2
Imperial territory. Birthplace of Witches.
A small, dusty room.
The ceiling was covered in cobwebs. Unfamiliar bugs crawled out of the fissures in the concrete.
“…………”
“Don’t glare at me like that, Princess Sisbell. I’m just bad at cleaning. This is what my room normally looks like.” The researcher—a woman with red hair—laughed mirthfully. “Or do you mean to tell me that you take issue with how I’ve received a princess? Would you like me to hurry up and take off your shackles?”
“No.” Still bound faceup on the dusty bed, Sisbell glared at the woman looking down on her.
The researcher’s skin was ashen, as though she was malnourished. She had bags under her eyes from lack of sleep. Though she looked incredibly ill, her eyes lit up as she gazed at Sisbell’s face.
“…Kelvina, or whatever your name is. It’s your eyes. I do not appreciate the way you look down on me.”
“Ha-ha. What an adorable witch you are.”
Kelvina Sofita Elmos. The odd woman swooped the white coat she wore to reveal rows of syringes along the wall.
“Hng!”
“Oh, but you cried and shouted the first time you saw these. Stop it, stop it! you said. Are you really that scared of needles?”
“……Yes. I remember that quite well.” Sisbell bit her lip from where she was still lying down. She could hardly hold back her fear and humiliation. “Because you suctioned the tears I shed with a syringe and called it precious witch bodily fluid. That made me shudder.”
Sisbell didn’t sense any animosity or hostility from the woman. It was the first time she had experienced it—the fear of running up against someone’s bottomless curiosity.
…She only thinks of witches as research samples.
…This is the first time I’ve met an Imperial with such little humanity.
Though the Empire’s discrimination of witches disgusted her, this woman went beyond that. She was possessed by desires of an unknown nature.
“Now, don’t worry. We won’t be using the agents in these syringes for some time.” Kelvina lovingly stroked one of the instruments with an even gentler touch than she’d used when examining Sisbell. “It’s still time to be patient. Your donor said I wasn’t to lay hands on you. Your astral power seems quite valuable.”
“…Is your donor Lord Talisman?”
“Oh, so you knew? Yes, it was indeed that sorcerer.”
She didn’t even attempt to conceal who was behind it. And even though he was her coconspirator, she’d still called him a sorcerer.
“Do you really despise the Sovereignty that much?”
“Hmm? No, not in the slightest,” Kelvina said. “I don’t hate the Nebulis Sovereignty at all.”
She ruffled her dull red hair. She didn’t have any makeup on.
“Unlike the people at the Imperial headquarters, I don’t want to exterminate witches and sorcerers. That would be a waste. You all are far too precious research samples for that.”
“…So you don’t think of us as human?”
“As human? Now, how would you categorize that?”
“What?”
“There are only two types of things in this world: research samples and everything else. I don’t care whether you’re human.”
Kelvina stared directly into Sisbell’s face. Her pale lips formed something that resembled a slight smile.
“You witches are the former, and the Imperials walking about are the latter. So you should be happy. In my world, you’re valuable.”
“…………”
Kelvina looked into her eyes. Their noses were nearly touching. Sisbell silently closed her eyes at this mad scientist, who was ogling her without so much as blinking.
Sisbell didn’t want to see her. She’d had enough close-ups of this woman’s face.
“…You are an aberration,” Sisbell hissed.
“Very good,” the woman replied.
“Huh!”
She felt something on her chest. Her eyes still shut, Sisbell tried to resist as she was groped. Though technically, it was actually her astral crest that Kelvina was touching.
“That’s what everyone who envies my genius calls me. Omen, the Imperial headquarters, they all say it. You’re wrong. Isn’t that amusing? In the end, the only people who knew my true worth were the Eight Great Apostles.”
“What?”
“…Oh, I’ve said too much. Mustn’t do that. I haven’t spoken to anyone but myself for some time. I’m practically drunk on conversation.”
The princess opened her eyes. Kelvina had covered her mouth in an almost childlike manner. Though Sisbell was curious about the Eight Great Apostles, in this situation, inquiring about that would likely be futile.
“What’s your aim?” she asked instead.
“My aim? Why, nothing but uncovering the truth of this world through research. For I am a scientist.”
It was such a respectable goal that it felt almost anticlimactic. But any of Sisbell’s presumptions were quickly blown away by what the woman said next.
“My greatest interest is the depths of the planet.”
Sisbell inhaled sharply.
“Princess Sisbell, do you know what dwells there?”
“……?” She paused upon being questioned.
The depths of the planet? What did that mean? No matter how far down you dug, the only thing you’d find in the lowest strata of the earth was bedrock.
However…
Sisbell recalled the face of Talisman, head of the Hydra. She was certain the man who had snuck into the Lou villa had said something along those lines…
“We require the Empire’s power to reach the planet’s core.”
“Let’s join hands, Sisbell. The astral power in you can reveal the secrets of this planet. I would like you to work for me in the future.”
“…That’s something I would like to know as well.”
She gritted her teeth.
Sisbell shouted at the researcher looking down on her, “This planet’s core? Just what are you all hiding?!”
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