Chapter 163
Name: Irene.
An ordinary girl born in Greece to shepherd parents. A girl who had shown promise in painting from a young age, but ran into the practical barriers of her parents’ opposition and a lack of money. A criminal who killed her parents and realized her dream with the payout from their life insurance.
“Irene is an artist. More precisely, she’s a painter. Her style is similar to the Renaissance era, and the painter she admires is Leonardo da Vinci.”
“Mm.”
“You probably aren’t interested in her upbringing or how she became a magician, so I’ll skip over that.”
Mariang adjusted her posture as she spoke. Ian nodded.
How Irene had become a magician didn’t matter either way. Whether she had found a grimoire or had a teacher. Finding out wouldn’t mean much. What mattered was the 'magic' she used itself.
“Irene’s magic is deeply tied to painting. More precisely, the act of drawing itself is one of the conditions for activating her magic.”
“…….”
“Irene only has one spell she can use. ‘The magic of projecting a painting into reality.’ That’s all.”
“……Projecting a painting into reality?”
Just hearing it made it sound like cheat-level magic. Strictly speaking, wasn’t this close to reality manipulation? Even though it wasn’t even Outer God magic, its effect was absurdly outrageous.
But Mariang, who had crossed blades with her a few times, didn’t seem nearly as serious as Ian did. She swung her legs, which had regenerated as far as the knees, as she continued.
“Going as far as freely manipulating reality is impossible. At most, it’s specialized for murder. The conditions for using the magic are also strict.”
Mariang slowly explained Irene’s magic. In summary, it was this:
First, whatever is drawn in the picture will definitely happen.
If she drew someone dying, then one random person in reality would definitely die. In exactly the same way as in the picture.
Second, to create such a phenomenon, she needs sacrifices identical to the subject being drawn.
For example.
If Irene drew three humans dying and tried to turn it into reality, she would absolutely have to kill three humans herself. She could get help from others, but then the required number would jump to the square of that.
Naturally, preparing the sacrifices took priority over activating the magic, so when it came to obtaining them, she could only use ordinary means and not magic. In other words, she could only use things like guns or knives.
How could someone like her carry out destructive acts other than murder? She might be able to plant bombs in a building herself and bring a building down, or draw the building in a picture to make another one collapse too, but things like 'smash the Earth' or 'smash the universe' were impossible. In the same sense, she couldn’t overthrow a country or bring about its destruction either. How could she do that alone without magic? It would be difficult even with magic.
So her magic couldn’t be called all-purpose. In a sense, it was fair to say it was sorcery governed by the law of equivalent exchange.
Lastly, third. It’s impossible to draw another person’s face with her magic. In other words, she can’t specifically target and kill a particular person.
This was a characteristic caused by the special nature of her magic. The moment she drew a face, it would project the face of the person right in front of her, so if she made a mistake, it could easily lead to suicide.
Instead, she could set it up like a trap through this trait. Since it’s a remotely activatable magic, she could shove the picture at her opponent, stamp their face into the drawing, activate the magic, and kill them outright. Mariang said this was a method Irene often used.
“This is everything I know about Irene’s magic. I’m not really sure about anything more detailed than this......”
“No, this is enough. Thanks for telling me.”
Ian let out a breath and leaned back against the backrest. Mariang thought about whether there was anything else she could tell him, then suddenly mentioned something that came to mind.
“Come to think of it, Irene has face blindness.”
“What?”
“Face blindness. She has no idea what other people look like. Instead, she feels inspiration.”
“…….”
“I don’t know the conditions for what inspires her...... Sometimes she feels inspired by an ugly old man, and sometimes by a newborn baby. Whether or not she feels that inspiration is how she separates 'pretty' from 'ugly' in her own mind.”
“……What happens to the people she feels inspired by?”
“They usually end up in the next painting Irene draws. It’s the only way she can pinpoint a specific target and apply her magic to them.”
What a troublesome magic.
Ian clicked his tongue at the thought.
As long as the conditions for inspiration were uncertain, it was impossible to prepare in advance. The only countermeasure that came to mind was wearing a mask, but that was too conspicuous, so unless it was a festival-like setting, it would be hard to use. If someone wearing a mask suddenly appeared in front of her, even someone with face blindness would have to stay alert.
Would a simple mask...... maybe be enough? If the face isn’t covered at all, it probably wouldn’t be effective.
……Well. He wouldn’t be meeting Irene herself for a while anyway. It wasn’t something he needed to worry about right now. He’d just asked because he heard that one of Irene’s paintings had been found.
He didn’t think she would share vision through the painting. In the first place, all vision-sharing magic was concentrated on the Catholic side, so Irene couldn’t even use it. Ian could, because he had the magic of an Outer God, but the others couldn’t.
“……Hoo.”
Let’s stop thinking here. He’d found out everything he needed to know, so there was no point in racking his brain any further. The rest could be checked by looking at the painting Irene had made in the museum.
Thinking that, Ian let out a long breath and slowly stood up. Mariang looked up at him.
“Did I help, Master?”
“Ah, yeah. That was enough. Rest now.”
“Hehe, okay. But um...... how am I supposed to shower......? I don’t have any limbs.......”
“……What, you want me to wash you?”
“Hehe......”
Instead of answering, Mariang let out an awkward laugh. Ian sighed deeply and turned to Cecilia.
“Cecilia, can you wash her for me?”
“……Me?”
“I definitely can’t do it.”
“……Well, that’s true...... Hmm, alright. But I’ll want a favor in return.”
“Food?”
“No, I had something I wanted to ask you personally.”
Cecilia stood up from the sofa. Ian’s slightly furrowed face was reflected clearly in her amethyst eyes.
