Nejimaki Seirei Senki – Tenkyou no Alderamin

"There are probably two types of geniuses, I suppose ---"

Bajin was thinking as he ran down a poorly-lit stairway, skipping three steps at a time.

The hero-type that appeared as demanded by the times, and the oddball-type that spontaneously sprung forth that couldn"t care less about such things. One was neither better nor worse than the other. But what Bajin could only say from his actual experience was that, the troubles experienced by an average person who had spent time with the latter was anything but ordinary.

"Professor! I’m coming in!"

Following a kick which threatened to smash the ill-fitted door, he was greeted by the usual stuffy air of the underground laboratory upon entering the room. Scribbled memo pads, boiling chips for experiments, and other things of that nature were chaotically scattered on the floor such that there was nearly nowhere to place one’s feet.

"W-wha?! Jeez... to think I just cleaned up yesterday..."

Bajin sighed without thinking but quickly recovered himself and started walking, heedless of the littered objects. What heed did he need to pay? At any rate, most of the things in this room would be left just as they were.

"Professor! Please answer me, Professor Anarai!"

When he raised his voice, something moved in the deepest part of the poorly-lit room. A small old man straightened his back, and with a lamp in one hand, appeared as he shook his white coat that was smudged with paint.

"Don’t shout, Bajin. I almost messed up the finishing touches, you know."

A paint brush dyed pale yellow was held in this old man’s right hand. Bajin drew his eyebrows together.

“Finishing touches you say... Just what on earth were you doing bringing out those painting tools?

"Umm, want to see? The surface still isn"t dry though."

When he followed Anarai to the depths of the room, there were four dolls lined up colored red, blue, green, and yellow respectively. Even though you could call them humanoids, they were as tall as Bajin’s knee with large heads and small limbs. In a manner of speaking, their bodies were like figures deformed[1] to the size of two and a half of their heads.

But generally, people would not call these figures humanoids. Because, while these beings that had taken such a form were a different existence from humans, they had been existing naturally alongside the humans. They were the so-called ---.

"-- four great elemental spirits......right?"

"That’s right. Made by Anarai Kahn, "artificial spirit" prototypes."

Urged on by Anarai, who gave a very satisfied snort, Bajin turned and viewed the dolls in order from the right side. To begin, the first one… was the green-painted doll. On its stomach, a round hole imitated from an actual "air tunnel" was opened. There was a breeze flowing from inside.

"This is a wind spirit isn’t it? Its power..."

When Bajin bent over and peeped through the hole, first the six propeller blades that created the circulating wind came into his view, and furthermore on the opposite side, he could confirm a small animal running continuously on a hamster wheel connected to the blades. If you listened closely, the animal made a squeaking sound.

“...is that a mouse…?”

“It was in this area, and besides, for creatures that could become a power source, there weren’t any other candidates.”

“So we’re a group that privately entrusts everything to a mouse, necessarily right?”

Bajin retorted, expressing his disappointment to the manufacturer, and turned his attention to the next "artificial spirit."

“This one is blue, so it’s a water spirit… I see, liquid comes out from the "spout" on its body, right?”

“The parts of its head and body use an open-close system. You can open it and look inside.”

As said by Anarai, when you exposed the "water spirit’s" insides, first there was a small water tank inside the head. In the water tank rocks were layered from coa.r.s.e pebbles the size of eyes to fine sand, and muddy water gathered above that. Not only did clear water seep from the filter paper that was spread on the very bottom of the water tank, it poured into a pipe directed to an organ that resembled a faucet, which would be called a "water spout" if it were a real water spirit.

“...this is certainly it. It’s what the professor made a long time ago, the "filtration mechanism", was it?”

“That’s right. With this arrangement, impurities are filtered from muddy water, and we are able to acquire clean water.”

Bajin tasted the water collected in the teacup placed under the faucet and creased his eyebrows.

“...Professor. This water, reeks awfully of mud though.”

“It shouldn’t be a problem in terms of drinkability, but it seems like there’s an issue with the filter paper’s strength and fiber density.”

While amazed at Anarai, who spoke casually, Bajin placed his gaze on the neighboring spirit. Outside the color, there was a point where it different from the other three, and there were caps worn above its hands which were raised as if performing a banzai.

“The next one is a fire spirit… so that means as expected flames come out of the "fire chambers" on its hands?”

“Umm, go look.”

