Ch.342How Did It Come to This (4)

Ireh opened the window and returned to her place. Her face was flushed, and her eyes were unfocused.

A cool breeze entered, tickling the nape of my neck. And the continued assault from the alien deity under the desk sent chills down my spine.

“Ugh.”

The situation was getting worse by the minute.

Splat, splat.

The sound of something slimy being rubbed together. Sullivan rolled her eyes and suddenly asked:

“Do you hear a strange noise somewhere?”

I nearly had a heart attack. Desperate not to reveal the existence of Cartesia here, I frantically racked my brain.

Gritting my teeth, I struggled to come up with an excuse.

“I’m not sure.”

“That’s strange. It definitely sounds like it’s coming from down here…”

“They must be draining water downstairs.”

“Draining water?”

“It rained quite heavily until recently. This is a low-lying area that sometimes floods during heavy rain. They must be doing some drainage work somewhere.”

“I see.”

Sullivan nodded. Was she innocently believing me, or did she already know and was just pretending not to?

I didn’t want to know. I gave up trying to read her thoughts. Sometimes ignorance was bliss.

Sullivan paused briefly before continuing the conversation.

“…Finally, there is a matter of greatest concern at present.”

“The Magnus Order?”

“So you’re aware. Yes. The followers of that order believe that your graviton bomb theory will bring about the end of the universe. As a result, many people are growing resentful toward you, Professor.”

There were similar rumors on the Earth I used to live on.

It was when the European Particle Physics laboratory was trying to recreate the early universe with a particle accelerator. Some claimed that the particle accelerator could create a black hole that would swallow the Earth.

It was baseless nonsense.

The situation I’m experiencing now is the same. The Magnus Order was attacking and disregarding scientists’ hard work for the sake of their own faith.

“Of course, our government plans to strictly crack down on such atrocities by these heretics. However, just to be safe, Professor, please request military assistance when you travel to the western region.”

Sullivan stood up. It was about time. I also tried to stand up to see her off, but the situation wouldn’t allow it.

Stand up now?

I’d be caught.

“Just a moment, I have another appointment right after this and need to prepare… Student? Would you mind seeing the teacher out for me?”

Ireh hesitated before nodding. I apologized to Sullivan for not being able to stand up.

“It’s fine. You seem busy, so I’ll take my leave.”

Clunk.

The door closed, and soon the locking signal sounded. Only then did I sigh and pull my chair back.

Cartesia was licking her tentacles. She met my eyes and smiled, forming an arc with her lips.

“How pathetic.”

Slither.

The tentacles that had been wrapped around my lower body all withdrew at once.

“Still, it was amusing entertainment for a brief moment.”

“What on earth…”

“What on earth did I do that for, you ask?”

Cartesia crawled out. She placed her hands on my knees and slowly stood up.

“You should know better than anyone, youngster.”

“No, I really don’t.”

“If I must say, it was for an experiment. To see how long my potential companion could endure my little tricks.”

Experiment?

Tricks?

Endure?

These were all words I couldn’t comprehend.

However, based on Cartesia’s personality, I could finally deduce her intentions.

“Are you jealous?”

“Well, humans do call it that.”

Cartesia is an alien deity. Although she takes human form and has observed humanity for a long time, she’s clumsy at expressing herself like a human.

Just as an entomologist observing ants would find it difficult to become like an ant. So to some extent, I had to infer and judge.

In other words.

This alien lady seemed displeased with how Ireh and I were growing closer without restraint.

Cartesia giggled and said:

“You actually enjoyed it, didn’t you?”

“But this isn’t right. Who would do such a thing during work…”

“That’s what makes it more fun.”

“What fun?”

“You were the one who told me to hide under the desk when another human entered. I was just following your orders.”

It was a monkey’s paw situation.

“If you command an alien deity, shouldn’t you pay the appropriate price?”

“You’re half constellation.”

“And half alien deity.”

I let out a hollow laugh. Seizing the opportunity, Cartesia approached and whispered in my ear.

“…And the constellation part belongs to you, youngster.”

I flicked Cartesia’s forehead. Far from showing any sign of pain, she pressed her body closer.

“Alright, I’ll hug you. I’ll hug you, so don’t do this again.”

“A hug, is it? I’m not sure what your intention is with this action, but I’ll gratefully accept it.”

Cartesia embraced me tightly.

Anyway, it was because of this personality that I couldn’t completely dislike this lady.

That’s when it happened.

Clunk.

