“This is… There’s a really wide variety of magical beasts here too.”
Not only were the magical beasts on display, but there were also simple scenes depicting how the beasts lived and what their activities were.
No matter where he looked, it was quite an impressive diorama.
Among them, there was something that caught Luke’s attention.
“This is…!”
With an alligator-like snout, strong hind legs, and even excellent texture representation of its tough scales.
Of course, Luke couldn’t fail to recognize it.
“It’s a Trex!”
Though it was much smaller than the real thing, it couldn’t be helped since the scale would be difficult to reproduce indoors.
“Aside from the size, the level of reproduction is amazing.”
And more than anything, what drew Luke’s gaze was…
This Trex model was moving!
– Krahhrrr -!
It was even reproducing sounds.
Comparing it to the voice of the Trex he heard 5,000 years ago, although it lacked some impact, it still felt similar.
This must have been the result of modern analytical abilities being fully utilized.
“Is the Trex really that good?”
Shirud asked Luke, whose eyes were sparkling.
The Trex was one of the most beloved magical beasts among children.
It often appeared in movies and cartoons, and spewed fire from its mouth, which was visually spectacular.
The ‘strongest magical beast,’ wrapped in outstanding media production and lighting, was more than enough to become a children’s idol.
There was a bit of debate among children about whether the Trex was truly the strongest, but everyone nodded in agreement that it was a strong magical beast.
To be honest, even Shirud, who wasn’t particularly interested in magical beasts, liked the Trex.
Isn’t it harder to dislike a giant magical beast that breathes fire?
“No, why would I like the Trex? I mean, I don’t have a preference for other magical beasts, but the Trex isn’t really my favorite.”
It had been quite difficult to deal with, and cooking it was also challenging.
It didn’t taste particularly good either, so he had almost no good memories associated with the Trex.
“Then why are you looking at it like that?”
“The magic circuit of this golem is so excellent that I can’t take my eyes off it. Indeed, the magic circuits of this age show remarkable optimization and compression even in very simple forms. However, if you slightly modify such a magic circuit to smooth out the angles, it could be streamlined to perfection…”
“Oh, I see.”
I don’t really understand what he’s talking about.
Every time I listen carefully to what Luke is saying, my head starts to hurt, so I wish he would stop.
As I continued to half-listen to Luke, an announcement interrupted me.
– In a moment, there will be a demonstration of magical beast activities through necromancy. For those who wish to observe, please come to the 2nd floor fossil exhibition hall.
As soon as Luke heard the announcement, he turned to Shirud.
“Necromancy?”
Necromancy was black magic that forcefully attached the soul of a corpse to make the body move.
Why is necromancy considered black magic?
It’s because it directly manipulates the will of the soul.
It is a taboo for mages to handle souls.
To understand the reason for this, one must first grasp the fundamentals of magic.
It may be easy to think of handling mana as the circle of the heart, but in fact, the circle is just an authority—a tool.
What really manipulates mana is based on the will of the human ‘soul.’
Moreover, there is no hierarchy within souls themselves.
Souls are equal. Each living being possesses one as a byproduct of death.
Thus, there is no right to interfere with one soul by another.
Therefore, mana manifested by a mage’s manipulation cannot easily be interfered with by another mage, and there are limits to manipulating another’s mana with the authority of a higher circle.
So how does black magic manifest that can ignore this resistance and invade another’s soul?
It forcefully brings down the level of the soul it intends to dominate.
In this way, it’s possible to dominate the soul, albeit forcibly.
One becomes a higher existence than the soul they wish to control.
Then that soul is extinguished.
It is not sent to the afterlife forever.
“Are they really going to use necromancy here? Isn’t necromancy a taboo?”
“If it’s necromancy that’s been authorized, then it’s fine.”
“…I see.”
Thinking about it, the dignity of the soul was conferred by the goddess, not by humans.
Now that the gods are gone, does the afterlife still operate?
If souls are treated as resources, then does it really mean anything to divide magic into black and white in a time when the gods are gone?
No, even so, the act of degrading and destroying the soul is not good.
Just because the existence of the afterlife can’t be proven, treating souls like resources seems like a failure for a mage who handles the will of the soul.
Even without a god ensuring the dignity of the soul, the act of defiling a soul can’t be forgiven.
Since I have never actually confirmed whether the gods have disappeared, I shouldn’t be too certain about it.
“Shirud.”
Luke’s serious expression made Shirud flinch and stammer.
“Uh? Wh-why? What’s wrong?”
“Let’s go right away. I have to see that magical beast activity demonstration with my own eyes.”
“O-okay.”
Did he really want to see it that badly?
Shirud took a small step back.
Luke’s intense gaze felt too burdensome.
———–
“Haha… I was worried for nothing.”
Then again, modern necromancy seemed to be different from the necromancy of 5,000 years ago.
Considering that, Class Magic doesn’t directly handle the will of the soul.
It uses command words made in the human language, so it must be different.
The principles of modern necromancy went like this.
A core is created using an extremely sophisticated magic circuit, mimicking a soul with a ‘temporary soul,’ which is essentially akin to golem craft.
However, when it comes to repeating actions recorded in the flesh, it’s not much different from actual necromancy.
“Rephyent, Jiregect, Traysto…”
As the incantation grew longer, the magic stone embedded in his forehead began to glow, and the fossil continued to twitch.
