The Amakusa weren't so stupid as to let the huge ship land near the shore. After they got near land, Tatemiya pulled out a paper bundle from his pocket and tossed it into the sea. The bundle changed into 20 mini-boats. After Kamijou and the rest got onto the boats, Tatemiya turned the ship back into paper. He didn't keep the paper, but let it dissolve in the sea.
The rowing boat headed towards a lighted area. Are we heading towards an island? Kamijou thought. Looking through the darkness, it did seem to be land that appeared to point out towards the sea.
"We're back at Chioggia. However, it's far away from the town central where Orsola lives, it's a place near the coast."
It was said that this place was called Sottomarina.
After reaching the shore, the Amakusa members turned the rowing boats back into paper, and then tossed the paper bundles to form wooden tables and chairs. From the utensils that they prepared, it seemed like they wanted to discuss this while they have dinner.
The tall and elegant Lucia looked around uneasily.
"We really want to spend some time with you, but we need to get back to Sister Agnese now."
"It's useless even if you go now."
Tatemiya bluntly replied,
"We've just gone through that situation. Now, those guys are most likely still on their guard. Let's wait for a while for the situation to clear."
Just like that, with the dark seaside as the background, a group of people started to prepare for this late dinner.
The ingredients couldn't possibly be from just tossing paper. The Amakusa teenagers pulled out metal camping utensils and started to prepare their dinner quickly. Looking at their actions, Kamijou felt that there were a lot of excessive movements. Maybe they were according to the Amakusa rituals?
Angelene, who was looking at them preparing the meal, also said,
"Compared to coffee or red tea, I prefer hot butter cocoa chocolate."
What is that? Kamijou stared at Angelene.
"Ah, you don't know? It's a hot chocolate drink with fresh cream on it. Normally, they use thick coffee, but I prefer chocolate, you know?"
Angelene started to talk about her favorite super sweet drink in delight, and Lucia, who was beside her, pressed down on her head.
"Sister Angelene…you sure have let down your guard. They're only assisting us temporarily. I should have reminded you several times not to be so obsessed with sweet food."
Seeing Lucia being so angry, Kamijou was somewhat troubled.
"You don't have to say that, right? Nuns shouldn't be like that."
"On what basis are you saying that? Don't sum-up all Christians to be like Sister Angelene, who's in training."
Lucia shouted in an incredulous manner. Regarding this reaction, Index looked away in embarrassment. On a side note, Orsola was eating raw ham off the chopping board, even saying, "My, it sure is good."…it sure felt that way.
Just like that, the meal was done.
On Tatemiya's call, Kamijou and company came over.
A white, wet handkerchief suddenly appeared in front of him. Looking closely, the double-eyelid girl was standing there. A hand was on her blushed cheek and her eyes started to swim about.
"Ah, thanks."
Without thinking further, Kamijou received it. The Amakusa girl said,
"No, it's my pleasure."
After that, she ran away.
"The wet handkerchief tactic again, Itsuwa?"
"Onto the next step! You must at least have the chance to hold that guy's hand!"
"This is really too slow!"
"No, no, to be unable to gain any progress is Itsuwa's charm."
"Soon, it'll be a battle against the female Supreme Pontiff. At that time, we'll definitely cheer for Itsuwa!!"
Hearing these words, she continued to shrink. This had been the case all this time, just what was going on? Even Kamijou was a bit mindful about being given a handkerchief.
Of course, the Amakusa members couldn't all gather at the same table. They were sitting at the other tables while facing here.
Just like that, the information processing and tactical meeting got underway.
"First, we'll start from the ship that Agnese's imprisoned on."
The first one to start speaking was Index.
"That should be the 'Queen's Fleet' that's protecting the 'Queen of the Adriatic Sea'."
Straight to the point.
Lucia and Angelene stared at Index in surprise. To a certain extent, Kamijou was used to it. Seeing this scene made him remember Index's importance.
"Protecting…? That…what on earth? That large fleet is just an accessory?"
