Alice rapidly responded to my groan. Taking glances at the knight"s face, I faintly nodded.
"Yeah... Two days ago, right after I fought against Raios and Humbert at the Sword Mastery Academy, something like a window appeared in a corner of the room. The white face that 258.
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looked at Eugeo and I from in there... was definitely those guys..."
Alice p.r.i.c.ked her ears towards the boxed humans" voices once again at my words, then spoke with a scowl.
"The art they"re chanting... I have no memory of it whatsoever, but they seem to be dividing the Human World into small divisions and displaying some sort of value. I don"t know what that value represents, though."
"A value..."
The moment I parroted those words, a voice flashed back in my mind.
-And within those hidden parameters, there exists one called "Transgression Quotient".
-Administrator quickly noticed this transgression quotient parameter could be used to reveal the humans skeptical of the Taboo Index she established....
The young sage in the Great Library Room, Cardinal, was the one who told me that. There was no more room for doubts. The sacred words, " Rebelling Index", voiced out by those boxed humans must be the transgression quotient7 Cardinal spoke of, which in other words, meant that the tens of boxed humans in 7 "Rebelling Index" Written in katakana, compared to "transgression quotient" which is translated from kanji.
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this s.p.a.ce were currently checking through the transgression quotients of every single person living in the Human World.
If they were to detect an abnormal value, the boxed humans would peek into that location, identify the one who committed the taboo, and report it. The person who received the report would then instruct the integrity knights to arrest the criminal.
This was how Eugeo and I, and Alice as well, were taken away to the cathedral...
I was standing stil in mute surprise when a buzzer-like beeping suddenly rang out. Alice and I both instinctively steeled our grips on our swords, but apparently, we hadn"t been discovered. After al , the boxed human who stopped chanting those commands en ma.s.se, were looking straight up, rather than down.
I hadn"t noticed until now, but something resembling a faucet stuck up straight above their heads. The boxed humans all opened their heads and a gooey, brown fluid suddenly flowed out from the faucets. They caught that with their mouths and drank it down mechanically. Some of the fluid spilled from their mouths, staining their necks and chests. That was likely where the stench of rot came from.
The buzzer rang again before long and the supply of liquid food ceased. The boxed humans rotated their head back forward and resumed chanting the commands. System call...
system call...
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-This couldn"t be considered any way to treat humans any longer.
No, I couldn"t permit such terrible treatment, even towards cows and sheep.
I grinded my teeth, holding back the indignation welling from deep inside, just as Alice uttered out in a deep, tense voice.
"And these... are supposed to be the elders, of the Axiom Church, governing the Human World?"
I shifted my vision and saw the integrity knight glaring into the s.p.a.ce, her single, blue eye ablaze with light. It didn"t come to mind until she mentioned it, but that certainly would be the conclusion. These tens of boxed humans were the elders, the higher civil servants of the Axiom Church.
"And the one who brought forth such a sight, too... was the highest minister, wasn"t it?"
"Yeah... that"s likely."
I nodded slightly at Alice"s words.
"They must have been humans excelling at the sacred arts, though with poor combat potential, kidnapped from all over the Human World who had their emotions and thoughts sealed away and reformed into these observation instruments cal ed elders..."
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Yes, they were nothing more than mere instruments here.
Instruments to overlook the maintenance of the flawless peace... or perhaps, stasis, of the entire Human World under the reign of the Axiom Church. The wretchedness of these elders"
fates eclipsed even the that of the integrity knights who lost the memories of those precious to them. Administrator"s rule had continued on for several hundreds of years on the backs of these victims.
Alice"s face slowly slipped down and her lightly fallen golden hair hid her expression.
"...I can"t forgive her."
Perhaps projecting its master"s rage, the Fragrant Olive Sword gripped in her right hand let out a soft chime.
"No matter what crime they had committed, were they not still given life as humans? To... deprive them of human intelligence and emotion, not stopping at simply robbing them of their memories like the knights were, and shutting them away in smal boxes with meals inferior to even that of beasts...
there is neither honor nor justice in this place."
Alice boldly raised her face the moment her words ended and she stepped into the hall without faltering. I chased after her in panic.
The elders" vision stayed firmly on the Stacia Windows despite the arrival of this female knight, glittering beautifully 262.
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even in the depths of darkness. Alice moved to the left and stood before a single box. I stared at the elder"s pallid face from diagonally behind.
I couldn"t tell its age, or even its gender from up close. Were its human characteristics robbed from their essence in the endless months and years since getting bound in this lightless hall, no, prison?
Alice then smoothly brought the Fragrant Olive Sword in her right hand up. I thought she intented to break the box, but its golden edge was neatly placed where the elder"s heart should be. Swal owing my breath, I sounded out a short whisper.
"Alice...!"
"Do you not believe that severing its life... would be an act of mercy?"
I had no immediate answer for that question.
From the circ.u.mstances, even if they were to reunite with their "memory fragment"-if there was even one preserved- they might not return to how they were... the elders" fluct lights were broken beyond salvage, rendering repair impossible; I couldn"t help but to think that.
However, Cardinal, or maybe Administrator could still grant them a hope that was an improvement over death at the very least. With that in my mind, I thought to place my hand on Alice"s golden epaulet to restrain her.
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However, a queer noise reverberated through the hall a moment sooner and frozen both Alice and I in our tracks.
"Aah... aah-!"
It was a person"s screeching, shrill cry.
"Aah, no way, aah, that is such a waste, oh, highest minister, aah, you mustn"t, aah, ooh-!!"
Alice and I exchanged expressions of doubt at that list of senseless interjections.
I have no memory of that tone of voice. It didn"t seem to be from someone young, but still, I doubt it was from someone elderly. All I could be sure of, was that the owner of that voice was so excited that he or she had lost al sense of reason.
As though cold water had been thrown on her fury, Alice withdrew her blade and stared towards where the voice came from. I, too, turned my sight in that direction.
Further into the cylindrical hall was a widely opened pa.s.sage like the one we entered from. The shrill voice carried out from inside intermittently.
Let"s go; Alice seemed to imply as she pointed towards the pa.s.sage with her sword. Replying with a nod, we began moving with our footsteps silenced.
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The hall lacked any pillars or furnishing that we could hide ourselves behind and it took a little courage to cross straight through the middle of the floor, but the tens of humans stationed on the walls had no eyes for us which implied that the liquid food coming out from the faucets were all that existed in their worlds. I couldn"t help but pity the underground jailer or the girl in charge of the elevator when I found out about their circ.u.mstances, but saying that the elders were tragic was an outright understatement.
At the same time, I could only say that I could make no sense of that person letting out that loud, writhing voice so close to this horrifying place. At the very least, I was sure it couldn"t be an ally.
Alice apparently thought the same as a p.r.o.nounced shade of anger different from earlier appeared on her pale profile.
Cutting a straight line through the hall with her footsteps suppressed, Alice peeked in from the entrance to the inner pa.s.sage. I, too, examined the state of affairs from right behind her.
Beyond the pa.s.sage, just as strangely narrow as its entrance, was a sizable room, though smal er than the hal . Though modest, it was illuminated, allowing us to see the interior without trouble.
My first impression was that of a extremely bizarre room.
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Every single piece of furniture glittered with a cra.s.s golden color. From the large ones, like the drawers and bed, to the small, round table and storage boxes; they all gleamed dazzlingly as they reflected the lighting, stabbing into my eyes even from this distance.
And what jutted out from those golden furniture or laid atop them, were countless toys of various types, both big and small.