Chapter 60: S2. Resentment Wished Upon The Stars – 3
On the third day of their stay at Abraham’s house.
Bennett reinforced the mansion with magic. This included intrusion detection spells, interception magic, and others. Finally, he was able to enjoy some sweet sleep. Until then, he had been pulling all-nighters, surviving on sheer willpower.
Niolle once again suggested that she could take the night watch so he could get some rest, but he still wasn’t completely reassured. While she might be able to discern where a suspicious person was hiding weapons or what hand they primarily used, there was still one caveat.
He worried that if the suspicious person came holding a baby and tried to tug at her heartstrings, she might just totally fall for it.
Tara had become quite cozy with Abraham. The reason was unclear, but she now addressed him by his first name, dropping the whole “Professor” title. She would say, “You said I needed to gather information, and that’s what I’m doing all day! Got a problem with that?” Yet, it was clearer than daylight that she was mostly just enjoying herself.
Meanwhile, Niolle was stuck in a dilemma about whether to read the diary she found three days ago. Whenever she fell asleep, it felt like she was getting sucked into another dimension.
It was a peculiar sensation, reminiscent of the strange feelings she got from the diary, causing her to hesitate about digging deeper.
On a practical level, they were gradually getting used to life there. They divided household duties among themselves: Niolle cleaned the mansion, Bennett handled the occasional heavy lifting and mansion security, and Tara was in charge of doing absolutely nothing and lounging around.
Then one day, it all kicked off at the dining table!
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#2: Abraham’s Research
Tara took a knife and sliced a perfectly fried egg in half, letting the gooey yolk ooze out. She speared a piece of bacon with her fork, ensuring her bite was laden with egg yolk. Nom.
Savoring the deliciousness of breakfast, Tara asked Abraham, “So, what are you working on, Abraham?”
Just as the old man was about to explain, Bennett sharply jabbed his fork at Tara. “Don’t talk with your mouth full!”
“Mind your business when it comes to how I eat!”
“We can see everything in your mouth. It’s downright disgusting. My appetite is plummeting!”
“Then bury your face in your plate!”
As Tara growled back at Bennett, Niolle scribbled something on her whiteboard and promptly held it high.
[Still, I don’t think it’s a good habit! It comes off as rude!]
“If Niolle says so…”
Bennett clenched his fists, feeling a wave of unfairness wash over him. Why is the Saintess always picking on me? Is my face the problem?
He quickly glanced at the mirror. Sure, there was a scar on half his face, but it didn’t seem like the kind of face that would get him roasted.
Abraham chuckled warmly at the scene. It reminded him of bickering siblings, a portrayal of the harmonious family he once envisioned.
After chewing and swallowing his bacon, Abraham finally answered Tara’s question. “On days I have lectures, I teach, and on days I don’t, I do research. Curious about what kind of research?”
“Yes! You always go up to the rooftop after sunset, right?”
“There’s no reason to hide it. Would you like to join me after dinner? Not just you, Tara, but all of you. It’ll surely be a wonderful experience.”
A pure, childlike excitement sparkled in Abraham’s eyes. He clearly had great affection and passion for his work.
Everyone was curious about Abraham’s research, expressing their interest in their own unique ways.
Thus, as evening rolled in, Abraham led everyone up to the rooftop after dinner.
Climbing through the trapdoor on the second floor, they immediately found themselves on the mansion’s rooftop. There were all sorts of items here—stacks of paper, a quill, a primitive calculator, various books on celestial bodies, and a large, elongated telescope.
“I teach astronomy at the university, you see.”
“By astronomy, do you mean astrology?”
At Bennett’s question, Abraham slowly shook his head. “Assigning meanings to stars and wishing upon them is romantic, but it’s not the work of a scientist. We observe and analyze. Our mission is to illuminate the unknowns, as countless as the stars in the night sky, one by one.”
Abraham pointed to the sky with his wrinkled fingers. The stars twinkled on the black canvas, and the moon gazed down benevolently with a gentle smile.
However, the old man’s eyes seemed to read even deeper things.
“How stars are born, age, and die. What lurks in the voids of space. The extent of a star’s gravitational pull. And many other mysteries we are battling against.”