Instead of saying that Tatemiya was in shock, it's more like he couldn't stand it. His expression was like seeing an upstart with too much decoration. Kamijou thought that this wasn't without reason, as with that amount of firepower, it was already a huge threat.
"Ye…yes. Basically, we don't know what this 'Queen of the Adriatic Sea' is…I'm guessing it's some incredible facility that even we don't know of."
"After we lost to you guys in The Book of the Law incident, we got reprimanded and removed from the frontlines. As we had lost our reputation, once we got back to the Roman Catholic Church, we were forced to work on the 'Queen's Fleet'. Even so, we only got a little bit of the orders; we don't know what contributions we were making."
Lucia continued on. She filled Angelene's plate with only vegetables before handing it over to her. Though Angelene looked like she was about to cry, Lucia didn't waver in the least.
"Being forced to work… What kind of work were you two forced to do?"
After Kamijou tilted his head and asked, Lucia and Angelene stared at each other before saying,
"We…we were assigned to draw wind from the sea."
"What? Did you say wind??"
"Ah, it's…not really that…even though it's wind, it's wind in the magic sense."
A magic kind of wind? Kamijou widened his eyes; he didn't understand the difference. Thus, just as he was about to ask,
"Hm, the wind here should refer to the one used in alchemy in the beginning. Even though it's work, it's more of a mental thing."
"In this scenario, it's one of the four elements. To remove this is…"
"Maybe they're trying to create an unstable situation."
The members started to give opinions on this magic, and the surrounding Amakusa members nodded their heads in agreement. In the end, Kamijou missed out on the opportunity to ask the question. The knowledge of 'the air of activity is all wind' passed through his head, but Kamijou was rather depressed that only this thought came to mind.
"The bodies of the ships in the escort fleet use normal seawater. I guess besides that, they used some other spells as well."
"If…if that's the case, we can only think of the 'Queen of the Adriatic Sea'."
As for Kamijou, who was left out of the conversation, he decided to get back into the topic.
"But… that thing is called the Queen of the Adriatic Sea, right? I remember I heard of this name outside of the Roman Catholics, right?"
Kamijou tilted his head as he dumped the salad with lots of octopus legs in it onto his plate. Index said to Kamijou,
"The Queen of the Adriatic Sea is another given name of Venezia."
"Eh, if that's so, it's a spell that involves Venezia, right? For example, a marine spell that the Roman Catholics in Venezia use?"
"That is the case…"
Orsola wanted to put some raw ham on Angelene's plate, but Lucia politely refused, saying that they shouldn't spoil her.
"…Though Venezia and Rome are on the Italian peninsula, they were enemies in the past."
What? Kamijou frowned. Orsola continued,
"Venezia originally hated being under the dominion of other people, so after escaping into the Adriatic Sea, they built a city there. After that, they continued to maintain this strong sense of independence, even ignoring the requests of the Roman Catholic Church and the Byzantine Empire to come under them."
Index chomped on a butter-fried clam, and said,
"In history, AD 829, some businessmen brought the remains of St. Mark, one of the Twelve Apostles (Teh_ping: For your information, he wasn't. He was one of the Seventy, not Twelve), into Venezia, displaying the attitude of 'wanting to protect the sleep of an Apostle'. This may be in response to the Roman Catholic Church doing the same with St. Peter."
Hearing Index's words, Lucia nodded,
"Because of salt and trade Venezia had a lot of wealth, she managed to hold off against the Frankish Empire and Genoa, and suppress neighboring powers such as Padova and Chioggia… After that, it became a powerful marine country near the Roman Senate; but not controlled by it"
Angelene, who was beside Lucia, placed a sliced black sea bream onto her plate, and said,
"Seeing the arrogant ways of Venezia, the Pope of that time had ordered them out of the religion numerous times. Normally speaking, this is the equivalent of a death sentence. But Venezia didn't care, and continued to prosper…because this city-state might have bared her fangs at anytime, the Roman Catholic Church couldn't have possibly given them such a large fleet spell. On the contrary—"
"—Was that a special large fleet meant to deal with Venezia?"
Kamijou quietly said while he stopped moving his hand holding the fork.
