Book Eater

Chapter 163: Heaven, Earth and Human Test (1)

As Theo read through the information window, Seimei started to explain the Human Test.

「Being disciplined enough to train every day is praiseworthy; however, if you can’t use that power to protect people, your skills will be as meaningless as a natural disaster. The Human Test will measure the lives you have saved before.」

Theo’s brows knitted. “The lives I have saved?”

「The value of life can’t just be assessed by men and women. Using the most equitable and reasonable standard, as well as considering your age, I will allow ten thousand lives to be the minimum. 」

Ten thousand lives was easy to say, but it was an army’s worth of people. Moreover, the standard wasn’t helping them, but saving their lives. The difficulty of the first test was already completely absurd.

Seimei had mentioned Theo’s age, but it was just a blunt attempt to make him give up on the test.

Contrary to Seimei’s expectations, Theo nodded without a single sign of agitation. “I understand.”

Seimei was confused by the calm answer.

「... You’re going to accept this condition? 」

Theo cocked his head, “Does that mean the condition is unfair?”

「O-Of course not...」 Seimei muttered in a voice filled with embarrassment.

Seimei was a little wary at how unconcerned Theo seemed to be, but he decided to go ahead with the test. It would take an extraordinary feat even for heroes of the Age of Mythology to save that many lives. It seemed that Theo had abandoned passing the Human Test.

Seimei spoke again.

「I understand. Now, I will go back through your life and count the number of lives you have saved! 」

Seimei used the Causality Mirror technique. It was an incredibly difficult shamanistic technique that could look into one’s past. It was astonishing that this fragment of Seimei’s soul could even use it.

“Ah.”

Theo found himself on top of a familiar hill. He looked around involuntarily, then he heard Seimei’s voice, as if confirming his conjecture.

「Oho, this is your hometown. 」

It was as Seimei said. The Miller Barony’s landscape rolled onward to the horizon; however, it wasn’t the peaceful landscape where wheat grew during the harvest season. It was a battlefield where living corpses tangled together with people. Theo could still remember the scent of blood and death as the undead launched their assault. He watched the battle with the Elder Lich being reproduced right before his eyes.

Seimei waited until the memory ended, and spoke in a voice which wasn’t filled with any surprise at the presence of the Elder Lich.

「A battle against a black magic user who summoned the undead. You did a considerable amount of work with the help of others. There are over a hundred people in the village, and you prevented the aftermath that would’ve happened next... Okay, that should be a thousand lives.」

Seimei acknowledged that Theo had saved a thousand lives. He had been helped by the mercenaries who had defended the village, as well as Randolph and Sylvia against the Elder Lich. It was a large number, but it was only 10% of the quota.

Nonetheless, Theo accepted the result without any objections. “Well, it is a reasonable number.”

After all, this wasn’t the only incident.

「Hrmm, then let’s go to the next one.」

Seimei was slowly becoming more uncomfortable. He had been sure the quota couldn’t be filled, but his confidence was being eroded by Theo’s calmness.

The world spun, and slowed to become a dark alley, the stronghold of thieves. This was the outskirts of Bergen where Theo had infiltrated a camp in order to rescue the captured elves. Theo watched as the memory replayed itself before their eyes.

Piing!

As soon as Theo’s Magic Bullet destroyed the head of the thief, the world stopped again.

「You certainly act like a typical hero, rescuing the long-eared family who had become slaves.」

“Long-eared family? Is that what you call the elves in the East?"

「Their ears are long. I admit that it isn’t a good name, but an easy to understand name lasts for a long time. 」

Soon after, Seimei came to a conclusion, 「I will count this as a hundred. 」

“I understand.”

「Hrmm.」

It was a brief response. Seimei felt a strange feeling rising in his stomach at Theo’s matter of fact answers. He had expected an argument for the hundred lives, yet the youth seemed completely unconcerned. Seimei pushed his irritation down and headed to the next memory.

The confrontation with the legend ranked grimoire, Laevateinn, was reproduced.

「Hah...」

Seimei sighed heavily for the first time, unlike his usual taunting or playful tone.

He was an onmyōji, so he could see how dangerous these flames were. Theo had literally saved the world in this fight. Even if it wasn’t the world, it couldn’t be denied that Theo had saved all the elves living in the Great Forest. The lowest estimation of that would be in the hundreds of thousands.

