3_Chapter 3_ English Puritanism_0

CHAPTER 3 English Puritanism The_English_Puritan_Church. 1 The battle was over. Kamijou figured it was because Amakusa’s command had crumbled all at once, since they lost their leader, Tatemiya. He basically understood because the sounds from afar had abruptly stopped, and the tingling, tense air had cleared. He hadn’t been given a thorough explanation, since they hadn’t met back up with Agnes and the sisters, but it seemed like victory had visited the Roman Orthodox Church. If that wasn’t the case, then it was strange that Amakusa wasn’t sending reinforcements to Kamijou’s group, since they’d been acting so uncontrollable and crazy. He was a little concerned about the welfare of the Roman Orthodox and Amakusa, but Stiyl had reported no deaths on either side, and that the Romans had placed the Amakusa members under arrest. He wondered for a moment where all the man’s confidence came from, but it seemed like he was communicating by using his cigarette ember. The way the smoke billowed apparently conveyed his intent, but Kamijou obviously couldn’t tell by looking at it. Saiji Tatemiya had been seated nearby, and rune cards attached to his limbs, chest, back, and forehead. It was apparently a brutal technique—one that would immediately douse him in flames if he were to move too much. And, since Stiyl had gone to bring Orsola to Agnes and the others, Kamijou, Index, and Tatemiya were the only three people here. And… “Touma, Touma! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Does it hurt anywhere?!” …at the moment, a white-faced Index was trying to take off his clothes. “Hey, would you quit that, Index?! I’m fine, nowhere hurts really—bwah? A-are you an idiot or something?! Watch where you’re touching!” “Then make absolutely sure of it yourself! Like if there’s anywhere that hurts or that’s hot or something” she shouted, nearly crying. Kamijou finally realized how much he’d worried her. But making a direct comment along those lines would be incredibly embarrassing, so he listened to Index without saying anything and checked himself. “Okay. My side hurts a little, but that’s about it. It’s not like I can’t move or anything.” “Really? It’s really no big deal?” “Yeah. And I mean, I think I’m pretty accustomed to this. Back-alley fights with espers everywhere are pretty dangerous in their own right. And I fought magicians a whole bunch of times over summer break, remember?” “I see…That’s good…” Index made a face he found difficult to judge whether it was smiling or crying. He grew vehemently embarrassed and couldn’t help but look away, but… “…So then I can bite your head all I want, Touma.” What? He couldn’t ignore that—and the moment he heard it, the wild-animal girl Index launched a vicious assault on his head with her teeth. “B-byaah?! Wait a second, Index! One second you’re worried about my health, and the next this?! What’ll you do if you make another wou—gyaahhh?!” “I’m biting you because I’m worried about you! What in God’s name were you thinking, Touma?! You’re crazy! Not only did that guy have a huge sword, he was also a sorcerer! And you went up against him with just a fist! Maybe you should have used that weapon on the ground! And the enemy actually said that if an amateur surrendered, he wouldn’t take your life! What were you thinking getting all determined?! You’re hopeless!” “Wait, wait, you might kill me if you keep doing this, Miss Index, ow! I got it! I sincerely apologize on all fronts for my own actions today, so would you please lighten up with the biting…?!” “And also, also! Did you actually think this through to the end? Did you even know that Amakusa guy would need time to build a fire-resistant defensive technique?! If you messed up on how long he was gonna take for it, you would have gotten cut right in half” “No, no plan or anything. That was actually me going in for a real suicide attack, it’s just that Stiyl is so considerate, I had no idea about flame-resistant or defenses or—wait owwww?! I’b sowwy I’m sorry Miss Index pleeeaaaasssee?!” Kamijou thoroughly delivered the kind of scream he would have never voiced in serious situations. Finally, Index seemed to feel better. “…Hmph. You’re stupid. And reckless,” she murmured to herself as she put her small chin upon Kamijou’s hair. Uh, wha…?! Index, tired of being angry, probably did it with the same feeling one would when they got bored and put their head on their desk, but Kamijou’s heart immediately began beating twice as quickly. Aside from the sensation of a girl’s chin on his head, her long, silvery hair was giving off a sweet fragrance that wafted refreshingly to his cheeks, and above all, since he and Index were facing each other, her chest was super close—not even two centimeters from the tip of his nose. Normally he wasn’t aware of it, but this close, he was made to notice just a slight bit of a bulge. Why are all her attacks changing speed like this? Oh, I get it. Now she’s gonna realize I’m looking at her chest and end up biting me again, right?! Kamijou edged into a defensive stance, but contrary to his expectations, Index simply pulled herself away. She stared up at the night sky for a few moments, listening carefully. “It’s so quiet. You wouldn’t think that many people were fighting.” “Yeah.” He nodded along with her. But right now, this silence was welcome. At the very least, he didn’t need to worry about swinging around swords and lances, or people yelling angrily, or the sounds of things breaking. “Hey.” And then, all of a sudden, Saiji Tatemiya, seated nearby, spoke up to Kamijou. There was an odd tinge of impatience in his voice. Before Kamijou looked over there, Index spread out her arms and went in front of him as a shield. Tatemiya glared at them and said, “Shit. Sorry, but could you take these off for me, man? Well, I mean, I know I’m askin’ the impossible. But I can’t just leave her alone like this.” Huh? Kamijou frowned. Who