[457] The Beginning of Change (9)
At the research group meeting, Miro told Gaold everything she had told Sein.
Since she passed the survival test at the comet last year, an organization called the Holy Order had begun to move.
They revealed the world's secrets to Miro and even told her of Anke Ra's existence.
Miro said she had been to heaven. That, she said, was what trapped her in a loneliness more terrifying than death.
"Why…."
Gaold sprang to his feet and shouted.
"Why would you accept something like that?"
"If I don't, everyone dies. I'll become someone's successor and protect this world. It's glorious."
"No—that's madness! What do you gain from it?"
"Heh. A believer of the Yor order shouldn't say that. Isn't it wonderful? To be able to give my love to the whole world."
"And what about my love?"
"Gaold, love isn't something you do alone. I don't love you."
"You can do it alone. You only pretended to be dating Sein to trick me, didn't you?"
Miro sighed.
Under other circumstances the emotion would have been mortifying, but compared to what she faced, it was nothing.
"Haa. How did we end up like this?"
Gaold jabbed a finger.
"It's all your fault!"
"Hohoho! Me? I've just been sitting here. Anyway, this popularity of mine…."
Even facing the end of his world, Gaold ground his teeth at how Miro could joke first.
Does she have no thought for the man who has to send her away forever?
"Fine! Do as you please! I'll forget you from now on."
Gaold left the meeting curtly, but his heart burned hotter than before.
Miro's grave.
The Istas blueprint that Sein and Miro had drawn together was no different from a coffin being built while awaiting its own death.
There must be a way. I can save Miro.
There was no way.
Only when he began to think about practical options did Gaold feel how enormous the incident surrounding Miro really was.
He spent nights in prayer.
"O God, why her? Why must the person I love suffer this?"
While Gaold grew gaunt, the world kept turning, and finally Sein told him that the twenty-person committee to decide Miro's fate had been convened.
Gaold ran through the names.
Mirhi Alpheas, Miro's teacher; Olivia from Tormia's Council of Teachers; King Adolf of Tormia and the queen.
That four of the twenty were his countrymen might later be used to excuse a furtive history, but Gaold was not satisfied.
The highest authorities from every field—state, religion, society, the humanities, history, philosophy, and the arts—had gathered, including the emperor of the Three Realms and first-class envoys.
"Gustav Havitz. He will never forgive Miro."
Then Gaold had only one person left to lean on.
Among the invited religious figures were the pope of the Rami Church, Yora—the living saint of the Yor faith—and Amium.
"Yes. Him…."
Amium's influence didn't match the Rami Church's, but his integrity was respected across the world.
If he exerted pressure on the committee, he could check Havitz.
So the twenty judges were being assembled quietly, away from the public eye.
Near the Istas magic warehouse at Alpheas School, a spacetime rift opened by a Scale mage, and the world's foremost authorities began arriving one by one.
After several sleepless nights, Gaold spotted Amium—the symbol of Yor—walking amid his guards.
"Amium! Amium!"
As Gaold sprang forward, the guards' blades flashed toward his throat.
"Stop."
With swords crossed at his neck, Gaold froze.
Amium ordered the guards to lower their blades.
A living saint could not be seen killing anyone; the knights obeyed without resistance.
"Who are you? How did you get in here?"
"I'm Gaold, a believer of the Yor order."
Amium watched the kneeling Gaold in silence.
"Save Miro! I've lived as God's servant all my life without shame! I will give my soul! Please, spare only Miro…!"
"Gaold, did you say your name is Gaold?"
"Please… grant your grace to this humble servant! Mercy for Miro…!"
"God will forgive us as well."
Gaold's eyes widened.
It felt as if the cathedral he had spent his life building had collapsed in an instant.
Amium was going to let Miro go.
"Yora…."
"Let's go."
Amium said no more and followed his guards away.
"Security is lax."
That was the last thing Gaold heard from Yora.
"Sixteen in favor, one against, three abstentions. By the twenty-person tribunal, Miro's Wol Project is approved."
No one applauded.
Some felt guilty, some did not; their hearts were different, but they all knew the act was unforgivable.
"So it's decided."
Even after hearing Sein's words, Gaold stared blankly at the wall.
"Stop clinging to it. Miro made the best choice. By her sacrifice, we all gain new life."
"New life?"
Gaold turned his head slowly.
"No—we've all lost our light. Because one person bore everything and vanished, we now carry an unforgivable original sin. From now on we'll forever rely on second- and third-rate Mirhos."
"What's wrong with that?"
Sein looked back at the coordinates of the space Miro would leave.
"What's wrong with living with an original sin? If it's come to that, you live with it. That's human."
"I'm going to Miro."
