Being bitten hard, Kamijou rolled on the ground while Orsola continued to clear up the cutlery. At this moment, the sky was getting darker.
"Then I'll leave it to you."
Orsola bowed towards the truck driver who was shaking about. She was slightly worried about the brittle cutlery.
No matter what, the moving had already been completed.
Maybe the whole of Chioggia was like this, or maybe it was just this place, but there was no one around. Slightly further away, the voices and laughter of families could be heard.
Orsola was holding onto a rectangular luggage bag as a minimum, saying,
"Sorry to bother the two of you. It's troublesome to slowly move all of this stuff."
"No, it's alright. Orsola, what do you intend to do after this? We intend to go back to the hotel and then go out sightseeing. Do you want to come with us?"
"No, no."
She gently replied, her hand hiding her blushing face as she looked aside. She continued,
"I'll feel awkward if I'm to go back to the hotel with both of you… that adult thing."
"AHEEEEMMM!!!?"
Kamijou immediately coughed, Index however curiously asked,
"??? Adult stuff? What's that?"
"It's best not to hear it!! IT'S BEST THAT INDEX DOESN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT!!"
Just as Orsola was about to explain, Kamijou interrupted in a loud voice. Index still didn't understand anything at all, completely innocent.
"I left my work at London temporarily to come here, and it's not suitable for me to stay here for long. Also…"
"Also?"
As Kamijou pursued on, Orsola smiled and replied,
"I intend to say goodbye to Chioggia… I don't want you to see me not being like usual."
Kamijou suddenly noticed it.
This was where Orsola had stayed all her life, but after today, she could no longer stay here. It was not like she wanted to move. If not to ease the tension between her and this huge organization called the Roman Catholic Church, she wouldn't move out at all.
Kamijou remembered the time when he saved Orsola from Agnese.
Strictly speaking, that had been not a painless problem.
It was after spending an ordinary day that he had managed to save her.
Even if it was a little compromise, it was for the greater good.
"…Sorry Orsola. I wasn't very sensitive about this."
"No, no. It's not like I won't ever be back. Alright, please don't look so guilty. I do feel that London and Chioggia are rather similar."
Under the starry night, Orsola smiled. Index, who was beside him, wordlessly knocked lightly onto Kamijou's elbow, most likely hinting him to stop continuing this topic. Even Kamijou knew this, and he had to know this.
"Then, I'll take my leave. If there's a chance, hopefully I'll accommodate both of you in London."
"Mn, if you have the chance to come to Japan, we'll do the same."
"Before that, Touma has to tidy up the room."
Saying this, the trio began to head off towards their respective destinations.
At this moment,
Index suddenly looked up,
"Don't tell me… this is…"
Suddenly, she shouted,
"EVERYONE! GET DOWN!!"
Kamijou stared at Index in a surprised manner.
Get down…for what?
From afar, a sound of metal colliding could be heard.
Index's expression became tense.
"FROM THE RIGHT!!"
The voice rang as if it was reaching the sky.
BANG!
An unnatural sound resounded, causing Orsola's rectangular luggage bag to fly out.
"Eh?"
Orsola looked at the hand that had been holding onto the luggage bag a moment ago in an incredulous manner. The luggage bag gently dropped onto the floor. The metal buckle shattered, and the luggage bag opened like a book. A comb and lipstick dropped out from inside. There seemed to be some back-up food, and the burnt black food rolled down the road into the canal.
Kamijou stared at the luggage bag on the ground.
On the surface, there was an unnatural hole approximately 1 cm in diameter.
"TOUMA, GET AWAY FROM THERE!"
Index's urgent voice could be heard.
Why is she panicking now… is it magic now?
He carried this suspicion as he looked back at Index, but Kamijou froze halfway. There was a very shiny spot on Orsola's clothes, which silently moved from Orsola's shoulder onto her chest.
Like an infrared sight to assist in aiming at a target.
Long range weapon…
"Sniper!? ORSOLA!"
Kamijou threw away the luggage bag in his hand and pushed a dumbstruck Index forward before knocking Orsola in the abdomen.
Charging down the road.
A soft gunshot could be heard.
On Kamijou's back, from left to right, it started to hurt as if it was a string.
His skin was burnt off by something.
From where!? Who!? How!?
Enduring the blood that was flowing out, he looked around. The surrounding rectangular buildings were 5 stories tall, and there was only a straight canal. An outsider like Kamijou couldn't tell whether this place was suited for sniping. Looking around, there was no one with any huge equipment hobbling around. Maybe it was from the opposite direction of where the luggage bag flew, but he could only see the wall of the building. However, Index seemed to know where the attack was coming from, and shouted,
"TOUMA!"
Hearing Index's shout.
