A Lamb in Distress

Translated by LyraDhani

Edited by LyraDhani

Tsugumi cut off the top half of the plastic bottle he was holding with a piece of thread and used the remaining bottom part to draw water from the fountain.

Then, placing the improvised cup on the edge of the fountain, he quietly opened his mouth.

“The Gods in Japan are manifested on Earth by pouring the power that is generated from the rift in the sky into temporary vessels called ‘soul entity’. In other words, this water is like the power and the cup is like the body. Only when these two are properly aligned can God obtain a body. Do you understand so far?”

Saying this, Tsugumi looked up into Azalea’s face. Then Azalea nodded slowly, looking dissatisfied. Seeing this, Tsugumi continued his story.

“The shape of the body and the amount of power that is poured into the body changes depending on the Gods, but the theory of manifestation is the same for all Gods. Incidentally, the shape of the body tends to be somewhat influenced by the image people on Earth have of the Gods. The God I contracted with is also of that type.”

Well, to a certain extent, the direction of the figure could be specified by the will of the God, but the influence of the image still remained.

The God that Tsugumi was contracted with–Bell–was particularly noticeable in this tendency.

In Bell’s case, he had the wings of an insect, based on the image of the demon Beelzebub. And the cat-like body, which was the basis of his body, was probably derived from one of the anecdotes about the demon Baal, who he was equated with.

In addition, the tail was shaped like a lizard, perhaps because the image of demons often seen in paintings was somewhat reptilian.

Incidentally, another God–Hariti, Hitsugi’s contract God who had previously invaded his room, had the appearance of a giant spider.

Perhaps, she was shaped like that due to a mixture of anecdotes about her ability to produce more than a thousand children and her cruelty in devouring other people’s children.

Well, it was said that some mother spiders sacrificed themselves to their children to keep them from starving, so perhaps it wasn’t wrong that she was painted as a mother spider.

When Tsugumi said so, Azalea looked suspicious and frowned.

“…So, what are you trying to say, Hagakure-san?’

“Don’t you understand? This is one of the reasons why your God can’t come down. –Your religion basically forbids idolatry, right? Since there is no fundamental image for the vessel, there is no way for Him to come down.”

Saying that, Tsugumi shrugged his shoulders.

–The prohibition of idolatry led to the denial of temporary vessels. Moreover, the deeper one’s faith, the stronger their awareness of it. Once this happened, it was already a dead end.

No matter what form their God might take, the sense of faith deeply embedded in human beings would deny that form.

When that happened, a hole opened up in the vessel.

If that case, no matter how much power was poured into the vessel, the power would only leak out and the God wouldn’t be able to manifest.

In other words, it was human beings’ own fault that their God couldn’t come down.

When Tsugumi calmly explained this, Azalea trembled slightly and covered his mouth with his hand.

“The people at the Ministry of Divine Worship didn’t tell me that.”

“In Japan, the basic theory of the soul entity is taught during compulsory education. But Azalea-san is from a foreign country, so it’s not surprising that you don’t know. The people at the Ministry of Divine Worship probably didn’t take that into consideration.”

Tsugumi answered that, but inwardly, he suspected that the Ministry of Divine Worship knew about it and kept quiet.

They were probably trying to suck out the knowledge of Western witchcraft and Catholicism that Azalea possessed while sprinkling out information that wasn’t valuable. …It might not be wrong for a national organization to do that, but their characters were too nasty.

“So our God can’t even reveal Himself on earth?’

Azalea muttered to himself, his face turning blue, and Tsugumi nodded quietly.

“At least, it would be impossible with the system used in Japan. It may be possible to create a temporary form based on another anecdote and suppress the power accordingly, but that wouldn’t satisfy you, right?”

Even in Japan, a single haircut of a manga character could cause a fight, saying “It’s a misinterpretation!” and a fight broke out. For the world’s largest religion, this was nothing compared to that. If things went wrong, a war could break out.

Azalea responded to this by gripping the rosary on his chest tightly.

“Yes. …The devout will not be satisfied with that. For us, God is the one and only guide. There should never be any flaws.”

Saying this, Azalea lowered his face painfully.

–For devout believers like Azalea, [God] was an absolute being. Therefore, they would never be able to recognize a God who was not omniscient and omnipotent.

Tsugumi who grew up with polytheism couldn’t quite understand this, but perhaps it was similar to the feeling of having excessive illusions about idols.

