Chapter 3

The Executioner Within the crumbling interior of the abandoned church stood an unnaturally new altar. The altar wasn’t originally part of the furnishings. Rather, it was a makeshift one that Menou put together for this mission. This special construct, used exclusively by the Faust—members of the First Estate who served the Lord—utilized the power that flowed through all things to communicate with others over vast distances by sending signals along the veins of energy that ran throughout the earth. Atop the pedestal was the image of an elderly woman projected in Guiding Light. “Interesting… So two people were summoned.” “Yes, Archbishop Orwell. The deceased confirmed this information.” The person receiving Menou’s report was an old woman with gentle features who looked to be in her midseventies. Every strand of her hair was stark white, and she leaned on a cane to support her bent back. However, the clarity in her voice hinted that she was of sound mind and body. Orwell was in the faraway city of Garm, the ancient capital. She was an important leader of the Faust, in charge of the entire parish. “It seems they were very careful about this summoning. You’ll have your work cut out for you, Ms. Menou.” “It’s all right. This is my job.” The Executioners were personnel of the holy land, if only unofficially. Traditionally, they were under no obligation to report their progress to this nation, not even to the archbishop. But Orwell had provided accommodations in a variety of ways for Menou’s missions in this nation. Even this base of operations was arranged by the archbishop. In return for her help, Menou occasionally gave Orwell updates on her progress when she finished her duties. “I will attempt to infiltrate the royal castle once I determine the other target’s location.” “Very well. I’d appreciate it if you could contact me again when that’s done.” Orwell’s eyes suddenly softened as she picked up cues that the report was wrapping up. “Once you finish your duty, you’re welcome to take some leave. This is your first time back in your homeland in quite a while, is it not?” “Yes…that’s true.” Menou blinked in surprise at the unexpected change in subject. Why did the archbishop know about her past? She searched her mind for an answer. There was only one possibility. “Archbishop Orwell… Does this mean, by any chance, you remember that incident?” “Why wouldn’t I? Even though it’s already been ten years, I could never forget that town or the girl who survived it. It left a very strong impression, you see.” Orwell was the top brass of the Faust in this nation, both in name and in reality. Unlike Menou, who lived her life as an Executioner, Orwell had saved many people as part of her public work as a woman of the church. Her capabilities were made especially clear in the incident of Human Error that occurred ten years prior. The disaster, in which an entire town had disappeared, was the reason Menou became an Executioner. On the day her hometown was erased, young Menou met Archbishop Orwell. That said, it was really only the briefest of meetings. While it was no surprise that Orwell would remember the incident itself, Menou had never imagined the archbishop would remember meeting a survivor like her. “On that note, Ms. Menou, I would love to have a nice long chat with you sometime.” “I would be honored if the chance ever arises… Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Menou bowed her head respectfully to conclude the meeting. As the slight tension left her shoulders, she sighed. “My homeland, huh…?” The conversation prompted her to turn her thoughts inward for the first time in a while. She was trying to see if she could dig out anything from the deep recesses of her brain, but she didn’t feel even a trace of nostalgia. It was true Menou came from this land. But the town where she was born was long gone. It had been wiped out completely by the rampage of an Otherworlder. That place had been scoured from the map and from Menou’s memories. Such was the nature of a Human Error. “…It doesn’t feel very real.” Of course it didn’t. Giving up on uncovering her memories, Menou turned her attention to the matter at hand. Her job wasn’t over yet. With narrowed eyes, she left the church through the empty void in the ruins. The edifice was surrounded by a wall, shielding it from the eyes of townspeople outside. Menou stopped in the dilapidated garden, calling out in warning. “Show yourself. I know you’ve been tailing me.” Sensing that there was no use in hiding, the men emerged from the shadows. There were four of them. All brawny, dangerous-looking men, with longswords strapped at their waists. Intuitively discerning their identities, Menou curled her lips in displeasure. “Should fine gentlemen of the Noblesse really be slinking after a young lady?” “Enough babbling, Executioner of the Faust.” Clearly, they weren’t interested in a conversation, and they knew her position. Menou silently raised an eyebrow. Society was divided into three estates of the realm: The lowest were the Commons, ordinary folk who made up more than 90 percent of the population. Next were the Noblesse, consisting of nobility and royalty. They oversaw the administration and governed the Commons. And finally, the holy Faust. It was no surprise the men could glean her social standing. That much was obvious from her clothing alone. But the fact that they knew she was an Executioner was another story. “Then I suppose that