[Do stars die as well?]
“Indeed, they perish over unimaginably long periods. To us short-lived humans, the universe may appear eternal, but nothing lasts forever.”
[.]
“Recently, the skies have been unusually clear, making the stars vividly visible. Just so happens, there’s a brilliant example to observe. Want to take a look?”
Abraham gingerly caressed the large tripod-mounted telescope. Tara dashed forward and plopped herself right in front of it, while Niolle bounced on her heels behind her, barely containing her excitement.
With Abraham’s guidance, Tara gazed at the stars in the night sky. Amid the pitch-black void, glimmering dots sparkled, revealing their light.
“Look, there’s a star shining much brighter than the others!”
“Like every person has a different appearance, so do the stars. Over there, there’s a particularly intriguing constellation…”
Tara spent a long time marveling at the night sky, even managing to endure Niolle’s gentle jabs in her side, urging her to hurry up. She asked Abraham for the names of stars, listened intently, and shared her thoughts.
When Abraham gently suggested it might finally be time for her friend to have a turn, Tara—like a child craving attention—nodded reluctantly and moved aside. Finally, it was Niolle’s moment at the telescope.
For Niolle, the stars in this Otherworld felt… closer than those in her own. Though both were far out of reach, somehow, looking up at the night sky, they felt almost within grasp.
As though they could land at any moment.
Tingling with a strange fear and goosebumps creeping up her arms, Niolle was both fascinated and entranced by the universe drawing near, slightly parting her lips as she counted the stars.
Bennett, not much interested in the telescope, kept his eyes glued to the sky. “So, you’re studying the stars?”
“To be more specific, I’m investigating the strange changes in the night sky that have occurred recently.”
“Changes? In the night sky?”
“Yes, indeed! Strange events began five years ago. Stars that should exist vanished overnight. New stars appeared. And the distances between stars abruptly increased… warping the constellations’ shapes. Wait! Did you see that?”
.
One star flickered out. Bennett distinctly saw a star swallowed by the darkness. It was but a trivial visual change, yet it sent a shiver down his spine.
Abraham recounted the swift changes occurring in the universe. As mentioned earlier, the timescale of the universe diverged significantly from human time perception. Notable transformations in the night sky should be observed over the accumulation of vast eons.
Yet, bizarrely, rapid alterations had been taking place and were continuing to manifest.
The universe was always so leisurely while humans rushed. But now, their long-standing relationship had flipped. The universe seemed to wriggle and reshape as if a fire had been ignited beneath it.
Old constellations crumbled away while new constellations took on strange, unsettling forms. This was happening at a pace far too fast for human minds to follow.
The elderly astronomer ventured a hypothesis.
“I suspect there’s a colossal energy, invisible to human eyes, traversing the universe. Like how a storm intertwines all things in nature, a cosmic natural disaster seems to be passing through.”
“A storm… you say?”
“Indeed. A vast cosmic storm, beyond any human interference. I’m trying to research which direction this immense energy is moving—whether it’s approaching Earth, drifting away, or just passing by.”
.
Bennett visualized a hypothetical natural disaster. A meteor strike ordained by a grand wizard could obliterate an entire city. This led to a question—if an immense energy were to approach and actively erase countless stars, what form would it take? He couldn’t help but imagine a massive, invisible hand.
A giant hand, slowly covering an ant.
Though specifics were elusive, one truth remained—everyone was doomed.
“Everything will ultimately fade,” he murmured. The civilization, knowledge, and history humanity built would return as cosmic dust—forgotten by the very universe that once bore witness to their existence.
.
“I’m calculating the relative acceleration value α. If this value exceeds 1, the massive energy is heading toward Earth. If it’s less than 1, it’ll be a great stroke of luck for humanity.”
The death of everything—Bennett had never contemplated such a concept. He had assumed the world would simply go on even if he were to perish somewhere. Only a madman would dwell on the end of the world.
Enemies, friends, earth, grass, and the wind—everything would die, dissolving into mere dust; nothing could be more futile.
Only the Divine would exist in the void left by everyone’s demise.
