"It…uh, answers a question of mine, although only occasionally."
"So an encyclopedia that knows anything?" John asked.
"I guess you could say that, yeah. Though as I've said, it only ever answers my questions when it wants to, so I rarely ever find out a lot."
"Interesting… I've never heard of an artifact that can answer any question. That must be at the very least, an A rank."
The Log, in fact, went over that. It was never assigned a rank by the system, so that meant its power was impossible to measure. Dignitas could count with the fingers in his hands the number of "over-rank" items John had accumulated over the course of his three lives. That was just how rare they were.
"I'm curious. What question did you ask the book?"
"That's easy. "How do I deal with the current problem?" Through many uses I've realized that the book likes it when I voice out my questions in a simpler way."
His answer seemed to satisfy John for now. Although he could sense that there was something more to it based on the change in Dignitas' tone, he decided to let it go for now.
"Then, it should be fine. I need a Spirit Handler to accompany me first, though. I assume you already know the requirements for performing an Extermination?"
"Yeah, no need to worry about that. I've got possibly the best Mentalist in the Academy District, but he's been unable to break through the Lockheart by himself."
"Really?" John asked, surprised. "Were you able to figure out the reason why?"
"Well, I never really got to see it myself, but he told me that it reacted to whichever place he aimed an attack on."
"I see… I've never encountered something like this before."
Even in his past lives, John never used the Severance Style much, due to how taxing it was on the mind and body. Asking for assistance from divine powers meant expending a lot of your energy. Even then, most people would only be able to summon a fraction of their true forms.
Divinity was a very fragile energy, and the slightest shift in faith could make or break a spell.
This was, however, the first case of a Lockheart consciously shielding itself from a Mentalist's attacks.
"It must be the work of outside interference…" John surmised.
"Bigsby did say the traces that shielded it from his attacks belonged to demons."
"That could be it, then. I'm curious to see this now. Say, who was the student that was affected?"
"Oh, it's one of your party members. Makarov Zugnav."
"Dignitas…" John huffed, retaining his same smiling expression but with hints of anger in it. "Shouldn't you have told me that first?!"
***
Dignitas eventually got John to agree on freeing Makarov from his crazed state. There was still the problem of not having enough firepower to break through the reinforced Lockheart, but the protagonist said he could bring Curie along to help.
While Curie was no doubt still D+ rank, she was a prodigy in her own right. Maybe her skills could fill in the gap between Bigsby's younger self and his current self.
After leaving John to finish up on his training, Dignitas decided to take a short stroll.
It had been quite a long time since he was able to enjoy a walk to himself. The air today was cool, and yet not too chilly. It felt absolutely soothing to the skin, making the author take longer than he usually would.
"I'm kinda hungry. I should get some food."
Dignitas' stomach was growling. He wasn't necessarily starving, but the only thing he had in the afternoon was a cup of coffee.
Thankfully, he was relatively close to the convenience store he ate at often. Instead of turning right and continuing down the road, he stopped at the first sight of a blinking red-blue billboard.
Five minutes later, he came out of the store with a hotdog and a bottle of water in his hands.
"Oh, she's there. Come to think of it, we haven't talked in a while."
Dignitas noticed a small, frail girl resting her head against one of the benches. With careful steps, he quietly sat down beside her. However, a small mistake in his footwork had caused the underside of his shoes to scrape against the floor.
The girl seemed to have been awoken by the sound. Opening her eyes, the figure of Dignitas entered her view.
"Oh, Dignitas! It's been a long time."
"Good day, Luna. Sorry for waking you."
The girl seemed to stir wildly at that. In fact, she wasn't asleep, merely enjoying the cool evening breeze.
While her condition caused her to need an exorbitant amount of sleep every single day just to function, that didn't mean she stayed awake at the same time. Sometimes, her schedule could go differently, granting either more or less time to sleep.
"It's okay. Have the stars not been nice to you? You've got eyebags."
"Ehh, can't complain. I've just been really busy lately, so I haven't got the time to rest much."
"That's not good. Sleep is vital to our wellbeing, and is something you shouldn't miss." She said as she waved her finger sideways. "You can tell me about it. I'll listen."
"Well… for starters, I went out of school just three days ago and brought back an A rank artifact. I originally wanted to use it as a bargaining tool to help the person I love, but something unforeseen happened."
"And this person you love…"
"Her name's Lorelai Seraph. Have you heard of her?"
"Ah, yes. Her sudden change in personality has made quite the tale. Do you not like how she is right now, Dignitas?"
The author took a moment to think as he gobbled up the hotdog. While it was true that Lorelai's original personality was more rowdy and possibly the reason why Dignitas' stay at the Academy was lively, there was still a small part of it that resonated with him.
He knew that it was his fault as to why she acted rudely towards him, and had long paid the price for it. And just when her real, gentle, understanding character was starting to show itself… she suddenly changed.
Then again, her current temper had its benefits. For one, she wasn't doing her best to verbally assault him, and in its place a sweet, loving caretaker had blossomed.
"I'm torn between who to choose as the real Lorelai."
"That is perfectly, perfectly fine. Why do you take it upon yourself to decide how a person should be? I mean this in… the best way possible."
"There is no higher being with more power than the gods themselves. Only they have the jurisdiction and the ability to judge how they deem fit. After all… even we are subject to the will of the stars, no?"
"Even so, it is the heavens that gave us the very lives we live today. They choose not to interrupt, simply allowing us to live how we want."
Dignitas hesitated for a few seconds. "You know what, you're right. It should be up to her to choose."
"I'm glad I listened to you, Luna." He stood up, having already finished the hotdog. "You should call me if you need anything."
"I might! Though, maybe, next time… we work on fulfilling the promises we make. You still haven't come to talk to me about writing." Luna pouted.
During their second meeting, Luna had expressed an interest in writing. Dignitas offered to help her build said interest, thinking it wouldn't be too bad to have another author friend.
Still, with all that was happening, he hadn't had the chance to even start.
"Oh. Woops, hehe, my bad. It's a promise, we'll talk about that soon."
"As long as the promise is kept. Good luck on the days ahead, Dignitas." She smiled as she waved the author off.
The moment he left her, Dignitas started walking in the direction of Bigsby's shop. He thought back to the conversation that had just happened.
Halfway through his walk, Dignitas suddenly stopped and murmured to himself something incoherent. His eye seemed to have hints of deviousness in them.
"There is no higher being with more power than the gods themselves, huh."
Dignitas wondered. How did this world react, or would react if it were to recognize his existence? Would it reject him? Would it accept him?
Would it force him out? Exile and ostracize him? Would its inhabitants welcome his arrival with smiles on their faces?
Then again, what would normal people feel if they were to see their god suddenly appear in front of them? Indeed, there were bound to be mixed reactions, expressions of happiness and expressions of guilt.
"But then again, none of that matters to me. This story… will reach its conclusion with or without my interference. The only question is… will it be a good ending?"
"I own this world, and everything in it. It is my book to write, my biography to cite. I wonder… how should a creator be?"