Chapter 52: The Curse Between the Continents

“Woohoo～!! Super rare sample!!”

Yor squealed with delight. She was so hyper after receiving the black bee sample from Razé.

“Aa-, the professor is going crazy again.”

Watching from the side, Yor’s assistant, Frey, held his head in his hands.

Razé felt a little bit guilty, but the sample was a very important thing so there was no option to not giving it to Yor. “Professor Yor,” Razé called in a low voice. Yor jumped in surprised and turned to look at her.

Razé: “Can we move on to our main topic?”

Yor: “….Mmmm. Alright….I’ll prepare the specimen later…”

Razé: “Although I wanted to say ‘yes please’, coincidentally, that sample is our main topic. We can talk while you do your experiment.”

Yor: “He-he～. Razé knows me best～”

Yor was happy that Razé, who was an excellent soldier in the country, could understood her personality well. The other men lack flexibility and she hated to talk to them. She really wished that Razé would come every time.

Frey listened to their conversation and immediately prepared a test kit on the desk that had been tidied up for Razé’s visit. Razé took out something that looked like a small square box out of her pocket, held it with both hands, twisted the center and put it on the desk.

Yor watched with fascination. “What is that?” She usually showed no interest in anything other than research. It was rare for her to ask others like this. Frey always thought that Razé was special to Yor and he hoped that she would act more like a normal person with her influence.

Razé: “Sergio-san made it for me recently. It’s a soundproof device for antibugging purpose.”

Yor: “Hmm. Such a useful tool. Why didn’t he make it sooner?”

Razé: “I thought so too. I should have asked him earlier.”

Razé forced a laugh. If he had made this device sooner, then she wouldn’t have to suspiciously run around to lose a tail or even go to Zone 15 for privacy. Anyway, it would be ridiculous if they have a tool that could nullify forbidden art but not antibugging device.

Sergio Habermas was a genius who was on par with the Devil in a Lab Coat, Yor Carton Fredrick. He was said to be the most talented person in making tools using magic stones, but he only wanted to make things that he found interesting. He also had a scary nickname, which was ‘Grim Reaper’s Toymaker’[1].

Yor: “That guy made it for you when you requested for it?”

Razé: “Huh? That’s right.”

Yor: “He never make any of the devices that I’d requested. Uh-huh. He only listens to your request.”

Yor was acting annoyed.

Yor: “Razé, can you help me make request to Toymaker?”

Razé: “… Just making request should be okay…”

Yor: “Great! I’m sure he won’t reject it if you request to him cutely. I’m counting on you!”

Although there was no guarantee that the Toymaker would accept her request, she laughed happily, “This will improve my research!” She really loved researching monsters and beasts.

Yor: “Alright then. Is this device switched on?”

Razé: “Yes. I’ve set the users so you can talk normally.”

Yor: “Okay.”

Yor continued to inspect the poisonous bees while Razé drank the coffee prepared by Frey and the two got into the main subject.

Razé: “The reason why the classified info about demonic bacteria was almost leaked to the church the other day seems to be caused by Magenda smuggling magic stones. We found mutated species.”

Yor: “Hmm, so it’s Magenda. They really like to cause trouble. Why can’t they do things properly?”

Razé let out a sigh with a hand on her forehead.

Yor: “It’s compulsory for anyone to go through sterilization checkpoint thoroughly before they can teleport from Baruda back to Ordiana. I don’t know why but the problem is that only few people know about it.”

Razé: “But even if the general public recognizes the safety of military personnel traveling between these two continents, it would be a problem if they were to dig deeper about the demonic bacteria.”

“That’s the biggest problem. Worst case scenario, military personnel will suffer persecution. If they find out that the military was vaccinated against the demonic bacteria that could cause demonic mutation … I’m sure there will be chaos. Especially, the reaction from the church will be very scary,” Yor replied to Razé while dispensing chemical liquid with a dropper.

Razé wore a solemn look on her face. “…Professor Yor. If I say I found someone with purification skill, will you believe me?”

Yor looked up at her in astonishment. “Are you serious?”

Razé: “Today, or should I say just now a man was stung by a poisonous bee that had went through demonic mutation. He had a black wound and it was gone without any scar left.”

Yor: “Really～ ? Purification really exist～?”

Razé nodded her head. Of course, she was talking about Folia.

Since demonic bacteria had low infectivity, humans rarely went through demonic mutation. However, an infected person would feel like they had caught a cold and gradually would be unable to use their magic stones. They wouldn’t die, but still, it was a terrifying virus[2].

And when the monsters in Baruda was infected with the demonic bacteria, they would go through mutation. When the bacteria they carried was mixed with human blood, it would turn black. This was called as ‘black wound’, the same one that Razé had on her side.

