Immortal's Ascending Path - 35
Episode-35. Kunkan's Gift.
"Keep talking."
Ulrich asked as he stood up.
"What happened after the sacrament?"
He turned his back to Tapio inside the house and scanned the surroundings. About twenty people were leaning against the wall, listening to their conversation. Every one of them had a look of tension in their eyes.
"First, I checked the mana residing in the children's bodies. It was no different from a formally performed Infant Sacrament. Their names were on the registry."
Tapio hesitated, about to say that not all the children were like that. He remembered the moment he performed the sacrament. He recalled the life crumbling in his arms.
"…Although the number was less than half, I thought a miracle had happened. I thought our earnestness had reached the heavens."
A miracle? That was nonsense. The seat in the heavens was empty, so who would perform a miracle? But at the time, Tapio did not doubt it. It was like a light shining in the darkness where he could not see an inch ahead.
In the endless civil war, even a famine struck. There was also a plague. They were so desperate that they had to hunt down fleeing soldiers. Then life took root in the village.
He had no choice but to believe. What if it wasn't a miracle?
"I admitted too late that it was an illusion…"
Tapio let out a self-deprecating laugh.
"When was it that the effects of the sacrament became apparent?"
"It appeared when the children were seven or eight years old."
The evil god's power revealed itself after a long wait.
Skin peeled off and scales grew, snouts protruded like foxes, legs twisted and became like goats' legs, and most of the children who received the sacrament underwent changes.
"The initial changes were minor, but the target was too clear. If it was the influence of the swamp, the adults should have changed as well, but only the children who received the sacrament changed."
Tapio asserted that the sacrament had summoned an evil god.
"I performed a false sacrament."
Even though he only apprenticed, he was a man who had walked the path of priesthood. The Public Church's Infant Sacrament did not entail external changes. The changes were the influence of the evil god. That was the characteristic of an evil god who rejected order.
"I put them on the registry to save the children, but the registry belonged to the evil god. I didn't save the children… I sent them to hell."
"Do you believe in the existence of the afterlife?"
Ulrich turned to face Tapio.
"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"
The Public Church claims that humans and other races possess souls. The soul heads to the master of the underworld the moment the body dies. And depending on the good and evil committed during life, it goes to either heaven or hell.
However, as an exception, if a name is on the evil god's registry, it goes to hell regardless of karma. According to the Public Church's claims, the children were destined for hell after Tapio performed the false sacrament.
"I see. You have no choice but to believe. Even if there are no gods in our world and they don't return, if there is an afterlife, you believe that the connection between the creator and the created continues."
Tapio suddenly thought that there was negativity in his tone.
"But why aren't you washing away the sin you committed?"
"What… do you mean?"
Extending his right hand, Ulrich pointed to the group standing behind him. Even without a word, they could not have failed to understand the meaning. Everyone listening to the conversation understood.
"Don't you want to go to heaven? After your life is over, if you are asked about these children on the scales of karma that you believe you exist on, what will you answer?"
Before he could answer, he continued.
"Tapio, you once walked the path of priesthood. You must know. You know what sin you have committed and what you must do to wash away that sin. But why have you been putting it off until now?"
His tone changed. A young man named Armin called Tapio very lowly. But he did not realize it. It felt natural for the young man to call him that.
"They are not monsters to me."
Tapio stared straight at Ulrich and asserted.
"I have watched those children since they first cried. Although they have almost lost their human form, I have watched them slowly become what they are now since they were fully human."
He looked at the group clinging to the wall and watching the conversation. Except for two, they were in a form that could not be called human. Even if you brought any benevolent person, they would call them monsters.
But Tapio regarded each and every one of them as human. To him, that group was children. As he told Ulrich, he had watched them all his life.
Also, it was because the changes were slow.
The transformations in fairy tales happened with a wave of the hand, but the changes brought about by the sacrament were a lifelong process. Little by little, they blossomed as children grew into adults.
If they had changed in an instant, Tapio and the parents might have thought differently. Because in an instant, the child became a different species. The sense of alienation would have been extraordinary.
But as the skin peeled off and scales increased by one, two, three over five years, and two legs stuck together and became a snake over five years, the changes were too slow and long.
That was why, even though the children had become monsters, Tapio and the parents could not regard the children as monsters.
"How can I lay a hand on such children? I committed the sin, so what sin do the children have? If I kill innocent children to wash away my sin, wouldn't I be committing another sin?"
He inadvertently became excited and raised his voice.
After finishing speaking, Tapio looked at Ulrich to see if he was upset.
"You are right. Children are inherently innocent."
His expression was calm. No, he even seemed to be smiling. He vaguely felt that way. He faintly smiled.
