Chapter 10 — The Sorcerer And The Mother (4)

A yokai of great power, or of some special origin, will often leave behind a piece of its body even in death.

The very staff of the tree-dokkaebi that Geum Moa had brought him was one such relic, and among Aeshin’s many cursed objects and sorcerous implements there were no few that had been wrought from yokai corpses.
And yet that this yokai, vain and fleeting from its birth to its death, should die and leave anything behind at all…

“Hm?”

Shin Hweein had already shifted his step and stooped to pick it up, and now his eyes glinted.
The thing gave off a light of five colors, and for all its small size it carried no slight weight; more than anything, it seemed to hold a considerable power within.
By his reckoning it was likely some manner of inner pellet, formed when the costly ingredients the Seo House had poured into making this monster and the spiritual aura of the finished monster itself had been gathered together and condensed into one.

‘Worth the study, surely. The chance is favorable, so let me try that art upon it.’

The sorcerers of the Shin House practice a sorcery that opens a space wholly their own, one only they themselves may open and close: the art of the subspace storage.
It is a preposterously difficult art, but because they cast aside any deep understanding or wider application and cleave to the art alone, drilling it half to death, most of them can manage it by the time they come of age.
The reason is simply this: to keep, for a time, those shikigami that cannot be sent back to the Specter Realm.

There are not a few shikigami that lack all reason, or that are too monstrously large to keep always at one’s side or to send back to the Specter Realm with any ease.
Indeed, if one means to wield powerful shikigami in comfort, there are many cases where one has no choice but to procure exactly that sort.
Open the subspace storage, keep them there, and the drawbacks vanished; the shikigami could be handled with little trouble.

‘Shikigami upon which the Hungry-Ghost Dominion has been inscribed, those that have lost their reason, also become regular guests of this storehouse.’

Of course, things other than shikigami may be placed in the subspace storage too, and among the high-ranking sorcerers of the Shin House there were many who treated it as little more than a portable storehouse.
Other houses surely had their own such secret arts, but none could wield them with the same efficiency as the Shin House.

“Hoo…”

Just as he had with the other sorceries he had drilled alone, believing he could never wield them, Shin Hweein had devoted himself to this one, perhaps even more.
If the art of shikigami was what symbolized the Shin House, then the subspace storage was a kind of fundamental-yet-special art, a thing every Shin House sorcerer possessed and yet the envy of every sorcerer outside it.
Of course, in the old days, when his usable spiritual power had been as small as a rat’s tail, it would have been quite out of the question. But now.

“Open.”

The moment Shin Hweein murmured the word, his voice gone taut.

A void where there had been nothing yawned open with a soft tearing, and through it showed an emptiness filled with nothing but darkness.
The breadth of a subspace storage was said to be determined by one’s mastery of the sorcery and by one’s spiritual power; but perhaps because this was inside a dream, it looked deep enough that one could not see the end of it.

“Hm.”

Rejoicing inwardly while feigning what composure he could muster, he merely tilted his head in a light nod and tossed the monster’s inner pellet from his hand into the storehouse.
He could not know whether the storehouse would open in the waking world too, nor whether the inner pellet would remain even if it did; but better to attempt it than to let the thing simply vanish.

“You, y-you… I’ll have my revenge. I’ll have my revenge…”

His enemy dispatched and the spoils stored away, only two remained in this place now: Shin Hweein and the boy.
And the boy, slobber dripping freely from his lips under the most extreme pain, was still spewing words of bitter rancor.

“Revenge, is it. Among the citizens of the Capital who suffered under the narcolepsy, there will be no few who would wish their revenge upon you. What do you make of that?”
“Who would dare, against me?! Every last one of them I shall break, arms and legs, tear out their hearts and fry them up! When my father learns of this he will most surely pluck out both your eyeballs for me, and then with my own hands I shall stuff them into your mouth…!”

Even hearing abuse so vile it was a shame to suffer in silence, only a quiet smile rose to Shin Hweein’s lips.
Had the boy been able to see that smile, he might have grasped his own blunder even a little; so covering his face with the mask had been an elixir-pill of a choice.

Shin Hweein glanced at the pale-pink mist slowly rising from the floor, then opened his mouth, perfectly at ease, and spoke.

“And yet your father seems not to be searching for you. It seemed, rather, that he was greatly disappointed at the blunder you have committed.”
“What? Don’t talk rubbish! If you knew how much my House had pinned upon me, you, you of all people, would not dare spout such——!”

To remember any further word the boy strung from there would only soil his own ears, so Shin Hweein let it all pass in one ear and out the other, and spoke again.

“Those who tempted you into making a Bulgasari have already, every one of them, slipped away into hiding. You, who were left behind, will bear the whole of the blame. A pity, that the youngest son of the Seo House, who was to raise high the renown of Aeshin, should by one such blunder lose all he had and pass away without leaving even a name behind.”
“That I! That I, Seo Jungmin, should make a half-witted blunder of that sort?! I have the names of every one of them, every man among them. If I but set my mind to it, I can hunt them all down! There is no way my father would cast me aside! It was only the once that I built a shikigami badly… and it was my father himself who told me to take a tilt at the Shin House’s seat!”
“Hooh. Is that so.”

