Ch.264Episode 12 – The Strongest Mage in History

It took about 3 minutes to calm my startled heart.

Lucia put the skeletal hand back into the box, and I sat down at a distance from it.

“Were you very surprised?”

“What on earth is that thing?”

Lucia, who had reattached the lock, answered.

“These are the remains of Saint Balthasar.”

“…A saint’s bones?”

“That’s right.”

The wrist inside the box belonged to a saint. Lucia explained that the bones belonged to Saint Balthasar, one of the three great saints of the Order.

“He was one of the three clergy who received revelation from God during the Creation era. What you just saw are remains recovered by the Vatican’s excavation team while investigating ruins based on ancient texts from 1190.”

I had heard of the Order’s excavation team before.

Just like the excavation teams from the Magic Tower and Ivory Tower that track down artifacts left by ancient mages who scattered across the world to escape the Inquisition, the Order’s excavation team is an institution that researches history and excavates religious artifacts.

The excavation team, with a history as long as the Order itself, is known to possess a considerable amount of artifacts and literature. That’s why the Magic Tower’s excavation team and the Order’s excavation team are considered the two pillars of authority in the field of historical studies.

I stared at the box with a blank expression.

“…But why is something like that here? No, more importantly… didn’t that thing just move?”

Lucia’s gaze shifted slightly toward the wooden box.

She silently stared at the box containing the saint’s remains, while I looked at her profile, demanding an explanation.

“Well. It’s a complicated story to explain in detail.”

“……”

“But to put it simply…”

Lucia turned her head and met my gaze.

“These remains were brought here to catch a demon.”

Episode 12 – The Most Powerful Mage in History

When four inquisitors died and Priestess Rebecca arrived at the cathedral after barely managing to gather the wounded.

Lucia and Archbishop Theodosius determined that a necromancer or a possessed person was involved in this incident.

Necromancers who borrow power from evil beings through contracts, and the possessed who are inhabited by evil beings. While there were many differences between necromancers and the possessed when examined in detail, the fact that they were connected to evil beings was undeniable.

And these evil beings are called demons by the Order.

“The wounds wouldn’t heal even with holy power. When we saw the wounds rotting within hours, we thought it might be a curse and attempted healing magic, but holy power had no effect on this either. The moment the wounds turned black instead of growing new flesh, the Archbishop and I determined that a demon was involved.”

Lucia and Archbishop Theodosius immediately relayed the news to the Order.

The words of the Archbishop who oversees the diocese and a saint awaiting canonization carried significant weight, but the news they delivered was something no one had anticipated. That made it all the more serious.

Upon hearing the news, the Pope immediately convened a meeting of the State Council. Veronica, with her status as a saint, and Peter, the head of the Inquisition, also participated in the meeting.

“I heard that right after that meeting, the Inquisition proposed a joint investigation to the Imperial government.”

“Who did you hear that from?”

“Saint Veronica told me.”

I’m well aware of what happened after that.

Lucia and Archbishop Theodosius each sent letters to the Grand Duke of the North and the Imperial government, and the Grand Duke granted permission for the Inquisition’s forces to enter his territory and conduct an investigation. Francesca and Evangelos, the commander of the Magic Tower’s mage battalion, also managed to calm the anxious mages.

However, there was something I didn’t know.

“When the Archbishop and I informed the State Council, I begged the Pope to allow me to take out a holy relic.”

“……”

“That’s Saint Balthasar’s remains right here.”

Lucia gently stroked the wooden box. I looked back and forth between the box and her, then asked with a suspicious gaze.

“So did the State Council grant permission to remove the holy relic?”

“Of course. The remains of Saint Balthasar are here because approval was granted.”

“No, that’s not what I meant. I’m asking if the Vatican allowed Saint Lucia to manage the remains.”

Thinking about what I’d heard earlier, the people transporting these remains were clergy from the Inquisition.

In other words, the Inquisition—specifically, the Inquisition staff participating in the joint investigation—was in charge of transporting and managing the remains. If Lucia had been appointed to manage the remains, there would have been no reason for the Inquisition clergy to resist.

Sure enough, Lucia began to avoid my gaze at my questioning.

“Well, about that. The permission is still…”

“You haven’t received it, have you?”

“……”

Lucia, who had been avoiding my gaze, turned her head to look at me. More precisely, she slightly turned her head and glanced at me from the corner of her eye.

After hesitating and mumbling, she suddenly blurted out.

“Is that a problem?”

“What?”

“It’s not like I’m going to use it for something bad. I’m just borrowing it temporarily, using it well, and then returning it to its place…”

It was a parade of nonsensical excuses. She had extorted a saint’s remains from clergy without authority, and this was her justification.