does he mean by “her”? he thought…but it hit him a moment later: Orsola Aquinas. “What are you saying, idiot? Why would we let the most dangerous person here out of our—” “You’re the idiot here! Come on, just hear me out, all right? Do you actually plan on handing her over to the Roman Orthodox Church, man? You probably have no idea what kind of treatment she’ll be getting after this.” Huh…? Kamijou didn’t know what to say. “No, Touma.” Index actually sounded calmer than him. “This person uses his words as a weapon. So don’t listen to him. How would our enemy benefit from telling us the truth, anyway—” “She’s going to be killed,” said Saiji Tatemiya, cutting her off. “Listen, I’ll just tell you the ending first. Don’t hand her over to the Roman Orthodox. They actually want to kill her.” “And you’re Orsola’s ally, so you want us to untie you and let you escape? You’ve gotta be joking. That’s way too convenient. You’re the ones who kidnapped her in the first place! And you stole the Book of the Law, too! She knows how to decipher what’s inside it, so you kidnapped her, gave all these people weapons, and fought, and now you’re saying we’re the bad guys? That’s the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever heard” Kamijou was so mad that he yelled loud enough to hurt his throat. Tatemiya, however, didn’t care. “We didn’t steal the Book of the Law.” What? Kamijou’s mind blanked for a moment. “I mean, just think about it. What would we need it for? Roman Orthodoxy is the world’s largest Crossist denomination. It’s got more than two billion followers in all. Would we want the thing so badly we’d pick a fight with that? It’s just the Book of the Law.” “Don’t give him a serious reply, Touma!” Index tensed up and said flatly, “I heard Amakusa lost its priestess, and now it’s gotten a lot weaker. So you tried to make up for that missing strength by getting your hands on the unknown grand magics in the Book of the Law. Am I wrong?” “I just said—why would we need power in the first place?” Saiji Tatemiya smiled. The expression, with a bead of sweat sliding down his face, looked like he could have been impatient because he was running out of time. Kamijou was perplexed. “Because if you didn’t have it, you’d lose to other factions!” “Yeah—if they even attacked us, man. But you just have to remember this. Amakusa’s been oppressed for an extremely long time. Do you think we don’t have any countermeasures for it? Nobody has ever found our base, and there are still plenty of eddy points for our specialty, the Pilgrimage in Miniature, set up by Tadataka Inou, that no one knows about.” Kamijou suddenly felt like he’d been caught off guard by the man’s words. That was right—they only knew twenty-three of the points used for the special movement method. “How would anyone attack our base when no one but us even knows where it is?” He has a point, he thought. Nobody knew where Amakusa’s headquarters was, so if they fled there, Orsola wouldn’t be able to be rescued again. Because of that, the point of this battle had been to settle things before they activated the special movement method. No one would be able to attack their stronghold—so they never needed to prepare to defend it in the first place. “Then…” Did Amakusa have some other objective than defense? Could they have been going after the Book of the Law to expand their military might? Or were they… “Lemme ask you something, man. What kind of grimoire is the Book of the Law, exactly?” Saiji had been talking to him, but since he was a total amateur when it came to magic, he meekly looked at Index. She began explaining, her expression reluctant. “The Book of the Law is a grimoire written in an extremely complex code—and actually, its grammar is strange enough that it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that it was written in a completely different language all its own. It’s said that the only one to ever decipher it properly was Edward Alexander, the one who wrote it, also known as Crowley. He stated that the most important part of the book was ‘There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt,’ but nobody knows what that means.” She continued smoothly. “The Book of the Law’s contents contain instruction from an enigmatic being called Aiwass, who could be said to be his guardian angel or one who must not be forgiven. One theory states it lets you freely use techniques that angels can use. It has enormous power. They say that as soon as you open the book, it announces the end of the age of Crossism and the beginning of a new era.” “That’s the thing.” Saiji Tatemiya smiled meaningfully. “That’s the most important part. The Book of the Law does have enormous power. If it really did allow anyone to use angelic techniques, the era of a Crossist-dominated world would be over before the day was up. After all, everyone would be able to use powers stronger than the pope himself. The entire pyramid structure of the Church would come toppling down, but…” He paused for a moment. “But I don’t actually think everyone thinks everyone wants this power.” “Why not? I’m not a sorcerer, so I’m not involved in this. But don’t you professional sorcerers want to use stronger magic so you can move up in status?” “There’s the question of why we would need to move up in status in the first place. We don’t need that kind of power. In fact, neither should any true disciples of Crossism.” “But the Roman Orthodox Church manages the Book of the Law because they want its strength, don’t they?” This mystified Kamijou, but Index seemed to understand what he was getting at, since she made a sour expression. “Here’s the thing.” He smiled quietly and answered the young man’s innocent question. “Why would Roman Orthodoxy, the biggest Crossist denomination with the most disciples in the world—two billion—want to end the era of Crossism?” Oh. Then it hit him. People who were already satisfied at the current balance