“”
From the long silence, Julius seemed to be mulling over Subaru’s explanation. But whether others doubted it or not, it was a fact. Having shared his own body with that very madman, Subaru could firmly confirm that much.
His mind conquered people’s flesh, stealing control for itself. Without any doubt, Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti was a spiritual entity that grafted itself to the bodies of others—a repulsive, wicked ability.
“In the past, I have seen references in old tomes about research on similar phenomena. It was reckless research, but…”
“Really?”
When Julius, a hand still over his own mouth, offered up that morsel, Subaru bit. The handsome man plumbed the depths of his memories as he deftly summarized what he could recall from the tome.
“It was research on lost magic, or perhaps a related record. The world lost many things in the immediate aftermath of the Great Catastrophe four centuries ago. This variety of magic seems to have been among what was lost. Gone without a trace, save in records, there was a description of an ability similar to what you describe.”
“Well, don’t hold back. What was the similar lost magic?”
“A technique for soul…transference.”
As Subaru drew closer, Julius revealed something that sounded far removed from magic. However, Subaru did not miss the look of disgust that came over Julius’s face as he spoke of it.
After firmly declaring the research abominable, Julius closed his eyes and continued.
“The phenomenon itself is exceedingly simple. Everything comprising the caster’s soul—his memories, experiences, and most likely, elemental character and destiny—are seared onto the soul of another person.”
“Meaning, it…is possible to overwrite the memories and mind of another person, then.”
It was like doing a copy and paste with a computer file. It treated human memory like a file, overwriting it with another person’s file-like soul, blotting out the old and saving the new.
That way, the discarded soul would be lost, and the overwriting soul would remain.
“But it does not exist in reality. The magic is lost, the ritual is theoretical, and the difficulty is of an almost unheard-of level. Reproducing the feat would require magical genius and tenacity beyond the ability of mortals. I simply cannot believe this Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins possesses such intellect and skill.”
“Hey, man, not believing it exists isn’t a real reason to reject the idea, especially since this is the Witch Cult we’re talking about.”
“Subawu, you’re getting too worked up. Julius has things to say, too.”
The influential Julius rejected his hypothesis, which made Subaru snap at the knight until Ferris chided him for it. Subaru proceeded to put on a guilty look and said, “Go on,” prodding Julius to continue.
“Sorry. It is a bad habit of mine to take my time reaching a conclusion. Even if we put aside the fact that the ritual has been lost, there are a great deal of obstacles for the technique we’ve been discussing. First, the souls that the caster can affect are fairly limited. The technique is not the kind that allows the caster to transfer his soul to any random person he touches.”
“Well, of course not, meow. Memories are a bit out of my field, but overwriting individual Gates is no trivial thing. It’s probably…limited to blood relations, meow?”
“A limitation to blood relatives would be extremely desirable. As Ferris said, the soul being transferred would bounce off the Gate if it is not highly similar. Besides, even when one soul is laid over another, the original soul’s influence over the body will remain. There would be a constant concern about the body being compelled by the mind.”
“…It sure does sound like magic that has a lot of downsides.”
Hearing the pair’s opinions, Subaru could understand why the objections were numerous.
Subaru could not dismiss out of hand the possibility that Petelgeuse was an exceptional magic user capable of employing lost magic, but it was pretty much impossible that his choice of bodies was limited to blood relations.
The fact that he had successfully possessed Subaru shelved that premise completely.
“However, it is too soon to dismiss a completely different method.”
“Will you make up your mind?!”
“I am offended by your outburst. I stated that I know of similar magic as a prerequisite for further discussion. Besides, even if it is not the exact same technique, there are surely important clues we should consider.”
“…Such as?”
“Naturally, I mean the possibility that the conditions for Possession are just as strict as those for soul transference.”
Julius’s assertion made Subaru’s face scrunch up, but he immediately grasped the point. If soul transference was invariably limited to blood relatives, then Possession might have similar restrictions.
“We could deduce that the technique is limited to fellow Witch Cultists…and a select few at that.”
“You mean those finger people…?”
“It is a title in poor taste when referring to spare bodies. I suppose that suits an Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins well.”
Julius agreed with Ferris’s conclusion, a fact that made Subaru gaze in astonishment. In such an incredibly short time, the two had worked out a plausible theory about how Possession operated. Even if the pair were the brains of the operation as well as the most versed in magic out of all the members of the expeditionary force, the results were beyond Subaru’s expectations.
And simultaneously, a plan to truly hunt down the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins of Sloth took form. Namely—
“If we take away all the archbishop’s extra lives…in other words, destroy all his fingers…”
“…He would lose the chance to possess anyone. That’s when the archbishop will face his end.”
The way Julius firmly finished the thought made Subaru feel both deep admiration and a sense of defeat from the bottom of his heart. The difficult situation had made him start to lose all hope, but thanks to them, he could finally see the light in the darkness. After all, it was a solution that was neither contradictory nor disputable.
