The Executioner and Her Way of Life

The train stopped at a platform covered in white.

Pilgrims from all over the world visited this place, and members of the Faust were required to make the trip at least once in their lives. This was the holy land.

The lone station in that city was off-limits to ordinary citizens. It was rarely used at all, since there was no regular schedule.

A priestess with dark-red hair disembarked from the locomotive.

Someone came to welcome her back to the holy land, from which she’d been absent for about a month.

“…So you’re finally here.”

A tall, spindly old woman glared at the Master; her voice had a vigor that defied her age. Her elegant yet pure robes indicated she was in the position of archbishop.

Archbishop Elcami was one of the most famous names in the world. However, while most people knew she was the archbishop who safeguarded the holy land, few were aware that she was also an Elder.

Now she held her scripture in arms that had grown skinny with age, glowering at the Master with her commanding eyes.

“I assume you have an excuse for persistently avoiding any form of contact, Master Flare.”

“Sorry about that, Magician. But you already know, right?”

Flare looked irritable as ever, even though she was dealing with someone who could very well be described as one of the most powerful people in the world. She waved her scripture in the air impatiently.

“This scripture is broken.”

Elcami, also called the Magician, furrowed her brow at the apparent excuse.

She swallowed the automatic urge to bellow in response and took a deep breath, responding in a low groan instead.

“…Fine, whatever. Well? Were you able to capture
Time
?”

“Yeah, it’s in the train. I’m sure it’ll come out soon enough. You can take it away then.”

“What of Manon Libelle and Pandæmonium? You encountered them as well, did you not?”

“What about them? They got away. I don’t know what they’re up to. Doing whatever they please, I’m sure.”

“You incompetent louse! You couldn’t even finish off one little girl?!”

The aged woman really did shout with a remarkably thunderous voice for her age, but the Master only shrugged.

She didn’t look sorry in the least. Elcami clicked her tongue in frustration.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself just because of who dwells in your scripture.”

“Like I care. It’s nothing but a pain as far as I’m concerned.”

“How dare you…!”

Her eyes raged as if she were about to breathe fire. Still looking unrepentant, the Master looked away.

“See, there you go. That’s Akari Tokitou.”

The black-haired girl who emerged from the car glared silently at the two before her.

Her eyes looked defiant. After Pandæmonium had crushed her spirit, she’d seemed listless for a while, but something had swiftly revived her. Akari’s attitude was so rebellious that it was surprising she hadn’t tried to escape on the way here.

“All we have to do is use the Sword of Salt on her, and it’ll all be over. Is the teleport gate ready to go there?”

“…It’ll take a week to prepare. Remain on standby until then.”

“That’s a long time. You couldn’t set it up in advance?”

“We only have so many personnel who can operate the gate. Not to mention, few people are allowed to know about this plan. Add
your
unpredictable actions into the mix, and how could I possibly calculate it beforehand?!”

“I see. Sounds rough.”

As Elcami raged at her, Flare stared back coolly, as if to keep raising the Elder’s blood pressure until she died.

Archbishop Elcami, the protector of the holy land, was also known as Elder Magician.

Although her title sounded like something out of a fairy tale, her personality was much more pragmatic. She was so underhanded and narrow-minded that it was a wonder she’d risen to the rank of archbishop.

Or perhaps, ironically enough, it was her awareness of her own failings that prevented her from straying down the same path as Orwell.

“A week, huh…?”

The Master repeated the length of time aloud as she watched Elcami walk away with Akari in tow.

This version of Menou had the same look in her eyes as a Menou from another time.

“A new conjuring…? You had me bring Akari all the way here…for something like that…?”

“That’s right.”

“…I see.”

Master Flare’s exchange with the very first Menou surfaced in her mind. When her apprentice brought Akari to the holy land and discovered how the Pure Concept of
Time
was to be used there, she turned traitorous.

So there was little doubt that she would come this time.

“All right, Menou.”

The red-haired woman’s mouth twisted sardonically.

They had done this over and over by now. The reset point was always Menou’s death. They’d allowed this to keep happening so that the Pure Concept of
Time
would keep forfeiting memories, which would eventually allow them to harvest the concept and make it a new conjuring.

They were already plenty far enough along. One last push, and Akari Tokitou would turn into a Human Error.

“There won’t be a next time.”

Master Flare knew that this round of killing her apprentice would be the last.

Menou was busily preparing to depart.