Just as Kamijou was about to change his focus from the inside to the outside, an icy hand grabbed Kamijou's neck. Turning back, he could see a hand extending out from the canal beside the road. It was a pitch black hand. Someone was extending their hand from the water's surface to grab Kamijou's neck from behind.
"!"
It pulled Kamijou into the water before he could think of anything.
Losing his balance, Kamijou fell away from Orsola and into the canal. The turbid waters irritated his throat, and the wound on his back was painfully stimulated as if it was about to explode. In his distorted vision, he saw someone walking down the road, their left hand holding onto something shiny and metallic.
A dagger, or in other words, a sword.
You scum… who are you!?
Kamijou extended his hand onto the leg of the attacker, but it was dodged. Kamijou then swung his limbs, gaining enough momentum to float up and appear on the surface.
Maybe it was low tide now, as the water was only several meters tall. But it was enough to obstruct Kamijou's vision.
"Cheh!"
He used both hands to grab onto the edge of the canal and climb up.
The first person in his vision was Orsola. She was kneeling on the floor in an incredulous manner, in what seemed to be the same position that she was in when Kamijou had knocked her down. That expression wasn't of fear, but shock.
Then,
Right in front of her was the attacker. The short man wearing pitch black priest robes. Like Orsola, there were zips on his shoulders. His back facing Kamijou, the purple-dyed hair was extremely obvious.
In that wet hand, there wasn't a knife or sword like he expected, but a spear. It looked that it had been forcibly shortened, and on the front tip of the 70cm black wooden handle, there was a 10cm blade.
She'll die if she's stabbed with it.
The attacking male raised his hands in full force.
Like he was about to stab the ground.
Kamijou had to stop him, but Kamijou, who had managed to get out of the canal, was still sprawled on the ground. It would take several seconds for him to get to Orsola. At this moment, the spear of the attacker swung down hard.
"Go to hell, bastard!"
Kamijou grabbed the blow dryer from the items scattered from Orsola's luggage and threw it without thinking.
It hit the back of the attacker's head.
The spear missed slightly.
The tip of the blade hit the floor, missing Orsola's head.
"!"
The attacker turned around, rushing towards Kamijou, who was obstructing his mission. That spear was shining with an orange light in this black night. It is magic, huh?
Kamijou, who was still prone on the floor, clenched his fist.
"Stab yourself instead!"
The moment Index shouted this, the man pointed the spear back to himself. Now that the male in priest's clothing was unable to control his weapon for some unknown reason, he stopped.
"!"
Standing up, Kamijou lowered his body and slammed into the guy's stomach, his right fist hitting his face. The force that came from below caused the guy's head to shake.
"Eh, Ugh!"
Making such a sound, the man intended to lower his vision. Kamijou punched him again.
With a loud sound,
The fist that contained all of Kamijou's strength hit the man's nose without any remorse. Finally, the man whose back had been facing Kamijou was knocked down, not moving at all.
No time to stop.
"! WHERE'S THE SNIPER!?"
"No need to worry… it's over for now."
"What do you mean it's over for now!?"
Hearing Index's words, Kamijou was confused.
Then,
GYYYAAHHH!!
From afar, an indecent male voice could be heard. To a tense Kamijou, Index calmly said,
"To snipe here from afar, it means that he's sending information of his location to us. Then no matter where he is, my Spell Intercept can mow through it."
Seemed like Index had done something, but Kamijou didn't know exactly what.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps could be heard.
Kamijou looked at a corner of the road, as a man's figure suddenly leapt out. A hand on his head, he was frantically running around, as if he had heard an explosion. It was too dark for Kamijou to see clearly. The man wasn't running to Kamijou and company, but into the canal, saying,
"Abbandoniamo l'avanguardia! Ora si ritira di qua! Quella donna la ucciderò sulla nave! (Forget the front! Prepare the retreat ship! We'll kill the woman on the ship!)"
He seemed to be shouting something in Italian, and just like that, jumped off the edge of the road and into the embankment.
Is the guy escaping the sniper from just now!? Damn it, should we chase him or not?
Just as Kamijou was considering this, the sound of water breaking could be heard.
But,
How could a person jumping into the water make such a large sound?
The surface of the canal broke open.
Like a reverse waterfall, the seawater flowed up, and the man landed on the thing that was coming out.
"Wha…!"
Kamijou held his breath.
From below the canal, a ship appeared. It was like a sailing junk that had 4 masts. What was different about those ships was the material. The ones used to find the new world had been made of wood, but this one that had just appeared was translucent and gave a chilly feeling. It was like it was made of crystal—even the sail and ropes on the mast were of the same material—making one wonder whether it really functioned as a ship. Maybe because of the light reflected from the streets and the moon, the ship was bright like a light bulb.
But,
What was even weirder was the size of the ship.