“In conclusion, we will prioritize eliminating the fingers lurking in the forest, then settle matters with Sloth.”
Julius’s declaration drew the meeting to a close. The faces of the expeditionary force members seated around them surged with determination and resolve. Great strength can be found when a person’s ability and mission are one and the same.
When the members of the expeditionary force rose, their morale was as high as when they had done battle with the White Whale.
“—Everyone, there’s just one more thing I have to tell you.”
It was then that Subaru called out, drawing the attention of the impetuous warriors who were ready to venture forth.
When those intense gazes turned his way, Subaru endured his genuinely apologetic feelings to discuss something he was obligated to explain.
Namely—
“Sorry, but it’s not just the fingers. I’m probably a target for the archbishop’s Possession ability, too. What do you think we can do about that?”
“Huh?”
It had been the direct cause of his latest Return by Death, and the final hurdle he’d had to overcome.
Once he shared that pitiful fact, they began to devise a countermeasure.
4
In the end, their departure time arrived before the “Witch Cult Countermeasures Conference” reached a definite conclusion.
Subaru wanted to continue hammering out a plan, but if they didn’t make it to the battlefield in time, that would be putting the cart before the horse—so to avert that, Subaru gave Julius a suggestion.
“Hey, Julius. With the magic of your spirit groupies, you should be able to link together the minds of people within its effective range, right? Can’t we use that to discuss this on the move?”
Subaru was basing this
query on his experience with Nekt, the mind-sharing spell he had experienced from the last loop, as if it were his own wonderful idea. At the time, Julius had used the spell to link all of the expeditionary force’s minds to quickly deal with Ram’s surprise attack. It had to be possible to use that to hold a meeting, too.
Subaru’s proposal made Julius look at Ferris with mild surprise. “He didn’t hear it from Ferri, okay?” said the kitty-eared knight in response to his gaze, waving a hand as he headed for his land dragon.
“What did Ferris mean that it wasn’t from him?”
“…It’s nothing. I did not think that you knew I was a spirit user. I was merely wondering where you might have learned that.”
“Ah, right. This is where the spirit knight thing first came up…”
That Julius had identified himself as a spirit knight was information Subaru heard close to the end of the last go-around. At the point where he was currently, Subaru shouldn’t have recognized Julius as anything more than a first-rate knight.
But it was a rare opportunity to take Julius off guard. Subaru put on a smug face.
“You’re just more famous than you think. Well, the price of fame didn’t have anything to do with me noticing you quietly stuck one of your quasi-spirits on me.”
“So you were aware of even that?”
This time, a look of unconcealable distress was plain in Julius’s gaze. The reaction made Subaru smile, but right after, he turned his head aside.
That was because, for an instant, Julius’s eyes, which stared at Subaru, seemed to endure a wave of deep pain.
“Certainly, as you have pointed out, I placed one of my flower buds on you— Ia, come on out.”
But he immediately concealed the wave of emotion behind his usual composure.
Beckoned by Julius’s hand, a red light leaped from Subaru’s hair. It was more flicker than flame, more warmth than light, one of the six quasi-spirits accompanying Julius.
“This is Ia, quasi-spirit of fire. I had her follow and watch over you.”
“That’s fine, but tell me about stuff like this. I’d panic if some emergency happened and she jumped out all of a sudden.”
“There is no need for concern. The buds are quite capable. It would never come to something like that.”
“Thanks for sharing your sappy love story. Now, setting that aside—”
When Subaru complained about planting insurance on him without permission, Julius was slightly apologetic. Subaru took it in stride until he realized something didn’t fit.
Julius sticking Ia on him matched the events of the last go-around. His memory of the spirit saving him from the dragon carriage explosion was still fresh. But besides that, he remembered something odd where Ia was concerned. And as he realized that—
“Julius. Under what conditions could Ia be shoved out of me against her will?”
“…I am not quite sure I follow your question.”
“This is important. The answer has a direct impact on the plan to take on the archbishop.”
Faced with Subaru’s firm statement, Julius discarded his momentary bewilderment and answered.
“Attaching Ia to you means, from a spirit user’s point of view, a provisional pact. Forcibly breaking the pact would mean that you, the provisional contractor, have rejected her, or perhaps…”
“Perhaps?”
“A superior, formal pact displaced the provisional pact.”
In that instant, he gave the answer Subaru truly wanted to hear.
Perhaps Julius realized it while speaking the words, because his amber eyes held a glint of comprehension. “It couldn’t be,” the knight said immediately after, shaking his head as if to deny it. However…
“A famous detective once said, ‘Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.’”
“It has the ring of truth. But if it is so…what is to be done?”
“This is the final piece. I wanna hear the rest along the way. Like which people fulfill the conditions, and which don’t.”
“Understood. Let us do exactly that.”
Julius nodded, keeping his words concise as he stuck Ia on Subaru once more and headed to his own land dragon. Subaru felt the warmth of the quasi-spirit on top of his head as he mounted his favorite, pitch-black dragon—Patlash.
