#150

When I opened my eyes, Athanas was quietly watching me.

I blinked, unable to grasp the situation for a moment.

“…Athanas?”

Why is he hugging me?

I know he has sleeping habits, but he’s awake now.

No, more importantly….

“Did you cry?”

There were traces of tears on his face as he lay there.

They weren’t just a few drops leaked out from a yawn.

‘Athanas shedding tears.’

It was a truly strange combination of words.

Well, Athanas is human too, so of course he can cry.

But why?

“Did you have a dream?”

I wondered what kind of sad dream could have made Athanas cry.

Then, it suddenly occurred to me that in the Dark Realm, dreams are closer to Revelations.

“…Was it a nightmare about the arrival of the plague?”

Staying in the Capital Church, I sometimes see scenes that overlap with what I saw in Die Heretic!

Could a building this magnificent become such a ruin?

Then what about the people filling this place right now?

What would happen to all of them?

When I think about it, even I, who have little attachment to this world, find it hard to breathe for a moment.

If I feel this way, then Athanas….

‘…That sight must have felt thousands of times more shocking to him.’

“I did not cry because of a dream.”

“Then why….”

“…I will tell you later.”

Athanas said that, ruffled my hair, and stood up.

‘Does that mean he doesn’t want to talk about it?’

It bothered me slightly, but I quickly brushed off the curiosity.

If it were something I needed to know, he would have explained it on his own.

I didn’t want to pry into something he hadn’t disclosed.

After all, there are many things I cannot tell Athanas either.

As I put on my socks, I retraced my memory to recall what we had last discussed.

“Are we going to the Main Hall now?”

To borrow Callister, I would have to find the Director of the Research Institute, Columba.

Instead of answering, Athanas pulled a small cylinder-like object from among the unpacked luggage.

“What is that?”

“It is a pager I received from the Director.”

“A pager?”

“It can send a signal to a nearby Callister.”

‘When did he get something like that?’

“…The Director gave it to me while you were speaking with Reyes Floren. He said it was an experimental creation and asked for my cooperation in testing the signal transmission.”

“Couldn’t they do that kind of test among themselves? Why you….”

“He said that because Callisters have identical thought patterns, it is difficult to tell whether they are exchanging signals or simply thinking the same thing at the same time. Therefore, a third party who can send unpredictable signals is essential for verification. Since it didn’t seem harmful to me, I accepted.”

As Athanas spoke, he twisted the middle of the cylinder back and forth, as if aligning the numbers on a combination lock.

A faint clicking sound echoed.

A moment later, there was a knock at the door.

[Did you call for me?]

When Athanas opened the door, there were two Callisters, both smiling brightly.

‘Why are there two?’

The one standing in the back waved his hand.

“Fabio! Nice to see you. This is the sixth time!”

“…Fabio, nice to see you? This is the first time I have seen you. However, I am aware of you. But why this greeting? Is this part of another experiment I was not informed about?”

“It’s just a greeting! There’s no special meaning. Isn’t it nice to see you?”

“More importantly, I was the one assigned the role of responding to the call, so why are you following….”

“Because I am also a Callister! Is there some problem with a Callister coming when a Callister is called?”

Hearing two identical faces and voices chatting away made my head spin.

“…Let’s just come inside and talk.”

I let the two in and closed the door.

The Callister I was seeing for the first time took the pager from Athanas, opened the small cylinder, and shook something out.

“What is that?”

“It is the pager.”

“I mean, what is inside it….”

“Would you like to see?”

Before I could refuse, the Callister held it out.

I immediately regretted asking.

“Ugh….”

Living maggots eating crushed maggots.

Don’t tell me this ‘pager’ sends signals by killing some of the maggots?

The Callister beamed.

“Fabio, the Director asked me to convey his gratitude, saying that this invention was possible thanks to you.”

“What did I….”

“He said that while compressing information, he realized that everything could be expressed with only two states.”

…That all information can be expressed with 0 and 1?

That is the basic principle of digital.

So, instead of semiconductors, he plans to use maggots as ‘0 for alive, 1 for dead’?

“Maggots don’t come back to life.”

