Chapter 211: The Garden of Sinners Episode 5: Paradox Spiral! (Part 9)
Inside the film, facing Tomoe Enjou's confusion, Ryougi Shiki began explaining in a calm, deliberate voice:
"You remember when the elevator was out of service for a while? That was no malfunction. It was all part of a mechanism designed to invert the two wings of the building. The elevator's circular shape, the odd noises it makes… all misdirection. Even the second floor being 'unused' plays a role. To rotate the building's perspective without anyone noticing, they needed to create at least one layer of separation."
"So… what you're saying is, this is actually my real home?"
"Yes. Or more precisely, it was—for about a month. After that, the elevator's exit was reoriented. The staircases likely adjusted along with it."
"That's insane! Someone would've noticed something like that!"
"Normally, yes. But this place isn't normal—it's a bounded field. Look out the window. Every direction is surrounded by identical square buildings. The scenery never changes. Inside the complex, the off-white walls twist and bend in ways that strain the eyes, subtly exhausting the retina without you realizing it. With no small anomalies to draw your attention, the big ones slip right by."
With that, Ryougi led Enjou to the door at the corridor's end.
She raised her voice theatrically:
"We're opening it. Your own home—one you haven't returned to in half a year, Enjou!"
Before he could react, she casually unlocked the door with a key and swung it open.
They stepped inside.
The lights flicked on.
And then—
"I… I knew it. I really… did kill them…"
Enjou's voice trembled as the sight before him left him reeling.
"They've been dead for about six months now."
Ryougi, on the other hand, simply stood there, examining the two corpses lying on the floor with icy detachment.
Her expression didn't change—not even slightly.
She looked at them the way one might examine some oddity found under a rock.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The shocking truth behind the apartment stunned the audience into silence.
As the twisted logic of the story became clearer, even those who had earlier mocked the film for being "nonsensical" were left speechless.
Their earlier disdain turned to shame.
The film's intricate structure had now revealed itself—and it was brilliant.
Even the loudest aristocratic critics had been utterly silenced, their smug confidence crumbling beneath the weight of the unfolding narrative.
Of course, not everyone could admit defeat.
Some nobles, desperate to cling to their pride, stared holes into the screen, determined to find something—anything—to criticize.
By this point, their obsession bordered on madness.
No matter how flawless the film became, they refused to change their opinions. Instead, they hunted for imperfections through a narrow, self-justifying lens.
The best way to deal with such people?
Ignore them. Let them prance around like clowns on a stage no one's watching. In time, they'd grow silent, choked by the weight of their own embarrassment.
But some people were the opposite—the less you paid attention to them, the louder they got. The only way to deal with that type… was to shut them up in a more literal sense.
Edward, a transmigrator and former denizen of the internet age, understood this all too well.
Which is why, from beginning to end, he completely ignored the nobles and their clownish behavior.
Instead, he turned to Winry beside him and muttered with a sigh:
"Building that apartment complex was a nightmare. The Empire's construction techniques weren't nearly advanced enough for something of that height. I had to track down a traveling team of dwarven craftsmen in the Eastern territories. Cost me a fortune to get them to help finish the project."
"I see. You've really worked hard, Lord Durin."
Though Winry didn't fully understand the technical challenges involved, she offered him a warm, instinctive word of comfort—something she was quite used to doing.
At that moment, the first Southern Territory Grand Duke, Arcueid, suddenly spoke up:
"Huh? For a building like that, why didn't you just use magic to construct it?"
"...What? Use magic? What magic?"
"Plenty of options. Earth-element forbidden spells. Aether from the special elements category. Or even fantasy embodiment from the lost magic system."
"Uhhh... do you think any normal mage can actually use those?"
"Wait, what? They can't?"
Confronted with Arcueid's innocent-sounding question, Edward was utterly dumbfounded.
After all, the Imperial Mage Academy Academy didn't even have an Arch Mage specialized in Earth magic. The current head of the Academy, Hohenheim, was an Arch Mage of all elements, but even he hadn't delved deeply into Earth-element tier 6 forbidden spells.
As for Aether, a rare special-element magic—yes, it had existed historically, but the limitations were so severe that its practice had practically vanished.
And Fantasy Embodiment? That wasn't even confirmed to be real. Whether it had ever existed in the world at all was still up for debate.
So when this vampire casually dropped those words like they were basic knowledge, Edward found himself questioning his entire worldview.
Compared to his stunned reaction, Arcueid paused for a moment, then pressed her hand to her forehead with an apologetic smile:
"Ah—my bad. I forgot we're in the Human Empire. I've been asleep for so long, sometimes my memories get... scrambled. The memories of this place mix up with the time I spent in the chaos land. Makes it hard to keep track of what's considered 'common sense' nowadays. Right… this is the Human Empire. The strongest mages here barely reach Tier 6. Of course they wouldn't be able to use Aether or Fantasy Embodiment..."
"..."
Hearing her mutter those words, Edward's eyes lit up slightly.
After all, anything regarding the chaos land was virtually unknown in this world. Even the Headless Horseman had only ever skirted its borders—never entering the core region.
And Latisha, who had been there, refused to speak a single word about what she saw.
So when Arcueid casually mentioned the chaos land, Edward couldn't help but feel a surge of curiosity. Maybe—just maybe—he could learn something from this ancient vampire.
Unfortunately, it seemed that anyone who had been to the chaos land shared one thing in common: total silence. Whether it was Latisha or Arcueid, neither would breathe a word about it.
Edward tried to press the matter several times, but in the end, he had no choice but to give up and return his attention to the film.
At that moment, on the screen—
Ryougi Shiki and Tomoe Enjou were discussing the shocking truth they had uncovered about the apartment complex. But suddenly—
A shadow moved.
From the depths of darkness, a distorted figure lunged out with unnatural speed, its grotesque movement aimed directly at Enjou.
In that instant, every single viewer watching the scene felt their skin crawl.
Not a soul was left untouched by the surge of pure dread.
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[1] https://www.patreon.com/collection/162522?view=condensed
[2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/creating-anime-140083067
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