Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Chapter1 (section)

===Part 2===
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The location specified on his phone was a bank near the station in District 7.

It was not all that late, but all the lights were already off. Since banks had short business hours and since Academy City’s last bus and train were matched to the time the students had to be home from school, the bank was completely deserted by the time the sun set.

It should have been locked up for the night, but for some reason one door was not locked.

Stiyl turned the knob and stepped inside the dark building. He headed further inside while keeping his footsteps silent and came to a hall with the receptionist counter and long benches lined up within it.

A single woman was standing there.

The woman was hiding her form within the darkness. She appeared to be around 40 or possibly a little younger. Her hair was a mix of blonde and silver, but it was simply because her hair was damaged. She wore a baggy white top and faded white jeans.

She was Stiyl’s colleague.

Her name was Theodosia Electra.

“Thank you very much for keeping to the schedule and being right on time.”

“…Enough with the greetings. What’s the situation?” Stiyl asked angrily and Theodosia pulled a small matchbox out of a basket hanging from her arm.

“The data is in here.”

“Hmph.” 

Stiyl took the small box and looked at the matches inside questioningly.

(…So she’s changed her main spell yet again.)

She was either very talented or just an idiot who got tired of things quickly because Theodosia was constantly changing what Norse magic based spell she used. To be honest, even Stiyl, her comrade, had not grasped what her habits and characteristics were.

Meanwhile, Theodosia puffed her chest out confidently.

“I’m using a fairy tale-like method where the visual data is displayed when you light a match! Doesn’t it remind you of the Little Match Girl? Isn’t it just exquisite!?”

“Sigh… So a woman in her late thirties who has children is going on about a fairy tale heroine? You have four sons and eight daughters. What am I supposed to do? Do you want me to look down on you with contempt? Or do you want me to pity you?”

“Ngh!? I won’t lose heart with just that! Don’t you think I have misfortune on the level of that girl who froze to death in the middle of winter!?”

“…I have yet to meet someone who constantly goes on about how much misfortune they have that was also a decent person.”

Stiyl sounded irritated to the bottom of his heart and he pulled out a match from the small box and lit it on the side of the box.

When he looked into the flame, he could indeed see an image.

It seemed to be holding quite a bit of data. He could even see the thorough details. Stiyl started to rethink his opinion of Theodosia when…

The match burned out.

A slight sizzling sound came from Stiyl’s fingers that were holding the end of the matchstick.

“Hot!?”

Stiyl frantically cast the match aside and stomped on it.

He specialized in using fire, but he had not thought he would be burned there.

“Eh heh heh. There is about 40 minutes worth of video data.”

While trembling, he turned toward Theodosia.

“…And how are you planning on overcoming the issue of the match not lasting that long?”

“Heh heh heh. Don’t worry. The next match, the next match! If you worry too much about getting a bit burned, you lose!”

As she had said not to worry about it, he made Theodosia hold the rest of the matches. After burning through about 30 matches, he had finally gone through all of the data.

“M-my fingers are in a pretty serious condition here…”

The woman who was almost 40 had tears in her eyes, but Stiyl completely ignored her.

What he had learned about the job was as follows.

…Theodosia Electra was chasing the traitor.

…During her chase, the traitor had fled into Academy City.

…As Stiyl had just finished up a job nearby, he had been called in to aid her.

…Not even Theodosia herself knew what exactly the traitor had done.

…Apparently, the traitor was a very dangerous existence to the United Kingdom.

…The way things were going, there was a possibility the lives of the ninety million British citizens were in danger.

“According to the additional information, the traitor has an escort. It seemed rather dangerous, so I was a bit worried if I was on my own.”

“What a pain. Is it a magic cabal?” Stiyl spat out.

The term “magic cabal” may have made them sound rather grandiose, but the Anglican Church viewed them as nothing more than collections of criminals. If a group was going to rob a bank, they would divide up the roles. Someone would put together the plan, someone would gather the weapons, someone would attack the bank, someone would carry the money, someone would take care of the money laundering, and so on. In the same way, magic cabals could be made into all sorts of different organizations. They also often divided up roles with everything from providing funds and skills to securing a position in normal society.

Also, there was something called the Job Counter that was an unspoken agreement among magic cabals. Just as the spread of computer viruses gave life to the security software business, the appearance of a magic cabal that killed people would cause a magic cabal that acted as guards to appear. When a magic cabal that claimed to rescue people for free depending on the spell used appeared, a magic cabal that obstructed them because they had too much charisma would appear. In that way, the world of magic business would repeat the cycle of spreading chaotically and weeding out what was unnecessary.

Stiyl sighed.