means you’re from the Order of Knights.” Neither Menou nor the men were willing to confirm or deny their positions. Even among the Noblesse, only knights would be allowed to carry a sword in public. Of course, these interlopers could be run-of-the-mill criminals who possessed illicit weapons, but that was doubtful given the designs of the crests prominently featured on their sword hilts. “The guard dogs of whoever’s summoning Otherworlders, then.” “We have no intention of fighting you.” While Menou sneered at them, the men were more matter-of-fact. “You’ve already killed our target. You should pack up and leave this nation at once. It doesn’t sit right having someone like you around these parts.” “Too bad. I won’t be leaving just yet,” Menou rejected. “I’m afraid I still have another job to do.” At that, the knights assumed new expressions for the first time. Their reaction confirmed her working theory based on the information she got from the boy. “I see. I was wondering why you would chase out one Otherworlder, but it appears you’re not as brainless as I thought. I imagine you knew you wouldn’t be able to hide your ritual from the church.” “…” The knights relaxed their expressions, but it was too late. Of the many kinds of conjuring, summoning an Otherworlder demanded a particularly large ritual. Its invocation required connecting the two astral veins—the heavenly vein and the earthen vein—that channeled the power that was essentially the planet’s lifeblood. The church was constantly surveilling the astral veins, since it was essential to humanity’s survival. It would be all but impossible to keep them from noticing the disturbance that came with a major ritual. “So you were planning to cut one of the two from the beginning, then. That boy was bait to satisfy the Executioners… You summoned him so I would kill him. Is that right?” When Archbishop Orwell assessed that they were being “careful,” this was what she meant. They must have intended to let an Executioner kill one of the Otherworlders and assume the mission was complete. And the knight advising her to go home was here to make sure of that. But they didn’t anticipate their bait would know there was another Otherworlder. “What a pathetic little trick.” As Menou looked at them with daggers in her eyes, one of the knights scowled. “If you’d just been satisfied with killing one and went home…” Clearly, he’d realized there was no talking their way out of this. It was common for the Noblesse to defy or rise against the Faust. Since the Faust served as overseers of the Noblesse, there was little lost love between them. “But something isn’t adding up. Did you really think you could escape our investigation?” Menou voiced her doubts, partly to keep the enemy talking. This plan wouldn’t have helped them avoid punishment from the church, even if it had succeeded. Whether or not the Executioner’s blade missed its mark, the church was already aware someone had summoned an Otherworlder. The Noblesse responsible would still be officially judged by the Faust. It would likely have resulted in a lengthy trial following official procedures, but the punishment would have come sooner or later. As the top dogs with influence over the entire continent, the Faust possessed more power than the entire Noblesse of a nation. There was no way they could have expected to avoid an investigation forever. The answer came from one of the knights. “His Majesty is prepared. We would sacrifice one Otherworlder to hide the other from the Executioners. His Majesty knew he might even be executed himself by the Faust—but in exchange, we gain the power to break free of the despotic control of your Lord…!” “Well, isn’t that noble. A shame that the Noblesse have once again failed this attempt at martyrdom.” Discussion time was over. Their eyes flashing, the knights drew their swords. The moment Menou learned two Otherworlders had been summoned, their plan was ruined. If they hoped to succeed, the knights had only one option. “Now that you know the secret, we can’t let you escape alive. We’ll finish you off here and now, you hound of the Faust!” “…Well, that’s fine with me.” For just a moment, Menou’s gaze darted over to the dead boy lying inside the church. The poor boy was summoned as bait to cover up the existence of the second Otherworlder. A sacrifice for a villain like herself. A part of a foolish plan. Menou glared at the men in front of her. “It doesn’t pain me in the slightest to dispose of rotten scoundrels.” “That’s our line, you egotistical assassin!” The man roared and charged toward her. There were four of them in total. One jumped at Menou while the others tried to surround her. Menou was desperately outnumbered, but there wasn’t a trace of panic on her face. She smoothly readied the scripture in her left hand and the dagger in her right, drawing on the power that resided within her. A faint glow enveloped her entire body. With her physical strength enhanced by Guiding Force, Menou lunged toward the first attacker, fearless of his longsword’s reach. The surrounding knights didn’t just stand around—one lashed downward with his sword. Menou parried it with her dagger. “Gah…!” The knight grunted in surprise at the resistance he faced, far stauncher than expected from a dagger, much less one wielded by a young girl. The great power that fills the world is produced by Concepts, which are the source of the astral vein, and it flows into every corner of the