"I see. No wonder Orsola Aquinas looked like everything was lost when she saw Agnese Sanctis. Separating us from the Roman Catholics was because they looked down on us from the beginning. Humph… adding in the Anglicans will cause the command chain to go chaotic; it's all an excuse."
Stiyl said this after walking out of the "Parallel Sweets Wonderland" theme park. He had also heard Orsola's scream, but hadn't turned to ask Agnese what it was all about. Maybe he didn't know the reasons or didn't want to take rash action and cause relations between the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church to become strained. Either way, Kamijou didn't understand Stiyl's actions.
Kamijou had just ran to see Agnese, but they had retreated, and there was no one left. No one even picked up Tatemiya. Maybe they thought that the Amakusa was dissolved now that they had captured most of them.
The fact that a group with so many people was able to retreat so cleanly made Kamijou freeze up. The fact that they never left the Anglicans a note showed that they had never trusted them in the first place. Maybe to the Roman Catholics, getting Orsola back was their priority, and it wouldn't hurt them if they didn't take care of Tatemiya and the rest. Or maybe the Roman Catholics were gathering their forces that were scattered in the city, intending to use overwhelming force to wipe them out.
Right now, the quartet- Kamijou, Index, Stiyl, and Tatemiya- were exchanging information. On a side note, as Kamijou had been hit by the shrapnel of the wheel, he was covered with bandages everywhere.
"If what this man said is true, Orsola Aquinas isn't in immediate danger. The Roman Catholic Church has a set of regulations… so, Kamijou Touma, don't immediately go in and try to deal with them. Your meddling will make the situation get even more out of hand."
Being warned, Kamijou twisted his mouth, and said,
"…What regulations?"
"Touma, the Roman Catholic Church is the world's largest sect. Although most of the believers have no involvement in magic, they do have two billion believers led by the Pope and 141 Cardinals, and there are parishes in 131 countries— they're a large group. Although being big isn't a bad thing, being too big can cause some problems."
Kamijou was still confused after hearing all this, and tilted his head. At that moment, Tatemiya explained,
"Basically, there might be several factions. There are already 142 of these factions in the parishes that the Pope and the Cardinals lead. Including the Nationals and the local customs, there's 207 of them. If we consider the generation gap between the young and old, there's 252 of them."
Stiyl impatiently blew a puff of white smoke, and said,
"For the Roman Catholic Church, which has so many factions, the enemies within far outnumber those outside, so they're extremely careful about settling this. Although decoding The Book of the Law would be extremely threatening to the Roman Catholic Church, Orsola Aquinas herself has done no wrong. If they were to kill her like that, Agnese would be viewed as an enemy by all of her other comrades."
"Yeah? But we also haven't done anything wrong, right? They're still willing to attack us without hesitation."
Kamijou gently prodded the bandage on his arm with his fingers. The summer night was so hot already, and it was too much for him to have to put on all the bandages.
"The situation is different for non-believers and heretics. Do you know how many people in the past were killed based on a single sentence 'Any sinner who disobeys the Word of God must be judged'?"
"The two nuns that attacked us most probably have this sort of thinking as well. But in other words, it means that they can't execute Orsola anyhow, for 'those who believe in the Word of God shall not kill'."
"…"
Kamijou looked away, and looked at the tree under the streetlight. A concern appeared in his head.
If the Roman Catholic Church had a rule that "one cannot kill a comrade within the Roman Catholic Church", why did the Amakusa need to step up and "prevent Orsola from getting killed"?
When Kamijou raised this question, Stiyl casually replied,
"The answer is simple: because there's an exception."
"Exception?"
"That's right. Although there's the rule that 'one cannot kill a comrade within the Roman Catholic Church'… those that are chased out of the Church are considered 'people who disobey the Word of God', so it'd be alright to kill them."
Tatemiya walked behind Stiyl, carrying his extremely large sword. Kamijou was worried; if that sword were seen by the police, how were they going to explain it?