There were a lot of different magic cabals, but if this one was aiding the traitor…

“In other words, I’m up against another group of people with a screw loose? I just got done roasting 19 of them in Siberia.”

But then Theodosia lightly shook her head.

“No, no. The traitor has only one helper.”

“…Just one? Is it a guest from the cabal…? So this person is enough to overwhelm Necessarius? This person must be quite something.”

“Yes,” Theodosia said with a smile and nodded. “''After all, the helper is me''.”

Stiyl immediately tried to jump back, but he did not make it in time.

Theodosia lit a match in her hand.

A light even less reliable than a candle flickered in the darkness.

''And then the area expanded''.

(!?)

He should have been in that bank that was devoid of illumination.

Even if it was a large bank, he was still in Japan. The size of buildings was limited and most things gave a cramped impression.

But…

The next thing he knew, everything was flat all the way to the horizon in every direction. The floor was the tile of the rooms within the bank and round pillars and long benches were lined up at even intervals. Fluorescent lights dotted the ceiling all the way to the horizon like guide lights on a runway. The space itself was odd, but the parts making it up were all normal parts of the bank.

It was as if the area had spread in the same way darkness was pushed away by the light of Theodosia’s match.

Stiyl stared forward.

Theodosia was hanging her head down and giggling.

“Eventually, your ''real orders'' will reach you. They will tell you to defeat the traitor and to watch out for the helper. That would have been a problem, so I called you in before that could happen.”

“…I see.”

“Hee hee hee. Are you surprised? What does it feel like to be stabbed in the back by your most trusted comrade? To be honest, it was painful for me to do.”

“Ha ha ha ha ha!! So that’s it!!”

“Huh?”

Theodosia was utterly shocked.

Something was wrong.

Stiyl Magnus was not shocked. In fact, his face was shining happily.

“Ahh, you got me!! You really got me there. Heh heh heh heh! Oh, how sad. I’m so sad my chest feels like it will just split open, but now I have a justified reason why I have to mercilessly kick your ass! Whatever shall I do? I’m just so sad that I’ve started saying strange things that don’t match the context, haven’t I? Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”

“U-ugyahh!? You’re saying all sorts of insincere things! Normally you should be gritting your teeth at this unexpected betrayal!”

“I’ll roast you.”

A roar exploded out.

A red sword made of flames extended from Stiyl’s right hand. A pillar illuminated by its light had a laminated card stuck to it. The card had a rune letter displayed on it and it was the source of Stiyl’s power.

“G A S T T H. T F I A S T R I C! (Bring the flames to my hand. Its form is the sword and its role is execution!)” shouted Stiyl and a sword of blue flames appeared from his left hand.

At some point, dozens of rune cards had appeared on the floor and on the pillars lined up at even intervals. The more of those cards there were around, the stronger Stiyl’s magic was. With just that many, he could turn a human body to ash even through a heat resistant suit.

“Die!” shouted Stiyl as he swung the two flame swords down at Theodosia.

But just before he did…

“Hey, that’s dangerous.”

Stiyl’s flame swords flew through thin air. They passed by just in front of Theodosia. She had not moved. At some point, Stiyl’s position had moved back slightly.

(What…!?)

Theodosia then lit a match and lightly tossed it toward Stiyl.

It was as if she were tossing a grenade.

“!!”

Just after Stiyl jumped backwards, the match exploded. The flat area wrapped in dimness was suddenly filled with light.

(That flame…!?)

Flames filled an area with a diameter of a few meters as if blocking the path between Theodosia and Stiyl. And it did not end with just one. As if creating a line of fire, a few more explosions occurred at even intervals.

She lit a new match and stabbed its small flame into the flames of the explosions.

When she did, the line of explosions changed direction like a falling line of dominos and headed straight for Stiyl.

He immediately swung his flame swords, but his opponent’s explosive power was greater.

“Gwaahh!?”

In the end, Stiyl was blown back a good ways and rolled a few meters on the ground when he landed. The hard tile scraped at his skin sending pain running through his body.

Stiyl stood up and created a new flame sword, but Theodosia showed no sign of tension on her face.

“It’s no use. You cannot reach me with that.”

With a smile on her face, Theodosia held a matchbox in her hand.

She lightly waved it back and forth making a clattering noise and an intense headwind started blowing. That gust of wind held magical meaning. It could stop Stiyl from moving forward and if he swung his flame sword then, the explosive flames of a few thousand degrees he himself was creating could be blown back at him.

(That spell certainly has plenty of variations…)

It had extended the space, put distance between herself and her enemy, created explosions of flames, and had created a headwind.

