Touma Kamijou.
Gripping his right fist once again, the boy, still looking ahead, said:
“But even so…that doesn’t mean Fiamma’s the one I need to be apologizing to.”
London.
St. George’s Cathedral had become a crucial and invisible base in this war. Many personnel—read: sorcerers—were moving about within, some to directly tackle the invading forces from France and others to indirectly end this great war itself. But among them, one person stood alone outside the general flow of things: Stiyl Magnus.
While he was one of Necessarius’s combat personnel, he would never go to the battlefield. He wasn’t interested in how this war turned out to begin with. Stiyl was in this cathedral as a bodyguard. For a girl in a large room who continued to sleep on a bed.
Index.
A nun who had 103,000 grimoires memorized and safely tucked away inside her brain.
It was something she’d done long ago, before the boy with the strange right hand had ever shown up.
And that was why…
“Don’t yank my chain,” asserted the sorcerer strongly, a cigarette coming out the corner of his mouth, glaring straight ahead.
A few meters away stood a woman with long blond hair. A woman whose golden locks seemed far too long—almost two and a half times her height.
Laura Stuart.
The archbishop of the English Church and simultaneously the head of Necessarius. Someone who possessed enough authority that, normally, Stiyl would have been forbidden to speak with her on equal footing.
But Stiyl’s expression was dangerous.
It was like he laid eyes on an enemy.
Laura, in the meantime, wasn’t of the inclination to admonish him for his rudeness and simply gave him a grin.
“Oh! This visit is merely to confirm my adorable subordinate’s health, in such miserable suffering as she is. I’ve even come bearing some fruit.”
“…There were two remote-control Soul Arms for her. Fiamma stole the one from the Royals, but the Puritans’ is still in good shape. And it’s obvious who has it.”
Stiyl spoke softly in a low voice.
“You’re using the Puritans’ Soul Arm to interfere with Fiamma so he doesn’t misuse the knowledge in her books, right? Currently, Fiamma has a much stronger connection, since he activated it first. That’s why you went so far as to consider messing around with her body and changing the command priority.”
“A happy idea, a happy idea, indeed! I regret to say I noticed it not. If you are so inclined, would you like to consider the possibility?”
“I said Don’t yank my chain! She’s already tormented by a heavy burden— If you give her any more, you have no idea what could happen!!”
“Well. Even were your spuriousness on the mark…,” teased Laura, “I am the rector of this organization, remember? I have countless personnel I can call upon with merely a flick of my chin or a fingertip. I wonder how long you will be able to hold them back by thyself.”
“In that case…” Stiyl spat the cigarette in his mouth onto the sublime cathedral’s floor.
The next thing she knew, he had several rune cards in his hand.
“…I’ll take out their command tower right now, at the very least.”
“Oh, I see, I see. Quite respectable indeed.”
Laura Stuart shrugged, then removed a Soul Arm, small enough to fit in her palm, from the basket she’d brought the fruit in.
Stiyl’s expression warped in rage, but Laura continued without him.
“But will the present situation last for long, I wonder?”
“Wh…what?”
Stiyl didn’t even have time to repeat what she’d said.
Rustle.
From the bed behind him, someone had slowly gotten up.
Index Librorum Prohibitorum—the index of prohibited books. And the girl Stiyl Magnus wanted to protect most in this world. But she seemed different. She took one look around with emotionless, camera lenslike eyes, then moved her small lips.
“…Warning…zz…Chapter Four ghghgh…verse eight. Remote…user…connection, confirmed. Ghghgee…Data release, permit…Working-state, data…reception will be, blocked…Factors…presenting danger, beginning automatic removal…”
Bwoo!! A strange noise rang out, and several lights danced around Index.
In the blink of an eye, they’d begun drawing an intricate magic circle.
While placing an even greater load on the little girl’s already exhausted body.
“What actions shall you take, Stiyl?” came Laura’s amused voice, as if to further pressure Stiyl, who was already cornered.
While toying with history’s worst Soul Arm in her hand.
“I shall grant you with a chance, so do something about this. If you can’t, then I will.”
“You don’t need to…” Stiyl’s teeth grated. “You don’t need to tell me— This is the job I’ve always done!!”
The girl with machinelike eyes heard his shout and turned her head to face the flame sorcerer.
And so she said:
“Hostility, confirmed. Now…analyzing utilized spells and…commencing construction of a corresponding Local Weapon…”
AFTERWORD
To those of you who have purchased one book at a time, hello again.
To those of you who purchased all twenty-two volumes at once, it’s nice to meet you.
I’m Kazuma Kamachi.
Finally, the war between science and sorcery! Last time we had a battle in a single country, but this time, the scope is one size larger.
Touma Kamijou, Accelerator, and Shiage Hamazura are each viewing the same war from different points of view. Apart from them, other people in the world, those who have had their hands full just living but would have never seen the light of day, are, just once, abandoning everything and risking their lives to fight. I changed the composition of this story slightly from being centered on a single protagonist because I wanted to emphasize how this is the story about a global conflict, and that no matter what one focuses on, the story will always be about a dangerous battle.
In the end of this story, the hearts of those who once fought against one another are, albeit a little at a time, beginning to gather toward one direction. Never stopping this flow. Never straying from one’s own path, using this huge conflict as an excuse. That is probably the most important thing for so many protagonists, so that they can beat this all-too-great flow called war.
I would be deeply moved if you were to watch over their efforts and see whether they succeed or not.
Thanks to my illustrator, Haimura, and my editors, Miki and Fujiwara. The story is getting even more difficult to deal with. Science and sorcery, justice and evil, and what have you—so many different hues are mixing together, and I gather it was hard to give all the illustrations a singular direction. Thank you once again, so much, for meeting the unreasonable requests I make of you each time.
And thanks to all my readers. To be honest with you, with the first volume, I doubted whether you’d let me write this kind of story. Thank you very much for supporting an environment that allows me to do whatever I want.
Now then, as I have you close the pages here,
and as I pray you will open the pages again next time,
here and now, I lay down my pen.
How many protagonists are there anyway?
Kazuma Kamachi
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A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 20 Page 24