Chapter 4: The Human Theorem

In Berun, the royal capital, Genitz’s rebellion had breathed its last and the city finally returned to its peaceful, everyday existence. In one corner of the city, there was a restaurant with a good reputation among the wealthy. It was an ultra-gourmet establishment that stocked ingredients from not only Europea, but from continents such as Aesia and Gordina, and its chef had trained at a three-star restaurant in Filbarneu.

The restaurant staff treated their patrons to impeccable service, and the furnishings and dishes were strikingly luxurious. The vibrant yet harmonious atmosphere put visitors at ease. It was indeed a first-rate restaurant.

“Whattaya think, Sophia? This is a popular restaurant frequented by major nobles, and even visited in secret by His Highness himself!”

“What’s the big idea?!”

As usual, Daian was speaking in his absurd, chipper manner.

“Don’t you like it?”

The two had come to the restaurant to fulfill their earlier promise. During Genitz’s rebellion, Daian had saved Sophia’s life. Twice. Directly and indirectly.

Sophia hated owing a debt, so she had accepted his invitation to dinner, which she had refused repeatedly for so long. However, from the moment they entered, Sophia’s face clearly expressed her ill humor.

“What’s the big idea, huh?!”

She jerked a thumb at their surroundings.

“Is something wrong?”

Daian played dumb.

“No one else is here!”

There were several tables inside the restaurant. But no one else was there. Only the two of them. The restaurant was among the finest in Berun. People seeking reservations had to put their names on a list and wait for cancellations. Yet Sophia and Daian were the only two diners.

“Reserving the whole restaurant makes it easier to relax.”

“I figured as much!”

Sophia’s frown deepened.

“I said we have to split the bill tonight! So you aren’t treating me!”

“Yes, I know. But that’s just for the meal, right?”

“Arrrgh!”

Sophia had drawn a line in the sand, but Daian had attacked from an unexpected direction. Now Sophia regretted agreeing when Daian had said he would reserve the restaurant.

“Did you think I’d be pleased by this ridiculous behavior?!”

There were women who basked in the self-deception that men fawning over them was proof of love. Some women were unscrupulous enough to demand rare and expensive gifts, summon their suitors late at night or early in the morning, or even have men fight each other. But Sophia wasn’t that type. Rather, she wanted to teach such women a lesson.

“Isn’t this restaurant swell?”

Despite Sophia’s sour mood, Daian maintained his customary smooth, casual tone.

“Yeah, what about it?”

“I thought it might cause problems if the young lady of the great House Rundstadt appeared in such an establishment with me, the royal capital’s biggest pervert.”

“Hmf!”

Sophia was born into a famous noble house boasting a heritage that dated back centuries. If she allowed it, people would talk as if they knew all about her.

“Like I said! This way, it’s easier to relax and talk.”

What’s more, this restaurant was a favorite of the Imperial household. Usually, famous nobles filled the seats. Even if Daian had reserved a private room, if they were under the same roof, the other patrons would have gossiped about them.

Sophia claimed she didn’t care about society, but she didn’t want to create complications for herself either.

“That’s something I hate about you!”

Sophia insulted him under her breath.

He was a conceited weirdo—heedless, clownish and phony. And his thoughts sometimes raced far ahead of Sophia’s.

“It’s all right, isn’t it? Let’s enjoy a delicious meal! I’ve been bouncing around all day looking forward to this!♪”

Whether he knew how Sophia felt or not, Daian took a glass of champagne from the waiter and spoke in his usual merry tone.

Dinner began and every dish the waiter brought exemplified the finest of fine food. But Sophia’s face was sullen as she raised each bite to her mouth.

“I’m surprised. You have table manners.”

Sophia was born into nobility and her teachers had been strict. But even to her standards, Daian’s use of his knife and fork was beyond reproach.

“I’m good with my hands. And—while I’m not bragging—I have a superb memory. As long as it doesn’t involve physical strength, I can remember any activity after seeing it performed only once.”

Grinning, he cut a sautéed scallop with precision and put a bite in his mouth.

“Exquisite! Now we can get fresh seafood, even in Berun!”

Seafood was a delicacy in the inland city of Berun. Not long ago, fresh seafood had been difficult for even the royalty to obtain, but the development of refrigeration technology had removed previous obstacles.

“It’s proof that the advances in science and technology can make human life rich. Whew! Ha ha ha!”

Daian was a scientist himself, but his specialty was weapons development. Military technology sometimes found application in civilian life, and it contributed to the rich living of which he spoke. But he was a man who most enjoyed creating weapons of destruction, so whether or not he really thought so was questionable.

“...........................”

Sophia was emotional, so her thoughts often showed on her face. When she thought about this unsettling side of Daian, her glower grew more intense.

“Heh heh!”

But Daian looked at her and laughed as if even this was funny.

“I just noticed something. With that look on your face, you really look like my mother, Sophia!”

“Your mother? You have a mother?”

“That’s mean, Sophia. Even I didn’t grow on a tree!”

Daian’s words were true.

“Well... my adoptive mother of sorts. You remind me of her, especially around the eyes. She was beautiful, too.”

Maybe it was because his words sounded uncharacteristically heartfelt and unaffected, but...

“Who... are you?”

Without thinking, Sophia blurted a question she had never asked him before.

“Everything about your background is unknown. I’ve heard you studied abroad in Britniss, but I suppose that’s a lie, too.”

Daian’s identity was a great mystery that even Apuvea, Wiltia’s intelligence agency, had been unable to ascertain.

“It defies common sense for such an enigmatic individual to occupy an important government position.”

However, Wiltia needed Daian because he was a genius whose brilliance superseded the law.

Sophia sometimes thought of Daian not as human, but as a monster. So she found herself surprised when he mentioned having a mother, something that everyone had.

