[197] 1. God's Mercy (2)
"Director, I'm back."
"Ah. So you're the Spiral fairy, Peope."
"Yes. You remember me."
"Of course. No fairy has been born since you came into being a year ago."
Peope pouted. The youngest of the seventy-two ranks of fairies. That was all the reason Iruki needed to remember her.
Fairies are female and cannot reproduce. To preserve the race they could only wait for new individuals to be born, and Peope was the first fairy born in nearly ten years.
"What happened with the escapees? Kanya and Rena, right?"
"Yes. They confessed and cooperated with the investigation."
"And the sentence?"
"Both were given a one-year reduction in lifespan."
"One year?"
Iruki's expression showed displeasure, and Peope swallowed hard. She did not doubt the ruling she had handed down. But as a novice, she could not be sure she'd judged correctly.
"You're still young, but you're an enforcer of the Law. Your intent should be respected. Still—was there any outside pressure?"
"No. It was my decision."
Shirone had threatened her life, but that did not count as external pressure. She had realized that a harsher sentence would be unreasonable, so she opted for a one-year reduction.
Iruki regarded Peope with suspicion.
Never before had an escape from Purgatory been punished with only a one-year deduction of lifespan. For a fairy barely a year old, the sentence was unusually lenient.
"Anything else unusual? I heard heresy followed the faithful here."
Peope hesitated. Strictly speaking, the people who accompanied Kanya weren't heretics but Nephilim.
But if she told everything from start to finish, people might draw interpretations that drifted from the facts. That was not what Peope wanted.
"I did not see any heretics."
Iruki waited for more. He needed further explanation.
But Peope offered no additional comment.
Iruki sighed and waved a hand.
"All right, you did well. You may go."
"Yes. Rest well, Director."
Peope bowed and withdrew.
After the door closed, Iruki looked up into the air and asked Mer, his close aide, the fairy of Truth.
"What did she say?"
"Peope spoke only the truth. But she didn't tell everything."
"Likely so. What on earth happened? She still has a lot to learn; it's worrying she's been stubborn from the start."
Iruki propped his chin on his hand and fell into thought.
District 73 was famed for being calm and incident-free. And yet a human who was neither heretic nor faithful had come in.
Three thousand years of instinct conjured one name.
"Adrias Miro…."
@
"Whew, I thought I'd die from nerves."
Peope dragged her tired body toward home.
After a year she should've adjusted, but whenever she met Iruki her body still went cold.
Especially when she had to make arbitrary judgments like today—the pressure was overwhelming.
"Hah, being an enforcer of the Law is tough, I tell you."
"Ha ha ha! What's so hard about dealing with the faithful? It's just because you're useless."
At the voice behind her, Peope grimaced. When she turned, the three fairy sisters were approaching with sneers.
Before Peope was born, they had been the youngest. Fairies born from affection have no blood relations, but because they were born around the same time they were called the three sisters.
"Hello, senior."
Peope forced a strained smile. The sisters' expressions sharpened.
Their faces had not always been like that.
Fairies born from emotion wear changes on their faces easily.
Any fairy who endures being the youngest for ten years would inevitably become like them.
"I heard. You gave one year off, right? You let a human manipulate you? No surprise there."
"No, I truly believed it was right."
"Oh my, really? What a foolish ruling. You're officially a pushover now. Don't expect the faithful to respect you anymore!"
The three sisters covered their mouths and laughed.
Peope was furious but had to hide it. Once a direct senior marked you, they'd torment you forever. "Forever" in their terms meant at least ten thousand years.
She had no choice but to endure. Once the next youngest was born, they'd leave her alone.
"Anyway, do it right. In the past, girls like you weren't even allowed to be enforcers. There just aren't enough affection-born fairies these days, so we put up with it. Squeeze the faithful harder."
"I am doing that."
"Doing? What are you talking about? You're only one year old—what could you possibly know to talk back?"
Peope shut her mouth.
They'd only just passed ten years themselves yet lectured her; in the strict hierarchy of the fairy world, a one-year-old had no voice.
"Got it? Make them fear us. Only then will the faithful obey. Be careful not to let this happen again."
After the three sisters left, Peope felt ten years older.
For a moment she fancied she could take them on.
Of course, only in her imagination.
"Hah, so tired. I just want to get home."
Her limbs sagging, Peope's flight wavered.
@
The next morning.
The central square of District 73, where the Wine of Ilhwa was prepared, was bustling from early on.
The Mecha checked their devices and the Nor inspected the magic woven into the ritual.
When Kergoin began leading the candidates in rehearsal, Shirone clutched his chest as if it would burst.
A rehearsal for an event where people die. How little did the gods of heaven value human life?
When preparations finished, the candidates said farewell to their families; Kanya and Rena were among them.
