What do you know about the soul?
For most, it is the central source of energy within a human being. It's what ultimately drives the person and allows them to act in the present. It's from the soul where energy is released.
However it is a volatile little thing.
You can even touch it.
It's through the soul that we have a greater understanding of not only the world around us, but ourselves as well.
Some souls are much more beautiful than the others. Some souls are much more interesting than the others.
And some souls are uglier than the others.
---
"Gah!... Agh... Ah..."
"Here it is. The specimen you've requested - Dr. Emerade."
"Great. Please lead the way."
The cursed...
"W-Wha?!... Let me go! Bastards! Let me go."
Truly pitiful creatures.
"Silence. You don't want to make it anymore harder for yourself, pal."
I can tell that this person... Is homeless. Discarded. Thrown away like trash.
"You... What are you planning to do to me?!"
"Just a simple test is all."
No one will mourn them. No one will miss them. And just for the crime of being born different.
"... Gh, I don't trust you. It can't be just a simple test. That's bullshit."
"..."
It is a tragedy really. Having to be exploited by us, just because we're "cleaners". To us, human trash is our treasure. With such pieces of trash, we can make all sorts of breakthroughs. And all sorts of machinations.
"Tell me, do you feel something is wrong with this room?"
"!!!"
Cursed people have a greater sense of the soul in spite of their tarnish; it's like a toothache in a way. Of course, the specimen I have now isn't the best of quality, but it should do the job just fine.
"W-What's this...? Why are all these people?...!"
"Answer the question, please. Do you sense that something is wrong with this room?"
"... No..."
"Taze them."
"GWARK!!!"
"You know... It's not good to lie. Now we must proceed with the next step much more apprehensively."
I lead the person onto the operating room and begin the usual process. It's not great working with liars, because I have to do the work myself. If a person is willing to lie, they're also willing to make a runner, which proves itself... Rather inconvenient. After thoroughly washing the person, I lay them down on the operating table.
"You... What are you going to do to me?!"
"Just recycling."
For recycling to work, I must leave only the bare minimum of what makes humans - so that it still clings onto consciousness. Injecting neuromuscular blocker and anesthetic, I make sure that the victim is still conscious. I also use a magic incense to absorb any unpleasant smells, replacing with a gentle smell of flowery meadow.
"Don't worry, you won't feel anything. But you have to look at me. It will be all over soon."
Preserving everything I could, I cut out every "unnecessarity" from the vagrant. They continue to stare at me and only through their eyes I can tell what they're thinking.
They harbor a resentment towards me. Can't blame them. After all, what we do is trash disposal; and in spite of everything - everything has that desire to live, no matter how foregone their conclusion is.
"Have you ever wondered what your heart looks like? It's beating quite nicely. Now to neatly compact it..."
The process of recycling a human is similar to needle felting. I saw my wife teaching it to Veronia, as she saw cute, small, almost life-like figurines of animals - and wanted to make them herself. She's a crafty little girl.
"Next part will be difficult. I have to compact your head. And trust me, it's not a pretty sight. Heads are quite notoriously difficult to compact. Stay awake for me, yeah?"
Limbs are successfully removed and compacted. Usually fellow meisters leave that part for last, but it's rather inconvenient given how at this point the person is barely hanging onto consciousness - even with their so-called efficiency. So I tackle the head with the body.
"It doesn't hurt at all, does it? It's my special mix, designed to numb the pain as quickly as possible, without having any side-effects on the body. Your body needs to be as healthy as it can be for you to work properly. It must feel... Pleasant. Having to feel nothing at all. Only smell of flowers. Should remind you of the good times, yeah?"
Cranium - gone. Hair - gone. Body - gone. Mass gone. Only receptors remain. Compacted into a neat detector-like shape. I can feel the surface has hardened. It's truly a work of art.
Inserting the sustenance chip, my work here is done.
