Ch.168Second Year (3)

I laughed in disbelief.

Now foreign gods are setting up labs inside people’s heads. My life is truly one wild ride. When I have kids someday, this will make for quite the tale.

Cartesia, seated in her chair, spun around and said, “Kid, sit down.”

“Hey, give me a normal chair first.”

The chair Cartesia offered was literally a tentacle. Hardened suction cups served as the seat and backrest. Nobody in their right mind would sit on that.

“Can you at least get rid of these tentacles first?”

“For a human, you’re quite demanding.”

Snap! Cartesia flicked her finger. Only then did it transform into normal wood. I carefully sat down, and she got to the point.

“Constellations and crystals, the Aether neural network. Today was interesting, wasn’t it? Thanks to that, an intriguing topic came to mind.”

“What is it?”

“Want to know?”

“Not really?”

“No, you don’t have a choice. Be quiet and listen.”

She started chattering like a child who had received a gift.

“…That constellation was trapped in the crystal. And you humans developed technology using that crystal to block our species’ thought signals. Yet our neural structures and theirs are different but similar.”

It was nothing special. Just academic talk, as stated.

As I listened, I understood what she was getting at.

“If we can just understand this structure, we could even cut off Darwin’s Legion’s lifeline. I’m certain, absolutely certain. And that’s not all. We could even turn the constellations’ minds into blank slates…”

“Um, Foreign God?”

I called out to Cartesia, but she continued her rapid-fire speech. Unable to bear it any longer, I clapped loudly to get her attention.

“…I was talking, what is it, kid?”

“So what’s your point?”

I feigned suspicion.

Cartesia leaned back against her chair and stroked her chin. She seemed to be delaying her answer.

While I might not know much about foreign gods, I was familiar with beings who behaved this way.

“Let me guess. You just wanted to share your idea with someone, anyone.”

“…Don’t make assumptions, kid.”

“Then why did you bring me here?”

“That’s…”

“It’s strange, isn’t it? You’re a foreign god, and I’m just a human. If you’re curious, you should think and research on your own. Why show me your lab and do all this?”

Having met foreign gods several times, this level of conversation didn’t frighten me. It’s like how sending emails to professors is terrifying as a freshman, but becomes natural later on.

I continued to provoke her with playful banter.

“Shall I elaborate? You’re lonely. Why? Because you live bound by ‘chains.’ Living a life you can’t escape from.”

“…Hey. Kid.”

“At least hundreds of thousands of years. Trapped in a single black hole. For the God of Wisdom and Curiosity who loves exploration and adventure, you can’t bear not venturing into the wider world. Right?”

‘Chains,’ the restriction she received from other foreign gods. Cartesia cannot leave beyond our galaxy’s spiral arms.

I don’t know why it happened. But one thing is certain.

“Are you lonely?”

“Ha, interesting.”

Cartesia snorted.

“A mere human now worrying about my personal life? Are you trying to climb up? Do I look easy to you?”

Sssssk.

Worm-like tentacles rose from behind. I didn’t even blink. My body had endured tentacle play every time I came here. It was time I got used to it.

“Lonely? Me? What are you imagining? The reason I called you is for a quest. I’ll give you a new trial, and if you show me something interesting with this topic…”

“You’re lying.”

Cartesia, who was slowly wrapping her tentacles around my neck, hesitated. I continued boldly, paying no mind.

“You haven’t given any forced quests recently. Foreign gods usually give quests for fun and entertainment. From what I see, you’re not simply that kind of monster.”

Most foreign gods enjoy amusement. They’re stimulating and violent. Cartesia was relatively not. She had firm standards.

Academic interest.

She only issued quests according to that.

“While Darwin’s idiots might think ‘wouldn’t it be fun if men could get pregnant,’ you’re more like someone wondering if XY chromosomes could combine. That’s your nature. I know people like you well.”

“…You, know me?”

“Of course. Because you’re the same type as me.”

Cartesia was wavering. I couldn’t read her mind, but it was obvious.

“I may not understand foreign god thoughts, but I understand researcher thoughts. You’re the God of Wisdom and Curiosity, right? Always thirsty for knowledge, needing to find answers to satisfy your curiosity. Isn’t that right?”

I recalled the reassignment exam.

The day we defeated the monster Renaniai and were stranded with Rustila and Zernya. After talking with Cartesia then, I received her gravity bomb paper. Yes, a paper, not some ability or item.

“The fact that you’ve written papers means you’re essentially a researcher. And in research, gender, nationality, religion, species—all meaningless.”

“Ha.”

“Shall I say it directly? Cartesia, you need a research partner.”

“Don’t make assumptions, ki—”

“Collaborate with me.”