It wasn’t fundamentally different from the principles of necromancy, but if that’s the case, then it doesn’t seem particularly black magic either.
‘Hmm, there are many command words I’ve never heard before. Are they level 4 class or higher?’
He was familiar with all the command words that corresponded to the basics of level 4 class.
So seeing new ones likely meant that they corresponded to even higher-level magic.
Seeing new magic brought an involuntary smile to Luke’s face.
‘It must be that good. That’s pretty unique…’
Shirud thought as he watched Luke smile.
It was the first time he had seen a girl who liked magical beasts this much.
Usually, girls didn’t seem too interested in magical beasts.
“Now, everyone. This is a Zephyr.”
A Zephyr, huh? Considering it was docile and not threatening, and its size was similar to that of a child, it seemed suitable for this kind of event.
But…
“As you can see from this model, Zephyrs were carnivorous and regulated their body temperature with their fur. If you watch closely, you’ll see it exhibit behaviors like grooming its fur, right?”
“Um?”
Luke tilted his head as if something was strange.
The model of the Zephyr looked different from the Zephyr he knew.
At first glance, he didn’t believe it was a Zephyr.
He just thought it was fascinating because it was a magical beast he had never seen before.
“That can’t be a Zephyr.”
“What do you mean?”
Ignoring Shirud’s quiet inquiry, Luke stepped closer to the guide and said,
“That can’t be a Zephyr. It’s different.”
Luke clarified.
“Zephyrs don’t have fur and lived covered in moss.
Their actions that look like grooming their fur are actually just behaviors for picking moss and refining their mana.
In doing so, they could give themselves acceleration.
And Zephyrs are herbivores, not carnivores.
They only exhibit traits similar to carnivores because they only hunt a special plant that grows in the demon realm (a plant that has legs and runs away). They rarely reverse into the demon realm, and due to their hunting habits, they were not particularly threatening to humans. Furthermore, when they die, their skins can split like threads, making them look like fur,” Luke explained.
Therefore, it was understandable to confuse them.
Even if the structure of a creature from the demon realm was different from that of one from the middle realm, there weren’t many peculiar creatures like Zephyrs that blend fully into their environment.
However, since it wasn’t particularly important in explaining the demon realm, perhaps it had gone unmentioned.
After all, even he had written in his reports mainly focusing on more intimidating magical beasts, leaving out harmless and meaningless magical beasts like Zephyrs due to lack of space.
Still, he had surely included everything about magical beasts after the battle ended.
‘Did my report get omitted?’
That was likely not just a mistake from a single publishing house.
Had it been misreported from the beginning?
And the demon realm wasn’t a dimension welcoming to anyone at all 5,000 years ago.
After all, why would only three people remain during the “war” of extermination?
It was inevitable that they had been eaten in the demon realm.
Perhaps somewhere, they accidentally discovered Zephyr fossils and analyzed them, resulting in significant discrepancies with reality that couldn’t simply be glossed over.
Luke, being a mage who couldn’t stand incorrect information, felt he had to rectify the wrong information.
“Uh… Is that so?”
——–
“Lu, Luke…!”
In contrast, Shirud, who was now the center of attention alongside Luke, felt dazed.
“What on earth is all this about…?”
Is it even reasonable to throw a tantrum because the magical beasts were different from what he imagined while at a museum?
The guide thought Luke’s behavior was cute, but she was flustered nonetheless.
“Ah, haha. I don’t really know how to respond to that…”
When caught in an unexpected situation, people can’t immediately think of how to respond.
Should she just completely ignore it and continue guiding?
Or should she give some kind of response?
However, the longer she hesitated, the more the awkward atmosphere deepened.
All that was going through the guide’s mind was a repetitive thought of ‘It’s over.’
“Luke!”
A moment later, an elf with golden hair and a massive man with light brown hair burst through the crowd.
Yerna and Dayton had come to see the exhibition after hearing the announcement.
“Sorry, um, the child loves magical beasts too much…! Ha, ha.”
With an awkward smile, Yerna struggled to salvage the odd atmosphere.
Dayton, bowing his head in agreement, suddenly turned to Luke and said,
“Luke, let’s go!”
“Go where?”
“Anywhere!”
He forcefully grabbed Luke’s hand and pulled him along.
Thud!
Someone stumbled over Dayton’s broad shoulder, letting out an “Ah!” sound.
Fortunately, they didn’t fall.
“Ah, I’m sorry!”
“Wait, hold on there.”
Dayton stopped in his tracks.
What was he supposed to do when the person he bumped into told him to stop?
However, a man walked over and sat down in front of Luke.
“Hey kid. I want to hear that story in detail…”
Yerna and Dayton spoke simultaneously.
“What?” “Huh?”
What does this mean?
So many surprising things were happening all at once that he couldn’t process it.
It was Luke’s annoyed voice that brought their attention back.
“Just so you know, I’m not a kid. Call me Luke Irushi.”
“Sure, Luke Irushi. I know you.”
“What? You know me? What does that mean?”
The man just chuckled, standing up.
“Shall we move to a different place? This isn’t really a good atmosphere for a chat. Oh, and continue with the tour, please.”
With that, he waved his hand lazily, and the guide was almost mesmerized as she responded, “Ah, yes! The next fossil I’ll show you is…” and began the tour again.
Afterwards, only Shirud was left behind, feeling abandoned.
“…What is going on here?”
‘What on earth is happening right now.’