Needless to say, Theo had more than fulfilled the quota with just this one fight.

「... This... I have to admit it! 」

The Causality Mirror wasn’t simply a recollection of the past but a top-level technique that examined all the associated people. Thus, Seimei was forced to give a passing grade for Theo’s heroic actions.

Stopping Laevateinn was worth more than ten thousand lives, even with the help of the high elves, the help of the elemental ruler, and the cooperation of Theo’s fellow magicians. Furthermore, there were still events left to see. However, Seimei thought it was sufficient and stopped the technique.

He asked wryly.

「Young man from the West, are you a protagonist who emerged from a heroic saga somewhere? 」

Theo opened his mouth to answer, but Seimei’s question had been more rhetorical. He was sincerely complimenting Theo. The system messages announcing the end of the Human Test appeared before Theo.

[You have passed the ‘Heaven, Earth, and Human: Human chapter.’]

[The progress at the current stage is 33.3%.]

[Step 2: Go to the ‘Heaven, Earth, and Human: Earth Chapter.’]

Theo was back in the dark void, with only Seimei before him, who was looking at him with a peculiar expression.

“Honestly, I’m amazed,” Seimei remarked.

Theo didn’t respond.

“A young man who saved so many lives is standing before me. I was confident in my own time, but maybe that was self-conceit.”

The young man who had called Seimei’s soul in an unknown way... His identity might be suspicious, but… instead of failing, he had passed the test. Perhaps this encounter was an opportunity to solve the problem that Seimei himself couldn’t solve. Seimei examined Theo more carefully. If that was the case, then he would verify the possibility with the other two tests.

“I will explain this test.”

If the Human Chapter tested one’s responsibility with power, then the Earth Chapter tested the virtue of not being overwhelmed by one’s own strength. There was nothing as ugly as senseless violence, so strong patience was required for the Earth Test.

“The Earth Test is to confirm your faith in yourself and the patience to not succumb to temptation. Is it possible for you to stand upright in front of the temptation that you have faced?”

Everyone faced their own temptations, and their lives were determined by whether they gave in or resisted it. Childhood dreams faded into faint memories, and it wasn’t uncommon for a boy who dreamed of becoming a righteous knight to end up as a thief for a few gold coins.

It was said that mountains and rivers wouldn’t change in ten years, but people always changed. The path chosen by people would change according to their choices. Actions, rather than words, were what defined a person.

Theo looked at his last twenty years and stood straighter. “Yes, I can do it.”

He couldn’t say that he had never looked up at the sky in shame, but he hadn’t lived a shameful life. In a sense, this might be a privilege of the young. They hadn’t lived long, and the youthfulness meant they were faithful to their inner hearts, rather than worldly desires.

Seimei nodded at the confident answer and pointed to Theo’s head with his fan. He made a simple gesture with his other hand and said, “Path of Five Desires.”

***

Theo screamed soundlessly, “――――――!”

It had only been five seconds since Seimei had cast the spell. However, during those five seconds, Theo experienced at least fifty years.

He was expelled from Bergen Academy and retired to the country.

He agreed to the black market’s dealer’s proposal and entered the world of back alleys.

He ran away from Ellenoa.

He couldn’t stop Laevateinn.

He fell to Aquilo’s temptation and became her possession.

Of course, not all the memories remained. They faded away like the sun at twilight, with only wisps remaining. Theo had experienced what would’ve happened if he had taken the other fork in the road. He experienced tragic lives, and peaceful lives. There were lives where he was wealthier than a king and those where he was surrounded by beauties. He experienced a life where he returned home and quit magic, and a life marked by enormous achievements on all continents.

Seimei watched all of it and briefly commented, “Indeed, an eventful life.”

It was a life which seemed to be a sheer cliff. If Theo had given up even once, he wouldn’t be standing here now. In an era where people were scrambling to be heroes, someone had walked this far with a normal body.

Seimei started to feel admiration for Theo. The latter was mentally exhausted, but Seimei still felt like throwing a quip his way, “By the way, I have something to ask you, regardless of whether you pass the test or not.”

“......”

“Do you perhaps have trouble with sexual function?”

Tok.?

Theo’s sense of reason snapped like a wound harp string.