Chapter 253 : Chapter 253
Chapter 253 - Sapling (2)
Galuer Berrick served Harein with extraordinary attentiveness.
Claiming a speck of soot the size of a dust mite had landed on the back of her hand, he guided her to a bathhouse; and calling the clothes Dihake had purchased cheap, he procured new ones.
Equally uncomfortable, yet of a far higher grade of material.
"She will go down as the first tree to be slain by the King of Prophecy. Many trees will envy her."
Galuer Berrick spoke as though he truly believed it.
By Harein's reckoning, half was sincere.
'Otherworld.'
Harein felt afresh that these were indeed Otherworld mages.
Not a people one could reason with.
But not a people one could not comprehend, either.
When Harein turned a subtly meaningful eye their way, Galuer Berrick averted his gaze. The other Earthquake mages averted theirs a shade more openly.
Dihake had died gratefully, and that death might truly be a meaningful first, but.
'They don't want to die themselves.'
A sentiment one could hold because it was another's affair.
If the arrow turned on them, their attitude would change.
Psina of the Ivory Tower had descended to the Boundary to avenge her disciple, Tyrell Aquins had harbored a filthy desire for Ellen, and Loisia had feared death.
Each, a perfectly normal reaction.
Those who had died, and the Sapling's mages who inwardly feared Harein alike.
Because even Otherworld mages were, in the end, human.
'Though being human doesn't always make one human......'
Otherworld mages were a people who had to be killed without exception.
But they fell within the realm of understanding.
'They are different, though.'
The Red Tower mages weren't.
Forbest of the Live Coals. He had drawn a line by claiming there was a peculiar breed called Dreamers, but by Harein's feel, they were all much the same. Every one peculiar.
Herbis, whom she'd met at the Sanctuary of Fire, had died willingly. While these people embellished Dihake's death from a distance, Herbis had felt it personally as an honor.
Aten, the Extinguished Torch, had gone a step further still.
Willingness to die was basic, and he had even performed a Tempering.
'Ostentation and excess.'
According to Dihake, those were the basic virtues of the Red Tower.
Every fire possessed them, and the peculiar breed called Dreamers possessed them all the more densely.
The Red Tower was a Tower that stood out as alien even within the Otherworld.
"Were the facilities and the garment to your liking?"
Galuer Berrick stood in the middle of the corridor, waiting only for Harein to emerge.
"Not bad."
At that, Galuer Berrick bowed his head, saying he was abashed.
'If even the Tower of Earthquakes goes this far......'
How far would the Red Tower go?
When the Tower of Earthquakes was dressing Dihake's death as someone else's affair and feeling relieved, the Red Tower seemed the sort to sulk, asking why they weren't killed.
Harein pictured it suddenly and let out a dry laugh. The King of Prophecy. That existence wielded a ripple far beyond imagination.
'It can't be helped, I suppose.'
There was no Sun in the Otherworld.
No mage of the Sun, and no Sun in reality either.
In the Otherworld's history, there had been only one mage of the Sun.
Such a being had returned after centuries.
'The cherished aim. It must be directly tied to continental conquest too.'
The Otherworld's cherished aim was somewhat stalled.
Because the Red Tower and the Moon Tower opposed it.
On the grounds that the Sun had not returned.
"I am stirred beyond words. To think I live in the age of the cherished aim!"
That reason had just vanished.
Hence Galuer Berrick's excitement.
'So my going to the Otherworld would hasten the cherished aim.'
Harein—the King of Prophecy—had finally returned.
The Red Tower and Moon Tower's grounds for opposition had vanished.
The largest variable Harad had encountered since reverting.
If she crossed to the Otherworld as Harein, before long the Otherworld would move south.
'Then what of the Moon?'
What did the Moon want—Harad, or the Sun?
What Harein knew was only the Otherworld's will.
About the Moon, she did not know.
In truth, that was probably true for the Otherworld as well.
The Otherworld longed for the Sun and believed implicitly in the Moon's prophecy...... but did not know the Moon was hiding Harad.
"Master."
"......"
"Master?"
"What."
Turning her head, she saw Parus with a dissatisfied expression.
"That one tried to drive me off."
A mage dangling from the tip of Parus's finger twitched. A Tower of Earthquakes mage.
"So what."
"What?"
"Endure it. You're a slave, aren't you."
"......"
"Though my slave. Next time it happens, I'll melt his eyes."
Harein clicked her tongue at Parus even as she issued the threat.
A Wise Norbu.
Parus recognized that he had to build his own standing. Only then would his range of movement widen.
Since they didn't know what the Branch was like, Parus too needed a degree of freedom.
"I shall bear it in mind."
Galuer Berrick bowed his head.
The singled-out mage was dragged off somewhere.
"Was he of value? Then there's no need to go as far as to discard him."
"A mage whose Origin is roses."
"Pleasant to behold, I imagine."
