And then Kanzaki noticed something strange at her feet.
“?!”
Hastily, she jumped to the side.
A big hole suddenly opened up in the salty ground she’d just been standing on. If she’d been a split-second late, she’d have fallen into the sea. And had she been robbed of her ability to move, they would have undoubtedly focused their attacks on her.
…We knew we’d have to fight them with all our strength already, but if it’s going to be like this, too…?!
Now that the ships couldn’t move, staying on them would be disadvantageous.
But alighting onto the salt ground would give their opponents the initiative.
It was a difficult situation no matter the case, but then—
“Is this all it takes to make you flinch? I thought you were a force to protect our United Kingdom.”
A woman’s voice rang out, overflowing with an intimidating presence.
A moment later, a thin film spread over the salty ground as though coating it over. This time, it wasn’t from France’s side. The phenomenon widened in one breath to cover the entire sea, encroaching upon France from the UK’s side.
They’d secured their footing.
Kanzaki tightly gripped her sheath, and the sheath sent over twenty French sorcerers trying to surround her flying into the air.
As it happened, Kanzaki looked toward the woman’s voice.
She was standing there.
Clothed in a scarlet dress—their nation’s second princess.
5
Fiamma of the Right.
Leader of God’s Right Seat, a secret Roman Orthodox organization. The Church was said to preside over two billion followers worldwide, and naturally, he’d been the one manipulating its various branches.
However, Vento of the Front, Terra of the Left, and Acqua of the Back—the other members of God’s Right Seat—had been defeated one after another or had otherwise voluntarily parted ways with the organization.
At a time like that, in order to replenish the diminished combat strength, what would he try to take advantage of?
Specifically, within the Roman Orthodox–Russian Catholic alliance?
“And what I came up with was: the Russian army,” said Kamijou as he walked through the snow. “Obviously, Fiamma doesn’t think of anyone as a friend. Maybe he only wants to use them like a bulwark, something that’ll buy him some time so his own plans don’t get interrupted. But he’ll exploit everything he can. If he wants free rein in Russia, it would be easier and look more natural to move around people already in Russia instead of inserting a Roman Orthodox group. Which means that if you keep track of where the Russian army goes, you’re bound to catch a glimpse of Fiamma’s shadow. If we keep tabs on whatever’s odd about the military’s movements, we’ll run into him.”
“You were saying Fiamma entered Russia to look for Sasha Kreutzev, right?” Lesser asked.
“I don’t know why,” admitted Kamijou, honestly holding up the white flag at the question, “but if that was really all he wanted to do, then he wouldn’t have a reason to go to Russia personally.”
“Huh?”
The notion seemed to overturn the very premise.
“Fiamma could have simply given orders to the Russian army and the Russian Catholic Church and made them search this huge country. He could have sat in an armchair by a fireplace and waited for results. But he didn’t.”
“Which means…he’s after something else, too?”
“Something he has to be there for personally, like to touch it or something.”
As Lesser listened to what her traveling companion was saying, she peered at his face.
She couldn’t quite tell if he was stupid or smart, but she had to admit that kind of judgment probably came down to a matter of specialization. The boy couldn’t show how insightful he was unless it was on a very limited scope, like a jigsaw puzzle, where he had to fit pieces together. People good at video games had reflexes and kinetic vision, but in other fields—like hand-to-hand combat, for instance—they couldn’t put those skills to good use. His case was most likely something similar.
In fact, it was more than likely…
For him, the girl sleeping in that cathedral in London was probably a “piece” of the puzzle.
“But we’re in the middle of World War III right now, remember? Military operations are happening all over Russia, big and small. They probably didn’t expect China and India to side with Academy City, either, so they panicked and sent troops there, too. How can you pinpoint exactly which of those things are connected to Fiamma, out of all that chaos?”
“Fiamma would definitely try to hide his plans,” Kamijou answered. “He would take advantage of the Russian army but keep it a secret from them. Any missions that seem perfectly reasonable at first glance but then reveal a completely different nature after a tiny change in perspective, like with an optical illusion—those are the suspicious ones…For example, an operation where mixing in the word magic seems like it would cause some wild chemical reaction.”
“And that’s what led you here?”
“If it didn’t, I wouldn’t have come all this way,” muttered Kamijou, setting his sights beyond the white snow-filled scenery.
“…Wait for me.”
6
The Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations.
Several nations that had rebelled against Russian hegemony and gained independence had formed this alliance. Like the EU, it had a common currency, and the passage of citizens and goods among its member countries didn’t require a passport.
From a Russian standpoint, this alliance was a thorn in their side, and even before the war, they’d always considered invading if they could find a casus belli. And now, with the present turmoil distracting everyone, that opportunity had arrived.
“It seems like the Russian army is trying to set up a base near the border,” said Lesser, possibly having gathered information from nearby residents beforehand. “Their basic composition is all-in-one vehicles armed with missile launchers and grenade launchers. It looks like they’re planning to lob explosives into the Alliance borders from thirty or forty kilometers away.”
