The Executioner and Her Way of Life

The Escape Takes a Rest

It had been about half a day since they’d crossed the desert at the center of the continent and boarded a train. When they arrived at Momo’s chosen destination, Akari became strangely excited.

“Honestly! You are such a meanie, Momo.”

Her voice a full octave higher than usual, Akari clapped Momo on the back, her insults lacking their usual bite.

“I mean, I knew you were a big jerk, you know? Obviously, I knew that. But this is just crossing the line! Really, why didn’t you say so sooner?!”

“Is that right? You’re one to talk, now that you’ve dropped the Goody Two-shoes act.”

“But come on!” Akari gestured dramatically at the town they’d arrived in and raised her voice even louder. “You should’ve just told me we were going to a hot spring!”

She was practically bouncing up and down. Momo glared at her coldly as if to say that her excitement in itself was unbearably annoying, but a native Japanese person’s love for hot springs, carved into their very DNA, wouldn’t be cooled so easily.

“It’s such a wonderful surprise that I almost like you a little more now!”

“If I thought it would make you like me more, I would have chosen someplace else.”

Akari hummed a cheerful little tune, oblivious to Momo’s unamused reply.

Since Momo had changed her usual route so drastically, this was Akari’s first time coming to this town. In other words, out of all the many time loops Akari had experienced, she had never before seen the famous hot spring locale.

Momo’s shoulders slumped in visible regret at having made Akari happy.

“I’ve made a serious miscalculation… Why would you get so excited about some stupid warm water coming out of the ground anyway?”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Weren’t you supposedly taught all about Japanese culture in your training as an Executioner?! You’ve got to know something this basic, geez!”

Akari was practically foaming at the mouth as she began extolling the virtues of hot springs.

After all, she had primarily been living life on the road since she came to this other world. Even a chance at a hot shower was a luxury as far as bathing went. Akari hadn’t enjoyed a warm bath since the one she’d taken with Menou in the port town of Libelle.

“You’re so disinterested because you don’t know how wonderful hot springs are, Momo. Ah, the sheer bliss of soaking in steaming hot water…! And natural hot springs have even more benefits, like mental rejuvenation, clear skin, perpetual youth… You can even boil an egg in them to make
onsen tamago
! Hot springs aren’t just healthy; they’re also delicious!”

“I’m sorry to interrupt when your brain is clearly being boiled, but we didn’t come to this town to soak, you know.”

“Huh?”

Akari’s body, which was bouncing around in excitement, suddenly froze. Her eyes widened in shock, still sparkling at the thought of hot springs.

“Wh-what do you mean? Since we’re here, we must relax with a nice, long bath to show our respect. Anything less would be an insult to hot springs everywhere… No, to the very gods who created them, who would be sure to punish us. The only thing to do in an
onsen
town besides taking a bath is to eat a tasty
onsen tamago
, you know?”

“No, I certainly do not. We’re here to escape my darling and to train that useless lump you call a body while we’re at it. I don’t give a single damn about your dumb steaming pond.”

“Train?”

While the hot springs were still bubbling up in Akari’s brain, Momo dismissed her ideas as thoroughly worthless and explained her intentions for this stop. Evidently, rest was not on the menu.

“I had a lot of questions after hearing about your time loops, but I noticed something… No matter what time line, you’ve done very little fighting, right?”

“Huh? Well, yeah, I’m not really big on combat…”

“Hah. No wonder you’re so absurdly weak despite having a Pure Concept.”

Akari fell into a depressed silence.

Momo and Akari had clashed once before traveling together. Akari had possessed the element of surprise, yet she’d still struggled to gain the upper hand. Had they continued, Momo likely would’ve grown accustomed to Akari’s conjurings and taken the advantage.

Akari’s natural disposition simply wasn’t inclined toward violence. On top of that, she had absolute faith that Menou would protect her if she got in trouble and the advantage that she wouldn’t die thanks to her Pure Concept of
Time
. Frankly, she did not need to fight.

