"Another new year… But, Shirogane? Why are you suddenly reading religious books?"
Hachiman Hikigaya wondered if his friend had been affected by something.
When he saw the mini-sun that time, he thought it was some kind of alien creature or a specially mutated esper.
But it seemed that Shirogane had also seen some strange beings.
Miyuki Shirogane, who used to respect science, had bought a lot of books on religion, seemingly trying to understand something.
"I'm looking for information about eyes, but I haven't found anything yet."
Hachiman Hikigaya glanced at the title of the book, The Call of Cthulhu.
This friend of his seemed to be looking in the wrong direction.
"Then you should be looking for the Bible. Judging from the earliest religious books, it's easy to find records of eyes in there."
"Have you seen Neon Genesis Evangelion? I've seen that anime before, and I've also looked up the origins of the angels. I remember reading about it in the Bible, can't remember which part…"
"It seems like it's the Book of Ezekiel? I just remember their heads, four heads: a human head, a lion head, an eagle head, and a horse head?"
Hachiman Hikigaya couldn't remember clearly. He had only read those things when he was young and interested in literature.
But a passerby immediately corrected him.
"It's an ox head… They are human, lion, ox, and eagle."
Hachiman Hikigaya nodded repeatedly and thanked him, "Right, that's it, and it seems like their wings also had eyes on them?"
He turned towards the voice, and instantly shuddered in fright, losing the urge to run.
That familiar yet unfamiliar friend was holding hands with a short, white-haired little girl who looked like his little sister.
Noldrei was simply letting Kiana experience what it was like for a father to take his daughter out for a stroll, so she could relive what a normal childhood with a father felt like.
Although he didn't think it was necessary, since the crown princess had this desire, Noldrei needed to let Kiana experience it.
"Oh, is that so? Thanks, friend. I've been a little… mentally exhausted lately… I saw a three-eyed monster late at night. It's strange, I was stunned when I saw her, and I just ran away in a panic. You also think that was just some ridiculous urban legend, right?"
Miyuki Shirogane didn't care about what he himself said. He had asked some of his classmates in his class, and they all seemed to think that he was just mentally exhausted from lack of sleep.
'Shirogane! Shirogane! Stop talking! That person is right in front of you! I saw her too! They're together!'
Noldrei acted as if he didn't know Hachiman Hikigaya and said calmly, "I'm taking my daughter out for a stroll, I just happened to overhear you guys talking about religion, so I came over to join in."
"I've seen the content from the Book of Ezekiel that you mentioned. It has nothing to do with strange creatures. The eyes and all that were just added by religious figures later on."
Miyuki Shirogane's spirits lifted, he hadn't expected to encounter such a young father.
"Really? Could you tell me more? I'm quite curious about these things."
Miyuki Shirogane hoped that someone could reaffirm his scientific views so he could get rid of those strange thoughts in his head.
"Of course it's fake. You'll understand if you read carefully. The four heads aren't angels at all, but related to sacrificial descriptions. First, there's a human sacrifice, then a lion and an ox, and finally an eagle."
"The burning flames are part of the sacrifice, and the wings full of spirit are just the scene of smoke billowing."
"The main characteristic of having eyes refers to the wheels beside these 'living creatures.' The wheels have many eyes. But you can search for what chariot wheels actually looked like, they were originally fixed with many metal pieces that looked like eyeballs."
Noldrei had already figured out the content of these religious books.
Based on his understanding of past human history, the eyes probably weren't some kind of imagination, but skin diseases like leprosy.
In ancient times, those with skin diseases would be burned as sacrifices.
In other words, these symbols of sacrifice and chariot wheels
Ultimately just pointed towards one direction: ideology and force.
Noldrei's explanation was very detailed, sometimes even quoting directly from the original text.
He looked like a young man who believed in science and had a deep understanding of human history.
Kiana listened with great interest. She hadn't expected religion to have this kind of history.
Angels weren't angels, but a spiritual personification of sacrificial processes. It was just that in the evolution of religion, they gradually transformed and were modified.
The reason was very likely to compete with secular authority, to further sanctify religion.
Miyuki Shirogane nodded repeatedly. Previously incomprehensible knowledge seemed to have become clear to him.
He even temporarily forgot about the strange encounter that night.
"Hey, then do you know about the recent urban legends in Nagazora City, or rather, Academy City? I heard someone saw a strange, three-eyed being, and those who approached her fainted after being affected by her. But no one who has actually encountered her has stepped forward to confirm it yet."
Miyuki Shirogane seemed worried. He didn't expect this white-haired teenager, who looked like he was also in high school, would have any deeper connections.
'Bro! Stop asking! Bro!'
Hachiman Hikigaya tried to signal Miyuki Shirogane, but Shirogane just blurted out everything he knew.
Although using the name of urban legend wouldn't arouse suspicion, the subject of the urban legend was right here.
"There's something like that? How could security here be so bad?"
Noldrei sighed, somewhat unhappy about this kind of problem happening within his territory.
Did no one tell Tesla to pay attention to the safety of the people around her?
Even crane operators knew to set up a perimeter when constructing a building.
The Japan government only evacuated the people in a hurry and then told Doctor Tesla to get to work.
Complain? Who would dare complain to Doctor Tesla now?
They couldn't just tell Doctor Tesla that her powers were dangerous and were affecting passerby.
And they couldn't just have Doctor Tesla slow down the construction. That was impossible. So they could only let the surrounding people endure it temporarily. It wasn't like they would die, at worst, they'd just feel nauseous and faint.
Tesla's public image was a doctor, not an 'esper.' And the local government wouldn't dare expose Doctor Tesla's information.
Although everyone knew there was an esper building the steel walls, no one knew who this person was.
"Yeah, I was thinking about this urban legend, wondering if some religious creature exists."
Miyuki Shirogane was worried about encountering some calamity.
Seeing him like this, Noldrei laughed and said, "You have to believe in science. There aren't that many religious, mythical creatures, they're all made up by those superstitious believers."
Hachiman Hikigaya was dumbfounded. He didn't think the current scene was very scientific at all.