Chapter 517

“I’m very glad. It’s a pleasure to meet someone in Bamberg who thinks so seriously about death and resurrection.”

Having been invited in at once, I sat in Father Ralph Huber’s private office and spoke. Emanuel and Archduke Maria were seated behind me. I looked at Father Ralph Huber as he set down cups of tea in front of the three of us.

“You seem quite interested in death and resurrection yourself, Father.”

So that must be how he had fallen for Pleroma’s temptation.

Ralph Huber sat down and nodded without hesitation.

“I certainly am. Like you, Pastor, I feel that something has gone terribly wrong with the way our society is today.”

“In what way?”

“Our age has become unstable. As the traditions and ethics that Christianity once upheld have begun to crumble, and science and reason have started to dominate the continent, even the positive aspects of those traditions have begun to collapse. Europe is staggering without any foundation beneath it, walking across a sea of brimstone.”

“I see.”

Father Ralph Huber spoke with such fluency that he must have spent a great deal of time thinking about these matters. Like me when I had been preaching earlier, he continued with an expression of deep dismay at the state of the world.

“Many people are mistaken. They believe that, having gained science and come to rule the Earth, humanity has become more progressive and more rational, and has begun taking steps toward a more perfect future.”

Archduke Maria seemed to want to add something, his hand twitching for a moment, but he remembered my warning and kept his mouth shut, listening intently.

“Yet whenever a new alternative emerges to address a problem, people either refuse to see the problems that come with that alternative or simply don’t think deeply about them. People believed that, by no longer believing in Christ, humanity had learned to stand on its own and had finally escaped the childish Christian age when people depended on God like spoiled children. To my shame, I thought the same way when I was attending seminary.”

“So that was how you saw things, Father. What made you change your mind?”

“Because I gradually came to understand the reality of society. If science is supposed to enrich our lives and make everyone happy, then why has the number of people suffering today not decreased at all compared to before the Scientific Revolution¹? If anything, there are more of them. Contrary to the rosy future we once dreamed of, our age has not progressed in harmony with science in any desirable way. Instead, we have begun living as though science itself were a kind of religion. People have come to ‘worship’ science and reason instead of Christ. That is not healthy. We have merely changed the object of our worship, and in the process, even the values of tradition have been seriously damaged.”

Wait… Something was strange. The speaker and the content of his words didn’t match.

I opened the status window and confirmed that his name was Ralph Huber. Then I nodded, signaling for him to continue.

“It isn’t simply that I pity them for refusing to enter into Christ. It is because they are creating the ills of our age. What’s worse, they do not even realize that they are doing it. They fail to recognize that something is going wrong, and so they cannot correct it. The virtue of the golden mean², as taught by Aristotle and the Confucians, is nowhere to be found.”

“You know Eastern philosophy as well.”

If he had decided to pursue a broad education at university, it would not have been particularly difficult for him to encounter it.

I exchanged a glance with Maria. He looked at me as if to ask whether this person was actually a bad person after all. People could have different opinions, of course, but this was hardly an idea unique to Pleroma. Views like this had appeared quite often among intellectuals from this era all the way into the 21st century of the world I had lived in.

In other words, Father Ralph Huber was saying surprisingly reasonable things. From Maria’s perspective, and even from mine.

Father Ralph Huber spoke with a troubled expression.

“People believe it must be one or the other. Christianity was wrong, so science must be our guiding light. Science is wrong, so Christianity must be our guiding light. This way of thinking—that if it isn’t one thing, it must be the other—is the product of a sad ignorance in people who are incapable of thinking for themselves and never have been. The problems that arise when people begin to ‘worship’ science are fundamentally no different from the problems that arose when Christianity ruled Europe. Pastor Ulrich Wirth, you seem to think the same way. I would like to discuss this with you.”

“Certainly. But I am deeply surprised by your views, so for now, I would rather hear more from you. Could you tell me what you mean by these problems?”

“New Humans discard people.”

The blunt statement froze all three of us.

There was no need to panic. Father Ralph Huber did not know that we were New Humans. Most of the population was Old Human—Father Ralph Huber himself was, of course, an Old Human—so that was probably why.

I nodded, suppressing the slight quickening of my heartbeat. Father Ralph Huber repeated what he had said and continued.

