Yankuu brought Mani back to the village. His mother told him that a letter came for him. The sender was the “Margunt Humanity Development Organization”. Below that the words “Director Laty Margunt” were written in small letters. He had no idea how she knew he was in the village that day.
The contents were a formal greeting. Afterwards, there was a suggestion for a meeting. She wanted to consult him with something important about the future of the village and Mani. She also wrote that she would like to meet him by all means.
The term “Indulging G.o.d Cult” was not mentioned anywhere in the letter. However, that name was swirling inside his mind as he read it.
“The Indulging G.o.d Cult wasn’t destroyed.”
The words of the bizarre woman echoed in his mind again and again.
“What’s wrong, brother?”
Mani inquired with an anxious voice. Her inner turmoil seemed to reflect in her expression. Yankuu hurriedly made a forced smile.
“It’s nothing. Everything’s fine, Mani.”
“…What’s fine?”
She asked back but he couldn’t answer. Was anything fine? After all, the hands of the Indulging G.o.d Cult have reached this village.
“It’s fine, it’s fine for now. But since I have something to do I have to go already.”
Yankuu hurriedly informed Mani of his departure and tried leaving the village.
“Big brother, you’ll come back right?”
Mani grabbed the hair on Yankuu’s back. She inquired him anxiously.
“Why do you need to ask? I’ll come back.”
“Really?”
“Did your big brother ever lie to you?”
Mani nodded and let go. Yankuu quickly left the village.
Yankuu decided in his mind. Yeah, I haven’t lied. This village will be fine. And I will definitely live and come back.
Present - December 28, 1926
While peeling potatoes, Yankuu felt a presence from behind. He rose up from the wooden box he was sitting on as if jumping.
“Wah, you scared me.”
The person behind him was surprised and jumped back.
It was the woman he met a month ago on the road of hesitation - Olivia Littolet. She came into the kitchen for some reason. She was holding an ice pail in her hands.
“Is something the matter, Olivia-san?”
Rizzly spoke to her.
“We’re out of ice to put in alcohol. Do you have some?”
“We do. Please wait a bit.”
Rizzly received the ice pail from her and put chunks of shaved ice inside. While he did this, Olivia stared at Yankuu’s face for some reason.
“Is something wrong?”
“Say, haven’t we met somewhere?”
Olivia said while looking into Yankuu’s eyes.
“No.”
“I guess so. With such amusing hair I would’ve remembered it.”
It seemed like Olivia lost her interest in Yankuu. She received the ice pail from Rizzly back and returned to the party hall. Yankuu made a small sigh and started peeling the potatoes again.
December 15, 1926
The date and meeting place designated by Laty were December 10 at this village. He wrote her a letter so that it would be postponed to the 24th. This was so he could return to Bantorra Library once and make some preparations. He also decided to change the meeting place from the village to the uninhabited island close by.
Yankuu took a week to get back to Bantorra Library by boat.
His vacation continued. He had no particular need to show up in front of Mattalast. Besides, that was out of the question anyway.
He ran around the town and looked for the woman he met on the road of hesitation.
The Indulging G.o.d Cult hadn’t been destroyed. Hearing that, the first he went to talk to about it was not an Armed Librarian but an unfamiliar woman. It was strange, but he couldn’t afford to be too mindful of it.
“There she is!”
He found her at the front of a tailor shop. When he first met her she seemed like some sort of prophet, so it felt unfitting to find her at so mundane of a place.
Yankuu ran inside.
“Welcome. Did you order anything?”
The woman received him with a curt voice. She seemed to have thought of him as a mere customer. Yet she soon recalled who Yankuu was. She also realized that it was something serious.
“I’m closing in half an hour. I’ll open up the back of the store then.”
She said curtly and pointed outside. Yankuu exited as he was told.
Thirty minutes later, the woman greeted him while operating a sewing machine.
“Sorry for being rude. Regardless of your circ.u.mstances I have to work every day.”
She introduced herself as Olivia Littolet. He knew that name. He heard that she was the heroic woman who restored the Meats’ memories.
Yankuu also named himself. Olivia didn’t know him, but he told her that he was an old friend of Noloty’s. Olivia knew of her saving the world.
“So is the Indulging G.o.d Cult alive and well?”
Yankuu nodded.
“As I thought. I hoped it wouldn’t be, though.”
Olivia said sadly. However, he could also feel that somewhere she thought of it as somebody else’s problem.