planet. Known as Guiding Force, this power dwells within human souls and can be manipulated by those with strong mental fortitude to produce infinite possibilities. Menou used it to make up for her lighter weight and lesser muscle strength. It let her trade blows evenly with men twice her size. “You little brat…!” The knights weaponized Guiding Force to raise their own strength, but they still couldn’t keep up with her. Compared to the young girl, their base physical strength was far superior. But with her effortless use of Enhancement, Menou was able to compete with the brawny knights in close combat. Her strategy was completely different. She favored rapid movements, cleverly deploying feints and nimble footwork to keep the engagement distance to her advantage. It was a fighting style that specialized in taking on multiple opponents alone—and surviving. Menou deftly avoided their attacks, never stopping in one place. With proficient use of feints and taking care to keep her blind spots protected, she fended off four longswords with a single dagger. Her counterstrokes were deadly and merciless, sure to kill if her opponents let down their guards. In both mind and body, it was difficult to believe she was just a young girl. In a few short minutes of battle, the outcome was clear to both sides. In a four-to-one battle, the knights had a slight advantage. But they knew as well as she did that there was more to it than that. The girl wasn’t just terrifying in close combat. She still hadn’t made use of the ability that came with her status as one of the Faust. In an attempt to bring her down before she could play her trump card, two of the knights pulled back from the melee and reached into the deep recesses of their consciousness. Their trained minds drew from their own souls the power that made up all things. Their mental control drew the Guiding Force up and into their swords, which were able to conduct it thanks to careful materials science and design. Then the power surged into the crests carved into their hilts and produced special effects. Guiding Force: Connect—Sword, Crest—Invoke [Flameblade] Flames roared out from the swords. This was conjuring, invoked using Guiding Force. The essence of its power was not to simply enhance one’s body for martial arts. Its real value lay in manifesting man-made miracles in a process called “conjuring.” The energy turned into flame according to the patterning of the crest, whipping out toward Menou. “…Fools.” Menou let herself feel a moment of fleeting pity for these men, who had distanced themselves to avoid getting caught up in their own flames. The moment they failed to defeat her while they maintained the tiniest of advantages, they had lost whatever small chance of victory they might have had. The scripture in her left hand glowed. Guiding Force: Connect—Scripture, 2:5—Invoke [Rejoice, for the wall that surrounds a pious flock of sheep shall never crumble.] The Guiding Force drawn from her soul streamed into the scripture, took the form of a conjuring, and manifested as a physical phenomenon. What appeared was a glowing white wall, so pure and clean it seemed unthinkable that it could ever be marred. The flickering wall of light completely blocked the flames produced by the two knights. “What the—?!” They were floored by the sheer speed of the conjuring and the massive amount of pure energy thrumming in the wall that appeared. The priestesses of the Faust were all skilled conjurers, with no exception. The scriptures they lugged around were advanced spellbooks, containing spells of all varieties and strengths. This was why they were on guard from the start. But this far exceeded anything they could have imagined. “I-impossible. What the hell was that?!” “That’s too fast…! She cast it straight from the scripture—without a crest?!” A strong will and deep focus were required to draw energy from the soul for conjuring. For practical use in battle, it was common to break into front and rear lines as the knights had done. And to conjure directly from a scripture was far more difficult than using a crest. Scriptures were advanced vessels that recorded crests by the thousands or even tens of thousands, contorting them to take the shape of letters. A single crest could materialize energy in only one way, but a scripture was composed of thousands of them across hundreds of pages. To invoke them, the user had to focus Guiding Force on the chosen phrase with perfect accuracy, delicately weaving the streams of power together to bind a spell until it manifested as a physical phenomenon. Yet Menou didn’t even open the scripture, continuing to strengthen her body with energy as she simultaneously activated a complex piece of conjuring. Executioners were chosen from only the most elite Faust, but this was still an unbelievable level of technique. As he laid eyes on the extraordinary power, one of the knights voiced a theory. “A scripture and a dagger! And lightning-fast conjuring… Could you be the infamous Flare?!” “That’s ridiculous! It was more than ten years ago when that devil ran rampant. She’s far too young!” “That’s right. Flare became a Master long ago.” Menou introduced herself in a quiet and deadly tone as the knights staggered back. “I’m the piece of art that Master created—the successor, Flarette.” Menou’s reason for needlessly revealing her identity was simple. While the knights were distracted by her identity, she was able to finish preparing her