“New Humans discard those who fail to meet their expectations. And Old Humans would do the same if given the opportunity. In fact, they already do. They simply do not realize that they are doing it. Sadly, because we are all human in the same way, there is no absolute hope to be found anywhere. When humanity first altered humans and created a new race, those new scientists—the mages—looked forward to the future. They believed a better future would be given to humanity. But did that happen? From what I can see, the lives of New Humans are not much different from those of Old Humans. Rather than becoming better, they are just as vicious and corrupt as ordinary people like us.”

The Archduke was clearly deeply interested in what he was saying. Fortunately, however, he remained seated without making any conspicuous comments or asking any noticeable questions. We all wanted to hear more, and Ralph Huber continued without needing any prompting.

“We must remember that, in the process of abandoning God after the Enlightenment, humanity also abandoned traditional values at the same time. These two things were not mutually exclusive choices—they came as a package. Therefore, the most despairing part is not merely that the existence of New Humans serves as a sign that humanity has taken the wrong path.”

“Then what other problems are there?”

“Old Humans will eventually become New Humans, and that in itself will become ‘humanity.’”

I held my breath. Emanuel and the Archduke exchanged glances as well. A stunned silence hung in the air.

Ralph Huber was speaking as though he had been to the 21st century. To the 21st century where the birth of a new humanity and the emergence of neo-eugenics³ were already on the horizon, their first signs flickering beyond it. Genetic engineering might one day be used to enhance human beings. There was no guarantee that it wouldn’t. From my perspective, then, the 19th century of this world was not the past, but the future.

I didn’t agree with him on everything, but at least this time, his fundamental view was exactly the same as the one I had come to hold about this world not long ago.

“Once technology exists in the world and we have already laid the groundwork for developing it, this change cannot be reversed. It is only a matter of whether it comes in a hundred years or two hundred. Hundreds of years from now, every human being will be a New Human. People will want their own children, who inherit their blood, to be more ‘advantaged’ than everyone else. Right now, the monarchy does not allow all of humanity to become New Humans because it wants to monopolize power. But once the monarchy falls, all of humanity will be replaced by New Humans. Without the technology, it would take time, but the technology exists, and the whole world shares it. Humanity will not hesitate. What makes it possible is precisely the worship of science and reason. There is no longer any way to restrain humanity’s misguided desires.”

The religious undertone in his words did not sit well with me, but that was not the issue right now. I had come here believing that he was a member of Pleroma, yet he was saying something entirely different. I quietly nodded, trying to figure out what he was really thinking.

“Even these desires are being justified by economic logic. I’m sure you understand what I mean without my having to explain it in greater detail. Even if Christianity has gone through cycles of corruption and reform, if the Christian worldview fundamentally served as a traditional force restraining this kind of decline, then that restraint is no longer there. If you disagree with me, Pastor, then you would have to give me a compelling reason why, in an age steeped in liberalism and the values of modern capitalism, the public would not choose whatever means were available to become ‘better off’ than other human beings. Many people will talk about the ethical problems, such as how desperately and eugenically those standards of ‘advantage’ are determined. But even a five-year-old walking down the street could come up with that kind of moral judgment, couldn’t they? That isn’t the problem! Humanity is being led into decline by the gap between ethics and reality. If people themselves or their families are given a chance to become ‘better off’ than others, they will cast aside all those righteous principles and do it. And they have done exactly that. Aren’t the New Humans our own kind, created in laboratories by humanity after we acquired mana and technology through magic, openly walking among us in society?”

I began to understand why Father Ralph Huber had been so impressed by my sermon. He was concerned about the very state of affairs in which science was redefining humanity.

When the three of us fell silent, Father Ralph Huber seemed momentarily flustered and waved his hands.

“I suppose there’s room for misunderstanding at this point. Of course, I don’t think you’ll report me to the police, Pastor, nor would I change my views simply because you did. But there is something I must make clear. Some Old Human intellectuals claim that ‘the New Humans, cloaked in theology but armed with science in reality, are the root of all evil.’ But that is wrong. There is no such thing as a ‘root of all evil’! Everyone has had a hand in creating this evil, yet they simply criticize it as though it were someone else’s doing? It was humanity that scientifically created the New Humans. And by humanity, I mean the very modern humans who are now also called Old Humans. The reason was greed. That very same greed that has never disappeared even once throughout human history. In other words, this is a problem belonging to all human beings.”

“You may continue. I won’t report you, and I have no intention of doing so.”