“How do you know that? More importantly, why didn’t you tell any of the Armed Librarians about this?”
“…You probably haven’t spoken to Matt or Hamyuts either, right? It’s pretty serious that the Indulging G.o.d Cult hasn’t been destroyed. Shouldn’t you report it to the allies of justice, to the Armed Librarians?”
Yankuu faltered.
The reason why he hasn’t told them was because Olivia had told him that the Armed Librarians were the real enemy. It wasn’t just that; they also once announced that the mystery of the Indulging G.o.d Cult had been solved and that it was now destroyed. Since Mattalast was one of the higher-ups, he held some distrust towards him.
“Well, your decision was correct. If you spoke to Hamyuts about that you might have been erased. She is supposed to be well aware that the Cult is alive.”
“Why do you know that? In the first place just who are…”
Olivia stared outside the window. She thought of something for a while.
“Hamyuts might be listening to this conversation using her Sensory Threads. Well, never mind that. I can’t help but be cautious.”
“Just who are you?”
Olivia sighed.
“I’m n.o.body. I’m just a normal citizen. A normal, powerless woman.”
That can’t be, thought Yankuu. There was no way a normal citizen would know of the Indulging G.o.d Cult.
“Speak of your own situation first. Why do you know that the Indulging G.o.d Cult was not destroyed?”
Yankuu told her about his village. He told her that the Cult had been approaching them and currying up favor with his little sister Mani.
“I see. It sounds bad, but I can’t do anything.”
“So you’re not going to help me?”
Olivia shook her head to the side.
“I have nothing. I really can’t do anything. Don’t expect anything from me.”
“Who are you?”
She stopped operating the sewing machine. For a while she closed her eyes and arranged what she wanted to talk about inside her mind. Then she started speaking.
“You’ve heard of how I have fought against the Indulging G.o.d Cult.”
Yankuu nodded.
“I actually don’t remember that time. I remember being on that ship… but I have almost no memories about when I was taken away from Past G.o.d Island by Volken or taken back here by Mattalast.
My memories have been erased by Hamyuts and Mattalast.”
“Why?”
“Be silent and listen to the end.
Ever since that time I felt continuous discomfort. I felt that I have forgotten something very important.
I possess a Magic Right, albeit poor; it’s the ability to counteract Argax’s memory deletion. Using that power for months, I recalled some things. I remembered my very first friend, that stupid Vend Ruga.”
Olivia spoke to him about Vend Ruga. He was a bizarre weapon made of lead that roamed the battlefield. It was the sad story of a puppet living only so it could be remembered by someone.
Vend Ruga had been created by the Indulging G.o.d Cult and killed by Hamyuts.
“But this must never be known. The Armed Librarians have caught me and erased my memories of Vend Ruga.
Do you understand why no one must know of him?”
Olivia cut off her words. Yankuu began thinking. The Indulging G.o.d Cult was supposed to be their enemy. Why did they have to conceal the fact that they’ve defeated the enemy? After thinking for a while, he noticed a certain fact.
“How many years ago was that?”
“It seems you understood… It’s been ten years or more than that.”
What does that mean? Olivia kept talking.
“At the very least Hamyuts had already known about the Indulging G.o.d Cult ten years ago. She also knew that it survived and that it had been producing weapons.”
“…Why did the Director stay silent? If the Indulging G.o.d Cult was destroyed at the time, n.o.body would have died. Neither Big Sis Noloty, nor our other comrades, other thousands of people, no one would have died…”
“I wonder why. I have no idea. But try thinking about this. Do you think that Hamyuts was the only person to know of the existence of the Cult ten years ago?”
“…”
“What about the Acting Director of the time, Photona? And the one before him? What about Hamyuts’s confidant Mattalast? Or the ones next in line to become Directors, Yukizona and Bonbo?”
“…”
“Have you never felt some discomfort? How did the Indulging G.o.d Cult survive for more than a thousand years? How were they so easily destroyed this time?”
“…That’s…”
“The Armed Librarians protect the Cult. They pretend to defeat them and yet keep them going. The battle between them is a fixed game.”
Yankuu felt dizzy. The memory of the single person known as Vend Ruga… It uncovered the fake image of the world that he had thought to be peaceful.
