445 441. Life in the mirror.txt (1/2)

Me and Helmina-san from the past.

Immediately after I saw the two of them enter the Seventh Magical Research Institute, I heard the sound of the pages being rolled up again.

Like looking through a kaleidoscope, my vision became blurred with a variety of light.

It's exactly the same as in ”Allied Nations” earlier.

In this ”Fania” as well, all kinds of timelines overlap and pass away at the same time in all kinds of places.

The streets of Fania spread out before my eyes, and I could see the construction work to introduce the ”Magical Stone Line” developed by Hermina-san - and then I saw the people of Fania celebrating its completion.

A ceremony to transfer the bishop of Fania from the ”Altfel religion” to the ”Levantine religion” is being held throughout the city - and, on the other hand, in a humble ward, a priest is successfully performing a ”level-up” spell.

The city's vitality gradually increases as the trade route to Fuzzyaz is connected - and the city's marketplace is crowded with traveling merchants from distant lands.

The history of my hometown flows like water, and it's hard to keep up with my eyes.

But the common denominator is clear.

At the edge of all the scenes, there was always the past me, my mouth relaxed.

I hadn't been 'back home' in three years, and I looked like I was really enjoying myself.

I dyed my hair black in disguise and followed my lord, Helmina-san, as his assistant to inspect the city.

What was a happy miscalculation here was that the knowledge I accumulated while wandering the continent came in handy everywhere.

For example, Helmina said in the forge, ”If we adopt this new technology, we will surely get this much profit. It's already been proven many times,” he said with a stern opinion typical of a former researcher, and I, his assistant, immediately used the historical failures of various places as evidence, saying, ”Helmina-san. Not all places go according to the theory on the table,” he interjects.

After that, we all twisted our heads together to find a solution that worked both scientifically and practically.

It was a good balance.

Amazingly, it worked.

--More importantly, it was my 'happiness'.

Helmina-san and I, who shared the same gaze, worked together to put the knowledge and research we learned to good use for everyone. Without a doubt, it was a time that I had longed for since I was a child.

It's not just about work.

Sometimes I even enjoyed reading quietly in my nostalgic basement, reading books from other countries that I had acquired through abuse of authority. That cleaning girl was there, too, and the three of us from three years ago were all in the room. And they would use the results of their research and studies that the three of them had accumulated together in this new era.

Whenever a large, vicious monster approached the city, I would secretly go out to deal with it. Even the power of that 'demonization' experiment didn't go to waste in this time.

It was really fun.

All of the hardships we've gone through to date have paid off, so it's only natural.

If this fun isn't 'happiness', I don't know what is.

I'm not going to be able to say that I'm not happy with the people I love, but there is nothing in this world that makes me happier than spending time with the people I love.

--And, through the mirror of Kanami, the one who steals the reason for the dimension, I chew on the happiness of the past.

I liked the religious complaints, but I naturally came to think that Helmina was my 'only destiny'.

I want us both to continue doing this work together until I become a grandma and grandpa one day.

I want to spend the rest of my life with her and go into the same grave.

If possible, it would be nice to have the same family name then...

I was very fond of Helmina.

Yes. Helmina liked you, too. However, her idea of 'happiness' was a little different than yours. ...... Let's read some more of Ms. Helmina's side of the story.

The book's reader added that to me as I accidentally spilled my feelings.

-- ”The One Who Steals the Reason of Dimension” Kanami rolls up the pages.

Then, even though I hadn't moved an inch, my vision switched.

From the ”City” to the depths of the ”Research Institute” underground. The stage is shifting as if it were falling through an insubstantial building into an abyss.

Beyond that, the place where all of Fania's debts are buried is waiting for you.

The lowest level of the Seventh Magician's Research Institute.

--The 'Goddess Storage Room' in the fourth year of the new calendar.

At that time, the room had still been thoroughly cleaned and there was no blood paste on the floor and walls.

There, the cleaners with wooden brooms were quietly working to clean the room.

Ms. Hermina dipped her hand into the pool of blood in the center and hummed a poorly executed humming sound.

At first glance, it looks like madness, but it turns out to be 'writing' into a pool of blood using 'witchcraft', as I understand it. At any rate, the knowledge that was 'written' in the blood was to be deciphered by me later on.

You seem to be enjoying yourself, Helmina-sama. You're in a better mood than ever before.

While moving the wooden broom, the cleaner threw in some normal small talk.

I had noticed, but this girl doesn't talk like a madman when she and Helmina-san are alone. On the contrary, she had a deep enough intellect to be that Helmina-san's assistant.

''Yes, it's fun ....... Because there are so many things that happened that were unthinkable five years ago, and all of them were connected .......

'Yes. The current Fania is in a situation that would have been unthinkable five years ago. I didn't expect that besides the 'Flame God' and the 'Dark God', so many other gods would appear ....... On the contrary, even the Apostles of the Inscription White Church descended ....... Everything is unplanned, unimaginable, and supremely exciting.

Right?

Really, we talk like normal people.

We laugh at each other like old friends.

It's like we're sisters.

I can confirm that the janitor's crazy talk, as an example, was a survival strategy to survive in The Research Institute, because it's Helmina's story without me.

But it also meant that I was a stranger to the girls, not a family member, which made me feel a little lonely.

Their story continues as I am surrounded by a sense of desolation a thousand years later.

'...... Truly, the last five years have been full of life. And at last, the many studies of the Neysha family, which had been disparate, had become one great line of research, reaching into the depths. The results of that work--.

The Apostle Diprakra praised us.

He said that the descendants of the Neisha family are geniuses and that we need their 'blood power' to help us.

Apostle Legacie-sama relied on us.

He said that it would be impossible to create an artificial 'stealer of reason' without me.