What’s the point of a transistor that can be switched on but never switched off?

It only makes sense if you can continuously toggle between two states.

If they have to come and refill it every time, it can’t function as anything more than a one-time pager.

I spoke without thinking much, but I flinched when I saw the Callister’s face.

“W-what is it?”

“You….”

The Callister was grinning so wide his mouth almost reached his ears.

“…Just by looking at it, you immediately realized the principle and the limitation!”

As if I knew of a more ideal ‘device’!

The Callister stared at me with sparkling eyes.

‘Shit, I messed up.’

“Ah, really, really, really, I want you to come to the laboratory….”

“Fabio dislikes it when you say that, so it would be better not to.”

“That’s right. I heard. He has already rejected the proposal of a ‘Callister’ several times, so it would be troublesome to hear the same proposal from another person.”

As the Callister clenched and opened his fist, the maggots vanished like magic.

“…Still, you could at least give some advice, couldn’t you?”

‘I’m not doing it.’

Regardless of my will, the Callister began rambling about the structure of the pager.

“The Sacred Vessel exists in the form of a maggot until it becomes part of another body and fulfills its original purpose of performing ‘healing.’ And the priests of Ledeia can sense the state and location of the Sacred Vessel in the form of a maggot.”

That way, they can make it find the part that needs replacing when granting the Blessing of Healing.

As the Callister spoke, he showed the maggots crawling in a neat line.

“However, a Sacred Vessel in maggot form cannot survive long after leaving the body. Even in a specially treated container, three days is the limit. After that….”

“Do they die?”

“…They don’t die, but the healing effect completely disappears. Even things like this become impossible.”

Eight maggots on the Callister’s hand wriggled in the same rhythm.

It looked like they were dancing, or as if they were receiving an electrical stimulus simultaneously.

It was a truly unpleasant and bizarre sight.

‘To think of using a Sacred Vessel as a transmitter.’

To put it nicely, it’s creative; to put it bluntly, it’s a fucking blasphemous idea.

Why did Ledeia choose such a strange fellow as an apostle?

Did she judge that only someone this insane would dig into what the first contract made with Order was?

“If it’s designed so it can be tightened just enough to detect change, there’s no need to consume the Sacred Vessel every time. However, in its current form, it’s inevitably inefficient….”

There were eight rotating parts on the pager.

‘If eight Sacred Vessels are inside, that’s 8 bits, meaning it can send 256 types of signals.’

If the state of the maggots could be further subdivided, it wouldn’t be 2 to the 8th power, but 3 to the 8th or 4 to the 8th.

Of course, the downside is that both the sender and receiver would have to memorize those differences….

“How can it be improved?”

“Do you absolutely have to use Ledeia’s Sacred Vessel?”

Upon hearing that, the Callister let out a deep sigh.

“I want to cooperate with other gods too, but they won’t help me.”

‘…I wouldn’t want to either.’

A Sacred Vessel is a part of a god.

Would a human who carelessly crushes such a divine thing treat the Sacred Relics of another god with care?

Absolutely not.

“I think it would work if we used Valentine’s Sacred Relic….”

The Callister cast a subtle glance toward me.

I quickly covered Athanas’s reliquary with both hands to hide it.

“Absolutely not.”

“Pardon? Did I say something?”

“You just looked at my reliquary.”

“I did?”

‘Shit, he’s so damn shameless.’

Come to think of it, when I first saw ‘Callister’ at the Branch Office, he grumbled about wanting to enter Valentine’s prayer room but being blocked.

I must be careful so he doesn’t steal this Sacred Relic.

The Director of the Research Institute has a history of recklessly using Sacred Relics stored in the knights’ warehouse….

‘I can never let this be taken.’

“Fabio.”

The Callister who had followed along whispered to me.

“You can send signals to me without using a crude thing like that pager. Because you are special.”

“What do you mean by special?”

Before I could even finish the question, the other Callister asked.

So, the Callister Athanas called, to the other Callister who followed….

‘Shit, this is so confusing.’

Even if these guys didn’t find it uncomfortable, I did.

I decided to give them nicknames.