wouldn’t have any reason to desire change. In fact, that went even more for those who reigned supreme in this day and age. “The Roman Orthodox were never looking for a weapon as strong as the Book of the Law. What they need is a weapon to help them gain control of the world, not one that would smash the world to pieces.” Kamijou and Index both fell silent. It felt like the darkness of the night had grown many times thicker all of a sudden. “So they decided to secretly get rid of the one person who could draw out the book’s power. But she realized that, too. She used all the power she had to get to somewhere the Roman Orthodox couldn’t reach…In other words, she manipulated her schedule so she could come here to Japan. Ironically enough, the Book of the Law was set to be transported here already. And then she came looking for help from the local Crossist sect—Amakusa. When all’s said and done, we were really just helping her make her great escape.” Tatemiya heaved a sigh. “The book being stolen was a big farce put up by Roman Orthodoxy. There’s no way we would steal it. They were probably trying to connect her disappearance with the book. If they came as a set, then everyone would think the kidnapping was so we could get our hands on it. If she had been the only thing to disappear, people might put it down to some other possibility. Like that she defected in order to flee the Roman Orthodox Church, for example.” Good and evil, offense and defense, capturing and rescuing. Kamijou witnessed the single moment all of these flipped around. “So can you still say that the Roman Orthodox Church is in the right here? Can you say with one hundred percent certainty that returning Orsola Aquinas to them was the right move?” “…” “If you can, then let’s hear your proof. If you can’t, then stand up and face your own doubts! Who’s the real enemy here? Anyone could understand that if they just thought about it calmly” Kamijou took one deep breath at Saiji Tatemiya’s angry shout. He closed his eyes. He neatly arranged all the information in his head and started to verify it piece by piece. Think. Whose points are correct—the Romans or Amakusa? Where is the contradiction? “I can’t. I still don’t trust you completely.” “…Why not?” “Even if everything you say is true,” began Kamijou slowly, “then why did Orsola run away from you? I first met Orsola walking around by herself near Academy City. Stiyl explained before that the Roman Orthodox Church and Amakusa would have been fighting at the time. I think she probably looked for an opening in the fighting and ran from both parties. But if that’s the case, then why?” “…” “What you’re saying could be a lie. And even if it’s true, that doesn’t mean the enemy of our enemy is our friend. So I’ll ask you. Why did Orsola Aquinas run away from you?” If they were truly Orsola’s allies, then she wouldn’t have had any reason to run away. Tatemiya smiled quietly at Kamijou’s implicit declaration. It was a very weak smile, like he was tired of life. “She was the same.” “The same?” “Yeah. The same as you, man. She did come to us asking for help—but at the very end, she wasn’t able to trust us completely. She probably thought this about us. ‘They have no reason to help me at the cost of making the largest Crossist denomination, Roman Orthodoxy, their enemy. They must be after the method of deciphering the Book of the Law.’ ” Kamijou fell mum. Tatemiya’s eyes appeared to both be watching him and gazing at something far in the distance. “Man, barking up the wrong tree, that’s for sure. Why would we need to get our hands on that book?” “? Then what did you try and save her for?” asked Kamijou carefully. “We didn’t have a reason,” answered Tatemiya without missing a beat. “And we never did, either. We’ve done it this way since the beginning. And our current generation is even more exceptional. Why on earth do you think our priestess, that girl, was ordained our leader at such a young age? She stood before an evil dragon that could swallow mountains whole, just to protect one young girl’s dream. She defended a small village from a big military force so that she could hear the one person’s dying request. And from behind, we watched her this whole time. It may only have been a little while, but for us, it feels like we’ve done so forever.” Saiji Tatemiya spoke as though he were chasing the illusions of bygone days. And as if boasting about his own family. “That is why we do not mistake our path, and why we do not mistake how we use our strength—and how we’ve led ourselves along the straight and narrow. Many things are easier said than done—but she would actually do them. Her example taught us that people could become this strong. That people could become this kind. That all of that was within our reach.” Quiet dominated the air. Tatemiya gritted his teeth to break the silence. “…And that path she lived her life walking—we destroyed all of it.” “What?” “Our deaths—our inexperience—caused the priestess to suffer. She was always the last one standing, and she began to believe it was her fault that everyone around her was falling. That ain’t a joke. Our minds and bodies were what caused everything—the fact that we wished to stand together with her on the battlefield, and the fact that we fell in the process. And now we’re in this sorry state. The priestess didn’t do anything wrong, but we forced her to leave the place she belonged by herself.” Tatemiya talked as if stabbing his own face with a sword. His voice, wrung from deep in his throat, contained vivid emotion. “We stole her home with our inexperience. That’s why we need to offer her home to her again. One where nobody gets hurt, one where nobody must grieve, one where everyone fights to put smiles on others’ faces. A home where we all stand as one without hesitation to protect someone’s happiness.” “…” “That’s why we extended a helping hand to Orsola—because she wanted help. “Because we thought our