Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Magian Company - Volume 7 - Chapter 1

A brother who has become the most powerful man in the world and a younger sister who absolutely trusts her brother.

As they take the first steps towards their ideal society, their days of turmoil and change begin ............

Chapter 1

[Summons]

On the last Sunday of August, 2100 A.D. Tatsuya was summoned to the Yotsuba family main house by the head of the family, Yotsuba Maya.

Much to all events and years that passed, Tatsuya was still unable to defy her. If anything, currently he doesn't go against Maya interests mainly out of respect for her position as the head of the family.

"Welcome back, Tatsuya-san. Excellent work on your investigation of Shambhala." Tatsuya was greeted by a seemingly good-tempered Maya. "I must say, your reports were a very interesting read." She flashed him a smile at the end. As usual, her smile was hardly straightforward.

"And from what I've read, I share your concerns regarding the dangers of the legacy of Shambhala," She continued. "Fascinating as they are in stimulating research, I'm afraid we cannot afford to overlook a potential proliferation of Strategic-Class Magic."

"Your understanding is much appreciated. May I take your agreement as permission to proceed with the referred policy, to seal the potentially hazardous legacy artifacts?"

Be too cautious and you will never move forward. With that wisdom in mind, Tatsuya used Maya's remark as a springboard to directly seek permission to go on his next excursion. His report, which was the topic of the discussion, further detailed that the magic buried in Mt. Shasta in the North American continent was at the highest priority to be sealed.

"While your reasoning and course of action are sound…" Apparently, by the studied hesitation on her tone, that wasn't enough to convince Maya to allow him to leave to the USNA.

If he could figure out what's preventing her from giving him the green light, he could find a way to persuade her.

But Tatsuya didn't rush, he waited silently for her next words.

"I wonder if that could wait a little bit. If they have been slumbering in their place for over 10,000 years, it shouldn't be a problem if we let them slumber in place for a few months, or a year."

"May I enquire why the reason for the delay?" Tatsuya very much disagreed with the "acceptable margin of error" argument. But his priority is finding out the reason that prevented him from going to the States.

"It is the wish of His Excellency Toudou."

The one Maya gave was of the hardest to overturn of all the reasons Tatsuya had anticipated.

"It was His excellency's clear instruction that you are not to be absent from Japan for any longer. You overstayed your time in the IPU."

Though Tatsuya himself didn't think he had spent too much time at the Indo-Persian Union, he refrained from making a point.

"However, now that the matter has been set in motion, it is bound to gather pace." Still, Tatsuya recognised that the current situation was not one where they could afford to bide their time. "The USNA at this point already knows of the existence of the Shambhala ruins as they have deciphered map tablets. It is highly possible that they might find more clues, and even the buried legacy buried underground, if they were to excavate Mount Shasta for further clues."

"It is you who has the 'wand' to access the ruins, is it not?"

"The wand I've brought from Bukhara is a master key, so to speak, each individual site has a unique key of its own. There is no guarantee that the USNA military will not find one of that particular site. Moreover, getting access to the ruins themselves is hardly an issue with modern engineering equipment. Once inside, they will have access to the stored magic, which can be installed on the spot. The learning mechanism for the transmission of magic in these ruins is basically the same as the one used with the

'Guru's tablet'."

"I understand your sense of urgency, Tatsuya-san," Maya starts, allowing a sigh to escape her lips. "I truly do. But I also cannot incur the wrath of His Excellency. I'm sure you as well are aware of what that would entail, don't you?"

Tatsuya very much understood. At the onset of his venture with the Stelar Reactor Project, Tatsuya made an agreement with the aforementioned Toudou Aoba. Tatsuya would get Toudou's permission and backing on the Stelar Reactor Project on the condition that he would play his part as a deterrent agent for Japan. For Tatsuya to be absent from Japan for an extended period of time would constitute a disregard for this agreement. He already envisioned Toudou's displeasure before he set foot back in Japan.

"You see, Tatsuya-san. I won't deny we have a very dangerous magic that needs to be sealed. But you can't go, not right now." She paused for a moment. "I'd advise you to wait for a while, a year at most. By then His Excellency's anger will have dissipated."

Again, Tatsuya could understand her point. The Yotsuba family is not a self-sufficient community, they need a sponsor supporting them. The Yotsuba is not totally reliant on their sponsor, it is a sort of "give and take" relationship, but at the same time the words of the sponsor carry a considerable weight.

"…I understand. I shall do as you say."

Faced with this prospect, Tatsuya had no choice but to relent.

◇◇◇

"Oh, Tatsuya-san, are you already leaving?"

As Tatsuya made his way out of the family's main house, he was stopped by Yuuka.

"Yes."

"I heard you just arrived here."

"I had a matter to attend to with the family head."

"If it was a short matter like this, I'd prefer if she would not summon people all the way here in the first place…"

Even if paltry in nature, Yuuka's remark was still an unabashed criticism of none other than Maya, the head of the family. Right under her nose, in the main house premises. in front of the main house. Maya is no tyrant, but any member of the family would have held their tongue even if she were just the head of a branch family. Even Tatsuya is careful with what words he chooses to say. Only someone like Yuuka would carelessly blurt out such a line.

Rather than coming from a point of carelessness, it was mostly because Yuuka had no ambition inside the family. She has no tangible attachment to her rather high status as the next head of a branch family. Same goes to the financial wealth that comes with her position. Fashion interests her as much as the next person, other than her academic pursuits in her favorite subjects, there isn't a great number of matters that Yuuka is interested in.

"Did you have any business to discuss with me?" The fact it was a short-time business was a matter of hindsight. Tatsuya knew that it would take much longer than a minute or two before coming, but it was nevertheless necessary to be discussed in person. Leaving that topic untouched, Tatsuya inquired what reason brought Yuuka to come speak to him.