"Sinners, witches, disillusioned believers… these people who did something wrong would be chased out of the Church, and tagged as 'Antichrists'."
"Setting Orsola up is actually very simple; they just need to give her a 'test'. Like, say, forcing her to hold a hot metal rod. If she's innocent, God will protect her and not let her get hurt. But if she gets hurt, it means that she's a sinner that God feels isn't worth saving. Sounds funny, doesn't it? Among us Anglicans, we call this the 'Trial of Sin'. We see it as a test, a trial that tests a person's faith in God. It's now banned."
"This is ridiculous…!"
Kamijou shouted,
"It's obvious the person will be burned! It's impossible not to!"
"That's right. So, even if they aren't burnt, they'll still be guilty, as they'll be seen as being protected by the devil. No matter the outcome, the victim will have the bad luck of being labeled a witch."
Kamijou thought that this was too much.
Using such a stupid method to decide Orsola's future was unreasonable.
"However, on the other hand, while the prosecution of this religious- or holy- trial is pending, the Roman Catholics can't kill Orsola. According to proper procedures, they have to return to Rome, and spend another two to three days doing all this. In other words, besides killing her, any other action is allowed."
The Roman Catholic Church didn't care of how she thought or how she felt going up against the original copy of The Book of the Law. Because it was too tiresome, unnecessary, bothersome, impossible to solve, and they didn't want to add on to their worry; they decided to kill for these stupid reasons.
The beliefs of Orsola and the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church should be the same.
Their thoughts weren't different. Both sides felt that The Book of the Law was something dangerous, and decided to take action to solve this problem. Orsola tried to decode the book in order to find a way to destroy an Original-class book when ordinary people thought that it was impossible.
She just wanted to make some contribution.
Because she was more aware of the potent threat of The Book of the Law, she couldn't leave it alone. It was just that simple.
"Do you know what kind of thing an Original grimoire is? Do you know that one can't destroy an Original through any means?"
-Is this wrong?
"With our spells now, we can't destroy any grimoire. The most we can do is seal it and not allow others to read it."
―For what reason is Orsola Aquinas being treated like this?
"However, 'being unable to do so now' doesn't mean that it can't be done in the future."
―What wrong did she do that would make the higher ups decide on the procedures through a unique trial and make her suffer silently without anyone helping her?
"We can use it on the grimoire itself to destroy the magic array."
―No!
"The power of a grimoire isn't going to give anyone happiness, and it'll only bring about war. So, I've been analyzing this book, hoping to destroy the Original."
―Definitely not!
"I can't accept this…"
Kamijou gnashed his molars tightly, almost breaking them.
"Even if there's a reason or difficulty, I won't allow that to happen! What kind of sick joke is this!? What do these people treat human lives as!? Taking away something precious from someone one by one through procedures? WHAT DO THESE PEOPLE TREAT OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES AS!?"
Kamijou Touma had lost his memories before.
So, what he had was very little. He only had memories of the previous month, during the summer holidays, so what he cared about was only a small percentage of an ordinary high school student's. Most of his memories were built on "hiding his memory loss", and he could break down anytime.
Even so, even if Kamijou was so empty inside, he would go berserk if anyone unwisely took away anything he cherished.
Maybe the Roman Catholic Church was trying to protect what they cherished, so they had to give this order.
But this wasn't right.
Having a group of people watch and snatch something a person cherished in front of him, this wasn't right.
Why couldn't they try another method?
Why must they choose to do something as easy yet as stupid as "kill"?
Kamijou clenched both his fists until they were about to bleed. On the street under the midnight darkness, the scattered light of the streetlamps coldly shined on him.
"…Where are they? Do you know?"
"I can guess. Why do you ask this?"
Stiyl calmly asked. Kamijou couldn't help but grab his collar, asking him why he could remain so calm.
Facing the furious look on Kamijou's face, Stiyl elegantly shook the cigarette in his mouth. However, Index, who was outside Kamijou's vision, was scared stiff.
"I understand your feelings."