She returned to the hotel, told Ashuna they would be going their separate ways, and moved to the inn where Momo was staying. There, as she repacked her belongings, Momo called to her in a quavering voice.

“Um, darling…”

“Yes?”

“You
are
going to the city Master assigned you to, aren’t you?”

“What? No.” Menou’s response was immediate. “I’m going to the holy land. There are plenty of other people who can help rebuild that town.”

“B-but…you’re just going back for a rest, then, right?”

“Of course not… You can stay behind, you know.”

“…No, I’ll come with yooou.”

“Oh? Don’t tell me you feel sorry for Akari now?”

“That would never happen. I want to come for
your
sake, darling.”

Menou was only teasing, but Momo responded with a poutier look than necessary. Realizing based on her deep knowledge of Momo’s personality that she might’ve actually hit the nail on the head, Menou was surprised and a little touched.

“Say, Momo.”

“What is it, darling?”

“How do you think conjurings are created?”

“Er…”

Momo looked taken aback by the unexpected change in topic.

It was the same question Akari had asked her not long before. Momo frowned as she responded.

“Well… I’m not sure.”

“I see.”

Menou was starting to figure it out.

After speaking with Manon, seeing how Sahara transformed from the influence of the Mechanical Society, and most of all her conversation with Master Flare and the truth that Akari revealed, she was all but certain.

“I think conjurings must come about in some truly awful way.”

“Oh…really?”

“Yes. I’m quite sure of it.”

Ever since Momo told her that Akari had used
Regression
on the world countless times while retaining her memories, Menou had been thinking about something.

Master Flare would never fail repeatedly at assassinating a single Pure Concept holder. Even if Akari was immortal and wielded a conjuring that turned back time, Master would undoubtedly find a way to get around that and execute her.

That meant that Master was allowing Akari to turn back time repeatedly with some specific goal in mind. There had to be a reason she permitted it.

What exactly led to the birth of a new conjuring?

Guiding Force was a power that existed in every living thing.

Did humanity acquire conjurings by experimenting with the use of that power?

If the order of events was to be believed, that was likely not the answer.

All that the residents of this world had mastered on their own was Guiding Enhancement. The concept of “conjurings” probably didn’t exist at first.

“The source of conjurings is the Pure Concepts that Otherworlders have.”

Pure Concepts.

Original Sin Concepts, the Concept of Primary Colors, crest conjurings, and scripture conjurings… All of them were brought about by the Otherworlders who came to this world.

Menou didn’t know how or why they started being summoned to this planet in the first place.

Yet ever since Otherworlders had started to arrive, concepts attached to their souls by way of Guiding Force and were established as Pure Concepts in the form of conjurings that the Otherworlders could subconsciously use.

The concepts embedded in their souls were torn away when they lost control and became Human Errors. As soon as this happened, the concept contained within a single human became omnipresent in the world as a conjuring phenomenon.

That was why the Master had let Momo do as she pleased. Momo’s efforts to make Akari keep using her Pure Concept worked perfectly for her.

Master Flare’s goal was for Akari to turn into a Human Error.

She wanted the Pure Concept of
Time
to become accessible to the world through time conjurings.

According to Momo, when Menou first reached the land of salt, she’d tried to save Akari and died to her Master.

But that couldn’t be right.

She must have tried to kill Akari instead.

If Akari was going to turn into a Human Error, it would be better for her to perish. Such was the duty of Executioners. Menou’s personal feelings and her path in life had coincided enough that she tried to go against her Master’s will.

She set foot in that land of salt, believing it would be better if she outwitted her Master and killed Akari with her own hands.

Menou acted out of anger over Akari’s attempts to protect her from the second time on. However, that first time, Menou tried to end Akari while she was still Akari—and was executed by her Master for it.

“This world really is hopeless, isn’t it?”

Menou produced glowing Guiding Light. She used Guiding Camouflage to manipulate it and form a projected map of the continent.

The light of Guiding Force…

This luminous phenomenon was called Guiding Light because it glowed in the darkness.

Menou understood the term’s etymology, but she suggested an alternate interpretation of her own.

“This power surely exists to guide Otherworlders…the lost ones.”

Menou hadn’t given up when she’d watched that train haul Akari away.

She was only just getting started.

All Menou could do for anyone, no matter how hard she tried—getting covered in mud, bathing in blood, using every means available, and with the worst of intent—was to kill them.

Still, she would cut open the path to a new way of life for them.

“Let’s go, Momo.”

“Yes, darling.”

The Executioner began down the road she hoped would lead to a better existence.