priestess’s home should be a world in which people would do that normally.” In the end, they weren’t actually fighting for advantage or disadvantage, as they assumed from interorganizational deals. They were just fighting because the circumstance dictated it—not because they were looking to gain anything from it. The circumstance in question was too deeply entwined with the history of their group, so they couldn’t get Orsola to understand. It had just created a misunderstanding. Was that it? That was only if everything Tatemiya was saying were true, though. Kamijou had begun to want to believe his words. But there was still no proof for any of them. Even if he felt like he wanted to trust Tatemiya, he couldn’t find any evidence that would let him do so absolutely. He gritted his teeth. Who should he believe? Who was telling the lies? Many thoughts spun round and round in his mind, when… …suddenly, they heard an ear-splitting yell from far away. No—it was nothing so lackluster as a yell. A shriek. A scream. A screech. And if he had to guess, it had come from a woman. But did it really come from a person? Kamijou wasn’t even confident enough to say that. The high-pitched whine, like fingernails scratching glass or a chalkboard, physically made people cringe. And yet within the loud reverberation was plenty of raw human emotion. Fear. Denial. Despair. Agony. It was like a mud-soaked sponge being wrung out—he could tell that the repressed sound, unbecoming of a human, was soaked in all-too-real human-ness. Index looked at Kamijou. He didn’t look back at her. “Or…sola?” “I’ll ask you one more time…Did you say you were entrusting her to the Roman Orthodox Church, man? I thought she trusted you—not the Roman Orthodox.” “…” Those words made Kamijou think back. “I would like to make certain—you are helping now because you were requested to cooperate by the English Puritan Church, yes?” —Why would Orsola Aquinas have been so reluctant to ask him that? “That’s right…” —Why did she look so relieved at that short statement? “So then you are of English Puritan descent, not Roman Orthodox?” —And she asked again, to make absolutely sure… “It’s nothing crazy like that. Oh, and just so you know, I don’t have any pull with them. I’m from Academy City, after all.” —And those words, which he hadn’t thought about very hard, made her so relieved… “I…see.” —Those two words—how much meaning had been packed into them? She probably had faith until the very end. Faith that Touma Kamijou was someone she could trust herself to as long as she needed. “…Shit!” Kamijou clenched his teeth in anger. He quickly turned in the direction he’d heard the shriek. In hindsight, he should have just gotten her into Academy City even if they risked danger. That was it—that was all he had to do to make her safe! “Give me a goddamn break. Why the hell did it turn out like this?!” “Don’t panic. It’s not like that scream was her dying. The Roman Orthodox Church has their own stuff going on—they wouldn’t be able to kill Orsola Aquinas right here and now. Actually, I’m completely certain of that.” “What?” “I mean that if you hurry, you can still save her. But if you misstep here, who knows what will happen? Given the situation, I’m not gonna ask you anymore whether or not you trust us, man. We have our own circumstances, but securing Orsola’s safety is the most important thing. So I don’t care if you and I remain enemies or not!” His shout implied that they were in a race against time. “But just promise me this! That you’ll get back Orsola Aquinas from the Roman Orthodox and take her somewhere neither they nor we can get to her” His eyes were serious. Serious enough to make Kamijou falter. And then. Suddenly, ker-click—he heard a footstep. He took his eyes from Tatemiya. He turned around to the noise to see two sisters in black approaching, as if parting the darkness in front of them. They must have been from the Roman Orthodox Church. One was tall, and one was short. The taller one was hoisting a wheel, bigger than a small round table, that looked like it came off a carriage. The shorter one had four leather pouches hanging from the belt around her waist. Coins or something must have been inside, because they jingled every time she took a step. The pouches were about softball size, so if they were filled with coins, they would have been as heavy as shot puts. The taller sister drew an old leather notebook from her sleeve pocket and flipped through its pages; then, after nodding about something, she came over to Kamijou. Perhaps there was a photograph in there. “You are the outsiders assisting us, yes? We have come to take custody of the imprisoned heretic leader. The enemy of God…Is that him?” As she spoke, the younger sister moved toward Saiji Tatemiya, seated with rune cards stuck on him, in anticipation of the answer. The four coin pouches at her hips jingled. “Hey, wait a second!” called Kamijou, but the short sister didn’t seem to hear. For a moment, she reached a hand toward Tatemiya but then hesitated, realizing something. She went around him, carefully observing the rune cards attached to him. Instead, the taller sister stared at Kamijou’s face. “What is it?” “Before you guys pull out of here, can you let me see Orsola one more time?” “Unfortunately, I must decline. Though we have secured Sister Orsola’s safety, we cannot call the situation safe just yet, since we don’t know the true state of the enemy forces. In cases such as these, our rules state we must give first priority to the safety of our own personnel. Once we have safely seen her back to Rome, we will send you an invitation.” A perfect answer—so perfect that he had to frown. “No, no. I’m not convinced. What was that scream from before, anyway? Wasn’t that Orsola’s voice? Is that the kind of noise that someone who’s made it to safety would make? Anyway, I want to see her again. You don’t mind, right? I just want to see her for a