attack. Menou’s attention had been turned inward to draw out her next burst of power, which she now focused on the men. Guiding Force: Connect—Scripture, 3:1—Invoke [And the oncoming enemy did hear the tolling of the bell.] The power that infused the scripture in Menou’s hand produced a spell. “Forward—!” By the time one of them tried to yell out in warning, it was far too late. As Menou’s energy flowed through the scripture and coalesced, it transformed into a bell made of raw power. The bell tower, a symbol that reminded people of the sacredness of the church each time it tolled the hour, loomed over the knights. The magnificent bell began to swing back and forth. Charged with power, a sound loud enough to rend the air rang out. The resulting wave of pressure struck the knights below, pulping their bodies from the inside. The only one who escaped this gruesome fate was the leader, who had pushed ahead right away. His assumption that the space where the caster was standing would be safe was correct—and deadly wrong at the same time. As he rushed forward with the sole intent of escaping, Menou had her dagger at the ready. “Gah… Graaaah!” “Heh.” He had nerve, at least. But the knight’s posture as he half ran, half stumbled toward her wasn’t nearly good enough. With a tiny snort, Menou parried his feeble swing and closed in on him. She punctured one of his lungs and kidneys with her dagger, then pulled out with a twist. “Agh…” The knight stumbled back and slumped to the ground. A bloody foam gurgled from the edge of his lips. His haggard breath wheezed out like air from a broken sack, indicating his impending death. Aware of it himself, the knight glared at Menou with bitter eyes. “Why do your lot…use your power…to serve some so-called Lord…?” “…I’ll pretend I didn’t hear you making rude remarks about the Lord.” Menou tucked the scripture under one arm and raised the dagger in her right hand, pointing the tip directly at the knight’s heart. Then she brought it down to release him from his suffering. “A—” Were his final words intended for his family or his master? Or were they words of hatred directed toward the church? Whatever the case, life drained from his body before he could share them. “I’m still the villain, but in this case, I won’t say you did nothing wrong.” He was the only one of the four who left behind an intact corpse. Menou reached down and closed his eyelids. “What you summoned was a monster far more horrifying than the likes of me…and yet a child far more ordinary than I could ever hope to be.” The sin of involving someone who was living peacefully to use them for their own devices was one worthy of their deaths. “It’s a shame a villain was the one to punish you for it.” With a slightly melancholy look in her eyes, Menou said a silent prayer for their deaths. When her own punishment finally came, what form would it take? The thought hung heavy over her mind as Menou murmured a prayer for the souls she had slain. Once her prayers were complete, Menou slowly opened her eyes. The sound of soft clapping echoed quietly in the church, beyond the gory evidence of battle. “Amazing as aaalways, my dearly beloved darliiing. Those Noblesse knights didn’t know what hit them! And you never even let them lay a finger on yooou. Magnificent.” The voice that reached Menou’s ears was sweet, lilting, and familiar. Turning to face the source of the syrupy drawl, Menou found a petite girl in a white version of her own priestess robes. Her soft, wavy pink hair was separated into short pigtails that fluttered gently in the breeze. Though her white elbow-length gloves were modest enough, part of her uniform had been modified into a frilly culotte that ended above the knee, hardly befitting a holy woman. Unlike Menou, who exuded a poised maturity, the smiling girl had an impish air of cuteness about her. She stepped closer to Menou with a smile so bright it almost seemed calculated. “It is I, Momo, your servant for liiife!” “Stop calling yourself that.” Menou sighed at the bizarre self-introduction as she locked eyes with Momo. The pink-haired girl was only two years younger than her, but she was significantly smaller, which only seemed to emphasize her cutesiness. She wore tights below her alarmingly short skirt, decorated with a mark on the thigh that looked like a heart or a cute tail. Whenever she saw the design, Menou couldn’t help smiling drily, as it was so fitting. Momo was a member of the Faust, serving as assistant to the Executioner Menou. The white color of the priestess robes reflected their difference in standing. “Perfect timing, Momo. I have to ask you something about the mission—” “Oh, that can waaait.” “Excuse you?” Momo ambled up to Menou innocently, ignoring her. Instead, she nonchalantly grabbed Menou’s hand and nuzzled it against her own cheek. “Ahhhh, I’m finally reunited with my darliiing! I can finally charge up on Menou-energy!” Momo squeezed Menou’s hand and rubbed her face against it with a happy sigh while Menou looked on wearily. “Listen, Momo. I wanted to ask—” “Oh, darling, your Momo can’t beeear it. I know it’s for the mission, but being away from you is still so haaard. It’s been two whole daaays! If I had my way, I’d be by your side every hour of every day of every yeeear, or even longer if I cooould. Whenever I have to work without you, it hurts sooo much that I could just— Yowch!” “All right, already. Just let go, please.” “Booo. Fine.” Menou lightly flicked her subordinate’s forehead. Momo pursed her lips, but she reluctantly let go of her hand. “And as I keep telling you, you have to stop calling yourself my ‘servant.’ You’re my aide, remember? What if the other priestesses get the wrong idea?” “Our relationship goes far beyond that of an Executioner and her aide! I’m your beloved servant! I follow and obey you in the name of looove! If anything, I should make sure everyone knows, to make it publicly officiaaal!!” “I’d rather you didn’t…” The girl’s impassioned speech and frantic waving of her arms threatened to give Menou a headache. Momo was in charge of supporting Menou on her missions. They’d known each other since they were young and trained in the same monastery. It was true they shared something that went beyond a professional working relationship. If anything, Momo had seemed to dislike Menou when they first met, and yet she became very attached to her over the years, until it reached this new extreme. “But it’s amazing to watch you fight, darliiing!” Momo had apparently witnessed the entire battle from start to finish. She pressed her hands to her cheeks and wiggled her small frame with delight. “That expert handling of your dagger against those arrogant knights, and your smooth control over your power that lets you quickly cast from scripture… Ahhh, Momo could fall for you all over agaaain. It’s no wonder you became the youngest Executioner eveeer! I love yooou!” “The dead knights must have had a messenger as well. Did you capture him?” “I also simply adore the way you give me the cold shoulder!” The conversation would never get anywhere if Menou indulged in Momo’s exaggerated praise. But even when Menou glared at her and pressed on with her question, Momo’s fervor showed no signs of waning. “If you don’t stop messing around soon, I’m going to get angry, you know. Just answer me already.” As soon as they identified Menou as an Executioner, the Order of Knights members must have tried to get word back to their superiors. No doubt the reason they bothered conversing with Menou before battle was to buy time for their messenger. She was certain someone must have been sent to the castle. “Fiiine. I put a stop to that, of cooourse.” Momo finally gave a straight answer. Since they’d known each other for so long, she could tell when she was starting to cross the line. “One of those stalker knights went running off as soon as yooou set foot in the church, but I took care of him. There’s no way your identity got out!” “Very good.” Menou trusted her to take care of things, but it was still a relief to hear their mission hadn’t been compromised. In spite of her goofy demeanor, Momo was an excellent aide. Menou knew she wouldn’t overlook anything. The Order of Knights was highly trained in battle, even more so than any other Noblesse. They were not the crown’s personal army, but the disciplined military force of the Second Estate, generally serving as law enforcement in towns and cities. Thus, there weren’t too many knights that the king in this nation could employ and entrust with certain information without the church finding out. “We should be able to cover up the details of our activities for a while, then. But since we killed several knights, it’s safe to assume they know we’re making some kind of move—or they will before long. We have to devise a plan to infiltrate the royal castle before the day is out.” “Leave it to meee. I’ve been keeping an eye on the castle and figuring out the floor plan for daaays. I have a good idea of where the Otherworlder miiiight be.” “I knew I could count on you. Well done, Momo.” “Tee-hee.” When all was said and done, Momo always went above and beyond her call of duty. Menou patted her head in praise, causing the other girl to smile widely and nestle against Menou’s hand. “Let’s get rid of these bodies and work out our plan.” “Yes, ma’am.” After mourning the loss of Menou’s hand on her head for a moment, Momo set about cleaning up the scattered corpses. “But you knooow, when you were playing nice with that Otherworlder, you were the cutest girl in the wooorld. It was only half a performance, huh? It reminded me of how you act on a day oooff.” “You were watching for that long…? I certainly don’t think I behave like such an airhead.” Menou smiled wanly and shook her head. It was true that she behaved differently while on a mission than on personal time, but even the real Menou was never that open and outgoing. She had simply put on an extra-bright personality for the sake of getting the boy to let down his guard. “The trick to putting on an act without raising suspicion is to be friendly and show them your genuine emotions. Tapping into your actual self makes it seem more natural. Like the month when we fasted and ate nothing but salt.” “Oh, right. Of all the bizarre training we went through, that was one of the strangest of all…” “Agreed. I almost suspect it was for the Master’s entertainment…” The two were raised in the same monastery, so they had plenty of shared trauma. “But I don’t like you showing your inner self to a taboo entity, darliiing.” “Hmm? Why not?” “…No reasooon. Ah, while we’re at it, I’ll come clean, too. The truth is, I love you more than aaanyone!” “Yeah? So all your flattery has just been an act to get my guard down?” “You know that’s not truuue! It’s pure, one hundred percent true looove!” Chattering amicably while keeping their voices low enough to not be heard outside the church walls, the