TL:
It"s been a bit of a long wait for this release. I"m going to say this now (because when else would I):
So, story is that I have exams coming up this year for university and therefore there probably won"t be that many releases. But once those are over (in many months time), I promise I will give everyone the chapters that you"ve missed out on. In the meantime, I will be suffering under all the textbooks with no light in sight.
Thanks as always!
Translator: Kui
Editor: (None, as usual)
Author: しまもん (SHIMAMON)
It"s hopeless…
I can"t think of any ideas. In the first place, I probably won"t be able get hold of a demon. Where would I even begin on this search……
…No…Wait.
…I know.
Come to think of it!! I do could a demon available!!
Yes!! The temple!! There are demons inside the temple!!
There are some small demons used in the inspection facilities to check the newborns for Bestowed!!
I could use those demons!! Then, I can safely confirm my results!!
…But, how would I get in the proximity of the demons inside the inspection facilities? I"ll have to think of an appropriate excuse.
…No, just an excuse won"t be sufficient.
If by removing our second heart, we no longer are attacked by the demons, we would attaining the same level of power as the Bestowed.
In the worst case scenario, I may be completely erased when it comes to it.
They might just announce: "Your doings are equivalent to doubting the church"s teachings!! It"s dark magic which will plunge the world into chaos!!" before killing me off.
…It really is hopeless. I can"t use the demons inside the temple.
I must continue my research without anyone knowing.
Therefore, I must get my hands on a demon.
…It can"t be helped… Now that things have come to this, I"ll have to use my last resort…
Starting from the next day, she would begin making regular visits to the castle walls. It wasn"t because she made a lover there nor was is because of sightseeing purposes. Every night, she took advantage of the window of time while everyone was in deep sleep to make this trip. She held a small wand inside her hands and once she confirmed that her surroundings were void of people, she would then wave it towards the ground and smoothly chant a spell. Whereupon a tunnel just large enough for one person to pa.s.s through would emerge from within the dirt.
It was just as it seemed. She was attempting to break through the castle walls, and by making a tunnel which connects to the outside, she would be able to s.n.a.t.c.h a demon from outside. Even if she could not capture the larger demons, the smaller ones, around the size of a child, were more than manageable.
In reality, the female was not only a researcher but also an outstanding magician. It was a piece of cake to simply brandish one of the spells she took pride in to take control of a demon or two for the sake of her experiment.
Tonight, she continued to make progress on her tunnel. In one hand was a durable bag, in the other was a wand which she clenched. The exit of the tunnel was just large enough to serve as a peeping hole, allowing her to covertly examine the various types of demons outside.
Sigh, that one"s a miss.
It"s too big, I won"t be able to bag it.
How about the next one?
It"s size is pa.s.sable but… this one"s a miss as well.
There looks to be a few more behind it so it"s probably one of those that act in herds.
Hm? That one is…
Just like that, the female scholar would continue her work on the tunnel every night, in search of a demon suitable for her research. And most of them ended in a failure. The demon she required was never found. They were either nicely sized but moved in herds or was too large for use despite moving alone.
One month since the beginning of her searches, she finally found a suitable demon.
!! I found it!! It"s that one!! That one might just work!!
A single small demon was strolling around the castle walls. In the hands of the bobbing demon was a splintered stick. Seeing as it was restlessly looking around, it could be deduced that it was separated from it"s companions.
I absolutely cannot let this chance go!! I have to capture it at all costs!!
She enlarged the hole by a slight amount, then poked the tip of her wand out and released a binding magic targeted at the demon. The magic took the form of a rope, entangling itself with the demon, sealing away it"s freedom and simultaneously, she activated paralysis magic, rendering the demon completely immobile. All that was left was to manipulate the binding magic and like so, a demon could be seen being dragged along the ground back towards the tunnel.
A few minutes later. Inside the silence of the tunnel was a female scholar who smugly gave herself a pat on the back and a smallish demon which lay limp on the cold ground. The female scholar roughly shoved the demon into her prepared bag and rushed back to her laboratory, only to then toss the demon into a cage and hurry her preparations for the experiment.
Now then, since I"ve gotten a hold of the important sample, I should decide on the details on the experiment.
As for the very first experiment, I will need to confirm whether I will actually get attacked by the demons. I only saw the herd of feral dogs. So I will have to confirm if any of the animals are attacked by demons. If dogs aren"t targeted, then maybe there are some other animals that aren"t either.
In order to prove my hypothesis, I"ve rented out a cat from the mice exterminating company but…
Those cats are way too ferocious. My hands were scratched so many times. I can see why those in the profession would wear thick gloves, this is quite awful.
I carried the hysterical cat into the room where the demon lay. The minute I stepped into the room, the demon begins intimidating me – it would bite at the bars of the cage and glare menacingly at me. Try all you want, but this cage was a custom order. A monster of its level would never be able to break this cage.
In order for the cat to not approach the demon, I tied it"s collar up with the special rope the extermination company provided. Then I left the room, leaving the cat behind. Of course I would continue looking from a hole in the room next to this one even after I leave.
Will the demon intimidate the cat? Or will it not?
I took up the notepad and began my observations.
For a while after I left the room, the demon"s agitated state continued for some time but eventually calmed down. It sat down on the floor inside the cage and just stared blankly towards the sky. Looks like the cat didn"t catch the eye of the demon considering how it would occasionally let out a few yawns.
The cat began to groom itself, neither of the two showed any interest in the other. I continued this investigation for another few hours, only to see the situation remain the same.
This experiment was repeated with other animals but there wasn"t much difference in the results, the demon showed zero interest in the animals, it just simply sat there staring into thin air.
However, this experiment was not one without any injuries. Animals such as chickens, piglets or calves which I borrowed from various industries were all extremely ferocious.
They would bite at me, buckle and charge at me and thrust their natural weapons into me…
Occupations which deal with animals really have it hard…
I shall live with more respect for them from now on…
Let"s bring the topic back.
Due to my self sacrifices for this experiment, I was able to confirm my hypothesis that demons would not attack animals.
Then let us ask ourselves "why do demons attack humans then?" Would I really need to remove my second heart for this experiment…?
It would require courage to remove an organ whose functionality is unknown. For one, there are records of the second heart being removed but those were human experimentations on criminals. The records state that the criminals who had their second heart removed had lived through the one year up till their execution. Their physical abilities after the surgery was unchanged, maintaining their healthy status.
Stemming from this experiment, the opinion of "the second heart is a mysterious organ" became common knowledge within the academic community.
I know that I won"t die so easily after removing my second heart… But… I am just purely scared…
However, there are no other differences between humans and animals which are as plain as this one. If I don"t confirm this, my research will not progress.
I resolved myself, and decided to put forth a request to the doctor reputed to be the best within the country to perform the surgery on me.
The reason for removal… I guess I could say "to investigate what organ the second heart is specifically". I am a scholar so it shouldn"t bring too much suspicion on me. In fact, there are many doctors who are also curious as to what the second heart is so he might even be cooperative. Great, I"ll go ask him tomorrow. (TL: a.s.suming the doc is a male because I"m s.e.xist.)
I touched where my second heart was located, and lamented over our separation. "Soon, this place will be empty…"
j.a.panese making my life hard when it decides to switch from first person to third person…