Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter1 (section)

===Part 8===

It was the middle of the night, but the church still had its lights on. Did they believe they had to show their willingness to welcome in any lambs no matter the hour?

Agnese walked right into the chapel and saw a small room built in one corner. It was only the size of two phone booths attached side by side.

The two spaces were separated by a thick latticed window to allow the occupants to speak secrets without seeing each other.

When Agnese set down a heavy bucket, entered one side, and rang the handbell, someone entered the other side.

“What brings you here at this late hour?”

“Something I didn’t feel like I could discuss at any earlier hour.”

That could not be too unusual.

This was a confessional, a place prepared for people to confess their own sins. If someone was not worried about other people seeing them, their problems could not be all that bad.

The unseen person on the other side must have grasped that this was a serious discussion because he cleared his throat.

“You may share anything here. This is a seat of forgiveness provided by god.”

“Yeah, but on second thought, maybe this isn’t a good idea. Ah ha ha. Maybe I’m overthinking this and it isn’t a big deal at all. And to be entirely honest, it really isn’t any of my business.”

“?”

“I learned something.” Agnese paused for a moment. “I happened to learn the truth behind a certain crime. It’s an extremely grave issue that could mean someone’s death. But on the other hand, it might be a bad thing for some people if it goes public. I’m trying to decide if I should share what I know or if I should stay quiet, but first I wanted to hear the opinion of the priest who protects the peace and safety of this part of the city.”

No actual statistics were known, but it was said to be surprisingly common.

Confession was only meant as a ritual for eliminating the guilt for the little things people did during their daily lives and it was not designed to unconditionally forgive actual kidnapping or murder. Nevertheless, people would sometimes hint at what were obviously serious crimes. Whether or not the priest would contact the police depended on their personal religious beliefs. But either way, they would prefer to not have that burden thrust upon them. This priest may not have looked happy about the discussion, but Agnese could not see him through the latticed window.

Finally, the priest whispered back in a heavy tone.

“As a servant of god, I must not alter my response based on the type or severity of your troubles. Similarly, you should not bend the truth. God shall purify all of your worries through me, so speak and get this great burden off your chest.”

“If you insist.”

Agnese sighed quietly.

In a way, hearing those words had removed a burden from her.

Because…

“How dare you speak like that after using professional techniques to frame an innocent man. Scum like you is an insult to the priesthood.”

With a great crash, the Lotus Wand burst through the latticed window from Agnese’s side and a golden sword did the same from the priest’s side. The two glittering weapons entered the inviolable territory on the other side.

But only one of them groaned.

“Ugh!?”

“I felt that one land.”

The golden sword passed by a few centimeters to the side of Agnese’s cheek, but the head of her Lotus Wand jabbed accurately into the center of the man’s chest.

“I was suspicious from the beginning. I can buy just about anyone learning to use magic, but the skills to clean up all trace of the magic afterwards are much more unusual. Plus, the exact technique used was identical to ''our Roman Catholic style of forensic cleanup''.”

She had been the first to notice something was off.

Only they used a liquid made by adding blood-like substances to water consecrated with a pinch of salt.

Anglican and Russian Orthodox holy water did not include salt. Only the Catholics allowed that impurity.

Noticing the familiar cleanup method had been enough for them to figure out the rest.

“That clear bottle looked like it was simply moved into the back to make space for the wedding, but that wasn’t ordinary holy water, was it? It wouldn’t look so muddy in the light if all it had was some salt.”

And.

Despite that.

Everything else they discovered suggested this was Haitian Voodoo, without Catholicism playing a role. Even though she had originally assumed something had happened in the city requiring a priest or nun to exorcise a ghost or something.

“So the restaurant owner from Haiti couldn’t have been behind it. Yeah, there were signs of someone hiding magic use at that restaurant, but no one ever saw any signs of the magic itself. So it’s just as likely someone ''cleaned up an already clean location'' to frame someone else.”
That must have been what happened.

She did not know what happened to the owner’s wife, so maybe someone back in Haiti really had cursed her. But that family fell squarely into the victim category and they hadn’t done anything wrong since arriving in Spain. It had only looked that way because someone had used that unnecessary forensic cleanup to make things look suspicious.

Even though there was nothing to be found there.

The owner had simply grieved his wife’s death and used the money he would have preferred never to receive to start a small restaurant in the hopes of getting a fresh start while bringing some happiness into his young daughter’s life.

What would have happened if the suspicion of that man had continued to grow?

He had already lost the person he loved most in the world, so what would have been taken from him next and what crime would he have been framed for?

The Roman Catholic Church had 2 billion followers worldwide, so was this any way for one of their priests to be acting?

“Why do this? I doubt it was simply anti-immigrant sentiment which has been on the rise recently. Or have you really forgotten that Christianity is meant to save all the peoples of the world, regardless of race?”

She badly hoped he was not so far gone he did not even believe in that basic principle.

During the Renaissance, Europeans had proclaimed that all peoples were equal even as all the angels and saints in their religious artwork were still depicted with lily-white skin, but Agnese saw no need to be so narrowminded in the modern era.

But…

“He is cursed.”

“No, you tried to frame him for being cursed.”

“I did, but Nihili Padpois really has come in contact with ''a real curse''!!”

The priest howled so loud his chest swelled out from within.

Agnese frowned, but he continued shouting.

“I don’t know how exactly it happened because I have no way of investigating something that happened across the Atlantic, but his family really was cursed and that’s all that matters!! I cleaned up this town. I kept this district of Barcelona so clean you can’t find even a hint of filth!! But…but those efforts are meaningless when a true source of impurity moves in. Everything I did was for nothing!! I had to get rid of the cursed one, no matter what it took!!”

“So you’re a clean freak.”