“Secondly, even if you could prepare a vessel, I don’t think you would have enough power resources to embody omniscience and omnipotence. This is my guess, but even if you eliminate all the Gods in Japan and gather all their power, it would still be very insufficient for the manifestation of your [God].”

Tsugumi said plainly.

In the first place, in order for [God] to manifest in the perfect omniscient and omnipotent mode that they imagine, it would require limitless power, so the power that leaked out of the rift wouldn’t be enough.

It was next to impossible for them to have God manifest in the form they desired. In a sense, it could be said to be a side effect of deifying the existence of [God] too much.

–By the way, the reason why Tsugumi knew so much about other religions was because he got it from his friend Yukitaka. Yukitaka always criticized the religious views of various countries, so he somehow remembered each of their issues.

…Tsugumi never thought there would come a time when the knowledge would be useful in this way.

“Those are the reasons why God can’t manifest. Do you understand?”

Tsugumi concluded and looked at Azalea with concern.

It must have been a little hard for Azalea, but it should be much better than suffering without knowing anything about it.

Perhaps later the Ministry of Divine Worship would complain to him, “Don’t talk about unnecessary things,” but Tsugumi resolved to accept it.

If it hadn’t been Azalea – not a friend, just a religious person – he wouldn’t have explained everything from scratch like this. He said all this because he considered Azalea his friend.

After a few moments of silence, Azalea let out a long, deep breath, and then looked at Tsugumi with a troubled smile. There was no more anger floating there.

“It’s frustrating, but I understand. —Now that we know there is no God’s salvation, in the end, we can only rely on you Magical Girls forever… It’s really pathetic.”

Saying that, Azalea looked up at the sky tiredly.

–He didn’t know what Azalea was thinking right now. But Tsugumi felt a sense of fragility as if something important had been broken.

Feeling uneasy about that atmosphere, Tsugumi began to change the subject.

“Even if the God Himself can’t come down, there is always another way. For example, we could borrow a portion of God’s power.”

“A portion of it?”

“Yes. There used to be a time in Japan when we were looking for a fighting force other than Magical Girls. Instead of making a contract directly with God, we tried to expand our forces by borrowing some of their power–having them give blessings on weapons and tools. In the end, it was more efficient for Magical Girls to fight, so that plan was abandoned.”

Saying this, Tsugumi let out a sigh.

The plan was to turn non-worthy individuals into a fighting force by having the Gods bestow blessings on weapons and tools and grant buffs like special abilities and physical enhancements to the users–the name of the plan was “Divine Weaponry Project”.

This plan was not well-known to the general public, but Tsugumi remembered most of the details because Mebuki frequently talked about it.

The Ministry of Divine Worship and the government tried that plan for about ten years, but the plan was currently frozen because it was not very efficient considering the cost of power, the inability to form barriers when using sacred weapons, and the variation in power depending on the compatibility of the sacred weapon and the user.

If the research being conducted by Mebuki could make a progress, these problems might be solved, but that would probably be a long time in the future.

However, for a foreign country that wasn’t yet powerful enough for God to descend, that method might be more suitable.

The blessing itself was the will of the God–even if He wasn’t manifested on Earth as a soul entity, it could be granted as long as there was a small amount of power to interfere on Earth and a vessel that could withstand the blessing. All that remained was for the user, who was compatible with the divine weapon, to fight the Demonic Beast.

Well, if they obtained a divine weapon, it might upset the balance of power a little, but since the “Divine Weaponry Project” was not under a gag order, there was no reason for Tsugumi to be blamed for telling Azalea about this matter.

Besides, no matter how many divine weapons Azalea and his team were able to create, it was hard to believe that they could compete with Magical Girls. After all, Magical Girls were a special existence. –Tomorrow, everyone in this country would realize that.

After explaining all this, Tsugumi gently pointed to the rosary Azalea was wearing.

“The vessel of blessing can be anything. As long as people believe it has a special power. For example, that one rosary is special to Lake-san, right? Then it must be well qualified. Even if it isn’t, there are plenty of relics in the Vatican church, aren’t there? I don’t think you’d have any trouble finding a vessel.”

In the previous experiments, blessings were granted to mere old dolls. In short, it depended on the mind of God.

“But how can I get the blessing? If praying doesn’t give me the blessing you say, then I…”

Azalea said, his eyes shaking with anxiety.

