Novel Full Chapter 587: Divisions
Chapter 587: Divisions
"So, Amiya, what do you think of this?" I say to Amiya, showing her a drawing I made. My incredible artistic skills are on full display for her. Amiya looks at me as if she’s seeing something terrifying.
"A-Aqua, I’m... not sure this is what I had in mind when I asked you to draw something that makes you happy..." Amiya stares at my drawing for a few moments.
"Aren’t you supposed to be some kind of magical therapist for magic control? So what’s the problem with my drawing?" I’m not sure how she ended up in this position.
But this human has some strange magic that she uses in a very unique way, so she ended up becoming some kind of tutor/therapist? She helps demons use the type of magic she uses.
"W-Well... your drawings aren’t exactly... normal, are they? Y-You know, most of the ones who come here draw things like someone important, a place, some food..."
"But I drew this."
"..." Her eyes widen when I say that.
"Drew?" She picks up all the drawings I’ve made over the last few hours.
"Is this you having sex with Lycoris? Is this one you tearing someone apart? HEY!! And this one is you cannibalizing my body!! Are you seeing me as food?" She gets alarmed by one of the drawings.
"It’s all things I like! A person I like, a food I like, and a curiously exciting scenario." I smile at her, showing my sharp teeth.
"Besides, my art is undeniably beautiful and detailed!" I undoubtedly have an incredible artistic talent; the details are so refined, the expressions are perfect, and the scene’s setting is well done.
"...Sorry, but it’s hard to just... deal with this..."
"Human, you’re being far too presumptuous! I don’t even know why Elena sent me to try and learn magic from you! What could your pathetic magic possibly offer that’s useful? I don’t see how your so-called magic method could be helpful?" When I say this, she shrinks in her chair.
"I-I don’t really know what to say... i-it was just something Pandora told m-me to do so I could stay here, instead of being locked up in a prison cell..." I look at her, this woman with such a pathetic teaching method.
"You’re a terrible teacher, your ability to teach is garbage, and your method of trying to figure out your students’ mindsets is crap. Drawings? Seriously, you’re judging personalities based on random drawings?"
"I-I saw it on t-television once and thought it worked..."
"Television? I don’t even know what the hell that is, but you saw it ONCE, just one single time, and judged that it worked?"
"B-But it got results!! 80% of m-my students pass and learn what I teach..."
"So you have a 20% failure rate."
"W-When you put it like that, it sounds really bad..."
"How corrupted are you?" I change the subject, asking a question that makes Amiya tremble in her chair.
"H-How do you know about that?"
"Does it matter? Just give me the answer." I know thanks to Mama’s diary. I kept searching the castle and discovered that the more important a diary is, the harder it is to find. Unfortunately, I only found one of the most hidden diaries.
And it’s entirely about Amiya. Mama detailed a lot about this girl: her body, her powers, and even about the fight they had. Overall, this girl is undoubtedly strong, but her personality is pathetic.
"Corruption is at 78%, Stellar Corruption is also at 78%, and Permanent Magical Girl has been at 100% for quite a while..." She admits as I think about the diary.
’It’s a bit higher than in Mama’s diary.’ I have to say, even though it doesn’t help me much, that diary has one section that’s hilarious, which lists all the Debuffs Amiya has.
"Amiya, to you, how is your magic different from the magic others use?"
"M-Mine is... freer? P-Pandora also said something about purity? I-I don’t know, I just know it’s different." I stare at Amiya’s body.
’What a waste of time. She’s a terrible teacher, and neither she nor I know what I’m supposedly supposed to learn here.’ It seems like she just teaches on pure instinct and sometimes it works out with some of her students.
"C-Can I ask why you need help? To start with, m-my style of magic is much softer and calmer, i-it normally wouldn’t be necessary for using normal magic..."
"It’s because I have an ability that activates when I sing, but that ability is still too unstable for me to even try using it properly. I’ve tried a few times, and although I can use it without problems, the effects come out way too extreme."
"I tried to apply paralysis on someone, and the person literally paralyzed."
"I-Isn’t that the purpose?"