This fear may have been what had originally motivated him to get into theology and choose the path of god.

He feared curses.

He wanted a way of fighting them. And if he could not fight them, he at least wanted to push them away.

He must have decided such things could not reach him if he worked in a church, the house of god.

Sneaking into the church to check the baptismal name records had been Agnese’s idea, but even she had thought those records were unusually detailed. However, the priest had not been so thorough because he cared deeply about protecting the people in his part of the city. No, he was simply afraid, so he made sure he could pick up on the earliest sign of a curse and set up a trap to protect himself. He would frame the cursed person, intentionally have someone – such as the witch hunting specialists of the Anglican Church – discover it, and use those strangers to indirectly eliminate the “threat”.

Agnese Sanctis sighed.

And she gave her response.

“''What the hell is wrong with you, you petty villain''?”

“…”

“''You’re like a living curse yourself'', you asshole. Mr. Padpois was devastated by the loss of his wife and decided to cross the sea to Barcelona to grasp at any hope he could find. He could have gone anywhere in the world, but he chose your city. I would expect you to be proud of that, not fear him and try to get rid of him. Remind me again what your job is. Not only did you use divine miracles for your own selfish ends, but you decided to pick and choose who is worthy of salvation. No one that despicable is fit to defend the house of god!!”

“Say what you like, but I will protect my own little world.”

With the sound of scraping metal, more gold revealed itself.

Around the globe, that precious metal held great value because it did not rust and retained its shine forever. That may have been why it was so often used to repel impure curses.

“This is my sanctuary. I spent many long years creating the perfect paradise for myself!! I refuse to let anyone contaminate it. My world needs only the things ''I'' want in it!!”

It looked like he had sprouted golden wings, but in fact countless swords had fanned out behind him.

That was an angel’s weapon.

(He wasn’t just hiding those under his habit. Has he fused them with his body?)

Becoming one with something allowed you to take on its traits. He may have thought of it as an extreme form of defense against curses, but at this level, he was not that different from a necromancer digging up a grave and stealing the dead’s clothing.

(Swords are also a symbol of separation. And not just in religion and mythology. A story used to introduce the concepts of chivalry includes placing a sword between a man and woman sleeping next to each other as a way of severing the connection between them.)

Countless pieces of metal strained as they gathered strength.

Getting hit by this at close range would concentrate all that damage onto a single point, much like a shotgun blast at point-blank range, so it would be horrifically destructive. Agnese would be reduced to mincemeat. While he was not morally fit for the job, this man was still a Catholic priest and he had demonstrated enough skill to pull off forensic cleaning, so he was bound to have some combat skill.

However, that only mattered if he could actually hit her.

“Tejas of Prithvi, you are a red equilateral triangle shining within a yellow square.”

This was a form of meditation normally done using cards.

It was a technique used to see and learn things.

It was a simple method, but the Golden cabal had warned that you must not take it lightly or lose sight of your objective when using it. According to Mathers, pressing the card to your forehead in a misguided attempt to strength the image in your head would trigger a malfunction in your mind during the meditation.

Or to put it another way, if you slapped that card against someone else’s forehead, you could force them into a state of confusion or hallucination.

A golden explosion erupted within two meters of her, but it all passed by to her left. She had not swiftly sidestepped it. After being dragged into a meditative state with the wrong method, the priest had messed up his aim and attacked the empty air.

This time, the outer wall of the confessional was reduced to splinters and blown away.

Agnese Sanctis showed no fear on her face.

In fact, all the cowardice here was found in her opponent.

She sang a profane lullaby as she dragged her target into a living nightmare.

“''One piece of advice.''”

“!?”

“''While pure gold is used as a symbol of the incorruptible, it’s also a popular choice for gathering curses. For example, the Norse Andvaranaut, the Greek golden apples, and even Egyptian Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus. Its rarity has a tendency of leading people astray. It often becomes a source of resentment and jealousy.''”

“No…no!?”

It was too late for him to catch on now.

He had been in her grasp from the moment he failed to hit a target within two meters of him.

“Yes, yes. Its meaning changes drastically depending on what interpretation you use. And no matter what I say, you can’t fight it for the next thirty seconds or so thanks to the failed meditation I placed you in. The thoughts are already crawling up from the back of your mind, aren’t they? It feels disgusting, doesn’t it? Yet that spiritual item is supposed to be what protects you from all curses, isn’t it?”

Goose bumps spread from the priest’s hands and up his arms to his torso with such intensity she swore she could hear it.

His eyes rolled around wildly.

He had effectively developed an allergy for curses. And people with serious enough allergies could sometimes show an allergic reaction from simply seeing photos and videos of the thing. In the same way, there was no escape for this priest now that the doubts had started to grow in his mind. At this rate, he might just start to claw into his skin and tear out the precious metal that was attached to his skeleton.

“I happen to have a ‘battery’ right here. So how about I charge up that gold of yours?”

Why was Agnese here in Barcelona in the first place?

Forensic cleaning.

It may have only been for training, but the magic used there had been very real. She could think of far too many disgusting things that would continue to stink even if you worked at cleaning it up throughout the night.

She put on a truly sadistic smile as she spun her Lotus Wand around.

Before entering the confessional, she had set down a bucket full of a sticky substance, so she lifted its handle with the end of the wand.

It contained…

“''This right here is supposedly a corpse infected with an authentic Voodoo curse, courtesy of Necromancer Isabella Theism. You know your stuff, so I know an imitation wouldn’t be good enough for you. This is a stain that will never, ever come out, so I hope you enjoy it''☆”

A pathetic scream followed, but Agnese ignored it as she made full of use centrifugal force to dump the entire bucket of rotting flesh and gore on top of the priest’s head.

They had a saying in a distant Eastern island nation: curse others and prepare to be cursed yourself.