Two horse carriages were parked on the road.
Though this was so, the ones pulling carriages were donkeys—in the past, they were pitiful animals which only fools would ride on.
The carriage was red in color, with gold decorations on it.
Not only was there a license plate, but a lot of effort had been put into the measurements and specific adjustments. If used for touring, this carriage wasn't so strange. Like those Venezia tour boats, as long as the customers needed it, any carriage, no matter how old, could be used.
But,
The carriage was in a different position from a normal carriage — it was horizontally placed. It looked like it had skidded, but that was not the case. The front right wheel of the four-wheel carriage was shocked loose, very unnaturally, like it was separated for some sort of reason.
At this moment, a hitting sound could be heard.
With the anguished cry of a male, an explosion could be heard as if trying to cut the cry off.
"Coo…to make a dying sound, such an atrocious sound."
Saying this, a tall nun walked out of the shadows of the carriage. It was the nun, Lucia. Like St. Catherine of Alexandria, she wielded a large carriage wheel as her weapon. Compared to the gentle impression of a female, her dyed red hand would make anyone tense.
It was blood.
Lucia's nun's habit was basic black robes with zips on the sleeves and skirt to make it easy to wear. Attached to the robes were yellow sleeves and a skirt. Yellow wasn't a recognized color for a nun's habit; it was a spiritual item that used the 'forbidden color' to turn a nun's habit into a seal.
The 'forbidden colored robe' used the caster's life-force and converted it into magical energy. It was not something that one could easily obtain. The spiritual item itself didn't have the effect of 'clothing illumination' (using that powerful effect would make it more dangerous); using the magical power on useless tasks would end up with the caster unable to use magic no matter how much the person trained.
But right now, she needed to dye the 'forbidden colored robe' to seal off some of the magical properties. Of course, only her blood was effective.
"Sister Angelene, is everything ready there!?"
"Seems, seems like it's done…"
After hearing the petite girl's reply, Lucia looked inside the carriage. From the exterior, one wouldn't imagine that the inside was slightly stained—in that carriage where the ceiling and walls were dark, the petite nun's voice could be heard, seemingly struggling as she continued to work.
Compared to Lucia, who was wearing short sleeves, Angelene's sleeves were so long that one couldn't even see her fingers. "Can she really work like that?" Lucia muttered.
"…Ready! I'm now going to release the spell and retrieve the contents!"
With a soft voice.
The girl called Angelene took a metal box out of the carriage which it was fitted onto. The inside contained a magical weapon that was used to deal with traitors. Normally, people other than the designated personnel couldn't use it. To seal it up like this, Angelene forcefully removed the seal.
Lucia nodded her head.
Not far away from the carriage was a tourist street, from where noise echoed over in full force. The sound in this ruckus was rather distinct, making a 'th' sound that wasn't present in Italian, instead of using the 'gli' and 'sci' sounds, and also reading 's' and 'z'.
"This kind of reading…it sure feels like Laguna Gamagori style…but there are some differences from the original."
Angelene muttered as she carried the thin and long metal box.
"If so, this means, that we're going to be brought back to the 'queen', right, Sister Lucia? The 'queen'…why must this be exaggerated…"
"We came out here to investigate it, Sister Angelene. I'm worried about Sister Agnese's condition. I can't relax with that seal alone. Let's prepare to hide that tracking spiritual item first."
Angelene nodded her head in agreement.
The petite nun confirmed everything before getting off the carriage, and Lucia grabbed the wheel that fell off with both hands. Her weapon was based on the 'Wheel legend' of St Catherine, using a wheel that exploded and regenerated.
The two nuns took up their own weapons and silently left the street. In contrast to their black nun's habits, the yellow sleeves and skirt danced in the wind abnormally, attracting attention like the warning color of a hornet's abdomen, but they ignored this handicap as they moved into the scenery.
I will not agree to it.
As she walked, Lucia thought.
Sister Agnese is the nun that will cause my back to shiver out of respect. God is judging her like a sinner, the Church is discarding her like a tool or something… because I believe in the Roman Catholic Church, I will not agree to the method that's like abandoning someone.
Lifting up her eyes that had been fixated on the ground, she looked forward as she quickened her pace. She was holding onto this unreliable weapon.
They had made their stand.
But because of that, and because they had focused too much on their own conscience, they were too slow to react to the outside world.
With a huge sound,
"BOOM"…!!?
Like being hit in the chest, the air in Lucia's lungs was forced out. Her leg that was extended out instantly lost strength, and the fingers on her hands which were holding the carriage wheel became numb. Her only weapon, the wheel, rolled out and slammed hard onto the floor.
This pressure…which spiritual item is causing it!?
Lucia just thought of this, unable to take in enough air to say this in time.
Her body was pressed hard onto the dusty stone floor, and she didn't even have anything to support herself. Her soft face was hurting from the sand grains pressing against her face. Looking sideways, Angelene, who was hit by the same attack, instantly lost her consciousness. She lost consciousness due to the initial hit, not by lack of oxygen.
Within her blurry vision, something was shining.
Turning her head around, Lucia saw a red light inside the carriage.
To move the carriage and the 'forbidden color point' together…is it to prevent us from escaping? Maybe it's when we move a certain distance away from the carriage, or when the carriage loses its mobility, or maybe after a certain amount of time or something…
Thinking about this, she exhaled a huge amount of air.
…To think that it's over at this point.
In this slanted vision, she saw a new carriage coming over. For that spiritual item to have such an effect, they were a bit too hasty. Maybe before the driver and the guards of the carriage were defeated, they had contacted the others through an emergency method.
Her fingers couldn't even react.
She couldn't even use any spells that only required the use of her head.
Though her hand could almost reach the wheel and use it as a weapon, Lucia, who had lost the preemptive chance, was about to lose consciousness.
Only a person's name appeared in her mind.
Sister Agnese…
And then, she lost consciousness.
She was lifted up by the back of the collar of her nun's habit and was tossed inside the carriage like a rag sack.