She couldn’t die and had the option to start things over. These qualities had fostered an overly lax attitude that prevented Akari from getting any stronger.

“So that’s why you’re always dragging my darling down… To put it mildly, wouldn’t we all be better off if you died?”

“…Why do you have to be so hurtful, Momo? If you’ve gotta say stuff like that, you could at least sugarcoat it.”

“Because I hate you, and I want to make you feel bad.”

Momo’s tone was so light that it barely even sounded like an insult anymore. She loathed Akari, and Akari felt the same way toward Momo. This was an absolute truth, a mutual understanding between them.

Yet now Akari was giving Momo a genuinely wounded expression.

“I get it now. You’re nasty to me because you despise me…”

“It’s a little late for that, isn’t it?”

“…which means, since Menou was always nice and sweet to me, she must really love me.”

“Are you familiar with the term
customer service
?”

As Akari got carried away with a self-serving interpretation of reality, Momo grabbed her shoulder and dragged her back down to earth.

“When you’re on the job, you have to be polite to everyone, no matter how foolish they are. My darling must have had a hard time dealing with you for the last two months, I’m sure.”

“…Oh yeah? Then, since you’re mean to me on the job, I guess you’re still just an inexperienced child, huh, Momo?”

“…Yes, I suppose. I am still an assistant priestess, so I lack my darling’s level of professional behavior. When I see an idiot, I can’t help treating them like one…you idiot.”

As had become typical, the pair was starting another verbal battle, each searching for the other’s weak points to deal damage whenever possible. Neither stood to gain anything, but they kept polishing their techniques nonetheless, making any reconciliation between the duo all the more hopeless.

There was no point in continuing this unresolvable quarrel, so Akari reluctantly raised a different question to Momo.

“What exactly do you mean by training me?”

“It’s simple. You just need to get accustomed to using your Pure Concept powers in combat. We should think about the most effective ways to do so, too.”

Akari blinked in surprise at Momo’s suggestion.

“But Menou told me never to use my Pure Concept unless I have to.”

“It’s a little late for that.” Momo shot the other girl a droll look. “Pure Concepts carry the risk of turning into a Human Error, yet you already use yours all the time, don’t you?”

“Well, yeah, I guess… But since I’ve already used it so much, doesn’t that mean I shouldn’t push my luck?”

“Well, about that. Your Pure Concept doesn’t seem to erode your mind nearly as quickly as it does for any Otherworlder I’ve heard of.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. It’s a very dramatic difference compared to any example I know. Maybe it’s because your mind is already so dense that it’s hard to damage?”

When Otherworlders used their Pure Concept powers, they consumed their own memories.

For instance, the
Null
boy who’d been summoned along with Akari was affected so drastically by a single use of his Pure Concept that it changed his entire personality. But Akari, who was constantly employing conjurings on a global scale but hadn’t turned into a Human Error yet, still possessed a firm grip on herself.

“Pure Concepts create conjurings far more powerful than any other kind. Please learn to use it in battle as well. If you get proper command of your Pure Concept, most humans won’t stand a chance against you.”

“Yeah, maybe… But you know my conjurings aren’t free, right? They erase my memories.”

“Well, we have a simple point of reference for that. Your recollection of your world, of Japan, should disappear first. By rough estimation, as long as you haven’t forgotten Japan entirely, you should still be fine, and your memories with my darling won’t disappear.”

“Mmn, I guess so… Are you sure you’re not up to something, Momo?”

“Hmmm?”

Akari was very reluctant to use her powers more than necessary, especially after Menou had repeatedly warned her against it. As she hesitated, Momo glared at her with utter contempt.

“I’m proposing this for my darling’s sake, yet you refuse even to try. If your memories from the other world are more important to you than my darling, I guess that’s fiiine? Maybe your attachment to her wasn’t quiiite as strong as I thought.”

“Ex
cuse
me?”

Something snapped, and rage burned in Akari’s eyes.

“I don’t know what you mean, Momo. My feelings for Menou are about a hundred times stronger than you realize, just so you know.”

