[193] 6. Ilhwa's Liquor (2)
"No. Even if their lifespan ends, the subjects of Heaven do not die. They are reborn into new life through the Elixir of Rebirth."
"Then it doesn't add up. If everyone can live forever, why does the population stay the same?"
"The lifespans of the subjects fall under Ra's jurisdiction. Lifespans for the entire population are calculated by strict Law, so the numbers remain fixed."
Immortality and population control were mutually exclusive.
So the core lay with the Elixir of Rebirth.
Yet, like Gadrak, Kanya avoided explaining it. Whether subject or heretic, people had their convictions—but the Elixir of Rebirth seemed untouchable.
A contradiction.
What Shirone pictured when he thought of the Elixir of Rebirth was a monstrous contradiction.
They reached Heaven after passing through the Valley of the Spiral Serpent and the Forest of Commoners.
The party tilted their heads up toward the sky.
Against the size of the city walls, they were nothing but dust. It was a scale no human could conceive.
Kanya said this was District 73 and added that there were 820 districts in the First Heaven alone.
Shirone, having given up on imagining it, reached out and touched the wall. He expected stone but felt metal.
Heaven's technology exceeded the party's common sense.
"Do you think it's okay if we go in?"
"It should be. You're Nephilim. But I can't promise anything."
"Then how about scaling the wall instead?"
Shirone thought crossing a wall that reached the sky impossible, but they had no better option.
Even that Kanya shook her head at.
"No one may fly in Heaven's airspace except drones granted flight permission. You'd be intercepted. It hasn't happened before, but Grandpa told me about it. Besides, sneaking in is impossible."
"Why? It doesn't look like anyone's guarding the gate."
"They don't block entry. It's a matter of Law. Information about what happens in Heaven is managed from the Je-bul of the Sixth Heaven, where the angels dwell. They can measure mass changes for each district and even the gaseous composition of the air—so even if you snuck in it would be useless. Don't worry too much. Nothing dangerous will happen. This isn't Purgatory."
As a subject, Kanya reassured Shirone as if there was no need to darken his view of Heaven in advance.
When she approached the gate and presented her gauntlet, a red beam shot from a lens and scanned the surface.
As the gate opened, the world trembled. Plugging their ears did no good.
When the entrance to District 73 opened, Shirone's party followed close behind Kanya into Heaven.
The gate closed and the lens flashed.
The updated information for District 73 was transmitted to the Je-bul of the Sixth Heaven.
Total mass: 49,739,498,847.3423 kilograms.
Carbon dioxide emission increase: 0.0000024 percent.
@
Shamain's first impression was alien.
Residential areas were divided by race along the avenue, and their cultural styles were sharply different.
The Nor buildings were practical, while the Kergo structures were lavish. When they found the Meka buildings, Shirone and Amy stopped and had no words.
It was the magic warehouse Istas.
Square boxes were stacked in tiers, intersecting freely with neighboring buildings and shifting position at will.
It didn't look like the Meka had merely visited the School of Magic on a field trip. Meka technology had somehow flowed back into the original world.
Kanya passed through the Meka street and emerged into a plaza.
The square, where multiple races mixed like a cultural bridgehead, looked like an international market in a neutral state.
"Shirone, look over there."
Amy pointed at a statue of a giant.
It felt different from the image on the Kergo altar. This place actually housed giants. And battles had taken place here.
Why would a giant, venerated by the subjects, wander Purgatory?
Kanya's house was the same size as the other Meka homes.
If Kergo prized display and the Nor practicality, the Meka pursued standardization.
When they entered Kanya's house, the building rose up four floors.
Despite its nonhuman exterior, the interior was cozy.
Kanya's parents, sitting at the table, jumped up.
Shirone had heard the Elixir of Rebirth was for those whose lifespans had ended, but their faces looked far younger than he expected.
Kanya's mother grabbed both daughters and cried out.
"Where on earth have you been? Do you know how worried I was?"
"Sorry. We had business."
"Who are these children? They look like Nor people."
"We went to the Nor Shelter. We went to get this."
When Kanya handed over a vial, her mother's pupils trembled with shock.
She had told no one. How did her daughter know about this?
"You… this is—"
"It's a stimulant, made with Nor magic. Take this before the Elixir of Rebirth."
"Rena! Why would you do such a thing? I never wanted this!"
"Then should I just stand by and watch? You went into Purgatory to get Grandpa his medicine too!"
"Who did you tell that to—"
"Grandpa told me! That's why he could smile until the end when he entered the Elixir of Rebirth! Isn't that enough? That's what family is!"
"What on earth is wrong with you! You must know that searching for medicine shortened Mom's lifespan! How would you feel if your daughter did the same thing?"
Their father, listening with a grim expression, stepped in.
"Both of you, stop. It's water under the bridge now. The important thing is you came back safe."
He shushed his wife and looked over at Shirone's party.
"So, are you heretics from the Nor Shelter?"
Kanya introduced Shirone's group.
"No. They're from the land of the earth. They saved Kanya and Rena and helped us get this medicine. If it weren't for them, we might have died."
No parent could remain cold to those who saved their child.
The father invited them into the house.