Ireh flung open the office door and entered. As soon as she saw me holding Cartesia, with cold, icy eyes…

…she drew her spirit gun.

***

At that moment when she turned around after opening the window, Ireh saw it. The alien deity toying with Eidel. The cunning smile she gave when their eyes met while playing with her tentacles.

It’s difficult for humans to understand alien deities, and for alien deities to understand humans.

However, it’s not difficult for a woman to understand another woman’s psychology. Even if they are different species.

In other words, that expression.

It was as good as a declaration of war against Ireh.

She simply couldn’t forgive it.

After seeing Sullivan off, Ireh returned as quickly as possible. This was her and Eidel’s research lab. She absolutely couldn’t leave her brother alone with that alien deity.

Clunk!

As soon as she opened the door, she saw Eidel embracing Cartesia.

Ireh instinctively drew up aether from her entire body.

“Get away from him.”

Click.

She pointed her spirit gun at Cartesia. It was a bullet filled with aether, harmless to humans but lethal to alien deities.

Cartesia turned around and twisted her lips.

“You’re back?”

“I said get away from him right now!”

The number of wives allowed for Eidel by Zernya was four in total. But in reality, there was only one vacant position.

Of course, Zernya had permitted marriage with Ireh given the circumstances.

But.

‘She didn’t explicitly confirm it.’

Zernya had spoken indirectly. She only said that up to four were possible, but didn’t specifically point out who should be the fourth wife.

While appearing to show mercy to Eidel, she limited his options to make things difficult for him.

This indicated that Zernya had abandoned her desire to monopolize Eidel in a polygamous situation and adopted a new strategy.

– I’m the legal wife, you bastards! Ahahaha!

Anyway.

From Ireh’s perspective, unable to clearly read Zernya’s thoughts, the current situation felt like nothing but a crisis.

She risked losing the fourth and possibly final wife position to Cartesia, and beyond that, even her position as the first research partner could be usurped.

In other words, whether she would make it to marriage or not.

Whether she would become the research partner Eidel prioritized most or not.

Whether she would graduate under him or not.

These three propositions were equivalent. Thinking about it this way, how could she not lose her mind?

“Alien deity, get away from brother Del. If you don’t move away by the count of three, I’ll shoot.”

“Hmm, go ahead and try.”

“Sister, don’t!”

Eidel tried to stop her, but Ireh’s restraint had long since been loosened. He’s my brother. He’s my professor. How dare a creature of a different species flirt with Eidel?

Ireh closed the door and raised her voice.

“One!”

“Hug me tighter.”

“Two!”

“Until I can’t breathe.”

“Three!”

“Wait, wait a moment!”

Eidel hurriedly stood up. He approached while still holding Cartesia. To be precise, Cartesia was clinging to him.

“Sister, please don’t do this in my research lab.”

Ireh’s index finger trembled, about to pull the trigger. She knew too. In fact, wasting spirit bullets that cost a coin per shot here would be a huge loss.

As soon as Eidel’s hand touched her, Ireh’s spirit gun dissipated into the air. Immediately after, Eidel took Ireh’s hand.

Ireh, pulled along limply, sat down in a chair at Eidel’s urging. Eidel spread research materials on the desk and wrapped his arm around Ireh’s waist.

Ireh was startled. She hadn’t expected Eidel to initiate such aggressive skinship without warning.

“I’ve been watching for the past week, and it seems this won’t work.”

On the left was Ireh.

On the right was Cartesia.

One of them couldn’t become a wife. That was the constraint set by Zernya.

In other words, Ireh was in a superposition of states—being Eidel’s illicit partner and being a prospective bride.

Truly a quantum mechanical affair.

But Eidel came up with a new answer to this problem.

“Don’t fight.”

Because he was a physicist.

Seeing the repulsion between the two women, he thought of two electrons with different spins. As everyone knows, electrons repel each other.

However, at extremely low temperatures, two electron pairs lose their function as fermions and become bosons through the mediation of quasi-particles called phonons.

Simply put, two electrons behave as if they were one.

The same goes for these two women.

“I don’t intend to keep just one of you anyway.”

For the peace of the laboratory.

For the sake of the thesis and the graviton bomb.

Eidel decided to consider himself a superconductor.

“I’ll be your phonon.”

Ireh couldn’t immediately understand those words, but Cartesia was different.

“…Are you saying you’ll impregnate me?”

Thump, thump.

The organ equivalent to her heart pulsated.

An ordinary human might not understand, but to an alien deity who had devoted her life to scholarship, this was the most valuable confession in the world.