"I did, in fact. I had a few questions regarding the magic used in the last FLT attack."

"Of course. I happen to have plenty of available time." His remark was not intended as a jab at Yuuka, who just criticized the brevity of the meeting he was summoned to, but simply a statement of fact. Tatsuya also personally felt that Maya's conversation would take a little longer than he expected.

"Are you sure? That's nice to hear. Then, would you mind coming with me to the lab?"

"Sure, lead the way."

"Thank you," Yuuka said, turning around and walking ahead.

Yuuka holds the position of deputy director at the Yotsuba family's research facility, which houses their magician tuning (genetic manipulation) facility. Tatsuya followed her to her personal laboratory within this facility, where he received the incomplete data on the Recognition Inhibiting Magic [Aidoneus] before his last visit to the United States.

After a "Are you fine with coffee?" and "I'll leave it up to you" exchange, Yuuka set one cup of the machine-brewed coffee on the desk and another on the side table, before taking a seat at the desk.

"If you don't mind getting straight to business…" began Yuuka before even reaching for her cup.

"Confirm to me: the name of the language faculty inhibiting magic is [Babel], right?"

"Yes, that's right. The full name seems to be [The Divine Punishment of the Tower of Babel], as I recall. What about it?"

Tatsuya attempted to learn where she was trying to get.

"And that was the name written on the [Guru's Tablet], am I correct?"

But Yuuka went on with laying the foundation with her line of questions.

"I would say it was recorded rather than written down on it. It seems to be among the information possessed by the daemons that install magic. Of course, assuming that the information from the interrogation of the caster who used it on USNA is trustworthy."

"Alright, assuming that the results from the interrogation are accurate… Was that the name given from the beginning?"

"What point are you trying to make?" Once more Tatsuya attempts to ask about the meaning behind the questions.

"The grammar doesn't match." This time Yuuka answered.

That still wasn't enough to make sense of her concerns, so Tatsuya looked silently back at her, prompting her to continue.

"I reverse-engineered the [Babel] magic sequence based on the data obtained from the victims' treatment process."

"That's amazing." Honest words of praise from Tatsuya, who had also had the opportunity to analyze the magic sequence of Babel that had been embedded in the victims' brain —in the area relative to the brain in their psion body, to be exact— but couldn't make sense of the contents. All he was able to achieve in that sense was to transcribe the sequence verbatim as he found it.

Yuuka, however, seems to have gone one step further. By her claim of successfully reverse-engineering, she must have at the very least reached a partial understanding of the workings of [Babel].

He recognized the fact that the magic at issue had a very distinct grammar from known magic used today, as well as known ancient-style magic, for that matter. It was by no means a simple task to decipher the sequence, but Tatsuya doubted that Yuuka was bluffing.

"If 'Divine Punishment of the Tower of Babel' was the name given to this magic on its conception, then it would be fair to assume its origin dates back until the time of the Christian Old Testament."

"That's a fair assumption. It's reasonable to think that it took inspiration from the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament." Tatsuya agreed with Yuuka's observation while adding some extra details.

"Let's put aside for the moment the discussion about the plausibility of the existence of a

Tower of Babel pre-dating the creation of the Old Testament. By that logic, this [Guru's Tablet] would have to be dated no earlier than 3,700 years ago, however old it may seem."

"Since Moses is believed to be a figure dating from the 16th to 13th centuries B.C., I think that's a fair guess."

Usually counted as one of the "Five Books of Moses", or "Pentateuch", the Book of Genesis and the four other books in this set have their authorship attributed to Moses, the main character in the Book of Exodus. So if the first mention of the name [Babel] is in Genesis, the date of creation of the tablet must post-date Moses, which would have it 3,700 years ago, in the 16th century B.C., at the earliest.

"Moreover, taking into consideration the spread of the judaic-christian tradition through history, the magic syntax would have a Middle Eastern origin, such as Kabbalistic, if it dates from B.C., and a European basis, such as runic or druidic magic, if A.D. or later."

"Wouldn't it be possible that it is using the same magic syntax that has been handed down since ancient times?" Tatsuya offered a reasonable counterargument, but Yuuka, apparently having already considered that angle, instantly shook her head.

"In the process of reverse-engineering the magic sequence, I found strong influences of

Avestan and Jindai Japanese in the magic syntax of [Babel]."

"…Avestan I can understand, but Jindai—ancient japanese? A second, before you continue, what specifically is Jindai Japanese? How is it different from Jōdai Japanese?"

"Is not academically acknowledged due to a lack of supporting evidence, but it was a different language system from ancient Jōdai Japanese, dedicated exclusively to ritual practices. Tracing back the history of Shinto-based ancient-style magic, there are many elements that have been discovered that can be better reasonably explained based on the assumption of the existence of a Jindai Japanese."

"Is that so? I didn't know." Although Tatsuya nodded auspiciously, he still took the theory with a grain of salt. There was no denying the existence of a prehistoric magical civilization in Japan, the excavated Relics had shown as much, but the Jindai language part didn't have enough weight in his opinion to bet in favor of.

"Let's set aside the validity issue of the Jindai Japanese, it's not pertinent to the topic at hand." Perhaps sensing Tatsuya's skepticism from his demeanor, Yuuka shelved the matter. "My main concern is the fact that the magic recorded on a stone tablet excavated on the west coast of the north american continent, was named after a Jewish scripture, at the same time it shows signs of having connections all the way from west Asia to Japan. I suspect that rather than being brought to the American continent by people crossing the Atlantic Ocean, that this magic actually may have traveled across the Pacific Ocean."

