Completely wet, Kamijou was lying on a wooden floor.
The one looking down on him was Index, the rectangular suitcase and Kamijou's luggage bag were placed on each side.
It was a long dim space. The height was about 8 meters and the length was 30 meters. The walls and ceiling weren't rectangular, but arched like a tunnel.
It was made of old black wood, and seemed to be intricately made as if it was a wooden roller coaster.
"Don't look so worried, he'll wake up soon."
A man's voice could be heard.
"I was shocked when the entire ship got bombed without mercy. Alright, in terms of results, this is truly a miracle."
That's not the problem, right? Index thought.
The owner of the voice should also know this, that was why he said that on purpose.
"You see, he's awake."
Index quickly turned her head and stared at Kamijou, who was on the floor.
His wet eyelids opened slightly.
"Index…"
Kamijou called her name as he slowly got up from the floor.
"Touma, Are you alright?"
The one saying this was the silver-haired green-eyed girl. After seeing Kamijou's face, she seemed rather relieved, though she quickly reverted back to her sulking expression.
The one standing beside her was—
"Ta…Tatemiya…Saiji?"
"Yo, long time no see. I'm the substitute Supreme Pontiff of the Amakusa Christian Catholics, and we're now affiliated with the Anglican Church."
His black hair was now even darker, and his fizzy afro was shining like a beetle. He was wearing a loose shirt and jeans, and was extremely tall, but his body size didn't match his clothes size, making him look extremely skinny. There were four mini-electric fans attached together by a rope, which was hung on his neck. For some reason, his shoelaces were more than 1 meter long.
Kamijou couldn't help but sigh.
Like Agnese and Orsola, he had met this guy during The Book of the Law incident.
"This means…it's the Amakusa?"
They did come to Chioggia to help Orsola move house. After Index had gotten separated from Kamijou, she ran around looking for Amakusa members.
Kamijou wanted to wipe away the sweat on his forehead, but his limbs and even his pockets were drenched by seawater. Just as he was wondering what to do, someone popped up beside him to give him a white wet handkerchief.
Looking closely, the double-eyelid girl was beside him.
"Please use it."
"Ah, thanks."
After Kamijou received it, the girl replied 'no problem' before running off.
"Why are…you guys here…? And, where is this place…?"
Looking around, in the midst of the dark space, he could see and sense the presence of numerous people. Seemed like the entire Amakusa group was gathered within this wooden tunnel. They were gossiping about,
"How was it, Itsuwa?"
"You should have stayed beside him a bit longer."
What was going on?
"Oh ya…eh? Where's Orsola and the others!?"
"Anyway, we got everyone. The known identities are Orsola, Lucia and Angelene. There are also the tied-up men and some Roman Catholic nuns, and we're currently interrogating them."
Though he didn't know how many people there were on the ship, Kamijou finally relaxed on hearing Tatemiya's words. He looked around, and said,
"Is this the secret base of the Amakusa? In that situation, how did you save us when we dropped into the sea?"
Tatemiya laughed,
"It is really hard to imagine this. Let me tell you, this isn't a construct, it's a vehicle."
"What?"
Before Kamijou could let out this voice, he habitually jolted, and his body swayed backwards. It was as if the facilities in the tunnel were moving. Being shocked, Kamijou froze.
"Is…is this—!?"
"I wanted to say submarine, but this isn't so high-tech. At most, it's just a wooden ship that has submarine capabilities."
"In other words…"
Tatemiya lowered his voice as he said,
"It's a ship that can float and sink."
POW!! The sound of the water surface breaking could be heard from outside the tunnel. Kamijou's vision was tilted according to the jerks. While he still couldn't believe it, the tunnel shaped roof broke open from the middle. With the sound of wood clattering, it was like a set of double doors being opened.
One could see the moon that was glowing like a light bulb in the night sky.
The smell of the sea whiffed into his nose. The footing was a bit unstable as if he was on a boat.
"It may be a bit hard to understand. I suppose you can believe it now?"
Tatemiya rubbed against the wooden wall that didn't have any weird shapes on it.
With a creaking sound, the floor that was about 30 meters long suddenly rose. The sound of gears rubbing against each other could be heard, and 40 seconds later, they were already at the ceiling. It was like a blueprint when one can see the layout from the top.
What was in front of him was the night sea.
