Chapter 338: Internal Conditions of the Church (1/2)
The Variant Incident that the Demon General, Rona, caused in Rotsgard.
The incident where hyumans were mutated into unsightly abnormal monsters and attacked the very place they lived in, Rotsgard.
Not only students and staff members of the Academy became variants, but also merchants, craftsmen, and even manual laborers; the range of people was wide. There were even beastkin who had become variants.
The variants, that all uniformly had white skin and demonic beast-like bodies, possessed high battle power, and a lot of casualties were suffered.
That wound still remains deeply and lively in Rotsgard, and for the residents, it will be an incident that they won’t ever forget.
“I didn’t expect the church would be secretly keeping them stored.”
According to the story of the Bishop-san, it is not like they are going to be doing medical treatment to an ill person.
I hope they are not thinking about utilizing unsightly monsters like the variants in the hyuman side as a fighting force.
…Once Tomoki and Hibiki-senpai completely have a grasp of their countries, they might do it though.
This time around, the related county is Limia, but it looks like the ‘will of the Gods’ from Elysion that they were allied with is at work here, so it should be safe to assume that the heroes are unrelated to this, I think.
But, keeping them alive.
Just what is the church trying to learn from a sample of a variant that has been suppressed in a way so that it doesn’t transform completely?
“The church is treating him solely as an ill person. I understand your sentiments, but…I would like you to stop treating him as a thing.” (Shima)
Shima-san guided us deep into the church, and let us in this room.
And then, after leaving a number of people here, she raised the veil of her face and showed us a patient called Dio on the verge of becoming a variant.
There’s a big wound below the veil of Shima-san’s face, and yet, no one touched on that topic, and they weren’t showing signs of surprise either.
Aah, magic, huh.
When I looked at Shiki, he nodded as if saying I am right.
…Even with that wound, she still has beautiful skin, but a wound in the face of a woman is not something pleasant to see.
The person herself seems to not mind it, but on this occasion, we saw through the magic on our own and saw it, so it makes it more discomforting.
I should tell her later and apologize even if she gets angry about it.
“Just how many residents have become like this, and then rampaged and killed in Rotsgard? It is not like everyone doesn’t know. My master as well has special emotions towards these white monsters. I would like you to understand that even if you tell us to treat them as just patients, we won’t be able to follow on those words immediately.” (Shiki)
While I was trying to choose my words, Shiki took my place in speaking.
Special emotions, huh.
That’s an exaggeration, but…well, you could put it like that.
That event was a turning point in a lot of meanings, and it has been used by the Kuzunoha Company to a high extent.
“…Right. But regarding the variants, there’s a lot that we don’t know with just the corpses the Academy has stored. The church is putting their all in researching them in order to make it so that the demons won’t be able to pull such a crafty move on us again.” (Shima)
“And, fortunately, there was one that was conveniently an Aion noble?” (Shiki)
“Putting it bluntly, yeah.” (Shima)
“From what I can see…” (Shiki)
Shiki looks around.
He is faking it.
Shiki doesn’t need to do that. He has already finished gathering information of what the church has been doing and must have a pretty good grasp of things here now.
“This guinea pig that’s called Dio looks like the last remaining one though.” (Shiki)
…
Yeah.
He conveniently was the only one who they managed to find in this state, and even after thoroughly treating and nursing him, it didn’t turn into the miracle of him being saved.
The research was progressing with a guy like him who is on the verge of turning and is a weakened variant, and also the corpses of the variants gathered by the church just as the Academy did.
And so, just as Shiki said, they are doing their best to do medical treatment on him and see if it is truly treatable.
That’s about the gist of it.
They obviously have interest in their nature, their battle ability, and the individual traits, but the important part is whether it can be cured.
In other words, the church still doesn’t know if it can be treated or not.
“…Shinai.” (Shima)
“Yes?!”
“Have everyone leave. Of course, you as well. With how much you have shown us, the Kuzunoha Company should probably take the request or the church would be facing a complete loss here after all. I will take responsibility in the negotiations.” (Shima)
“But that’s…!”
“I will act in a way that it doesn’t affect you. I will take all responsibility.” (Shima)
“…Understood.”
Hmm.
She wants to negotiate us alone?
Or is what’s going to be discussed something that other people shouldn’t hear about?
Or maybe, even after saying all that, the truth is that it is a talk that is inconvenient for Shinai-san?
I don’t care which it is, so I will just silently listen.
Cause you know, I have the reliable Shiki with me right now.
There’s no chance he would mess up.
After everyone aside from us three left the room…
“Now then, from here on, let’s go on without any formalities. Raidou, Shiki, can you cure this person?” (Shima)
“…”
How should we answer this?
Honestly speaking, it would be impossible with an ambrosia.
