Sacrificial Goat – Part 01
“Sacrixigs is a Magic spell from Page Three of the Chapter of Protection,” Zero began. “Although it requires a rather tedious procedure, it is not that advanced a spell.”
“By tedious procedure, you mean the mark of the goat?” I asked.
“Yes. It does not have to be a goat specifically, but the caster needs to mark several people with a chosen brand. When someone is injured or sick, the caster recites an incantation while visualizing the mark strongly in their mind. Doing so will distribute the injury or sickness of one person to others who have the same mark.”
“But won’t that just result in more casualties?”
“Allow me to explain further.” Zero pushed a bag to me. Inside were stuff needed for camping outside, like her spoon and bowl. I organized them all together myself. “That bag is too heavy for you to carry on your own, is it not?” she asked.
“Not really, no—”
“Indeed, it is extremely heavy.”
“True. Feels like my arms are being torn to shreds.”
Better not interrupt her.
Zero then reached out and grabbed something from the bag—a cup.
“Now it is a little lighter, because I took some of the bag’s contents.”
“Well, yeah.”
“Let us assume there is another person present—say, the priest—who will take something else from the bag.” Zero took a wooden bowl this time.
I highly doubt that the priest would do that, but whatever. I’m just gonna keep my mouth shut.
“Your load is now even lighter. But the priest and I only increased our burden a little. Sacrixigs works like this. It distributes one’s burden to several others.”
“So you can turn one person’s grave injury into multiple people’s minor injuries.”
“That would increase the number of injured, but reduce the number of deaths. There is a more practical version of this, though it is a little complicated. In any case, this is a Magic spell based on the principle of mutual aid.”
“I see. Sounds like a good Magic spell.”
“You think so too?” Zero said, her face lighting up. “I am a good witch, so I devise good spells. This is Magic that distributes injuries to others. As such, it consumes less power than, for example, a purely healing spell like Cordia. It can save a large number of people with the least amount of power. Unfortunately, the ratio is off.” Her face suddenly turned grim.
“Ratio?”
“Sacrixigs works wonderfully with several people sharing one person’s injury. But what would happen if the numbers were reversed?”
Numbers reversed? So like there are multiple injured but only one who can take on their wounds. What if there were five injured, and one person would take half of their injuries each?
“Wait a minute.”
“Exactly. Injuries are not distributed. On the contrary, they are concentrated onto a single person. Multiple scratches can turn into a life-threatening injury. A simple cold can turn into pneumonia, and if you take on several severe illnesses, you could even die instantly.”
“And Lia’s doing that?! No way!”
“But all the bodies had the brand of the goat on them, did they not? You said some even had multiple marks. The more marks you have, the more burden you will have to carry. In other words, you can die easier.”
“There’s just no way she can do that!”
“Who told the saint about Magic?” Zero continued. “How did they explain it to her? What effect, if any, would it have? What if the saint had not been informed that the ones who had the mark would have to bear the wounds and illnesses of others?”
“How could she even use Magic with only limited knowledge?!”
“‘Magic is useful precisely because knowledge on how it works is not required in order to use it. You can use Magic even if you do not know that you need a sacrifice. And sometimes there will be sacrifices without you even knowing about it.”
I couldn’t believe that Lia would intentionally hurt people. But what if she didn’t know? What if whoever brought Magic to Cleon told her that her healing was simply a miracle from God?
“Who taught Lia Magic?” And why didn’t they tell her what Sacrixigs really does?
“I do not know.” Zero shook her head. “I have done some investigating around the saint, but I can only sense Magic from her. Perhaps they already left the country.”
“So they just taught her whatever then ditched? That doesn’t make any sense. If Lia keeps on using Sacrixigs without knowing how it works, no one will benefit from it! Are you saying they just love watching a whole country fall into chaos?”
“That is possible. There are quite a few witches who love chaos and find pleasure in being called evil. All I know is that no one in the vicinity of the saint can use Magic. Maybe her mentor is somewhere far away and they meet regularly.”
I recalled what Ideaverna’s pervy governor said. “What about the woman who donated Akdios to Lia?” A wealthy merchant notorious for seeing the poor as nothing more than slaves. Apparently she was Lia’s tea-drinking buddy.
“What if this bitch cornered a Mage from the Coven of Zero and told them to turn anyone into a saint. Make them focus on medical treatment then plan to win her over later? That makes sense.”
“That sounds possible. In that case, every powerful person on friendly terms with the saint is a suspect. To narrow them down…” Zero glanced at me. She was hesitating to continue out of consideration.
So I said it. “We need to talk to Lia. Might even need to resort to some drastic measures.”
Lia needed to know what she was doing. She might not know the truth, but people were dying because of her. She needed to be aware of the mess she was making because of her ignorance.
However, the priest knew I didn’t trust Lia. Would he just sit quietly and let me do whatever I wanted?
“Gramps! Zero!” Theo burst into the room, his face pale. “I knew I’d find you here. I went to Gramps’ room but couldn’t find him there. Anyway, I don’t know what’s going on, but they’re talking about how both of you tried to kill the saint. There will be more soldiers coming soon. We have to get out of here!”
“Of course,” I said. “I saw this coming.”
“Oh, here’s your stuff,” the boy said. “I got them from your room.”
“You’re one smart kid, all right. I’m kinda frightened of what you’ll become in the future.”
Soon after, we heard the sounds of footsteps drumming on the hallway. They were coming in great numbers, and judging from the heavy metallic clangs, they were fully armed, heading towards my room. Fortunately we were in Zero’s room right now.
“He’s not here!” came a voice from the room across the hall. “Where’d he go?!”
Run away or fight—it was a difficult choice. Killing the soldiers and the priest, then interrogating Lia didn’t sound like a bad idea, but I would rather not do that. I might just go down in history as a great villain, with my name carved in stone.
Okay, let’s get out of here. I was more of a deserter than a fighter anyway.
“Witch, put your cloak on and grab your stuff.”
“I am already wearing it, and I have my things ready.”
I turned to Theo. “Theo, you—” As soon as I saw his neat appearance, I shut my mouth.
He climbed an impossible ladder, from a bandit gang’s errand boy to a saint’s retainer. He might even be able to attend a doctors’ school with the help of the saint.
“I’m ready,” he said. “I don’t have much stuff.”
“No, you’re staying here.”
“What?”
“There’s something you want to do, right? Whatever that is, working for the saint is your best bet of accomplishing it. If you come with us, you might not be able to return to Akdios.”
“Oh… But I…”
I ruffled his hair. “Stay here and ask Lia to let you go to school or something. Once you’ve become what you wanted and finished what you set out to do, you can go on a journey. We might see each other again someday. I stand out, after all.”
All he had to do was look for a big, black and white Beastfallen. We could always do that. But if he came with us now, his future would be ruined.
“We’re going out the window. Come.” Carrying Zero, I opened the window. I could hear footsteps approaching. “Here goes. Keep your mouth closed.”
“‘Kay.” Zero’s response sounded rather childish, perhaps because she kept her mouth shut. “Understood,” she corrected, frowning.
Too late for that. I jumped down from the window.
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