Chapter 52 - 47: The Appearance of the Dagger
Art requires money, and without money, art might produce a Van Gogh or Picasso, but ultimately, there are far more nameless, sorrowful strugglers barely known by others and without a legacy in history; mere digits in the great number of the population.
Just like the vast majority of people, they live in obscurity, unable to gain lasting fame or infamy.
Of course, that’s the situation on Earth. In this world, art needs even more money because only with money can art avoid quickly becoming a haven for evil and chaos—at least not that quickly.
Malin was very pessimistic about this because he had discovered that among the evil gods, there seemed to be one connected to art.
Its name could not be mentioned, for in this world, tainted by subspace, uttering the name of a disaster-level evil god without protection would instantly connect oneself to that god’s "broadcast channel."
Twenty-four hours of non-stop mental contamination would drive anyone mad, unless they were equipped with a constant mechanical mind—at least usually, but it was not enough, mechanized intellect could not prevent physical transformation into different kind. Take Cain Dodge, for example, who Malin had seen at the Church on his first visit; he had accidentally glanced at a native evil god and was nearly beyond saving.
Even so, that was considered quite formidable—normally, having one’s wits about them after directly facing an evil god was a privilege of a Child of the Plane.
Under normal circumstances, dying with dignity was extravagant enough, so Malin thought if there was indeed an issue with Julian Gungel’s daughter, it was likely related to that unmentionable evil god.
With a love for art and beauty, Malin felt there was no need to specify which of the four peddlers it could be—it definitely cherished art and beauty too, but its standards of beauty are contorted into a chaotic form in the eyes of normal people.
Therefore, if things were as Malin suspected, the art school was probably doomed, and Mrs. Gungel, who had lived longer with Mr. Gungel’s daughter, was likely more severely contaminated, perhaps even fully transformed.