"If you wish, I shall produce one and present it to you in the future."
Produce one, he said.
Galuer Berrick said something baffling and pointed behind himself.
"Come. The entrance to the Sapling is this way."
The Branch is called the Sapling.
So Dihake had said, but Galuer Berrick distinguished Branch from Sapling.
Where Harein stood now was the Branch.
The outer part of this enormous building.
If likened to fruit, it was the peel.
The Sapling seemed to mean the flesh within.
Galuer Berrick walked toward the flesh.
His stride was cautious. And slow. Consideration for Harein in her uncomfortable garment.
"There's no Root here."
Throughout Laash, a moving root could be found.
Galuer Berrick's magic. But where he actually resided, no root was to be seen.
"My apologies. The Sapling is a place sensitive to error. Accordingly, the use of magic unrelated to research is forbidden."
From the outside, the Branch building had been enormous.
Not tall. The corridor sloped. Galuer Berrick was leading her underground.
'Secret, or dangerous.'
Underground carried those meanings.
The latter, surely. Laash was already a secret enough bustling district. In the event of mishap, the upper levels would collapse, but the underground needed only to be buried.
The corridor, descending further and further, was blocked by a wall.
A closer look revealed a square seam along the wall. The wall itself was a vast door. A green square was drawn on a side wall. It didn't appear to be a release mechanism. It was flat.
"A release mechanism that responds only to the magic of trees."
From Galuer Berrick's fingers, a thick tree branch sprouted. When it touched the green square, the door parted left and right.
"The Tower of Earthquakes's Origins are diverse, I hear."
Earthquake was the name of that Tower's most outstanding mage, and an Origin.
That Tower pointed originally to the earth.
On the earth existed all sorts of things.
"Correct. Infinite things exist on the earth. At present, because I am in charge, it is simply set to trees."
It seemed factions existed within the Tower as well.
Not something incomprehensible.
The Towers themselves were, from the outset, no different from factions of Origins.
"Can one whose Origin is not a tree not open it?"
"Correct. Plain in appearance, yet a formidable door. Magic below Projection cannot so much as shake it."
Not just anyone could enter.
"From within as well?"
"Correct."
Not just anyone could leave, either.
An uncomfortable obstacle.
The door closed.
Galuer Berrick had opened it, but Harein had not stepped through.
From his fingers, a tree branch sprouted again. A gesture to open the door anew.
Harein's magic was quicker.
Pupils dyed pitch-black fixed on the door. The door flowed down like water and soaked the floor.
"Indeed. Weak against Projection."
"...... A Simple Projection, at that. Splendid."
Galuer Berrick admired Harein's feat.
That was all. About the melting of the door, he said nothing.
The doors were threefold.
But the distance between door and door was considerable.
It meant any ordinary mage could neither intrude nor escape.
Projection was not a magic one could wield in quick succession.
'Stringent.'
Laash on its own was secret enough, yet the Sapling's security was stricter still.
Research.
Harein rolled the word on her tongue.
"For convenience, we call this the 1st floor. The place where the fruits of research are viewed."
Galuer Berrick said after passing through the third door.
Outwardly, a featureless space. A spacious recluse's den, befitting a mage. Dozens of white-painted tables were laid out without chairs.
"Mostly empty."
"Ha. I am ashamed. It will sound like an excuse, but the research is more arcane than one might think."
Some of the tension had left Galuer Berrick's voice. Vitality entered it.
A recluse-den mage's voice grew louder once inside the den.
A classic trait.
"Oh! It seems there has been fruit, thankfully."
Galuer Berrick strode over with widened eyes. On the white table where he stopped sat a nose model.
It looked like a toy, but Galuer Berrick fitted it over his own nose. The model deformed to match his nose. That nose flared.
"My nose clears! Ah, I suffer from severe allergic rhinitis. This Magical Item is a success!"
"Research to produce Magical Items."
The Sapling.
It was the name of the research facility that produced Magical Items.
"Yes! Correct! Very beautifully processed. She was originally quite an ugly wench, I will have you know! A reward must be granted to the person in charge."
"......?"
Harein's face contorted.
***
"...... Research to extract Origin."
The Haunted House encountered along the 5th Knights' patrol route.
Forbest of the Live Coals had called that Haunted House a collection of Failed Products. Each object within had originally been a mage.
They had extracted Origin from the mages, but the Origin held no value. So Forbest had described the Haunted House as having been Bestialized.
The original term was Originization.
And that was the Tower of Earthquakes's research.
"You know of Originization!"
Galuer Berrick's scalp had branches, not hair, growing from it. Within his pupils, fruit-like white pellets tumbled like grains of sand.
He had not been born that way.
Galuer Berrick had said it was part of the research.
A trace of Originization.
The Upside-down Tree. That Origin was being extracted from the vessel called Galuer Berrick.
"Correct! Originization is what's being applied to me. This, however, is different in direction. Research inspired by a failure!"
