Ch.167Second Year (2)

Mezulen Hueritia. I didn’t need to go through the trouble of searching everywhere to find her.

She had enrolled in the biology department, and the physics and biology departments were in the same building.

“……Rheinland?”

Mezulen was in the biology department lounge from the first day of the semester. I wondered why I didn’t see her at the entrance ceremony—she was hiding here.

“Hello?”

“Oh, hi….. But what brings you here?”

“I have something to tell you.”

I glanced at the desk. Mezulen was reading a textbook thicker than her forearm. How admirable.

[Mezulen Hueritia: 405 / 1000]

She was under a lot of stress. It didn’t seem to be because studying was difficult.

As expected, it must be because of that incident.

“It must be hard because of your parents, right? I’ve brought good news. Look at this.”

I took out a tablet from my bag and handed it to her. It was the secret contract from Adelbein Bionics that I received from Zernya. Most of the unjust demands that the Adelbein affiliate had made to Director Hueritia were written here.

Mezulen snatched my tablet like a cat grabbing a fish. Soon, her eyes widened.

“This is…!”

“It’s crucial evidence that the prosecution hasn’t discovered yet. The person ultimately responsible isn’t your mother. It’s Adelbein Bionics.”

Mezulen’s lips trembled as she spoke.

“But the CEO there committed suicide, and the company is gone. I heard the investigation was concluded…”

A reasonable question.

I explained calmly.

“What’s concluded? Even if Bionics is gone, there’s still a corporation called Adelbein sitting right on top of it. They just need to investigate that. Wait and see. Someone will definitely be held accountable.”

I know the names of the prosecutors currently investigating the irregular polyhedron case. Knowing someone’s name means, at least for me or Ireh, knowing their personality. And knowing their personality means knowing their behavior patterns.

I don’t know much about federal law, but one thing was certain.

“Soon, I’ll submit all the evidence, including this, at once.”

Checkmate.

“It’ll probably take about two months, so take it easy until then. Don’t worry too much.”

“…Are you really going to do this? What if they harm you?”

“Mezulen, I’m a Rheinland.”

I answered with a smirk.

“One of the 10 great families on par with Adelbein. We have the entire southern galaxy in our hands. Would they dare to pull a knife on me when they could try to persuade me instead?”

“That’s… true.”

“Right, of course not. They know there’s nothing to gain from it.”

Backing.

Something the protagonist didn’t have, but a scoundrel like Eidel did.

With an antimatter spoon in hand, there was nothing to fear.

Plus, now I have the protagonist and Zernya’s cooperation. From Ireh’s perspective, this is the most promising iteration yet.

“Now, Mezulen. Just trust me and Kristin. If things go well, your mother’s sentence will be greatly reduced. If things go really well, the President might even grant a pardon.”

“Eidel…”

Mezulen grabbed my collar and clung to me.

“Thank you, thank you so much…!”

I repeatedly reassured her as she sniffled. I also gave her some credits.

“Buy something delicious with this. Even if it’s tough, keep studying biology. You’ve always liked this field, right?”

“…Rheinland, you really seem like a professor.”

“Haha…”

For a moment, I almost broke into a wide grin.

No, I need to be serious here.

I smiled as kindly as possible and changed the subject.

“I’ve recently become interested in research on Darwin-type outer gods. It would be great if I could discuss it with you.”

Mezulen immediately perked up her ears. Indeed, blood doesn’t lie. She inherited her parents’ scholarly qualities.

“Darwin-type outer gods have the disadvantage that they can’t be captured in resonators…”

“Ah, I know about that.”

“Then this will go quickly.”

We began discussing methods to contain Darwin-type outer gods.

After exchanging a few words, I realized one thing.

Mezulen is a genius.

Truly, she far surpassed Director Angela Hueritia. She understood and followed almost everything I said without hesitation.

“Of course. Those creatures can synthesize organic matter anytime as long as they have nutrients.”

She even provided feedback on the problems.

“The material used for mirrors is also an issue. If you use just anything, it will easily precipitate! Unless you contain the surroundings with Aether, the legion will multiply infinitely even in that resonator.”

“Really?”

“According to my prediction, yes. Then no matter what device you make, eventually… BOOM! A catastrophe will occur!”

Oh, that was a close call.

Mezulen’s advice was definitely helpful. I gave her more credits as a token of gratitude. While I was at it, I showed her how to find journals and search for desired papers.

“Look here. The college pays a monthly subscription fee. So if you access from the school IP, you can download everything for free.”

“Wow, wow, wooow…!”

Mezulen smiled so broadly that her mouth reached her ears.