Bennett felt a twisted array of emotions. It was like being overwhelmed yet feeling a sense of emptiness. It bore a characteristic of terror—an expressively distasteful sensation he struggled to articulate. So, he posed a question to Abraham.
“Have you finished your calculations?”
“In a few days, I’ll gather enough data. But it’s a considerable calculation, far too immense for just one old man and a calculator to handle. To gauge the universe, one requires substantial figures. I’ll need help from friends.”
“Help, you say?”
“I have a friend who possesses a rather intriguing apparatus. It has computational capabilities that far surpass the human brain. I believe it was called a Brain In A Vat. I’ll rent that machine for the calculations…”
Abraham stroked his beard for a moment before continuing.
“There resides a math genius at Miskatonic University known as Lot Russell. He can be rather sensitive and irritable, but he’s better at crunching numbers than anyone I know. With him, we might just calculate the α value.”
He explained two possible scenarios to compute the value before wrapping up his thoughts. Then, after glancing at Tara, he added, “The night is getting chilly. Tara’s cheeks have turned bright red. Shall we head down? I’ll make you some warm cocoa. A cup should help you drift into a deep slumber.”
“Yes, Abraham! It’s the second cabinet on the left, right? I’ll help!”
“Of course.”
With the explanation concluded, Tara assisted Abraham down the trapdoor stairs. Bennett, about to follow, spotted Niolle still glued to the telescope. He gently tapped her shoulder.
“Niolle?”
…Euah.
She jolted, her body shaking as she let out a small, almost inarticulate cry before staring at Bennett with wide eyes.
“Did I startle you?”
[Sorry, I was so focused… Have Abraham and Tara already gone down?]
“Sure have. Abraham mentioned making cocoa. You like that, don’t you?”
[I do enjoy sweet things. Let’s hurry down!]
Niolle quickly leaped to her feet and dashed off. What on earth could she have been so engrossed in? Curious, Bennett peered into the telescope.
There was nothing.
?
The night sky Niolle had been gazing at was devoid of twinkling stars. Only a vast emptiness lingered, quietly undulating. Could it be that her keen observation skills picked up on something?
Despite straining his eyes for a while, Bennett found nothing. He shrugged it off and finally left the rooftop.
Later on, he unknowingly drank the special cocoa with marshmallows that Tara had prepared for herself…
And thus, an incident unfolded where Tara angrily grabbed Bennett by the collar, shaking him fiercely.
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#3: Threat Letter
During their time together, Abraham had made just one request: “Do not open parcels that lack a sender.”
Seeing Abraham’s otherwise forgiving nature even toward Tara’s chaos in the mansion, that request only intensified their curiosity.
Tara adhered to Abraham’s advice as if it were second nature, but Niolle and Bennett thought differently. They were eagerly waiting for the chance to check just what was inside such parcels.
While Abraham was away lecturing at Miskatonic University…
Bennett had nagged Tara out, insisting, “Please try to keep the room clean! This isn’t a pigsty; it’s a place where people live. How can you keep spilling stuff everywhere?” Now that she’d grudgingly started cleaning up, they had some precious time.
And there it was, an unmarked parcel right in front of them.
[Should we open it?]
“It could be a trap; be careful.”
[I smell something rotten.]
“A rotten smell, eh?”
Bennett, pulling his longsword after a long time, readied himself to cut down anything that might spring out—like a tiny undead or something. Niolle cautiously opened the parcel while maintaining her distance with a stick.
…
Niolle grimaced and stepped back, covering her mouth. Bennett did the same, clicking his tongue after seeing the box’s grizzly contents.
A horrifically mutilated cat corpse and a warning note crafted from a collage.
“Abraham, cease your research and follow the will of God.”
It was a chilling warning! Reflecting on Abraham’s plea, it seemed such threatening messages had been sent repeatedly.
The perpetrator likely had connections with the suspicious individuals stalking the mansion. It seemed quite unlikely that it would end with just a warning.
“…Are they trying to hinder the research? Why?”
[The purpose remains ambiguous, but the malice is tangible.]
“Agreed. They might even attack while we’re still here…”
For what reason? What could the motive behind this letter possibly be?
It was a puzzle that could not be pieced together just yet.
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