"Mn."
Index replied.
"At that time, the Roman Catholic Church felt endangered, and the thing they prepared that could bury Venezia was the 'Queen of the Adriatic Sea'. As it was a spell designated for attacking cities, it can't defend against incoming fleets. Thus, the defense net used to deal with the Venezian Navy was the 'Queen's Fleet'."
It was a large-scale spell that could destroy a country.
Hearing this fact, compared to Kamijou and Tatemiya's response, Lucia and Angelene were even more shocked. This was because they had confirmed what they were doing.
"…They pulled out such an old thing. What do those guys intend to do by taking this out?"
Tatemiya shook his head, looking at the light bulb-like glow on the sea far away.
Index revealed a serious expression and said,
"The large scale spell 'Queen of the Adriatic Sea' could only be fired at Venezia. The reason was simple: the Roman Catholic Church feared that if the weapon was stolen by the enemy, the cannons could be turned on them…"
"Then…then, they really intend to destroy Venezia?"
Angelene turned blue with fear. This time, Orsola frowned,
"But the bad relations between the Roman Catholic Church and Venezia should have been several centuries ago, right? Right now, Venezia is a world-renowned tourist attraction, and the Roman Catholic Church should gain quite a few benefits from it. I really can't think of a reason why they would destroy it."
"…Maybe there's something very significant, such that it's beneficial to destroy Venezia."
After Index said this, silence filled the entire place.
Kamijou swallowed his saliva, and said,
"This spell, the 'Queen of the Adriatic Sea' is a several hundred-years-old thing… It's not just Orsola, I'm wondering why would they choose this time to use it."
"Hm…normally speaking, the significance of showing power to the outside is extremely big."
"But isn't the Roman Catholic Church the largest power? They didn't have to specially do this — did something happen to them recently—"
Saying this, Kamijou became silent.
After that, he said,
"…Is it because of the 'Apostle's Cross'?"
Lucia and Angelene were shocked by these unexpected words. Index, who knew about this, showed the same expression as Kamijou and Orsola. Only Tatemiya didn't know anything.
"That's the highest level spiritual item that the Roman Catholic Church is proud of. They used it during Daihaseisai with the intent of taking down Academy City, but didn't reach their goal in the end. It's not unexpected for the Roman Catholic Church to be so anxious."
Though the magic side wouldn't succumb to the science side because of this, the Roman Catholic Church must have been hit hard. If the biggest trump card of the Roman Catholic Church didn't work, what would happen with the other trump cards? It would be that kind of feeling.
"But if they were feeling anxious and took action, why did they choose to target Venezia? Basically, which idiot thought of the plan… Index, what's the benefit of mobilizing the 'Queen of the Adriatic Sea'? Can it dominate a city like the 'Apostle's Cross'?"
"No such thing. The 'Queen of the Adriatic Sea' has no value other than destruction. Basically, it has the effect of 'taking away everything of value', like the divine punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah. There shouldn't be any functions of creation."
"Sodom and Gomorrah…they're that, huh. The Archangel 'The Power of God' sent a rain of fire on them. (Teh_ping: for more information, read Genesis 18:16 to 19:29)"
Tatemiya said as he gulped down grape wine from a wooden cup.
He continued on in a voice as if he was reading from an old book,
"Though the angel received the order to punish the immoral cities, there was a devout family there (Teh_ping: In Sodom). So only this family was told to run away before the destruction. At that moment, the angel added a rule. But on the day the cities were destroyed, the wife broke the rule, and got destroyed along with the cities (Teh_ping: She got turned into a pillar of salt)…"
"Mn, the 'Queen of the Adriatic Sea' was meant to launch a rain of fire down on this immoral city called Venezia, from the centre of Venezia to outside, thus everything would be destroyed. That is the first step."
Index said in a flat tone,
"Other than that, the second phase would be targeted at anyone or anything far away from Venezia. Anyone on tour, or even an art piece in a museum, anything that displays Venetian culture: all these would be taken away. With this, everything regarding Venezia—knowledge or history—will be gone without a trace…"
A chilling topic.
