Chapter 82 – Curiosa (Two)

“I killed him.”

“Hmm. Is that so.”

As expected, Curiosa showed not a flicker of anger.

「How do you have Walter’s ring?」

When she asked that question, the moment her curiosity reacted was not to ‘Walter’ but to ‘ring.’

In other words, Curiosa had no interest in whether her colleague was alive or dead.

She was only curious why the ring had passed into someone else’s hands.

“He was the weakest among us. Since way back. Blind Walter. Angry Walter. Pitiful, pathetic Walter.”

Her voice held no trace of actual pity.

The latter part even felt like a song, mixed with a hum.

“Then what about the other Bloodstones Walter had─.”

“Questions are over. It’s my turn to ask again.”

“…Fine.”

“How did you know I have Walter’s ring?”

The answer came immediately.

“All Executives have a ring. It’s something the Doctor gave us. It has a slightly modified form of Binding Magic that allows us to sense each other’s locations.”

“…….”

Graham had once examined Walter’s ring.

At that time, the only magic he found and removed from the ring was Exploitation Magic.

This meant the spell of the Binding Magic applied to it was so cunning and intricate that it could evade Graham’s eyes.

“Ha! ‘Family should be connected wherever they are,’ what a ridiculous load of nonsense. From the start, they designed our mission routes not to overlap for over a decade.”

Perhaps because she wanted to quickly move to her turn.

Curiosa rattled off things she wasn’t even asked, answering swiftly.

“Second question again. Tell me about that Rockdeer named Blue you mentioned earlier. Why is the organization tracking it?”

Ray raised the stakes of the question.

It was to gauge just how far questions would be permitted.

“Blue. Right, I’ll tell you. It’s not a big deal anyway.”

She said Blue was a Spiritual Creature that Mercread had been tracking for a long time.

The blue gem embedded in its forehead was the source of its power, and it was also characterized by not being a single individual.

“Not a single individual?”

“The gem is passed down. I understand everything, including the memories of the previous generation, is transferred to the next.”

The situation became vaguely clear.

The typical lifespan of a Rockdeer is around 15 years, but John’s encounter with Blue was a story from over 50 years ago.

‘But earlier, that creature seemed to recognize John.’

At first, he thought maybe some mysterious power had extended its lifespan.

But if memories are passed down, it could explain why that creature, Blue, made gestures as if it recognized John.

“Next question. Tell me about the organization called Mercread.”

Ray raised the stakes of the question once more.

“Mercread is an organization created by the Doctor. Executives who receive orders operate independently all over the continent. The types and numbers of orders are too many to count.”

Curiosa answered with surprising speed this time as well.

How to put it.

She seemed to show absolutely no loyalty to the organization.

“Now it’s my turn. What are you? A Homunculus?”

“I don’t know what a Homunculus is, but I─.”

Ray, about to say ‘I’m human,’ hesitated for a moment.

「…I feel bad.」

「You’re a bit weird. Scary.」

「Get away! You monster!」

Because the voices he heard in childhood came back to him.

He had even seriously pondered the fact that he was not like others.

Wondering if he was a lifeform of a different species, not human.

Of course, that was just a memory of the past, a worry he had long since shaken off.

But why?

─I’m human.

Why did that single phrase feel stuck in his throat, refusing to come out?

Then, pressure was felt in the hand stretched out behind him.

Veronica had tightened her grip on his hand.

Ray felt a moment of mental clarity and smoothly uttered the sentence stuck in his throat.

“─I’m human. I don’t really have any affiliation. Just a street orphan.”

“Right. You’re human, you say. Well, if you were a Homunculus, there would be parts that don’t make sense. Yes, that’s right.”

Curiosa repeated the answer Ray gave like a child receiving a delicious cookie piece.

“Human. Yes, human…”

Several times, in a voice filled with delight.

She seemed to be savoring the moment her doubt was resolved.

Ray threw the next question at the murmuring Curiosa.

“Tell me about the person called the Doctor.”

“The Doctor.”

Curiosa fell silent for a moment as if organizing her thoughts, then spoke.

“He’s the leader of Mercread. Also the one who raised the current Executives. But no one knows his true identity. He always thoroughly covers his face with a mask and glasses and uses a voice modulated by a mechanical device.”

The Doctor.

He was presumed to be the person hugging the children in the photograph.

