The first question, the first answer.
Professor Antorelli asked who I am, and the answer was, “The complete form of my true self revealed through the reasoning within.”
This caused the rigid, memorized biblical verses that I did not understand to disappear, and a clear reasoning to take hold in the students’ minds.
The second question, the second answer.
Professor Antorelli gave a passage from the Bible, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and asked, “Who is your neighbor?” The answer was, “A good person who cherishes, cares for, and molds me with infinitely pure love.”
The theology exam by Professor Antorelli. This was already beyond a simple written test conducted for students in the academy.
Something more than that. Simply scribbling would not satisfy the answer.
Professor Antorelli’s exam was extracting that something lodged deep within a person’s inner self. Slowly, the person solving the problem would reveal it, more surely than anything else.
The first problem was the excavation of reason.
The second problem was the standard of goodness determined by reason. Once the standard is understood, one can naturally write down the ‘neighbor’ that fits that standard as the answer.
“Oh…!”
And then, the second bud shyly revealed itself.
Chloe stared blankly at it. That brilliant midday sunlight, like a piece of gold unmatched by anything else in this world, that flower.
The primordial flower that bloomed from the first question had only one blossom despite its notably large stem. Of course, it was still beautiful enough…
“There are, two flowers…”
A new shoot sprouted from that large stem, soon becoming a small branch that stretched out vigorously, blooming another flower at its tip. This happened after writing down the answer to the second question.
Under that large flower named ‘reason,’ a small flower called ‘goodness’ bloomed.
“Now, the third question…”
Chloe realized why the blank space on the exam paper was unusually vast. Problems were hidden in that space.
If one cannot solve the previous problem, they cannot move on to the next one. They cannot read the next question, nor can they even gauge what it is.
The prerequisite to solving the next problem is not met.
– Whoosh—!
Elin, who sat next to Chloe, also managed to bloom her second flower with a similar sound. Chloe glanced at her.
“Elin succeeded too! But… who did Elin write down?”
Chloe inadvertently covered the answer she had written on her exam paper. Even though no one was looking, she felt strangely embarrassed.
How could she not be embarrassed? The name she wrote on her exam paper…
“…Focus.”
Chloe collected her wavering thoughts. She widened her eyes and silently waited for the golden hue seeping from the second primordial flower to settle on the exam paper.
Thus, the golden light illuminated under the second question.
– Crackle. Crack.
The third question of Professor Antorelli’s theology exam, hidden behind golden illusions, revealed itself. Chloe’s eyes busily moved down the question.
[“You, son of man. Hate the scales that provoke and deceive, but the honest weights are what the Lord delights in.”]
Once again, a biblical passage jumped out. Before properly reading the question, Chloe scrutinized the excerpt closely.
“Hmm… Is it telling me not to lie?”
Hate the scales that provoke and deceive, but the honest weights delight the Lord.
Simply interpreted, lying is bad. Chloe could not delve further into that interpretation.
Chloe tilted her head, twirling her pink hair between her fingers. Indeed, just reading the passage did not fully grasp its intentions.
– Crackle. Crackle.
Where Chloe’s gaze moved, the third question had finally completely revealed itself.
[“Are you someone’s neighbor?”]
It stood out so clearly.
It drew out reason.
The playful and unpredictable reasoning that had been tightly concealed within. The students solving the problem and the other theology professors succeeded in extracting it.
Next, I examined the standard of goodness determined by that newly drawn-out reason.
The standard of goodness was not absolute. Some might think this way, while others might think that way…
However, in the end, the fundamental conclusion is the same. The answers to the question of goodness differ, but the directions they fundamentally point to are the same.
Thus, the standards of goodness that everyone holds manifested in the form of ‘neighbors.’
I scanned the small auditorium. When the first question was being solved, the lighting that brightly illuminated the auditorium had long since been turned off. There was no need for artificial light.
“In the end, it bloomed.”
Hundreds of second golden flowers blossomed profusely. It was a grand spectacle reminiscent of a flowerbed of gold.
“Goodness gracious…”
“What do you think?”
“I expected it, but this is far beyond my expectations…”
Sofia Sub-priest murmured, covering her mouth in surprise. As she said, this sight was not something one could readily anticipate.
Seeing those hundreds of brilliantly, subtly bloomed primordial flowers, who among them could lack devotion?
And that was true for the students who brought those flowers to bloom as well.
“It’s still too early to be surprised.”
“Y-yeah…”
Did the students possess devotion?
That was what I was to test this time.
When reason blossoms, goodness arises from it.
Since goodness has been proved, we should now naturally move on to the proof of devotion.
Devotion.
It is something almost tangible yet intangible. However, it is an absolutely essential existence in life. That is devotion.
Whether the subject is a devotee who believes in the Lord or a regular person who does not particularly believe in the Lord doesn’t matter.
What is important is the devotion itself that comes alongside goodness.
“It wouldn’t be surprising if students who can’t solve the problems start to emerge.”
Thinking that, I inwardly hoped.
That everyone sitting in this auditorium would bloom the third flower.
So, yes.
