A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 7 (19 page)

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. In fact, most of them are people just like you. They go to school, spend time with friends, eat hamburgers on the way home—that’s their whole world to them. They don’t know about the sorcerers lurking in the shadows, nor do they notice all the deals made among various groups to keep a magical war from occurring. They are truly virtuous, powerless lambs.”

Then, the sorcerer, with Kamijou still holding on to his collar, asked coolly.

It was indeed as though he were a demon urging him to an agreement.

“Now this is the problem—can you wrap them up in this? Do you
want
to get people, ignorant of the truth, who are part of these religions involved in this, rob them, kill them, take everything they have, just so you can protect Orsola Aquinas?”

“…”

The strength in the hands Kamijou was grabbing Stiyl’s collar with faded. Index tried to say something, but she didn’t know what, so she just took a long breath.

This was the difference between amateurs and professionals.

This was the difference between individuals and organizations.

Stiyl spat out his cigarette tiredly, crushed it with his foot, and turned to look at Tatemiya. “I don’t have the right to stop
you
from doing anything, though. You can fight all you want for Orsola, since she asked, or your subordinates, or whatever you want. But if you’re going, then you’re doing it alone. If you try to get English Puritanism involved in this, they will turn this entire island nation into scorched earth to uproot and massacre Amakusa,” threatened Stiyl—but Tatemiya’s expression didn’t change.

“Man, I know that much. Oh, come on, kid. Don’t get so down. The English Puritan Church might not have any reason to fight, but we’ve got a big one. I’m just gonna pay a visit to their little hideout, rescue my allies, and maybe give Orsola a lift while I’m at it. What? We’re used to throwing a few talented people at stupidly huge groups. Our sect evolved by opposing the Tokugawa Shogunate, after all.”

Kamijou brought his head up at what he said.

Index, next to him, looked at Tatemiya’s face.

“You’re going to call the rest of your friends from Amakusa’s main base? But you’ll have to wait another day to use the special movement method, and if you wait that long, the Romans might go back home.”

“Yeah. Can’t take the safe option in this situation,” said Tatemiya, swinging his white sword a bit.

Stiyl said in an uninterested voice, “Are you saying you’re going alone?”

“There’s no other choice, so I need to. Fortunately though, those idiots may have gotten taken away, but they haven’t been executed…If they wanted to kill us, they wouldn’t have bothered capturing us—they would have just cut us down on the spot. It’d be more realistic for them to deliver a sentence to us with Orsola, saying that she conspired with Amakusa to steal the
Book of the Law
. So if I break ’em out and incite things the right way, we might actually have a chance of barely winning.” Tatemiya concealed his tension with a jovial expression. “The best time to go at them is when they’re on the move.” He waved his giant sword around. “Amakusa’s been pursued for a long time—we’re pretty familiar with how scary and fragile groups can be. A large group of people is at its weakest when it’s on the move. After all, the Romans captured more than three hundred Amakusa members, y’know? They can’t move around properly with only the nuns they have. If hundreds of sisters dressed in black went on parade through the city together, they could end up on TV as a demonstration or a riot or somethin’.

“So they’re gonna have some kind of camouflage for when they move, just in case. Like splitting into smaller groups and going by car. It’s an established tactic—when they’re camouflaging themselves, they can’t use the full extent of their power, making it the best—and only—time to launch a surprise attack.”

From what Tatemiya was saying, the Roman Orthodox Church wouldn’t use magic to move like Amakusa did. And it was too late at night for them to charter a boat or plane. Their exodus would probably wait to begin until morning, when the harbors and airports opened up.

“…”

Their moving was the greatest opportunity.

But that also meant they couldn’t do anything until they started moving, too. Stiyl said that in order for the Roman Orthodox Church to erase Orsola, they needed to follow a procedure called an inquisition.

But on top of that, it meant that until they killed her, they could do anything they wanted and it would be overlooked.

Violence, inflicted by a surrounding group of two hundred and fifty people. In a way, that could be more terrifying than a punishment based on proper rules. After all, it wasn’t clearly defined in their laws—there wasn’t a clear line between how much was okay and how much wasn’t.

Could they do anything to her as long as she didn’t die?

Would they say she was lucky, no matter what they did to her, just because she was breathing?

Kamijou’s face clouded over, and Tatemiya seemed to suspect his apprehensions. “…Might be a bit cruel to tell you to understand. Even we’ve got things we know we can and can’t do.” His words were mixed with bitterness. A professional like him could probably imagine things more vividly than an amateur like Kamijou. About how the Romans treated captured enemies.

Touma Kamijou punched a nearby telephone pole with all his might.

Despite being able to visualize the worst possible situation, he couldn’t take any action whatsoever—and he felt ashamed to no end for it.

Stiyl disinterestedly looked at Kamijou, who was unable to make any sort of reply, and said, “Looks like that settles it. We should split up and hide as well. Guess I’ll give the higher-ups a ring and ask what to do next. Our problems with the Romans and Amakusa have been cleared up, but I’ll need to do something about Kanzaki now. Touma Kamijou, you take Index back to Academy City. Right now, having gotten their hands on the most important person, Orsola, the Romans wouldn’t consider attacking you two outsiders, since it would mean picking a fight with the scientific side of things.”

He lit a new cigarette. “Well, if the English Puritan Church at least had a proper reason to rescue Orsola Aquinas, it would be a different story—but this is all we can do.” He blew out smoke, sounding thoroughly uninterested. “Right. Also, Touma Kamijou. There was something I wanted to ask.”

“…What?”

He turned around, exhausted. Stiyl continued, giving a cynical smile. “That cross I gave you before. You don’t seem to have it on you—where’d you put it?”

“…” Kamijou thought for a moment, then remembered. “Sorry. I gave it to Orsola. She seemed really happy I put it around her neck, though. Was it really that valuable?”

“No, it was an entirely normal iron cross. They’re probably souvenirs produced en masse by some factory. They’re all over England—it’s the cross of Saint George, which is also part of our nation’s flag.” Stiyl grinned for some reason, seeming a bit pleased. “That cross has no value as an ornament or an antique. The thing had value while you were carrying it…but whatever. You don’t need it anymore anyway,” said Stiyl cryptically, blowing out another puff of smoke.

Without knowing what he meant by that, Kamijou withdrew to the dark road.

And thus the curtains fell on a disappointing ending to a disappointing incident.