The place which Kamijou was standing on was 30 meters long and 8 meters wide, and it looked something like a rugby ball. The opened ceiling extended to the left and right like wings, and on the sea, there were many artificial islands made of a large amount of wood.
"Are you kidding me…"
Kamijou couldn't help but mutter.
This definitely looked like a ship, but there was no control room, cabins or communication rooms. It was just the middle of the tunnel that was called a 'ship'. Just this being made of wood didn't make any common sense. It was like a cardboard prop springing to life.
"…You guys actually brought these things for moving houses?"
"What? We're basically hidden Christians in the first place. It's expected that we'll hide weapons. Also, we specialize in island combat."
Tatemiya smirked, and said,
"Paper is made from wood, and then, ships are made from wood. By using this little relationship, we can make them this small."
Tatemiya said as he pulled out something like paper notes from his pockets. They were tied up with rubber bands. Are they all ships? Kamijou thought that there was some incantation written on it, but it was just plain white paper.
(Magic…it's really exaggerating.)
Kamijou shook his head as he exhaled, turning to look at the surroundings below him.
He could barely see the land near the surface of the water. The streets of Chioggia…or maybe not. There seemed to be many more lights.
On the other hand, one could see a white light bulb-like glow on the dark sea on the other side. If one was not careful, it may be brighter than the streets of Chioggia…it should be the 'Queen's Fleet'. From far away, the difference in scale was even more obvious. To Kamijou, who was unfamiliar with the magic world and marine warfare basics, he was unable to tell whether this place was safe.
Up till now, though he had stepped into the enemy's territory numerous times, no matter the place, facility or building, it was basically a piece of land.
However, this time was different. There were about a hundred of these places to fight on.
(…Agnese.)
Thinking about the face of the girl that said that she wanted to stay behind, Kamijou couldn't help but frown.
Seeing his expression like this, Index said,
"No matter what we do next, we have to confirm what's going on. I want to know how far away we are from the safety zone, how far we should retreat…more importantly, Touma looks like he has something to say."
"Nothing…"
Kamijou seemed to be a bit short of words,
"Actually, I'm not so sure about that destroyed ship. Guess maybe Lucia and Angelene are more suited to explain it."
"…"
"Wha…what now?"
"Nothing. I'm just thinking that even when we're in the enemy's territory, Touma's still Touma."
"WHAT'S WITH THAT?"
Kamijou shouted again, but the response he got was an unhappy look on her face. As Kamijou wanted to continue talking about this topic, he started to look around. By the way, where were the two people he mentioned?
At this moment, the human wall formed by the Amakusa teenagers split apart.
Lucia and Angelene walked out from behind the human wall. However, both of them looked like they wanted to run away. Orsola continued to smile as she pushed the girls' backs from behind.
"Oh, so you're alright…seems like it. In other words, we're all alive. Though the cannons didn't hit us, we did fall from a five to seven story height."
Kamijou casually converses with them, but Lucia and Angelene were both blushing as they silently turned their heads aside. Eh? Kamijou couldn't help but make a stiff face when he didn't get a reply.
Orsola smiled as she said to the Roman Catholic nuns,
"Really, there's no need to be shy about it."
"No…we mustn't say these kind of words so easily!!"
Gritting her teeth as she said this, Angelene swung her large sleeves as she looked like she was about to cry. Lucia didn't shout or cry, but she was closing her eyes, muttering as she drew a Cross. Maybe it was to help her stabilize her emotions.
"??????"
Unable to understand what was going on, Kamijou frowned.
"Hahaha."
Seeing this, Tatemiya laughed.
"About this…because it was dark, I'm not so sure what happened over there."
"…These words aren't exactly making me comfortable, you know."
"It's that. Lucia and Angelene's nun's habits are different from Orsola. You see, their sleeves and skirts are yellow. That's a restraining device that the Roman Catholic Church prepared. With that, they have a similar effect of 'being unable to escape a certain distance from a certain point'."
"What does that mean?"
"In, other, words, you're a slow guy. If you don't destroy it, those two will collapse due to the restraining effects. That would be troublesome. Thus…I don't know how to say this, but you seemed to have accidentally used your right hand when you were unconscious."
WHAT? Kamijou widened his eyes.
"In simpler terms, those nun's habits—"
Tatemiya twisted his lips and gave a smirk, and then pointed at Lucia's face. To the tall nun who revealed a surprised look, the substitute Supreme Pontiff said sternly,
"Dropped off cleanly."