The Apostle Sith promised me that it would not be possible without me.

Our lives will surely become the foundation for saving the world.

The very first verse of the Inscription White Faith, chapter one, 'You are the one who is here'!

Yes, you and I were meant to be!　Haha, hahaha--!

Helmina-san's cheeks flushed and chirped and chirped and chirped and churned pools of blood as she spoke.

--She was the very image of a fanatic who was fascinated by the apostle.

He knew that he could recite the Scripture.

I also knew that the Inscription White Church was special to the Neisha family.

But Helmina, a born-again scientist, had thought that her faith was limited to being in the last pew.

But she was wrong.

But she was wrong. Why was even the teachings of the Inscription White Faith packed into the blood pool in this 'God's Body Vault'? Even if Helmina herself, who was touching the pool of blood, did not intend to do so, she had been thinking too much while working on her 'writing' and every single verse of it had been engraved in her blood.

'Surely everything the Neysha family has done to date has been to deliver to those three apostles: ....... And now, finally, those who have sacrificed until today can sleep in peace ....... I can finish my role and go to the same hell as our great ancestors: ......

Helmina's eyes are somewhat distant as she fondles the pool of blood.

Out of the corner of her eye, she must be thinking of her predecessors in Fania's research.

She smiles as if she is being pulled by the dead, and the cleaner calls out to her to stop her.

'I will miss you, Helmina-sama, when you are gone. When you're gone, I'll be all alone.'

No, sir. I don't miss a single thing. Because you have listened to me all these years, and now you are me. No, all of my research results to date have been me. In a thousand years' time, if magic is spread through the ”5-step, 1,000-year plan” - that world is just me!　I will be the cornerstone of saving the world, and everyone else will be me!　Oh, isn't it really great: ......!

...... Right. If you think about it, you might not be lonely.

That janitor looked so overwhelmed by the conversation that he had to nod his head.

However, he never gave up on understanding the other party and continued to communicate with his own Lord.

'But wouldn't it be okay for me, too, if I were Helmina-sama, for me to be the 'one who steals the reason for the blood'?　They should have kept me long enough to pretend I'm crazy (...) to keep me close for times like these.

'It can't be done. ...... 'Helmina Neysha going to hell' is the key to completing the man-made 'Stealing the Blood Reason'. The most important 'price' is for all of the Neysha family to go to hell and disappear as an eradication, which is the most important 'price'. ...... And simply, the sins that the Neysha family has committed are too many. I'm not going to allow myself to survive without a fight. I also have to take on my own experiments that I have done until today ...... and my voice will not stop (・・・・・・・).

While muttering that gravely, Helmina-san moves her gaze.

What lies ahead, me and Kanami, a thousand years later, also read and see.

--I'm not going to be able to get a good look at it, but I'm going to be able to get a good look at it.

It's a ghost that is invisible to the janitor, but visible to Helmina,” said Helmina Neysha, who sees the dead who have been sacrificed beyond her bloody vision. She understands that she is a 'ghost' when she sees the dead who have sacrificed their lives in the past.

Ms. Helmina could not only see them, but she could also hear them.

She occasionally spoke to the writhing ghosts, nodding and communicating with them.

Is it 'compensation'?

Or is it a 'curse'?

Either way, what was clear was--.

All along, Helmina's world had been sinking in bright red blood and that it was hell itself.

And I couldn't see it.

So even though I was with the person I loved, I couldn't see the world with him.

And with the story without me, I would finally know.

'Dear Helmina. There are many other families of researchers who are experimenting on human bodies. There is no need to feel so guilty, in my opinion.

The cleaner chooses his words and tries to calm the Lord, whose eyes are wandering with the red of madness.

However, Helmina makes a bowl with both hands, scooping up the blood and staring at the water's surface.

''Hmph--, your father, your grandfather, your great-grandfather, your great-great-grandfather, your great-great-great-grandfather, and even your ancestors all those years ago, the Neysha family were all very good and worst scientists...'' .... So many times when I was a kid I was threatened.

The blood that was scooped up must have been written in the records of Fania's research, just like a professional book.

To this day, the numbers of the 'demons' who were sacrificed in this Fania are accurate.

Counting the killings and experiments, Helmina traced back her own family tree.

''If I stop researching, all the deaths of my ancestors etched in this blood will be in vain. Therefore, I have always been afraid of your father and mother's voice telling me that even if I go to hell, I must fulfill the role of the Neisha family. But now I understand. It wasn't a threat, it was a kindness. -- these voices of the departed that cling to my ears only stop at being the same victims (・・・・・・・・) (・・・・・・・・・・). All along, people have been telling me that going to hell is the only salvation for a researcher born into the Neisha family!

'............. Is the voice that has been tormenting Lady Helmina all these years finally going to disappear?

'Yes. Being a cornerstone of research saves me. And that was the 'happiness' of a researcher born into the Naysha family.

The cleaners, who have known each other for a long time, will know that their own Lord is not lying to them.

From his fanaticism towards the apostles earlier, we can also see that he cares more about his contribution to the world than his own life. However, that doesn't mean he can't take it so easily.

Seeing the bewildered cleaners, sanity returns to Helmina-san's eyes slightly.

...... Of course, I hope that you will find 'happiness' as well. If possible, I want you to enjoy your life to the end as the other me.

'Me too ......?　Until the end, enjoy and live: ......

'Maybe it's because it's the last. It's a bit out of character, isn't it? I've even told you the history of the house, like Mr. Fafner.

'Fafner ....... Do you not tell that Fafner anything?　He still doesn't know you're going to die.

As if he had thought of something, the cleaner mentioned my name.

However, Helmina's answer was not lost on me when she heard it.

''Yes, I've told her, right?　Everything that matters.