It was the first time he had seen the spells that were coming from that matchbox, but…

(I can’t let that attack power fool me. ''Those are all defensive spells''. They’re all used to distance me.)

After figuring that out, Stiyl smiled.

“…A spell from Norse mythology…and specifically from Iceland.”

“Bgh! You already figured it out!?”

“Over there, flames are said to be used to guard treasure. That means your flames are defensive. And they are not used to protect the magic user herself. …The traitor you are guarding is nearby.”

“Wh-wh-wh-what could you possibly be talking a-a-about!?”

“That matchstick refers to Skírnir’s Staff. It is a spiritual item with four runes carved into it that was prepared to force Gerðr to marry. Ha ha. Combining the flames used to protect treasure and the staff used to steal treasure certainly is an interesting way to use it. To have it carry out the role of stealing from Skírnir’s Staff and the role of protecting from the flames, you must have optimized an original pattern for the layout of the runes.”

“Tch!!” Theodosia clicked her tongue and lit another match. “Go to hell!!”

The flame that was as small as a candle’s flame swelled up all at once.

An explosive wind was created and the mass of explosions increased seemingly infinitely as they headed for Stiyl like a line of dominos.

But…

“Sorry, but that won’t work on me anymore.”

With a roar, all of the flames suddenly went out.

“Once I’ve analyzed the spell, calculating out a countermeasure is simple.”

Stiyl had swung down the thick sole of his shoe and ''stomped on the flames from above''. Oddly enough, that had completely put out Theodosia’s attack like he had been putting out a cigarette.

After stomping on the flames, he was completely unharmed.

“In the story of Skírnir’s Staff, Gerðr herself was protected as treasure by great flames. How do you think people in ancient times would think of overcoming those flames? By jumping over the flames with a horse.”

Stiyl rubbed the last flickering embers off on the floor and then showed the sole of his shoe to Theodosia.

The “ehwaz” rune that meant horse was written there in a red liquid.

By passing magic power through his own blood and activating the rune that defended against the flames, he had forced open the deactivation key hidden within the spell.

“Heh heh. Not bad.”

Theodosia laughed calmly and looked at Stiyl.

There was strength in her gaze.

“But I can’t let myself be pushed back by just that!!”

She slid open the matchbox with her thumb and poured a great quantity of matches out. Just one of those matches could create a large explosion and now all of those spiritual items exploded in midair.

She was trying to overpower him.

Stiyl had only one “ehwaz” rune.

Even if that was the weakness of her spell, it was not a problem if she could overwhelm the power of that one rune and crush him all at once.

Theodosia thought he was dead.

And then Stiyl’s flame sword sliced through the blast.

“Wha-!?”

As Theodosia cried out in shock, he charged in gripping his single flame sword.

He grinned and said, “Theodosia, I have no duty to tell you this, but you cannot win a battle between runes with sheer quantity like that. This is an issue of quality over quantity. No matter how many you use, the result will be the same.”

He swung down his sword made of burning red flames.

“Odin of Norse mythology said that proper runes held the greatest power when the most suitable letter for the location and situation was used. They are not something you can just start putting around at random. …Even if you try to crush him with numbers, you cannot defeat a natural enemy who you clearly are not compatible with!!”

Theodosia immediately lit a new match prepared to blow herself up if necessary.

Stiyl ignored it.

The two attacks clashed.

“You lost because you underestimated that one rune, Theodosia Electra!!”

There was a crimson explosion.

Two types of flames swirled together, converged, and then scattered out as a single explosion. Stiyl held his breath and covered his face with his clothes, but he still felt a burning pain in his nose and throat.

He looked around.

Theodosia was collapsed about 5 meters away.

After letting the match go, she must have gotten as far back as she could manage. Even so, she had either not been able to escape the blast or the shockwave had hit her.

Theodosia spoke from on the ground.

“…You are too strong. A normal magician would have panicked and shown an opening when I took the initiative with my defensive spells.”

“You lost because you created a strategy that relies on the weakness of your opponent. You should have found a strategy that used your own strengths rather than something you cannot rely on.”

“U-uuh… I may have been wrong from the instant I tried to take you on using Skírnir’s Staff and runes.”

“Hmph. Did you really think you could defeat an expert like me with rune skills you had hastily taught yourself?”

Stiyl swung his flame sword once and approached Theodosia.

He was heading forward to punish her for her betrayal.

“In the end, will you tell me about this traitor?”

“No, it’s best for you if you do not hear about it. This is my problem.”

She then continued.

“And don’t say sad things like “the end”. I’m going to make sure I live on for quite some time!!”

“Wha-!?”

Stiyl hurriedly started to swing down his flame sword, but a fine powder struck his face before he could.