The pink mist grew denser still.

To hear the name of the one upon whom the sorcery is cast, spoken from his own lips.
In sorcery, that carries a meaning equivalent to a letter of consent.

“Seo Jungmin. Now, that is a most interesting tale. The Shin House, were they to hear it, would find it more amusing yet.”
“…W-wait.”

It must have been only then that he sensed something amiss; the boy who had given his name as Seo Jungmin began to tremble and shut his mouth.
And there could be no error in the name he himself had given, so his name must indeed be Seo Jungmin.
For at this moment, he is in a state where falsehood cannot pass his lips.

“What… what are you… why did I tell you my name?”
“Did you not tell me yourself? And ever so kindly.”
“Kindly… No. No, I didn’t. In all this wide world, where is the sorcerer who would utter his own true-name so carelessly?”

He must surely have realized by now that he was not in his right state; the boy looked upon Shin Hweein with a face full of fear.
But likely, at this very moment, he could not even see Hweein’s mask properly.
The ruined house had already crumbled in upon itself, yet the pale-pink mist gathered round this place did not easily disperse.

“What… what have you done to me. Tell me! Tell me, I said!”
“Most interesting. Very well, then. Let us do it thus.”
“N-no… there is no need to tell me, do not come near!”

Shin Hweein slowly closed the distance to the sickbed.
Unable to make out his position, the boy tensed at the mere sound of footfalls, quivered all over, and at last tumbled down from the bed; but directly afterward the bed itself vanished, so it was no hard thing for Shin Hweein to come within a step of his face.

“If I tell you what I have done, then you shall tell me what you have done. Truly, it is fair.”
“That I! Seo Jung—— that the worth of this body should be set equal to the likes of you!”
“How could it be so. The worth of my utterance could hardly be set equal to the likes of you.”

Shin Hweein looked down upon the wretch.
There, before his very eyes, was a criminal beyond compare, who had presumed upon what was not his to do, set himself to making a shikigami, let it run amok, and brought harm upon the countless commoners of the Capital.

“I had thought to satisfy your curiosity for you, but no. Since you do not wish for conversation, I have no choice but to interrogate. …Concerning the making of the Bulgasari, relate in detail all that you know.”
“By whose leave, by whose… leave…!”
“Every record of every sin you committed that shall go unpunished. Every record that shall be wiped from history the very moment you wake.”

Shin Hweein crouched before his face, and with one hand seized him by the hair of his head.
From its end stretched a thick mist that was sucked into the wretch’s eyes, his ears, his nostrils, his mouth, and drew from him a scream of the purest pitch.

“Khh, kheuaaaaaack!”

“If they are records that, however loudly you cry your crimes aloud, shall bring no punishment, what need is there for them to remain in you? Spew it all out, and then forget it all.”

To the many who had suffered without knowing even who the perpetrator was, this could perhaps bring no consolation.
But the perpetrator too would be made to suffer, never knowing his own crime.
When the next day came he would go about his daily life without knowing he had suffered; and when night fell he would once more be summoned and made to undergo a hell.
Forever, unto the very day he died.
Or until the day he could endure no longer, and broke.

“Brother, are you come to your senses?”
“…Mm.”

Shin Hweein slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing to enter his sight was the boy on the lavish bed before him, opening his own eyes with an expression of perfect innocence.

“Mother…?”
“Son… my son!”
“What is the matter, Mother? Why do you weep, and with guests here, too. It is hardly seemly.”

The boy patted his mother’s back as she clung to him in tears, smiling guilelessly all the while.
Overcome that her son had opened his eyes, she only let the tears stream down and down.

Did they have any notion of how many people in the Capital had been swept up by this yokai and made to suffer?
Had it not been their own son who stood in peril, would they ever once have thought to set this matter to rights?
No. They would not have.
Had it not arisen in the very heart of the Seo House to begin with, the matter would never have been let to drag on so wretchedly.

“Haa…”

“You have labored well, Father. …And labor yet.”

Father Lucas was letting out a sigh, his heart laden with mixed feelings, and Shin Hweein gave him a consoling pat on the arm; then he leaned upon his staff and rose to his feet by his own strength.
And to the mistress of the Seo House, who still showed no sign of releasing her son, he spoke.

“The contract has been fulfilled. However——”
“It is well enough, it is perfect! If there is aught more to be said, pray address yourself to the steward.”

Perhaps fearing some strange word might reach the ear of her precious youngest son, she set straight to driving them from the room.
Owing to the contract she would not, of course, dare break the bow once the bird was bagged; but to be received like this brought home with full force how wise a judgment it had been to draw up a contract before laying hand to the work.

