“Master.”
“Hm? What’s with this serious expression all of a sudden…… Well,
you’re always like that, but now you’ve got that scary voice too.”
There was a fine line between praise and mockery when it came to
that line about always wearing a serious expression, which Tatsuya
finally chose to ignore because he was unable to decipher which one it
was – which meant he did nothing whatsoever.
Somehow, Yakumo’s expression seemed less than pleased, which
probably denoted that he made the right decision. Furthermore,
Tatsuya wasn’t in the mood to play along with his jokes (?).
“Earlier, you spoke of things that were out of this world.”
“Ah, so that’s what this is about.”
There was no need to complete the half-finished sentence.
His reply left no room for misinterpretation, as if he had predicted that
Tatsuya would ask this question.
“Our enemies are not restricted to just humans. It isn’t that rare for
some of them to strike a bargain with forces beyond this world.”
While this was the expected answer based on their earlier
conversation, this response ran counter to the knowledge he already
had.
“However, one of my friends who is an Ancient Magic user claims
that encounters with actual spirits are rare occurrences……”
Tatsuya wasn’t saying this because he believed one person over the
other, but because he wanted an answer that he could believe.
“I recall that Tatsuya-kun’s friend is the second son of the Yoshida
Family. While his words are also true…… In your case, I believe you
didn’t consider the matter thoroughly enough.”
Yakumo temporarily halted speaking there. After receiving the request
to think things a little more thoroughly, Tatsuya immersed himself into
a sea of considerations and arrived at a solution after a short period of
time.
“Mikihiko’s words are correct, but at the same time, imperfect. Is this
what you’re referring to? Actual run-ins with bona fide spirits are
extremely rare, but incursions because someone else provided the
impetus are not that infrequent, am I right?”
“I’ll give you the minimum passing grade.”
As befitting his words, Yakumo’s expression was far from satisfied.
“Hm…… I guess even a sage like Tatsuya-kun would fall prey to
association bias and cognitive traps.”
Apparently, the bar was set quite high and the scoring much more
ruthless.
Even so, Tatsuya felt that it was too shameful (and not embarrassing)
to be called a “sage” to the face and prayed that this would not be
repeated.
It was a testament to how unruffled Tatsuya was when being praised in
spite of his mistake.
Still, Tatsuya’s poise was brushed aside by Yakumo’s following
words.
“You too should have had a brush or two against creatures that do not
exist in this plane. In regards to what you modern magic practitioners
refer to as SB Magic, what do you think they use as a medium?”
A small “Ah” escaped Tatsuya’s lips.
“I see you connected the dots. What modern magicians refer to as
Spiritual Beings are legitimately “creatures from another world”.”
This was indeed a blind spot. Tatsuya focused on Yakumo as he
continued to explain.
“Ah, conscious thought and self-awareness are both secondary.
Bacteria does not have consciousness or self-awareness, but it is able
to enter the human body and affect the operations of the human body
enough to impact health. In addition, they even have the incomplete
ability to self-replicate. However, even if they don’t fulfill the
requirements of a “living creature” at the intellectual level, that’s not
enough to deny that they are “living creatures” with the ability to
infect the human body.”
“You are saying that Spiritual Beings – nothing more than isolated
spirit bodies removed from physical phenomena also qualify as
“creatures not of this world”?”