“Theodosia!!”

He wiped off his face to regain his vision, but Theodosia was already gone.

The oddly extended space was also back to the original dark bank.

It seemed Theodosia’s spell had completely ceased functioning.

Stiyl rubbed the powder on his fingertips between his thumb and forefinger. His face turned bitter.

“The Drill of Rati…”

When Odin had stolen some special mead from the human world, he had used that drill to open a hole in a stone wall. It functioned as a charm that allowed one to sneak into difficult places and to escape from them.

(So she smashed it to a powdered form so she could carry it around with her… And she can also use it to make the person cornering her on the edge of death flinch. She’s practically turned it into a way to revive herself from the dead.)

At any rate, Theodosia Electra had escaped.

Stiyl angrily tossed aside his shortened cigarette and lit a new one.

(I’ll deal with her later. Right now, I need to find the true traitor.)

He jumped over the receptionist counter and headed deeper into the dark bank.



He found it almost right away.

It was a small room that was likely used to store cleaning supplies. The entire bank was locked down and yet the door to that room was unlocked.

(So I’ve found it. Damn, just how confident in her spell was she?)

Theodosia had prepared a spiritual item that controlled the protection and release of treasure. Most likely, he would normally have been unable to enter that room. Unless he used the rune corresponding to the spell, the door and even the room itself would not exist. That would have been how it was set up.

That room was holy ground he would have been unable to break into.

Theodosia’s defeat had made that seal disappear.

(The traitor…)

Stiyl frowned as he stood before the door.

He recalled Theodosia’s words.

“No, it’s best for you if you do not hear about it. This is my problem.”

(Who is this traitor and why did you help him or her?)

At the very least, he had to capture whoever it was.

If the person was dangerous, he would have no choice but to immediately execute him or her.

He checked on how many cards he had in his pocket and opened the door with his fairly sweaty hand.

And there he found the traitor that the Anglican Church had mentioned.

It was not a large man who was lying in wait for him and who looked used to fighting. Nor was it someone with a cunning-looking face who looked as if he could deal with any situation.

It was a small girl who looked to be around 12.

She was kneeling down in that small room. Near her, Theodosia was collapsed and breathing faintly. She had likely headed there to recover the traitor after using the Drill of Rati, but she had run out of strength.

The girl turned her gaze from Theodosia to Stiyl who had just entered the room.

As if he were tapping his palm against the wall, Stiyl stuck a rune card there and produced a flame sword.

The girl’s eyes opened wide upon seeing the dazzling flame.

But the girl’s reaction was nowhere near what Stiyl had expected.

She showed no sign of hostility and did not tremble in fear.

She opened her mouth and said, “Thank goodness. You’re Theodosia’s colleague, right!?”

Stiyl stopped where he was.

That girl was only half his height, but there was nothing but hope displayed on her face.

“Please. Theodosia told me to go on my own, but I don’t know who I can rely on. For now, I need to get to the police…no, to Anti-Skill! It seems the person who did this to Theodosia is still nearby!!”

Even though Stiyl had produced a sword of flames from his hand…

Even though he was clearly abnormal and was clearly dangerous…

''That girl did not suspect him''.

She understood that some kind of mysterious phenomenon was occurring before her eyes, but she did not even consider the possibility that it would bare its fangs toward her. It was possible that she was seeing Stiyl in the same way as some kind of fairy tale.

And yet if she just thought about it for a second, it should have been clear who had injured Theodosia.

“My phone’s battery is dead and I don’t want to just leave Theodosia here. What do I do? Why is she so beaten up…?”

And most importantly, her words held no hint of magic.

As someone who had been in that world for a long time, Stiyl could tell. He did not think that her use of normal words like “police” and “phone” were just a façade. She had the distinctive atmosphere of someone who had no knowledge of magic seeing something unnatural occur.

“…”

Stiyl felt his eyebrows move in doubt.

He truly started to wonder what was going on.

Was she the traitor?

(Or…)

Stiyl felt an unpleasant sweat on his back just before his cell phone started ringing.

He carried a number of different devices with him, but the phone ringing could only be accessed by the Anglican Church.

He put out his flame sword and answered the phone to find a Necessarius communications relay official.

“These are your orders. You must deal with the traitor who has entered Academy City,” said a female voice that was as cool as a machine.

He was receiving the real orders that Theodosia had warned him of.

“I will now read the mission description. The traitor’s name is Patricia Birdway. Gender: Female. Age: 12. Physical Characteristics:…”

He knew the details on Patricia’s appearance without being told.

They matched the girl before him.

