In the past, during the Divine Era, it was the language of the believers who recorded God’s revelations.
The Altar still pursues that “divine language.” They hope that it, too, will be granted to them.
In this way, the Altar is not the same as God—that is, Quay. Nor are all the Altar’s intentions Quay’s intentions.
Though the Altar worships Quay as God, they act according to their own thoughts, and among those, the pursuit of the divine language and the invention of human chimeras are their own arbitrary decisions alone.
Therefore, Emperor Sophien, who regards the Altar as her foremost priority, cannot help but take an interest in the divine language as well.
“Deculein.”
This was the spiral staircase leading to the highest floor of the Imperial Palace.
As they climbed that passage, Sophien asked.
“Do you know much about the Altar?”
“I know what they intend. Does Your Majesty know them?”
“I do.”
A small laugh escaped her.
She spoke of her not-so-distant past.
“If I were to name what I devoted myself to after escaping that endless regression, it would be religion. For a brief while, I brooded over which damned bastard had given me such a trial. Among them, those fellows called the Altar stood out in particular.”
The Altar.
Perhaps from the very moment she became aware of their existence, Sophien had harbored an instinctive disgust, hostility, and murderous intent toward them.
For she, originally “made” as the body of God, must have realized with the instinct of her soul even before her innate talent that only by breaking the Altar could she live.
“The Altar cried that God would descend and change the continent. They called a society without status, class, power, or conflict their ideal, and pursued it.”
“……It is delusional, but may I ask Your Majesty’s esteemed opinion?”
Sophien answered as she continued climbing the stairs.
“If all humans were identical, it would not be impossible. For there to be no status, class, or power, everyone would have to be the same human. Humans with not a single difference among them.”
I followed behind her in silence.
“Their physical abilities, body size, height, health, and even the possibilities granted to them would all have to be identical, and they would all have to think the same thoughts. If there is even a speck of difference, humans will inevitably try to rule over someone.”
Tap—
Sophien’s steps came to a halt.
A grand, enormous gate blocked our path.
“That is human instinct. At the same time, it is the human process. Because humans must die, they must try to achieve something. But if all humans are the same…… is that human? They would be jellyfish drifting through the sea.”
Sophien sneered and placed her hand on the gate.
Creeeeeak──
The door, which seemed too much even for a giant to handle, opened like an automatic door.
“Come in. This is my warehouse. The Emperor’s warehouse. Even I have only come here once.”
The Emperor’s warehouse thus revealed itself, and the scenery resembled some kind of museum.
Within countless glass cases, all sorts of treasures shone brilliantly, lined up in endless rows.
“The history of the Empire is here.”
“Is that so.”
A treasure house of tremendous value even when viewed with 「the naked eye」. Even the lowest-ranking item among them was a masterpiece worth tens of millions of elne, yet Sophien seemed to pay them no mind and led me to a desk.
“If there is something you want, take it. I have little desire for material things.”
Saying so, Sophien smiled faintly.
That smile was undoubtedly enchanting.
“Now present the divine language.”
“Yes.”
I placed the scroll of divine language on the desk.
Thud—
Its length was not enough even after filling the long table.
“…….”
Looking at it, Sophien closed her eyes for a moment. She let out a low sigh.
Now that the task before her seemed so vast, her characteristic ennui appeared to have flared up again.
“How stifling. What language has this much?”
“A language whose rules, forms, and systems changed with every passing year over more than ten thousand years. That is the divine language.”
“…….”
Tap— Sophien placed a hand on her forehead. Trembling slightly, she muttered.
“Then is it not impossible?”
“It is almost impossible, but with Your Majesty’s talent, it should be possible. I intend to seek another talent to assist Your Majesty. They say the Empire has many capable linguists.”
“Hmph. What help could those imbeciles possibly be?”
Sophien snorted and took a letter from her inner pocket.
It was an official document sealed with the Emperor’s seal.
“Before that, take this.”
“May I ask what it is—”
“A proclamation announcing the annihilation of the desert, and the opening of war against the Altar.”
Sophien answered simply.
I looked at Sophien. Sophien met my eyes as well and grinned.
“We shall open the path of extermination and advance. We will erase every trace of the Altar and the Red Archives scattered across this continent, and kill that thing called God.”
