Chapter 50: The Foundation’s Playground (２)

****

I raised my head as Nanami walked into my office and set a pen down on the desk. A black pen that looked perfectly ordinary on the outside.

Just a pen.

“Hello.”

“Mm.”

“And what’s this?”

“The Unlosable Ballpoint Pen.”

“It’s not dangerous, is it?”

Nanami tilted her head.

“The Safe Artifact Management Division said it’s safe. Someone did die in the process of making it, though.”

“Someone died?”

“Don’t know who. Just some other person? Artifacts are usually made with human sacrifice.”

I set the pen down at arm’s length.

“Then isn’t it dangerous?”

“Not dangerous to you. Ah, I’m not saying I killed anyone.”

Nanami leaned against the wall of my office.

Light brown hair that came down to her shoulders — or maybe it was yellow — covered Nanami’s face.

The Unlosable Ballpoint Pen, huh. What’s the principle behind it, I wonder. Is it that you can’t forget where you left it? Or can you summon it into your hand regardless of where it is?

Can’t say I know.

“Where was it made?”

“A gift from Foundation HQ. They didn’t tell me who made it or where.”

I thought for a moment.

“Send it to the Research Department and have them take it apart. I’d guess it’s a GPS or a listening device, but…”

This time Nanami nodded.

“There’s a seminar later, right? Should I come too?”

“No need. Only the presenters are required to attend, and just the people involved in the research show up.”

“Then I won’t go.”

It didn’t really matter whether she came or not.

****

“Then, the conference will now begin.”

Lee Seah was the one running this seminar. The Head of Research was still scared of me, it seemed — she kept glancing at me for cues even while presenting.

A positive change.

“First up is Bishop Oh, who will present on the theological symbolism of the anomalous space, the Garden, and related Groups of Interest.”

Bishop Oh took the lead.

Bishop Oh was the Foundation’s foremost theologian. Any theological or religious anomaly, everyone deferred to Bishop Oh’s opinion.

“You all know the scientific side better than I do. I’ll give a brief rundown of the altar and other symbolic objects found on site.”

I looked at Bishop Oh and the screen. A clean PowerPoint, black text on a white background.

“It didn’t appear out of nowhere — a spacetime rift about the size of a soccer ball had existed since around 2015, and someone appears to have grown it through human sacrifice for some purpose.”

“A corpse was laid on the altar found at the site. The implement used was likely an obsidian knife, though none was recovered at the scene. The workmanship appears quite refined.”

“There were no signs of resistance.”

“Those who performed the rite made incisions in the chosen sacrifice’s femoral artery and femoral vein, drained most of the blood from the thigh into a vessel, then removed the heart and liver. The cause of the fanatics’ deaths is unclear.”

These were things I’d witnessed myself. I couldn’t say whether I remembered them exactly as they happened… but several fanatics’ bodies had been found at that scene too.

“Various symbolic objects were found at the site. Mostly circular motifs of the Earth Mother, and symbols related to flora and fauna, but one peculiar detail… this modified pair-of-scissors emblem.”

Bishop Oh paused for a moment.

“It’s the symbol of the Group of Interest known as the ‘Gardeners.’ The symbols associated with the Gardeners are as follows: deer, bear, scissors. For reference, anomalous groups place tremendous importance on their symbols. You can always find clues or traces in them.”

The Foundation was no different.

The Foundation’s emblem was on its uniforms, vehicles, official documents — everywhere. Everywhere Foundation employees’ eyes would frequently land.

Because symbols held power, presumably. Even if it was hard to express in words or numbers.

“The Gardeners’ specific goals are unknown, but it’s believed they’re likely related to spreading the Garden’s vegetation.”

“The Gardeners don’t actively try to kill people, but if their goals require it, they won’t hesitate.”

“However, since the Gardeners’ objectives aren’t mass destruction or damaging the Veil, you may attempt dialogue if necessary. Still, the standing order is neutralization.”

Killing them is actually the easy part. Persuading them, containing them, or studying them—that’s what’s hard.