“At school, she is the top of her class and she has been chosen to skip some grades. She has been invited as a guest researcher to many different agencies. She has been marked as a person of interest more due to her promising future than for her immediate battle ability.”

“…I have an idea who this Patricia is, but what does she have to do with us?”

“She is the younger sister of the boss of the Dawn-Colored Sunlight, a Golden-style magic cabal. Patricia herself has no connection to the Dawn-Colored Sunlight, but it has been made clear that a few members of the Dawn-Colored Sunlight have been stationed around her without her knowledge. Presumably, the objective is observation and protection.”

A magic cabal.

The Dawn-Colored Sunlight.

“As it has become possible that Patricia has value to the Dawn-Colored Sunlight for a reason beyond being a blood relative of its boss, we must quickly capture her and investigate this matter. If we can get some sort of result from this, we may be able to get a full understanding of the Dawn-Colored Sunlight as well as means of weakening or even destroying them. Your job is to capture Patricia.”

(The Dawn-Colored Sunlight, hm?)

Once, the world’s largest magic cabal had existed in the United Kingdom. Magicians who were simply too powerful had gathered in it and, as a result, its actual activities had ended in just a few years. After that, it had destroyed itself with infighting.

After its destruction, the fragments of the cabal had developed on their own, made progress, and still existed to that day while continuing to chaotically break apart. The cabals produced by that were known as Golden-style cabals.

The Dawn-Colored Sunlight was one of the most prominent magic cabals among those.

They were famous for accomplishing their goals by any means necessary and there were stories that left even pros speechless upon hearing the number of corpses created in the process of achieving their goals.

But that was all concerning the organization known as the Dawn-Colored Sunlight.

Was that girl really such an important person?

The communications official had said that the observation and protection were being carried out without Patricia herself knowing. In other words, the guards were not the girl’s subordinates and she might not have been able to send them away even if she knew they were there. Also, the communications official had said that “Patricia herself has no connection to the Dawn-Colored Sunlight, but…” That just made things even more unclear.

If Patricia was a magician and a villain that had an important post within the Dawn-Colored Sunlight, there would have been no reason to start the sentence that way.

In order to get a better grasp of the situation, Stiyl asked a question to the Anglican communications official.

“…So why is she a traitor?”

“She refused to go along with the mission. She is a British citizen and yet she has denied something that would be to the United Kingdom’s benefit. That makes her a traitor to her nation.”

“!? You’re telling me I’m supposed to capture her for just that? There’s a possibility that Patricia still does not know about magic or the occult. Did you really think asking for her help was going to go well like that!? No girl is just going to go along with a complete stranger who says they want to look at her body and of course she would refuse if you tell her it’s for the purpose of defeating a family member!!”

“But that is what it says in the mission description.”

“Were the guards left by the Dawn-Colored Sunlight even all that strong? Patricia is alone now. If the entire group really saw her as valuable, they would have been guarding her more strictly. Don’t you think what happened was more in line with guards put on her just because she’s related to their boss!?”

“Any comments on a mission by an agent should be sent to the managing department.”

“Were these orders really carefully examined? Read over this again. The contents of that document are not something I can just accept!! In fact, who gave approval for this mission!?”

“May I return to relaying the contents of your mission to you?”

“Don’t just continue on according to the rules like that. This isn’t a problem that can be dealt with just by following regulations!”

“Any comments on a mission by an agent should be sent to the managing department.”

Stiyl was dangerously close to cursing.

A traitor?

Stiyl realized more than he wished to why Theodosia had gone over to Patricia’s side.

“It seems reinforcements are entering Academy City now. We have received word that they wish to begin working right away. I believe they want to set a time and place for you to meet up, but…”

Stiyl hung up the phone as the communications official was one-sidedly making those arrangements.

He had completely missed the time and place.

(Dammit. I’m supposed to just hand this girl over to the Anglican Church? What do they plan to do with her in order to destroy a magic cabal?)

Patricia was anxiously looking up at him.

Most likely, she had not understood what he was talking about over the phone, but she had to have noticed that her name had come up.

“…”

Stiyl knew that the contents of the mission were rotten.

He was in Academy City, the headquarters of the science side. If a normal person who had no connection to magic were attacked and taken away in that city, the problem would exceed the realm of the Anglican Church and a magic cabal. It was even possible it could lead to a direct conflict between the magic side and the science side.

But the unit coming to assault Patricia Birdway would not listen even if he tried to convince them.

(What do I do…?)

Stiyl looked back and forth between his cell phone and Patricia’s face.

(What am I supposed to do…!?)

He noticed a slight smile on Theodosia’s lips.

She seemed to be saying that she had been troubled with the same problem.