Because it was hard to imagine it, one could see the large scale of it.
This had already exceeded normal imagination.
Angelene said,
"…I suppose she doesn't know what the 'Queen of the Adriatic Sea' is at all. She won't stand aside and do nothing. We attacked you in the past, so we can't really brag about anything, but it's hard to imagine Sister Agnese as one that would find that killing magicians or even ordinary Roman Catholics that don't know anything to be nothing."
"I won't beautify her to this extent."
Lucia continued,
"…I'm not so sure about the situation, but this should be real. From the looks of it, the Roman Catholic Church probably didn't explain it to her, since she's expendable. From the beginning till the end, she's just a key, a simple tool."
One could hear the anger in her words.
Kamijou felt that he could understand those two's words. However, being suddenly on the sidelines, Index frowned slightly, feeling somewhat suspicious regarding those words.
Tatemiya exhaled a bit, and said,
"Basically, we have to bring Agnese Sanctis away from that place, right? I know it's difficult without anyone saying it. But if Venezia is going to be destroyed, I can't just sit by and do nothing."
Hearing such real words, Lucia and Angelene couldn't help but squirm.
"Do you know the exact time?"
"…No. But since they gathered such a large fleet, it seems like they won't hesitate. It takes a lot of resources to maintain that, and after the sun rises, it'll be too eye-catching. Even if they use the Opila runes, the scale is too…"
"Up…up till now, every ship has been undergoing preparations. Maybe there are only a few ships…but considering that they're doing such a major thing, they won't 'wait' for long."
"…In other words, we can't hesitate anymore."
Tatemiya said in a slightly anxious voice.
"This…should be a magic problem. If so, we can only ask the Anglican Church for help, right?"
Kamijou said. Though he was not sure of the situation, Necessarius, which Index was affiliated with, should be a unit meant to handle this.
Tatemiya shook his head and said,
"We have already notified them, but there's some distance from London. Besides, it's not just an ordinary mage society, but famous members of the Roman Catholic Church. If the Anglican Church send their full force to stop it, it may escalate to such an extent that the world would be divided. Just being on the Roman Catholic Church territory alone—it's hard to gather other religious groups here."
From his words, it seemed like helping Kamijou and company was like walking on a tightrope.
Seeing this increasingly unfavorable condition, Kamijou silently gritted his teeth. But on the other hand—
(It's not over yet. At least we can still walk on the tightrope.)
Even if they couldn't call for a large amount of backup, if they could use this force for self-defense, it should still be a legitimate excuse.
This was why Tatemiya had sent the Amakusa to save them, and hadn't rejected Lucia and Angelene upon seeing them.
The substitute Supreme Pontiff pushed his plate and cup on the table aside, and then shifted the huge plate full of salad near Orsola.
"Let me confirm this."
Tatemiya sent the wooden container full of salt to the middle of the table, which was empty.
"This is the 'Queen's Fleet'. Right now, it's 10km south of Venezia. There's some distance to the mainland, and also somewhat far away from the numerous islands around. Even if we don't use the Opila runes, there should be a blind spot that no one would notice."
After that, he moved the container full of sauce about 30cm away.
"This is our current position, which is another 10km south. We can't see the light of the 'Queen's Fleet' from here, and they can only see the night scene of Lido di Venezia. This is a long island stretch that extends from Chioggia to Venezia."
"The casino here is extremely famous."
Angelene suddenly mentioned a little trivia ill-fitting of a nun, and got pressed down on the head by Lucia.
"And then,"
Tatemiya grabbed a wooden fork.
"This is 5km away from the 'Queen's Fleet'. From the angle and sizes of the cannons, this seems to be the enemy's defense perimeter. We'll be bombed continuously if we enter this perimeter."
Tatemiya drew a circle on the wooden table. With the salt bottle at the middle, he just managed to maintain a distance from the sauce bottle, as if he was drawing an array.
"So basically, they can't fire at the furthermost places. So if I'm to make a guess, the attack range is about 4 to 5km."