two finished disposing of the bodies and returned inside the building. Though the mood was peaceful, they never relaxed their guards. Thus, they began discussing a plan to kill the next Otherworlder. Menou’s meeting with Momo in one of the rooms of the church was markedly serious. They came up with an infiltration route based on Momo’s intel and ran through simulations to plan for the unexpected. When Menou finished crafting a detailed strategy based on her aide’s information and started preparing to put it into action, she wound up being stuck wearing a maid outfit. “Hee-hee. Darling, that’s a great look on yooou.” “Don’t mention it…please.” Momo was all smiles, but Menou wasn’t so sure how to feel about wearing a frilly costume. Menou was about to head to the royal castle. Since her priestess clothes would draw attention, Momo had prepared a maid uniform to help her blend in. Experimenting with her range of motion in the outfit, Menou held up the hem of its long skirt. “This is incredibly well made …” “Tee-hee. It’s an extra-special outfit I crafted for you with looots of love and care.” The high-quality fabric was cut without a crease in sight, and the expert stitches would put a pro to shame. Every seam of the inner lining was perfectly in place. In fact, it was so flawless it was almost scary. Menou could scarcely believe Momo made it herself. It was carefully constructed with ease of mobility in mind, to the point where it might even be more comfortable than her usual robes. “Thanks for going to all the trouble. Although, if I could only use Guiding Camouflage to alter my outfit, you wouldn’t have needed to spend all that time on making the real thing.” Camouflage was a technique that used Guiding Light. An experienced user could alter the colors of the glow that surrounded the body during Enhancement. There wasn’t much point in changing it from one single color to another, but detailed alterations could create optical illusions around the body, making it possible for the user to vanish into their surroundings or even look like someone else entirely. If Menou was standing still, she was capable of projecting someone else’s appearance. Cloaking movements in real time was considerably more difficult. Thus, the only way for her to pull off a disguise was to prepare a real costume. That said, Momo didn’t seem bothered by the task Menou had assigned her. If anything, she looked thrilled to see her mentor in a maid outfit. “It’s fiiine. Don’t worry about it. I was happy to make clothes for you, darliiing!” “I mean, you could have just found something ready-made instead… In fact, is it just me, or is this a little too elaborate?” It was definitely a maid outfit, but the skirt was sewn with tons of extra fabric to create pleats, and there were billowing frills around the hem. It seemed a little too cute and extravagant to be practical. Menou didn’t want to complain after asking Momo for this favor. But how did she carve out the time to make something so high-quality while gathering information for infiltrating the castle? It was an utter mystery. Momo’s answer, however, was simple. “It’s fashion.” “Is that necessary? I don’t think clothes designed for going undercover need to be fashionable.” “It’s veeery necessary! Anything you wear simply must be!” Momo clenched her fists insistently, even though she wasn’t the one who had to wear it. Like a stubborn and passionate zealot, she was clearly unwilling to back down on this subject. What am I going to do with this girl? Menou wondered briefly, but this was no time for a foolish debate. She gave up on getting through to Momo and moved on to the next subject. “Well, it shouldn’t pose a problem for the mission, so I suppose that’s all right. At any rate, maybe you should learn Camouflage. It’s very convenient, since you can apply it as you enhance your powers.” “Easy for you to saaay. You’re the only one who learned that technique well enough to use it in real combat, you knooow.” “Really? I’m sure you could do it, given enough time, Momo. You’re very gifted.” “Not like thaaat. And since it was our instructor who invented it, you know it must be strange.” Menou kept looking down at herself in the costume, fiddling with the skirt. The apron even had an inner pocket sized perfectly to hold her scripture. Invoking a conjuring required a medium. A scripture was especially useful, since it served as a medium for many different types of conjuring, but carrying one around openly while in a maid outfit would look suspicious. The dagger Menou kept strapped to her thigh had crests for invoking simple spells, but due to the nature of materialogy, it could handle only two of them. Being able to carry her scripture in secret was the perfect solution. “You really put a lot of thought into this. I certainly can’t complain about—Hmm?” Guiding Force: Connect—Scripture, 1:1—Invoke [Transcribe the miracle before my eyes, for it must be recorded.] While Menou was putting her scripture in the inner pocket and testing how it affected the balance of her movement, she spotted a slight glow out of the corner of her eye. It was so brief that most people would assume they’d imagined it. The user would have to be incredibly talented to construct and invoke their power so stealthily. But nothing got past Menou. She traced the conjuring to the source and turned to glare at the culprit. “…Momo. Answer me honestly.” “Hmm? What is it, darliiing?” “Hee-hee. Between you and