Sophien’s words that she would kill God.
Her voice suddenly reminded me of the “revelation of God” that Quay had once shown me.
[Your indulgence shall bring me to death.]
The final revelation, which Quay had called “God’s testament.”
Indeed, do humans always repeat the same history?
“However, before that.”
The Emperor sat in a chair. I knelt on one knee on the bare floor at her feet.
She glared at me and said.
“Professor. Why did you speak to me of such emotions in Yuren?”
“I wished to seek confirmation.”
“…….”
At that, Sophien silently moved her lips.
Though her speed of judgment always surpassed that of ordinary criminals, this time was rather different.
Or perhaps, even now, she was thinking hundreds of thoughts at once.
“……If you seek confirmation.”
Sophien asked.
“Will something change?”
“…….”
Her voice settled into this quiet space. Her pupils trembled transparently.
I tilted my head slightly downward.
“Hmph. Enough.”
Then the Emperor’s slender fingers touched my chin. As if caressing me, she lifted my face.
“For this time alone, I shall forgive you for having found the divine language…….”
Making me look at her, she placed her other hand on my shoulder.
For a moment, strength entered the Emperor’s body. Her right hand, which had been touching my chin, moved to my neck, and her left hand on my shoulder pulled my body toward her.
The movement seemed as though she were about to embrace me, but as if it were not reason but instinct malfunctioning, she soon came to her senses and stopped abruptly. Only, in that posture, she placed her lips by my ear and conveyed a small voice, as though reciting.
“If you pull that sort of stunt again, know that I shall decide the punishment as I please…….”
I could not bring myself to ask what that punishment would be.
* * *
At the same time. In the same Imperial Palace as Deculein, but in a very different location, Epherene and Lia were talking to each other.
“So you’re saying this is a formula that mathematically describes gravity?”
“Yees. I think so.”
Lia was unpacking modern knowledge and explaining it in a way Epherene could understand.
Of course, she could not teach her the mathematical formulas themselves, and instead assisted her by tossing in a rough word here and there.
“Yeah. I think I can understand this. I just need to study a bit more. This is fascinating. The author is amazing. I want to go meet them.”
“Let’s go find them together later. For sure.”
For reference, the author’s name was Caasi.
It was a play on words, reversing Isaac, as in Isaac Newton’s name.
“……And about those nanoparticles.”
“Nanotubes?”
“Yees. I thought a bit about how to use them too.”
Epherene was an important named character. She also accepted modern knowledge and tried to make active use of it.
There was no reason not to help her.
“Mm. Tell me. I’ll listen.”
“Yees. For example…… you could shape those particles and then attach them to your body. Like a suit.”
“A suit? You mean formal clothes?”
“Uh…… similar, but…….”
Words like Iron Man surged up to the tip of her tongue, but she barely swallowed them down.
“Anyway. If you can control these mana particles as finely as nano particles, you can cover your body with them like clothes, right?”
“I suppose so?”
“Try doing that.”
“……?”
Epherene tilted her head, but first attempted it as she had said. She condensed mana into polymers and slipped it over her hand like a glove.
For her, who had already blocked a volcano, it was not difficult.
“……Done.”
“Wow! Then now think of a really good property for it. You said mana can become anything, right? If you think about making it, like, hard and then bestow that on it…….”
Epherene closed her eyes and infused the thought of “be the hardest” into the glove.
“……I did it.”
She opened her eyes again. The mana glove on her right hand had already been dyed Epherene’s distinctive ash-gray.
“Then try using it on anything.”
“Anything?”
“Yees.”
Epherene shrugged and lightly tapped the table.
Very lightly, crunch—!
At that moment, the table was destroyed.
“…….”
“…….”
Gulp— Epherene and Lia swallowed as they looked at the shattered table.
It was not even a wooden table, but a metal table from the Imperial Palace. Yet the instant she touched it, it was smashed to pieces.
“That’s…… amazing. Now if you cover your whole body with that, it’ll be complete.”
“My whole body?”
“Yees.”
“Uung~ Thanks. I’ll add this to my thesis too. Should I put your name in as well?”
“No, no. I’m fine.”
“Okay…….”
Hwaaaam—— Epherene yawned and leaned back in her chair.
She was tired from studying too long.
Thinking to rest for a bit, she lay down on the bed, looked at Lia, and asked.