"No, no! They didn’t ’stop,’ they ’paralyzed.’ Literally everything. The heart stopped beating, the blood stopped circulating, the organs stopped functioning. Everything, literally everything in the body stopped completely. That’s not supposed to be the effect of a mere paralysis."
"You understand? It’s a lethal effect, from something that wasn’t meant to kill!! There’s no way I can even use this in training because I don’t know if it’ll kill my training partner or not! Since it’s a magic issue, Elena sent me here to learn from you."
"Oh! Why didn’t you say so before! So you don’t need to learn to use magic like me! You just need m-me to teach you how to stabilize yours... that’s easier."
"So you know how to teach that?"
"Yes, it’s not that complicated if it’s just to teach you my method for stabilizing magic! You see, Star magic is pretty powerful, but my body wouldn’t be able to handle it without filtering it!"
"So I kind of do this ’filtering’ of magic on autopilot! But I also know how to teach the method! W-We can start tomorrow, how about that? A-After all, I need to prepare..."
"...Alright, that’s enough. As long as I can use my powers without problems, I guess even you’ll do." I say, getting up to leave and continue this tomorrow.
...
...
...
"I think we’re done here, Eclipsya. Thanks for always helping out at the church, and tell Tsukuyomi I said hello." Isabel speaks to me while Mikaela beside her waves at me.
"It was nothing, Isabel... I’ll be sure to tell Mama Tsukuyomi." It’s a punishment from Mama Tsukuyomi. If I could, I’d be anywhere other than this church. Anyway, the work here is at least easy, and I just need to pretend to have empathy.
"Eclipsya, before you leave, how about a meal with the two of us!"
’Azazel is busy, and today is Sunday so there are no classes...’ I’m free and bored, so I guess it’s no problem.
"Sure, I’d love to." I say, smiling at the two of them, while Mikaela murmurs something to Isabel and leaves. Isabel starts walking somewhere, and I follow her.
"Eclipsya, what do you think of the church? I’ve been working hard to grow this religion for Pandora! The number of followers has increased, although it’s more because of the help than because of faith... unfortunately, I can’t just kill all the faithless believers."
"So I’d say it’s an ’acceptable margin’ of error. After all, people only join a religion for generally personal reasons, I can’t question it too much. As long as the church grows, I think it’s fine."
"..." I’m not sure how to feel about that. It’s a place made to worship Mama Pandora, so it’s good, but the reality is, does faith in Mama Pandora really change anything in someone’s life? I don’t know.
Obviously, I don’t question Mama Pandora’s legitimacy. Mama Pandora is obviously a goddess, but faith doesn’t seem to change anything in my view. Do these people think that by worshiping Mama Pandora, Mama Pandora will do something for their miserable lives?
It’s really something I don’t understand, and maybe I’d prefer never to understand, because I see no point in worshiping some divine being in search of something. That’s just an excuse for weakness.
I prefer to try and achieve things on my own merit, which is much more satisfying, but anyway, I guess I can also understand the side of those who worship my mother.
"Isabel, you’re kind of the leader of this church, but you’re not a saint. Does that bother you?"
"Not at all. Pandora has done so much for my life, why would I want more? Being a saint was never my goal!... besides, I have a promise with Pandora, and that’s all that matters."
"And although I love helping others, that’s part of the job, but I genuinely care about at most 1% of everyone in this church. They’re my companions from when the church started, when we had to hide."
"Now that we’re an official religion, things have gotten easier. Loyalty has become shallower, and faith? It’s lost its value. But in the past, faith was the most valuable thing, loyalty was absolute, and things were very hard."
"It was a difficult time to live in, to say the least, because we were a small religion serving the Demon King, so we were enemies of practically the entire world." We arrive at a room with a meal already prepared.
"I’ll stop bothering you with things from the past. I hope you enjoy the meal." She says, motioning with her arm towards the table, indicating the place for me to sit. I give a nod and go to my spot.
’While I’m here, I should think about the next date with Azazel...’ I’ve been thinking about what Azazel likes and gathering information. I’m sure I’ll plan a great date for her soon.