[— ‘Mezulen Hueritia’s’ Frown value has decreased by 50.]

She had been quite depressed because of her parents’ situation, so I’m glad she’s cheered up a bit.

Well, this should be enough for today.

I left the lounge first since I needed to attend class.

“…So, I will be teaching ‘Constellation and Plasma Physics’ this semester.”

Class began. I turned on my parallel thinking.

With one channel, I listened to the lecture, while with the other, I thought about how to remove Rustila’s penalty.

A relatively easy method to consider is creating a complete form.

‘Sacrifice,’ ‘Devotion,’ ‘Love’—would something change if I collected these three fragments?

“…As you all know, constellations are thought-forms created by PS bonding of plasma and Aether. Their structure exists in higher dimensions like outer gods, and if we confirm some of their development through experiments, we can see that they also have neural networks. Let’s look at the next image together.”

I suddenly looked up. The professor moved to the next slide in the presentation. There was a photo showing a structure similar to human nerve cells. It was bright and deep blue.

[“Interesting. So constellations have a structure similar to mine.”]

Cartesia expressed admiration. She didn’t seem to know much about the thought structure of constellations.

The professor continued.

“The shape of these neural networks naturally differs from constellation to constellation. And from cluster to cluster. Just as our brains have plasticity, the thought-forms of constellations also have elasticity in the part that manipulates ions.”

I already knew this from reading papers. Still, hearing it in this context made me reconsider.

Perhaps this information could help with research on the ‘trap’ to contain Darwin-type outer gods, or solve Rustila’s problem.

[— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ sparkles her eyes.]

Cartesia seems to have come up with some idea.

[— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ requests a lengthy conversation with you.]

A sudden message.

To be honest… the outer god is not my ally.

But didn’t I form a temporary alliance with her? An implicit agreement to help each other until we create the graviton bomb.

[— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ urges you.]

I know how dangerous it is to request something from an outer god. So I won’t demand anything.

If I have to face her, it will be just conversation and academic discussion. In my experience, Cartesia tends to become overly generous for an outer god when it comes to academics.

[— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ wants to have a discussion with you.]

The class was already coming to an end.

“…Then, for the next class, please write and submit a report analyzing the differences between constellation and outer god neural networks from a physicist’s perspective. That’s all.”

The mutual agreement was complete.

I entered the realm of monsters after a long time.

***

Abyss.

Philosophers describe the mental space of outer gods that way.

However, its essence is an imaginary space described by quaternions. Because it’s a higher dimension, ordinary humans can’t enter here.

It seems I’m not an “ordinary human.”

“…Ah, youngster. It’s been a while. Really, it’s been a while.”

A female form with long flowing hair smiled while caressing dark blue tentacles. The voice was eerie yet seductive, like a siren’s song.

Swish.

A frilled skirt fluttered. The God of Wisdom and Curiosity, Cartesia. She was approaching me.

No, I wasn’t being approached—I was being pulled toward her. Space was contracting. Cartesia’s face, now close enough to touch, was as black and blurry as if painted with ink.

I pretended to be calm as I spoke.

“Still a gloomy space, I see.”

“Yes, youngster. And you’re still as impudent as ever.”

Cartesia sharpened her voice.

“Last time, you made me fight Sapaul and turned me into a rag doll? That was very ‘human’ of you. Thanks to that, it took me a long time to recover. Youngster, you’re cute. Very cute.”

Cartesia patted my head with a tentacle from beneath her feet. I swallowed hard.

An outer god is an outer god. The atmosphere alone was overwhelming.

Clap!

Cartesia clapped her hands. Tentacles wriggled up from the floor.

And female-form outer gods wearing maid uniforms floated up. They looked like dead frogs.

“M-master…”

Outer god Populus. And other lower outer gods captured by Cartesia. They staggered to their feet.

“Hey, bring that.”

“…Ah, that? Understood! I’ll bring it right away!”

My goodness. What am I seeing right now?

They seem even more docile than before. Is this an act? No, that can’t be. Even a maid cafe employee couldn’t put on such a vivid performance.

“I’ve almost completely understood the neural networks of outer gods. Isn’t it interesting? Just understanding makes manipulation so much easier.”

I was on edge. I realized anew how destructive Descartes-type outer gods’ mental attacks could be.

Boom!

“…What’s that?”

It was then that the empty space behind began to split.

Click, click, click.

When the lights came on, what appeared was an abnormally large blackboard, a table, and two chairs. There was also a sofa decorated with blue tentacles. Additionally, several ‘incomprehensible’ devices were displayed on both sides.

“Welcome to my laboratory, youngster.”

Cartesia spread her arms with a sinister smile.