"Here, try a sausage!"
"Nom, nom, nom~"
"Have some milk…"
"Gulp, gulp, gulp~"
In the diner, Index's mouth was stuffed with all sorts of food.
As the nun swallowed, the table gradually cleared.
"Phew! Thank you! You're such a good person. The Lord will surely bless you!"
After her ravenous feast, Index flashed a blissful smile, wiping milk from her lips with a napkin. She stood, making a prayer gesture toward Samuel.
"The Lord? I'm an atheist. Even if some omniscient being exists, it's just a higher form of life to me."
"You won't get to heaven like that. The Lord won't bless you~"
"Haha, that kind of talk doesn't mean much to an atheist."
"Well, anyway… thank you! I'll be going now."
Index gave a gentle smile, her expression as tender as the Virgin Mary, though her emerald eyes held a trace of sadness.
"Leaving? To where? Didn't we agree you'd come to my place?"
Samuel grabbed her slender wrist.
"…Someone's after me. Staying with you… would bring you trouble!"
"I've got enough trouble already. One more won't hurt."
"My pursuers are powerful—beyond what you can comprehend with your abilities. Are you… willing to go to hell with me?"
Her expression remained serene, like the Virgin Mary's, with no mockery in her eyes—just sorrow.
"Hell? You're not going anywhere. This… is your final stop!"
"…You don't understand how strong they are."
"And you don't know how strong I am!"
"They're magicians, wielders of mystical knowledge."
"So? Should I say I'm a scientist, master of all known knowledge?"
The mystical is the unknown, infinite. Science is the known, finite.
The mystical is infinite because the unknown is endless.
Science is finite—no matter how much unknown is explored, it's just a number growing.
But science isn't necessarily inferior to the mystical, nor is the finite lesser than the infinite.
When the unknown becomes known, it ceases to threaten science.
"Hmph… you're stubborn! It's… really dangerous. You're a good person—I don't want you to get hurt because of me!"
Index's cheeks puffed out, resembling a squirrel stuffed with pine nuts.
She genuinely cared for Samuel, not wanting this "kind passerby" to suffer for helping her.
"Don't just hand out good guy cards. The person you give it to might not be good, and even if they are, they don't want to hear 'you're a good person'!"
"Eh? Wah~"
As Index puzzled over his words, Samuel suddenly leaned in, kissing her.
His deft "tool" began picking the lock.
Her nun's habit glowed with holy light, wings seeming to unfurl behind her. A barrier of pure white radiance formed, trying to repel Samuel.
The Walking Church, a top-tier spell of the Crossist Church, boasted fortress-like defenses, rivaling an ancient stronghold.
Normally requiring kilometers to inscribe, this spell was condensed into her small nun's habit—a masterful feat.
Yet, it couldn't push Samuel away. The holy wings passed through him, currents of "calculation" enveloping them. The spell went from "unknown" to "known," neutralizing its threat.
"Detected: external force attempting to access Index Librorum Prohibitorum. Automatic Writing activated. Assessment: target used 'sexual magic'… Error, error. Target employed unknown methods. Initiating countermeasure. Optimal response failed. Unable to determine best course. Activating optimal fallback: Carefree Wanderer, conceal!"
A mechanical voice emanated from Index, spells rapidly deploying and retracting.
Automatic Writing tried to counter, then retreated. Her eyes rippled blue, waves of azure light radiating, as if the diner became an aquarium.
A massive Kun emerged from the ripples, transforming into a Peng, soaring with outstretched wings.
Feathers fell from the Peng, turning into azure butterflies.
Their wings shimmered like water's reflections, each movement a dreamlike illusion.
In a blink, it all vanished. Samuel was still in the diner, Index staring at him wide-eyed.
"Wah~ What did you do? How could you?!"
Struggling free from his embrace, Index looked at him in disbelief, her fair face flushed, tears welling in her green eyes.
The staff hurriedly called the police.
Everything seemed to proceed normally!
It was a dream!
Everything—tables, bricks, people, matter, and life—shifted into a dream via Carefree Wanderer, a vast dream meant to trap Samuel.
The truest dream is reality. Automatic Writing used Carefree Wanderer to turn what should've been reality into a dream.
A dream of all things, as in Zhuangzi's Discourse on the Equality of Things: "Once, Zhuang Zhou dreamed he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting freely, unaware of Zhou. Suddenly he awoke, and he was Zhou again. Did Zhou dream he was a butterfly, or did the butterfly dream he was Zhou? Between Zhou and the butterfly, there must be a distinction. This is called the Transformation of Things."
Was it the butterfly dreaming of him, or him dreaming of the butterfly?
Sadly… it didn't work on Samuel.
Thunder erased the dream butterflies, ripples spreading as if a stone had been tossed into calm water.
Calculation freed Samuel from the "dream," but he stopped his lockpicking.
It was pointless!
Index—or rather, Automatic Writing—had applied Carefree Wanderer to herself. She was a dream. Even Samuel's computational power couldn't crack it quickly.
Not to mention the deeper lock.
"Carefree Wanderer… Impressive!"
Ancient wisdom didn't fade with time—it only grew richer. Samuel learned a lesson: the era hadn't changed!
Without "calculation," he'd have been trapped in that dream for ages, its memory-altering power sinking him for a while without his backups.
***
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