"WA!"
"TOUMA!"
The canal should be 20 to 30 meters wide, and the side of the ship smashed the embankments, forcing it to become smaller.
"HOW ON EARTH DID THIS THING REMAIN HIDDEN FOR SO LONG!!?"
A large number of motorboats were stopping like a bus stopping in front of a bus stop. Some were crushed and began to sink, some were knocked high up into the air. Kamijou's fist hit a piece of shrapnel that was flying at Index's head, but his footing was immediately drowned by the seawater that was gushing in like a sprinkler, as if a child had just jumped into a wading pool, Kamijou's face was flipped like a face washing plate as he slipped on the ground.
"IT HURTS! WHAT'S GOING ON!?"
Looking up from the floor that was completely drowned, the triangular mast was only 40 meters tall. Also, the ship was still emerging from the seawater.
Kamijou felt it was weird. In fact, he knew that there was a certain depth for the river; it was basically 3 meters deep, so there shouldn't have been enough space to hide such a huge ship.
The ship jerked.
Right now, the deck was barely as tall as the road, like it was jacked up. At the same time,
"AH…!"
Orsola seemed to be caught on the ship; she had been taken up by the ship from the road. Kamijou couldn't even respond because he was knocked from below by the translucent ship rope.
He was swept up.
During that moment of flight, his feet left the ground. Just as Kamijou lost his footing, the ship tossed him 20 meters high. He was about to fall right next to the ship.
He would die if he fell from such a height.
"!"
Kamijou frantically grabbed onto the handrails of the ship with both hands.
The ship that had been drowned in seawater was now like a 20 meters high cliff.
It seemed to be 7 stories tall; his vantage point was even taller than the surrounding apartments. Kamijou looked around from the ship. Orsola was also hanging on the ship—the side of the ship's hull should be 100 meters.
"Orsola, get up there!"
Though I would rather not get on this unsolicited thing.
Kamijou ignored the unhappiness in his heart, grabbed onto the ship's hull that was extremely shiny, and climbed onto the deck.
It was really a big ship.
It was over 100 meters long, the height from the deck to the bottom was about 20 meters. Everything from the mast to the deck was made of translucent material and shined with a mild white light like a light bulb.
Kamijou and company were in the middle of the ship. The ship front and rear were like a staircase, coinciding at the cabins. It was like they were smack in the middle of a bowl. There were 3 levels up, and 5 to 7 levels down; it was a ship that was even bigger than Kamijou's apartment. The ship was pressing against the embankments, and the seawater that was forced out gradually flowed onto the road.
"This is crazy… for such a thing to emerge from the canal…"
The hull was also made of this magical translucent material. It could reflect moonlight, creating a white light like that of a light bulb.
Though…this feels like glass or crystal, it's not. It's more like ice.
Speaking of practical buildings that were made of ice, the Inuit tribe from Canada were famous for using ice to make 'igloos', but not of this scale.
Kamijou prodded the deck with his finger. It was definitely something similar to ice, as skin stuck to the surface upon contact. It was not cold; it was slightly warm like plastic… but ice freezes at 0 degrees Celsius under atmospheric pressure, which was common knowledge. Under certain conditions however, the freezing and boiling points could be changed. There existed ice at 20 degrees Celsius and steam at 80 degrees Celsius.
It was obviously made from magic.
So even if it was ice, the floor wasn't slippery. The reason why ice was slippery was because the surface of the ice would melt into water, reducing friction. By changing the melting point, even if the ice touched human skin, it wouldn't melt, so there wouldn't be any water on it. This magical stuff was probably similar to Stiyl's Innocentius and wouldn't break even with Kamijou's right hand touching it.
Suddenly, the ship jerked. The impact came from below, and Orsola, who was rather slow, was knocked high.
"AH!?"
"Hang on tight!"
Kamijou immediately reached his hand out from the deck, grabbing onto the woman. Good thing the female wasn't heavy, but with the unstable positioning, she seemed several times heavier. Breaking out cold sweat, Kamijou pulled Orsola onto the deck.
Just like that, Kamijou and Orsola were lying on the ice.
"Touma! Are you alright, Touma!?"
Kamijou heard Index's worried voice as Index continued to run along.
But Kamijou had no time to reply.
Suddenly, the ship jerked again. This time, it was shaking back and forth in a regular manner. Orsola, who was on Kamijou, slowly approached Kamijou's chest.
Kamijou looked around. Besides both of them, there was no one around. The silent giant ice ship reminded Kamijou of something.
Is it moving forward? Normally, wouldn't such a large ship be unable to move in such a narrow river? Isn't this like a whale in shallow waters!?
In contrast to what Kamijou expected, the giant ship moved forward as if it was an ice hockey puck skating on ice… Thinking further into it, Kamijou realized that if this shining ship was created by adjusting the melting point of ice, it was most probable that the water film created at the bottom of the ship had reduced the friction.