"I see…," That was all that Tatsuya could manage to say at that point. It never crossed his mind the possibility that the [Guru Tablet] had come from southern Asia, through Japan, then across the Pacific —via the Kuril Islands to the coast of Alaska, perhaps, as opposed to literally crossing the ocean.

In part, he was not interested in how the tablet came to be buried on Mt. Shasta. His mind was not on what happened, but on what might happen in the possible future, where the buried unknown and dangerous magic was to be found.

"Why on earth would these people feel the need to make such a major migration? It seems to me as if they were being driven by something."

"…Such as being driven off by an opposite force?"

"Yes. Could also be their previous leaders. And perhaps the [Guru's Tablet] was created to oppose an enemy or ruler who was stronger than they were." (Can't deny it), Tatsuya thought.

"If that was the case… I would imagine that they would have also prepared more offensive oriented magic, rather than just relying on disrupting the language ability." Tatsuya found Yuuka's apprehensions to be well founded.

That discussion left Tatsuya ruefully wondering who or what they could be antagonizing or rebelling against…

◇◇◇

Back in Tokyo, Tatsuya shared with Miyuki, Lina, as well as with his personal butler, Hanabishi Hyogo, what Maya had told him earlier today.

"Under such circumstances, we will have no choice but to postpone our trip to America…" Miyuki remarked regretfully with a clear sense of resignation.

As for Lina, she seemed unable to hide her indignation, "Can't we do something about it? I mean, we're dealing with dangerous stuff here, right? The world could be in danger if we don't do something about it, damnit."

"Rina-ojou-sama, I believe Tatsuya-sama is well aware of the dangers at stake." Hyogo sought to shush Lina. But from his words, one could tell that he found the standstill they now found themselves in less than satisfactory.

"Lina is right, we can't afford to put off sealing a dangerous legacy like that. But at the same time, the diffusion of the stellar furnace is just as important to me. I can't oppose His Excellency Toudou at this time."

"Couldn't we ask Minoru-kun to do it for us, then?" Minoru accompanied Tatsuya on his survey of the Tibetan ruins, so he also knows about the Shambala legacy scattered all over the world, and also shares the same opinion that the dangerous heritage should be sealed.

Miyuki made the suggestion with the knowledge that Tatsuya is able to willingly grant someone a proxy authority over the jewel wand, which acts as a master key to access the ruins.

"No good, Oba-ue also forbade me from sending Minoru as well. His Excellency also thought of so, as much."

But that path was already blocked ahead of time.

"…Where did word leak out to His Excellency about Minoru-kun?"

"I can't say myself. His Excellency could have insiders within the Yotsuba family."

At this point, neither Tatsuya nor Miyuki knew that Hayama, the Yotsuba family's head butler, was a Senate agent sent to monitor the family.

"Do we have any other good moves we could try…?"

Toudou's collaboration is essential for the success of the Stellar Reactor Project. They could not, at the very least, antagonize him.

Miyuki understands how important the Stellar Reactor Project is to Tatsuya and his intentions with regard to it. The accomplishment of this project had no less weight on his mind than the sealing of the dangerous artifacts.

Lina similarly understood that sentiment. And, with a gloomy-faced brooding Miyuki on her side, she twisted her head, audibly groaning, trying to squeeze out an idea.

After a couple of seconds in that situation, "…Right! Don't people say that Japanese authorities are easy to bend to outside pressure?" Lina shouts.

"I don't think it's specific to Japan… but, yeah, I guess so."

Countries with limited international influence, especially in the military sphere, are generally weak when it comes to resisting pressure from greater foreign powers. Japan, having emancipated itself from the nightmare brought on by the naive belief in continued peace, has grown more resilient to international pressure than it was in the past. Nevertheless, the use of foreign pressure to obtain a compromise from an unchallenged domestic player is still a common card to be played in the high tables of politics.

"We could get Senator Curtis to put some pressure so that Tatsuya is sent to the States. We could also get a hold on JJ to get Secretary Spencer on board as well."

Senator Curtis is a big name in USNA's politics, with special note to his influence over the CIA. He is also the great-uncle of the current Commander-in-Chief of the Stars, Canopus, who is an old comrade of Lina, and the person who once requested the rescue of this same Canopus from Midway prison during the parasite uprising which took control of the Stars.

The second name she mentioned, JJ, short for Jeffrey James, is a confidante of Liam Spencer, the current USNA Secretary of Defense and leading candidate for the next presidential election. Lina's proposal had the power, it was feasible.

But, while feasible, Lina's plan was not without its flaws.

"Lina, you shouldn't leverage foreign connections so lightly; neither JJ nor the Senator are people in positions to lend their help without having something in return," Miyuki chided Lina.

"Well… I don't think they would ask for anything too crazy in return, probably." Lina herself seemed to be under no illusions that she would get free help.

"I don't think so either. But Lina, you know. Your country is desperate to get their hands on Tatsuya-sama's technology, remember?"

"W-wasn't the plan all along to export the Stellar Reactor tech? Why don't you do it now and get a favor out of it?"

"Do you imagine they being satisfied with just the Stellar Reactor itself? What if they require the manufacturing knowledge for the Magistore? That can be easily used for military purposes."

A magistore is an artificial relic with the ability to preserve magical sequences. One could be loaded with a high offensive magic and given to a soldier with relatively weak magical qualities to create a magical asset on par with top combat magician.

"I-…" Lina stammers over her words. Her expression was, rather than screaming "I didn't notice that!", was more of a "they would totally do that…"

"No, I think Lina was thinking in the right direction." Unexpected support came from Tatsuya. "If we want to get to the USNA as soon as possible, we will need to get them involved. But, as Miyuki said, it would be a bad idea if we were the ones making the request." Although. as he went on, it was made clear that he didn't side unilaterally with her.

