Across the Ocean. London, England.
'I didn't expect Aleister to act so quickly,' the stunningly beautiful Archbishop thought to herself.
'Using Index as a diplomatic link with Academy City—which carries immense strategic cooperative significance—plus exploiting the fact that the female Saint who recently joined our Puritan Church made a mission error and is bound by her attachment to her friend... it's more than enough to make Kanzaki willingly risk her life for Necessarius to retrieve her. It's a brilliant plan that kills four birds with one stone.'
Laura Stuart smiled sweetly, humming as she combed her long, flowing golden hair—hair so impossibly long it could wrap around her body twice—with a simple wooden comb.
'Then... Edward Alexander. Are you actually hiding in Academy City?'
Edward Alexander was Aleister Crowley's birth name. Magicians worldwide believed that the infamous Aleister had been assassinated by Puritan hitmen half a century ago. But Laura knew very well that he wasn't dead; he had simply gone into hiding somewhere beyond the reach of the Magic Side.
She had searched the entire globe for half a century but had found no trace of him. The only place in the world she knew absolutely nothing about, a complete blind spot to all magical scrying, was Academy City.
'After hiding for half a century, Academy City—which suddenly emerged to become a global rival to the Magic Side—is the most likely place for you to be.'
...
Academy City. District 7, The Streets.
"Wow~ That's amazing! The environment changed so suddenly! There's no magical fluctuation or trace of magic at all! Teleportation superpowers are really incredible!"
Index blinked her innocent blue eyes and looked around the futuristic streets, exclaiming in amazement.
"There are so many things here I don't understand! Is this really Academy City? This is amazing!"
Index was acting exactly like a cat dropped into a strange but exciting new environment, curiously looking around at the sweeping wind turbines and cleaning robots. Anything unfamiliar attracted her full attention.
"Actually, it's not that difficult to understand. As long as you grasp a little basic scientific common sense, it's quite simple," Yuuya said with a smile, highly amused by the curious kitten beside him.
"I don't understand science, but it all looks so amazing! Hey, we just finished our main meal. Isn't it time for dessert?!"
Index's eyes sparkled as she locked onto a nearby ice cream parlor. She looked up at Yuuya, her expression full of intense, unapologetic anticipation.
"You just ate enough to feed a family of four. Can your stomach really hold any more? Is your stomach a dimensional pocket?" Yuuya's lips twitched slightly.
"I don't know about dimensional pockets, but my stomach always gets hungry very quickly, even right after I'm full! So I need to eat more dessert now so I won't be too hungry for the next meal," Index explained flawlessly, blinking innocently.
"Don't worry. Since I've decided to protect you, I'll make sure you're well-fed for every meal," Yuuya promised.
Index still didn't want to cause him any trouble, and her original plan was to leave him after this meal to spare him from her pursuers.
"You've already helped me out of my predicament and even treated me to a wonderful meal. I can't cause you any more trouble! I'll be leaving now," Index said, bowing deeply to Yuuya.
"It won't cause me any trouble at all. Besides, you won't find perfectly good food discarded in the streets of Academy City. You're completely penniless and have nowhere to stay tonight, right?" Yuuya pointed out, gradually guiding Index's thoughts.
Although Index had her flaws, she was a devout nun who firmly believed in extending a helping hand to those who had gone astray without expecting anything in return. Because of this, she would worry about the safety of others even if her own life was in immediate danger. She must have thought she was safe for the moment, and that those hunting her wouldn't dare strike in broad daylight.
"But those who are hunting me won't give up easily," Index argued stubbornly. "The evil Magicians' obsession with my Grimoires makes them disregard even their own lives!"
She knew she was only safe temporarily. They would find her sooner or later, because no matter where she ran, the **Walking Church** she wore—while protecting her from physical harm—also acted as a magical beacon for Magicians to track her location.
"Did you forget that I'm a Level 5? That's equivalent to a Saint on the Magic Side. Why don't you believe I can protect you?" Yuuya couldn't help but reach out and rub the top of her veiled head.
Index blinked, her cheeks puffing out in a slight pout. "But..."
"No buts. I won't let you out of my sight anyway," Yuuya said seriously.
"Even if it means risking your life in a battle against magic, would you not hesitate to protect me?" Index asked softly, searching his eyes.
"A battle? I'm actively looking forward to it," Yuuya smirked confidently. He had never truly fought a Magician before, and he wanted to test his new vectors against supernatural laws.
"You're a really good person," Index smiled brightly, beaming like a sunflower at the older boy who had fed and sheltered her.
"No, I'm a bad person," Yuuya stated with a straight face upon hearing that dreaded phrase.
"A bad guy?" Index tilted her head, looking exactly like a puzzled kitten.
"Yes. I want to be a bad guy. Because there's a saying: 'Good people die young, but evil people live for a thousand years.' So calling me a 'good person' is basically cursing me to die young!" Yuuya declared seriously.
"Is this a superstition unique to this country? How strange," Index murmured.
"Let's go. Didn't you want to eat ice cream?" Yuuya said, pointing to the parlor in front of them.
"Yes! Thank you, Yuuya!" Index said cheerfully.
"What did you just call me?" Yuuya was taken aback, looking at Index with slight surprise.
"Ah... I heard that people in this country can be addressed by their first names when they are very close and kind to each other. Is there a problem with that?" Index asked curiously.
"No, there's no problem. It's just the first time a girl has called me that so directly. It's quite unexpected," Yuuya chuckled. Usually in Japan, a girl only used a guy's first name without honorifics if they were incredibly close childhood friends or a romantic couple.
A few minutes later, Index was happily holding the parlor's largest ice cream cone. She ate it enthusiastically while looking around the futuristic streets, entirely carefree, occasionally asking random strangers questions like a curious child.
...
On the other side of the wall. District 3 Checkpoint.
District 3 served as one of the few external gateways into Academy City, featuring several international exhibition halls and top-notch hotels for visiting dignitaries. It connected directly to the outside world, serving as a heavily fortified bottleneck.
"Damn it! This is so incredibly troublesome! I swear I will never step foot into this sterile hellhole again!" Stiyl Magnus cursed loudly.
He was already thoroughly annoyed by the city's paranoid border security. They had been subjected to various complicated physical screenings, bombarded with a bunch of incomprehensible scientific terms, and forced through repeated biometric checks.
He hadn't been treated this ruthlessly when he infiltrated the Vatican! Academy City was definitely making things difficult for them on purpose.
"Be patient, Stiyl. Finding Index is our only priority," Kanzaki Kaori said stoically, though even she looked slightly weary from the bureaucratic nightmare.
"Index is currently... let's see..." Stiyl pulled out an Academy City tourist map, cross-referencing it with his tracking spell. "This map marks her coordinates in... District 7. That's the core residential district of Academy City!"
Stiyl's face turned green with frustration, his teeth clenching tightly around his cigarette butt. "Just how many more internal security checkpoints are we going to have to go through to get there?!"
"I don't care," Stiyl growled, a spark of flame igniting at his fingertips. "Once we find Index, I'm going to make the Esper who took her pay in blood."
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