“Hamyuts was Vend Ruga’s enemy. She’s the enemy of half my lifetime, the enemy of my dead comrades. But even though I know this there is nothing I can do. I have no power to fight. Neither do I have comrades who would fight with me. I don’t even have someone to call to avenge me. If I do anything at all I’ll be just killed in no time flat.”
“…”
“Leave. Even if you talk with me, nothing good will come out of it.”
Olivia opened the door and prompted him to leave. Yankuu couldn’t even stand up.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Take your Mani-chan and escape somewhere. This is about the only thing you can do.”
“Can I not fight? If I tell this to the Armed Librarians they should fight with me.”
“Telling them that the higher-ups of the Armed Librarians are protecting the Indulging G.o.d Cult… You’ll just be shut down. Who would believe such a story in the first place?”
“Is there nothing to be done?”
“Nothing. Or at the very least I can’t think of anything.”
“…s.h.i.t!”
While listening to her talk anger was simmering inside of him.
Yankuu hit the wall. Olivia reproved him to not mess up her shop.
The Indulging G.o.d Cult killed Noloty and was even trying to bring down his village. And the Armed Librarians were to ones to have approved that.
What did Noloty fight for? What did she die for?
Unforgivable.
I will never forgive them.
The anger welling up inside Yankuu ever since Noloty had died… The anger for this unreasonable fate that he couldn’t have done anything about… It now transformed to anger towards the Armed Librarians.
The smoldered fuel burst into flames as if fed oxygen.
“Quit it, boy. Run away. That isn’t an opponent you can win against.”
Yankuu spat out his answer.
“Olivia-san, I will fight. It doesn’t matter what you tell me. I can’t forgive the Armed Librarians.”
“…Boy.”
Olivia sighed while leaning her forehead on her hand. He turned his back to her and walked outside.
“Give up on fighting. Even I’m not a genuine heretic. I can’t see you just go by yourself and get yourself killed.”
Yankuu turned around.
“I’ll also do it. I have neither claws nor fangs but I can at least chirp. Then I’ll do my best at chirping.”
Yankuu and Olivia stared at each other’s eyes and made a slight nod.
“I think we’d better cut off contact in the future. Even if I die you should survive. And the opposite as well. Let’s both forget about one another and fight by ourselves.”
Yankuu nodded. Then, he left the tailor shop.
The only thing he understood by talking to Olivia was the circ.u.mstances. He had to fight against the Indulging G.o.d Cult to protect his village, but even the Armed Librarians weren’t his allies.
No, more precisely, they were his true enemies.
Although he was planning on struggling and challenging an unwinnable fight, Yankuu had no hesitation in his mind. Far from that, he felt so exalted that he wanted to sing.
His chest throbbed. His face became hot. Anger and murderous intent set his body to dance.
Yankuu smiled. His face was somewhat like that of the boy who had once tried to destroy the Armed Librarians and the world, Arkit Chroma.
December 18, 1926
Yankuu returned to his dormitory room. He cut off all contact with Olivia just as he was told to. He kept thinking inside his room for three days straight.
He had to remain rational. He had to keep his determination warm and cool off his thinking. He was going to protect the village. He was going to fight against the Indulging G.o.d Cult and the Armed Librarians all by himself.
He looked at the letter from Laty Margent, the vanguard of the Cult. Before coming here he told her to postpone the date of their meeting.
It was because he needed some time to think of measures against her. That decision had been correct.
There was little time until the meeting. There were things he needed to do beforehand.
“…O mud.”
Yankuu invoked the Magic Deliberation. He released mud from his hands and filled the room’s floor. Then, several dozens of hardened clay blades rose from it.
It was enough power to defeat any normal person, but in the end he was a mere trainee. The current Yankuu was probably unable to beat even Mirepoc. Facing Hamyuts or Mattalast wouldn’t even count as a fight. Although he was said to have a promising future, two years of Magic Deliberation only brought him this far.
He needed power. He first thought of that.
He hadn’t thought of gathering allies in the first place. He had no one to trust. He decided relying only on himself.
He will oppose the Indulging G.o.d Cult all by himself. He needed the power to be able to do so. Furthermore, he needed the power to get it as soon as possible. Yankuu knew that such a convenient thing did exist.
“…But is it possible?”
He racked his brains over this idea. He refined methods that would allow him to gain power.
It would be difficult, but if he were unable to accomplish something on that level then protecting his village would be nothing but a pipedream.
In order to save his village he would have to cross dangerous bridges countless of times. That was only the first of them.
Yankuu rose up.