Re:START/If {Book 1.0}
Chapter 50: Mutual-Evit 10 of 10 “To ...” (Part 05)

The Luke Family residence looks crowded, the servants and workers at the Mansion have returned to their work time about two days ago. Without a clear order from the Chief Servant, the servants immediately carried out household duties in place of the Shieal who during the winter did so. They woke up before sunrise, made their beds in the servants' special room and immediately carried out the duties in the Mansion.

The Lizardman who had come out of their hibernation and come to the Mansion immediately cleared up the herbs and flowers in the garden. Their sapat is cleared and the main plants are watered in the morning when the sun has just risen upwards. In addition to the work, the Lizardmen also did other menial jobs that required muscles such as lifting up supplies of flour, oil, and potatoes to storage warehouses.

The air is still a little foggy, the sky looks a little cloudy and the temperature feels low in the morning even though bright visible light rays begin to appear on the eastern horizon. The birds chirped, some perched on iron fences and they made melodies of nature soothing sounds in spring.

In his room, Odo Luke felt a silence that seemed to make the heart empty. He does not fall into the category of people who start busy in early spring, alone in a room without a sound that makes the atmosphere feel calm but brings a strange sense of uneasiness. Laying his body on the spot, the young man spread out his hands with a restless look.

“Yes, just report what Arca did. You can report that without moving your mouth and directly send the contents of your head here, ‘kan? If you do that your sister should be safe, Arca won't refuse my orders. Just lock my sign so you can track me easily if you want to communicate with me.”

Radd Sendangi's power connection was cut off by Elulu and the sound stopped echoing inside Odo's head. The type of power used by the Sculpture spy in detail is not actually sending sound, but sending the contents of the mind from individual to other individuals or even can be used in a closed room.

In other words, without moving the actual mouth of the communication opponent can also capture information if the information is clearly thought out. However, this only applies to users as a center, as opposed to communication that receives information must indeed speak to strengthen the information to be transmitted. In simple terms, Elulu's power is more akin to a phone that can connect multiple people at once with a power user as an administrator who can oversee the contents of a conversation.

Odo momentarily thought of the previous conversation, gazing at the ceiling with a look of flat eyes and a load of thought. The young man with black hair closed one eye with his right arm, looking at the ceiling of the room from above the bed.

With a annoyed tone he muttered, “To research his weapon, yes? Don't want revenge, do you? Guaranteeing safety, huh? Haaaa .... I've been good at this for a long time, lying and lying. Is it because I am no longer afraid of being lied to, so I can easily lie like this?”

For a moment Odo closed his eyes, took a deep breath and reopened them. Sitting on the bed, the young man looked at the contents of the room. It was completely different when compared to before he left the Mansion, his room looked so quiet without any of his personal belongings, except for the clothes on the closet.

The papers contained a magic circle and the results of the experiment were thrown out of the room. Measuring flasks, test tubes, beaker glasses, mortar and value, stirring rods, and various tools for making potions and Alchemy magic were also removed from the room. Getting off the seat and walking to the table in the corner of the room, Odo pulled the drawer and there was not even paper or stationery.

“Haaah .... I did make Mom angry like that, anyway ..”.

The young man took a chair from the front of the table and sat down, took a deep breath and went back to do the calculations for the present situation. Indeed Odo can be said to be under house arrest for defying the Mavis ban, but there are still many plans that must still go even if he does not touch it directly.

“Making Arca colleagues is indeed the right choice, fortunately he is the type of person like that. But now .., the problem is that. If I can't get Mom's trust completely, I'll most likely be here until Dad gets home from the Capital.”

At first glance Odo narrowed his eyes, thinking of various ways to gain the trust of his mother. Getting the most possible results for this, Odo briefly put on a face of dislike because the way it will certainly significantly change the way Mavis looks at him.

“Proten .... If I say it like that in front of Mom, roughly how does it react.”

Closing his eyes for a moment, the young man paused the intention to do just that. He stood up and briefly jumped up for a stretch, then walked towards the window of the room and opened it with curtains. Looking outside, the courtyard was visible and the Lizardmen there were tending to the abandoned garden during the winter.

“They are cold-blooded creatures, yes. Types of reptiles, so the winter time is most likely they hibernate. Obviously the time in the city despite the other Demi-humans, the Lizardmans do not exist ..”

For a moment Odo diverted his mind, refreshed the contents of his head and inhaled the fragrant aroma of pollen scattered in the spring. The wind blew finely, touching his body and face as if carrying warmth, then entered into his room space to replace the air with fresh ones.

