Silently, the demon reflected on his own past.
He’d been created in a sealed flask, as a “double of the universe.”
In the beginning, Ronny had been a nameless homunculus.
While he could understand human speech and possessed human awareness, he had been created to be one with everything in the cosmos, including its past and future. In exchange for being unable to leave that flask, he had possessed the sum of all knowledge.
He had been capable of what the robed man had called a divine feat: knowing the future.
He could manipulate the world as adroitly as if it were his own hands or feet or fingertips. If he wanted to, he could stop its time as easily as a human could stop moving.
Through interacting with the alchemist who’d created him, the omniscient, omnipotent homunculus had ultimately taken human shape to manifest in the outside world. He had lost his knowledge of the future and some of his brain’s processing abilities, but in return, he’d cast his physical body out into the universe and taken his true form.
After the alchemist’s death, he’d inherited the man’s name. While he was an entity known as a demon, he’d lived as a human as well.
There were several others like me, but they all kept their knowledge of the future, choosing to relinquish most of their ability to interfere with the world instead.
Human bodies weren’t able to contain all the knowledge and abilities they’d had as twins of the world. That meant they had to choose something to abandon. This particular demon had discarded his knowledge of the future but kept his ability to interfere powerfully with other people and the world.
That was why he was able to perform feats befitting a demon.
If you change the future based on your knowledge of it, knowledge of the changed future automatically appears in your mind. I’m sure it’s convenient. Still…the goal of my birth was to stave off boredom. For me, giving up the ability to know the future was the right choice.
The memory of Rosetta, a female homunculus, crossed his mind. Ronny Schiatto—the demon who’d inherited the name of an alchemist—had some thoughts.
…I wanted to stave off boredom, hmm?
Yes, the Martillo Family never bores me. They’re a good syndicate—a superior worthy of respect, companions I can be frank with, a pupil who’s worth teaching how to wield a knife.
It’s a good place.
No… It’s a good family.
In the darkness, the demon smiled. Then he called to the group, which was still engaged in its heated, obsessive discussion.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I have one more thing to tell you.”
“…?”
“I’m not simply a system for granting others’ wishes. I am neither a god nor an impartial judge of hell. I have what you humans would term ‘emotions,’ and I possess both ideals and a dream. And my dream is quite twisted—it’s one that was planted in me by the ancient alchemists.”
“Wh-what is it?”
The demon wasn’t about to say it was leaving because they’d taken too long, was it?
That thought made the robed group anxious, but the demon continued in a matter-of-fact way. “Due to a promise I made to the alchemists, I’ve set a restraint on myself: Whenever I’m summoned, I will always give my summoner the knowledge they want. However…when someone gets in the way of my dream and ideals—my ‘need for fulfillment,’ if you will—I grow irritated.”
“?”
Why was a demon talking about life? The robed group frowned, but that impassive voice went on.
“And so I won’t save you for free. If there had been someone who seemed interesting among you, I might have handled this differently, but… Well, never mind.”
“What are you talk—?”
Just then they heard an explosion, and the ship rocked violently.
“Wh-what was that?! What happened?!” The group’s leader sounded flustered.
“Melvi Dormentaire set you up,” the demon told him. “I imagine he doesn’t want a whole crowd of people possessing the knowledge of immortality. He tricked you into believing you had to summon me here, then created a device that would blow up the ship at a set time. An elaborate ploy, I must say.”
“M-Melvi?! Why?!”
“In other words, no matter what sort of knowledge you gain from me, you were always scheduled to go down with the ship,” the demon told them bluntly.
A stir ran through the robed group.
Before they could confirm any of this, a second explosion occurred, throwing the group on deck into a near panic.
“Now, do you want the knowledge that will save you from this situation?” the demon said. In a way, his words were very cruel; in another, they were quite merciful.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Specifically, the knowledge of what you need to give me so that I’ll carry you safely to land. Knowledge of immortality would also save you, technically, but considering the currents in this area, you might end up spending eternity in the process of drowning… Well, never mind.”
✦ ✦ ✦
A few minutes passed.
On the condition that the knowledge needed to summon him would be erased from their minds, Ronny had transported everyone on the ship to land. The next thing he knew, he’d been summoned to another ship.
“What now…? This time it’s right in the middle of the Pacific, hmm? …Well, no matter.”
When they heard him complain, the Japanese sailors who’d summoned him cried out.
“That voice… Have we actually summoned a noble amabiko-nyudo?!”
“W-we waited quite a long time. I didn’t think anything was going to show up…”
“Now I’m a youkai, am I?”
“Y-you aren’t one?!”
“No, that will do. Call me whatever you like. Nothing I’m called here matters anyway.”
Demon Ronny Schiatto, the “amabiko-nyudo,” decided to hear out these Japanese men. They probably didn’t know anything about the situation.
But in his heart, he suspected this was going to happen over and over, likely for roughly three days.
Telling the Japanese men the location of the treasure their ancestors had buried, Ronny smiled wryly to himself.
What an inventive way to keep me at bay.
Just how many people did he teach how to summon me?
He’s even taken care to stagger the times when it’s “possible” to summon me so that I’ll be summoned continuously.
If this happens again, it’s going to interfere with my work for the family.
He was already being kept out of the Ra’s Lance business, and he hadn’t been able to go off on his own and save Ennis, either. However, these “jobs” were based in a promise he’d made to his friend, and he couldn’t turn them down. Maiza and the others had already been informed that in cases like this (and only cases like this), he would temporarily step away from his work for the family. The Martillo Family men were trained thoroughly for this reason so that they wouldn’t have to rely on him in an emergency.
Still, if this was going to last for three whole days, even Ronny had to give it some thought.
As the price for granting their wishes, should I make them forget how to summon me…?
Should I also make sure the Dormentaires won’t carelessly spread stories of me around?
Granted, it’s likely that only a handful of people will even believe in demon-summoning rituals after the next few decades, but…
Well, never mind.
✦ ✦ ✦
And so he kept on granting wishes.
Sometimes as a demon.
Sometimes as a messenger of the gods.
Sometimes as an unknowable, malevolent nature spirit.
Sometimes as an embodiment of the collective unconscious lurking in the depths of all humanity.
✦ ✦ ✦
People stated their various desires, and many wanted preposterous things.
Meanwhile, Ronny himself had only one wish: to end this farce as quickly as possible, then do his utmost as the Martillo Family’s executive, Maiza Avaro’s friend, and Firo Prochainezo’s teacher.
✦ ✦ ✦
That was his modest, one and only desire.