Prelude to the Festival and Miracles | Chapter 7

[healingbonds]

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Shino: Zasha, why are you running!? .....Hey, you're hurt all over!? Did someone beat you!?

Zasha: ......I'm not allowed to let outsiders into the church... Get out! Leave!

Heathcliff: ....What's in here?



<< Repsevaivulp Sonus >>

Heathcliff casts the spell, and the pocket watch in his hands releases a pale gold light like a lantern.
Illuminated by the light, the walls of the church, formerly hidden by darkness, become visible.

Shino: ....What is this...!?

✦✧ ☾✧✦

Faust: ........

Nero: ........

Villager: The wizards are still asleep... We're almost there... I can see the holy grounds... the lake....

Villager: If we cast these wizards into the lake, we'll obtain the miracle stones... We must offer those to Him.....

Villager: Yes... We must have offered too few sacrifices last year. His anger was great; the damage was catastrophic....

Villager: We must never let that happen again.... this is our duty; to protect the world from the < Great Catastrophe >.....

Nero: (...These guys think they're protecting the world from the < Great Catastrophe >.)

Villager: Here we are... Let's throw the wizards in...

Villager: We must offer Him the miracle stones to soothe His anger, He, in the church....

Faust: (He in the church...? There's nothing there... I sensed some powerful magic, but it wasn't alive.)
(What lies in there is most likely....)

✦✧ ☾✧✦

When first I saw the thing atop the platform in the church, I thought it was a stone statue.
But I was wrong. Its expression is too raw to be that of a statue. He looks as if he were frozen alive.
The youth’s suffering eyes look as if they yearn for something as he reaches out — and his face is beautiful; he somehow reminds me of Heathcliff.
And by his feet — a stash of mana stones, piled up as if an offering to him. Mana stones are valuable stones containing magic.
To draw a comparison to my world: it's like a mountain of diamonds stashed at the feet of a stone statue in some small village. It’s a bizarre sight.

Heathcliff: ....A wizard turned to stone....

Akira: ...A wizard turned to stone? You mean a wizard who has passed away....?

Heathcliff: ....Yes. Wizards turn to stone when they die. We usually shatter into pieces, but....
Something must have happened to this wizard so he wouldn't shatter, even after turning to stone....

Shino: ....I’d never seen a wizard turned to stone until now. Heath, have you seen one before?

Shino realizes after asking that Heathcliff took part in the battle against the < Great Catastrophe > where he lost half his comrades.
Heathcliff furrows his brows sadly and nods.

Heathcliff: ....In the last battle. Our master turned to stone like this, too.

Shino: .......... I see....

Shino falls silent; he doesn’t know what to say.
And then I hear Zasha's voice, shaking with fury.

Zasha: What have you done....

Heathcliff: Zasha....

Zasha: The incarnation of the < Great Catastrophe > grows furious when He is seen by others!

Shino: The incarnation of the < Great Catastrophe >? This thing?

Zasha: Don't call Him “this thing”....! Haven't you seen how horrifying the < Great Catastrophe > is!? It nearly destroyed the world!
We have been protecting this world by following a strict set of rules and providing live sacrifices to the < Great Catastrophe >!

We are bewildered by Zasha’s ferocity. We are the ones who have been chosen to fight the < Great Catastrophe >.
The chosen Sage’s wizards.... The mark of the black lily.... The bizarre injuries.... All sorts of things come to mind.
But Zasha is so serious that I’m overwhelmed; he almost makes me think we’re wrong.

Akira: No... You're wrong, Zasha. We are the ones who have been fighting the < Great Catastrophe > — this statue is a wizard who has passed away....

Zasha: What are you saying!? You don't know how hard we've worked — and you're claiming that you're fighting the < Great Catastrophe >!?
The < Great Catastrophe > in the sky is His soul! He comes to attack this village in an attempt to obtain His body!
As proof of that, when the < Great Catastrophe > approaches, the lake here begins to shake and create waves, and His incarnation lights up!
You don't even know that much!

Zasha yells at us and grabs an axe from the corner of the church.

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