Realizing he had no time to enjoy such a moment, Odo narrowed his eyes slightly and stared flat at the courtyard. Sighing once, the young man in black hair let the window open and immediately stepped towards the door to exit.

Opening the door of the room, Odo could immediately see the Mind that stood guard in front. Rather than standing guard, the black-haired woman was more properly called being watching over her Young Master. The young man wearing a white shirt and black pants was staring flat at the woman in the maid uniform. There was no sense of annoyance or anything like that, just staring flat as if he already had no confidence in the straight black hair woman.

Without saying anything, Odo turned to the side and set foot in the hallway. Mind followed the young man, without making a sound from his mouth and just putting on a grim expression full of guilt. The woman clearly felt that reporting the duel to Mavis was indeed a big mistake because it made the atmosphere of the Mansion seem back as before Odo Luke was born in the residence. Feeling tense, a little sad and impressed gray.

The young man in black hair stepped his feet towards the kitchen at the back of the Mansion. Opening the door without knocking, Odo immediately looked flat inside and found something that made him put on a slightly reluctant expression. There was a Julia sniffing a white shirt from a basket of dirty clothes. He was so passionate about rubbing a shirt over his face, smelling the scent of someone who was wearing that outfit yesterday.

“A—!” Julia immediately turned her head in panic, the woman wearing the short butler dress was trying to explain, “Tu-Tuan Odo? Wait .... This is not what you see .... Please listen to me ...” Julia's body trembled, her face became as red as pomegranate, and she immediately walked towards Odo while carrying the shirt that had been sniffed.

At first glance turning his eyes away from the teary gaze of the cat girl, Odo pointed his index finger and said, “Take it easy, I understand. That, ‘kan? What is in cats in the spring? The passion of breeding or such.”

“Not!!” Julia added to her face, she lifted the shirt she was carrying and said, “I told you not that! Try this kiss! There is a mixed om-om aroma!”

“Ah ..” Odo stared flatly at the silvery-white haired cat girl before him, then in a slightly hesitant tone he said, “Of course there is, it's not actually mine.”

“Eh?” Julia was shocked until her tail stood upright.

“When I dueled with Arca, my shirt was badly damaged. The shirt belongs to Mr. Iitla. He said it was impolite to be bare-chested when he met Mommy, so he lent her.”

Julia's face instantly paled, slightly turning blue withstanding the nausea. He immediately threw the shirt that was brought to the floor, then galloped to the bathroom of the waiter who was in the kitchen and —

“Uuueeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkk~!! Uuueeekkkk~! Uuueekkk!!”

The cat-type demi-human was completely puked, his voice sounding all over the kitchen even though the bathroom door was closed. Odo's eyebrows twitched at the sound that sounded like the cat was vomiting, turning away and glancing at Mind to see his expression. As if unaffected, the black-haired female only wore a flat expression.

Looking towards the stove that was mechanically produced by the fire crystal combined with the air magic mechanism, Odo briefly recalled the kitchen at the Porzan inn. “If it is observed that the type of stove is different,” muttered the young man while walking towards the stove in the corner of the kitchen room.

The stove, which is mechanically like a gas stove, is fused with a cooking table, has four support furnaces made of anti-rust metal for where to put cookware. On top of each furnace there is a wide funnel-shaped iron pipe, which serves to direct the smoke produced when cooking to one place and throw it out through the chimney.

“Mbak Mind, who designed this Mother, ‘kan?”

“Hmm, Mistress who made her design,” answered Mind with a word.

When Odo turned to the woman standing behind him, she immediately covered her own mouth with her right hand and turned her eyes away. Odo sighed as he got such a reaction, trying to ignore it and went back to observing the stove.

Touching the cold surface of the device, Odo quickly understood what materials were used to make it. “Metal mix all, yes. Mother is great when it comes to things like this. Obviously in the warehouse there are various types of metal,” murmured the young man.

“Se .. dang what are you, Mr Odo?” ask Julia after getting out of the bathroom. His face looked a little pale, not only because it was spitting out too much of his entrails but because of some other things as well.

“Eng, it's okay.”

“Hmmm?” Julia stared in surprise, immediately shaking her head to relieve the dizziness and walking towards Odo. Taking a look at the stove that is commonly used for cooking, Nekomata said lightly, “If you want to make bread using a fireplace, loh. On roast there.”

Julia pointed towards the fireplace commonly used for baking bread dough. Seeing the fireplace with the small flame, Odo wonderfully asked, “Not made the bread?”