bit, say a few words, and that’s it. We won’t be seeing each other for a while, so I have to at least say good-bye.” “But our rules state…” “Ah, jeez! Why are you so annoying about rules? Is Agnes over there? I’ll just go over and ask her myself!” Kamijou grabbed the tall sister’s shoulder and brusquely pushed her aside. “…” She relaxed her shoulders, as if amazed at seeing how much of a worrywart he was. Then she took the giant wheel against her back and placed it in front of her like a shield with a dull noise. Index’s face immediately warped with nervousness. “Stop, Touma—?!” But before she could finish… Boom The wooden wheel exploded. “…?!” For an instant, Kamijou didn’t know what happened. Like a shotgun, hundreds of sharp fragments came flying, but only toward him. Once his thought process caught up, he covered his face and chest with both hands. A moment later, the countless splinters hit him right in the hands, legs, and gut. By the time he had begun to feel pain, his feet had already left the ground. As the stupid-sounding ka-boom hit him, he found himself being blown five or six meters back. Index’s clipped shriek reached his ears. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Tatemiya trying to stand, but he stopped abruptly when a few rune flames singed his hair. He bared his teeth like a chained wild dog. The shorter sister appeared a little shaken up. She looked at the taller sister and asked, “S-Sister Lucia…Umm, well, i-is this okay…? Didn’t…Didn’t Sister Agnes tell us to avoid needless contact with our guests…?” “Be quiet, Sister Angeline. Damn, Agnes, this is why we shouldn’t have let these heathens slip so close to us—we should have chased them away sooner. We all listened to your optimistic command to leave them be, and this is what happens…,” muttered the taller sister to herself as if to calm her own emotions, shooting a glare at the shorter sister to silence her. Her eyes had changed color. It was an abstract change, but that’s what Kamijou thought. The taller sister’s eyes had heat enough in them to melt butter into a puddle as she looked at Kamijou. He was speechless—was this the same kind of nun as the ones who had given him bread and soup at the campsite? “If only you weren’t so weirdly obsessed with a scream, then we would have had less to do…Damn, why—why, this heretic, with his hand, on my shoulder, my shoulder, my shoulder. Sister Angeline! Find me the soap—no, the detergent! This is terrible. I am in the worst of moods. They spoke to me. Would you say a few words to them? I simply cannot stand it—I need to wear a mudguard apron or something.” Blood silently rose to the tall sister’s face. Her face wavered to and fro as her mouth produced a monotone voice. “This is all getting more and more and more complicated. What are we to do? Let us say that Amakusa member resisted and killed you both. Ah, yes, that seems like the easiest option. After that, we must only seal Amakusa’s lips, and there will be no problems.” The line sounded like an ad-lib correction for a stage play whose scenario had gone awry. It sounded like a threatening voice, but Kamijou couldn’t find it in him to answer. Quite a few wooden shards had struck him, but they weren’t actual blades in the first place, so his wounds were shallow. But right after that…the slender shards piercing his skin suddenly began twisting up and down by themselves. “Gh…gaahh?!” As Kamijou screamed, as though pulling out an ax wedged in a big tree, the fragments began falling out one after another. The blood-splattered fragments returned to the tall sister as if by magnetism, and like a jigsaw puzzle being assembled, they re-formed the original carriage wheel. “Touma” shouted Index, just about to run over to him in a panic. However, at the sight, the tall sister commanded, “Sister Angeline!” “Y-yes ma’am!” stammered the short sister in reply, slicing the belt at her waist and throwing the four coin pouches overhead. Right then, flap With the sound of air hitting a big piece of cloth, six sparrow-like wings came out of each of the pouch openings. The wings shone in different colors for each pouch—red, blue, yellow, and green. “Viene. Una persona dodici apostli. Lo schiavo basso che rovina rovina un mago mentre e quelli che raccolgono!” The short sister raised both hands overhead as if to embrace the night sky, and at that moment, Brrmmm With the speed of a bullet, the green-winged coin pouch grazed across Index and stabbed into the ground at her feet. Bkk-bshh, came a small sound as the hard ground began to form cracks like tree roots. “This is…?” Index hastily tried to leap backward, but her body came right back down. She looked to see the drawstring on the coin pouch stuck in the ground was undone. It had wrapped around her ankles and was holding her down. Right when Index cast her gaze down to her feet, the other three pouches fluttered high in the air, aiming right for that new blind spot. Kamijou paled. Oh, crap…! If she hits her with that… The coin pouches probably weighed more than shot puts. With her feet stuck to the ground, Index wouldn’t be able to avoid them, and it would be too much to defend with her hands. “Shit! Index” he shouted, getting ready to run over there. Fortunately, the coin pouch binding her legs seemed to work on magical principles. It would be easy to punch it with his right hand and undo it. But then… “Worry about yourself, child. So that you may avoid as much pain as you can!” Before he realized it, the taller sister hoisting the giant wheel had jumped above him. Kamijou, unstable and trying to stand up, locked on to the wheel’s center point like the muzzle on a gun. —?! He shuddered and he felt his throat dry up. Punching the wheel and having it be blasted to smithereens clearly presented poor odds for him. “Heathen child, are you familiar with the Legend of the Wheel?” The tall sister smiled vacantly. “Countless saints have been martyred since