“Mr. Shin Hae. I owe you an apology.”

The selfsame thought must have struck Yun Jubaek at that very moment, for he was murmuring just so under his breath.
He seemed to be repenting of the way he had glared at Shin Hweein when Hweein had withheld his trust and demanded a contract; and considering that a direct-line son of a great and renowned house had held himself back to no more than that, Shin Hweein was almost moved to commend the man.

“I have nothing but cause to be grateful to you, Lt. Colonel Yun. I cannot think to what you refer.”
“Eh? Truly… haha. We shall surely meet again in a better setting one day. For now, let us go.”
“Whaaat? We really just leave like this? Really?”
“Out.”
“Oh, come on…!”

She had wished, it seemed, to denounce the wrongdoings of the Seo House rather more splendidly, to put a row of people on their knees with threats and haul away a few of the household’s very pillars besides; and so, dragging Shin Myeongin half by force as she clung to her regrets, they left the room.

“…!”

The steward, who had been waiting just outside, raised his brows at the sight of Shin Hweein; but meeting the stern look of Yun Jubaek beside him, he hastily bowed his head.
This time, though, even Yun Jubaek did not let the matter pass with mere warning.

“Steward. Do you in truth wish that I come to know your name?”
“No. My apolog… khurk!”

— Smack!

Yun Jubaek struck the steward’s cheek with a palm broad as a cauldron lid, seized him by the jaw, and twisted it round as he bore down upon him.

“If you know it, then keep your eyes properly lowered, you cur. If once more, just once more, you so much as glare at one of mine, I may yet take to gouging out those eyeballs with my own hand.”
“Once again… my apologies.”
“A cur of a fellow who is not even master of the house, raising your head and carrying on without knowing your place.”

Mm. This is it.

After all, the scions of great houses lack something without these little displays.
But when that something is on your own side, no reliance is so comforting; the human heart is a fickle thing indeed.

Only Father Lucas, it seemed, thought the conduct excessive, and was frowning; Sister Barbara beside him was clapping with a look of admiration on her face, and Shin Myeongin wore the look of Oh? Are we allowed to do that, then?
All unknowing, it must have been the first moment that day in which Yun Jubaek won a favorable mark from the female contingent.

“There yet remains a matter to be conveyed. Hear it well, remember it, and convey it as it stands to your mistress.”
“…Understood.”

The lesson in manners concluded.
Shin Hweein slowly laid out, before the bowing steward, the side-effects of this ‘procedure.’

That as a side-effect of the procedure, the patient’s memories from before he fell ill might not return.
That his spiritual power might be somewhat diminished.
That as an aftereffect his resistance against dreams might grow fragile, and so, if it could be arranged, it would be well to prepare a protective talisman.

“…I ask with all due caution, but in the carrying out of the contract, was there aught insufficient——?”
“You doubt the contract, do you? Surely the Seo House knew well from the first that even this much price was a matter most leniently set.”
“…”

To put it bluntly, it was a matter of clearing away a shikigami they themselves had wantonly made and let run amok, and of saving the very contractor besides.
Short of a high dream-demon of the Dream-Demon Queen’s own rank coming forth in person, no one could have settled the matter more cleanly than Shin Hweein.
Indeed, were it not someone of the very stature of the head of the Shin House himself stepping forth, who knew how much longer the suffering would have gone on, how many more would have died.

And for all that they stood as in-laws, the Seo House, rivals of the Shin House, could hardly ask the Shin House head to come forth on a matter that would put a weakness of theirs into Shin hands.
It was only that the means of settling the matter cleanly were few; pour enough spiritual power into the work and there was nothing that could not be done.
Only, in that case, the high-ranking sorcerers would have had no choice but to tear the shikigami off by main strength; and had they done so, it would have been hard to keep the matter wholly hidden, and the sorcerer himself would have come well-nigh to the brink of death.

“Of course I did not doubt. The price was so cruel a one for our young master to bear that the words slipped out of me unbidden. I beg you, pardon the discourtesy once more.”
“A cruel price, is it? Look at the shameless gall of him, spouting that off. Has he plates of steel set into his face?”

Shin Myeongin, unable to endure it, jeered openly at the wretch.
This time even Father Lucas had no thought of chiding her.

“Then I shall see you outside. This way, if you please.”

The steward, who had only with difficulty pulled himself together, led them to a door close by.
Shin Hweein looked in that direction and was on the point of thinking what a long way round, again, when he wondered why such a thought should have come to him of its own accord at all.

’…Ah.’

That the price levied by the Indulgence had returned to himself was the natural thing, and it was just then that he recalled it.
A bungler he might have been, who had failed grandly in challenging a field that was not even his own specialty; yet Seo Jungmin was, even so, of the direct line of the Seo House.
From him, Hweein had taken away the exceptional sense of space, and the talent for array-craft and the art of barriers, which the sorcerers of the Seo House were said to be born possessing.