me…” Menou suddenly shifted from an interrogative tone to a sweet, sultry smile. Immediately, Momo’s face relaxed as well. Then Menou used the moment of weakness to drive home her question. “Did you record an image of me in your scripture just now?” “Whatever do you meeean?” Momo was impressively good at feigning innocence, the cute smile on her face not wavering in the slightest. As an Executioner’s aide, Momo was expected to maintain that expression. No doubt she’d be able to pull off any mission that involved acting without a hitch. Menou’s interrogation had failed, but there was more than enough circumstantial evidence. The suspect and the investigator stood in utter silence for a moment, smiles still plastered on their faces. In the next instant, both of them were glowing with Guiding Light. Using power drawn from their souls to enhance their physical capabilities, the two began grappling faster than an ordinary eye could follow. “Just tear out the page for chapter one, verse one and give it to me! I’ve had it up to here with your habit of sneaking photos without my permission!” “I caaan’t. Your Momo would never rip a page out of the scripture.” “A shameless excuse if I’ve ever heard one! We both know your grade in theology was the lowest in our class by the end!” “Fine, I admit the words of the Lord mean nothing to me, buuut this is a holy record of your photos! Nothing could be more sacred than my faith and love for you. I’ll never let you tear out a paaage!” “Stop being so stubborn!!” Menou’s movements were smoother, but Momo had the advantage in terrain. Since she was already close to the giant hole in the church, Momo was able to escape outside in one swift motion, narrowly keeping her scripture out of Menou’s grasping hands. “Whew, I’m saaafe!” Momo bounded out of the garden and leaped onto the wall as nimbly as a cat, then opened her book. One of the many functions of the advanced spellbook was that it allowed the user to record still images with Guiding Light. In the pages, there was a miniature version of Menou twirling in her apron dress as she had been moments before. “Hee-hee. A wonderful shot, if I do say so myself. You look so good with that dashing slit in your usual clothes, of cooourse, but variety is the spice of liiife. My collection grows agaaain!” “…” As Momo beamed down at her brightly, Menou’s expression finally went blank. Guiding Force: Connect— “Ah! Ha-ha-ha. Farewell for now, darliiing. We’ll meet again after the mission is dooone!” She must have detected the danger when Menou wordlessly started charging her scripture with power. With one last quick smile, Momo hurriedly scampered away. Watching her aide disappear, Menou ground her teeth in frustration. “She always wastes her talents…! What am I going to do with her…?” Heaving a sigh, she reflected on the encounter. Momo had been behaving more or less the same as usual. That excessive amount of flattery and touchy-feeliness was standard for her. While she always goofed around like that, she’d been a little more ridiculous than usual today. The only times Momo really messed around with Menou and toed the line were right after a particularly unpleasant mission. And Menou had just recently killed a taboo entity who was nothing more than an innocent boy. “She was looking out for me, huh…?” Thanks to Momo, Menou’s dark mood had lifted considerably. How many other people had shown her such affection since she became an Executioner? It meant she shouldn’t be on the receiving end of kindness, yet Momo always smiled at her and touched her as if it were perfectly normal. She didn’t hesitate to put Menou’s hand to her cheek, even when it was stained in blood. Menou fiddled with her ponytail as she mulled over the rarity of such a thing, but when she thought more carefully about Momo’s behavior, her eyes narrowed. “There’s another issue at play. I suspect she was mostly being her usual self.” Just like that, her feelings of gratitude shifted back into irritation. Momo’s everyday behavior was still a problem. “Hmph. At any rate, once this mission is over, I’ll have to take a look at Momo’s scripture.” Menou grumbled to herself as she removed the apron from her maid outfit. She was left wearing a simple black dress. The time had come. She had to step out of the warm moment created by her aide, which had let her ease the tension from her shoulders. Menou left the church through the front gate. Squinting at the sinking sun, the Executioner slipped into the throngs of people on the street and headed toward the royal castle to locate the Otherworlder. Sneaking into the castle was a simple task for Menou. She’d memorized the layout beforehand and the route that Momo had outlined. Menou proceeded with meticulous caution as she infiltrated the castle in the maid outfit. Momo’s intel was extensive and near flawless, right down to the guards’ patrols. As she proceeded deeper into the castle, careful to avoid notice, she found the room that was the most heavily guarded. Bingo. Feeling grateful for her talented aide, Menou located the guards watching the room from a distance and discreetly knocked them out with conjuring. “Now…” As she lowered the last unconscious guard to the floor, Menou turned her attention to the room she was targeting. She was in a different section of the castle than the room containing the Otherworlder. The deepest part of the royal palace had wings in all four directions, with a garden courtyard at the