Editing Hyouketsu Kyoukai no Eden:Volume 6 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 5===

……Drip.

A very tiny splash plopped.

 

The deep blue block of ice that spread as far as the eye could see.

Bluer than the emerald green of the sea at a shoal, more vivid and translucent than the ultramarine of the deep sea. The faint white mixed in was countless bubbles that had been sealed in the ice as they were.

……Drip.

The room of ice that even stagnated the flow of time. Within the room that was so large that its far walls were blurry, the sound of ice water droplets hitting the icy surface echoed.

A world of ice.

Several dozens of degrees below zero, a temperature that would halt an organism’s time. No special devices were necessary as the temperature was supported solely by the azure ice filling this room.

 

“''Four hours have elapsed since the establishment of the barrier. Owing to this, the training will now end.''

''Priestess Ymy Ele Soufflenictole, thank you for your hard work.''“

 

The operator’s voice came from the broadcasting device attached to the ceiling. The clerk had the qualifications of a doctor and was also well-versed in the operation of the special device used in Priestess training.

……Crish……Pish…………Fsh……

The azure ice filling the room cracked.

What began as a crack line gradually grew and went from the surface of the ice to the center ── in an instant, the gigantic azure ice, which was how many thousands of metres across and had incomparable weight, broke apart and scattered.

──Drip.

The puddle on the ground reflected the outline of the girl who was without a stitch of cloth.

“…………Fuu.”

She spread her hands and took a deep breath. No matter what, she’d just spent forty hours frozen in a state of apparent death. Because even her breathing was stopped while frozen, she had to consciously breathe at a fixed rhythm like this or she would end up asphyxiated or possibly breathe too much and hyperventilate.

“So…………so………………so cooooooooooooold!!”

Hugging her dripping wet shoulders, Ymy yelled out.

“C-cold……actually, this hurts!……My body’s gonna burst!?”

The barrier of ice constructed with shinryoku. It was fine because her senses were paralyzed while in her state of apparent death but when they returned, the cold would pass the point of being “cold” and attack her as intense pain.

“Haa………………ouch!?……”

She bit down on her purple lips over and over and over again.

Her hands that were wrapped around her shoulders had their nails digging into the skin enough to draw blood. She was in a state where she had to do that to bear the agony and spend a little while just breathing.

“''Ymy-sama.''“

“…………I’m fine.”

Crouched in the puddle of water on the floor, Ymy just barely managed to lift her head.

“''Good work. The changing room out the door has been heated and there is hot water prepared in the pot on the table so please take it easy.''“

“…………”

“''……Ymy-sama?''“

Trepidation entered the operator’s voice from the girl’s silence.

“It’s already been eight hours.”

“''Eh?''“

“It’s already been eight hours……let me continue on like this.”

The sound of the operator gasping was transmitted through the broadcast device.

“''Th-that’s……are you insane!''“

The operator’s reaction was correct. It wasn’t ‘''Are you serious?''‘. What Ymy wanted was something that would elicit doubt for her sanity from somebody who knew the harshness of Priestess training.

“''You have already extended your training four hours past the regulation thirty six hours. It’s already been forty hours total. And you……want to add another eight hours to that!?''“

“It’s not enough yet.”

“''Not……not enough──!?''“

Ymy stared at the ceiling and nodded in response to the shrill voice of the female operator.

……Yes, it’s not enough.

……More and more until my limit. I want to reach more and more into the beyond of the beyond.

“''But if you go any further than this, your life or at least your mental health will be in danger.''“

“That’s fine; I want to do the next one right up to the limit.”

This time──

Ymy’s answer rendered the operator speechless.

“Please let me continue just a little longer.”

……It’s no good at the current pace.

Nothing will change from what that person said if I keep going through the same training.

 

“''Only you haven’t changed one bit since three years ago.''“

 

Those words had been stabbed into her at the Grand Holy Hall by the woman who named herself as Tsali.

Three years ago ── since the time Sheltis had fallen to the {{furigana|Garden of Corrupted Song|Eden}}, no matter how hard she thought she had worked, she’d been told that nothing had changed about her.

 

“''You’re doing your best as a Priestess? You’ve worked hard and grown? Those are illusions and that training that you throw your body into is also a phantom. A phantom with no corporeal body.''“

“''Change. There is absolutely no opportunity to make your shinryoku bloom.''“

 

……An opportunity.

She didn’t know whether pushing herself to the limit in the Priestesses’ harsh training would become that opportunity. But she couldn’t do nothing. As long as she held the title of Priestess, she couldn’t allow herself to be overpowered by Yuugenshu.

……The world a thousand years ago and the Yuugenshu a thousand years ago.

……I was overpowered by the Yuugenshu’s mateki at that time.