Galuer Berrick spoke while shaking the nose model.
"It derives from the Failed Products of Originization research. We call it Itemization!"
Galuer Berrick said, as though shouting.
"Until now, we sought to extract only Origin. From incompetent vessels, you see. And we only recently realized this was incongruous."
A vessel must have an Origin.
That was what made a mage.
"Origin is the Essence. True, yet in practice, vessel and Origin are mutually complementary. Just as Origin makes the mage, Origin needs a vessel."
A correct statement.
Origin required magical power. Only then could it realize force in reality. Magical power was the vessel's share.
"So we kept failing! Because we neglected the vessel!"
Galuer Berrick tenderly stroked the tree branch grown on his scalp and pressed on.
"The arrangement had to be switched. Origin becomes the vessel, and vessel becomes Origin! More precisely—we convert the vessel into magical power."
"......"
"To compare with a person, it is to turn a person inside out. Skin into innards! Innards into skin!"
The nose model wriggled on its own.
The movement of the vessel within, now become Origin.
"Of course, that alone produces only a disposable item. One must inject magical power here to process it into a semi-permanent, functional Magical Item. Like so!"
Galuer Berrick injected magical power into the nose model.
The wriggling intensified.
To Galuer Berrick it was magical power; to the vessel inverted within, it was life force.
So long as it lived, that Magical Item would function semi-permanently.
"...... The Market. That's where you decide whether something's fit for Itemization or not."
"Yes, correct! If it would end up a similar work, discard; if it makes the mouth water, transport here and manufacture. Anything of greater value is sent to Paradise. Their facilities there are better."
Research that turned mages into Magical Items.
That was a side branch. What the Tower of Earthquakes ultimately wanted was Originization. Thus precious Origins were sent to the Otherworld.
Mages too regrettable to discard became Magical Items at the Sapling.
Better research was possible with the Otherworld's superior facilities, but the distance between continent and Otherworld was vast.
The value didn't match the time and manpower required.
In fishing terms, it was akin to eating a fish on the spot because the salt to cure it was too precious, yet the fish too good to throw away.
"As you may have guessed, we don't have many test subjects. We purchase what our Otherworld compatriots catch and bring, but for them it's closer to a side job in the end."
"......"
"Of course, the greater problem is the Church's influence. They don't let mages live. So for each precious test subject, a handler is assigned to see to their accommodation."
Beside her, someone twitched.
Parus. The muscles of his whole body writhed as if ready to explode at any moment. The rage of a Wise Norbu—adequately wise and adequately rough—spilled out openly.
In her own estimation, Harein was beyond that. She knew better than anyone that she only appeared wise thanks to her regression. Ostentation and excess. Harein was that kind of King of the Red Tower.
"If any Origin here catches your fancy, I shall have it made into a Magical Item for you. Ah, my apologies. First things first, the tour!"
"What among the recent arrivals would likely catch my fancy?"
"Fire! There is fire. Ah, as Your Majesty hails from the continent, and is the Sun, you may also take interest in eyes."
"...... Eyes."
"Yes! A pair of eyes with the ability to discern mages has arrived, would you believe!"
Those words quelled her flames.
Shura was below. Along with the bastard handler.
"The Origin is of such rare character that we have yet to lay a hand on it. I intend to process it personally. Would you care to observe?"
"I would very much care to observe."
Shura had to come first.
The anger, she left to Cassion.
'Slow-ass bastard. He said he'd kill them all.'
Where on earth was he, and what was he doing.
***
'What is that wench?'
Cassion, having Manifested Point, stole a glance at Harein and knit his brow.
Fire posing as the Sun, of all things.
'Thanks to her melting all the doors, getting here was easy enough...... but her gall is absurdly swollen. Yet she really resembles it. Truly it looks like Harad's magic.'
He didn't know her identity, but the wench called Harein was a big one.
Having made it this far, a big one of the Red Tower, surely.
Hence Cassion hesitated.
Though he wanted to kill that revolting tree-head this instant.
'Of all things, fire. And her grasp of Origin and Rank is considerable.'
Approach was difficult because of the wench called Harein.
'Close enough to be confused with the Sun. Draw nearer and I'll be detected.'
Fire illuminated many things.
Harad too used to read Cassion's presence that way.
'Should I kill them all.'
It was certainly possible.
Cassion was sure of his own power. If told to, he could do it.
Justification was more than sufficient.
Hadn't he already been granted permission? Harad wanted Cassion to rampage with all his might.
'But...... if I get the chance, I want to take that wench alive.'
Then fire would merge into one.
Fire grew larger when it predated fire.
That wench would make an enormous prey for Harad.
'If I bring her in, Lady Ellen will be pleased.'
When Harad grew stronger, Ellen grew more pleased.
'I'll watch a little longer. Shura is Harad's to save, anyway.'
Cassion could do as he damn well pleased.