long ago. Those foolish people, high in the government, thought to end their lives by execution, but in their history of torture and execution, the wheel appears many times.” Kamijou didn’t feel like engaging in small talk, but the wheel before his eyes was preventing him from moving. And meanwhile, the three coin pouches, dozens of meters in the air, turned and dove straight down to Index. “They were giant wheels, with innumerable nails and blades stabbing into them, made to rip saints apart. But there are many reports of the wheels exploding on their own when they touched saints. Yes—Saint George, who exterminated dragons, and even Saint Catherine of the Alexandria. Fragments from the exploding wheels were said to have killed more than four thousand people who were there to watch the execution. The teachings of the Legend of the Wheel are as follows.” Her calm tone fried his nerves even more. The three coin pouches aiming for Index shot like a bullet toward her to smash her head in. The tall sister viewed Kamijou as he began to sweat in nervousness from the other side of the wheel. She smiled, pleased. “The sinless will not be punished, and the sinful will receive judgment—know this, heretic. There is no salvation for you. Sister Orsola, both our comrade and a fool who must die—we must follow procedure for her, but we have no need to hesitate when killing the two of you.” “Shit…” Thinking he was going to go save Index, he turned and gave his full attention to the bound girl in white. Before his eyes, the wheel began to crack apart. Time slowed—and Kamijou saw the wheel, split into six equal parts at its center like a pizza, begin to expand from within. “Ga, ahh” He clenched his right hand and howled, but he was too late. He wouldn’t make it. Before he thrust out his fist, the giant wheel wielded by the tall sister made an ear-splitting noise… …and with a ger-slam it bounced sideways. Obviously, it wasn’t the tall sister’s intention, nor was it due to Kamijou’s fist. The coin pouches. The coin pouch with six red wings, which had been going after Index’s head, had struck the execution wheel from the side with amazing speed. The impact wrenched the wheel from the tall sister’s hands. It bounced on the ground a few times and flew into the darkness. The coin pouch that hit it burst open from the impact, sending unidentifiable coins of all sizes into the air. The tall sister, suddenly without a weapon, hastily jumped away to put distance between her and Kamijou, then turned a glare on the shorter sister. “Sister Angeline, have you gone mad?!” “N-no, no…It wasn’t me!” Her savagely angry shout made the shorter of them blanch and explain herself, when just then, “CTRTTOP, ABO! (Collect the remaining three to one point, and become one!)” Index’s clear voice interrupted them. That instant. Ker-crash, came the roar of metal being pulverized. The green pouch’s drawstring came off from Index’s ankles. The blue and yellow pouches going for her head instead shot off toward the short sister’s face with incredible speed. The three pouches collided with one another two centimeters from her nose and stopped dead. The extreme force pounded the hundred-some coins into a single metal lump, and it made a dull sound as it fell to the short sister’s feet. Plop. The shorter sister fell over on her rear with, strangely enough, a smile. “The apostle Matthew, who felled two fire-breathing dragons using only a cross and prayer. By passing telesma through his emblem, the money pouch, one can create a weapon that tracks a target when thrown…,” Index criticized, very quietly. “How sloppy. The incantation is long, and its encryption is all over the place. You’re so preoccupied with stabilizing your own technique and not paying attention to anything else. It’s easy to muscle on into it!” Kamijou didn’t understand what had just happened. Index couldn’t use magic, could she? Or was it some other kind of trick? Something to let her interrupt the short sister’s sorcery and hijack it… “…Self-destruction—friendly fire. A tactic to use the penalty of magical failure against itself.” The taller sister cast her gaze around, then clucked her tongue and readied herself again. Even without a weapon, her will to fight hadn’t waned one bit. With gentle movements, she made the sign of the cross… …but then they heard what sounded like a high-pitched flute tone from far away. Fwee, came the birdlike scream. The taller sister looked hatefully into the black sky. “The command to retreat? Sister Angeline” “Ah, uh? B-but we haven’t yet dealt with—” “We are retreating. We can put the Amakusa leftovers down to the English already having let them escape. Ruining the pace of things will badly affect our unit as a whole and could cause harm to befall the group escorting Orsola. That is the larger problem at hand.” The tall sister turned on her heel and disappeared into the darkness, and the short sister followed her in a fluster. “You get it now, right?” said Saiji Tatemiya sourly, looking up at the night sky. “That’s how Roman Orthodoxy, the largest Crossist denomination in the world, operates behind the scenes.” 