"But what about now? There are rumors that monsters are hunting people. Isn't that the work of the child you performed the sacrament on?"
"That child… is a child who couldn't withstand the changes."
"I suppose so. Because the body and mind are together. The fact that you have become non-human beings also means that your disposition has become something other than human."
"The children here are fine. Although they have become like this, their disposition is not much different from when they were human. They know how to suppress their urges."
Ulrich shook his head.
"Until now, that is."
Tapio remained silent because he knew what would follow.
"As long as you are on Kunkan's registry, the changes will not stop. If there is anyone among you who harbors wildness, it will continue to grow, and if there is anyone whose intelligence has decreased, they will even forget their name."
"That's…"
"The instinct you have as a non-human being will try to break down the reason you have built up as a human. Until death comes. Tapio, can you handle such a group?"
Ulrich pointed out that the swamp monster was born because he could not handle it. He could not refute it. It was as he said.
Even if they suppressed their instincts with reason, one by one, the children succumbed to their instincts. And once reason succumbed to instinct even once, it did not return.
The children who truly became monsters no longer recognized even their own families. They only cared about whether they were prey or not. Tapio had directly taken the lives of such children, but there were times when he missed them. That child was the swamp monster.
"Even so… who else would handle them?"
#
In the silence filled only with breathing, Ulrich watched Tapio bite his dry lips and avert his gaze. He seemed to have nothing more to say, so Ulrich also closed his mouth and shifted his gaze.
"…"
Pieces came into view. Sculptures made of wood were lying all over the house. When Ulrich came inside, the group was so surprised that they stumbled backward and knocked them over.
The sculptures ranged in size from the size of a palm to the size of a person. Each one was crude due to the unskilled hands. The shapes resembled people, but only the shapes did, and the proportions were not right or meticulously carved.
Ulrich guessed that the children who received the false sacrament had carved them. Because the number and shape of their fingers were different, they had no choice but to be crude.
It was clear what they wanted to carve. The gods of the heavens, the masters of the registry that the children wanted to reach but could not, were carved in this way in order to reach them.
He bent down and picked up one of them.
It was a man with a benevolent smile, holding a torch in his right hand. It was Hestio.
"Tapio, you have nothing more to say to me, do you?"
"What can I say?"
Fatigue was thick in his voice. It was not resignation. He was just tired. His mind was wearing away day by day. He was fighting against Kunkan's blessing.
No, it would be more accurate to say that he was enduring rather than fighting. He was not the one who received the blessing, but a mere human. The blessing of a being called a god was no different from a curse to a weak human.
All he could do was delay the time when children born as humans became monsters. He had no talent to remove or overcome the blessing.
"However, you said at the beginning that punishing monsters was not right for you. If you still think so… please have mercy."
His head went down deeply.
Ulrich was still looking at the sculpture in his hand.
"What's next?"
"…"
"Are you going to hide again after I leave?"
"I will just do as I have always done."
"What about the child in the swamp?"
Tapio raised his head and looked straight at Ulrich.
"I have to take care of it myself."
'I see,' Ulrich muttered, and placed the sculpture on the table. Then he scanned the surroundings once.
His gaze captured each and every one of the humans who had received the false sacrament, and also the four eyes peering through the window. He briefly met the eyes of the woman among the four eyes.
"Tapio, what is the reason you pity the children so much? Is it for the afterlife? So that you won't be judged for your karma on the scales that determine heaven and hell?"
Tapio pondered for a moment at the sudden question.
"I can't say no. But… it's not just because of that. Even if what I'm doing now doesn't have any impact on the judgment, I will continue."
"Why is that?"
"Because I think I have to."
Ulrich looked back at Tapio.
"I can't say it clearly, but if I have done something wrong, I should naturally take responsibility. Even if it doesn't affect heaven, hell, or either side."
"…"
"Of course, according to the scriptures, all actions are judged, so this assumption is meaningless. Also, my actions will not save the children. It's a futile act."
Because their names are on Kunkan's registry, there is no way to save the children, Tapio said. And he added that all he could do was alleviate their suffering in the afterlife.
"No, it's not futile."
Ulrich shook his head.
"It is certainly your fault that these children have become what they are now. But everyone makes mistakes. It can't be helped. Humans are not perfect. The important thing is what you do after making a mistake. I think humans are about regretting, fixing, and getting back up."
"…"
"I like humans like you more than the Public Church's logic of heaven and hell, such rewards and punishments. That's why I don't want you and these children to suffer anymore."
While placing his right hand on Tapio's shoulder, Ulrich said in a whisper.
"This is a gift I give to you and the children. I can't undo everything, but I can give you one thing you want most."
Tapio's eyes widened at the following words.
"Now, your names have been erased from Kunkan's registry."