“……Something you want to ask?”
“Yeah. It’s not difficult. Just something that would be a little easier with a magician’s help.”
“What is it?”
“Recently, the Korean Catholic Association received a request. They said their daughter seems to have been possessed by an evil spirit and begged us to help.”
“Ah.”
Ian nodded after hearing her words.
Exorcism.
A word that, in Korean, would be something like banishing evil spirits or exorcising them.
In Japan, it was a ritual mainly performed by shrine maidens who served the gods, while in Korea shamans usually handled that role. In the West, however, clergy usually carried out exorcism rites. Their history was long enough that they even had a formal title: exorcist priests.
But he wasn’t sure a magician was really necessary for their ritual. Couldn’t the Catholics handle evil spirits just fine?
“It wasn’t an evil spirit.”
Cecilia immediately answered, having understood his question.
“One of the exorcist priests in Korea once went to see a victim who’d been possessed. But he couldn’t come back out and died on the spot.”
“……What?”
Ian’s brow furrowed at the unexpected story. Cecilia continued.
“But fortunately, a transcript remained, and after securing it, the Association concluded that the possessing entity wasn’t an evil spirit but a demon.”
“…….”
“And it’s a Great Demon, too. I don’t know its true name, but it’s definitely one of the seventy-two demons of Solomon.”
“Hah.”
Ian let out a dry laugh.
Solomon’s seventy-two demons. Maybe because he’d just been with Eunha until a moment ago, her face came to mind for no reason.
Having the Lemegeton didn’t mean you could contract with every demon. That was only possible if Solomon himself returned. Eunha was certainly a great magician, but she was no match for Solomon. Naturally, there had to be demons she couldn’t contract with.
It wouldn’t be strange if one of them were causing havoc in Korea. Ian let out a low hum and brushed his lips with his hand.
“Just in case I’m asking, can a demon that already has a contractor possess a human body?”
“No. As far as I know. Since Solomon appeared, I don’t think a case like that has ever been observed.”
Then that meant it wasn’t the work of a demon that had escaped Eunha’s control.
Ian nodded and looked at Cecilia.
“So, what do you want me to help with?”
“If the possessed vessel, rather than the original body, is in the same space as a magician, demons react quite sensitively. They can start convulsing at the slightest poke. Much less you......”
“You have a grimoire written by an Outer God.”
“That’s right.”
Cecilia nodded.
Ian summoned the Chronicle of the Deep Sea and held it lightly. It was quite heavy physically, but to Ian it was a grimoire lighter than a feather.
No one knew how a demon that hated gods would react to an Outer God. That made him even more curious.
There was a saying that curiosity killed the cat, but none that it killed a magician, so trying it once wouldn’t hurt.
And a demon was something Ian could handle easily enough. One use of the Chronicle of the Deep Sea would be enough to kill it.
If need be, he could take out the vessel along with it. It would be unfortunate for Cecilia, but for Ian, what mattered most was still his own life. When danger came, rather than going through hell trying to save everyone, it was better to kill decisively and secure his safety.
What could he do? If he had become a magician, he should think like one. She probably knew what kind of being a magician was, so he had no choice but to trust that she’d made the suggestion with all of that in mind.
Anyway.
It wasn’t an offer he had any particular reason to refuse. He had asked her for plenty of favors before, so settling things this time wouldn’t be a bad idea either. Ian gave a small smile and nodded.
“Okay. When do we go?”
“Everything’s ready, so probably tomorrow? Is that okay?”
“No, tomorrow is too soon. I got roughed up today. Let’s go in two days.”
“Alright, then. I’ll come pick you up in two days. Probably at dawn. Come out when I call.”
The two coordinated their schedules and set the appointment.
And then, two days later, at 4:30 a.m., when the moon had already dipped partway, Ian’s phone rang. Ian, who had been prepared in advance, answered at once.
“Hello.”
[Yeah. Just come out.]
“Khh......! Hoo, fine. I’m heading out.”
Ian stretched, hung up, and stuffed the phone into his pocket.
He grabbed the bag filled with alchemical items and stood up. After checking once more that he hadn’t forgotten anything, he slid the loaded pistol into the gun holster. The heavy feel of metal rested against his chest.
“Mmm...... Master......”
Mariang was asleep in the living room. Two days had already passed, and her limbs had regrown quite a bit. The rest would be regenerated by tomorrow too. Once regeneration was complete, he planned to start using her in earnest as Laplace’s spy, so he needed to get ready on that front as well.
‘For now, let’s focus on the exorcism.’
Ian tucked the cross he’d brought just in case into the inside pocket of his coat and left the house. When he opened the front door, a large SUV parked outside came into view.
Whirr.
The car window rolled down smoothly, and Cecilia, dressed in a nun’s habit, waved at him.
“Hi. Good morning.”
“It’s a little early to call it morning.”
Ian yawned and got into the seat beside her. When he casually turned his head back, he saw all sorts of items for the exorcism packed into boxes. There didn’t seem to be an exorcist priest anywhere.
Ian asked.
“Where’s the priest? It’s not just the two of us going, is it?”
“It is just the two of us.”
“What?”
When he asked, Cecilia put on sunglasses and popped a sour candy into her mouth.
“I’m an inquisitor. Basically the superior officer of exorcist priests. Of course I can do what they do. I’ve done it plenty of times too.”
“…….”
“Let’s go, trainee priest. May God’s grace be with us.”
Vroom.
Cecilia finished speaking and expertly shifted gears and stepped on the accelerator. Ian’s mouth twisted into a crooked sneer.
“Bullshit.”