It was known that a human would go through demonic mutation if they absorb excessive amounts of mutated demonic bacteria through black wounds. Military personnel were vaccinated to reduce the risk of demonic mutation because their profession required them to have close contact with monsters.

In the unlikely event that someone went through demonic mutation, there was no cure established so far, so the purification skill was their only hope.

Hmm… Perhaps what Carna-sama described as turning into kaiju was actually demonic mutation… The idea suddenly came to Razé’s mind.

However, there was no monster in Ordiana. So, demonic bacteria can only incubate inside beasts. The probability that a beast would go through demonic mutation was extremely low, which further lower the probability of demonic mutation for human in this continent close to zero.

The poisonous bee earlier was super rare and had gone through demonic mutation, so it would be a little unrealistic to take it into consideration.

Knock, knock.

Both of them stopped talking when they heard the knocking sound. Frey went to open the door.

“Your Excellency!?” Frey exclaimed with surprise and promptly turned to look at Razé asking for help. The beautiful His Excellency the Grim Reaper Welrian had come.

Welrian: “Don’t be so surprised. I just thought that maybe I can join in your conversation.”

Razé: “If you had informed me earlier, we would have prepared a proper meeting room for you…”

Razé stood and bow to him.

Welrian: “A proper meeting room would be too stifling. Let’s not stand on ceremony today. You can continue with your conversation and pretend that I’m not here. I’m just curious what the two of you usually talk about.”

He even brought some light refreshments. They had no reason to decline, so they resumed the conversation with Welrian around. Razé briefly explained to him about what they had been talking, and Welrian smiled bewitchingly at her. Razé felt that he was too much of a temptation. Even Yor, who normally was indifferent to others, would prefer to avoid this person.

Welrian: “Thank you for the explanation. You can continue.”

Looking at Welrian’s smile, the two continue with their conversation despite the uncomfortable feeling.

Yor: “I really hope the kid that can use purification skill can join the military. Wouldn’t everyone be relieved if they could get rid of their black wounds? I’m sure those meatheads are also worried about the wound. They didn’t dare to say anything because of the gag order.”

Inside the lab, an elegant man who looked out-of-place sat with a mug in his hand. Yor spoke in her usual tone to indicate that this was her territory.

Razé: “…That might be a bit difficult. Her backing is the Cardinal.”

Yor: “Oh… That’s tough. But there’s no country that can hide the situation about demonic bacteria forever. Since there’s a silver bullet, I think it’s better to talk to the church with the intention of seeking refuge.”

Razé thought so too.

But then, they will soon find out about my identity as a soldier… I wonder what Folia and Carna-sama will think of me…

It was not easy to meet such good friends. They might despise her when they found out about her identity. After all, it was not normal for a person to receive the title Wolf Fang at this age. To be honest, Razé thought she would feel repulsed too.

Like the saying ‘a prodigy at ten, a genius at fifteen, and a mediocrity after twenty’[3], perhaps Razé only needed to wait for a few more years until she turned into a mediocre person.

I hope they won’t find out until I graduate.

Razé didn’t reply to Yor and just stared at her coffee. At that time, a hand came from her side and patted her head lightly. Razé was stunned as she turned to look at that person.

Welrian: “I’ve made you suffered, Orphan-kun.”

Razé: “Huh—”

Razé hold her breath when she saw Welrian’s gentle smile.

Welrian: “My wife scolded me saying I depended too much on my son’s friend. …I’m sorry. At first, I tried not to treat you as a child considering you’re very talented, but it seems that I’ve been taking advantage of you unknowingly.”

Razé: “Uh- No, not at all.”

She was bewildered, unable to believe what had happened in front of her. However, at the back of her mind she was convinced that this was the reason why the amount of her work had tremendously decreased recently.

Welrian: “Leave this matter to me. We will only take action once the girl has graduate. I’m glad I could hear your opinion. Thank you.”

Welrian smiled and stood from his chair. Although nobody mentioned Folia’s name, it seemed he already knew everything. After seeing him left, Razé touch her head in a daze.

Yor: “…Looks like the Grim Reaper is a human too…”

Razé could barely hear Yor’s voice. “I think so too…” She muttered to herself.

Author’s note: The explanation about that matter became too long… I’ll try my best to make sure Razé’s effort paid off.

[1] I’ll use ‘Toymaker’ to avoid confusing him with the other Grim Reaper. ↩

[2] Flu virus? I’m not so sure how did bacteria turn into virus suddenly… ↩

[3] Japanese proverb十で神童十五で才子二十過ぎれば只の人 (lit. mean a prodigy at ten, a genius at fifteen, and a mediocrity after twenty). Most child prodigies turned out to be mediocre when they grow up. ↩