"So, Tatsuya-sama, you want the USNA to be the ones asking you for help, then?"

Miyuki asked, to which Tatsuya replied with a nod, "That's right."

"Do you have any good ideas on how to get that?"

At Lina's question, Tatsuya gave a broad grin and replied, "Lina, pass on the word to

Commander Canopus. Say that Laura Simons was responsible for the Babel victims in

Japan, and that she has returned to the USNA with the support of the Greater Asia Union."

◇◇◇

Fumiya was the one who informed Tatsuya of Laura's escape from Japan.

Since the incident with the New Humanity Front in May, when its leader took refuge in the Izayoi family estate, the Kuroba family had kept a close watch on the Izayoi even after the case in question had been settled. Unfortunately, they missed the moment Laura was invited into the premises of the mansion out, by virtue of a mismatch in timing, but they did manage to get a perfect shot of her escaping, and all her moves up to her boarding a plane. All the while, neither Laura, nor her Greater Asia Union Bāxiān chaperone, He Xiangu, noticed the eyes following them.

The Kuroba twins received the report from the watchman on duty informing of Laura's departure at the same time as Tatsuya was still in Okinawa, on his way to Tibet. Fumiya intended to pass on the word to Tatsuya immediately, but Ayako stopped him, saying, "I would not give him anything else to think about until he comes back from Tibet."

As a result, Tatsuya and Miyuki only learned about the news about Laura the day after he was back home.

A fact that the Kuroba had yet to uncover was that the agent who assisted Laura's escape was one of the Eight Immortals, the Bāxiān. At the time in question, all they were able to ascertain was that they were "likely operatives of the Greater Asia Union.

The twins only returned to their Tokyo home much later after Tatsuya had arrived back from his visit to Yotsuba's main house.

"The Greater Asia Union has been making a lot of moves as of late, haven't they?"

"It seems that they haven't learned yet, even after that last painful lesson they got."

Still in their work clothes and with a cold drink on the dining table in front of them, they conversed in their own apartment, one block away from Tatsuya and Miyuki's, in the main Yotsuya building in Tokyo.

The "lesson" Fumiya referred to was the Yokohama Incident of five years ago.

"Fumiya, how are things on that side?"

"It's all taken care of. I think we can focus on the Greater Asia Union for the moment."

They have been working separately for some time now; they came together to deal with Lu Dongbin and his attack on the FLT, but after that they went back to working separately again. Fumiya had some pending homework he had been working on to complete since last year.

Today he can claim that the matter is finally "taken care of". A certain international organization—and not just your average international crime syndicate—had been eating away at the Kuroba's human resources in the Tokyo metropolitan area, and had become a stumbling stone for the other intelligence operations.

"If just the matters were settled a week earlier, we wouldn't have let Laura Simons slip away. Well, it's over and there's nothing we can do about it now," Ayako consoled Fumiya, who sounded bitter at the situation. She meant it towards herself as well, while Fumiya was busy wrapping up his pending assignment, Ayako was also handling other operations in the Tokyo area.

No one, including Fumiya, would accuse her of negligence. But she still couldn't stop feeling a sense of humiliation at missing Laura being held by Izayoi Shirabe, and at not being able to identify the identity of the agent of the Greater Asia Union.

"If the word of Lu Dongbin, who Tatsuya-san took care of the other day, can be trusted, it'll be as you said, Fumiya, the Greater Asia Union is bound to send in agents, despite what occurred last time."

Lu Dongbin, one of the Bāxiān, the elite magician operative unit of the Greater Asia Union, came forward and confessed that his goal was to assassinate Tatsuya. The twins have not heard this directly from him, but Lu Dongbin, thinking that he succeeded in his assassination, proudly declared to his target, Tatsuya. Considering the circumstances involved, his statement had a degree of credibility.

"Yes, that's right. I won't let them get loose and bother Tatsuya-san next time," Fumiya spoke up with firm determination.

To which Ayako agreed wholeheartedly, "Yes, we will settle this matter ourselves."

◇◇◇

At around midnight, Tatsuya made contact with Minoru.

[Should I go and seal it, then?] The moment Tatsuya told him of his ban on leaving for the USNA, Minoru immediately offered to go in his place to seal the dangerous Shambhala artifact.

There was no ulterior reason behind the offer; Minoru agreed in regards to the danger the relics pose, and very much like Tatsuya derives all of his actions from his personal motto "for Miyuki's sake," Minoru draws from his own, "for Minami's sake."

The bodies of the both of them, Minoru and Minami, have been designed to be used as tools of war. Though the Kudou family didn't raise Minoru to be a soldier or weapon, and Minami was herself not a direct result of genetic manipulation, those being her parents, it is an undeniable fact that the genes that shape their bodies have been cultivated and engineered with the purpose of creating tools of war.

The legacy left behind by Shambhala would most likely bring about a future in which altered bodies would be mass-produced to be used as integral pieces as weapons. Minami would dread and be saddened by such a future. Minoru knew, from the moment he found out in Tibet about the existence of the dangerous artifacts.

So, in order to eliminate anything that might bring sadness to Minami's life, Minoru set his mind to seal the artifacts, not because Tatsuya asked him to do so, but because he himself desired so. And with the news that Tatsuya wouldn't be able to do it, his next logical step was to volunteer himself to take care of it.

Tatsuya expected as much from him, "Unfortunately, that has been vetoed as well." And so did Maya.

"There are not any sort of tracking devices to the Takachiho, so the family probably wouldn’t usually know if you landed at the USNA. But I don't doubt they have dispatched personnel to monitor Mt. Shasta and the surrounding area after my report."

[And it wouldn't be good if I got spotted.]