With those short-sleeved arms of hers, Lucia blushed as she hugged Angelene, and looked away. She was like a mother protecting her child, using her body as a shield.
Looking closely, their nun's habits were like Index's; there were safety pins all over the place. The gold rings on their heads were also gone.
Thinking about what might have happened, Kamijou suddenly revealed a surprised look.
"WAIT… WHEN I WAS UNCONSCIOUS, SOMETHING WONDERFUL… NO, SOMETHING RIDICULOUS HAPPENED!? BESIDES, HOW DO I DEAL WITH THIS INDEX WHO'S ANGRY UPON THINKING ABOUT THAT? I DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING AND THIS WAS ALL CAUSED BY YOU!! IT'S UNREASONABLE TO BE ANGRY OVER THIS!"
Though Kamijou was refuting this, he was in a begging position. Regarding Kamijou, who was shouting about, Index didn't say anything, but her slightly trembling lips revealed white teeth, making it look even scarier. Killing intent enveloped her heart, and even the battle-experienced Amakusa members were frantically yelling and escaping. The entire ship was in a mess.
On the other hand, Angelene, who got away from Lucia's chest, suddenly remembered something.
"Oh…oh yes. Now's not the time to say this… Sister Agnese's still…! Erm…everyone, thank you for saving us, please let us explain the situation…!"
But with that whispering voice of hers, she was completely unable to reach out to Kamijou, who was busy trying to explain himself, and the people surrounding them.
"Touma's like this all the time!"
"Aren't you like that as well, Index? Anyone would get angry and start lecturing, but what's with that bite that can bite through cuttlefish floss?"
"That, about that…"
Seeing the crowd that continued to ignore her, a panicking Angelene frantically waved her hands. The entire scene was like an out-of-control class.
"Erm…about that, we still have something to do. If possible, I want to talk about Sister Agnese's situation…wa—"
"THAT IS WEIRD! IF YOU HAVE SUCH A POWERFUL BITE ATTACK, CAN'T YOU USE THAT TO DEFEND YOURSELF AGAINST OTHER MAGICIANS!? 103,000 MAGICAL BOOKS? THIS IS EASIER TO POSE A THREAT!"
"Touma, Touma. Do you think that you can win by trying to open my eyes?"
In a rare moment, Kamijou turned around, trying to avoid Index, who leaped over. The white nun leaped onto his back, and both of them rolled on the floor. "WAAAAAAHHHH!!" The double-eyelid girl got caught in it, and fell onto the deck. The wet white handkerchiefs that she was holding onto scattered all over the place, and the surrounding Amakusa members were all shouting,
"ITSUWA, NOW'S THE CHANCE! GO!"
"USE THIS CHANCE TO KISS HIM ON THE EARLOBE!"
"AT LEAST GET ONTO HIS CHEST!"
"SO NOISY, AT LEAST YOU SHOULD GET RID OF YOUR STRONGEST RIVAL INDEX FIRST! ITSUWA, IF YOU'RE A WOMAN, FLING HER AWAY!!!"
Seeing this scene, Tatemiya laughed while Orsola placed a hand on her face and said "Okay, okay". Lucia, however, couldn't stand this as she sighed.
In other words, nobody was listening to Angelene.
"That's, that is…!!"
Angelene was getting even more panicky.
Just as her franticness was at her limit, her eyes suddenly widened.
Deciding on this, Angelene grabbed onto Lucia's skirt with both hands—
"Look…look here! Everyone, notice this!!"
Whop, Lucia's nun's skirt was pulled up.
At this moment,
All the conversations ceased.
At first, Lucia was shocked by this sudden silence that would have killed the ears and frowns of all the people staring at her. The emotion was high, as if the Pope was waving his hand from outside the palace. Just as she was incredulous about this silence, she felt a chill around her legs. Just as she looked down in surprise—
"!?"
2 seconds later, she blushed as if she had just exploded, and quickly used her hands to slap down her skirt that was in the air.
Lucia silently turned towards the petite nun beside her.
"…Sis…Sister Angelene?"
"No, it's not that! Our group often gave the same feeling! So, that…I carelessly did it on habit!!"
Most likely, Angelene was trying to explain her actions. Tatemiya and Lucia, together with the Amakusa teenagers, started to blush and look away. As for Kamijou, who was frozen at the spot, he was bitten on the back of the head by Index.