“The Gardeners appear to be closely connected to nature worship and religions of North American indigenous origin. The organization itself is estimated to have been founded in the 19th century.”

The briefing went on for a while.

“A concerning point: during the Yulje-myeon Incident, multiple anomalies associated with the Gardeners were witnessed.”

“Not only was a wendigo corpse found at the Yulje-myeon site, but there were also the Gardeners’… walking flowers.”

“The creature designated as the wendigo had the form of a massive ape or bear wearing a deer skull on its head.”

“It’s believed to be a partially immaterial divine entity. Additionally, when it was neutralized, its power is thought to have been limited by the aftermath of a nuclear explosion.”

Those were the things I’d killed in that city. The wendigo died to silver bullets, and the walking flowers were easy enough to put down with firearms.

So it was weakened by the nuclear blast—did the fallout have a negative effect? Or was it weakened by the direct effects of neutron radiation?

“To summarize: the Gardeners appeared at that city’s site and summoned their divine entity. Even now, the Gardeners’ anomalous vegetation roams near where Yulje-myeon once stood.”

“Their purpose… is, as expected, unknown. But considering the Yulje-myeon field reports, it’s likely the monsters were fighting among themselves.”

I scratched my head.

What the hell is this—did someone herd those monsters into Yulje-myeon and run a battle royale to farm experience points or items?

Absolutely insane.

Of course, it’s just a mad explanation for a mad situation, so there’s no guarantee it’s wrong.

****

The presentation ended about seven minutes after Bishop Oh began. The Head of Research nodded.

It was a seminar I’d organized, but honestly, it wasn’t interesting. One amusing thing, though: the Head of Research was still watching my every move.

That was fair enough. With gods dying by the dozens, the Foundation’s chances of failing to control Lee Seah weren’t high.

At least, as long as Lee Seah gave the Foundation or me any kind of opening. The Head of Research flinched again under my gaze.

“Um, then, next up. Researchers from the Extended Physics Department will present on the extended-physics characteristics of anomalous space.”

The person who stepped onto the podium was from the Extended Physics Department’s research staff. Why didn’t they introduce their name?

“Topology—do you know about mean curvature calculations in limited-range subspace distortion? It’s important for understanding this presentation.”

“Um…”

No one answered.

“Ah, I’ll explain simply. Time inside the Garden isn’t perfectly linear, and space inside the Garden isn’t perfectly Euclidean either. This is probably why the Garden’s interior hasn’t been fully conquered.”

My head was already starting to throb.

The words were difficult, but in the end, it meant you couldn’t expect normal time or normal space inside the Garden.

“Based on observations from the rift leading into the Garden, electromagnetic distortion, spatial distortion, and temporal distortion are all present near the rift.”

“Whether this phenomenon originates from inside the Garden or from the rift itself hasn’t been confirmed. It’s likely the latter.”

In the corner of the seminar room stood three research interns. The ones I’d met before. Why weren’t they given chairs? Strange.

****

The seminar ended a little while later.

“Director! I have a question.”

It was research intern Park Seon. I’d seen her before when we were recruiting extra personnel.

I sat back down.

“What is it?”

“The Gardeners of the Group of Interest are said to be relatively friendly toward the Foundation, so why is the standing order to neutralize on sight?”

That was a question that required a moment’s thought.

“Because their goal isn’t mass destruction, damaging the Veil, or opposing the Foundation, they’re considered relatively friendly. That aside, unless there’s reason to think otherwise, the correct response is to treat them like armed robbers or terrorists.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Any other questions?”

One of the research interns raised a hand.

“Yes. If they were sighted in Yulje-myeon, does that mean there’s a spacetime rift there too?”

“No. The monsters in Yulje-myeon weren’t summoned through a rift — they were called forth through an altar and a rite.”

The sound of note-taking.

“Go check out the specimen room. There should be quite a few samples related to the Garden. Tell them I sent you, and ask to have a look around. It’d be good for you to learn how to examine specimens too.”

Shoo. I waved the research interns away with a gesture. From here on, I needed to work out the operation plan.