Stiyl and Index walked out of the theater hall of the Gloaming House and arrived at the lobby, which seemed to be where the ticket booth had originally been.
A girl in a black nun's habit was walking in front of them.
She seemed to be a year or two younger than Index. Her hair was slightly reddish and was tied into many pencil-thin braids. The sleeves of her robe nearly covered her fingers, but her skirt was so short that her thighs were exposed. Looking closely, there seemed to be something that looked like a zipper on the lower edge of her skirt. It seemed like the skirt was part of a detachable dress, but only the lower half had been removed. She appeared extremely thin, as her slim waist was even slimmer than Index's, who was rather thin herself.
She was about as tall as Index, but she wore soft wooden sandals with soles about 30 cm thick; as she walked, they made a sound like horseshoes tapping on the ground. These sandals were called "chopines", and had been very fashionable in Italy during the 17th century.
She was a nun from the Roman Catholic Church.
Her name was Agnese Sanctis.
"The situation is extremely chaotic right now; there's so much information that we can't handle it all. We have no idea where Orsola is right now. Also, The Book of the Law is still missing. That's really bothering us."
None of the people present were Japanese; Agnese, however, was speaking in fluent Japanese.
"Just now, we ambushed the Amakusas as they were deporting Orsola. Although some of us managed to save her, she got taken away by them again before the rest could meet up with her. Then we got her back, but then another group of Amakusas captured her again...and this went on and on and on. Because the area in which we trapped them was too big, it ended up that each group had too few people despite our large numbers, and the Amakusas got an opportunity. Just as both sides were fighting to get Orsola, she disappeared."
Agnese's Japanese was mixed with polite honorifics and rude words.
If she learned her Japanese while doing her mission in Japan, then it seems like the Japanese people that she talked to were mostly detectives or policemen, Stiyl thought.
He saw Agnese turn around to look at him. Her short skirt lifted slightly, revealing even more of her snow-white thighs.
"What, got a problem? Ah, I'm sorry, it's not that I don't speak English, but my English has a very heavy Italian accent. I don't really mind if I'm talking to people of other countries, but I don't dare show my inferior English to you British."
Stiyl did not seem to mind, as he shook the cigarette in his mouth and said,
"You don't have to worry about those trivial issues; we can even talk in Italian."
"Please don't speak Italian. If I were to hear anyone speak Italian with such a strong British accent, I'd probably laugh so much that I wouldn't be able to focus on my work. In this situation, it's better to use another language that we can communicate with, like Japanese. No one will argue if we use a language that neither of us are comfortable with."
Agnese's thick sandals continued to make that horseshoe-tapping sound.
It sounds like she has a point, but if she were to follow this logic, how would she communicate if she were to meet a Japanese person? Stiyl unnecessarily thought for her. Also, if she isn't going to use the native language to speak with the people of a country, what would be the point of learning their language?
Up until now, Index had remained silent.
Stiyl stole a glance at Index, who was still unhappy as she curled her lips, not saying a single word. He then turned back to Agnese and said,
"Then, does that mean that the Amakusa Church, who stole The Book of the Law and Orsola from you guys, is a threatening force?"
"You were trying to say, 'The largest Christian sect in the world, the Roman Catholic Church, is useless despite looking so strong', right? To be honest, we can't argue against that. Just by looking at the numbers and armaments, we clearly have the upper hand, but they have the geographical advantage, especially since Japan is their territory. We're really angry over being overwhelmed by a much smaller organization, but I have to admit, they're really strong."
"…so it seems that they won't just surrender quietly."
Stiyl's voice hinted at a sense of disappointment.
Forcing an opponent to surrender after showing them a disparity in power would be the fastest and most peaceful way to resolve this situation. But now that the enemy had enough ability to reject any negotiations, it seemed that a long fight would be inevitable.
The longer the battle against the Amakusa Church, the more likely the chance that Kanzaki would intervene. This meant that, in order to complete the mission, Stiyl would have to give up all forms of compassion and take the Amakusas out quickly before Kanzaki could realize what was going on.
The objective of the Roman Catholic Church was to retrieve The Book of the Law and Orsola Aquinas, not to destroy the Amakusa Church. Once they completed their objective, the Roman Catholics would pull out immediately.
Now, they just had to try and make the Amakusas lose their will to fight.
"I'm quite unfamiliar with Christian history in Japan. Do you know what kind of techniques they use? Maybe I can make use of how the enemy fights to prepare some searching or defensive types of magical arrays or talismans."
Although Stiyl had often fought alongside Kanzaki, who had originally been a member of the Amakusa Church, he had no intention to analyze the techniques she had used; that was because Kanzaki was a Saint, one of less than twenty people in the world who possessed the Stigma. Even if he were to do the analysis correctly, an ordinary man like Stiyl would not be able to use the techniques anyway. It was like how no one would use a 50-cm ruler to measure the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
Agnese seemed to find it difficult to answer the question that the priest had raised.
