#162

Callister, who had given me his arm, told me that he could feel the sensations of my left arm.

He had guessed correctly when I drew shapes on my palm.

‘I don’t know if he can recognize letters, but…’

I slowly wrote letters on my palm.

Callister.

‘…I wonder if I can convey complex sentences this way?’

No, before that.

Is it a good idea to try and communicate with the ‘Host Tabernacle’ at this point?

The ‘adult of ledea’ that constitutes Casimir’s body probably makes up less than 5% of her weight.

And such a Casimir is currently unconscious and showing no reaction.

‘On the other hand, the Host Tabernacle is 100% maggots.’

I wrote the name again.

Callister.

‘Maybe he’s already lost his human form.’

Was 1kg of mealworms roughly 7,000 insects?

If an adult male is 70kg, then 70 times that?

The place where several Host Tabernacles were gathered…

‘It must have become like a ball pit filled with bugs.’

Callister.

‘The fact that my arm is safe right now might be purely thanks to my mental defense trait.’

Callister.

‘But if he’s still holding onto his consciousness…’

He might be able to explain what the current situation is.

I started to write “Please listen to me,” but then I thought it might be too difficult to understand.

Unlike shapes, letters have ambiguous forms.

If he lost focus for even a moment, there was a high probability he wouldn’t recognize the letters.

‘…In Sacred Script, it was just one character.’

Listen.

The imperative form of “to listen.”

Just in case he didn’t notice, I wrote it again.

Listen.

Listen.

Listen.

‘And in Sacred Script…’

I pondered for a moment.

Should I write ‘Come to me’?

Or should I write ‘Come here’?

In Sacred Script, there is no distinction between ‘come’ and ‘go,’ so the direction must be specified.

‘Writing “to me” takes fewer strokes.’

Come to me.

Come to me.

Come to me.

Come to me.

After repeating it four times, the ‘Record’ suddenly came to mind.

‘…Was it a feeling like this?’

Since I couldn’t tell if it was received properly, I kept repeating it.

An ordinary person might find it creepy and ignore it, but I was certain Callister wouldn’t care.

‘If he can understand, he’ll find me; if not, it’ll just end as a meaningless attempt.’

As long as he is in a state where he can recognize his own name and follow simple instructions, we’ll be able to communicate somehow.

I wrote one last sequence.

Callister, listen. Come to me.

‘If there’s no reaction to this…’

What should I do next?

‘…It would be great if I knew Athanas’s location.’

Fortunately, I don’t have to worry about missing each other.

Because I have Athanas’s reliquary with me.

He’s more likely to find me when I’m moving rather than staying still.

‘Because it’s a signal that I’m sane and trying to solve the problem.’

But now that it comes down to it, I have no idea where to start to solve the problem.

The place where the Council was held is probably a disaster…

‘Not to mention the Main Hall where the research director’s office is.’

Athanasuki still hasn’t replied.

‘…That bastard Pandemonium, too.’

He hasn’t sent a single chat asking if I’m safe.

Seeing as the chat window still pops up, it means he’s alive.

Is some kind of Tutorial life-support system working, making time flow differently?

The moment I tried to send a message, something entered my field of vision.

‘…What is that?’

Something I didn’t know how to call was crawling toward me.

Before I could perceive its form, it collapsed, and then something tried to form again only to collapse.

It looked like a collection of particles that had collapsed because the physics engine settings were wrong.

“Fa, bio…”

‘Holy shit, it talks.’

Could ‘this’ be Callister?

It wasn’t that large.

Should I say it looked like someone boiled 50 packs of ramen and poured them straight onto the floor?

The area was about one square meter, but the height was less than 30cm.

“Fabio…”

“Callister?”

The moment I called his name, dozens of eyes sprouted from the mass.

All those eyes stared at me.

‘Holy shit!’

That’s fucking disgusting!

As I reflexively stepped back, it crawled a bit closer.

“Fabio…”

It clumsily tried to make legs, but couldn’t stand up and fell over.

Eventually, it approached slowly by creating multiple feet to push itself across the ground.

‘Did he even forget how to walk?’

“This is the seventh time…”

I stopped stepping back.

“…Don’t move from there.”

As if the mass understood my words, it stopped dead in its tracks.

‘Fuck.’

I have to talk to that thing?

This is going to be brutal.

Still, it seems he has some memories.

“Callister.”

“I… Callister. Fabio, your Callister.”

“How did you end up like that?”

“How? How… How? How? How?”

Several things like mouths sprouted.

“From where… Fabio! Nice to meet you. Seven times? Strange. What happened, even I? Couldn’t see. I saw. Ledeia… things happen. Oblivion! Be careful of memories. Your identity. Must not ask. The Saintess…”

“Stop!”

At my words, all the mouths closed.

“Callister. First, can you change into a human form?”

“Human…? Human? Human who? Human? What was a human? It’s hard.”

The colors of the eyeballs shifted here and there.

Movements repeated where things like teratomas were created and then melted away.

‘It seems like an error caused by trying to output everything tagged as “human” simultaneously.’

“Can you go back to the appearance you had when you were called Callister? Just one single Callister.”

“Callister? Callister? I don’t know. Callister? I don’t know. Callister? I don’t know. Callister? It’s hard. I can’t do it. Callister? I am your Callister…”

“…Then try thinking about replicating the original form of just any one person.”

“Anyone? Human? Who? Anyone? Who? Please give me an example.”

