After leaving Laqeramaline's house, I started walking back to my mansion, but I encountered an unexpected person just around the corner. Sitting on one of the benches, there was Aefanyl, looking at me as if he was waiting for me to arrive. He spotted the Banshee's Crown on my head, his eyes constricting slightly, before he forced himself to calm down. I walked to his side, sitting down next to him.
-"It should be our first real meeting, so let me introduce myself. Call me Eno."
-"Aefanyl."-He nodded.-"Rhodes Island Operator, Logos."
-"You're here because of Laqeramaline?"
-"Yes. I wanted to talk with you, as my mother mentioned you quite often during our meeting."
-"Sure, I'll also be happy to make an acquaintance with you."
We sat on that bench while we talked. First, it was rather awkward; Logos wasn't an extroverted person, nor was I one to confide my thoughts in strangers. But after some icebreaking, we got more casual, our subject jumping between Arts and complaining about Rhodes Island and Laterano. I found Logos a good person to talk with; he was calm but not emotionless, casual in the way that showed composure, not lack of care.
-"Has your mother talked about the research and discussions we had together with Fremont?"-I asked him at some point.
-"Not in details, but she mentioned that you were trying to learn Banshee's Arts and Witchcraft. I saw you use our techniques during that incident."
-"Yes."-I nodded and wrote a rune with my finger, fusing runic magic and Banshee's writing techniques.-"This is the fruit of our cooperation. I hope we can continue working on research, not just with Laqeramaline, but with you as well."
He seemed surprised by my invitation, but accepted it.-"I'll be happy to help. What you showed back then kept me awake due to trying to understand your techniques."
-"What are you interested in?"
-"That spear. How can you create something so powerful simply by combining some runes? I saw that you didn't create it from some other materials; it was formed by the words themselves."
-"That spear is a fusion of a few elements. The original was purely formed by runes inscribed on solid material. I'm still short of being able to do so; I could only construct the core. The rest is created by my own magic, Remembrance. You can consider it as creating a construct from memories,"
-"A construct formed from memories?"
-"To explain it properly, you need to understand something: Noble Phantasm. In your eyes, what makes a person, their intentions or actions?"
-"Both. Intentions are the directions of one's life, while actions are one's footsteps left behind."
-"Then, if you strip the directions, leaving only what was left behind by someone: their legends, myths, histories, and even fantastical stories, creating a person from them. What will that person be?"
-"This... It would be an idea of that person, a perception morphing further and further from reality as the stories got twisted."
-"Indeed. Have you heard stories about your mother? Those told by others than Sarkaz?"
He nodded, his face a mix of strange pride and slight anger.
-"In a certain world, there exist beings called Heroic Spirits. They are a mixed bunch, but their origins are what we spoke about. Beings, some past heroes, morphed through the perception of myths and legends. Each holding to some wish from their lives, but even it was distorted by the time that has passed since their passing."
He listened, imagining his mother as such a figure, twisted by the stories he heard outside.
-"Noble Phantasms are the crystallization of their legends and myths. If Heroic Spirits are the part showing the intentions of heroes given new life, then Noble Phantasms are the traces of their previous existence. Their achievements, both true and told. Bows capable of unleashing divine might of a goddess, as the wielder in the story was a devout follower of the divinity. Armor that contained the power to destroy a whole city, because in the myth it was a gift from god."
-"So that spear is also like that?"
-"Yes, as it was only a copy, it's a Pseudo Noble Phantasm to be exact. My technique is about that, using my memories and connections with people deserving the name of hero to manifest their powers. I can form both Pseudo Heroic Spirits and Pseudo Noble Phantasms, but the origin of this technique lies in Ashes, the magic of using spirits of the deceased."
-"Then, that man and Her Majesty Promulgator?"
-"Both exist because of the interaction between my Remembrance and Azure Dream, one giving them spirit and power through their memories that I inherited, the other restoring souls."
-"That's quite miraculous."
-"I'm trying to further develop this technique, and I hope to use your expertise in the Arts."