"To be honest…we haven't yet gathered enough information regarding the techniques that the Amakusas use. Since they're derived from Saint Francisco's[2] Society of Jesus, they should be a branch of the Roman Catholic Church. But they've been so greatly influenced by Japan and China that they're now completely different from the Roman Catholic Church."
Hearing that, Stiyl did not blame Agnese. These people were able to sense that the Amakusa style was mixed with some aspects of Buddhism and Shintoism after fighting them for just two days, which showed that their analytical abilities were rather strong.
Stiyl turned to look at Index, wanting to seek her advice.
Now was the right time for Index, who had knowledge exceeding ten thousand times that of a normal person, to fulfill her role. The pure-white nun remained calm and composed as she said,
"The Amakusa's speciality is 'secrecy', since they're Christians whose nature is to deceive others; they hide the teachings of Christianity inside Shintoism and Buddhism completely, and use rituals and techniques as part of their greetings, diet, and behavior in their everyday lives. They cover all their tracks so that others won't even notice their existence. Thus, they don't use any spells or magical arrays. They use pots, pans, kitchen knives, bathrooms, quilts, showers, humming…any thing or action that looks rather ordinary to activate their magic. Because of that, no matter how skilled the magician is, they'd be fooled once they entered the ceremonial area of the Amakusa, since, to them, it just looks like an ordinary kitchen or bathroom."
Stiyl shook the cigarette in his mouth and said,
"So, this is a group of experts highly skilled in the Idol Theory. Hm, seems like their specialty would be long-range sniping and not close-range combat. Hopefully, they don't have a large technique like the Gregorian Chant."
"No. They've been studying other countries' cultures ever since the Edo period, and have fused sword techniques of all ages to create their own unique style. They're able to use any weapon with ease, whether it be a Japanese sword or a Western broadsword."
"...they're well-versed in both literature and martial arts? That's really troublesome."
Stiyl felt vexed. Agnese, who had unknowingly been left out of the conversation, angrily kicked the floor with her soles. With every kick, her extremely short miniskirt would flip up slightly, making a rather funny "pop" sound in the process.
Dangling the cigarette in his mouth, the priest turned to look at Agnese.
"Can you tell me where we'll be looking for The Book of the Law and Orsola Aquinas? We can't just idle around and do nothing. Tell me, where do we start?"
"Ah, we'll do the searching."
Suddenly involved in the conversation again, Agnese was obviously flustered. She quickly straightened herself.
"Human wave tactics are our specialty. We have about 250 of our members here, so it wouldn't even matter if we were to add one or two more; it wouldn't make much of a difference. Also, you use a different command system, so it would likely cause more confusion than good."
"...then why bring me here?"
Stiyl frowned as he asked. Agnese smiled and said,
"Simple: there's a place we can't search, and we need your help."
"Which place? Japan doesn't have a church that's directly governed by the Anglican Church. The only place we're allowed to search is the British embassy."
"No, I'm talking about Academy City." Agnese raised her hand as she said, "Once Orsola escapes to Academy City, the Amakusa won't be able to catch her. That isn't impossible, is it? No, it might be harder to capture her. So, I had hoped to use you guys to get in touch with Academy City. The Roman Catholic Church has no connections within Academy City, so it's a bit bothersome for us."
"I see… but since it's for that sort of reason, you should have told me earlier; that way, it would've saved a lot of hassle."
Index, who was temporarily staying in Academy City, understood that there was a certain level of relationship between Academy City and the Anglican Church. Of course, the significance of this diplomatic relationship was not large, but if the Roman Catholic Church, who did not have any diplomatic relations, were to contact Academy City through the Anglican Church, who did have some link with them, there would be less of a disturbance.
"...anyway, if Orsola were to escape to Academy City, the situation would get rather complicated."
"That's just a possibility, though. Hopefully, Orsola will not panic so much that she loses her common sense. In any case, how long would it take for you guys to contact Academy City, and confirm whether Orsola is in there or not?"
"It's impossible to settle all those things with just a phone call; I'd have to call St. George Cathedral first, and then communicate with Academy City through them...even if it's an emergency situation, it'd take about seven to ten minutes. If we wanted permission to enter Academy City, it'd be even more troublesome. Technically, we could still sneak in, but being in official positions, we'd be better off not doing that."
"Anyway, please try and confirm it as fast as possible-"
Halfway through her sentence, Agnese suddenly froze.
Following her line of sight, Stiyl realized that she was looking at the entrance on the other side of the lobby. Made of five glass doors that opened outward, the theater entrance was rather big.
"What? What's going on-?"
Even Stiyl froze after halfway through his question.
"Hm?"
On the other side of the windowpanes, there was an open patch of ground covered with asphalt: the parking lot. Although the theater was extremely big, the open area was tiny. Tenacious weeds had grown and emerged from the cracks in the hard asphalt. There was nothing else in the empty area...except for two shadows on the empty, abandoned lot.
The two shadows belonged to two people.
"Ah, it's Touma."
Index said the name of the rather familiar-looking boy.
"Or… Orsola Aquinas?"
Agnese said the name of the black-robed nun beside the boy.
The two people, whose names had been called, did not see the magicians that were inside the Gloaming House.