As he removed the round caps covering hands, Anarai smoothly took flints from his lab coat pocket and struck them in the "fire spirit’s" immediate proximity. The very instant he wondered whether sparks were produced when the rocks clashed, the force of the fire expanded exponentially and burned through the air.

“Ahh! That’s dangerous!”

“Inside this "fire spirit," distilled oil of high purity is gathered. As you know, when you neglect the substance called oil, it slowly volatilizes… that is to say, it evaporates. The oil evaporates from holes opened in its hands, so I gathered that inside the caps and lit the fire, that’s the reasoning.”

“Rather than an explanation, please consider the pros and cons of trying that inside a room covered with flammable things!”

While brushing off his lightly burned coat cuff, Bajin looked at the last of the "artificial spirits" with watering eyes. Same as the wind spirit from the start, there was a hole opened in the center of its body, and a mysterious, faint light was coming from that place, which was capped with gla.s.s.

“A "light cavity" in its body… a light spirit, right? But this light, just how…”

When Bajin, taken with curiosity, brought his face closer and peeked at the inside of the hole, on the opposite side of the thin gla.s.s cap, countless black shadows wriggled busily. The instant he realized what they were, the several hundred things releasing small lights from their tails, gooseb.u.mps stood on Bajin’s entire body and he drew back.

“These, aren’t they light insects? What a gross sound, where did you capture this many!?”

“What do you mean by gross sound! Before being emotionally disgusted, if you’re my a.s.sistant, look at the true nature of things. These insects, you see, are living proofs which teach us that a light unaccompanied by "flames" and "great temperatures" is not a privilege only of light spirits.”

“N-no, that might be true, but…”

Trying his best to chase away the afterimage of insects burned into his retina, Bajin eyed the face of his teacher, who was shorter than him by one head.

“...Professor. To be honest, this time I suffered understandingly.”

“Uh huh…”

“It was the objective of making these "artificial spirits," you see. I know that Professor has researched and observed spirits for a long time, but what are these ridiculous sub-par imitations supposed to do? I can’t think of anything other than thoughtlessly provoking the Cult. Don’t tell me that you really thought you could artificially reproduce the existence of spirits.”

“You, too, think that’s impossible, do you?”

“It’s difficult isn’t it? At the present time, we can’t even produce a single insect.”

Without even refuting that harsh opinion, Anarai gazed motionlessly at the four prototypes he had created. He couldn’t measure the wise old man’s thoughts, but right now Bajin didn’t have the time to carelessly guess at them.

Without saying anything, Bajin turned to Aranai and thrust at him the paper he had been tightly holding in one hand the whole time.

“...what is this?”

“You should have a vague idea; it’s a final warning from the Church of Alderah! Time is precious so I’ll read and summarize the contents for you… ‘To Anarai Kahn, Blasphemer of G.o.d. In spite of even repeated warnings, the field of research has until now exceedingly misaligned to G.o.d’s will, those behaviors have greatly departed from G.o.d’s forbearance. By midday in three days, bring the results of your wickedness in their entirety and surrender yourself to the temple. If not so, friend and doomed sufferer of the severe punishment for having committing heresy, then until next time’...”

With Bajin having read this far, Anarai cleared his throat and gave a sarcastic laugh.

“Again Blasphemer of G.o.d, I’m rather disliked by the people of the Cult…. so we necessarily have to take responsibility for the research results here and within three days go to the temple to beg for forgiveness?”

“That’s how it is. We’ve had warnings several times until now, but this time the temperature is clearly different. Not mentioning three days from now, even tomorrow, the steel-cane-wielding heresy interrogation building may knock on this door.”

“If they’re serious, that is possible. We who’ve lost the patrons we were fortunate to have will be rescued from capital punishment.”

“This isn’t someone else’s problem, you know…. Up to now, even I, the lowly "Apprentice of Anarai," was resolved to follow you to h.e.l.l from the beginning, but…. Professor, what do you plan to do from now?

That was asked by the a.s.sistant in a serious tone, and Anarai breathed a sigh and viewed the inside of the room.

“...in the place this world has become, the eyes of G.o.d are shining. Unsatisfied with merely everything on Earth, one by one, books’ contents and words- until He arrives at people’s hearts, that G.o.d will keep watch for us from the heavens.…”

“...”