"I wouldn't say you'd be left destitute, but it certainly would be thought to live in."

Minoru and Minami's subsistence was dependent on the supplies from the Yotsuba family through the virtual satellite elevator on Miyakishima. Maya had the authority to suspend it at any time. Some could be sent at Tatsuya's discretion, but their provisions would inevitably become scarcer than what they currently enjoy.

Both of them are confident that if Minoru were to descend on Mt.Shasta would remain undetected. While at the same time they acknowledge the risk is not zero.

"That said, we won't be leaving it unattended. If I'm not asking too much of you, could you keep an eye on the ruins from above in case anyone attempts to meddle with the ruins?"

[Understood. Because of the orbit, we won't be able to maintain a 24-hour surveillance, but since the ruins are deep underground, I don't see anyone getting into them in a couple of hours. If anything happens, I will let you know immediately, Tatsuya-san.]

No doubt there will be USNA locals employed to monitor Mt. Shasta, but likely those will be under Maya's thumb. Tatsuya had no guarantee that any pertinent information would get to him promptly and accurately.

"Thanks, I'll leave it up to you."

Tatsuya trusted Minoru more than Maya.

◇◇◇

The next morning, Lina passed on Tatsuya's warning to Canopus.

Owing to the time zones, it was already evening at Stars headquarters in New Mexico. Despite this, Canopus immediately called for a meeting after receiving the warning.

The Parasite Insurrection that occurred three years ago caused Stars to lose a great number of their talented personnel. Reconstitution process is still underway and that gap has yet to be filled. Nevertheless, those present at this meeting are the commanding officers of the 2nd, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 12th units, including the acting captain of the 1st unit, Captain Mirfak, First-Lieutenant Shaula, a survivor of the 11th unit, and Abigail Stuart, the Stars' Chief Scientist.

"A short while ago I received a warning from Lieutenant Colonel Shields who is deployed in Japan."

After a brief preamble, Canopus addressed the gathered officers.

"We don't need to be so formal when referring to Lina as Lieutenant Colonel Shields, do we sir?" No one present entertained the little quip Stuart plugged in. Taking the polite dismissal with a shrug of the shoulders, Stuart followed up by asking Canopus, "So, what was the warning?"

"I'm sure all present here will remember the recent speech-loss incident on the west coast, a terrorist attack using a magic of unknown origin referred to as [Babel]"

"So she foresees another similar incident?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Shields indicated that a similar incident would likely occur, and on a much larger scale."

"And the basis for this is?" Major Noah Capella, the commanding officer of the 5th unit, who is the most senior member of the Star-Class, raised the question.

"The incident I mentioned was perpetrated by a magician named Helen Schneider, who belongs to a criminal magician's organization called FAIR. Another even more powerful magician used the same magic to cause a similar incident in Japan. And now this individual recently made their way back into homeland soil."

"And so you were informed by the Lieutenant Colonel, I presume." First-Lieutenant Shaula, who worked on the West Coast case, chimed in.

"Do we know the identity of this other magician?" Another question from Stuart to Canopus.

"According to the report from Lieutenant Colonel Shields, it's the second-in-command of the aforementioned FAIR, a witch by the name of Laura Simons."

Several different voices could be heard in the room repeating the word "witch". None of the current members of the Stars were particularly well versed in ancient-style magic, so when the term pops up, all they could do is wonder what kind of power was specific to a "witch".

"Dr. Stuart, I want you to expedite your research on the treatment of [Babel]. Find me a way to counter it, or, at the very least, how to treat it. Write me any budget request that you need and I'll put my stamp on it."

Since neither Ancient Magic nor Mental Interference Magic are among Stuart's areas of expertise, the research in question has been mostly delegated to a member of her staff. Nevertheless, she still is the head of the Stars Research and Development Department, all budget and personnel allocations are her responsibility.

"We'll make it our top priority. Would it be all right if I bring in a researcher who is knowledgeable about Ancient Magic?"

"Permission granted. Send me a list of the candidates."

"Right, the background checks. Understood. I'll start making the list right away."

"Appreciated. First-Lieutenant Shaula." Canopus then turned to Shaula.

"You and Second-Lieutenant Spica will take command of a detachment of Planetary-Class and conduct a search and capture of Laura Simons."

Second-Lieutenant Sophia Spica, who was assigned as the newest member of the Star-Class this spring, was the young female officer who was selected as Lina's partner during her visit to the United States about two months ago. Her qualifications include her field honed magic affinities for intelligence work.

"Would that be all right, sir? I believe that would be overstepping on the jurisdiction of the judicial authorities." The expressed concern by Shaula was that such action would cause friction between the military and the police, and between the federal army and the state government.

"I'll handle that on my end." Canopus acknowledged the concern, but assured that he would take on the responsibility.

"Understood, sir," Shaula responded. saluting from her seat.

Canopus returned the gesture with a nod, then glanced around at the commanders. "While it is not our mission to maintain domestic security, we must not neglect the threat that magical terrorism using magic with so many unknown factors may pose to the nation. Therefore, we should consider a dispatch order from the General Staff headquarters as a possibility. So I want each squadron to prepare for such a scenario."

The interim meeting ended with a resounding "Yes, sir." from the commanding officers of each unit.

◇◇◇

"Laura, it's about time you tell me what happened in Japan," The head of FAIR, Rocky Dean, inquired his confidant and mistress, Laura Simons, in bed on the fourth morning after Laura's return from Japan.

Currently both are clothless. They spent the past four days, from the moment of Laura's arrival, catching up with their desires, and more, in each other's bodies.

"I am deeply sorry, My Lord," Laura said, raising her nude body to a seated position atop the bed next to Dean. "I have unfortunately not been able to fulfill your order to obtain the artificial relic."