"Mother! Mother!"
Rena's tears would not stop. Even brave Kanya was at this moment only a pitiable daughter watching her mother leave.
As the ritual time approached, Kanya produced Epines and Corfin from her arms.
"Drink this. It'll help."
Shirone knew what Kanya handed him.
Knowing more about the Wine of Ilhwa had made him feel even sicker.
What good could stimulants and sedatives do? No one could know how their minds transformed—when their brains would melt and they became giants, what hallucinations or changes occurred.
Perhaps something was better than nothing.
For parents, no gift inspires more courage than what a child brings to them.
As preparations completed, the faithful gathered in a circle around the statue.
The scene matched what Peope had described, but this time there were ten candidates.
Kanya had told Shirone that the one who performs the Wine of Ilhwa ritual is the oldest in the district. Being old meant continuously being granted life, so it was the most devoted among the faithful.
The executor this time was Kergoin.
He looked like a sturdy youth, said to be one hundred and eighty-seven years old.
He belonged to the noble class among the Kergoin and was rumored to soon gain eternal life and ascend to the Third Thousand Shehakim.
"From now, we will perform the Wine of Ilhwa! Candidates, approach!"
Ten candidates moved into the glass spheres.
It was terrifying. Being dissolved into a strange substance and merged into one was the most nauseating, fearful death for a human.
"Mother! Mother!"
Just as Kanya tried to rush forward, her father held her back.
Though he'd heard his daughter's cry, the mother did not turn.
Everyone behaved the same.
The candidates smiled for their families, and the families hid their grief for the candidates.
Shirone did not find it beautiful.
Whatever value the Wine of Ilhwa had for the faithful, accepting such a ritual was wrong.
The candidates stripped and entered the glass spheres. They sat on the cold glass floor, closed their eyes, and prayed.
Shirone's anger boiled.
What were they praying for? How could anyone praise the god that drove them to death?
"This is murder. I cannot allow it."
He finally said it aloud. After endless rumination since last night, he'd reached a conclusion.
He had to stop the Wine of Ilhwa.
Anyone who understood that it was murder would do the same.
Shirone walked toward the statue. He intended to halt the ritual before the candidates died.
Tess grabbed Shirone's wrist.
"Shirone, wait. I'm angry too. But this isn't our world. There's a saying that each land must follow its own laws."
"Whoever said that is just a human. Kanya's mother did nothing wrong. No one should be killed like this under any circumstances."
"What can we do, though? Even if we stop the ritual, Kanya's mother's lifespan runs out today. If we try to save her, only we'll be put in danger."
"No, that's not necessarily true. Kanya's mother might not die today."
"What? What do you mean by that?"
The reason the Wine of Ilhwa was carried out despite doubts among the faithful was that Ra controlled lifespan. Believing they would die today bound them to the Law.
But Shirone said the Law could be wrong. If there were an error in the Wine of Ilhwa, then the faithful were being deceived—a clear fraud. If so, there was room to change the situation.
"Inject the life fuel! Begin the Wine of Ilhwa."
When the executor shouted, the Kergoin attendants bustled. Once the water filled, there would be no second chance. Whether the body decomposed first was unknown, but drowning came first.
As a Kergoin approached the device, Shirone shouted.
"Wait! I cannot allow the Wine of Ilhwa!"
The faithful's gazes snapped to Shirone.
They noticed him standing alone in the open space. But not understanding the language, they couldn't grasp his meaning.
Shirone turned to Arin. He wanted a translator. Arin sighed and approached.
Arin knew Shirone's cautious nature better than anyone. If Shirone had made a decision, it meant he would not back down.
Arin expanded the Spirit Zone. Mental mages specialize in tendrils, but when addressing a crowd, expanding the zone was enough.
Shirone repeated his words.
Language penetrated the minds of the faithful. It was a fairy-like ability, so no one was surprised. But the meaning carried a force they could not ignore.
Anger filled the faithful's eyes. To call an event that worshipped Ra wicked was plainly heretical logic.
The executor could not hide his fury and snapped.
"What right have you to say a ritual is unacceptable? Are you not one of the faithful? Do you wish to die without a chance at resurrection?"
"I am Nephilim."
Silence fell.
Even in the original world, the Immortal Function was not something anyone could reach.
For a Nephilim to reveal himself in District 73 was, in their lives, unprecedented.
The executor was equally stunned.
He had faithfully performed Ra's duties to rise to this position. His age of one hundred and eighty-seven was a badge of honor.
But such honors were worthless before a Nephilim.
Nephilim are descendants of angels.
Though they cannot meddle with the Law, they are beings different from the faithful from birth.
"A Nephilim… why would you object to the Wine of Ilhwa? This is a Law ordained by the god."