“By the way, Lia. Do you have anything like a boyfriend?”
“……Huh? Ah, well…… what about you, Miss Epherene?”
“I don’t. But why are you changing the subject?”
“…….”
Lia quietly scratched the back of her neck.
Boyfriend.
She had not expected to hear that word in a place like this.
“Ooh~ so you do have one~?”
Epherene waggled her eyebrows slyly. Lia shook her head.
“……I did, but I got dumped.”
“Dumped? You’re already old enough for that? How precocious, so precocious~”
At that, Lia’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re a lifelong single yourself, Miss Epherene.”
“Wh-what?! What are you saying!”
She sprang up from the bed and scowled with her whole face.
Lia snorted and asked back.
“Am I wrong?”
“No…… uh…….”
She tried to say something, but it was true that she had never dated anyone, and if she went out of her way to lie, she might get caught…….
“Th-then what about you! It sounds like you still like your ex-boyfriend?! No, you totally like him! You’re lingering over him!”
Instead of answering, she counterattacked.
In a way that was almost childish in its intensity, stabbing her finger toward her over and over.
“…….”
But Lia’s reaction was quite serious. Her face became heavier than expected, and as though agonizing over it, she lowered her head deeply and fidgeted with her fingers.
Feeling like she had become a bad person for no reason, Epherene hurriedly took it back.
“No, no. You don’t have to think about it that seriously—”
“No. It’s true that I still like him. I think that’s right.”
“…….”
The words were spoken with a face heavy in shadow.
Epherene suddenly became curious.
Just what kind of love had this little girl experienced?
But why on earth was I a lifelong single?
“Then why don’t you muster up the courage and go see him?”
“I can’t.”
Lia firmly shook her head. Epherene’s eyes widened.
“Why not?”
“……I just can’t.”
I cannot. Even if all these quests end safely, even if I escape this game world and return to reality, I must not go find him.
I cannot go find him.
Because I am someone who cannot give him what he wants.
And anyway, we are already in the process of forgetting each other.
“……Well, okay. But don’t think about it too complicatedly.”
A hand was placed on her shoulder.
Lia looked up at Epherene and pouted bluntly.
“You’ve never dated before, though.”
“……Hey.”
Epherene bit her lower lip slightly, but soon gave a weak chuckle and continued.
“Anyway. This law of gravity we studied together. It’s incredible. No, it’s not just incredible. If magic is applied to this mathematical discovery…… reality manipulation might even be possible, you know?”
Magic like 「Gravity Manipulation」 did exist, of course. But in truth, though it was called gravity manipulation, it was nothing more than gathering air and pressing down with it. Strictly speaking, it was fluid manipulation.
But what if this formula were connected to magic?
It might become possible to truly manipulate gravity itself.
“Good. As of today, I’ve completely decided on my path. The connection between science and magic. That is my task and my calling—”
“You’re going to do it alone?”
“Yeah. Who else would? You’re not a mage.”
“Why not ask your supervising professor?”
By supervising professor, she must mean Deculein, of course.
Epherene shook her head.
“……Professor isn’t as open-minded as I am. He told me to use science merely as a tool.”
“Aha.”
Lia understood at once as well.
In the first place, Deculein was not a modern person either, but a conservative mage. He would not be able to accept magic that made science the main thing.
“Oh, right. But what about that stolen transformation formula?”
“I don’t know. He isn’t even trying to find it.”
“……Really? Ah, wait!”
Suddenly, Lia’s eyes went wide.
“You know that mage who appeared in Yuren! What if that Berbaldi or whatever is the author of this Principia?”
“Pfft.”
Epherene burst out laughing without realizing it. Lia furrowed her brow.
“Why? It makes sense.”
“……Ah. Yeah. It does make sense.”
Berbaldi’s magic crystal, currently on display at the Yuren Magic Expo.
Once the exhibition ended, it would be used as Kala’s artificial heart, and the only people who knew that it was Deculein’s invention were still Epherene and Al Roth.
“For now, I’m going to sleep! I’m tired.”
Epherene lay down on the bed and pulled the blanket over herself. Lia, for some reason, glanced sidelong at her ambiguous behavior and rose to her feet.
“Then I’m going to go train.”
Now, it was time to train.