Stiyl slowly puffed out white smoke, and said,
"But you better calm down. They have almost 250 comrades in this city alone. Can you beat them all with just a single fist?"
"…!"
Kamijou clenched his fist tightly.
That's right.
Kamijou was clear about it. His combat capability was about equal to that of a delinquent fighting in the alleys. He would probably win if it was one-on-one, but he couldn't guarantee that if it was one-on-two, and it was impossible for him if it was one-on-three. That nun who wielded that large carriage wheel had been able to beat through Kamijou's resistance with just one attack.
In real life, bare-handed fighting wasn't like those movies, where one man single-handedly beat several people from the front. No matter how good the fighter was, he couldn't win if the number of enemies was more than what he could handle; this was a cruel and harsh rule.
Except…
They were like those real fighters depicted in manga or serial dramas… and the magicians were like these fighters.
But the magician just stood around and laughed, puffed out white smoke, and said,
"Anyway, if the report given by the Amakusa is true, we can't interfere by any means. Too bad; this case is over."
"What… did you say?"
"Think about it. To put this bluntly, isn't Agnese Sanctis chasing Orsola Aquinas because Orsola had gone against the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church? Since The Book of the Law is still kept within the Vatican, the Roman Catholics can't use it for evil purposes; and since the Amakusa declared that they don't intend to use The Book of the Law for evil purposes, does the Anglican Church have any reason to butt in now? Are you going to blame them for not saying goodbye to them and angrily dispute with them?"
This time, Kamijou grabbed Stiyl Magnus's collar without hesitation.
Index tried to lower her volume as she exclaimed. Tatemiya just stared at Kamijou and whistled.
The rune magician, however, remained unmoved. In this lonely midnight, only his voice was echoing through the neighborhood. The flashing lights seemed to flicker as they shined on his face.
"This is something amongst the Roman Catholics, and they can only solve it with their own regulations. Since this situation won't affect the outside world, the Anglican Church can't interfere, or we'd be seen as interfering with internal politics, and there would then be conflict between England and Rome… so give up, Kamijou Touma. Don't tell me you're willing to start a war just to save her?"
"…This…"
"No matter whether it's Anglicans or Roman Catholics, most of the believers aren't fighters like us. These people go to school, meet some friends, buy a burger; all that is what they feel the world is about. They don't know that magicians are running around in the dark, and they don't know all these organisations that are arranging deals with each other to prevent a magical war. They're like kind, harmless lambs with no power."
The magician, who was being grabbed by the collar, calmly explained.
Like a devil that was forcing someone to sign a contract.
"Let me ask you: do you want to get these people involved? These people don't know the truth, and only belong to the Anglican Church or the Roman Catholic Church. You want to get these people involved in a war, get them looted, get them killed, or even have them lose everything, all for a single Orsola Aquinas?"
"…"
The hand grabbing Stiyl's collar gradually released. Index opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but finally sighed.
This was the difference between a specialist and a layman.
This was the difference between a person and a group.
Stiyl indifferently spit the cigarette onto the ground, stepped on it to extinguish it, and looked at Tatemiya.
"I have no power to stop you. You're free to rescue Orsola, your client, or your subordinates. But you can only go on your own; don't drag the Anglican Church along. If you do, even if I have to burn the entire island into ash, I'll kill every single Amakusa member."
Hearing Stiyl's threat, Tatemiya expression didn't change.
"I understand that without you telling me. That boy down there, you don't have to despair. Although the Anglican Church has no reason to start a war, I do. Right now, we're going to their main base, save my comrades, and save Orsola at the same time. Don't worry; fighting against a large but weak organization that has some elites is our specialty. Our group was established during the Bakumou era, after all."
Hearing these words, Kamijou looked up.
Index, who was beside Tatemiya, looked at him and asked,
"You're going to call the Amakusa members in your base to come here as well? But the special teleportation magic only works after one day. By that time, the Roman Catholics would have left Japan already."
"You're right; although this is safe, it's not practical."
