.”
Ian stopped his thoughts and rose from his seat. As he did, he looked back at Cecilia.
“Thanks for helping today. If there’s ever something you need me for, contact me. I’ll help.”
“Mm…… I won’t go out of my way to refuse. It’d be good for us to have a mage’s support. More importantly, do you need me to see you off?”
“No need.”
Ian stretched and refused her offer. Cecilia pursed her lips in disappointment.
“Alright…… then I’ll see you next time. Don’t only call me when it’s convenient for you—it’s fine to call when you just want to hang out or when you’re bored.”
“Why, were you upset?”
“A little. I told you, didn’t I? I don’t have any friends here. So keep me company.”
At her honest answer, Ian burst out laughing.
“I was actually planning on having a housewarming party soon. I’ll invite you, so come if you have time.”
“A housewarming? Then will your other friends come too?”
“I’m thinking of inviting them. I’ll make sure to get everyone’s understanding beforehand, so if they don’t want to meet a cleric, they’ll refuse on their own.”
Ian buttoned up his slightly disheveled coat and pulled out a cigarette.
“You can refuse too if you don’t want to meet any mages.”
“Ah, I don’t mind. We maintain neutrality in all matters unless it’s a Holy War. I’ll go if you invite me.”
At her positive answer, Ian chuckled and flicked Cecilia’s forehead with his finger.
“Then I’ll see you then. I’m off.”
“Ah, u-um. Take care……!”
Cecilia answered with a slightly reddened face. Ian waved and opened the basement door.
“……Hoo, it’s my turn now. Q&A time is over, vampire. From now on, your reformation begins.”
“…….”
“Cry and prove your purity, vampire.”
“……I can prove it with my hym—”
*Smack!*
Opening the door and stepping outside, he heard a dull popping sound from behind. Ian lit his cigarette and ascended to the church chapel without a backward glance.
A chapel adorned with stained glass and paintings. It was quite majestic, befitting the name of a cathedral, but to Ian, who held no particular faith, it was nothing more than a pretty sight. He gazed for a moment at the light filtering through the glass, then exhaled a puff of cigarette smoke and moved on.
Just as he was about to leave the church, Father Stefano, who had been waiting in the chapel, approached with an amiable smile.
“Ah, Brother. It seems you have finished your work.”
In his hand was a small box wrapped in fine cloth, and the priest smoothly handed it to Ian.
“This is the reward I told you about. First-grade holy water directly produced by the Vatican and specially made silver bullets mixed with ground priest bones. It is a humble offering, but please accept it.”
“Ah, thank you. I will put it to good use.”
Then, Father Stefano suddenly gripped his hand tightly. At the sudden contact, Ian immediately hardened his expression and moved his free hand inside his coat.
At the same time, the priest opened his mouth.
“Brother, smoking is prohibited inside the church.”
“Ah.”
“Please put it out, or smoke outside.”
“Yes, sir.”
At his polite expression asking him to get out of there immediately, Ian put on an awkward smile, took the box, and went outside the church.
“…….”
The sky, which had been vomiting rain without rest, had stopped its retching. It was still overcast, but the raindrops no longer fell. Ian looked up at the sky for a moment, and seeing the light pouring through the clouds touch the cross, he let out a short laugh.
“Let there be light. Amen.”
He offered a faithless prayer, flicked the ash from his cigarette, and walked away from the church.
Light slid down behind him like a cascade, yet not a single thing touched his flesh.