Gaold rose.
"Don't. Right now she's the one suffering most. There's nothing we can do."
"To Miro…."
Gaold gritted his teeth.
"I'm going."
The night before Miro left the world, Gaold asked her to meet him in the park.
Contrary to his expectation, she came willingly, smiling as if she had already made her peace.
"Ah, that's a relief. I thought I'd die of boredom since no one came. That Sein, he's so indifferent."
When Gaold stared at her as if stunned, Miro chuckled and tapped his shoulder.
"Why so serious? It's for the best. I'll become a myth beyond history. As a mage, what's more glorious than that? Besides, living like this had gotten boring."
She was usually talkative, but now she spoke more than ever.
Was it because this might be her last conversation?
When that thought reached him, Gaold pulled her into an embrace.
"Run away."
Miro remained calm.
"Anywhere. Let's run right now! I'll do whatever it takes to protect you!"
"How will you protect me?"
Gaold shoved her away and looked into her eyes.
"I'll give my life for you, do whatever it takes…."
"Gaold, that's not like you."
"I know! But I don't care anymore! Why her? There are so many people in the world! If it had been me…."
"Because you're weak."
Gaold looked at Miro with sorrowful eyes.
"So I must do it. Gaold, understand."
"No. I only see you now. I can't do anything without you!"
Gaold grabbed her hand and clung to her.
"Just run away! For a day, no—just a few hours with you…."
Miro ripped her hand away roughly.
"What are you doing to me! You can't do anything for me!"
Tears gathered in Miro's upturned eyes.
"Then… save me…."
Seeing that hint of reproach in her gaze, Gaold shuddered as if struck by electricity.
His mind went white and a flash of indescribable emotion ran through him.
Miro suddenly recovered her composure, changed her expression, and turned away coldly.
"Forget it. That selfish thought of yours was pathetic anyway."
Even after Miro left and until dawn, Gaold stood rooted to the spot.
On the morning she left, Gaold looked up at the Yor church altar and hung the pendant around his throat.
"O God."
It was Gaold's first prayer.
"A servant who has obeyed you all my life asks for one desire for the first time. I don't care if I fall into hell. I don't mind screaming in torment forever. Please—grant Miro to me."
Gaold took his first step toward her.
Before the Istas magic warehouse, the twenty-person committee, historians, and senior officials waited.
Words were unnecessary for a decision already made, and Miro walked slowly toward the grave she had made for herself.
Having mastered Scale magic's true nature, opening a dimensional rift was no trouble for her.
Sein watched her pass in silence, then spoke.
"Farewell, Miro."
Miro's steps stopped.
Thank you.
Sein wanted to say.
My feelings for you were sincere.
But in the end he kept his mouth shut.
Thus Sein sent away the woman he loved most, coldly in his heart.
Just when everything seemed to be ending, someone shouted.
"Miro!"
Sein's face went pale as he turned.
Gaold, clad in Yor robes, was running.
"You lunatic, you're trying to die…."
Before Sein could stop him, the highest knights drew their swords.
"Deal with him."
"No."
An imperial official overseeing the execution halted them.
"This is an ultra-sensitive matter that could change humanity's course. A death must not be recorded in history."
"And if we do?"
At the official's signal, mages and Lawmages deployed powerful anti-magic and binding Laws to restrain movement.
I can reach her! I can do it!
The closer he drew to Miro, the faster Gaold's heart pounded.
Tick. Tick.
At that moment, powerful anti-magic assaulted his mind and the Lawmages' Laws pinned him to the ground.
"Ugh! Miro!"
He raised his head and called, but she didn't turn.
No—she must not turn.
"Ahhh!"
He forced himself up, but the execution committee's mages and Lawmages were the world's best.
"Guhhh! Guhhh!"
As the restraints tightened, Gaold's face twisted.
Tick.
"Crush him. As long as he doesn't die, it's fine."
As the Law's power intensified, Gaold screamed under the crushing weight as if his spine would snap.
"Arrrgh!"
Smack! Smack!
Veins exploded in Gaold's eyes, blood ran from them, and blood leaked from between his teeth. His facial nerves spasmed and his skin bulged grotesquely.
Pain sensation doubled.
"What is this?"
Only then did the mages and Lawmages sense something wrong.
This force was beyond what a normal human could endure.
Gaold looked at Miro with blood-filled eyes.
She was only twenty meters away.
Tic....
But twenty meters that seemed forever out of reach.
…Click.
That damned twenty meters!
"Arghhh!"
Bones twisting in agony, Gaold kept stepping forward.
Pain quadrupled.
The more he advanced, the farther Miro seemed to recede.
And at that moment, Gaold's clock stopped forever.