Chapter 26

The Demon Hunting Method Of The Regressed Inquisitor 26

Future City (3)

Geppetto, who had been watching the book burn, threw off his gloves and snapped at me.

Until then, I had kept my eyes down. I didn’t particularly want to watch the book burn.

To be precise, it was because my eyes hurt from looking at the flames.

“Something foreign got into the furnace. We’ll have to end today’s work here.”

“Isn’t that too much?”

Was it really necessary to burn it to that extent? To the point of abandoning the work?

“There is no commonality, no single picture. It’s just a bunch of schematics of devices we learned by dismantling. It’s trash that makes me angry just to look at.”

“I bought that for a high price.”

“Everything has stages. But these days, people don’t even try to go through the proper stages.”

“Are you going to compensate me?”

“Half of them can’t even make a single gear. What good is it for such people to know just how to assemble and operate things?”

He doesn’t listen at all. Even if it’s an honorary position, as a lord, he must have quite a bit of money coming in. What a stingy old man.

“If those who envision the future disappear? If the foundation of that technology disappears, won’t we immediately revert to the old days?”

“Well, isn’t that why they can’t strategize?”

“What on earth are you? Are you a religious fanatic who even embraces trials?”

“And you, sir, living in this city, manage to live like that. Aren’t you treated as a heretic by other craftsmen?”

“So? Are you going to interrogate me?”

“I’m just a religious fanatic who only meddles in religious matters.”

“Hahaha! You sound like a madman.”

That’s what I just heard.

How could anyone do this job without going mad in the first place?

“Um, hold on a moment...”

I wipe the thick blood flowing from my nose with my sleeve.

This is bad, the effects of erosion are starting to show even when I’m still.

“What’s wrong, are you sick?”

“Yes, a little.”

My eyes feel a bit dry too.

This damn trial won’t leave me alone.

“Religious fanatic. Now I see you also use a sword? Doesn’t your god have anything to say about that?”

Was it because I raised my sleeve to wipe my nose? His eyes went to the sword at my waist.

“Ah, I’m affiliated with the Pantheon. As for the sword... Just think of it as being permitted by the God of War.”

“Really? That’s generous. Show it to me. I’ll take a look at it.”

“They said there were impurities in the furnace? Is it okay to touch it then?”

“It’s not my sword, so what does it matter.”

“What, is this old man crazy?”

“I’m joking. I’ll just take a look.”

Geppetto almost snatched my sword away.

But since he’s the best craftsman in Nidavellir, there shouldn’t be any problems.

Surely he wouldn’t break it.

No, this might actually be a good thing.

I’ve been uneasy because the sword didn’t respond to divine power, and now I might be able to find out why.

“Hmm...”

Thud.

Geppetto began examining the sword in various ways, such as holding it up to the light or tapping it with a hammer.

After checking the condition of the blade, the balance, thickness, and length, Geppetto finally spoke.

“Where did you get this?”

“I received it from my master who taught me swordsmanship. Do you know what it is? It’s not an ordinary sword.”

“This sword...”

Geppetto had a reluctant expression.

“It’s not made of metal.”

“Then is it made from the bones of a beast?”

There are indeed such weapons.

Even Metalwolf uses its carapace to make weapons.

If it’s something similar, it would make sense why divine power doesn’t work on it.

“Similar. But...”

“There’s something more, isn’t there?”

“Do you know the process of making weapons from beast materials?”

“Roughly, you grind or hammer it, don’t you?”

“Similar. Whatever it is, it needs to be transformed. For example, if you were to make a weapon from a beast’s horn, you would grind or hammer it into shape.”

I think I understand what he means.

It seemed like Geppetto was trying to explain something as he began examining parts like the crossguard, handle, and pommel of the sword, rather than the blade itself.

“But this material itself is in the shape of a sword.”

“From the tip to the pommel, all of it?”

“From the tip to the pommel, all of it. If there’s any part that’s been polished, it’s the pommel. The end part has been ground.”

“Then it sounds like this sword’s pommel was connected to some kind of creature.”

“Indeed. To think of having such a perfectly balanced sword as part of one’s body... it’s horrifying just to imagine. Even a chimera couldn’t exist like this.”