-"Good. I'd like to reference that Remembrance of yours to learn more about my abilities."
We shook hands. I felt that he was genuinely trying to befriend me, but I also felt slight awkwardness in that, most likely due to my friendship with his mother, as he would glance at the Banshee's Crown on my head from time to time.
After that, we got lost in our talk, talking about some nuances of writing Art and runes, not caring about time and location. It was only when Ace came looking for Aefanyl that we ended our conversation. Ace greeted me and mentioned that a certain Old Lynx wanted to meet me, asking if I had time. I agreed on the spot, calling Shining, who was waiting on the side, to follow me.
Ace brought me to the Rhodes Island branch located at the edge of the district, close to the slums. Inside, I saw a clinic with many patients suffering from severe Oripathy, their ages ranging from infants to the elderly. Medics were calmly dealing with everything, but I could see that they lacked the manpower to deal with everything.
Ace wanted me to follow him into the backroom, but I stopped him for a moment, feeling that there was something wrong in one room. I walked there, ignoring a medic who tried to stop me, and grabbed the person inside, throwing them out. At the same time, I created a crystal barrier around the lying patient, transparent enough to see that seconds later, their body started to disintegrate, blowing Originium dust into the air.
The commotion I caused attracted not only other patients but also the Old Lynx herself, but after seeing that I acted to contain Originium, she didn't bother me; calming others down instead. I waited until the body fully disintegrated, collecting the airborne Originium into a solid crystal before taking back my barrier. After confirming there was no more danger, I looked at the person I threw out.
-"I apologize for my roughness."-I bowed to the girl who was still sitting on the ground, her eyes watching the deceased with tears in her eyes.
-"No. I'm thankful for saving me from exposure."-She quickly stood up and bowed to me as well.
-"I told you to be careful, Hibiscus."-Old Lynx scolded her.-"You should wear the protective gear when dealing with weaker patients."
-"But that girl was so afraid, I thought..."
-"Your thoughts almost made everything worse."
-"Don't scold her, Old Lynx. At least someone was thinking about how patients view them, trying to make them feel comfortable. But looking at your cold face, considering such accommodations never occurred to you."
-"Heh, found another target for your strange preferences, but looking at your head, I thought you preferred older women now."
-"Don't voice your grievances like that, jealous women aren't popular. It's not my fault that you aren't my type."
-"Who cares about that? I care for my people to be safe and follow correct procedures."
-"Then you should put those in danger of death in secure rooms."
-"You think I didn't want that? There are too many people whose Oripathy flared up due to the incident; we can't handle everyone, not to mention the shortage of Oripathy suppressants."
-"Have you asked for assistance from your landship?"
-"Rhodes Island is too far."-She shook her head.-"It'll take days before they arrive."
-"Can't do anything on your own, as always. Shining, you deal with those injured; leave the Oripathy patients to me. Call Uncle Patrizion to send some idle people to help with everything. Let Lemuen talk with the Empresses to arrange for a field hospital to be created, and if they want, for transport for the infected. "
-"On it."
-"What are you..?"-Old Lynx looked at me, surprised.
-"We'll help you. Arrange for your people to categorize people with families and those who can still work and don't have a place to go. Laterano is in process of building new mobile monasteries for the infected, we can take those who can work, even entire families can follow. They will be paid and provided an opportunity to buy Oripathy suppressants."
Kal'tsit looked at me and nodded.
-"We can help, but you have to allow us to inspect those."
-"Good, I can even form cooperation with your Rhodes Island to research new medicines and such, but that's for a later talk."-I moved to the patients who were in danger of death.
I checked their state, using my new control over Originium to temporarily suppress it. But that came with an unexpected surprise: when I prevented Originium growth in the patient, they would fall into a coma. This wasn't entirely bad, as I couldn't do anything for the pain they felt because of the crystals inside them. The pain I know too well.
I moved quickly, putting all in danger of death enter controlled coma, while those in better condition were referred to other medics present. Shining quickly entered her healer mode, earning the respect of everyone in a few short minutes. At first, some were afraid of her, typical due to her Sarkaz descent, but then someone pointed to the halo above her horned head.