While the mother prepared the meal, Kanya recounted what had happened in Purgatory.
When Shirone's Nephilim status came up, both parents knelt amid the commotion in the living room.
Only after the party begged did the parents agree to treat them comfortably.
"I see. Thank you for helping Kanya and Rena. But you should leave here quickly. Even if you're Nephilim, people from the land of the earth won't be welcomed."
"No. We plan to go to the Seventh Heaven."
To say they would set foot in Arabot, the gods' holy site, was almost blasphemous. But Shirone was free from the Law and could speak his thoughts freely.
"Still… there's no way to get to the Seventh Heaven."
"We'll figure that out. More importantly, I'm curious about your Law here. What do you mean when you say lifespans get shortened?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. Subjects are assigned lifespans by the Law from birth. Kanya's lifespan is sixty-two years. Rena can live to seventy-three."
"Huh? Rena's the younger sister, but she'll live longer?"
"Lifespans can change. Rena got ten extra years when she was a child because she sang hymns beautifully. That's good, but the problem is my wife. Her lifespan is forty-three years and 247 days. She only has one day left."
Shirone felt his heart drop.
Who in the world would know their lifespan down to the day? Even imagining it was terrifying.
Still, Kanya's mother was smiling. She was certain Ra's grace would come.
"My wife lost twenty years from her lifespan as punishment for going into Purgatory when she was young. So tomorrow she'll enter the Elixir of Rebirth."
Altering a person's lifespan was a cruel thing. No—it didn't even seem possible.
If Ra controls lifespans, how old would he be?
Heaven's history was said to span hundreds of thousands of years. Maybe Ra really was a god.
"What is this Elixir of Rebirth?"
"Hmm, I suppose they didn't tell you. Well, it's not something you ought to know. Besides, aren't Nephilim free from the Law? It's none of your concern."
"I still want to know. If I know what it is, maybe I can think of a better way."
"Hmm, if you insist—"
Just as the father opened his mouth, a clear voice rang from outside the window.
"Everyone, bow to me! Meka affairs officer Peopenira!"
Shirone's party sprang up.
The voice had been amplified like sound-amplification magic. What was more surprising was that the language translated itself.
A telepathic message cast without channels, carried on sound alone.
If it was magic, it was high-level.
"So it had to come in the end. A fairy, huh."
"A fairy? Do you mean the fairies I know?"
Shirone pictured the fae from his own world.
Kanya's father mistook the referenced fairy for a local kind and nodded.
"Yes. One who enforces the Law. If giants observe the Law, fairies are the ones who execute it. You could call them internal affairs officers. She's probably come about Kanya and Rena's business."
"What about us?"
"If you're Nephilim, you needn't worry. You're exempt from the Law. That said… I don't know if she'll take that into account. She has a peculiar personality."
"What are you doing! Subjects of this house, open the door!"
The fairy's voice called from outside.
They were on the fourth floor. And the fairy Shirone knew was never a flying creature like this.
When the father opened the door, contrary to expectation, a dainty creature flew in.
A girl the size of a palm.
Her hair was blonde and curly; despite her small face her features were distinct and pretty. She wore green boots up to her ankles, and her transparent wings buzzed so fast they were invisible.
Kanya's family knelt, and Shirone's party copied them.
Hovering in midair, Peopenira cocked her chin.
"I am Peopenira of the Spiral, Meka fairy. I have come in person to carry out a judgment over these subjects."
Fairies were born from concepts—like jack-o'-lanterns—not attributes of nature but embodiments of single ideas.
Thus a fairy had reason and could govern the concept that birthed it.
"And now I will execute the Law. Kanya and Rena, have you ever gone into Purgatory?"
"Yes. We went and came back."
Kanya's parents squeezed their eyes shut.
But Kanya herself was calm. She had been prepared for this before leaving Heaven.
What worried her was Rena.
"I'm sorry. I hunted in the Forest of Commoners because I wanted to serve my mother delicious food before the Elixir of Rebirth."
Kergo could come and go to Purgatory freely, so she hoped claiming she'd been hunting would lessen the severity of her offense.
But Peopenira pressed as if the subjects' circumstances meant nothing.
"Hah. How dare you utter such lies. What use is food to a subject who will die tomorrow?"
Kanya's mother finally broke into tears.
Even if the Elixir of Rebirth were a blessing, what living creature would not fear death? Peopenira had prodded that fragile emotion.
Shirone felt anger at that.
The subjects called the Elixir of Rebirth regeneration. But the fairy in charge of internal affairs had delivered a plain death sentence.
It wasn't simple intimidation—there was no malice in Peopenira's words.
It was like a child honestly expressing whatever emotion it felt.
"In any case, I pronounce judgment. Kanya and Rena, I cut forty years from each of your lifespans."
Kanya went blank. A forty-year reduction left her with less than ten years to live. Rena fared better on paper, but she would still end her life at thirty-three.
As far as Kanya knew, a forty-year cut for unauthorized departure was a record.
A year ago a peer named Seil got five years. Uncle Kai from the Nor had seven. Even Kanya's unlucky mother had twenty.
But forty years? Fine, let it be for her—what about Rena's life?