For a brief moment, Cartesia’s face flickered.

“What did you just say?”

It appeared and disappeared too quickly for me to see clearly. But I could tell she was twisting her lips.

“…Collaboration? You mean joint research, human?”

“Yes, joint research. Share your ideas with me. And let’s discover as many applications for crystals as possible.”

Suddenly, I recalled a line from ‘God Slayer.’

[Never make requests to foreign gods.]

It makes sense. Foreign gods take something in return for favors. Usually something more precious than the request itself.

But here’s the question.

What if we reverse it?

“Let’s create a device to contain Darwin’s Legion. Let’s also research ways to change the conditions under which the Virgin Palace’s thought-forms operate. If we subdue ‘Aurore’ and my relationship with Rustila progresses, Cartesia, I’ll grant you one wish.”

I will give you a reward.

So accept my quest.

“…You’re insane.”

The response was immediate.

Cartesia took a deep breath, then began laughing uncontrollably.

“Insane! Insane! This is completely insane——!!”

The space echoed. It was laughter bordering on madness.

I found it slightly surprising. It was the first time I’d seen her, usually calm, express such intense emotion.

“…You dare propose a quest to a foreign god without knowing your place? What? And you’ll grant me one wish? You must think you’re smarter and more capable than me!”

The ground shook then. The horizontal coordinate system wasn’t fixed and trembled. Space began to wobble.

Shortly after.

Swish!

From the darkness, one by one, eyeballs like jellyfish bodies appeared, glaring at me from all directions.

“Listen.”

A bizarre and terrifying sight.

“You seem to think you’re a foreign god like me, but listen carefully. Kid, there’s a three-dimensional wall between you and me. You’re in 4D, I’m in 7D or higher hyper-spacetime. We live in different spaces. Understand? Yet you dare…”

“…Hey, enough.”

I interrupted, pointing at the ‘indescribable’ instruments.

“This is your lab, right? Your shop was ‘Secret Laboratory of Cartesia,’ wasn’t it? So since this is a public lab, I can buy those things too.”

I’d been looking at them for a while.

Focusing with a frown, I could see faint numbers. Price tags. Some started at hundreds of Fron, while the more expensive ones cost hundreds of thousands.

“Since we’re collaborating, I’ll move them to my professor’s lab?”

“What…?”

I’d been accumulating Fron without spending it. I needed somewhere to use it since I wasn’t fighting.

Good thing I saved up.

“You know what?”

“W-what?”

“Since transactions with foreign gods or constellations happen in the cerebral cortex of the contractor… humans have the upper hand.”

Snap!

I flicked my finger.

[— You have purchased ‘Matter Pulverizer’.]

“…Wait, you madman. What are you doing!”

[— You have purchased ‘5D Crystal Cutter’.]

[— You have purchased ‘Avatar Manufacturing Device’.]

[— You have purchased ‘Aether-Anti-Aether Pair Generator’.]

“Stop buying! Stop buying, I said!”

[— Would you like to purchase ‘Ultra-High Output Freon Beamline’?]

“No, not the beamline. That’s my favorite. It costs 165,000 Fron!”

“Oh, that was close.”

[— You have purchased ‘Ultra-High Density Prion Beamline’.]

Cartesia screamed.

***

After that stunt, I was slapped about 300 times with hardened tentacles. Since it wasn’t in the real world, I didn’t die… but it was pain I never want to experience again.

I rubbed my stinging face and asked, “Be honest. Why did you show me your lab? You obviously knew all shops work this way.”

[“…”]

“If you don’t want to say, fine.”

[“You, you’ll die later, uh. Kid.”]

Actually, I could guess without asking.

Researchers are all like this.

Set up a lab and not show it to others, keeping it as a private space? No, that’s absolutely impossible. Researchers are beings who need to cut a cake or something when they bring in new research equipment to feel satisfied.

“Come to think of it, we’ve been living peacefully like this since we made that deal about gravity bomb research.”

[“So what?”]

“Nothing. I was just wondering if that has any connection to the ‘chains.'”

Grind, crunch.

I could hear teeth grinding in my head.

Cartesia didn’t answer for a while.

“My goodness, what is all this?”

Professor Feynman gaped at the foreign god’s new equipment.

“Eidel, did you bring all this in?”

“Yes. With my own money.”

“I can’t believe it.”

I crammed all sorts of equipment into an unused side room.

But the beamline was much larger, so it wasn’t materialized yet. By the way, items purchased with Fron could be materialized at any desired location when wanted. Like the ‘Calipers of Wisdom’ I received from Cartesia.

Well, the equipment here should be enough for crystal research for now.

So, I’ll postpone installing the beamline…

“…So, are you going to do the quest or not?”