"How did someone of your caliber end up not only failing the mission, but also getting yourself captured by a Japanese magician?"

"About that, My Lord…" Asked by Dean, who still lay on the bed and just looked up at her, Laura's eyes filled with sorrow and a bewitching glamor. "I was caught in an unfortunate condition. It proved to be even more challenging than expected to perform adequately with my magic power halved."

"So [Babel] has weighed that heavily on you."

"I'm afraid so."

In her statement of having her "magic power halved" by modern magical terms it means having "half of one's magic calculation area unusable". [Babel] has taken up half of Laura's magical resources.

"I feel the demons sucking up my magical power as we speak."

"Still hadn't enough then?" Dean growled with a sadistic grin as he roughly pulled and rolled over Laura, holding her hands as she lay on her back.

Laura's sweet moans filled the bedroom where the rays of the morning sun began to peek into.

It neared noon by the time Dean woke up after falling asleep twice.

Laura's spot next to him was empty. Seemingly, her magic power has regained its normal levels. Being a witch, she had a technique to restore magic power through sexual intercourse. In the taoist xian system, such a technique is referred to as sexual alchemy.

For the past 3 days, Dean had spent all but the bare minimum required to keep himself alive outside of bed, not because of a voracious libido of his, nor some lasciviousness on the part of Laura. While lascivious was a good descriptor for her, the main purpose was to give her an opportunity to restore her magical resources.

Dean washed his face and went to the dining room, where he found Laura drinking what appeared to be tea. The faint intoxicating aroma was undoubtedly from some kind of narcotic.

During the moment he was lost in the aroma, Laura was raising herself from the chair.

"Feeling any better?" Dean called out, gazing down at Laura's back, which bent over as part of the previous motion.

"Much, thanks to you, sir," Laura responded deferentially, then raised her head to look at Dean. "My lord, would you care for something to drink?"

To Laura's reverent suggestion, Dean brought an assertive tone, "Make it a meal." After which he sat down in a chair at the dining room table.

Laura obediently complied, "As you wish, my lord," and headed for the kitchen.

Laura took the opportunity to prepare lunch for herself as well, and joined him at the table.

After the empty dishes were cleared from the table, and glasses of after-dinner drinks were set in their place, Dean asked Laura, "Laura, can't you do something about the limit on your magical power?"

The side effect of using the [Guru's Tablet] to obtain [Babel] of having the new magic sequence taking over space on the magic calculation area, limiting the use of other magics as a result, has been known for some time now. They were aware of the costs when Dean told Laura to acquire [Babel].

The decision cost Laura access to her witch's flying technique, as well as hindering the process of activating her other magics. It was due to these side effects that she was not able to escape from Izayoi Shirabe's mansion in Japan. If she was able to use her witchcraft with her usual ease, she would have broken away from Izayoi Shirabe's magic and escaped from his mansion on her own.

"There is one thing I'd like to attempt in regard to that, sir." She already had her answer. Certainly having pondered about a solution for this issue before Dean asked.

"Attempt what?" That didn't receive an easy "I'll leave up to you to deal with it" from Dean.

"As I'm sure your lordship is familiar with, there is a procedure passed down in the tradition of witchcraft for making a pact with a devil."

"I've mostly just heard of it. Never that someone actually was visited by a little red imp from hell." Sarcasm was evident in his tone, but not of mocking Laura.

"Yes. That's because the ones you are probably imagining don't exist. If they did exist, it would suggest that victorious and defeated deities also existed. And while there are forms to make the contract with a devil, there is no known magic that can subdue a god."

"That's it?. It's all speculation, no, it's not even that. All superstition with no evidence to back it up."

"Yes, my lord. There is no evidence for the existence of a God, just as there is no evidence for the non-existence of demons. Yes, sir, you heard it right, because demons do exist. After all, it was one that implanted [Babel] on me."

"You certainly had your experience. Although, could you really call that a demon?" The sarcasm began to fell off from Dean's tone. He knew that Laura was getting to the heart of the matter.

"I am going to use the demon summoning ritual in witchcraft to try to remake the contract with the [Babel] demon. Once I extract the demon from my body, if I am able to make a pact with it as a familiar, I'll have my magic power, and summon it when I need it. Instead of having it always possessing me, with [Babel] consuming my magic power."

"I see. So you plan to create a terminal, to pass [Babel] to something like an external memory drive, am I correct?" Dean reworked Laura’s magicalspeak into an analogy with modern technology terms.

"That is another way of putting it, but yes, you are correct."

"Alright, then go for it. I don't mind the worst-case scenario we lose [Babel]."

His priority was for Laura to regain her usual power, rather than rely on old, powerful, but in the end unwieldy, magic. Least because he cared about her well-being, but more because he already had an in-depth understanding of the uses, advantages, and disadvantages of her witchcraft.

◇◇◇

Japanese National Defense Force Joint Military Command, Chief of Staff Akiyama. He holds the rank of Major General. Although he isn’t a magician himself, he is known to be one of the highest ranking officers who is pro-magic within the National Defense Force. He is the current backer of the Independent Magic-Equipped Regiment, which is under the command of Colonel Kazama ─ this occurred when the Battalion was elevated to a Regiment after splitting with Major General Saeki, however this simultaneously caused it to lose any support from being a part of a larger unit when it became a completely independent unit from that of a Division or Brigade within the National Defense Force. In addition to its formal military duties, the Independent Magic-Equipped Regiment became a pawn of General-Director Akiyama in return for his support

The last night in August of 2100. Kazama was summoned by Akiyama to his home.