“Already from earlier .... What is all the bread on the table?” julia said, pointing to a rectangular table in the middle of the kitchen. On it was indeed a neat row of iron trays with various types of bread that had just been lifted, some were still reflecting smoke.

Odo briefly smiled small because from the beginning already knew the breads, then with a light tone he joked, “I was not aware, there was an interesting sighting, sih.”

“Appearance? What an apparition there was, Mr ... O .. do? Eh?! Meaning me?!”

Julia just realized, the woman's face quickly returned red and her tail stood upright with all her fur expanding. He stared in annoyance, puffed up next to his cheek and looked away.

“Mbak Julia is fun when done, yes.”

“Any boy!”

Odo walked towards the table with the loaves on it, carefully observing and analyzing the way it was made and the ingredients. Feeling ill-informed, the young man picked up one of the loaves and took it to eat. Not finishing it and putting it back on the tray, the young man picked up another kind of bread and did the same.

Two types, three types and while on the fifth type of bread, Odo's shoulders are held tightly from behind by Julia. Strictly Nekomata was reprimanding, “What are you! That's not polite! If you want to eat, spend it all! Don't be dicuil like that, Mr Odo!”

Julia and Mind at a glance felt that there was something wrong with such an expression, slightly anxious about their Young Master's mental state. Odo again took another type of bread, and this time ate it to the end. Of all the bread on the tray, Odo tasted 12 types of bread which are the whole type on the table.

Finished eating it, the young man momentarily fell silent and looked back at the line of cold bread. “What's Ma'am Julia making all this by herself?” ask Odo.

“I just baked it, the dough and stuffing have been made by other waiters before sunrise,” Julia replied. The cat girl approached next to Odo, then curiously asked, “Master Odo, may I ask you something?”

“Eng?”

“Why ... You made Mrs Mavis so angry like that?”

The question left Odo and Minda shocked. At first glance glancing towards the woman next to him, the young man felt that was indeed the nature of Julia. Taking one of the loaves off the tray, in a slightly limp tone Odo Luke replied, “Mbak Julia  .... Does Sister Julia know about Swampman?”

“Swamp ... man? Sorry, I never heard of it.”

“Then let's do a little thought experiment using that base.” Odo divided the two oblong loaves he took, then placed the two halves lined up on a tray. The thick chocolate content of the bread began to flow out. Taking one of them, the young man with black hair said again, “For example, Mbak Julia was going to fish near the swamp when it rained, then was struck by lightning and died.”

“Eh?” Julia was surprised because Odo suddenly said like that, then with annoyance he said, “I will not die just struck by lightning.”

“This eg.” Odo glanced flatly, then ate a piece of bread that had been split in half and swallowed it quickly. Picking up the other loaf of bread, the young man said, “At the same time after Sister Julia died, at the swamp near Mba Julia, she said, the lightning strike spontaneously rearranges the existing molecules and coincidentally takes the form of the dead Julia Mba. This is what we call Swampman. Of course because this molecule is rearranged exactly like Mba Julia, he will do the same thing as Mba Julia. Walk into this Mansion, do homework and even bake bread like this.”

“It ... sounds creepy, yes ...” Julia's tail and ears looked slightly limp, the silvery-white woman stared flat and slightly imagined what Odo had said earlier.

“Curbs? I think it's sad. Good for Madam Julia or the Swampman himself.”

“Eng?” Julia's tail stood upright with her pity expression, then with a frown she said, “I equated her level with imitation?”

Odo stared flatly at the woman next to him and said, “Actually in life there is no higher or lower, only a matter of perception that distinguishes its value. Swampman's thought experiment was one of them. In another simpler example, we take these breads ...”

Odo held a piece of bread with his right hand, then looked at the stuffing of chocolate that melted out. “That bread?” julia asked as she looked at the bread the young man was holding.

“Hmm ...” Odo ate the piece of bread, then licked the leftover chocolate on his index and middle fingers. Staring at the woman next to him, the young man asked, “From all the bread here, what kind does Mbak Julia like the most?”

“Eng ...” Julia looked at her hand to the front of her belly, tilting her head and tail moving sideways and left. Finding her choice, Julia's tail stood up straight and she said, “That cheese-filled dry bread!”

Odo looked towards the tray containing the rows of cheese sandwiches that Julia had pointed to, then again asked the question, “From all the cheese sandwiches on the tray, Mommy Julia wanted to take which one?”

“Eh?” Julia took one of the loaves, then while showing it towards Odo she thanks, “This time ...”