“The Charging Stones the Operatives carry around. I heard they are items issued by the organization.”

“You’re quite well-informed. Correct. They are a kind of supply item distributed by the Doctor. However, they’re fakes.”

“Fakes?”

“The one the Doctor has is the real thing. He has a gem of exactly the same shape and size as the one embedded in Blue’s forehead. Ah, of course, the color is different.”

The boy’s heart beat strongly.

He muttered without realizing it.

“…The rainbow shattered into seven pieces.”

Curiosa reacted with a surprised tone.

“Oh-ho. You know about the rainbow?”

“It’s a story any Wizard has heard at least once.”

Even though Ray didn’t add anything further, Curiosa reacted on her own.

As if intoxicated by her own thoughts.

She looked into the void and spoke to herself.

“Yes. I think so too. I think what the Doctor has is a Rainbow Shard. The reason he created the organization and commands the Executives is probably to collect the other shards of the rainbow.”

The Doctor has a red gem.

Ray recorded that fact in his mind and continued his questions.

“I understand. Next. You have the ability to read others’ emotions, right? And what did you mean when you said only the Doctor can manipulate emotions?”

Veronica, listening to the conversation from behind Ray, flinched.

‘Now, Ray subtly combined the 3rd and 4th questions!’

Her heart pounded.

But needlessly worried, Curiosa didn’t notice anything strange and answered the question immediately.

“Yes. I read emotions. I feel them so damn sensitively.”

“You only feel them?”

“……? Yes. What else could there be?”

It didn’t seem like she visually identified emotions like he did.

“Whether I like it or not, I feel all the emotions vibrating from everywhere. It’s all because of that damn Doctor bastard.”

“You seem to dislike the Doctor.”

“Dislike? Ha! As if a word like that could explain my anger!”

Wind blew around them again.

The anger contained in Curiosa’s Vessel began to expand violently.

“If I could! I would have! Killed him right away! The moment I stand before him! If only my emotions wouldn’t malfunction!”

Ray stared at Curiosa’s blood-red hatred and continued the conversation.

Thanks to that, he could learn several facts about the Doctor.

The most important fact among them was─

“That’s why I was surprised when I saw you. The moment you moved the Atmospheric Mana, John’s desire swelled.”

─The fact that the Doctor uses Atmospheric Mana to manipulate people’s emotions.

“I tried to figure out the principle, but it was impossible. The moment I felt the Atmospheric Mana move, by the time I came to my senses, I was already being manipulated like a puppet.”

The boy’s heart began to beat even more strongly.

‘He might be similar to me, no, perhaps the same kind of existence.’

After something that could be called a self was formed, the first emotion to take root in the boy’s subconscious was loneliness.

─Why don’t you cry?

─Aren’t you even angry?

Unable to feel emotions.

─…I feel bad.

─You’re weird. Scary.

─Somehow, you’re different from us…

Able to read others’ emotions.

When such facts were revealed.

People shot looks of displeasure and fear rather than understanding and concern.

─Get lost! You creepy thing!

─S-sorry. I don’t think I can be friends with you.

During the time he was an unwelcome existence wherever he went, the boy realized deeply.

That all of this was because he was different from others.

After that, he firmly closed the doors of his heart and lived trying not to reveal his ‘difference’ as much as possible.

Striving to be as much like others as he could.

While harboring doubts about his own difference.

Much time passed, and people who understood his difference appeared, like the kids under the bridge or Niles.

But the existential loneliness rooted deep in his subconscious was unavoidable.

Because they did not possess any particular trait that he thought made them his own kind.

And then, someone with the same ability as him appeared.

‘What kind of person is he?’

Internal intimacy.

Sense of kinship.

It wasn’t a thought stemming from such feelings.

He was already too worn down by the world’s abrasiveness to feel intimacy based solely on commonalities.

Only an unprecedented, intense curiosity arose.

“How can I meet the Doctor? Is the Doctor a Wizard too? How many Rings?”

“He uses Magic, so he must be a Wizard. But you want to meet the Doctor? You?”

“I’m also traveling around looking for the scattered rainbow.”

A brief silence followed.

Curiosa threw her head back and burst into loud laughter.

“Kehahahaha! You? Yes! That’s possible. Right! You said earlier your goal was to find the rainbow too!”