Tatemiya replied, swinging the white longsword. Stiyl coldly asked,
"You're going there alone?"
"Since that's the only option, I can only do this. Luckily, those idiots from our clan haven't been executed… if they wanted to kill them, they would have done so at the beginning and not carried them along. Maybe the Roman Catholic Church wants them to stand trial together with Orsola so that the crime of Orsola teaming up with the Amakusa to steal The Book of the Law will be even more convincing. If so, as long as I release them and do something behind the scenes, we might have a chance."
Tatemiya used a delighted expression to hide his nervousness inside.
"I'll choose to take action when they move."
He swung the blade around, saying,
"We, the Amakusa, are used to being chased, so we know the strengths and weaknesses of a large organization. The weakness of a large group is when they're moving; there'll definitely be one when hundreds of individuals are moving. Think about it: the Roman Catholic members and the Amakusa number more than 300; you can't move that many Christians at the same time. When several hundred nuns dressed in black robes are walking on the streets, people will think there's a protest, and even the media will come over to interview them. So, they'll use some kind of disguise. Maybe they'll split up into several groups and move on their own. During this time, it'll be impossible for them to retain their original fighting strength, and it'll be the best time to attack."
According to Tatemiya, the Roman Catholics were not like the Amakusa, who used magic to move about. But it was too late to arrange for a boat or a plane. So they would probably wait until daylight, when the harbor or airport was open, before they moved out.
"…"
The best time to strike was when they were moving.
But in other words, it meant that they could only move when the Roman Catholics moved.
Stiyl had said that they had to follow a religious procedure and trial before they could execute her.
But he had also mentioned that they could do anything else besides killing her.
In a certain sense, having 250 carry out cruel violence against Orsola was even scarier than the procedures. As there was no clear guidelines on what they could and couldn't do, the boundary was rather gray.
Anything went as long as she didn't die?
They could do anything they wanted as long as she was breathing?
Kamijou's face darkened. Tatemiya understood his concern, and said,
"…Although you may not forgive us for this, I hope you understand that we're powerless in certain situations."
Tatemiya's voice hinted at a deep frustration. Being a magician, he was more aware than an outsider like Kamijou on what would happen to the people caught by the Roman Catholic Church.
Kamijou Touma swung a punch at an electric pole nearby.
He could imagine what was happening right now, but he couldn't do anything. Kamijou felt really useless right now.
Stiyl coldly said to Kamijou, who was speechless right now,
"Seems like we have a common agreement. Then, we'll disperse here and find some place to hide. I'll have to contact my superiors and ask them what to do. The situation between the Anglican Church and the Amakusa is settled, but I'll have to prepare to settle the situation with Kanzaki. Kamijou Touma, you and Index are to head back to Academy City. The Roman Catholics should be busy dealing with their important person, and probably won't provoke a war with the science side by attacking you."
At this moment, Stiyl lit a cigarette.
"Unless the Anglican Church can come up with a valid reason for saving Orsola Aquinas, we won't step in."
He puffed out some white smoke, seemingly uninterested deep inside.
"Ah, yeah, Kamijou Touma, I'd like to ask you something."
"What?"
Kamijou tiredly turned around, Stiyl revealed a mocking smile, and asked,
"That Cross I gave you, it doesn't seem to be with you… Where did you leave it?"
"…"
Kamijou thought about it for a while, and recalled that,
"Sorry, I gave that to Orsola. When I helped her with putting it on, she was rather happy. Is that something precious?"
"No, that's an ordinary metal cross. It's likely manufactured in a village that specialises in mass-producing gifts. Like that St. George Cross, it's a common sight in England; even the national flag has it."
For some reason, Stiyl's smile contained a trace of delight.
"That cross has no decorative or antique value, and has to be useful in your hand… never mind. It doesn't matter since you're not going to use it now."
Stiyl said this with a hidden meaning, puffing out white smoke at the same time.
Kamijou was obviously confused, and could only walk back into the darkness.
Just like that, this boring event ended with a boring outcome.