“Thank you. …But even so, hope lies solely with humanity as well. Yet here in the present, where we cannot simply stand back and observe our history as something already past, all I can feel is sorrow. Many inhuman members of the bourgeoisie do not care whether workers sleep hanging from ropes, lose one limb after another in factories, or have their jaws eaten away. All they want is to increase the money in their own hands. This is the end result of a society where traditional values and ethics, such as those of Christianity, have collapsed. I hear that even in the East, in places such as the Qing Empire, the profound values their thinkers have built up over thousands of years are collapsing. As magic accelerates globalization, the entire world is declining in the same way. Will things improve when the 20th century arrives? At this rate, whether a hundred years pass or a thousand, the bourgeoisie will not care whether someone lives or dies. They even twist the principles of science and use them however they please. The ideas of survival of the fittest and the strong preying upon the weak are examples of this. And they do not stop there. People are wielding the power of medicine to prove the superiority of their own nations.”

I quietly responded to Father Ralph Huber’s lament.

“You mean things like discriminating against your own citizens based on intelligence tests and selectively accepting immigrants.”

“That’s truly the worst.”

Father Ralph Huber widened his eyes and tilted his head, looking as though he had no idea what I was talking about. When I shook my head, he let out a sigh.

“This is exactly what those who zealously worship science as a religion look like. They tear down every tradition in the name of emphasizing a scientific worldview. They diminish the value of the spiritual practices of religion. All of this comes from fanatics who worship science as a new religion, while the bourgeoisie support those fanatics, and uncritical people who have never developed the ability to think for themselves follow both the bourgeoisie and the fanatics. They think it is perfectly acceptable for people without money to die. They would never say so outright, but the danger sensors embedded deep within them simply do not respond to the suffering of those without money. That is why I praised your views on science, Pastor. We should not lean too far toward this side or that side, yet people are so caught up in the new thing that has appeared in place of Christ that they can no longer rationally weigh the good and bad sides of anything. All of these things are connected, yet no one sees what is really happening. That is why the religious world is deeply misguided as well! We should never have allowed this second divine right of kings—the belief that ‘mana itself is God’s grace’—to take root. Was it not precisely because they could judge what constitutes a better human being without the slightest pang of conscience? They have hidden behind the guise of religion and strayed far from the will of Christ!”

At the mention of a second divine right of kings, I voiced something I had once said to Ismailov, as well as a thought I had carried ever since coming to this world—or perhaps, more fundamentally, one I had held ever since I had grown out of childhood and developed a mind of my own.

“There is no phrase more lamentable than ‘Ancien Régime.’”

“Exactly, Pastor. Your insight is very much in line with my own. For people living in this very age to call the old French monarchy the ‘Ancien Régime’… The term itself reveals the mindset of those who use it. People today commit the very same sins in essence, merely in different forms, then cast all the guilt onto the past and say, ‘We have already escaped the troubles and decline of the past.’ But because the circumstances look different, they fail to recognize that they are facing the same problems at their core. At this rate, things will be exactly the same even a century from now. The thought that the number of people suffering will not decrease even after a century… I simply cannot believe it.”

Father Ralph Huber closed his eyes, pressing a hand to his forehead as though he had a headache. He spoke without changing his stance.

“Only those who strive not to go astray even while caught in a current that is carrying the world in the wrong direction can change an era. But how distant that goal is. From afar, a hundred years of human history may seem like a fleeting moment, but it is not so for those of us living through the present. A single year is a long period of suffering. You cannot leave a starving person to suffer for a month. They would die in that time. I cannot simply stand by and watch our suffering brothers and sisters.”

I slowly nodded.

Well, this had turned out very differently from what I had expected… Even so, I couldn’t let my guard down. It didn’t matter where his views aligned with mine or where they differed. On the surface, we had gathered here to discuss social issues, but that wasn’t my purpose.

The fact that he had spent so much time thinking about these matters did not mean he couldn’t be a member of Pleroma. I leaned forward and asked, “What do you intend to do instead of simply standing by and watching those who suffer?”

“I want to bring as many people as possible into Christ’s embrace. In fact, because this is an age when science has gained so much influence, religion may be able to serve as a moderating force in a way it could not when religion alone held sway. We cannot stop the tide of science. But if people can use religion to reflect on their ethics and recover their sense of community, so that science may be used for good rather than as a weapon, wouldn’t our society become much better?”

“Then what about death and resurrection?”