“Go ahead and prove it, then. Listen closely, you useless girl! If you bothered to train a little, you’d be able to save my darling someday instead of just letting her rescue you all the time!”

“Fine! I’ll do it, just you watch!”

The Menou-shaped bait worked perfectly. Immediately, Akari’s motivation shot through the roof.

The scent of sulfur was strong in the mountain town’s air.

It was famous for its natural hot springs, and wooden inns, restaurants, and other attractions lined the streets. A train station served as a spot on a line connecting several major cities, which helped the town prosper as a tourist area.

There was an outpost for the knights of the Noblesse, who were in charge of keeping order in the area, and a small church to indicate the presence of the Faust. Otherwise, it was populated with Commons citizens.

As a combination health resort and sightseeing locale, the settlement enjoyed a steady torrent of visitors. This also meant it sometimes provided a hideout for criminals and taboo perpetrators who needed to avoid attention.

The man known as the Recruiter was one such criminal.

Occasionally, those who worked in shady businesses had a falling out with a group. Some might botch a job and find themselves banished, while others might have fled and lost a place to call home. The Recruiter’s objective was to gather these pariahs and find them suitable jobs.

The man called the Recruiter initially belonged to an ideological group known as the Fourth.

All citizens of this continent were separated into three castes: the Faust, the Noblesse, and the Commons. These strata and their rules were the foundation of the world order.

The Fourth lit flames of discontentment with the caste system that had existed for so long.

They agitated the dissatisfied Commons, fanned the inferiority complex of the Noblesse, and once assembled many to take on the Faust.

For a time, the Fourth grew so explosively that they even threatened to take over the Faust’s holy land, but their activities died down when their leader, the Director, was captured. As a result, many skilled members of the Fourth were left without any employment prospects.

It was then that one man took on the duty of harboring the people of the Fourth, and he made a profit by charging a fee for offering temp workers. He started a hot spring inn as a cover that ended up becoming a legitimate business, but his primary profession was still as the Recruiter.

The present era was challenging for former Fourth members. He endured quietly without revealing himself until one day, when his patience was rewarded with good news that seemed to clear up the fog.

The Director, the founder of the Fourth, had been freed.

He had been detained in Grisarika Kingdom, a major power in the east. After stirring up chaos on the continent, he’d been sentenced to execution. His release could never have been official. Word was spreading like wildfire that someone had helped him escape.

However, the Recruiter remained skeptical about whether the Director had truly been freed. The information was far too perfectly timed for the Fourth.

Of the nations scattered across the continent, Grisarika Kingdom was particularly infamous. Recently, their archbishop, Orwell, was discovered engaging in taboo and was formally put to death as a result. Not wanting to get his hopes up prematurely, the Recruiter was cautiously gathering information.

A request to visit from the Director himself.

The messenger who delivered this news was a young girl in a kimono.

She wore her dark-indigo-tinted hair in a long braid. Speaking in an unhurried drawl, she informed the man that the Director was safe and would soon make a personal visit.

Tears of joy streamed down the Recruiter’s face. Now the restoration of the Fourth could begin. He was wholeheartedly preparing to welcome the Director…

And then a priestess in white robes arrived in town with a black-haired girl in tow.

Having worked in the underworld for so many years, the man was immediately suspicious.

It would be far too optimistic to assume that they were here for nothing more than tourism. It was far too conspicuous to be a coincidence. Members of the Faust, who practiced honorable poverty, were unlikely to indulge in a frivolous sightseeing trip unless it was part of a pilgrimage.

No, they had to be there for the Director.

The man could not simply turn a blind eye. Using his connections as the Recruiter, he gathered up a few combatants and issued an order:

Dispose of the priestess girl who’d come to investigate.

Upon receiving the order, the fighters quickly formed a plan.

They were active in the field and very familiar with all kinds of dishonest work. Some were adventurers who had fallen to more shadowy endeavors, while others were researchers who had been driven to the darkness by their thirst for knowledge. But one thing they all had in common was that they’d long since abandoned any pretense of decency that would make them hesitate to kill young women—especially if one of them was a priestess.