“Sophia, I have some idea of what you think of me.”

Daian was a scientist, but he was treated like a colonel. In contrast, Sophia was a major. Daian wasn’t someone she could ordinarily call a bastard or a fool. Daian wouldn’t take offense, but it wasn’t permitted. And Sophia was typically a stickler for military propriety. She insulted Daian in part from her fear of him.

“Sometimes you frighten me. I’m not sure you see human beings as human beings.”

She felt as if Daian ridiculed all the things important to her: military pride, comrades in arms and subordinates. Daian seemed distant from humanity, and seemed to examine human beings as if they were insects.

“But you... um... helped me before.”

During Genitz’s rebellion, Daian had risked his life to save Sophia. True, she learned later that Daian was wearing a bulletproof garment. But lead bullets could kill even him. Luckily, the bullets had hit protected areas, so he had only suffered cracked ribs. But if they had struck that brain he was so proud of, he would have died.

“So which... are you?”

Sophia was befuddled.

This weirdo in front of her, this bloodless monster, almost seemed as human as she was.

“Sophia, you’re a kind person.”

Hearing Sophia’s uncertainty, Daian only smiled in greater mirth.

“Why you...!”

As expected, Sophia raised her voice in anger, but Daian slowly raised his hand to calm her.

“Don’t worry. I’m human. If I’m stabbed, shot, poisoned, strangled or simply starve myself, I will die.”

Taking bites of the dinner before him, Daian continued speaking.

“And in about fifty years, I’ll get old, reach the end of my natural lifespan, and croak.”

All of this was normal for human beings.

“Yep, I’m human. Just like you. So I’ll eventually kick the bucket. But, Sophia... if something couldn’t die, would you call it human?”

“What are you talking about?”

Sophia was taken aback at the sudden question.

“What really makes a human being human, Sophia? What would happen if someone cut off your right arm?”

“I would spill blood and soon die from blood loss. Or I might die of shock from the pain. Or it’s possible I would thrash around, bite off my tongue, hit the back of my head and lose consciousness.”

“As blunt as ever, I see.”

Daian chuckled dryly at how Sophia spoke so casually, as if reciting military first-aid procedures.

“I don’t mean that. Which part would be you—the severed arm or the rest of your body?”

“Huh? The rest of my body, of course!”

The fallen arm would have no individual consciousness. It would be Sophia’s severed arm, not Sophia herself.

“Yes, that’s right. Even without an arm, a human being is still a human being. What about without a leg?”

“Same thing,” Sophia replied.

“Right. What about the lower half of your body? And a few internal organs? And your eyes? If you lost your tongue? And if your ears got ripped off?”

That would only leave her heart and brain.

“It’s just my personal theory, but without a heart, a human being would still be a human being. I haven’t actually run tests on it yet, but if you implanted someone else’s heart, the core personality wouldn’t change.”

In that case, where was the seat of the human personality... of the heart?

Daian continued.

“Then are we synonymous with our brains? I don’t think that’s right either. The brain is no more than a recording medium, a kind of calculator.”

“Are you trying to say that what defines people is the information inside them?”

“How incisive you are, Sophia.”

Like a phonograph record that stores songs. The quality of the songs isn’t determined by the vinyl record, but by the information engraved on it.

“But I think even that isn’t the right answer. I think if you trace the source of a substance’s identity, its fluctuation.”

“Fluctuation?”

“There’s a theory that all things in the world are basically, at the smallest level, a single string. Plucking that string produces vibrations that determine the attributes of all things.”

“That sounds like magic.”

“Science and magic aren’t all that different. Have you forgotten my nickname?”

Daian was also known as the Sorcerer.

“I have the idea that what defines people is the vibration of our most elementary parts. If a being, even one born without a flesh-and-blood body, could embrace that vibration, it would be human.”

“Is this related to your research into humanoid Hunter Units?”

Daian’s work at the Weapons Development Bureau was top secret. It was rumored that his many revolutionary technologies, theories, and the birth of the Hunter Units that had led Wiltia to victory, were all for that research.

“Sophia, you had a run-in with one of the Hunter Units when you were with Suzuka. It was defective.”

During the recent commotion in the capital, Sophia had encountered a humanoid Hunter Unit. Sophia was known as the Black Spear, yet when she and a woman loved by the god of war had teamed up against the Unit, even they had been unable to defeat it. It had been a monster in human form.

“Did that one lack the strength to embrace her vibration?”

“She never received the initial jolt. Did you know, Sophia, that all life was once a sea of amino acid that came to life from a single lightning strike?”

The defective unit had not received such a strike. That subtle stimulation necessary to fuse disparate parts and give rise to an organic heart.

“If she had received that, then perhaps... But that’s all in the past now.”

Daian wasn’t trying to create a weapon. He was trying to give birth to a human being.

“If it doesn’t have a heart, you can’t say it’s alive. And something that isn’t alive can’t die.”

Death only comes to those who have life. Therefore, what cannot die does not live. And what does not live certainly isn’t human.

“Sophia, I know why you think I’m creepy. I want to create a human being. And to create a human being, I must understand human beings. And to do that, I must have one foot outside the human world.”

Daian was human, but he also observed humans from a great distance. So despite being human, he had become inhuman. And this was disturbing to the people around him.

“Hey, Sophia? Suppose a mechanical being that looked completely human, like that humanoid Hunter Unit, developed a heart. How could you prove it was human?”

In the back of his mind, Daian thought of the silver-haired girl, who Sophia also knew.

“That mechanical doll would laugh like a human, and get angry like a human, and fall in love like a human... but for it to be human, one final proof would be necessary.”

“And what would that be?” Sophia asked.

Daian answered quietly but with conviction.

“It would have to die. Machines can’t die. They just break. So dying would prove the automaton was human.”