Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 326

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 93.
Ninety-Eight Souls (9)
Joshua hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. Juspian continued.
“It’s not pleasant, I’m sure. But you need to understand this precisely. Replica dolls come in two varieties, actually. There are those that replicate the living, and those that replicate the dead. There are records indicating that replicating the dead was permitted in Ganapoli under special circumstances. But replicating the living? That’s absolutely forbidden. Since Ganapoli is a Magic Kingdom, it’s been extraordinarily strict about the misuse of magic. If you’re caught attempting forbidden magic, you don’t even have the right to a trial. No excuse will suffice.”
Riche asked.
“Do they execute you?”
“No, something far worse. There’s a punishment that puppet makers—those who create dolls—find most agonizing.”
Juspian continued, his expression deeply horrified.
“They make the puppet kill its own creator with its own hands.”
From her reaction, it seemed Riche didn’t understand why that would be a worse punishment than execution. Juspian turned his gaze back to Joshua.
“So your situation—where a replica doll and a living person exist simultaneously—is extraordinarily rare even in Ganapoli. Whoever created such a thing either failed to study the records properly, or is an utterly vile creature who thinks it doesn’t matter anymore since there’s no one left to punish them. If that person is a mage, they couldn’t possibly have been ignorant of the consequences of creating such a thing. That’s why I find them even more unforgivable.”
Juspian’s expression was resolute. Joshua spoke.
“Listening to what you’re saying, it sounds as though creating a replica doll is far more than simply having two of the same person—it’s something profoundly grave.”
His voice was strangely serene, as though he were discussing someone else’s matter. Juspian nodded.
“Exactly right. Listen—among living beings, whether human or beast, there cannot be two identical entities. Even twins aren’t the same person. Everyone is unique. But when a replica doll of a living person comes into existence, the order of things becomes severely disrupted.”
Since he’d launched straight into the core of the matter, the three people without magical knowledge had little hope of easily understanding him.
“Order? What order are you talking about?”
“What order? Obviously, the order that moves the world. The order that causes you to be born, to grow, to wither, to die—the order that creates and destroys, from grass to humans, from rolling pebbles to vast gorges. An order so immense you cannot even feel it, and above all, the very order that distinguishes what magic can do from what it cannot. Things you feel you shouldn’t do without being told, or things you feel you must do—those are the commands of that order. But a replica doll of a living person violates that order. So, for example, if I cursed you, Joshua, with magic, that curse might affect the doll instead of you. This order doesn’t forgive violations; it sees you both as one entity, always.”
Maximian murmured.
“If the reverse happened, that would be catastrophic.”
Juspian shook his head vigorously.
“It’s worse than that. When a person is born, they occupy a place. Your home, the things you used, your habits, the streets you walked, your memories, your will, the people who loved you—these form your coordinates. What happens if another being steals all of that wholesale? The doll sits in your place, uses your belongings with familiarity, behaves as you did, approaches the people who knew you, smiles while recalling your memories, accomplishes what you were trying to do, and receives love from those who loved you. Then where do you remain? The entire world sees the doll as you, and magic itself becomes confused between you and it. In the end, you become an existence without coordinates. You simply don’t know it yet, but the problem that’s befallen you is grave. The ‘uniqueness’ that is the fundamental attribute of all existence has been severely damaged. Now you understand why Ganapoli forbade this.”
“….”
Everyone watched Joshua’s expression, but he merely lowered his eyes slightly, showing no other reaction. Riche suddenly asked.
“But how on earth do you even create something like that?”
Since it was one of Ganapoli’s lost techniques, there was no guarantee that even Juspian would know. Yet Juspian hesitated before saying something surprising.
“Actually, I had some interest in it myself. No, I had quite a lot, really. I even wrote several books on the subject. Of course, what I wanted to create wasn’t a replica, just a doll. But even if I could restore the incantations, there were materials I could no longer obtain. You see, I possess more ancient records than most schools do. Yet I couldn’t find substitutes. On the other hand, replica dolls had no material shortage problems. So I felt that with more time, I might be able to bring it to light. But there was another problem.”
“What problem was that?”
Joshua’s expression as he asked was close to pure curiosity, and even Juspian looked bewildered.