There was no need to challenge her head-on. They had the home field advantage, so waiting for a moment when her guard dropped was preferable. Since the target had entered a hot spring inn, striking while she was bathing seemed perfect.

Sure enough, the black-haired girl traveling with the priestess was gleefully exclaiming “Hot spring! Hot spring!” During check-in, her attitude toward the priestess had been sullen at best, but now she was obviously in high spirits at the prospect of a warm bath.

The priestess had a small frame and childish features. She couldn’t have been more than fourteen years old. Her wearing priestess robes instead of a nun’s habit despite her youth meant it was safe to assume she was a natural prodigy. But since the robes were white, it was clear that she still had a ways to go.

The fighters smirked. This was going to be easy.

One of them, who was working as an inn employee, suggested that the two girls try the open-air bath during the afternoon. It was outside of normal operating hours, but the suggestion was meant to ensure that the pair would be alone.

Once the young women followed this recommendation and entered the bath, an armed man entered the changing room.

Priestesses were skilled practitioners of conjurings, but they had to use a vessel to invoke them.

Be it a crest conjuring or a scripture conjuring, these techniques were based in materialogy and crestology. Guiding Force was a great power drawn from the soul, but it wasn’t easy to produce its full effects without the tools to control it properly. The mightier the conjuring, the larger and more complex the medium required.

Guiding Enhancement was an exception that could be invoked with only one’s body, but the man was capable of that much himself.

Humans with weapons were inevitably stronger than those without.

No matter how skilled a conjurer this priestess was, she would be at a disadvantage when stark naked.

This went without saying, but the assailant still felt the need to spell it out because he was breaking into a women’s bath.

What’s more, the priestess was a presumed teenager. The shock and embarrassment of being attacked in the bath were bound to slow her reaction. The man estimated that he would defeat her before she could launch a counterattack.

Having entered the changing room armed with a weapon and this flawless logic, the man called his target’s face to mind. The black-haired girl clearly couldn’t fight, though it was a mystery why she was accompanying the priestess. The best approach would be to take her hostage to threaten the priestess.

As the man thought over his battle plan, he decided it would be best to ensure that the priestess couldn’t recover her weapons no matter what, and so he took the girls’ clothes out of their dressing room cubby.

Just then, the door that led to the open-air bath slammed open.

“Whyyyy do I have to take a bath with yooou instead of my dear darling?”

“Cut it out. You’re going to ruin a perfectly good hot spring if you keep—”

They must have entered the bathing area, realized they’d forgotten something, and returned to get it. As the black-haired girl stood there with steam rising from her skin, she locked eyes with the assailant who had infiltrated the women’s changing room.

“……”

“……”

There was an almost painful silence.

The black-haired girl was wrapped in a towel from the chest down.

Her bare limbs were sleek and smooth. The fabric could barely conceal her ample chest as it absorbed a small amount of perspiration from her cleavage. A single drop of water slid down the curved line of her thigh.

A faint
plip
sounded as the bead of liquid struck the ground.

The man regained his senses with a start.

His mind had gone blank at the unexpected development for only a moment. This was a warrior who had gone to tread the line between life and death countless times. His skills were not so meager that he would be deterred by the sudden appearance of a lovely young woman. He hadn’t anticipated his target would come back into the dressing room, but perhaps this was the perfect opportunity.

If he took the black-haired girl as a hostage, it would be far easier to capture the priestess who was still in the bath. The man stepped forward to seize the girl.

“P…”

The girl’s eyes clouded with embarrassment and burned with rage.

She aimed her index finger at the assailant like one might with a gun. As the man watched in bewilderment at her strange attempt at a threat, Guiding Light gathered in her outstretched fingertip and formed a conjuring.

Cold astonishment washed over the man. How was she invoking a conjuring without any Guiding vessel? What’s more, this was a conjuring construction he had never seen before. His mind struggled to comprehend what was happening before him, rendering his physical response a moment too late.