Someone connected the halo and the white armor, recognizing her as Knight of the Holy Son of Laterano, who became a sensation not long ago. This also caused me to be recognized. Despite almost all people knowing that I existed, few know my appearance, and confusing some random Sankta for me might end in a shooting, so even fewer tried to guess.
This caused even greater commotion; if not for Old Lynx ordering her pet Mon3tr to keep order, there might be a stampede in the clinic. Luckily, Uncle came at a good moment with more people, controlling the situation. But, something I only learned much later, someone took a photo with my face fully visible when I was taking care of patients, showing my slightly glowing eyes and the Banshee's Crown as I had sligh smile, making me appear melancholic but carrying.
First, this photo appeared in the local city network, but it quickly got picked up by some travelers and messengers. When I learned about it, I was back in Laterano, and this photo appeared in almost every household. But that photo also appeared in other cities, gaining quite a popularity, especially among women.
The rest of the day was spent on helping those Oripathy patients, and by the evening, the surrounding area was turned into a field hospital. The Empresses readily agreed to crate place for the clinic, but the request to take the infected away was rejected at first. The Empresses were afraid that this might cause a commotion if so many Infected left at the moment, so I suggested turning it into an opportunity to buy recognition.
We agreed that Laterano will take Infected under the guise of Leithanian and Lateran humanitarian cooperation. Two mobile monasteries will be constructed with Leithanian cooperation. While subject to Laterano, they will exist on the Leithanian lands. Their production focused on medical materials and some other specialties that required working with Originium, thus creating a danger of infection.
That way, some holes in the Leithanien production chain could be patched over while making the Empresses appear magnanimous for thinking about the Infected. But as the prejudice against them is still too great, they couldn't freely exist in Leithanien cities, so creating small cities only for them was a good choice. Of course, no one would waste money on that, so that is where Laterano enters, providing investment.
But I didn't care or mind about the political machinations as long as the effect was something I agreed with. The Infected got a good deal, so the Empresses could twist some truth to fit their narrative, which was fair in my eyes. I worked in the clinic for the next few days, dealing with the critical patients and the young children, my Empathy a perfect tool for therapists.
I only ended my stay there when a rare flying transport ship brought more medical Operators from Rhodes Island, leaving it to true professionals. On my last day there, Old Lynx finally took me to her temporary office to talk. We sat facing each other, Shining making sure there was no eavesdropper outside.
-"Eno, let me be direct. I want to know how you managed to deal with your Oripathy."-She was indeed direct.
I placed my left arm on the table, looking at her seriously.
-"I can explain it to you, but the manner in which I achieved it isn't replicable."-I told her everything without holding the details back.-"There is a possibility of it succeeding, but it'll be throwing your body away at best."
She was silent for a moment before bowing to me.
-"I'm sorry."
-"For what?"-I didn't understand what she meant.
-"Babel was aware of the attack on you long before it took place. She... She wanted to prevent it, but the Evil Spirit opposed it as it was beneficial to our plans back then. The vote came to me..."
-"And looking at the outcome, you didn't choose to spare me. Sigh."-I closed my eyes.-"I won't pretend that it didn't matter or anything like that. I knew that Babel was involved in that long ago. I won't assign its sins to the current Rhodes Island, but remember one thing, Old Lynx. I will never believe you. You betrayed the agreement between us back then."
She lowered her head as the look of shame appeared on her face.
-"Our interactions will be based only on the exchange of profit, never on trust or other relations. Laterano will never back you up."-I stood up.
As I was about to leave, I looked at her one more time.
-"Old Lynx, as long as you continue helping the Infected, I won't be your enemy, I promise you, and as I'm not you, my promises are worth something. But the moment you do something that harms Laterano or people around me, I won't let you go."
Leaving those words, I left her office and took Shining back to the mansion. I heard later that the Old Lynx left the city that day, returning to Rhodes Island. She left me a small package and three letters. One from her Highness Theresa, one from Amiya, and one from her.