I think we can somehow deal with the seizures of the transformation, the destruction of the body, and the side-effects.
But when it comes to treating the root problem…
“The ambrosia wouldn’t cut it. But if it is curing him, it is not impossible.” (Shiki)
?
The tone Shiki used when saying ‘curing’ was different from usual.
“! You are saying treatment is possible? That you are versed in regards to the variants?”
“After that incident, we also investigated the variants as much as possible on our side. The result was that it was a cocktail of being forcefully turned frenetic and having their body altered in such a way that you could tell they had no intentions of having them turn back to their original forms. If I were to put it in a simpler to understand way, I would say they are a mix juice of hyuman and emotions.” (Shiki)
He says ‘simpler’, but it is still complicated.
This time’s emotion that was cut off from the human heart was…impulse.
They forcefully fused that with the body… And well, yeah, there’s no doubt it is an ugly result.
“…”
“I don’t know how much you of the church have a grasp on, but I have a general understanding of how much you know from the fact that you have passed the medical treatment to someone else. If you want us to treat him, we will properly take the mantle. However, I will have you answer a number of our questions in exchange.” (Shiki)
“…Go ahead.” (Shima) *
“Is this a guinea pig that coincidentally survived, or…is it a guinea pig that you purposely kept alive?” (Shiki)
“Oh, you are asking pretty bluntly there.”
“You did say there won’t be any formalities between us here, so I will have you answer us without worries about your words. Is there a problem?” (Shiki)
“No.”
“Then, your answer.” (Shiki)
“…The former. Under the orders of the Great Church, we captured as many variants as possible, kept as many alive as we could, and carried out a variety of experiments. He is the one that managed to survive till the very end without transforming. Him being someone of the Aion Kingdom is mere coincidence.” (Shima)
And Shima-san was apparently personally against it.
Her tone was clear.
“Second question. Was there a plan to bring down the Kuzunoha Company with the results of the experiments until now?” (Shiki)
“…Yeah, there were. It is in part because you didn’t give us favorable responses to our scouting, Shiki. The position of the Kuzunoha Company in Rotsgard has become extremely undesirable after all. However, I have also been given the order that, if this request succeeds, we will judge you as useful pharmacists, and will reward you constantly so that we can utilize you.”
The Great Church of Limia, huh.
In the end, even at the time when we went to the Limia Kingdom, we didn’t have direct contact with that place.
With not only the nobles but even the church acting all big, Hibiki-senpai must be having it tough.
Honestly speaking, just hearing how they are dealing with us is already a pain.
Also, Shiki, you were scouted by the church?
I knew that you were scouted by the Academy to become a full-time teacher, but not this one. You are getting invitations from many places, huh.
No, even Akua and Eris are getting scouted on the regular, so Shiki getting that is even less weird.
“Third question. Even if this Dio returns to normal, what will happen to him?” (Shiki)
“We will continue experimenting on him on the pretext of a health diagnosis for a while. After that, we will return him to the Academy, or return him to the Aion Kingdom. I think it will be him who will be deciding that.” (Shima)
“Last question. Why are you hiding your face with a veil?” (Shiki)
Wait, Shiki. That’s because she has a wound on her face, right?
“…I think it is not related at all with the medical treatment, but if you have taken an interest in me, will you be more into the idea of being scouted by us if I were to be added to the conditions?” (Shima)
Shima-san is making sound arguments.
Also, sadly to say, but I don’t think Shiki has an interest in you in that way.
He has Amelia after all.
“Having a veil on, yet you hide the wound of your face with magic. I was just wondering what was the reason for that.” (Shiki)
“! So you can see it. In that case, you too, Raidou?” (Shima)
“…Well, I am Shiki’s master after all.” (Makoto)
“It is not a kind of curse, and it doesn’t look like a wound that can’t be erased. My master is an incredibly generous person towards illnesses and wounds. I simply thought of asking your circumstances if there were any. Why are you not erasing it?” (Shiki)
“It hasn’t been seen through by anyone aside from the Hero Hibiki until now though… I see, it doesn’t work on the Kuzunoha Company, huh. I could have used this as a sympathizing point to invite the Raidou of the past, but it won’t prove much merit for me now since you have seen the wound and are still speaking in such a calm manner, huh. Even though I prepared a lot of good episodes for when it was seen through though. What a shame.” (Shima)
“…No no, if you want to erase it, I will help you.” (Makoto)
“I am fine.” (Shima)
Figures.
It is a wound that she can erase without relying on us after all.
Anyways, she is acquainted with Hibiki-senpai, huh.
She is the person that came after the previous one in Rotsgard died, so she was in Limia before?
Hm? If Limia is the last objective for promotion, does that mean that this person got demoted?