Akiyama was away on a highly confidential visit to the Indo-Persian Federation since the end of the previous week, and had just returned home just before noon this day. The only reason Kazama knew about the confidential visit is due to his position as Akiyama's confidant. That was the extent that position granted him, he was never made privy to the details of the visit. But Kazama could still guess, given the timing, that tonight's summoning is sure to be related to the IPU in some measure. He knew he was bound to walk off this meeting with a new order, the contents which he would only know after seeing the man himself.

After being shown to the reception room, Kazama began to wonder what kind of behind-the-scenes job he would be given this time around as he waited for Akiyama. However, everything he had thought about was wrong.

"The IPU will begin deploying troops to Tibet this weekend."

Akiyama dropped the bombshell out of the blue on Kazama, who was now sitting across from him on the luxury reception set.

"This weekend, you say…?"

Armed conflict between the IPU and Tibet has been regarded as an eventuality for many years now. Among military officials, it has been regarded as something that would happen sooner or later, but they never knew when it would occur for certain.

But this weekend seemed too sudden. Today is a Tuesday. Even if the IPU were to launch a military operation on Saturday, that would mean they have only four days left to prepare.

"What's their pretext?"

Kazama inquired about what justification the IPU would give for such an action. Akiyama seems to know when they are launching their military operation. He also seems to have heard from the IPU at some point about the pretext they intend on using to declare war.

"In response to the request of the Tibetan government-in-exile for them to deploy troops, they are going to declare war on the current puppet government." Akiyama's answer was no guess, nor hearsay, but a definite statement.

"And also… It isn't going to lead to a direct military confrontation."

Kazama couldn't hide his surprise. Depending on how the Greater Asia Union, who currently has effective control over Tibet, responds, it could lead to an all-out war between the IPU and the Greater Asia Union.

"No, it shouldn't escalate into an all-out war."

Sensing Kazama's concern, Akiyama dismissed it.

"The IPU doesn’t wish to throw all their reserves at the Greater Asia Union in a showdown. Meanwhile, the Greater Asia Union currently doesn't have the capability to do the same."

"Even if that's not their initial intention, if the situation develops in their favor, they might grow ambitious."

Kazama agreed with the assessment that the Greater Asia Union doesn't have the resources. The Greater Asia Union has yet to fully recover from the staggering losses they suffered from the failed invasion of Yokohama in 2095 and the failed invasion of the Russian Far East in 2097.

The IPU, on the other hand, has no such constraints. Going back as late as the last war there was no short number of cases of nations' military that, in the height of their momentum, drunk in the face of victory, lost any semblance of reservation and reached beyond their original objectives.

"General Lars Singh showed some concerns on this point as well."

The person Akiyama traveled to meet in the IPU was Lieutenant General Lars Singh, the Deputy Commander of the IPU Federal Military and Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Republican Armed Forces. This was as Kazama had suspected.

"Therefore, Colonel Kazama, I would like to request that you present yourself to the IPU as a military observer."

The international organizations established in the past centuries with the ostensible purpose of curbing and settling international disputes ceased operations in the 2030s, becoming an organization in name only in the 2050s. By the end of the 21st century, there are no more such international organizations made only to be pleasant to the ears of the public.

The old custom of the military observer came back to replace it as a means of preventing undue violence in the field of battle. Originally, the figure was just a means of nations to project national prestige, as if their presence was what brought legitimacy to the war, with little to no concern for humanitarian concerns. Although their current role is still to facilitate the postwar process, observers are invited to serve as a third party witness that no war crimes have been committed. It's not expected from them to directly intervene to prevent brutality, however it has been noted that the presence of a third neutral nation has a certain deterrent effect against such conduct

One of closest modern equivalents to the aforementioned organizations, the International Magic Association, acknowledges itself as a neutral peacekeeping organization, only directly steps into conflicts to prevent the incidence of a nuclear war, never with the goal of ending the conflict itself. Preventing war crimes or providing relief to war victims is not a part of the Association's mission.

Given this context, Kazama's deployment as an observer is perfectly reasonable. As such, there would be no need for this to talk about it in secrecy. All it would take is an official military order to be issued.

Kazama dutifully responded, "Understood, sir," but still did not believe that this was the end of the conversation. There must have been another reason to have Akiyama call him privately.

"On an additional note, the IPU will be accepting civilian observers on a trial basis as of this war. If it proves to be effective, it should lead to a new international practice in the future."

"A civilian observer? I'm not sure if security can be ensured in this scenario." Kazama's reaction was skepticism. Though inappropriate, given his relationship with Akiyama, it was a valid point.

Akiyama then dropped the second bombshell.

"Sir. McCloud of England and Professor Schmidt of Germany have given their agreement to join the observer mission."

"…I must confess, sir, that I find it hard to believe this information." Kazama's tone and expression grew tense, if anything, a rather conservative reaction to the information that Akiyama had disclosed. The two names mentioned were of no less nationally recognized Strategic-Class Magicians. The so-called, "Apostles," individuals who by themselves constitute part of their respective nation's military power. For them to leave their home country is a very rare occurrence, but to go even near a warzone without a battalion-sized escort would be unthinkable.

"It is the truth. For the record, the International Magic Association played no part in the participation of these two observers."

"Will the rest of the party be magicians as well, then?"

"No, not all of them. Half will be combat magicians, of course, none of them active military."

"Am I correct in assuming that this civilian observer party will present themselves there at the invitation of the IPU?" A hint of concern was evident in Kazama's question.

"That's correct,"

"Wouldn't Tibet, and by extension the Greater Asia Union behind their government, view the party as an IPU-allied magician force?"

"You would be correct in thinking so."

"Then wouldn't the Greater Asia Union send in magicians of their own side under the same guise of neutral observers?"

A localized armed conflict once took place between the USNA and the New Soviet Union across the Bering Strait. Called the "Arctic Hidden War," it was a bloody confrontation between magicians from the two states.