If they had a range of forty kilometers, that meant their weapons could reach an area that was larger than all of Japan’s Academy City combined. Plus, those armored vehicles would be deployed not only inside the base but around it, too, making their actual attack range as a whole twice, possibly even three times that of the nominal number.
“But that’s not what they’re really after.”
“…”
“If they seriously wanted to bomb Alliance territory, they would ask the air force to lend a helping hand and use attack fighters or bombers. Then they could virtually ignore firing range entirely. They’d be able to instantly turn every last patch of ground into a sea of flames…They’re trying to use weapon specs as a distraction. Those bases were never actually needed in the first place.”
And then it happened.
Greeeeee!! A shrill roar passed them by overhead. The sound was different than a normal passenger plane—it was unique to supersonic speeds.
However, the source wasn’t the engine of a Russian Air Force military craft.
It was the opposite. Hostile supersonic bombers made in Academy City were tearing through the Russian sky. That being said, their current goal wasn’t to set cities on fire but apparently to drop supplies and weapons, one after another, for constructing bases directly on the Russian mainland.
Normally, airborne units weren’t used like that.
True, if it was possible to airdrop everything into the middle of enemy territory and build a stronghold there, that would provide clear advantages…but only if those strongholds could be maintained. In practice, it would be nigh impossible to secure the land routes needed to transport large amounts of goods, so even if such a fortress was created, it would become isolated in a very short time.
But Academy City had solved
this problem with brute force.
Their supersonic bombers could rip through the skies at over seven thousand kilometers per hour. Boldly passing over the Russian military’s air defense network, outrunning any interception aircraft with overwhelming speed. The planes were monsters, and they swiftly but surely supplied the strongholds with a huge, steady stream of goods. Thanks to that, hastily constructed Academy City strongholds already dotted the vast Russian nation.
“That really is something,” said Lesser as she beheld this technology of a world far removed from her own, sounding somehow laid-back. “Did you hear? When Russia declared war, Academy City apparently said they didn’t have any reason to fight, but that it wasn’t right to stay silent if there was a way to stop the conflict. If we’re purely comparing each side’s weapon strength, Academy City probably isn’t too worried about their matchups.”
Kamijou was silent for a moment at Lesser’s remark, but eventually, he offered, “…Wouldn’t Russia want to shoot down those big aircraft at any cost? They’re insanely strong and keep scattering enemy weapons around.” While looking up at the military aircraft passing through the air every twenty or thirty minutes, he said, “Even cats and dogs would know from the engine sound that this place is a major avenue. Despite that, the Russian base only has surface weapons and no runways for jets, right? I haven’t even seen many Russian jets. Something’s off.”
Was the conviction in Kamijou’s statement because he belonged to the science side?
Lesser was technically a combat professional herself, but when it came to science-based warfare, she didn’t have much insight to add.
“How did you figure that out?”
“From a map,” said Kamijou, showing her a folded-up paper map that could be bought anywhere.
Lesser frowned. “You can figure that out just by looking at a map?”
“No. It’s not like I’m a professional soldier. As if I could possibly figure out what’s going on behind the scenes just by looking at army formations.” He shook the folded map. “If a seriously important military operation was going on, they wouldn’t be selling maps like this in the first place. In fact, they’re apparently rounding them all up in a bunch of other regions. But there weren’t any restrictions like that in this area. It was oddly easy to get, given the scope of the base. They don’t want people to think the base is important. They loosened the security on purpose. But that was why it stood out.”
“Oh,” said Lesser, her reaction not quite making it clear whether she was impressed or not really listening at all. “Does that mean Fiamma is in that base?”
“Actually, I’m not sure there’s even a base to begin with.”
“But there’s still some of the Russian army there, right? How are you going to get in?”
“Well…”
As Kamijou was about to explain, they heard a car engine from far away. It thrummed quite deeply. This wasn’t a passenger vehicle—it sounded more like a big truck.
Upon examination, he was able to see several large vehicles in a line driving across the white snowfields in the distance. He couldn’t tell their exact models, but their vital spots were reinforced with heavy-looking metal, giving them a somewhat warlike impression.
If that was all it was, the scene wouldn’t have been unusual. It was wartime.
But something was obviously strange.
The front and rear vehicles…
Those two were carriages, drawn by two horses each. And the horses were made out of silvery metal. It wasn’t that they were wearing any kind of armor—they were horses completely made of metal running across the snow.
The carriage also wasn’t mundane wood or cloth. It was covered by an outer shell that resembled a Western suit of armor.
This time, Kamijou was the one who frowned. “What are those?”
“Are you all out of science explanations to brag about?”
“Not the trucks—those weird carriages. What part of them says science to you? Did the Russian military develop some kind of horse-shaped pet robots with their unique technology or something?”
“Hmm. I believe those are Sleipnirs, made by the Russian Catholic Church. I’ve heard they were developing legs for moving across snowfields.”