“Likewise. Those who enter through the narrow gate and walk the narrow path may attain eternal life. And to enter through the narrow gate means to live a virtuous life, to care for and love others, and to enter a world of respect and peace. If more people came to understand this, the world would naturally find stability.”

“But there are many in this world who do not enter through the narrow gate, are there not? Is that not why God led Christ, His own Son, to death?”

“That is precisely why my role as a clergyman is so important. The same goes for all clergy.”

No. This wasn’t the kind of answer I should have been hearing. He had given an utterly textbook answer for a clergyman. I tilted my head and asked a more fundamental question.

“Are you not interested in bringing resurrection into the world we live in?”

Ralph Huber smiled uncertainly, as though to say, ‘Didn’t I just answer that?’ then replied, “To enter through the narrow gate is, in itself, to bring resurrection into this earthly life. The body does not determine a person’s life, as the materialists would have it. It is a window that allows the soul to commune with others. Therefore, just as the Lord came to us and restored our communion with Him, the resurrection of the flesh means restoring our love for one another. We clergy have the rewarding task of guiding everyone through the narrow gate, and we must never forget that calling.”

Not this time, either. He was thinking in an almost excessively ‘clerical’ manner, giving an answer that was far too orthodox. I thought carefully about how to strip away his mask and spoke once more.

“We must not forget those who have risen from the grave.”

“The grave? Yes, of course. If we are to restore communion, we must not forget those who have passed away, either. We must treat with love all those who lived before us.”

Not this time, either! I shook my head, narrowed my eyes, and said, “In the beginning was the Logos, was it not?”

Ralph Huber looked puzzled that I had suddenly brought that up, then nodded.

“That is right. This is an age in which we must restore the Logos.”

I exhaled and leaned back against the chair. Ralph Huber glanced between Emanuel and me, as though wondering whether he had said something wrong.

He was talking past me. Not only in his words, but in his nonverbal reactions as well, including his expressions. ‘In the beginning was the Logos’ was a biblical passage quoted by Faust, and in Pleroma’s world, those words were generally understood as one of their codes. If he were a member of Pleroma, then after I brought up the Logos, he should have reacted somehow—his eyes should have changed, or he should at least have asked whether I knew about it too.

Could it be that Pleroma only established its doctrines and methods of preaching later on? It was possible, but they would have needed a sufficiently developed system to lure Catholic clergy into their ranks. And even if it was not as complicated as it was in 1898, they should have had some distinct line of reasoning from the very beginning if they intended to gather believers.

If they had simply lured people in with the promise of eternal life, could a clergyman this thoughtful really have accepted such an absurd promise without question? If he had been that blindly devoted, then by now, with me saying things that roughly aligned with his beliefs, he should have brought up something like, ‘I can tell you how to attain eternal life.’ Yet all he had done was speak earnestly about entering Christ’s embrace in order to gain eternal life.

At this point…

I could roughly guess how things had unfolded.

I asked to be excused for a moment, then took Emanuel by the arm and led him outside the room. Once there, I cast a soundproofing spell and spoke.

“We can’t stay here. We need to go to Nuremberg. Then Regensburg, and after that Augsburg. We’ll come back to Bamberg afterward.”

“You mean you’re going to travel all over the country with John Bunyan’s Pilgrim Progress and Jesus calls us?”

“Not Jesus calls us. It’s <The Lord’s Call: A Brief Treatise on Death and Resurrection>.”

“You’re certainly not an ordinary person. Never mind that. If you move around that quickly, won’t they realize you’re a mage?”

“If anyone asks, we’ll say I used a simple portal commonly used in America.”

“That’s illegal!”

“I have bail money ready, so what’s the problem? You’re surprisingly strict about regulations.”

Emanuel looked horrified and tried to grab me, but I dodged him, returned to my seat, and spoke to Ralph Huber.

“Father, it was a very pleasant conversation. If there’s anyone around you who might be interested in what I have to say, please write to them. I may be leaving Germany briefly sometime this week, so I’d like to meet as many like-minded people as possible before then.”

Ralph Huber looked surprised and somewhat puzzled by my request to spread the word, but he answered pleasantly.

“Around me? Yes. I can do that. I was glad to meet someone so full of faith as you. I’d very much like to see you again. Would it be possible for us to meet and talk again before you return to America?”

“Of course, Father. It would be an immense honor.”

I extended my hand to bid him farewell. But instead of taking it, Ralph Huber snapped his fingers.