center. Conveniently, the guards were watching the Otherworlder’s room from the wing opposite it in the garden. Since it was built for surveilling the summoned, this room had a very good view of the target. Menou crossed her arms, contemplating how best to infiltrate the room. She could simply go through the hallway and enter through the front door, but that would take a little longer. Deciding speed was of the utmost importance, Menou fixed her gaze on the balcony outside the room. The Executioner reached down and drew the dagger she kept strapped to her thigh. The ornamentation on it wasn’t just for show; they were crests, a medium for conjuring. She chose one of the two crests etched into the dagger and charged it with power. Guiding Force: Connect—Dagger, Crest—Invoke [Guiding Thread] An ultrafine thread emerged from the pattern on the dagger. She’d used one of the two crests on the dagger to create it. “Hfft…” She exhaled briefly, then threw the dagger. It twisted around the guardrail of the balcony, just as she’d planned. The thread emitted a faint light, but thanks to the setting sun, it was virtually invisible. Menou wrapped the thread around her hand a few times to secure it. The thread was strong enough that it would be difficult to tear even for someone with enhanced power, so it could support Menou’s weight without difficulty. She tugged on it lightly to ensure she could safely put weight on the guardrail, then boosted her strength and jumped up without hesitation. Hanging on to the thread, Menou gave herself over to gravity and swung across the gap. Akari Tokitou sighed as she rested her chin in her hands. The room she’d been led to, where she was instructed to rest for the day, was shockingly luxurious. It was full of authentic-looking antiques, which were used as ordinary furniture. There was no cutting-edge technology, just palpable historic weight and significance—something utterly unfamiliar to a modern girl like Akari. The majestic castle she’d been led through on the way to the room was equally overwhelming. “I guess I’m in another world…” She tried murmuring it to herself, but it didn’t feel real at all. She’d been walking to school when she was suddenly transported into an unknown world and given a lavish welcome. Everyone she had met so far had been kind to her, but she didn’t have a very good impression of them. Somehow, she could just tell: They were deliberately telling her exactly what she wanted to hear. It seemed like they were doing everything they could to avoid answering her questions, and they were almost certainly withholding important information from her. Even though they were able to understand each other, it was like there was no real communication going on. These people were taking great care to hide their feelings from Akari. That was how she knew something was wrong. But it wasn’t as if she had any attachment to her life back in Japan, either. Not even a little. She closed her eyes, remembering the events of the past few days. Whether at home or at school, there wasn’t a single person she could trust. “Hff…” Akari gave a little half-sigh. This world might be different, but she was still the same. It didn’t seem there would be dramatic encounters in her future, of that she was sure. Even in this world, no one would ever be on her side. Night was falling. What would she be doing if she were still in Japan right now? She probed her memories, but after the dizzying events of the day, she could barely even remember the night before. Something was definitely wrong. From the very first moment she opened her eyes in this world, something inside her felt off. The gears weren’t quite lining up. Frustration grated in her chest, striking a dissonant chord. If only she could have some sort of fateful meeting that would change her life. “What’s going to happen to me…?” Akari had no idea what might lie ahead. Before she knew it, the evening was deepening into a dark-red sky. The sun sank behind the horizon, signifying the arrival of nightfall. This was a different world. During the day, there was just an ordinary blue sky, but maybe she would be able to see something new when the moon and stars came out. Would the reality that she was in another world finally sink in? If it actually felt real, maybe something would change. Curiosity seemed to guide her toward the balcony. “Huh?” In that moment, a young woman in a maid outfit landed lightly on the balcony railing, as if she’d just fallen from the sky. She was beautiful; her faint-chestnut hair, so light it nearly melted into the red of the setting sun, was pulled back in a billowing ribbon. As soon as Akari laid eyes on her, it felt as if time had stopped. Tick. It sounded as if the gears of a watch were clicking into place in her chest. Their eyes locked at almost point-blank range. “……” The unexpected encounter was so startling that even Menou froze for a moment on the balcony rail. Even the experienced Executioner hadn’t expected her target to step out onto the balcony just as she arrived. “Hwuh?” Never in Akari’s wildest dreams would she have imagined this newcomer was here to kill her. With wide eyes, she blinked at the person on her balcony. “Er. So. Whose maid are you, exactly…?” “I’m not anybody’s maid.” The question struck Menou as absurd, even when she remembered she was wearing a housekeeper’s uniform. This girl had clearly lived in peace, if her lack of fear toward an obvious intruder was any indication.