Sophia: We believe everything can be translated into numbers.
Sophia: Things are made up of numbers. And mathematics is the key to opening the gate of truth. It is like the fire that lifts us from the darkness.
Sophia: This world may decay in time, but numbers will transcend the limit placed for all other things in existence.
Sophia: And if one can take up the challenges and improve oneself with practice, they may clear their thoughts and find out their truth.
As they speak, at the end of the long tunnel, there comes light.
Sophia: That is, to find out the "number" of their soul.
Regulus: Hmm. This is more like a place for proper conversations! Broad, open, as vast as the high seas!
Sophia: Hold your horses, Ms. Regulus.
Sophia: If you were to speak of consuming beans again, I will have no choice but to send you into the depths of the sea.
Regulus: Tsk, fine, fine! I haven't done anything yet.
Sonetto: Ms. Sophia, could you please repeat all the taboos on the island?
Sonetto: It was too dark in there. I didn't take them all down.
Ms. Radio: Worry not, Ms. Sonetto. I have them all recorded.
The blue flower shakes in pride, showing the results of her attentiveness.
Ms. Radio: One, abstain from beans. Two, do not pick up what has fallen. Three, touch not a white rooster.
Ms. Radio: Four, do not poke the fire with swords. Five, do not jump over a crossbar. 6, do not cut wood on a main road.
Ms. Radio: Seven, do not enter the hall in new garments. Enter the hall from the right and leave from the left.
Ms. Radio: Eight, do not keep swallows around your house. Nine, do not sleep on a grave. Ten, make the bed as soon as you wake up, leaving no imprint of your body …
Sonetto: Hmm.
Sonetto frowns slightly as she intently takes the notes.
Yet next to her, Regulus is utterly agape, as if she just saw a killer whale running on the ground with two new feet.
Regulus: What strange obsessions are these? Even the police in London would be less officious.
Vertin: This is an archaic arcanist group we're dealing with. I assume they have their own reason for these.
Regulus: But what else are we going to do if we can't pick up the things on the ground? Just let it rot? This doesn't even make sense!
Sophia: You are indeed an irrational number.
Regulus: Huh? What about me?
Sophia: Though I can't identify the exact number of yours, it's never too hard to tell the number types.
Sophia: Like you, you are a very typical irrational number.
Sophia: Irrational numbers are disobedient, sometimes unreasonable, and they hardly play by any rules. Just like the non-terminating random numbers following its decimal, these numbers are the floating points, or the noises. People of this type are the random ones whose actions show no pattern whatsoever.
Sonetto: Disobedient, unreasonable, never play by the rules ...
Vertin: So that's what their judgment is based on.
Lilya: Oh, she even gets the rock 'n' roll part right.
Regulus: Stop pulling my leg! This Pirate will not so easily be defined!!
Regulus: What about you? What's your number, then?
Sophia: I'm still learning. My time to reveal my number has not come yet.
Regulus: Oh, you don't know?! Well, I can help you with that.
Regulus: You are an irrational number, too!
A little crystal green ball coming from nowhere precisely hits Regulus on the head.
Regulus: Ouch! What is this? Emm, a grape?
37: Huh, a perfect parabola.
37 stands behind them, holding a bunch of juicy grapes in her hand. She seems to be enjoying the moment.
Regulus: Oh, it's you again! I won't be battered in a fight this time!
Regulus's face is lit with anticipation. She is well prepared for another fight.
But Sophia takes a step forward and stands between them.
Sophia: 37 ...
Sophia: Shouldn't you be off preparing for the doctrinal meeting?
37: ...
37: 6 asked me to take care of our guests.
Sophia: But I'm usually the one who receives the guests. Engaging with strangers might be a little difficult for you.
37: There's no casual link in these two events.
37: People always bother you with trifles only because you are fine with it.
Sophia: "Do not sleep on a grave, and do not cut wood on a main road."
Sophia: Idleness is the cause of the breakage of one's flesh and soul in the long journey of perfecting oneself. Those who have not yet found their numbers have even fewer excuses to be indolent.
Sophia: Besides ... Huh! Why would you place the head of a guest in your mouth?
37: She said she's going to eat beans.
Sophia: That does not justify your action. Come to think of it, is she safe to bite if she had consumed the beans? Wouldn't that make you the bean eater as well?
Sophia: The right way to deal with this is to throw the offenders into the sea. Let the Gorgon Current take them and confine them in the ever-repeating circular motion.
37: Oh yeah, this is the most optimal solution!
Sophia: How come you didn't think of it? This is one of the most basic set problems.
Regulus: Errh, hello, are we done with the chit-chatting?
Regulus: Conspiring to my face to throw me in the sea ... Mind you, this Pirate's tolerance has limits!
Regulus picks up the grape that 37 used to hit her earlier and throws it at 37 with all her strength.
Boop.
The grape hits 37 on her forehead. 37 looks shocked. Her mouth falls open with horror.
Regulus: Hahaha, right in the bull's eye!
Sophia: ...
Regulus: What? What's that look on your faces?
Regulus: An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth! I didn't start this.
Sonetto: Regulus, did you just pick up the grape that 37 threw at you earlier from the ground?
Sonetto: Did you just ... violate the rule of "not to pick up what has fallen"?
Regulus: Wha- ...
The sound of wings suddenly comes down from above.
A few stiff feathers with golden trim drift down like falling leaves.
Sophia's expression freezes.
Sophia: Get down! Abraxas incoming!
Sophia: It will take the offenders with it!
Regulus: … A chicken's head and two snakes as the feet. What? What on earth is that?!
Vertin: This is not good. They seem dangerous. Regulus, come to my side!
COMBAT
Sonetto: Regulus!
The enemy is almost invincible.
One of the Abraxases holds Regulus with its snake feet, like an eagle clutching a turtledove, leaving for the dungeon.
APPLe: Captain!
APPLe: I can't leave her alone. This APPLe shall follow her!
APPLe follows the Abraxas. He looks weak and lonely in the air, like a left-behind sparrow.
Lilya: ...
Lilya: A toast, to Regulus.
Lilya: To her ever-fighting spirit of breaking away from jails, no matter how many times she has been put behind bars.
37: Luckily, she didn't have any beans.
Sophia: May her soul be cleansed in the dungeon.
Sophia: sighs What a mess!
Sophia: @
Sophia gently touches the brass ruler on her waist. As the glow fades, the grassland has been flattened to its original state.
Sonetto: ...!
Sonetto: Timekeeper, did you see that?
Vertin: The arcane skills cast by the congregation on this island are very different from those we have seen.
Vertin: Mr. APPLe is with Regulus. She won't be in danger for now.
Vertin: Let's follow Sophia.
As they walk, the woods become less dense.
At the end of their path, there is a triangular stone statue standing among the trees.
Sophia: We have wasted too much time on unnecessary matters.
Sophia: Ms. Vertin, this is the place you've journeyed to visit—the Hall of Apeiron.
Sophia: This is where we share our knowledge of pneuma, which is also the "Storm" you've been referring to.