2 “I see. So that’s why she looked so stupefied the moment she saw Agnes Sanctis. They probably cut us off from the main Roman Orthodox force because they’ve been looking down on us from the start, too. Hmph…Their chain of command would be left in disarray with English Puritans there, eh? That’s rich,” said Stiyl at leisure as they left Parallel Sweets Park. He must have heard Orsola’s scream, too, but he didn’t seem to have asked Agnes about it when he left her. If he hadn’t known the situation and asked her, it could have turned into a diplomatic issue between the two Church organizations. Kamijou understood that, but he wasn’t satisfied with it. After the little fight, he had run to where Agnes had been, only to find that she and all the others had already withdrawn. And no assassins came up to pursue Tatemiya, either. With so many of his friends captured, maybe they had judged Amakusa as having already been destroyed. The fact that they’d had so many people, yet still withdrew cleanly enough to leave no trace of their existence, sent shivers down Kamijou’s spine. The fact that they hadn’t given the English Puritans any sort of debriefing—or even a good-bye—must have meant they really didn’t trust them at all. Securing Orsola was their primary objective. Maybe they figured that they’d only deal with Tatemiya and the others if they had the time. Or perhaps they would summon their entire force from all over the city and press for a decisive victory. With all of that, Kamijou, Index, Stiyl, and Tatemiya were busy exchanging information. Kamijou, having been stricken all over his body with those wheel fragments, was wrapped up in bandages in many places. “Even if everything that man says is true, they’re not going to kill Orsola Aquinas right away. They have their own circumstances to consider…So, Touma Kamijou, don’t you dare go running off somewhere right this moment. If you stand out, things will get pretty complex.” Kamijou made a dissatisfied face at the warning. “…What do you mean, circumstances to consider?” “Roman Orthodoxy is Crossism’s largest denomination, Touma. Most don’t know anything about the occult, but it still has more than two billion followers, the pope still leads 141 cardinals, and it’s still expansive enough that it has churches in 113 countries. It’s all well and good that it’s big, but if it gets too big, they might start to have problems.” “?” Kamijou still didn’t understand. This time, Tatemiya spoke up. “Well, in other words, basically…If they have that much influence, they’re obviously gonna have a lot of different factions. First off, the pope and the cardinals govern 142 parishes, and depending on the country and region, it’s 207—then if you add in clashes between old and young and between male and female, it’s 252.” Stiyl blew out a puff of smoke, vexed. “With so many factions, people say Roman Orthodoxy has more enemies within it than outside it. People join up with others over minute problems with their own brethren and poke and prod at them. With all that, the current situation has a very delicate aspect to it. The Book of the Law is definitely a threat to Roman Orthodoxy, but Orsola Aquinas herself is entirely innocent. If they kill her unreasonably, their brethren around the world would turn against Agnes.” “Is that right? But we didn’t do anything wrong, either. And they still came at us without a second thought.” Kamijou lightly stroked the bandage on his arm with a fingertip. It was already oppressively hot outside—the bandages on him were only making it worse. “That’s because they can use the excuse that we’re heretics or pagans. Any idea how much atrocity has been justified by simply saying how it’s okay to punish those who disobey God’s teachings?” “That’s what the sisters who attacked us before are probably thinking. But I think that’s exactly why they can’t inadvertently lay a hand on Orsola. Since thou shalt not kill those who believe in the teachings of God.” “…” Kamijou glanced away and thought about it, gazing at the trees on the roadside illuminated by the streetlights. Even if Roman Orthodoxy had a rule that stated they couldn’t kill other members of the faith, then why did Amakusa act to prevent Orsola from being assassinated? He asked the question, and Stiyl answered, not treating it as very important. “It’s easy. There’re exceptions.” “Exceptions?” “That’s right. Thou shalt not kill those who believe in the teachings of God—if you subscribe to this rule, then that means it’s okay to drive those who don’t from the Church and kill them.” His giant sword on full display, Tatemiya continued for Stiyl. Not that it mattered, but Kamijou began to worry how he’d explain himself if the police saw him. “Criminals, witches, traitors…They cut off all connections with those who break the rules. And at the same time, they label them enemies of God.” “The way they do it is simple. Just test them. Let’s see—for example, say there’s a metal pole that’s so hot it’s burning red. They’ll make Orsola hold it. If she were innocent, her Lord would protect her, and she wouldn’t be burned. But if she was burned, then she would be judged one not worth protecting. It’s absurd, isn’t it? In English Puritanism, testing the Lord is treated as a sin.” “But that’s…!” Kamijou was dumbfounded. “But of course she’d get burned! It would be weirder if she didn’t!” “You’re right. They could find fault with her even if she wasn’t burned. They could say she’s being protected by the devil. Whichever the result, the one being tested is sure to be labeled.” That’s savage, he thought. It was absolutely wrong to decide Orsola’s fate with such messed-up methods. “But on the other hand, this inquisition—or trial by ordeal, should I say. Anyway, until they’re finished preparing to exile her, they can’t take her life without due caution. If they follow proper procedure, they will go back to Rome first, and then it would take two or three days to get it ready. Still, anything they do will probably be overlooked as long as they don’t kill her.” The Roman Orthodox couldn’t care less about what she was thinking or the feelings with which she was trying to stand up to the grimoire’s original copy. Because it was a nuisance. Because it was inconvenient. Because it was a pain. Because it wouldn’t go well. Because it would make trouble. That was all it took for them to go after Orsola’s life. Even though they should have been the same. Even though Orsola and the Roman Orthodox must have had the same opinions deep down. Even though both of them saw the Book of the Law as dangerous and were acting because they wanted to do something about it. Even though she was looking for a breakthrough, a way to dispose of the original copies of grimoires, which were