It is time to prove devotion.
Professor Marcello’s eyes remained steadfast, not moving.
His gaze was solely on the second primordial flower that bloomed. He was looking at the golden glow seeping from it, illuminating the newly revealed words on the exam paper.
[“Are you someone’s neighbor?”]
‘Can I truly be someone’s neighbor…?’
Professor Marcello immediately recalled the second question. Who is my neighbor? The answer came more easily than expected.
However, Professor Marcello soon realized.
The second question on this exam paper was a stepping stone to move on to the third question.
‘Extracting reason, proving the standard of goodness… and now…’
Professor Marcello’s eyes slowly closed. The letters that had been dizzying to his sight disappeared, and the golden light derived from the primordial flower glimmered, pushing away the darkness settled before Professor Marcello’s eyes.
Having calmed his mind, Professor Marcello stroked his well-groomed, smooth jaw and fell into thought.
‘…I understood the intention.’
The intent of the question was exceedingly easy to grasp. Professor Marcello was not someone who gained his position as a theology professor through gambling.
‘The intent of the question is devotion. Prove your devotion.’
What is devotion?
Devotion is loyalty, love, good deeds, upright character, and purity.
These gather together and eventually lead to faith in the Lord. That is what devotion is.
Yet, the third question that appeared on the exam paper was.
[“Are you someone’s neighbor?”]
It was straightforwardly asking that.
The meaning of ‘neighbor’ was already represented in the second question before this. It was a question of whether I meet the standard of such a neighbor.
Loyalty, love, good deeds and upright character, and… inner purity. In other words, purity.
Do I meet the conditions of such a ‘neighbor’?
‘…It is a test. I am being tested.’
This was a true test. Not merely scribbling biblical verses, nor finding the correct answer among multiple-choice questions, nor flattering the professors to present myself as a ‘neighbor.’
A true test.
Professor Marcello, with the pen in hand, trembled. A sense of emptiness, like something was leaving him, began to dominate his body.
‘Can I truly be someone’s neighbor? Am I that devoted a person?’
Someone who meets the conditions of devotion. The person Professor Marcello wrote down as an answer to the second question seemed devoted, but when he compared that condition to himself…
‘…Probably not.’
Professor Marcello had lived the life of a cleric. Born to parents from the Holy Empire, he grew up learning the mindset of a cleric from an early age.
He had heard the Lord’s words since he was three, learned how to be thankful for the Lord’s grace since he was four, and had started reading the Bible whenever he was bored since he was five.
Thus, he grew up into middle age. Now, as he stepped onto the downhill path of life.
Professor Marcello pondered back upon his life.
Have I lived a devoted life?
‘I have not lived devotedly….’
Professor Marcello’s eyes opened. The trembling eyelids expressed his emotions.
It was an emotion of frustration. A sad emotion, and a feeling so embarrassing that he wanted to hide in a mouse hole.
Professor Marcello felt as if he could sense the gazes upon him from the podium in the small auditorium, and hurriedly lowered his head.
‘…In the name of the Lord, Dominico, this Marcello has not lived devotedly…’
He had lived an undevoted life. In his youthful folly, he had dipped into his parents’ wallet, and when encountering a snake while playing in the back mountain of the village, he had left his friend behind and fled in haste.
As a young man living at the seminary, he secretly drank alcohol with his peers, wary of the dormitory supervisor’s gaze.
Embarrassing, and filled with shame.
Professor Marcello’s eyes welled up with tears. A sob escaped him without his own awareness.
‘I have not lived devotedly…!’
Professor Marcello bowed his head. The aging head trembled as it lowered.
Endlessly, it lowered without end.
– Clunk.
Suddenly, it was halted by something that blocked his head from lowering further. Professor Marcello opened his teary eyes.
The desk he was seated at prevented his bowing.
And before Professor Marcello’s eyes was Professor Antorelli’s exam paper.
[“You, son of man. Hate the scales that provoke and deceive, but the honest weights are what the Lord delights in.”]
The biblical verse written on that exam paper.
[“Are you someone’s neighbor?”]
It was that short question, gently questioning Marcello.
“Ah…”
A sigh involuntarily escaped Professor Marcello’s lips.
“I, I…”
He could not continue his words. Professor Marcello’s lips trembled fiercely. A wave of intense joy and emotion flooded into the void within his heart.
“I, dare not become a neighbor…”
Trembling hands lifted the pen.
[“Are you someone’s neighbor?”]
The answer was, ‘No.’
And, at the same time.
“Ah, ahh…”
– Whoosh—!
The third flower bud gently peeks out.
Why is it so? Even though I wrote an answer that I could not be a neighbor to anyone, why is it blooming?
The answer was so simple.
[“You, son of man. Hate the scales that provoke and deceive”]
Let the believers distance themselves from lies.
[“But the honest weights delight the Lord.”]
The Lord delights.
‘Devotion…’
It is loyalty, love, good deeds, upright character, and purity.
And, and…
‘Because of that, blooming… honesty.’
Honesty.
Professor Marcello proved his devotion.
It was the third flower to head towards the next proof.