“Hmm...”

The white sword given by my master.

What once seemed beautiful now started to feel eerie.

“Anyway, it’s a good sword. There’s nothing I need to fix.”

“The information you’ve found is quite lacking.”

“Why should I put in effort for information I don’t need to know?”

“Do you think that greedy craftsman would only stay on the outskirts because he knows his place? He hasn’t even been able to approach the inside yet, so he’s only on the outside.”

“Then should we consider the ‘One Who Draws the Future’ as the enemy of humanity?”

“No, that’s not it.”

A bitter smile. As if that couldn’t be the case. It was a smile close to ridicule.

“Anyway, I could understand the direction of the cross-section heading towards its own evolutionary endpoint.”

“What is that?”

“......”

Geppetto hesitated. It wasn’t a concern about whether he could speak or reveal the secret.

He simply seemed afraid that the answer he was about to give might be the correct one.

But it must have been a thought he had pondered over many times. So it must be something he could tell someone like me, who didn’t know much.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have brought it up.

After a moment of hesitation, Geppetto spoke.

“...... is evolving beyond simple mechanical engineering into the realm of life creation.”

“That is......”

“Yes.”

Deus Ex Machina.

“The realm of gods.”

* * *

Linea liked Nidavellir.

One reason was that the clothes she was wearing were made in Nidavellir.

Of course, as a beastman with senses far superior to humans, Nidavellir was by no means a pleasant environment.

The sound of forging that disturbed her ears, the smell of iron that numbed her nose.

Even the unbearable heat.

But despite that, she liked Nidavellir.

After awakening her abilities, the world had looked so terribly horrifying to her.

The red lines and dots scattered messily. How many times had she retched at the phenomenon that seemed to create a cross-section of the world?

She was dying. She was hiding such a secret.

In such a situation, Nidavellir, which she had come across by chance, was......

“Not red.”

The solidly forged iron and mechanical devices boasted a strength that she could never surpass.

In her world, filled with red, it occupied the most color.

That wasn’t all.

In Nidavellir, there were animals of unknown mechanical devices roaming around. Like the toys created by .

Did she see them in the morning too?

A bird and a puppy made of mechanical devices. The shape of copper-colored toys not stained with red.

To her, such rigid mechanical devices felt almost like life.

“Hehe.”

She wouldn’t be able to stay long.

That’s why she had initially tried to settle in the Poris Duchy.

Even now, the noise around her made her head hurt. But despite that pain, she was simply happy.

The few moments when she could feel normal. She had to make the most of this time and enjoy it to the fullest.

“Huh?”

It was while she was watching the mechanical devices outside the mansion. She saw the figure of a child.

“What?!”

Linnea was startled and stood up at the sight of the child she had discovered by chance.

“Just now... Just now...!”

There was no red.

It was just an ordinary human figure.

There wasn’t just one person like Rost.

Linnea, forgetting her noble dignity, ran towards the direction where the child had been.

The child was near the mansion.

He couldn’t have gone far.

Using her physical abilities to the fullest, Linnea practically jumped down the building and arrived at the place where she had first seen the boy.

“There.”

The boy was there. He hadn’t gone anywhere and was just staring blankly at the mansion.

It was a boy. A boy stylishly wearing overalls and a yellow hat.

Catching her breath, Linnea carefully spoke to the boy.

“......”

“Ugh?!”

The boy quietly turned his head at the sound of her voice.

When Linnea met the boy’s eyes, she finally realized.

‘This child...’

He was not human.

There was still no red light visible from the boy.

Not even a dot, let alone a line.

That’s why the boy’s eyes were so blue they contrasted with the world.

But he was different from Lost.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t be seen like Lost. He couldn’t be seen from the beginning.

From head to toe. It was impossible for her to hurt the boy.

No matter what she did, she couldn’t hurt the boy’s pure white skin.

Linnea, trembling at the overwhelming presence, realized when she saw the mysterious, intricate mechanical device inside the boy’s eyes.

Yes, the boy in front of her was indeed.

“The one who draws the future...”

Deus Ex Machina.

The true master of this city.