‘The one who appeals that we’ve met several times will be Gurister, and the one I’m seeing for the first time will be Chorister.’

They were damn terrible names, but I didn’t want to put in the effort to make them good.

Gurister lifted my left arm and spoke.

“This part. The blood is clearly flowing and it’s connected properly to the veins, but I still have sensation here.”

This was news to me.

Gurister suddenly let go of my wrist and turned his back to me.

“I will prove it. Fabio, draw a shape on your left palm. I will guess it.”

Feeling reluctant, I followed the instruction.

Gurister answered clearly without hesitation.

“A pentagon! A wonderful shape. Did you draw it remembering what I said about pentagons before? How touching. Ah, a right-angle mark. Next is a circle? Then….”

‘What the hell?’

No, seriously, by what principle is the signal going over there?

Shouldn’t the nervous system be connected for sensation to be felt?

What is this, really?

“Is that correct?”

Chorister asked with a skeptical expression.

I didn’t answer, but Chorister seemed to take the silence as affirmation.

“This… this is a phenomenon I very much want to investigate! This is amazing. Fabio, in our laboratory….”

“No, that won’t work. Before Fabio’s arm was cut, we agreed that he would not become a test subject for this matter.”

“Is that true?”

“Instead, he agreed to give that arm to us!”

‘…Who agreed with whom?’

The 24th-floor me and the Director?

I bit my lip.

Come to think of it, I should find out what the ‘Record’ the Director received actually is.

‘If I ask that stupid Record fellow, wouldn’t he answer easily?’

Since Reyes said he currently has the book connected to ‘Record’….

At that moment, Gurister patted Chorister on the shoulder.

“Callister, you must do your assigned task first!”

Chorister nodded with a look of regret.

“Athanas. So, why did you call us? When you turned 1 and 3, it meant you had something to say, right?”

‘…I can’t hand over Reyes’s Sacred Relic to these guys.’

If it were the Director, it was obvious he would use an Othergod’s Sacred Relic for something strange.

I interrupted before Athanas could speak.

“The Watched Ones are trying to hold a Council.”

“A Council?”

“I want you… I mean, I want the Director to investigate the Council.”

“Ho, then what would the Director gain from that?”

“The elector trying to hold the Council is likely influenced by the Watched Ones. He might be able to obtain clues about the Watched Ones.”

Athanas merely gazed at me, not bringing up the story he had originally intended to tell.

Chorister tilted his head.

“I’m curious. What do the Watched Ones want to do at the Council?”

“That is….”

“Now that I think about it, we can just ask the rookie!”

“…Rookie?”

“I am talking about Reyes Floren.”

Gurister answered.

“By any chance, are you planning to forcibly interrogate him….”

“What are you saying! We do not proceed with anything without consent.”

‘…What about cutting off my arm?’

I never consented to that.

Does the text written by the 24th-floor me count as my consent?

Then, as long as there’s a written document that can be considered Reyes’s consent, wouldn’t it be fine even if Reyes says he hates it?

Since there’s an anatomy consent form signed by a being that can be considered you, even if you scream in hatred, they’ll say they’re going to dissect you….

“Above all, the rookie is very passionate. He has so much curiosity!”

‘It seems he’s working hard to get information on the Pioneer of Civilization player.’

I thought I should chat with Reyes later.

There were many things I was curious about.

Why he sent Pandemonium to me, what he found out about the House Lizard, and….

‘…Whether he’s undergoing any strange experiments.’

Should I just tell Callister now that I want to become a researcher?

If there’s a legacy left by the House Lizard in the Main Hall, it would be better for me to get it than Reyes.

And if they don’t perform experiments I truly don’t want, there’s no need to fear the Director.

But if they were performing horrific experiments….

‘…I’ll call the Saintess.’

It’s not that I intend to condemn Columba or force Reyes to log out.

If I call the Saintess, the Tutorial life-support system will activate.

The System will intervene so that the player can escape from the apostle.

If so, Reyes will somehow be able to find a way out of ‘Isolation.’

‘If the only way to escape is suicide….’

I wonder if it would make it possible for him to die on the spot.

“What are you thinking about?”

Athanas suddenly spoke to me.