Tatemiya drew another circle on the inside as if it was an age ring.
After that, he used the fork to gently knock around, indicating a 5km perimeter.
"Basically, we have to get close to this distance if we want to get inside the 'Queen's Fleet'. If it's this ship, we'll probably get sunk if we're hit. There are about 100 ships, and just one ship alone has about 30 to 40 cannons. Can all the ships fire in such a confined space…however, to be clear, the cannon fire should come over like rain."
Tatemiya drew a straight line from the salt bottle to the sauce bottle, and then carved out the inside of the firing range.
"Here's the problem: how can we avoid the cannon fire and attack here?"
"Even if we charge in, we have to fight with a large number of enemies on the ships."
Tatemiya continued.
It was unknown who swallowed saliva.
There was a term called 'barrage', which was a wall formed by cannon fire. What he was asking was a theoretical question of how they should break through this thick wall that didn't have a crack in it.
"5 km…it's about a 3 minute ride on a train, right?"
"…You really like to use real-life examples for comparison, huh?"
Tatemiya said in an irritated tone,
"5km on land is different from 5km in the sea. If a navy ship's engine is installed on a car, the car may end up flying—no, maybe the car body would be crushed by the weight."
This thing called a ship, it felt slower than a car or a plane, but it was due to water resistance slowing it. Though the direct distance was 5km, it felt a lot more. How could they avoid the cannon fire and rush in when the distance was being pulled apart?
The more one listened, the more disheartening it was.
These words made them lose their appetite.
"What if…we sneak in through the sea like just now?"
Orsola fearfully came up with a suggestion.
"…That…about that, we did use the underwater passageway to escape the prison, but because of it,"
Lucia cut off Angelene and continued,
"The commander of the 'Queen's Fleet' isn't so stupid as to let us use the same trick a third time. The commander of the fleet is Biagio Busoni, and though his rank is that of a Bishop, he's a man whose cunning exceeds even that of the Pope. I suppose he would have re-established an anti-sea function for underwater combat."
Biagio Busoni.
"Compared to a single fighting strength, this Bishop is one that specializes in using multiple forces. However, he's not one who relies on his guards. To be able to create a perfect defensive line, it shows that he can sense the enemy's presence even through his skin. The position of Bishop isn't given so easily."
"??? How great is a Bishop?"
"To…to be able to mobilize a thousand nuns like us, that's a Bishop."
Angelene wasn't mocking herself, but saying this in an ordinary tone.
Tatemiya's mouth widened.
"So if there aren't that many people here, would that be the silver lining in the cloud? However, coming back, the problem is the 'Queen's Fleet' battle utility. As it's made of ice, it can resupply without going to a naval base, right? Such a troublesome opponent."
A sect that turned paper into a ship had no right to say this, but a fact was still a fact.
That was originally a large fleet meant to fight against the Venetian Navy. It would be a mistake to think that a ship or maybe one or two submarines could fight it.
Lucia and Angelene gritted their teeth unhappily.
Being far away from the center and hearing this kind of analysis from an outsider made them realize their current situation again.
"Even so…we still have to go."
Lucia said in a determined manner.
"Oi, oi."
Said Tatemiya scratching his head.
"I never said that you need to come along. It would be too shameless for us to borrow your boat. We have a spell to create a passageway underwater, so we can use that to enter."
"It's…it's not like we don't have a single chance of winning…"
Angelene said softly.
Her eyes were clearly showing fear and her shoulders were trembling. Even so, she still wouldn't sit by and do nothing.
"If the underwater passageway we make can open out like tree branches…maybe we can stop the fleet, or maybe we can aim it at a reef to cause a hole in the ship…"
"That cannon can sink our ship in one hit, and even if the ice ship is hit by numerous allies' fire, it will continue to rebuild itself. I don't think that can be stopped by destroying it, you know?"
Tatemiya interrupted them.
Lucia and Angelene became silent.
In this silence, both of them continued to try and suppress their breathing, which entered Kamijou's ears like waves.
"…Then, what do you want us to do?"
Lucia finally said something.