"Now you can finally rest. It feels like nothing transpired at all. You're still breathing. You're still conscious. Of course, you'll live only for 5 years if you're in good condition; but dying of old age isn't all that bad - it's peaceful really. Plus, you won't feel hunger nor thirst, now you merely exist. No need for survival. Just serve me well, alright?"
And so, now roughly 170cm human has transformed into ~8cm detector. Normally, it's impossible to compact a human by such margins, but we - at Hone Research - impossibility is merely an obstacle to overcome.
---
"Hurk... What... What have you done?!"
"Hm? I thought I told everyone not to follow us."
"... Kenzie..."
"Oh, the volunteer? I just gave him a purpose now. Plus, he'll feel much more comfortable that way. When I looked into his eyes, he was quite happy about it."
"You... I knew you rich folk have no hearts, but this?!... You're a monster... YOU'RE A MONSTER!!!"
"Shh... You don't want to wake up your colleague, do you Johann? He's sleeping peacefully, sturdying. Soon, his thoughts will be no more. I'll be treating him gently of course. He turned out to be a higher quality specimen than I had previously."
"You... How can you say that?! He was a human! He was a volunteer!! And you!... You are a monster!!"
"He was cursed. Long exposures to the gateways aren't healthy for you. I have implanted a curse onto my body myself, but it seems rather weak given the blessing of my soul - I don't feel any different from how I was previously. Trust me, if I could, I would've turned myself into a large detector myself."
"I'll report it! I'll report what you did to anyone!"
"And no one will listen. You're merely a prisoner of the labourer mine. To the world, you're merely nothing. A trash that is being disposed of. Do you really think you can serve your sentence just like that? How long have you been in those mines?"
"... 5 years."
"See? Not many criminals serve that much unless they've truly done something horrific. And they're given a definitive term. You? You might as well work until you're dead."
"..."
"Now, let this stay between us. I can hear Kenzie being annoyed. Operating in the mines isn't ideal, but Kenzie got at least a pleasant view of the gateway and a pleasant smell of the flower fields he missed so much.
Trust me. Any other researcher would never give that honor."
"... I hate you."
"Now, Kenzie. Wait, I should inscribe that... Now Kenzie, you may rest peacefully; tomorrow will be your big day I feel. Sorry for doing such a hackjob on you. It's all over now."
"... You're truly deplorable."
---
Oswald Emerade
He is a Researcher of Hone Research Facility.
His specialty is curses. But he is also what is called "Fine-Tuner"
Fine-tuning is a process of removing everything that makes a human - human, leaving only bare essentials. Essentially, beings that underwent the fine-tuning process become merely machines with only three states: sleeping, waking, working.
Such practice is frowned upon, as it's viewed as "violation of all things nature"; however to some people - such notions fall on deaf ears.
Hone Research Facility - is the organization that is striving for progress: by any means necessary. And in spite of their inhumane treatment of anyone that ISN'T them - they're quite favoured by the government of Surgire: to them they're essentially cleaners that get rid of filthy vagrants - as for Meredith: purity is a key.
However, Oswald is an odd case even amongst fellow fine-tuning researchers.
They didn't view subjects as people. Merely tools. As such, they don't care about what happens to them during the procedure. For them, it's merely a job they have to make.
For Oswald... It's a form of art.
And he treats art very carefully. Strong curses are left to be studied thoroughly, weak curses to be recycled into something beautiful.
As such, out of everyone, he has the best fine-tuned beings, only soiled by the quality of his subjects.
To others, he is a man bound by his morals. So much so that to them it's a mystery as to why he's still here to this day. His parents, who applied him to this facility - are long deceased, so he has no reason to stay here for being such a soft-hearted person.
Yet, it's in spite of his morals - he has an insatiable hunger. A hunger for knowledge.
He wants to know more. He wants to know what makes a human - human.
And he feels like he can never be sated. He still needs to know more.
And his mercy is merely something to temper his hunger. Something that prevents him from going all in.
And even after admitting to help, he's still hungry. That hunger terrified him to the very core. He truly doesn't know why his hunger is like that.