said to be indestructible by human hands, despite the fact that they could decipher them. Even though she just wanted to be useful. Even though she thought the book was dangerous and wanted to do something about it. “Do you know about the original copies of grimoires? Or how they cannot be destroyed by any means?” —Was that really such a bad thing? “With current technology, it is impossible to get rid of grimoires that have reached this state. The most that can be done is to seal it so that nobody may ever read it.” —Had Orsola Aquinas done something so wrong… “That is, with current technology.” —…that she needed to go through someone else’s procedure, be labeled a heretic, remain silent instead of asking for someone’s help, and be executed? “One should be able to use the magic circle against itself—in other words, to force the original text to destroy itself.” —No. “The power of grimoires doesn’t bring anyone happiness. The only thing they create is conflict. That’s why I was investigating its inner workings—in order to destroy these kinds of grimoires.” —No! “Like hell I’ll accept that…” Kamijou clenched his teeth so hard they might break. “Even if they had that kind of reason, no matter what circumstances they have, that shit isn’t okay! Seriously, what the hell?! What do they think human life is? Taking away everything important to a person, bit by bit—what the hell do they think human life is?!” Touma Kamijou had amnesia. So there were very few things he thought were very important. He only had a month’s worth of memories from summer vacation in the first place. Compared to high school students with normal lives, he had but a fraction of things important to him. And most of what he had were messy memories borne from lying about his amnesia. But Kamijou still felt as though…Even he, with such a scant number of things he could call precious—if someone were to come and steal them away as simply as crossing something out in a document with red ink, he would be angry beyond description. Maybe those in the Roman Orthodox Church really were fighting to protect something precious to them. But they shouldn’t be doing it. Like a flock of crows pecking at somebody—stripping away everything someone held dear, one by one, robbing them—that was something that should never be done. Why didn’t they look for another way? Why did the cheap, foolish method of killing her satisfy them? Kamijou clenched his fists so tightly he thought they might bleed. The lights on the street, dotting the dark residential area at night, coldly illuminated them. “…Where are they right now? Do you know anything?” “I’ve got a good idea. But what do you plan on doing once I tell you?” answered Stiyl in an aloof way—and it made Kamijou want to grab his collar. How the hell can this guy stay so calm? he thought. His face looked like he was going to devour Stiyl, but the priest didn’t seem disturbed at all. The cigarette in the corner of his mouth wiggled. In fact, Index, whom he couldn’t see, seemed to be the one who was scared. “I understand how you feel.” Stiyl quietly exhaled smoke. “But how about we calm down a bit first, hm? There are close to 250 of the ladies just in this one town, remember? Remind me—was your fist convenient enough to wipe them all out?” “…” Kamijou gripped his own fists. Yes, he knew that. His skill was only good for fights in back alleys. He could only beat people one on one. One on two was pretty risky, and one on three would end up with him getting beaten to a pulp. And while it may have been a sneak attack, that sister had just overwhelmed him by attacking with that wheel. Barehanded fights in real life weren’t like in the movies—one person couldn’t beat dozens of opponents by himself in a fair fight. No matter how strong the person was, there was a strict rule to the effect that you couldn’t possibly win given a certain number of people surrounding you. And that… …was if you weren’t the kind of real combat professional you saw in manga and dramas. The sorcerer—who should have been one of those combat professionals—blew out a little smoke, grinning comfortably. “If Amakusa’s story is all true, then we don’t have anything to do at this point in the first place. Unfortunately, this story is already over.” “What…was that?” “Just think about it, all right? Orsola Aquinas broke the Roman Orthodox rules, and now they’re after her life. Agnes Sanctis followed her to punish her for breaking the rules. That’s really all this incident was, wasn’t it? The Book of the Law’s original copy is apparently safe at home in the Vatican Library. Given their position, they can’t allow it to be used for evil. Amakusa’s saying they don’t plan on using it for evil, either. In the end, nothing has happened that would change what we English Puritans have to do. I’m not happy we didn’t get to say good-bye now that everything’s over with, but it’s nothing getting so red-faced over will do anything about, is it?” This time for sure… This time, Touma Kamijou grabbed Stiyl Magnus’s collar without a second thought. Index covered her mouth and let out a yelp as Tatemiya looked at him and gave a whistle. But still, the rune sorcerer wasn’t disturbed in the slightest. In the deserted night streets, his words echoed, alone, and disappeared. The flickering streetlights intermittently cast their shine on the priest. “This is no more than the Roman Orthodox Church judging an internal incident by its own rules. As long as it doesn’t affect anyone else, if we English Puritans foolishly complained about it, then it would be seen as a political intervention—it could even do great harm to relations between the English and the Romans…Unfortunately, it’s time to give up on this, Touma Kamijou. Or do you want to save her even if you start a war?” “…That’s…” “Whether it’s English Puritanism or Roman Orthodoxy, don’t go thinking everyone who’s part of them are combat personnel like we are. Word Count: (8777)