“If that is uncomfortable, as the ones who launched this research room…moldy and dim, yet our dear sanctuary, we can at least wish, ‘I want to forget G.o.d,’ even only while researching. Now shall we place the wrath of G.o.d in front of us like candle where the wind blows?”

“I’ll guess at your intention. The Cult’s theologists, will not understand your "science," however you explain it. ‘For all logical foundations, G.o.d must exist’... By just blindly believing those kinds of commandments from the Alderah Theology, you can’t firmly recognize the research of genuine truth.”

“Right, "science"... the study for people who lament G.o.d’s guidance. This and that, it’s everything we studied here.”

The moment Anarai impa.s.sionately muttered, the bell dangling down from the roof sounded a shrill warning. After that, the iron door that separated the s.p.a.ce creaked at a rough knock. The two tensed their entire bodies and exchanged glances.

“...So they came without waiting a day after they sent the warning, did they? As we antic.i.p.ated, they’re a quick tempered lot.”

Grumbling in an amazed voice, Anarai turned his body and walked halfway to his own desk. There, he took a short pause, changed his mind, and unexpectedly began tidying up.

“--Bajin, we’re stopping this business. Let’s abandon it, not including the data, which I’d quite like for to remain. What? The results are all stored in our minds, learning isn’t picky about location to begin with. As for what’s next, let’s escape more cleverly from the eyes of G.o.d as much as we can.”

“Y-yes!... But Professor, do you have any prospects? No matter where we run to in this country-- the Katjvarna Empire, wouldn’t the Cult come pursue us persistently?”

“I just said that learning isn’t picky about location, but the prospect doesn’t have to be in the Empire. The neighboring Kioka Republic has as much capacity as to champion the founding of an artisan nation and accept people like us.”

“Kioka…!? They’re the neighbors we’re in the middle of a war with! Do we have the connections to seek asylum?”

“There is a considerable number of ‘Apprentices of Anarai" even over there. Using my correspondence so far, I’ve established negotiations. Your walking stick before you stumble[2], right?... Now, Bajin, where is your fire spirit friend?”

“R-right. Raga is burning trash in the rear incinerator now, but…”

“There is fire in the furnace then. Good timing- there are things I"d hate for to be confiscated by those closed-minded folks. I’ll have you go ahead and stoke the fire. That"s all this ‘’unwelcome’’ person will ask of you.”

Having received his instructions, Bajin rushed out from the back door and hurriedly climbed the stairs leading above ground.

After seeing off that back-turned figure, Anarai turned his eyes to his own desk and took up a ma.s.sive quant.i.ty of papers carefully bound with string using both arms.

“The records of my talks with my apprentices, scattered throughout the world… If it were reasonable, I’d want to take these to Kioka. But with this amount, I think that’d be difficult…”

With his eyes he gazed at several letters, and while muttering the names of the senders one by one, Anarai slowly climbed up the stairwell. Just for now, he didn’t care about the pursuers quickly approaching there. For an old dog, they barely equaled the letters sent by distantly scattered sons and daughters.

“Yorga was absurdly strong in arithmetic. Milvakiah was a lover of extreme logic. Nazuna was one who could simplify and explain difficult arguments and just wanted to be at hand as an a.s.sistant. Ikta was…”

The moment that name left his mouth, the voice narrating the story slightly weakened. Rather than nostalgia, or fondness-- concerning the owner of that name, the memory of pain took precedence within Anarai.

“Ikta Solork, without interest in following the method of "science" I advocated, implemented sublimation by a peculiar philosophy. He was a sensitive kid similar to you, Bada. You can have pride in the shadows of the grave.”

As he finished climbing the stairs, when he opened the iron window installed to the brick wall, the incinerator on the other side was already blazing thunderously. Overcoming slight hesitation, then throwing a sheaf of paper into it, Anarai, in front of the several memories returning to ash, stood still with a solemn expression.

“Until these circ.u.mstances settle down, it’s a brief farewell, "Apprentices of Anarai." Soon, let’s make sure to meet again. Next time, I pray, in the midst of a wilderness of reasoning to which G.o.d’s eyes cannot reach.”

When he finished the farewell, Anarai closed the incinerator window, turned his heel, and didn’t look back a second time.

Year 904 of the Empirical Era Anarai Kahn, "scientist" of the historical beginning, escaped the Katjvarna Empire with one a.s.sistant. Thereafter, continuing research at their destination for asylum, the Kioka Republic.