“We’ve used up a little more time than before. Gonna have to go all out, Patlash.”
“”
As the land dragon took in Subaru’s words, the side of her refined face made it seem he’d stated the obvious.
Then the expeditionary force resumed its march along the Liphas Highway, heading for the Mathers domain.
“—Nekt.”
Julius used the mind-melding spell once they were under way, affecting the entire expeditionary force. The results of the spell were truly as Subaru had envisioned.
But—
“Ah crap, I completely forgot.”
“Sorry. I didn’t think my tuning with Ia and Nes would be in error… There’s also the fact that Ia seems rather fond of you. Perhaps you have a high compatibility with spirits.”
“Save that stuff for later. We can take our time with that talk once everything’s over.”
Subaru accepted the telepathic apology, pressing his fingers to his temples as his ears continued to ring.
Just like last time, Subaru was reeling from the onrush of everyone’s brain waves the instant Nekt was activated. It was Subaru’s own fault for forgetting all about that side effect.
Julius adjusted the signal to more tolerable levels, allowing Subaru to focus on the flow of the conversation.
“So for the plan of attack against the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins…how shall we proceed?”
Unlike with speaking out loud, there wasn’t a good way to differentiate voices conveyed directly via thought. In spite of this, it was possible to tell the sender of thoughts thanks to their individual character.
The thought Subaru had just received was a deep blue, but concealed scarlet passion within it—Subaru could instantly tell it was Wilhelm who had spoken.
The Sword Devil was riding alongside on his land dragon, the grave look on his face radiating hostility toward an unseen madman.
“If Sir Subaru and Sir Julius’s conjecture is correct, we must carefully consider our method of attack. Invisible magic hands and the ability to take over another’s body are both major obstacles.”
“Yeah, they sure are…”
The Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins of Sloth had two powers they needed to overcome. He had Unseen Hands and Possession at his disposal, but the expeditionary force had solid leads on ways to deal with both.
The main issue at hand was that the method to tackle one power left them vulnerable against the other.
“I’m the only one who can see Petelgeuse’s Unseen Hands. That means if we go at him in a frontal attack, it’s no good unless I’m around. But I’m also a target for Possession. If I’m there and he takes me over, we’ll lose our chance to stop him from getting away anyway.”
“…Sir Subaru, I actually have a proposal about that. Would you care to listen?”
As Subaru sank into thought, pondering “out loud,” Wilhelm interjected with an air of confidence. His words aroused hope throughout the expeditionary force, making Wilhelm give a firm telepathic nod.
“Concerning the archbishop’s invisible arms, I thought of a simple way to expose them to the naked eye. First, we would scatter a large amount of dust, or possibly dirt, around the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins.”
“Ah, I don’t think we can rely on that, meow.”
Though Ferris casually inserted himself into his explanation midway, Wilhelm paid no heed and explained to the very end. Subaru had already seen his plan in action once before: a Wilhelm-style dirt screen to hold Petelgeuse’s Authority in check. Knowing the results from the last go-around, Subaru knew that Wilhelm’s proposal could work.
The
problem was that it was such a superhuman feat, only Wilhelm could pull it off. Indeed, all the expeditionary force members found the suggestion too challenging, with even Julius and Ricardo communicating telepathically that the feat was beyond them.
“I believe anyone can do it with enough practice, but…”
“Yes, yes. But we don’t have fifty years to spend practicing. Aside from proving that Old Man Wil is inhuman, what’ll we do?”
Callously ignoring the dejected Wilhelm, Ferris prioritized moving the conversation forward. Subaru felt bad for Wilhelm, but Ferris had made the right decision.
Subaru mulled over Ferris’s question. “Guess that decides it,” he muttered. “Yeah, let’s go with the original plan for dealing with the Witch Cult and the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins, plus the issues at the mansion and the village. That’s probably best.”
“”
All the members of the expeditionary force reacted to the conclusion of the telepathic Witch Cult Countermeasures Conference.
Sympathy, concern, trust, anxiety—there was a crush of various emotions, but the general consensus was to respect Subaru’s viewpoint. They would proceed as originally planned.
“—To confirm, you are truly all right with this plan? You won’t have any regrets?”
When Subaru was still feeling unsure of himself, Julius was the only one to raise the question. Though it was an inelegant method, this exchange served as a necessary ritual to dispel the expeditionary force’s hesitance.
Plus, that it was Julius, of all people, who brought up the topic meant this was an expression of his knightly beliefs.
“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s my plan and my idea. I’m not gonna turn around and say, Oh no, maybe we actually shouldn’t…though Emilia is probably gonna be super mad at me when we do this.”
With closed eyes, Subaru pictured a lovely girl with silver hair.
It had been only a few short hours since he’d left the world where he’d gazed upon her with unrequited love, his wish for a one-sided reunion having been granted. Even so, the serene sight of the her face and the sound of her lovely voice were undiminished.
It was because he could still vividly recall those things that he was able to hold firm in his decision.
Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Vol. 9 Page 2