The battle involved only a handful of magicians, yet, it is considered to have been the largest armed conflict in the postwar period ─though not officially recognized by the parties as a formal conflict─ before the Yokohama Incident. Powerful magic wielded from both sides clashed, causing destruction and carnage comparable to heavily armed armies colliding with each other.

Kazama worried the same kind of magical combat would occur in Tibet.

"They sure will. And we can only hope what they bring will keep both sides in check and prevent the battle from escalating."

"Frankly speaking, I have my doubts about that. I don't think it's possible to achieve deterrence with a half-hearted effort."

"A Strategic-Class Magician is a half-hearted effort in your opinion?" Rather than offended, Akiyama seemed, if anything, intrigued by Kazama's observation.

"If you allow me to state my opinion, aside from scale, a magic being classified to be on the strategic level does not tell all about its capabilities, as you might be aware, sir. [Ozone Circle], for instance, being an wide-area attack with a poisonous gas, it has the advantage that it can be deployed by a single magician, without the need of a delivery system, per se. While it can act as a deterrent, in the way of curbing attack on the fear of a surprise counterattack, it has little effect in discouraging combat between magicians.",

"I see. That is your assessment of [Ozone Circle], what do you have to say on the other Strategic-Class Magics?"

"I won't be preaching to the choir, Director-General, You must know that deterrence only works if it makes an opposing government believe that the risk of what they could suffer in retaliation for their action far outweighs any benefits they could gain. It's basically a risk and reward scenario for governments. Now deterrence on soldiers is mainly achieved through fear. Unless you actually demonstrate the horrors a weapon can inflict, no amount of saber rattling will deter the frontline commanders or soldiers in the heat of the battle."

"So it is our understanding that magic unfielded in battle is not enough of a deterrent?"

"It's not useless, but it's still insufficient. From that standpoint, [Heavy Metal Burst], which has been demonstrated, just never used in combat, has less deterrent value than [Tuman Bomba], which was deployed before on the Russian Far East, where it inflicted heavy losses on the Greater Asia Union."

"So in your view, [Tuman Bomba] is the Strategic-Class Magic with the most deterrent value?"

"No. If you want the opposing officers and men to not even dare show up on the battlefield, there is no magic that can match [Material Burst]."

"Agreed."

Akiyama instantly nodded in agreement. Kazama, having realized Akiyama's intention, gave an "oh shit" look in response. The shock vanished the next instant, but it was of no concern to Akiyama to begin with, he brought him here to give orders, not to argue a point.

"It is of both my and General Singh's strong opinion that the magic with the strongest deterrent value is [Material Burst]. Sir McCloud had a similar opinion."

"So, if I understand you correctly, sir… You suggest that it is necessary to bring Tatsuya into this observer party in order to deter the Greater Asia Union from using Tibetans as 'human shields' in defiance of public international law?"

"The Greater Asia Union has yet to recover from the defeat of three years ago." Akiyama didn't offer a direct answer to Kazama's question.

The defeat he mentioned was the same battle that Kazama cited as the occasion of the deployment of [Tuman Bomba], where the invasion force in far east Russia suffered a devastating 70% loss as a result of the, still alive at the time, Bezovrazov's [Tuman Bomba]. That event was the greatest loss to the Greater Asia Union ground forces to date, with casualty estimates notably listing 50% of their entire fleet of main battle tanks as lost.

"Considering the current estimates of the two countries' capabilities, there is a high likelihood that the IPU would achieve a decisive victory in a short-term conflict. So all they need is not to let the Tibetan liberation contest bog down into an attritional war."

Lars Singh must be attempting to avoid this scenario by convincing the international community to have third party monitor the situation through a civilian observer group, in the hopes of dissuading the Greater Asia Union from resorting to the irregular warfare with their troops that they have traditionally excelled at.

"If I understood correctly, my main task will be to act as a military observer, while my second job will be to coax Tatsuya into joining the civilian group?"

"Shiba Tatsuya doesn't need to be tied down by the civilian observer party. General Singh has proposed as little as one or two visits to the field will be sufficient, and afterwards it may be just on paper. Professor Schmidt also intends to participate under this format." Instead of answering Kazama's inquiries, Akiyama went on to present specific conditions. "I don't intend to impose on you solely the task of persuasion, mind you. I will make the request to the Yotsuba Family, myself."

It would be, frankly speaking, quite the challenge to get them on board, Kazama thought. He had just mended his relationship with Tatsuya after butting heads with him for a while. The officer-subordinate relationship has been gone for some time at this point, but the friendship, though not as close as before, has been mostly preserved.

So, while Kazama believes he won't be turned down at the front door, he wondered if the complicated situation Tatsuya is in would even allow him to accept.

"Director-General, is the USNA aware of this matter? I believe if Tatsuya makes a move, they as well as the Greater Asia Union and the New Soviet Union will be on alert."

Kazama sees Tatsuya's relationship with the USNA as the biggest roadblock. Ever since their defeat at Miyaki-shima three years ago, when Tatsuya personally virtually defeated them, the USNA must see him as their biggest potential threat. And the fact that he has maintained a favorable stance toward them must reflect an understanding and vigilance on his part.

"The IPU should have notified their side of both the military observers and the civilian observers, but neither them or our country has notified Mr. Shiba of the invitation to participate, nor they intend to." Akiyama made a point to coordinate with the USNA ─getting them onboard without indebting themselves with the USNA─ regarding the IPU's Tibetan mission. That was the general impression from his expression.

"─Understood. I'll contact Tatsuya and discuss the matter." Kazama understands that he was no longer in a position to voice his opinion.

"You have your order. Godspeed." And that understanding was just as expected from him.