Yet he must sate it, at all costs.
The only thing he can do about it is to make it as painless as possible for everyone around him.
Detectors can only live for so long; and his curse transplant has failed miserably due to his blessed soul that prevents him from getting cursed. He would've genuinely preferred if he was living a curse detector himself.
Haah...
Well, rest well, Kenzie.
Tomorrow will be a special day.
"Wow, those are detectors, right papa?"
Glancing over the newspaper, I see Sol looking at my collection of defunct detectors. I smile gently and say that they are, but note that they're defunct, meaning they are no longer working.
"If they're no longer working, why keep them now?"
"Just honouring them, is all. They all have unique shapes, don't they?"
"Yeah..."
"I can show you the working one if you want"
"Wanna-wanna!"
Sol rushes towards me and clings onto me affectionately as I take out my recently made detector. Well, time for a test drive.
*Beep-beep-beep*
"Hmm... Could you get Veronia in, Sol?"
"Sure!"
As Sol leaves the study, I continue reading the article.
"[I Will Not Be Silenced!!!] Salzgarten University Preaches Ethics: Its Head Director Exposes the Dark Side of Hone Research!"
Hmm... I think that person was one of the former employees. Well, it's none of my concern. I'm not responsible for information leakage prevention. Actually, I'm curious as to how my employers will respond to that development... It would be a shame if they had assassinated him though; it would be... A juvenile response.
"Veronia's here!" Sol snaps me back to reality and the girls gather around me.
Comparing the signal frequency between Veronia and Sol, yep, it works just fine. As expected, Sol's frequency is much higher than Veronia's and they ask what it told me.
"Well, with Sol, it shows that you have a lot of energy within you, and Veronia..."
"It's alright, daddy. I'm not mad. I love you."
"You're way too kind Veronia." I pet Veronia on the head as she leans into the touch while clutching her plush. It's quite rare for a non-magician to not be envious of a magician. She's truly such a warm little sunshine.
"One day I'll be able to share my powers with you, Veloni-ni!" Sol hugs her tightly and she giggles. Such kind girls, so unlike their father. They begin to coddle each other and I can't help but to think about what my childhood was like.
Because I don't remember anything from it.
I wonder if it was as warm as theirs. It must've been really nice.
"Now, girls, why don't you play outside. You might cause a ruckus in your father's working place. Surely you don't want to get scolded, right?"
""Okaaay!!"" Girls smile and before they depart, they kiss me on the cheek. I kiss them on the forehead in return and they run off to themselves.
Man, I love these girls.
"So yeah, as you can see cursed people have a heightened sense of magic. Any questions?"
From the excursion group, a lone hand stands high. From which I can see a brunette girl with fierce expression.
"So the cursed people make better exterminators?"
"Of course! What's your name, little lass?"
"Sage-Silvestris O'Sullivan, sir!"
"My, what an interesting name. Were you interested in an exterminating job?"
"No, it's just my logical conclusion! I just wanted confirmation, sir!"
"My, what a strong noggin you have in you! So... A researcher then?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Well, then I have no doubt in my mind that you'll reach your dreams. Perhaps you'll be able to apply for a job here as well."
"... T-Thank you..." The girl gets flustered a little bit and her fellow classmates begin to mock her.
"Haha! Sage is trying to suck up to the researcher! Haha!" They laugh and Sage is almost on the verge of crying. Something within me flares up and I say the following...
"Silence. Please." I demand and they immediately get scared. I clear my throat "I would rather not have utter mediocrities trample on dreams of exceptions. Just who you think you are to mock someone who is leagues above you."
"Sir, I think you're going overboard." The teacher reprimands and I look towards her.
"You know, I don't believe so."
I then look at Sage "Please don't mind their words. I don't believe you were trying to impress me. Okay?"
"... Oh-kay..." Whoops. Guess I unnerved everyone.
"Anyway! Onto the next exhibit everyone!"