“H-Hold on, please.” Inugami interrupted the story there. “You don’t mean to tell me that Madam Merula managed to sneak into the main church, do you? That place is famous for its tight security. It’s not a place an amateur could sneak into alone, right?”
“Well, you’re right, but…” Souji said, scratching the back of his head, and then put his hand down on top of Merula’s head. “Normally, it’d be tough, but… Merula has this special ability, you see.”
Souji rubbed his hand into Merula’s head and pushed it around, trying to convince her to do something.
Merula batted his hand away in annoyance, then whispered something. The very next instant, Merula vanished.
“Wha?!” Inugami cried.
She had been right there all this time, but now he couldn’t see any sign of her anywhere. However, Inugami’s sense of smell could detect Merula’s presence. He couldn’t see her, but she was most definitely still there.
As he watched Inugami look around restlessly, Souji laughed and put his hand where Merula had been just moments before. “I’m sure it looks like she’s gone, but Merula hasn’t moved from where she was. If I touch her, I can tell she’s definitely still… Guagh?!”
Souji suddenly fell out of his chair. Inugami tensed himself, wondering what was happening, when suddenly Merula reappeared with an angry look on her face and an outstretched fist. She must have punched him out of the chair.
“Don’t take advantage of the situation to try and grab my breasts, you sexual harasser!” Merula shouted down at the fallen Souji.
“Ow… Your breasts? I thought that was your side… Gwah!”
“Sorry for not being curvy enough!”
For saying something he shouldn’t have, Souji got stomped on, too.
Inugami was dumbfounded, but he still managed to ask, “Madam Merula can make herself disappear?”
“Yes. That’s right,” Merula confirmed. “I don’t really understand how it works myself, but I can make the colors of my body and clothing blend in with their surroundings. When I was in the Spirit Kingdom, I could make those around me vanish, too, but… now, just disappearing myself is the best I can manage.”
Souji came back to life and added, “She’s like a lizard, right?” teasingly, which earned him another kick. However, compared to the color mimicry of lizards, hers was perfect.
If Souma had been here, he might have pointed out that Merula’s ability was one that controlled the refraction of light, and that it produced perfect optical camouflage. But unfortunately, no one present could make that observation.
Souji got back into his chair and said, “Anyway,” trying to get back on topic. “Her ability let her infiltrate the main church and make it as far as the Lunalith.”
“Even if you can vanish, they should have been able to sense her presence and smell her,” Inugami said. “I’m impressed she made it all that way.”
“I’m sure it was partially luck, but it’s also a place that no one but His Holiness and the cardinals have access to,” Souji explained. “The security on the entrance is tight, but once you get in, it’s unlikely that you’ll be discovered. Merula snuck in as His Holiness and the cardinals were leaving. Mind you, because of her sneaking in, security’s been buffed up considerably.”
He stared at Merula pointedly, and she looked away awkwardly.
How could a single woman on her own do something so crazy? Inugami was taken aback. “You said security has been buffed up. Does that mean she was discovered?”
“Yeah,” Souji said. “She could deceive their eyes, but, of all the things she could have done, she had to go and touch the Lunalith. When she did, it seems she saw an oracle.”
According to Merula’s account, the Lunalith had been in a vast room bereft of all signs of life.
The room was dimly lit, and in the center of this room with its high ceiling was occupied by what looked like a pitch black stone monument. It measured five or six meters high, two meters wide, and less than a meter deep.
Looking at it up close, Merula could tell that the stone monument was giving off a pale light.
So this is the Lunalith… she thought. It really exists.
This was the object of worship in Lunarian Orthodoxy, the one on which the oracles of Lunaria were said to be carved. Though she had anticipated it would, when she saw that it actually existed, Merula got excited. Immediately shifting into researcher mode, she began to observe and analyze the Lunalith.
Currently, though the subject is currently emitting light, no text has appeared, she thought. Yet, in Lunarian Orthodoxy, it is said that the oracles of the moon goddess Lunaria come down to them through the Lunalith.
When Merula was in research mode, her thoughts became as analytical as a researcher’s could be. Even the femininity vanished from her words in her head, and she started to put together her sentences like they were part of a research paper, with all excess removed.
Merula circled the Lunalith.
Hypothesis: The oracles of Lunaria are carved in the Lunalith, she thought. If this hypothesis is true, the oracles of Lunaria will be carved into the Lunalith in some manner. It is unclear whether the oracles are in written or pictorial form. If this hypothesis is false, the oracles will not be carved in the Lunalith. In this case, it could be conjectured that they have set up this phosphorescent object that seemed meaningful as the Lunalith, and that Lunarian Orthodoxy is using it to support their authority… but…
Having thought that far, Merula shook her head.
It can be conjectured that the possibility of that is low. The method is much too roundabout for it to be a way to build their authority. If they were going to enshrine a monument that does not actually receive oracles, it would be far simpler to claim it was some sort of tool used by Lunaria. In point of fact, there are many such examples of other religions doing just that.
Merula circled around to stand (probably) in front of the Lunalith.
Let’s test if the hypothesis is true. In this case, there are, broadly speaking, two patterns that it could be divided into:
Pattern 1: The oracles are handed down periodically, or at random intervals.
Pattern 2: The receiver of the oracles performs some operation in order to have them come down.
Merula looked at the object, her eyes fully calm as she thought about it.
In the case of Pattern 1, the pope or other such receivers cannot receive oracles at a time of their own choosing. In this case, they would strongly reflect the will of the moon goddess Lunaria.
In the case of Pattern 2, the pope and others can receive oracles at a time of their choosing. In this case, it can be conjectured that the moon goddess Lunaria is not a being that influences her believers at all times.
Then Merula slowly reached out towards the Lunalith.
The Lunalith is emitting light. This can be conjectured to mean that the Lunalith is in an active state. If, in some manner, I could receive an oracle, the possibility of Pattern 2 would be heightened. I guess that’s how it’d be, yeah.
Merula’s mind returned from the sea of thoughts, and she touched the Lunalith. A moment later…
“Ah!”
The Lunalith suddenly shone brighter, and a number of golden lines appeared on its black surface. Merula jumped back in surprise, but when she calmed down and took care to observe, she was able to see a regularity to their patterns. Merula conjectured that they were characters. Surely these patterns had to be the oracles said to be inscribed in the Lunalith.