But my shinryoku shouldn’t lose. When I grasped shinryoku as a ‘''wavelength''‘, Meimel said that I wouldn’t lose to anyone with just the size of that wavelength.

 

“''Go─t it, Ymy? If you fail to purify mateki, keep in mind that it’s not that your power isn’t up to the task; it’s the opposite. Your shinryoku is too strong so you can’t fine control it, so you should be wary that you can’t release all your stored-up shinryoku.''“

 

──If so.

──The reason I was oppressed by the Yuugenshu’s mateki is precisely because of that output efficiency.

Suppose that the Yuugenshu she fought in the world of a thousand years ago possessed 10 mateki and she had 20 shinryoku within her. However, compared to the Yuugenshu who could manifest 100% of its mateki, she probably hadn’t even manifested half of hers.

10 mateki x an output efficiency of 100% = 10.

20 shinryoku x an output efficiency of 40% = 8.

In other words, even if her shinryoku was above, it would lose out when put in the form of a spell.

 

“''That’s why you’re not suited for fine control-type spells like those of the Territory type or Barrier type. It’s your natural disposition and not because you lack training. Can’t you just focus on improving your shinryoku output by even one percent in the Baptism type that best shows your strength?''“

 

“Please, just a little more……at least just four hours──”

Still hugging her shoulders that were shivering from the cold, Ymy looked up steadily at the broadcast device. My problem is my shinryoku output efficiency. In order to look for an opportunity to compensate for that, I need to devote my body to training even more dangerous than before.

“''……But''“

“Then two──”

Two hours only then please; the moment she said these words.

“''Ah……well, there’s a guest for you, Ymy-sama……they’re waiting in front of the floor’s elevator.''“

“A guest? Who?”

A Priestess’ training time is not to be infringed upon. It’s normal for the time to be changed no matter who it is so long as I’m secluded in training. It’s rare for somebody to boldly put that aside and visit. If there was anybody, it would have to be my Sennenshi……I don’t have one, so maybe it’s a fellow Priestess?

“Is it Meimel or Syun-rei?”

“''N-no……but you’re right that it’s a Priestess.''“

“''It’s Viola Nova-sama. She says she wants to see Ymy-sama.''“

 

She was standing in front of the elevator doors with a smile upon her lips.

“It’s been a while, Ymy-san; you look well.”

A woman dressed in a robe-like vestment made of a single cloth with just a hole for the head. Her slender body was not much different from Syun-rei in height and she looked like she might be mistaken for a child from afar.

“W-we’ve really had no contact at all! It’s truly been a while……”

Running right up to her, Ymy bowed deeply with ragged breaths.

Viola Nova ── her senior Priestess who held the position of third Priestess. She had spent more than half a year patrolling the Biotope with her Sennenshi partner and competent Elite Guards.

“Sorry……u-umm, I think it was four days ago. I knew you had returned to the tower but I was busy and couldn’t come greet you.”

“It’s fine. I was also busy having just returned and you just returned from the Governmental Sector the day before last yourself, right?”

She had a gentle gaze that would relax those who saw it.

She was also petite like Syun-rei but the calm tone and gentleness of the Priestess in front of her was contrary to her physique and gave one a mature impression.

“That’s right, I’ll give you your souvenir before I forget. Here you go.”

“……What’s this?”

She grabbed Ymy’s wrist and held it to chest-height, then wrapped her fingers around something.

It was a polished black stone. The surface was smooth like it had been polished with something and the entire thing had a roundness to it.

“It’s obsidian I picked up in the Biotope; isn’t it curious how it’s been polished so beautifully by nature?”

“……Viola, I see you still have your hobby of collecting small stones.”

Ymy smiled ironically in front of her senior Priestess. Her hobby of collecting small stones and adding “-san” when addressing other people irrespective of whether they were her kouhai hadn’t changed.

“How was it outside the tower? You patrolled the Biotope the whole time this time too.”

“It’s the same great bundle of nature as always. The large dangerous beasts are and even the climate is all jumbled. Just when you think it’s shining like in a desert, there’s a blizzard the next day and the day after that is a downpour. Having your tent blown away by a gale is also a commonplace event.”

“……You sure made it through that all right.”

“I got used to that bustle so it feels like something’s missing here with the tower being so calm.”

She smiled as her flaxen hair fluttered.

“By the way, Ymy-san, I’m sorry for being so sudden. I know you were in the middle of training.”

“N-Not at all! The regulation time was over already!”

That she had wanted to do a little more and been in the middle of negotiating it was a secret, of course.

“That’s actually a lie.”

“Eh?”

“I didn’t come knowing you were in the middle of training; I came because you were in the middle of training. I wanted to disrupt your training.”

Viola looked fixedly up at her with her light brown eyes.

“Ymy-san, don’t you know that excessive training will just burden your body?”