With the laughter, the straight lines drawn on the mouth part of the mask curved upward at both ends.

The eyes also curved, drawing a rounded shape rising upward.

“That… I thought it was drawn with a pen or paint or something.”

From behind Ray, Veronica muttered in a voice tinged with shock and betrayal.

Curiosa, barely stopping her laughter, spoke.

“You mean you’ll steal the Rainbow Shards? Yes. It’s possible. The Doctor isn’t that strong, you know. He’s so weak you could knock him over with a flick of a finger.”

“…….”

This too was the truth.

It seemed the Doctor wasn’t a high-circle Wizard either.

“But you’ll have your emotions manipulated. The moment you face the Doctor, with a single gesture, you’ll pledge complete loyalty and kneel─.”

Curiosa stopped speaking abruptly as if realizing something shocking mid-sentence.

And with a bewildered expression, she said.

“…You, emotions…”

“Yes. I can’t feel emotions. Even if I do, I can calm them down instantly by controlling them.”

“…….”

Curiosa had already seen Ray controlling his emotions while hiding in John’s shadow.

The moment she realized that fact.

The lavender-colored curiosity contained in Curiosa’s Vessel began to swirl like a storm.

Curiosa spoke, panting.

“Good. I’ll tell you how to meet the Doctor.”

“Where do I go to find him?”

“You don’t go find him. The Doctor only appears when he has business. Usually, he visits the Executives every few years to give orders and leaves, but the next visit is still a long way off.”

The six Executives scattered and operating independently in various places.

Because of this, Mercread has no separate headquarters, and the Doctor’s whereabouts are also unknown.

“Is there another way?”

“If you can’t go to him, there’s a way to draw him out.”

Curiosa’s hand moved fidgetingly beneath the black cloth.

Along with it, Ray’s unfolded coat.

A ring was taken out from the inner pocket and emerged outside, then moved to the empty space in front of Curiosa.

Hummm──

A red light flickered from the ring.

“I’ll tweak the settings of the Binding Magic applied to the ring a bit.”

Beneath the cloth, Curiosa’s hand moved once more.

Accordingly, the flickering speed of the light increased, and elements danced chaotically around the ring.

A moment later, the light flickering stopped.

Curiosa let out a laugh.

“Now you’ll be able to know the locations of the other Executives. Of course, the other Executives or Slayers won’t be able to know your location.”

The ring, floating and moving through the air, settled onto Ray’s hand.

When he put on the ring, he could indeed clearly sense the presence of another ring in Curiosa’s possession.

And.

‘I can sense 4 more rings.’

Their directions, if calculated, were all.

‘Upstream of the Elton River.’

Even though they were clearly located at a great distance, the presence of the remaining rings was distinct.

It felt like arrows indicating each ring’s location had appeared in his mind.

Ray, fiddling with the ring, opened his mouth.

“You’re telling me to defeat the other Executives.”

“You’re quick on the uptake. Correct. If the Executives fall one by one, the Doctor will have no choice but to show himself. His carefully raised organization falling apart, after all.”

Curiosa’s words themselves made sense.

But whether to follow them literally was a separate issue.

His goal was to find the rainbow, not to engage in indiscriminate battles.

But it was also a clear fact that Mercread and the Doctor held a major clue about the rainbow.

‘…….’

Many thoughts and judgments passed through the boy’s mind.

‘Anyway, the journey will continue in the direction of following the Elton River upstream.’

It was clear the ring would be a great help for the journey.

It would act like a compass, showing the locations of Mercread Executives, allowing for prior preparation.

Even if he didn’t strictly follow Curiosa’s words.

“I’ll accept the ring for now.”

“Good thinking.”

“What’s the range of the Binding Magic?”

“Almost infinite. The base of the spell was crafted by none other than the Doctor. Also, the closer you get, the more strongly you’ll sense the presence of other rings.”

Ray nodded and tucked the ring away.

Seeing this, Curiosa spoke in an extremely excited voice.

“Now, I’ve told you how to meet the Doctor. Now again, again it’s my turn. The most important question.”

So excited that she seemed to be rubbing her hands together beneath the black cloth.

“How on earth did you stir up John’s emotions? How exactly? What’s the method? Huh? What’s the secret?”

After a brief silence, Ray opened his mouth.

“I’m not going to tell you that.”