‘An example?’

The rolling eyeballs looked at me.

“Fabio.”

“Huh?”

“Is Fabio… human?”

“…What?”

For a moment, I felt an ominous sensation and backed away, but it was a useless action.

A dozen arms sprouted from the mass and grabbed me.

‘Fuck!’

“Stop it! Stop! Enough!”

“What? What? Fabio. What should I stop?”

“Everything!”

“I understand. I have stopped the movement of blinking my eyelids.”

“Fuck, not that!”

“You told me to stop everything, didn’t you?”

“Agh!”

“Fabio, Fabio, Fabio…”

‘Stop touching me!’

I felt like a guinea pig in a poorly managed petting zoo.

Petting experiences one person at a time! Please!

I tried to push it away, but my left hand became entangled with the mass.

‘Fuck, this was maggots too!’

Before I could even feel terror at the grotesque scene.

“It hurts!”

I felt pain at the boundary of my arm.

It felt like thousands of doctor fish were biting the wounded part.

‘No way.’

Realizing what was happening, I screamed.

“No! Stop it! Don’t eat me! Eating is forbidden! You piece of shit! Stop biting me! Agh!”

“…My apologies.”

Soon, the mass squirmed, and the hands decreased one by one.

In the end, only two remained: one hand interlaced with my left hand, and one hand stroking my face.

“I’ve shown you a sight you shouldn’t have seen!”

Something with ‘Fabio’s’ face grinned.

I was the only one out of breath.

‘…I can still see it.’

I gulped.

That bastard is completely naked right now.

Well, clothes aren’t part of the body, so it’s natural, but.

His hair stretched down to his waist, but none of the important parts were covered.

“I’m saved thanks to you. Fabio, if it weren’t for you, it would have been a disaster! Wow. I was confused about how many eyes a human has! How could I forget something so basic?”

“…Let go of my hand.”

“Understood. More importantly, it’s very cold right now. Could you take off some clothes for me? I’m going to freeze to death at this rate!”

‘Shameless bastard…’

However, since the sight of a guy who looked like me dangling everything was an ordeal for me as well, I obediently handed over my coat.

“…Did you reference me for that body?”

“Yes! Because you were the closest example!”

“But why are you bigger than me?”

“Because I referenced the original form? In other words, it means if Fabio had eaten well, he could have grown this big!”

I see.

Fabio could have been about 6cm taller.

‘But this is kind of annoying.’

If he was going to reconstruct the body based on DNA, he didn’t even need to touch me.

Why the hell did he do that?

“And since there was some adult left over, I added a bit more muscle and fat. How is it?”

“…Fasten it properly. Everything is showing.”

“What? This is the limit with just one cloak. You’re making an unreasonable request! If that’s the case, please take off your under-shorts!”

‘This piece of shit.’

“Why don’t you use the remaining adult to grow hair all over your body instead? Like a monkey.”

“I wanted to do that too, but this was the best I could do with Fabio’s original form.”

Callister lifted his long hair and wrapped it around his neck like a scarf.

“It’s better than nothing, but it’s not that warm.”

I let out a sigh in disbelief, and my breath froze white.

‘…Let’s just ignore it.’

“So tell me what happened. What happened at the Council? How did you lose your human form?”

“What? Explain it here? I’m cold. If I stay long, I’ll freeze to death.”

“…Then we’ll go inside, so answer as we walk.”

“That will be difficult too. The floor is too cold and hard for my newly made, soft bare feet to walk on.”

‘Fuck.’

“So what do you want me to do?”

“Please take off the shoes you’re wearing.”

“Then what about me? Aren’t my feet cold?”

“Fabio has calluses, so it’ll be better than for me.”

‘What kind of bastard is this?’

He ate my flesh and now he wants my clothes too?

Do I owe him something?

“…Just walk.”

“I was just joking. I’ll carry Fabio.”

“No, walk whether your soles freeze and burst or not.”

“Then it can’t be helped.”

Callister squatted down and began to take off the shoes of the unresponsive Casimir.

I was appalled.

“What are you doing! Are you crazy?”

“It’s not theft if I give them back, so it’s fine! I’ve done this a lot.”

“What do you mean you’ve done this a lot…”

‘Complete lunatic!’

“Just leave her alone! No, wait.”

Casimir is currently seriously injured.

If she’s left like that and an infection occurs, the prognosis won’t be good.

“Can you treat Casimir?”

“What? That thing?”

‘”That thing,” he says…’

“I can temporarily restore the damaged areas, but it won’t last long. She’ll probably return to that state as soon as I heal her.”

“…Why? I’m perfectly fine.”

“That’s possible because you are special, Fabio. You have to think about it the other way around.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s thanks to Fabio that I’m still maintaining my ego. I don’t know why, but the adult attached to you, Fabio, remained connected to me. Your blood was continuously being supplied there. Thanks to that, I wasn’t tainted by madness.”

‘So…’

Does that mean the effect of the I Alone Am Honored Trait was transmitted through the blood?

“…Then if I share my blood, will Casimir return to normal too?”

“I don’t know. If I were you, I wouldn’t try that.”

Callister answered while stuffing his feet into Casimir’s shoes.

“As for me, I’m just a piece of equipment that can’t go to heaven or hell in the first place, so I was very happy when you shared your blood and flesh, but I don’t know if the Knight Commander of the Inquisition would be happy to become your Vassal.”

“…Vassal?”