“…Which means we’re up against sorcerers again, huh?”
“As for the trucks, they probably just borrowed them from the army. Sorcerers don’t need to know much about cutting-edge science or technology to simply drive them.”
For the moment, Kamijou decided to imitate Lesser and lie prone on the snow, but when the stinging chill came through his non-waterproofed clothes, he quickly bounced back up.
Lesser gave him a look that was both amused and resigned. “If you’re not going to do it right, you’re just going to seem more suspicious.”
“Yeah, I get it, but…,” said Kamijou, breathing puffs of white air. “You said the Russian Catholic Church, right? I wonder what’s in those trucks. Soul Arms they can use in the war, I guess?”
He hadn’t asked the question thinking he’d get an answer. However, Lesser had a few unexpected words:
“Would it be residents?”
“?”
“Look,” she said, taking the map out of Kamijou’s hands and shaking a finger in the general direction of where the “suspicious base” was. “They want people to think there’s a hastily made base here for the purpose of attacking the Alliance, right? Wouldn’t people have been living there before they built it?”
“…”
Kamijou’s eyebrow twitched.
Whether or not she noticed it, Lesser continued in a carefree tone, “By the way, that line of trucks escorted by those Sleipnir carriages are heading this way. Once they get past us, they’ll reach a concentration camp for political prisoners. I don’t know what excuse they’re using for the eviction, but…If they’re taking those people’s homes away like this, the Russian Church must not think very much of their lives. They might have forced nearby residents to leave so they could start up a base they made in secret.”
“There’s more than one settlement?” Kamijou peered at the map from next to Lesser. “How many were originally where they planned to make the base?”
“About eight, with around twenty or thirty people each. Seems like most of them are uncultivated and not very developed. It might be a tight fit, but with that many trucks, they might get all of them inside— Hey, wait, where are you going?”
Lesser involuntarily called after Kamijou, who had unexpectedly walked off and left her behind.
He was headed for a log cabin nearby. The entire area had nothing else of note all the way to the horizon, so maybe this was meant to be a resting spot, like a mountain lodge.
For whatever reason, the unoccupied log cabin was furnished with a single four-wheel-drive vehicle. Judging by the markings on its side, it technically belonged to the Russian military. Did that mean this log cabin–like building was for observation or keeping watch over something? After nearing the vehicle, Kamijou didn’t think twice before smashing the window with his elbow and unlocking the door from the inside.
The glass shattering made a very loud noise, but Lesser didn’t shrink away.
In fact, she sighed, appalled. “…What on earth are you getting that toolbox out for? You’re not planning to save those in-transit residents, right? With just that L-bar?”
“We don’t know how many people we’re up against, and we have no idea what kind of magic they’ll use. A situation like this won’t be so easy that we can just dive in headfirst and hope for the best, right? It’s not like I want to jump into a battle for fun, or anything.”
Noticing that he didn’t deny he would try to save the in-transit residents, Lesser pressed her index fingers to her temples. She’d been under the impression since the London coup d’état that this kid had a very important screw loose in his head somewhere.
…Still, that’s exactly why I’ll probably have a chance to get him to work for Britain. Simply a
matter of wooing him the right way. Mm.
As Lesser was privately confirming her own objective, Kamijou stuck the L-shaped bar into the snow. Taking sturdy nylon twine out of the toolbox, he glanced at his cell phone’s screen and the analog clock that he went out of his way to use, then put the twine around the bar in the ground.
“?”
He stuck an iron stake a short distance away, then tied the twine to it as well, drawing it taut. Lesser frowned.
…A ground survey?
That was the first thing she thought of, because she possessed the knowledge and skills to know that in large magic rituals, you needed to gauge an exact direction and align the magic circle’s size exactly with your objective.
“What are you up to anyway?”
“Can’t you tell? I’m measuring the direction. Specifically, for the air route.”
Kamijou stuck several more stakes into the snow, drawing the twine around each one, close to the ground.
“Right. So you’re not going to make a big scene with an L-bar in your hand?”
“Come on, you’re treating me too much like an idiot. How many people are they using just to escort that convoy? Why would I walk over there and pick a fight with a bunch of professional sorcerers? And professional killers, too. What is that, an introductory paragraph for a character in a kid’s manga? There’s no way I can beat guys like that in a fight…My right hand has a special power, but they could overwhelm me with their numbers, and then I won’t be able to do anything.”
“In that case, what do you plan to do?”
“First, I want to ask something. These Russian Catholic people don’t care about the lives of the residents they’re transporting, right?”
“If they did, they wouldn’t be bringing them to a concentration camp. I know Japan is too peaceful to understand the concept of such a place, but can’t you at least imagine what it’s like inside?”
“Well.” For some reason, Kamijou grinned. “That’s fine, then. Maybe this will work.”
“Like I said, what are you planning on doing?”
A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 20 Page 4