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The Scales that Announce Global Upheaval – Part 12

Yoshino grabbed a notepad and a pen from the table and began sketching. Each table had similar supplies for the researchers.

She drew a fan-shaped meter, like the top half of a clock, with 3 to 9 missing.

“The further the needle moves to the right, the more dangerous it is. This time, it moved two notches.”

From 55 to 57 minutes.

“Hmm. By dangerous, you mean heavy mana consumption. But hasn’t mana always been used continuously? Aren’t you overreacting to a slight imbalance?”

“The thing is, the center represents the safe zone. Beyond that, mana depletion accelerates rapidly.”

“So the device itself uses an exponential scale. As the needle moves, each increment represents a significantly larger degree.”

“Oh, you’re smart. Exactly. Well, it’s what we believe, at least.”

“Hmm.”

Hikaru recalled the knowledge of Roland N. Zaracia, the original owner of his body. Roland, though a young boy, had studied extensively, especially about sorcery—though he was less knowledgeable about politics and economics.

Roland had no deep understanding of souls and mana. He had believed that using the spell for crossing worlds required mysterious energy associated with souls, which he accessed using an item called the Soul Drainer.

The existence of soul power was evidenced by guild cards and soul cards, which read a person’s soul to grant Blessings. These were developed by Funai, a Man Gnome. After leaving his isolated village, he was able to conduct significant research.

“Say,” Hikaru suddenly recalled something from his own memory. “Do you know about holy magoi?”

Back in Paula’s home village, Cotton-elka, monsters had overflowed from the dungeon, and Hikaru ventured alone to the deepest part to cut off their source. There, he encountered a Fire Drakon.

The Fire Drakon claimed to be aligned with the Holy and worked for the gods, using the power of holy magoi to combat the dragons aligned with Evil.

Hikaru thought this setup resembled the conflict between the Man Gnomes striving to maintain world order and the Saak family advocating chaos through sorcery.

“Yes, the power of drakons as told in fairy tales,” Yoshino said.

“You know about it?”

“Yeah, but it’s not real.”

Yoshino recounted a tale of drakons, messengers of gods who used the power of holy magoi to save people in trouble.

Drakons and Man Gnomes didn’t seem particularly connected.

“Did you think that soul power was actually holy magoi? It’s not impossible, but it’s a rather pointless speculation.”

“True. Regardless of the name, the power is observable. Trying to link it to some vague fairy tale magic won’t get us anywhere.”

“That’s right. You’re definitely suited for research.”

“But I’m a bit concerned. Say, Flower Face, do you know of any other fairy tales involving drak—”

Hikaru noticed Paula was already nodding off. He was about to say something about it being too early, but even Renka had grown bored and was gently poking the cheek of a sleeping researcher.

“Never mind. Let’s get back on track.”

“Go ahead.”

“You guys have been monitoring the Balancer to ensure it doesn’t exceed the center—that is, 12 o’clock.”

“Yes.”

The Doomsday Clock back on Earth came to Hikaru’s mind. It visually indicated how close the world was to catastrophe due to factors like nuclear war. People adjusted its hands based on various elements, whereas the Balancer’s needle moved automatically by measuring souls.

Right now, the Balancer was signaling: three minutes until the end of the world. The implications of that needle were heavy.

“Well, we just check the needle at the same time every day. Not that we ever needed to.”

“Hm?”

“The bell rings when the needle moves. There’s a bell built into the Balancer. It almost gave me a heart attack. No one knew it had that function.”

“…”

They didn’t fully understand what was inside or all the functions the device had. If it operated on magical energy, Hikaru could verify it with Mana Detection, but this lab showed no mana signatures, indicating it wasn’t a magic item.

“I’ll ask just in case. The magical energy that fills the entire world—”

“Hold up,” Yoshino said. “It’s my turn to ask a question.”

“Oh right, sorry. I asked too many.”

“Then, my question: What exactly is the spell for crossing worlds?”

Hikaru froze. He did not expect those words to come from Yoshino’s mouth.

“Huh? Does it not have something to do with you?” Yoshino asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Late last night, Raiga came and asked if anyone knew about it. Considering the timing of your arrival, it’s natural to think it was related to you.”

That made sense.

“I see,” Hikaru said. “It’s sorcery based on a research thesis published by Soaarunay Saak long ago. Do you know about it?”

“I do. I believe it was called Preliminary Study on Magic Research Transcending Space-Time. If it relates to the Saak family, I know about it. But that spell was full of flaws and never worked properly. I read records here in the institute where they tried various experiments, but none of them worked.”

