A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 7 by Kazuma Kamachi Read Free Book Online Page A

his mouth, not seeming particularly concerned.
    “No, I don’t mind much. In fact, I could speak Italian as well.”
    “Please, don’t. If I heard my mother tongue spoken with an English accent, I would be laughing too hard to do my job. We should stick to a language that’s foreign for all of us. We won’t get into any fights as long as we both sound weird speaking it. ”
    Clop-clop
went Agnes’s platform sandals like a horse’s hooves.
    She had a point, but Stiyl needlessly worried about what language she planned on using with
actual
Japanese people in this country. If those around her couldn’t use it in the first place, then he wasn’t sure why she needed to learn the country’s language.
    Index had been silent the whole time. She didn’t say a word.
    She just pouted. She shot an angry sidelong glance at Stiyl to show that she wasn’t talking to him, then returned her gaze to Agnes.
    “So this Amakusa-Style borrowed the
Book of the Law
and Orsola Aquinas from your home. Do they really threaten you that much?”
    “You mean, why is Roman Orthodoxy, the largest religion in the world, having so much trouble, don’t you? Well, I don’t actually have anything to say to that. We have more in terms of numbers and armament, but they’ve been disrupting us by using the terrain to their advantage. Japan is their backyard, after all. It does make me pretty mad that we’re taking damage from someone with a numbers disadvantage, though. I don’t want to admit it, but they’re strong.”
    “…So they won’t give in easily, will they?” Stiyl’s voice was just slightly bitter.
    He’d thought the “walk softly and carry a big stick” idea would have been the fastest and most peaceful way of resolving things, but if the opponent had enough might not to capitulate to your negotiations, the only thing left to do would be a protracted fight.
    The longer the battle went on with Amakusa, the higher the danger that Kanzaki would stick her neck into this. Now that things had come to this, the smoothest option might be to abandon any sense of mercy and take down Amakusa with one blitz before she noticed.
    The Roman Orthodox Church’s objective was to retake the
Book of the Law
and Orsola Aquinas, not to annihilate Amakusa. If they were to get what they actually wanted, they would likely pull back right away. After that, they just had to worry about ridding Amakusa of their will to fight.
    “I don’t know much about the history of Crossism in Japan, but do you know what sort of techniques Amakusa uses? You might be able to set up some amulets or warding circles for searching or defense based on that.”
    Stiyl had been partners with Kanzaki, former leader of Amakusa-Style, in the past, but he never bothered to try and analyze her techniques. After all, she was one of less than twenty saints in the world. Even if he did figure them out, a normal person like him would never be able to usethem. No human would ever think to measure the distance between the sun and the earth with a fifty-centimeter-long ruler.
    Agnes looked worried at the priest’s question as well.
    “Actually…We haven’t been able to properly analyze Amakusa-Style’s techniques. If they were based on Xavier’s Society of Jesus, then that would mean they were a branch of Roman Orthodoxy, but you can’t even
smell
Christianity anymore. There’s too much influence from Oriental religions, like Chinese and Japanese ones, mixed in there.”
    Stiyl still didn’t blame Agnes even after hearing that. Just them being able to determine from their skirmishes yesterday that Buddhism and Shinto were mixed into things might have spoken volumes for their analytical abilities.
    He looked away from her and to Index, as if interested in her opinion.
    She had at least ten thousand times the knowledge of a normal person, so at times like this, she was the unchallenged champion.
    The sister all in white spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.
    “Amakusa-Style is famous