Lucia spoke boldly with a shameless attitude.

“Since it’s being used for a good cause, I’m sure the Pope won’t scold me too harshly. Protecting life is sacred work, so God will forgive me too.”

“Well, those are nice words, but they don’t seem appropriate coming from someone who just extorted clergy, do they?”

“Sins can be cleansed.”

“……”

“And anyway, I’m a saint. Who would dare scold me?”

This is a saint? The Order is doomed. They can’t even handle Veronica, and now her successor Lucia is also acting crazy.

What sin did I commit in my past life to be surrounded by such lunatics? As I sighed and stared blankly at the ceiling, Lucia ended her excuses with a small cough.

“Anyway, given that a demon is involved, getting permission to remove holy relics wasn’t difficult. Along with the saint’s remains, I was able to bring several items needed for the ritual.”

“Ritual? What ritual are you talking about?”

“The exorcism ritual. Didn’t I tell you? I’m going to catch a demon.”

So that’s why she brought the remains.

I nodded in understanding.

“I see. How do you plan to use the holy relic?”

Lucia placed her hand on the wooden box and answered.

“Saint Balthasar’s remains will be used to find the demon. Of course, to find a demon using the remains, we’ll need to make preparations in advance.”

“‘We’…?”

“We” is typically an expression used to refer to the speaker and the listener combined. And in this conversation, apart from Lucia and me, there was no one else present.

Wondering if someone else might be here, I looked around and then asked Lucia again, thinking I might have misheard.

“Why am I suddenly involved in this?”

To this, Lucia responded with a meaningful tone.

“You should know that better than anyone.”

“…?”

“Recently, materials related to an investigation of a suspected necromancer or possessed person were delivered to the joint investigation team. They were personally delivered by Archbishop Theodosius.”

Lucia added.

“You were the one who gave those materials to the Archbishop, weren’t you, Major?”

“No, what are you talking about…”

I had no chance to make excuses. Cutting off my words, Lucia reached out and picked up an envelope from Archbishop Theodosius’s desk—the very document I had placed there earlier with her help when I entered the office.

It didn’t take long to tear open the envelope and check its contents.

Lucia skimmed through the densely organized investigation documents and met my gaze.

“Do you have anything else to say?”

“Is it okay for you to just steal other people’s things like that? And you’re a clergy member?”

Instead of answering, Lucia shrugged.

“If it’s to prevent greater harm, I can endure a bit of criticism.”

“Oh, come on.”

“Of course, I’m not an official exorcist, and what I’m doing isn’t an official investigation, so if you don’t want to help me, there’s nothing I can do.”

Holding the documents from the envelope, Lucia lifted the wooden box.

And with a very calm and confident slight smile, she said:

“But you’ll keep this a secret, won’t you?”

I looked at her with an expression that said “you’re driving me crazy.” After maintaining silence for a while, I shook my head as if to say “there’s no stopping you.”

“Tell me how you plan to catch that thing. I’ll decide after hearing it.”

*

Northwestern Petrograd.

“Huff…”

Light cigarette smoke swirled through the street.

The man stroked his chin. His chin was smooth as if freshly shaved, and he leaned against the entrance, blowing cigarette smoke toward the street.

Then came the sound of a bell.

The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device, combined the short words reflected on the screen with his eyes, then ground out his half-smoked cigarette with his shoe and walked into the house.

“Good news. Everyone get ready to move.”

A man who had been tapping on a device at the dining table turned his head.

With a mustache and neatly trimmed hair, the mixed-race man leaned his weight against the chair’s backrest.

“Did the northern entry permit come through?”

“No, not yet. The staff on site said they’d resolve it by today.”

“They should hurry up…”

The mixed-race man stood up.

As if they had heard the conversation, there were busy sounds of movement from upstairs, and several people who were already up came trudging down the stairs with bags and boxes full of luggage in both hands.

The man who had been smoking tossed the device that had received the message onto the dining table. Then he said to the mixed-race man who was organizing the devices:

“You wake that one up.”

“Me?”

“I just came back from smoking.”

The smooth chin pointed to a large box placed in the corner of the living room.

“That one hates the smell of cigarettes.”

“Alright.”

Luggage bags and boxes were placed on the dining table. People gathered around, unpacked the luggage, and began examining various electronic devices, wires, ammunition, clothes, and firearms that were inside the bags and boxes.

Meanwhile, the mixed-race man approached the large box in the corner of the living room. He gently tapped the box a couple of times as if knocking, and carefully opened the lid to prevent too much light from entering.

“Wake up. We need to go to work now.”

As if in response to those words, cat ears perked up through the slightly opened gap.

A thin response from inside the box came right after.

“Meow.”