“You’re researching sorcery too?”

“Only within a limited scope. You can’t confront the Saak family without knowledge of sorcery.”

“Good point.”

“We haven’t researched sorcery at all for about a hundred years. Since we didn’t know the whereabouts of the Saak family or the labyrinth. Everyone hoped they’d quietly perished.”

Hikaru could understand the sentiment. There didn’t seem to be any surviving members of the Saak family apart from Soaarunay.

To be more precise, she was the one who brought me back here.

Caught up in Soaarunay’s spell, Hikaru had found himself in this world. Now that he had learned that the spell for crossing worlds had ceased to function, he could devise contingency plans. Every cloud has a silver lining.

“I get it,” Hikaru said. “The spell for crossing worlds utilizes the power of attraction between souls. That means it affects the nature of souls too. And since Man Gnomes monitor the movement of souls, you can sense when the spell is being used.”

“Are you studying the spell for crossing worlds, then? So you are a researcher.”

“Hardly. I just dabble.”

“Oh. I like researchers, but I can’t get behind studying sorcery.”

Hikaru laughed. “Well, there’s no one outside this village researching souls, so it can’t be helped.”

“That’s true. Ah, I see now. Lately, there have been many disturbances in the Soul Stream. That must’ve been you.”

“Disturbances?”

“Like the Black Wedge Gate failing to activate properly. It’s a minor thing, but it’s rarely observed in the long history of Man Gnomes. There were frequent issues with the Black Wedge Gate used for teleportation to Ponsonia, leading to suspicions of large-scale sorcery, prompting Raiga and the others to investigate.”

And that’s how Raiga ended up in the Four Eastern Stars’ apartment.

“Is the spirit and soul the same thing?”

“Yes. In the sense that magicule and mana are the same. The energy contained within every living thing is called soul, and its core is the spirit, you might say. We can observe how souls move, but we can’t see them with our own eyes.”

“…”

Hikaru possessed the skill Life Detection, which allowed him to sense the life force of living beings. Was this life force actually the soul?

No, that’s a bit different. If they were the same, my Life Detection would sense something in the Black Wedge Gate. Soul-related devices in this lab should be detectable too, but there’s been no reaction at all.

“I want to ask about the spell for crossing worlds,” Yoshino said. “Is it sorcery that uses the attraction between souls to travel to different worlds? Is such a thing really possible?”

Hikaru decided there was no need to reveal that he could actually go to a different world.

“According to Soaarunay’s theory, yes.”

“So you tried to prove it by using large-scale sorcery?”

“It failed, though. It was jammed by mesh-like magical energy spread across this world. Does it ring any bells?”

“Mesh-like magical energy, huh? Mana is something that fluctuates and can’t form a proper shape. Unless you use sorcery—” Realization struck. “You think it’s the Saak family’s doing?”

“Of course.”

“There’s no way a spell covering the entire world could exist.” Yoshino shook her head.

“The Seventh Elder said it might be possible.”

“Well, it’s certainly not impossible. But do you understand just how difficult that would be? It’s almost impossible. Maybe the elders are overestimating the Saak family.”

Whatever Yoshino believed, the fact was there was interference caused by sorcery.

“But even you don’t know all the spells of the Saaks, do you?”

“How rude,” Yoshino said. “I’m a member of Ultimate Mirk, you know. I had to cram all materials related to the Saak family into my head to work in this institute. From the records of the Great Labyrinth of Runay-aas to the Preliminary Study on Magic Research Transcending Space-Time that you mentioned earlier, I’ve read them all thoroughly.”

“So, your knowledge isn’t far off from what the head of this place knows, is that right?”

“With respect to sorcery, yes.”

“Is there some kind of banned book or information that only the director and the elders know about?”

Yoshino laughed. “Are you serious? There’s no such thing here. I know this research institute inside out. Of course, I’d get scolded if I used or dismantled devices without permission, and some things are meant only for the director to use. But you’re free to peruse all books and documentations. Wait, what’s wrong?”

You’ve gotta be kidding me. That means I won’t get anything about the spell for crossing worlds here. I mean, I knew this place studied souls and not magic, but still!

Hikaru had assumed that since Raiga brought them to this village with such confidence, he would obtain some kind of information.

Rikido, you were right. I’m not getting anything.

In his mind, Hikaru saw the handsome Man Gnome giving a thumbs-up and winking.