“…………”

……I see, I thought it was strange.

This was a woman who was overflowing with consideration. She wasn’t the type who would interrupt her training just to hand over a souvenir or because she wanted to see her.

……She’d intended to stop my excessive training from the start.

“I heard about it from Meimel-san. That it’s been like this the whole time lately. But it looks like several days……from just before you left for the Governmental Sector and after returning have been especially terrible. I was a little worried after hearing that. As for why──”

Viola spoke with a tone like she was scolding her own child.

That’s definitely how it is. This person is……this ‘''older sister figure''‘ is always worrying about her junior Priestesses, Syun-rei and I, as if we were her children.

“I was thinking one of the reasons you’re overdoing your training is related to my younger sister, Horn.”

“…………”

“So it really is?”

“……I don’t know.”

Viola looked directly up at her. She couldn’t avert her eyes and it took her utmost just to muddle her words.

……But it’s probably just as Viola says.

Wanting to purify the {{furigana|Garden of Corrupted Song|Eden}}’s mateki that resided within her childhood friend, Sheltis, was her thought as a childhood friend.

On top of that ── as the Priestess of Baptism, she thought it wouldn’t do to remain this way, and that was probably because she was indebted to the Sennenshi, Horn Nova.

“Your younger sister is……”

“You’ll understand if I say she’s in Ward D of the hospital on floor 22, right?”

The clinic within the tower was divided into four wards based on patient condition.

Ward A handled emergency outpatients and the lightly wounded.

Ward B handled inpatients with grave wounds requiring surgery.

Ward C handled patients that were in serious life-threatening conditions.

And then, separated from even those three wards by a large door was Ward D. All patients taken to this ward were those showered in mateki. The response team was not of doctors but of apprentice Priestesses and those that the apprentice Priestsses could not treat were directly purified by a Priestess.

“……I see. That’s right.”

Sennenshi Horn had returned to the tower for only one reason. It wasn’t to give a report but to visit a child who continued to sleep in one of the Ward D rooms.

“……I’m sorry.”

“It’s not something you need to apologize for. Meimel-san and I……even the first Priestess, Elmeetia-san, couldn’t purify that mateki so it’s not solely your responsibility.”

“But!”

Her words blamed herself. Exactly because she understood that, Ymy could not pretend to not have heard it.”

“……But everybody else has different specialties in spells!……I can’t use anything other than Baptism-type spells well. I can’t become anything other than the Priestess of Baptism.”

“You think it’s natural that you’d be the one to heal that child?”

“…………Yes.”

In reality, it was something Horn Nova had said to her.

 

“''Ymy Ele Soufflenictole……you couldn’t save Tessha!''“

“''Who cares about being a Priestess. This……even though you can’t purify the mateki of a single child……even though you can’t save a single child, what about you makes you a Priestess of Baptism!''“

 

In a hospital ward with a cold wind blowing through it.

Those words spoken in front of that child whose eyes would not open were directed at me alone.

“……I thought you’d say that.”

Viola slumped her delicate shoulders and sighed.

“The truth is I didn’t really want to return. Because, Ymy-san, it’s a given that you’d go overboard in your training and ruin your body when Horn returned to the tower.”

“……But I must.”

“I understand that you feel responsible for not being able to purify mateki while known under the honorary title of Priestess of Baptism, but please don’t overdo it. The Priestesses’ primary duty isn’t to purify mateki. It’s to maintain the barrier that seals the {{furigana|Garden of Corrupted Song|Eden}}.”

It was something she’d been admonished for countless times since her time as an apprentice Priestess.

A Priestess had to be ruthless. No matter who had to be sacrificed and even if she wanted to save someone near her, she had to focus her power solely on maintaining Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

“That’s why it’s Horn’s fault for having excessive expectations of Priestesses.”

“…………”

“Please tell me if my little sister says anything to you. I’ll scold her as her older sister.”

“……Okay.”

Well then ── conveying that softly, the third Priestess turned around. She watched her as she used the elevator to head to her own floor.

“…………”

Letting out a truly deep sigh towards the ceiling, Ymy loosely stumbled to the wall. ……I can’t put any power into my limbs. When she noticed that, the strength left her knees and she collapsed.

“Having excessive expectations of me……that just means she had that much expectation for me. ……She probably believed in and relied on me.”

She couldn’t fulfill Horn’s expectations that day. Even though she was probably her last hope, as the one known as the Priestess of Baptism.

“……Ah……ah……haha, it’s cold.”

Maybe it was because of the training. It couldn’t be helped that her body was freezing so she curled up and crouched there.

…………

…………It’s been a while since I’ve been frustrated to the point of wanting to cry.

“Why……is it……so cold, I wonder.”

The girl’s hoarse laughter echoed.

Before long, that laughter had changed to a faint sob at some point.




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