“Then ...” Odo took it from Julia, and put the bread back on the tray with a loaf of bread. Staring at the Nekomata, Odo asked, “If I put the bread back into the tray like this and Ma'am Julia walked out of the room, then after five minutes came back again, can Julia distinguish her from the others?”

“Of course you can! I saw! Although out, the position already knows,” replied Julia.

“If when out, without the knowledge of Ms Julia turns out I changed the bread?”

“Hmmm ...” Julia thought a little about such a puzzle even though she did not know what it was for. “Aroma— True too, the cheese is too sharp,” he said confused.

“Can't distinguish?”

“Hmm, if I give a sign can definitely distinguish.”

“Not that the problem.” Odo slightly smiled faintly, sighed and explained the thought experiment, “This is about identical items that are considered the same. If only Ms. Julia went to a glass craftsman shop, then saw a neat line of decorative glasses and wanted to buy one of them. However, Julia did not bring enough money. The next day, Julia came back to the store with enough money and saw the same item Julia was looking for. Of course, Julia immediately bought it. However, in fact it is just a very identical type of item and unconsciously Mama Julia bought a different decorative glass. Because it is very similar and not so understand the difference with the others, of course Ms. Julia does not mind it, right? As with the cheese bread, the delicious origin is certainly not a problem .... Julia will eat it.”

“Eng, indeed .... But, at the end of the day what does this talk mean? Swampman, right? What is important about that?”

Odo sighed because he felt that his explanation was not well captured by the silvery-white-haired Nekomata. At first glance, the young man reluctantly explained, “Swampman is an introductory concept to distinguish identical objects. Whatever identical an object or individual, surely if clearly introduced the difference will be seen .... Each object has their own definition that makes a clear difference, which makes the same is a matter of how others capture that definition.”

“What .... do Mr Odo really want to say?” Julia tilted her head, the cat girl's tail formed a question mark and she asked, “Why is it this convoluted? Eng, if not the wrong conversation earlier about why the Master angered the Madam, right?”

Odo stared flatly, then clearly asked, “Mbak Julia .... If Mavis Luke was just a Swampman, what would Julia do?”

“Eh?” Julia was surprised, with a slight stutter she said, “Ma-Where is possible, isn't that just a parable?”

Odo smiled faintly, pointed his finger at the front of his mouth and said, “If I who stand in front of this Julia Mother is actually the real Swampman and Odo Luke from the beginning no longer exist, what would Julia do? Is Julia not going to have a problem with it? Or from now on will change Julia's attitude to me?”

“Ja-Don't talk like that!” Julia began not to be able to think of it as a small talk, anxiously he reprimanded, “Old creepy, you know! It's already! Already!”

“Ahaha, sorry, sorry, I'm just kidding, Sister Julia is fun when it is colonized.”

“Uuuhh~!”

In that talk, the Mind that only listens to them cannot catch it is just a joke. Whether the matter of Mavis or Odo is Swampman, it makes the black-haired woman speechless thinking about it.

Odo glanced at a glance, giving a flat look as he looked at the expression of the black-haired woman and threw a small smile. The mind that realized it jolted, completely trembling and did not understand what the purpose of the Young Master was. In a hesitant voice, he ventured and asked, “If Young Master, what would you do if Madam was actually Swampman?”

“Ehm?” Odo turned around and looked at Minda, then without hesitation replied, “Of course I will love her like her real self .... Mind you know, Swampman is a substitute for genuine selfishness. If rejected, isn't that too sad?”

His mind was shocked, he did not think about it at all and was stunned for a moment. Looking back at Odo, he curiously asked, “If Young Master is Swampman and not accepted by everyone known to Odo Luke, what do you do?”

As Odo fell silent to such a question, he understood more deeply the mindset of the present Mind and its perspective. Smiling faintly, the young man in black hair replied, “If they want me to leave, I will leave. If they want me to suffer, I gladly accept that suffering.”

“But ...” Before finishing the words, Odo put on a sharp look and in a serious tone he said, “I will not accept death. As Swampman I will live on, because my life from the beginning was not mine.”

Minda and Julia were surprised to hear such an answer. Not paying any heed to their expressions, the young man in black hair stepped foot and walked towards the door to exit the kitchen. As he waved his hand without turning his head, Odo said, “Yes, that is unlikely to happen, anyway.”

“Why?” ask Minda.

Looking up with a faint smile, the young man confidently replied, “Because I am the real Odo Luke.”

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Note :

Some CH going forward will be a transition period before going into the final issue principal of Arc 02

Supplement :

(1) Swampman is the subject of a philosophical thought experiment introduced by Donald Davidson in his 1987 paper "Knowing One's Own Mind".