"Orsola, are you alright?"
"Mn…"
Hearing Kamijou's words, Orsola answered uncomfortably. She seemed to have noticed that she was pressing onto Kamijou. Normally stable, she was somewhat puzzled as she nimbly tried to get up— only to lose her balance again.
Even if it was Kamijou, any female, whose clothes were drenched by seawater, sticking onto him would cause his heart to race. But now wasn't the time.
A section below Kamijou's hand, extending from the handrail of the ship to the higher walls was shining. Leaning out from the ship, Kamijou was stunned. The ice ship continued to force its way, squeezing aside the embankments, swallowing the ferries around, and moving down the canal.
"WHAT'S GOING ON!?"
No matter how Kamijou sighed, what was happening in front of him didn't change.
And as he looked closely, he noticed something.
"From here, it's at least 20 meters down…even if it's seawater below, I'll probably break a few bones if I jump down. No, wait. This ship is bigger than the canal, yet it can still move forward, so the bottom of the canal is made of stone? Damn it, is the seawater I'm seeing now on the road!?"
The seawater seemed to flow into the gaps between the buildings. He could hear frantic voices from the surrounding buildings— understanding the 'reason', all of them were dumbstruck.
"Ah! Wait!"
Suddenly, Orsola stood up.
She just stared at the front, wide-eyed.
"For this to happen…"
"Wha, what? Orsola?"
"This ship is forcing its way forward. Seems like it's moving from the middle of Chioggia to the Adriatic Sea."
As Kamijou was wondering what was going on,
"Get down! The Viggo bridge is right in front! This ship will force its way through it!"
"You kidding me!?"
Kamijou immediately grabbed Orsola from behind. At this moment,
A strong quake could be felt.
The bridge was destroyed in one blow.
"Ack!?"
The hand that should've been holding Orsola released her. Suffering the impact, Kamijou was unable to breathe as he lay on the deck.
Gack…ah! Or, where's Orsola…!?
Orsola barely managed to support herself on the deck. Good thing that she had managed to fall inside like Kamijou, and was on the floor as well. To be honest, it was a relief. If she flew out, it'd be a 20 meter drop.
Damn it…
In this helpless situation, Kamijou continued to think,
Attacked by some weird people, getting onto an ice ship, getting separated from Index… just what the heck is going on?
Orsola held onto the handrail on the side of the ship, and blankly said,
"We're leaving…the ground."
"Ah, where are we going, this ship…"
Adjusting his breathing, Kamijou stared at the land that was becoming smaller and smaller.
But this silence didn't remain for long.
This time, from afar—actually, from within the ship, many footsteps could be heard.
"Cerca! Loro devono essere a bordo!" (Find them! They should be on this ship!)
Kamijou heard a man's growl.
Though he didn't know what it meant, he could feel the animosity in it.
Orsola lowered her voice and said,
"What now, they seem to be looking for us…"
"I know! If we jump off the ship…nope. It's too dark, I don't even know which side is which anymore."
Frantically looking around, there was nothing in the sea. Kamijou idly thought, are we that far away already? It seemed that ever since they got onto the sea, the ship wasn't as tall anymore. Compared to moving around in the canal a while back, they were now floating on the sea. Seemed like half of the ship's height was submerged in water. In other words, this meant that the sea was a 10 meters drop.
But, to even consider jumping, they would need to be able to swim in these raging waters for a long distance. If they recklessly challenged the sea, there was an 80 to 90% chance that they would drown before they could even reach the shore.
Looking down, this ice ship seemed to be a replica of an ancient battleship. Ten translucent cannons extended out from the side of the ship. Without an oxygen tank, they could only swim at the surface. One could immediately see the unnatural waves from the deck of the ship. If those cannons could really fire, it would be their deaths if they were seen on the water.
Besides, upon seeing that tiny land, Kamijou knew that it was impossible for them to get off the ship.
"Damn it…!"
Footsteps could be heard from all over the ship.
In other words, this wasn't a safe place.
The light source of the ship itself wasn't that strong.
Though the surface of the ship was reflecting light, it was rather dark inside.
But even though it wasn't very bright, the floor and walls were glowing. Kamijou and Orsola's shadows could be seen, so it was hard for them to hide in the darkness.
The good news in this misfortune was that, as this 100 meter long ship was extremely big, there were some things for them to hide in, as well as cabins.
"Orsola, get inside the ship. We'll be spotted if we stay here. Anyway, let's find a place to hide in."
"Yes. I know."
Kamijou grabbed Orsola's hand, crouched down, and moved along the ice ship.
What was supposed to have been a delightful trip to Italy was now developing towards another direction.