–Even if he had hope, what if he didn’t get that blessing? Thinking like that, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

“Hmmm, I don’t know all the technical details either, so you might want to ask someone from the Ministry of Divine Worship for more information. …Lake-san may not like it, but I will try to talk about this matter with Toono-san. I’m sure if you make a sincere request to that person, she won’t hold it against you.”

Tsugumi broke off there, holding Azalea’s anxious hand and quietly opening his mouth.

“–Ask, and it shall be given to you.”

“…Eh?”

“Let’s pray. Strongly, deeply, honestly. God will save us. When people believe it to be true, God will answer their prayers. –Fortunately, the existence of Amaterasu-sama proves that people’s faith gives power to God. So, I am sure everything will be fine.”

Then Tsugumi smiled.

–He didn’t know what would actually happen, but if their God was willing to save people, He would surely make a move. At least, that’s what Tsugumi believed.

Azalea looked at Tsugumi’s face, his eyes wide open in surprise. Then when he looked like he was about to cry, he looked down and said in a small voice.

“I wish I had talked to you sooner.”

Then Azalea looked up quietly and gave a small smile.

“Thank you. I feel a little better now.”

“No, I didn’t do much.”

When Tsugumi said this and removed his hand, Azalea brushed the area that Tsugumi had touched. …Perhaps he didn’t want to be touched directly.

Feeling a bit of awkwardness in the air, Tsugumi opened his mouth with a deceptive smile.

“I will talk to Toono-san about this. I’m sure she’ll take care of it later. –Oh, is it that late already? I should get back to my room.”

As he was about to leave, Azalea opened his mouth softly.

“I’ve heard very meaningful things from you, Hagakure-san, so I’ll tell you a secret. Now we’re even.”

“A secret?”

“Yes. You may have heard from the Japanese side that there was a request from the Vatican for this case, but the truth is the opposite. The Vatican was approached by the Church of England, the most powerful denomination in England, to act as an intermediary. Even though they belong to different sects, they are fellows who respect God and share the same origin. There are plenty of horizontal connections.”

“I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”

“It’s very simple. The Church of England, in other words, Her Majesty the Queen, asked us to persuade the British government, which did not want to bow down to Japan. Otherwise, this country will be destroyed. Isn’t it strange? Although we appear to be enemies on the surface, we surprisingly have high regard for you Magical Girls. We can’t talk about this kind of thing with believers who honestly believe in God.”

“…I mean, didn’t you just want to pit monsters against monsters?”

When Tsugumi said so sarcastically, Azalea smiled mischievously and took a step closer to Tsugumi.

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“There are some people above me who think so. –But I would never consider a beautiful woman like you a monster.”

As he said so, Azalea gently took Tsugumi’s hand and kissed it lightly.

When Tsugumi went stiff, Azalea smiled and said, “Well, good night,” and then he dashed away.

After Azalea was no longer in sight, his stiffness was gone, and Tsugumi muttered in dismay.

“He’s a real ladies’ man! S-scary…”

◆　◆　◆

–While Tsugumi was muttering such a thing. Azalea, who was walking through the hotel, stopped dead in his tracks and said in a small voice.

“She’s really a funny person. –It’s a bit of a shame to let someone like that serve a pagan God.”

Azalea smiled wryly as he said this.

–The two of them had bonded over a conversation that lasted only a few dozen minutes.

After the kidnapping of Nanase Chidori, it was good that he was able to successfully infiltrate the government organization, the Ministry of Divine Worship, but it wasn’t good after that.

He was repeatedly questioned, and his information was contantly exploited for days. No matter how much he tried to extract information from them, they always managed to avoid him.

On top of that, this expedition was like sitting on a needle in a haystack, and people around him were skeptical. No matter how strong Azalea’s faith was, he couldn’t deny that his heart was exhausted.

Perhaps that’s why he let out his heart to Hagakure Sakura, a girl he met while secretly sneaking out.

Above all, Hagakure’s face was all wrong. Her face, the air around her–it was wrong that she looked so much like his friend Tsugumi. That’s probably why he was a little bit distracted.

“But thanks to that, I got some useful information. …When I get back to my home country soon, I’ll have to do a lot of experiments.”

Saying this, Azalea quietly walked away.

–In the near future. No one knew at this point yet if there would be soldiers fighting with blessed relics in Europe.