She Was Both Called God, as Well as Satan

Chapter 32 – Doubts on the Demons

Now, why was the female scholar performing such a dangerous experiment? To explain this, we would need to rewind to the past, to when the female scholar could still be called a young girl. This was back when she still attended the seminary as a student.

On a certain day, the students were brought to the top of the castle walls by the teachers as a learning experience. These walls were an important structure which protected the lives of humanity from the demons roving outside. The teachers wanted to show the reality of the world to their students, to show them just how precarious the situation humanity was currently in.

They patiently explained to their students just how grand the existence of the Goddess was. A few demons could be seen sauntering around by the students, a group of them attacking the castle walls with their clubs. Eventually, soldiers patrolling the walls fired their magic at the demons who were repeatedly striking at the walls, leaving the demons to die with blood flowing from their heads. Students cheered as they looked at this scene.

Among them was a girl who had her head tilted. That girl was the student figure of the female scholar who would in course, perform that dangerous experiment. She coldly observed the movements of the demons from within the cheering students. The girl had a realisation as she watched – a pack of wild dogs had passed immediately by the group of demons. She was sure that the demons would attack the wild dogs, but the demons only patrolled the area without showing any signs of aggression. They would only repeatedly throw acts of intimidation towards the students and teachers who were kept an eye out from the top of the castle walls. As doubts welled up within her, the girl asked the teacher.

“Why don’t the demons attack the dogs?”

The teacher made a slight smile and replied.

“Demons are monsters sent to this world by Satan so he can dominate the world.”

“The one protecting the peace of this world, and the followers of the Goddess are us humans right?”

“So in order to weaken the power of the Goddess, Satan is using the demons to kill us.”

“Wouldn’t it be meaningless to kill them since animals don’t believe in the Goddess?”

“That’s why the demons won’t attack animals”

When they heard the girl’s question, the other students crackled, saying “Don’t you even know that~? So stupid~”. The teacher laughed as he admonished the students, telling them “It is important to be doubtful about anything, no matter how trivial”.

But the girl was still not convinced.

If Satan sent in the demons to kill off the humans, then why were the Bestowed fine? If I was Satan, I would be sending a lot of really strong demons to attack the Bestowed who are spreading the faith rather than attacking the castle walls. Since in reality, there were the underlings when they fought at the temple… it can’t be wrong since I’ve seen it so many times in the plays.

That means that Satan can make demons strong enough to kill the Bestowed… If the protection is too strong that the demons can’t directly attack them, then all they need to do is to cause a landslide or something when the Bestowed are travelling… No, there’s no need to do something so annoying, they could just brainwash some humans and get them to assassinate the Bestowed.

Nothing will come out of hitting the walls with a club. It’s as though they’re doing whatever they like. Wouldn’t it be an easier fight if they just followed orders since they have a commander called Satan?

Still holding onto these doubts, the girl grew up. She became a scholar, and sought to answer the question of “Why do demons attack humanity?”. Of course she never informed the people around her. This was because, in the worst possible scenario, she would be branded as a heretic by the church and given an appropriate punishment. In order to prevent that, she created a small laboratory inside the school she was employed at, and continued her research alone. She spent her days giving lectures to the students and her nights were spent holed up in the laboratory to continue her research.

Why are animals exempted by the demons?

How do demons distinguish between humans and animals?

What is the difference between humans and animals?

Focusing on those points, she continued her research. The answer was unexpectedly easy to find. There exits a special organ, exclusive to humans… An organ which could be called the “second heart”.

This organ possessed a strange property. It beats just like the heart, but does not circulate any blood. The research on other organs such as the stomach, the intestines, the lungs or the heart have progressed enough for people to understand their functions and uses. Nevertheless, only the use of this second heart remained unknown.

This was the one and largest difference between humans and animals. Then all she needed to do was to remove this organ and see how the demons would react. But before this stood the second largest problem. How would she remove this organ? She could ask a doctor but what would she say? If she honestly confessed, saying “I am trying to find the reason why demons attack humans”, the church would most likely be contacted right away. She would have to think up of a suitable excuse.

Another problem was “how to confirm the effects”. The fastest method would be to directly use a demon, but there were no demons inside the walls. This was a given. Demons were outside the castle walls, in other words, outside the country. On top of things, the castle walls were extremely high. She would be unable to see the reactions of the demons like this.

I want to get a hold of a manageable-sized demon and use that for the experiment. How should I…

She had hit a wall. How would she solve this dilemma of hers?

The young girl sat down on the rocking chair, drinking her black tea as she observed the actions of the female scholar.

Right now, she is the only one who holds any doubt towards the teaching of the church, and is trying to prove it. If she backs off now, new humanity will have to live under the fear of demons for a while longer. She is the hope of the new humanity. Well… What will she do?

Even though it’s already midnight, the female scholar showed no signs of going to bed, only nodding off to her troubles. Papers of ideas had piled up into mountains in front of her but none in particular screamed out “this is it!”.

The girl sipped on her tea as she slightly rocked on her chair.

Phew…As she watched, she keenly thought.

How valuable it is to be able to come to a standstill at something, to be able to make an effort to overcome that something… Just how blinding would that be, for a human like me who can live forever by doing nothing… Putting it differently; to be omniscient is to “find find no joy in living”.

In actuality, the answers scholars studying modern magic are frantically searching for are all written inside my notebook. I have long completed my research on modern day magic.

Magic no longer holds any allure to me. Yes, it is just like chewing a gum that has lost its flavour. It’s meaningless and worthless and unimpressive. Something left to only be spat out and thrown away. Just like how my life is nothing more than “something to be eventually spat out and thrown away.”

However, it is different for them. They are always lively.

In times of happiness, in times of sorrow, in times of distress, in times of despair…

So enviable….

The young girl leaned back on the rocking chair, closed her eyes, and resumed her observation of “This World”.

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