She gritted her teeth and said,
"Nobody would hope for Venezia to be destroyed. If we don't do something, because of Biagio's ridiculous commanding, Sister Agnese will be destroyed by this thing, this 'Queen of the Adriatic Sea' and become a paralyzed cripple! Do you expect us to sit by and do nothing?"
She closed her eyes, and continued,
"Why do you think we would willingly follow her? Sister Agnese is a devout nun that can make me shiver with just her worshiping. The treasure that the Church should have isn't money or riches, but a devout believer. I won't let someone I recognize meet such a terrible fate…no matter what."
"I…I'm not like Sister Lucia, who acts on belief."
Angelene revealed a smile, and continued.
She didn't want recognition, but just wanted to express her opinion.
"Everyone has their own reason. In the past, Sister Agnese took good care of me. Though it's not like those 1 or 2 major events, I kept getting helped by her. Thus I don't want to say goodbye to Sister Agnese without repaying her completely. If I want to repay her, now's the time."
"…"
Kamijou remained silent for a while.
No, it was more like he couldn't say anything. Lucia and Angelene's words didn't have any force in them. Instead, there was a little resistance inside this subject that was impossible to reject.
But, just because of this,
"Tatemiya, that's enough."
What? Tatemiya frowned on hearing Kamijou's words.
Kamijou continued,
"Forget about chances, tactics, practical problems, getting near 5km and being done if we're hit by a cannon. It's not that. Right now, we should be discussing on how to help Agnese. Isn't this the only problem?"
Lucia and Angelene stared at Kamijou with a surprised look.
Hearing Kamijou's words, Index lowered her shoulders and let out a whole-hearted tired sigh, and Orsola gently patted her on the back as if she was trying to comfort Index. This was probably because they both knew about this side of Kamijou. Actually, they had seen it first-hand before.
"Tatemiya."
Calling this name, it meant that he was talking to the representative of the Amakusa.
Maybe they all sensed this, as not just him, but the teenagers of the Amakusa were all staring at Kamijou.
"Agnese Sanctis isn't a perfectly friendly person. But these people purposely gave up their chance of being saved in order to save their comrade. And she doesn't even know what kind of thing the 'Queen of the Adriatic Sea' is, which she'll be used for as a sacrifice. That person's kind intentions will end up with her being destroyed after she's used; she'll end up as a cripple. Basically, just save her. This can also prevent Venezia from getting destroyed. Shouldn't we do that?"
Kamijou didn't look around.
He was just staring at Tatemiya as he continued,
"You don't want to save her? Fine, then I'll go."
Tatemiya laughed.
"THONG!" He stabbed the wooden fork into the table.
"Really, you're treating me like a bad guy…"
Tatemiya unhappily slackened his jaw,
"Damn it, I'm really sad. I don't mean that. To me, the problem has already been settled right from the start, which is why I'm asking what's next. If we want to do it, we have to think of a plausible way."
Tatemiya shook his head as he said in an impatient tone,
"As for the strategy, I've already thought of it."
Hearing his words everyone, including Kamijou, was silent with shock.
"After I announce the plan and we execute it, whether it results victory or defeat, it'll be all on me. Even if we fail, we can't grumble. Actually, I should say that it's too late, which is why I'm asking if you guys are ready for this. I didn't expect to be misunderstood."
Tatemiya revealed a thoroughly disappointed look. He proceeded to look around, away from Kamijou.
In front of him were his comrades, teenagers that were like treasure.
The substitute Supreme Pontiff said to them,
"Anyway, I want to say this. Everyone must come back alive. Don't die because of this kind of thing, or think that you have to fulfill your beliefs even if you have to die. Anyone who thinks like this, get off the ship. No negotiations. After we head off to the battlefield, we must all come back alive, got it?"
No disagreements.
This silent agreement meant that everyone agreed.
Like a teacher asking a stupid student, Tatemiya silently asked,
"What did we learn from the Supreme Pontiff?"
The Amakusa Catholic members said in unison,
"TO REACH OUT TO ALL THE ABANDONED!!"