“Ah, I have a friend who would like to hear your sermon.”

A friend.

I couldn’t leave without asking about this. I had specifically asked him to write to anyone around him who might be interested because there were already things that seemed suspicious if Ralph Huber truly wasn’t a member of Pleroma yet at this point in time.

“Did you say you have a friend? What’s your friend’s name?”

“Sarah Hohenfels.”

I had to make sure I didn’t close my eyes or frown at the name. Pretending not to know, I asked, “Hohen? A noble?”

As far as I knew, there was a Hohenfels family in Württemberg and another in Eichstätt, Bavaria… The Hohenfels of Bavaria had died out centuries ago.

“Old nobility. The family no longer exists, so I don’t know how she still bears the surname, but I’ve heard she’s a distant collateral descendant. She’s actually an Old Human, since she isn’t a noble.”

“I’d like to hear a little more about Miss Sarah Hohenfels.”

“We’ve been friends for a long time. We grew up in the same neighborhood, and she was always deeply devoted to her faith. She’s very devout.”

“Tell me more.”

I needed to draw on the information from 1898. According to what Einsiedel had told Ulrike, the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Bamberg was named Sarah Hohenfels. Naturally, they had to be the same person. I released the faintest trace of divine power into the air and looked into Ralph Huber’s eyes.

“There must be something more significant you can tell me about Miss Sarah Hohenfels. When you think of her, what’s the first thing that comes to mind…?”

Ralph Huber blinked twice without changing his expression. Then he smiled gently.

“She once proposed to me when we were young. Isn’t that amusing?”

Emanuel looked at me in confusion. A person normally wouldn’t share something so personal with someone they had just met, so he realized that I was using divine power. Ralph Huber, lost in thought, earnestly followed my request.

“Sarah has always been a joyful and blessed friend. She used to say that as long as one remained faithful, one could live in peace with God for their entire life. Just as you preached, Pastor.”

“Really?”

I rubbed my chin as I looked into both of Ralph Huber’s eyes.

“I’d like to hear a little more about that proposal. It’s rather unusual to hear that a priest was once proposed to…”

“It was exactly as I said. It was the day before I came of age. She recited a poem to me beneath a rose arbor. We had been given special permission, as commoners, to visit the new palace behind here… that is, the Neue Residenz. We stopped by the Rosengarten together that day. We were both excited because we’d heard the roses would be in full bloom.”

“Pastor Wirth.”

Emanuel’s eyes widened as he grabbed my arm. I pushed his hand back down. Father Ralph Huber was briefly taken aback when Emanuel interrupted him and grabbed my arm, but then he returned to his memories and continued.

“I had no choice but to turn her down, since I had always done my best to become a priest. But after everything we’ve been through together, we eventually became the closest of friends. Yes. She’s extraordinarily wealthy, so she might even be willing to pay to hear your sermon, Pastor.”

I realized what Sarah Hohenfels had done. I realized what she had made of her friend’s life. Now I knew the exact reason why Ralph Huber in 1898 had obtained a position as auxiliary bishop despite having no particularly remarkable Special Ability. It was because he had spent so many years serving the diocese…

A vivid sense of déjà vu washed over my entire body. I couldn’t say a word. I could feel the headache getting worse.

Before Ralph Huber’s life was taken out of his own hands, he had heard the same theological ideas his friend was always talking about from an American pastor, and it had pleased him so much that he had stopped me to speak with me.

I swallowed, forcing down the lump in my throat that seemed to be rising toward my tongue. It felt as though my esophagus were burning. When I touched the corner of my mouth, Ralph Huber asked worriedly, “Pastor, are you all right?”

“Of course.”

No. I wasn’t all right. He wasn’t all right, either.

None of us were.

I waved my hand and squeezed my eyes shut before opening them again. Then I smiled and said, “I’d like to meet her. When would I be able to?”

Translator Note

1. The Scientific Revolution was a period of dramatic change in European thought between the 16th and 18th centuries that marked the emergence of modern science. ↩︎
2. The golden mean is an ethical path that promotes balance and moderation by avoiding two extremes. Both Aristotle and Confucius taught that virtue lives in this middle ground, though they approached it from different angles. ↩︎
3. Neo-eugenics, also called New eugenics or liberal eugenics, is a modern set of ideas that aims to improve human traits and capacities using reproductive technology and genetic engineering. ↩︎