“To replicate the dead, I needed a fresh corpse—still warm, you understand. It seems replicating someone long dead was possible in Ganapoli, but I lacked sufficient information on that. Who am I to blame for my own insufficient skill? But I couldn’t very well kill someone just to attempt making a doll, could I? Or should I have approached grieving families, freshly bereaved, and asked to borrow their corpses for experimentation? Or perhaps I should have kidnapped someone on the verge of death, laid them down, and begged them to please die quickly?”
This was somewhat unexpected. Though this strange mage didn’t seem like a bad person, it was difficult to expect him to be upright about such ethical matters. Yet he was not the sort of shameless human who would resolve his lack of skill through ethical compromise.
“Next came the replication of the living. It’s tempting, frustratingly so—replicating the living is actually somewhat easier than replicating the dead. Does that sound strange? Here’s why: when you replicate the dead, the creator must take complete responsibility for controlling the doll. That means you cannot leave the doll unattended for even a moment. The doll could malfunction while you’re sleeping and kill someone. The mage themselves is at greatest risk. Replica dolls have an extremely strong sense of being human. So they direct impulsive rage at their creator, who is merely a person. Because they possess the same consciousness as the human they’re replicated from.”
“Creating a doll is… cruel to the doll as well.”
As Joshua said this, his eyes held a look of greater pity for the doll than for himself. Juspian’s cheek twitched.
“Well, you should probably think about your own problems first, regardless of how the doll feels. So shall we look at replicating the living? But as I said before, two completely identical things cannot exist in this world—it violates order. Even magic cannot overcome that. So attempting to create a replica doll while the original person is alive has a fundamental flaw in its conception; creation itself is impossible. But those mad fools of old, obsessed with achievement, devised a workaround. According to the records, they created something called a ‘main body’ to take control of the doll—as though it were merely an accessory of this ‘main body.’ That’s how a living person and a doll could exist simultaneously. It’s a kind of deception.”
Contempt dripped from Juspian’s voice.
“But as a result, curiously, the mage becomes very comfortable. The main body takes full responsibility for controlling the doll. So as long as the main body is kept safe, the doll obeys the mage well, and even lives peacefully without knowing it’s a doll. All while being completely dominated by one human.”
Juspian paused, and his expression darkened.
“But what troubles me most—I don’t know what the people of Ganapoli thought—is this: if your replica doll commits a crime, does that responsibility fall on you as well? Even if you’re two, the soul is surely only one. But the order of the world offers no forgiveness for the price of sin.”
A brief silence fell, and Maximian opened his mouth.
“So the puppet is governed by its creator, and it has an accessory called the ‘original body’—aside from that, they’re identical, yes? Then….”
He chose his words carefully before speaking.
“Isn’t that what you call a doppelgänger?”
“Exactly.”
Juspian nodded, his expression growing somber.
“In Ganapoli, we first created a puppet by duplicating a living person, and we began calling it a doppelgänger. It’s taken on various meanings since then. But if you trace it back to its fundamental meaning, the moment the puppet and you meet, you’ll both feel an overwhelming urge to destroy each other. You see, you’re beings destined to eternally contest what is real. If we’re being technical about origins, one of you existed first—but now that there are two, the very concept of ‘real’ has vanished. Because the moment a fake is replicated, it perfectly duplicates every cause and reason that brought the original into existence. Within your bloodline, or within some greater order, the puppet exists alongside the causality that made you. Side by side, overlapping.”
Having said that much, Juspian looked directly at Joshua.
“I didn’t want to create something so terrible.”
Joshua, strangely enough, smiled faintly.
“There’s one thing I’d like to ask, though.”
“What is it?”
“The puppet isn’t completely identical to me. There’s a small gap—a memory from a specific moment that’s missing. Does your earlier explanation still apply?”
“What?”
Juspian’s expression turned puzzled.
“A small memory missing? That’s strange. Don’t you forget things as you live? How is that a difference?”
“No. There’s no possibility of that.”
Just as Juspian was about to ask what he meant, Maximian spoke.
“He’s telling the truth. Demonic beings forget nothing.”
Children of Rune – Winterer
Author: Jeon Min-hee
Publisher: 14 Months Publishing
The copyright to this book belongs to the author and 14 Months Publishing.
To reuse all or part of the contents of this book, written consent from both parties is required.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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