"I see. You must have gone through a lot at such a young age."
"I'm telling you! I was almost beaten up by the King of Knights, and nearly killed by a wyvern...."
"But the wounds of the heart must be the most painful, right? I'm glad we met before they could fester."
"Lady Johanna...!"
Ritsuka threw herself into Johanna's arms.
Johanna skillfully caught her and gently patted her back.
"You've worked so hard. I know there's still a long road ahead, but I'm glad I could offer you at least a little comfort."
"Hic... sob!"
"It's alright, you can cry as much as you need to."
"Waaaaaah!"
A small church located in the suburbs.
The church, which Johanna apparently ran separately, was empty of people and thus suitable for private conversation.
There, Johanna was able to hear many stories.
Chaldea wasn't simply a group chasing the demon from Naples that had appeared four years ago.
They were a group of troubleshooters who solved problems big and small while traveling through time (or so Johanna understood it).
There were technical explanations involving terms like 'Singularities' and 'Rayshifts', but she couldn't understand them.
Magecraft was a discipline that stood at odds with religion, so unless you were part of a militant group like the Executors, the Holy Church did not deal with it.
Normally, she wouldn't have even taken an interest in a group called Chaldea.
But for the sole reason of wanting to see Lupus again, Johanna had let them into the church.
"Lady Johanna, you're the best...! I love you!"
"God loves you too, Ritsuka, and so do I."
However, Chaldea was a strange group.
Listening to what they did, they should have possessed the military might and numbers of the Executors,
But in reality, the only personnel in the field were two girls.
They said there was one more who hadn't joined them, but would that really change anything?
The office staff numbered around twenty.
The recovering church in Naples had twice as many people, if you only counted heads.
Johanna carried Ritsuka, who had cried herself to sleep, to a bed.
She gently wiped the corners of her eyes and covered her with a blanket.
"Momm...my...."
Johanna had welcomed them for calculated reasons, but that didn't mean she was a cold-hearted person.
She was an ordinary person who felt pity for a girl crying for her mother.
Johanna prayed for her.
She was a person who followed God's will, and God had told her to help her neighbors.
"Please. Let this girl be able to lay down the burdens of her heart...."
A short time later, Johanna returned to the chapel.
Mash was waiting for her, looking tense.
"Miss Ritsuka is the Master? She seems to be feeling the burden of her work. She's sleeping peacefully now, so don't worry."
"...Senpai was originally an ordinary person with no connection to magecraft. It's only natural that she's struggling... but this is the first time I've seen her break down like this."
It seemed difficult to have a long conversation with the troubled-looking Mash.
Her heart was already with the exhausted Ritsuka.
"It's too late today, so let's continue our talk tomorrow."
"Thank you for your consideration."
Mash bowed her head in thanks and returned to the room where Ritsuka was sleeping.
Left alone, Johanna found an empty pew in the chapel and sat down.
It was the same spot she had sat in the night before she parted with Lupus.
Johanna closed her eyes and prayed.
The heavy raindrops drumming on the church roof and the intense smell of the earth.
His figure, illuminated by the flickering candlelight.
Everything came back to her vividly, except for one thing.
Only Lupus's face, she could not recall.
"Ahaha. I just fell asleep."
Ritsuka laughed awkwardly, her eyes swollen and puffy.
"Thank you for last night! Lady Johanna, you're the best!"
"It was only what I had to do. Do you feel a little more at ease?"
Ritsuka nodded her head vigorously, her vermillion hair flying about.
"Thanks to you too, Mash. Love ya."
"I didn't do anything, though...."
Her vibrant smile had the power to move people's hearts.
A girl with a strange charisma.
Having seen many people, that was Johanna's assessment of Ritsuka.
"Shall we continue the conversation we couldn't finish yesterday?"
Chaldea's objective was singular.
The retrieval of the 'Holy Grail' that existed in this world. That was all.
"So you believe the demon from Naples is closely related to the Holy Grail."
"That's correct. While the demon itself has been confirmed several times in the 9th century, there are no records of it surviving for a long period of four years. We have concluded that the demon is supplying the magical energy necessary for its survival through the Holy Grail."
"The Papal States also attempted to exterminate the demon twice. Once four years ago, and once a year ago. The results were...."
"Did they fail?"
At Ritsuka's question, Johanna gave a bitter smile.
The first attempt was a definite failure. Her master didn't even leave a body.
The second one who left is still missing.
But Johanna was not like Thomas from the scriptures.
She was not the kind of person who needed to see with her own eyes and touch the wounds to realize they had failed.
"Yes. Heartbreakingly, they failed."
It felt as if a piece of her heart was being chipped away.
Ritsuka and Mash took Johanna's statement as simple information and began to discuss it among themselves.
"Senpai, it looks like we'll need additional support."
"But communications are down, and there are no local Servants to be found. We'll have to manage on our own."
"I think restoring communications is the top priority. Since we also lack the means to track the demon, I believe we need to be cautious."
"Even if we get communications back, won't Romani just say something silly like, 'Sorry! The freeze-dried food isn't thawed yet, so I'll send some simple coffee first!'?"
"That's hard to deny... Chaldea's systems are running at less than 20%, and our supplies are low...."
Johanna found the two of them quite fascinating.
The reason the Papal States wasn't making any further attempts to exterminate the Naples demon was that it wasn't considered a major threat.
One might wonder what they meant by 'not a threat' when one Executor was dead and another was missing, but,
the demon itself had never actually caused any harm.
The church in Naples was destroyed, but that was the only damage.
The problem arose because they went on an expedition and provoked the demon; the demon itself didn't go around attacking people.
This was why, despite Johanna's arguments, the Papal States was not eager to exterminate the demon from Naples.
The damage would be immense if they fought it, but it wasn't causing any particular problems.
So, wasn't it fine to just leave it alone?—This was the thinking of the Papal States.
As Johanna herself had half given up, the sight of two girls, as delicate as she was, so eager to exterminate the demon came as a refreshing surprise.
"Aren't you afraid?"
"Huh?"
"The demon from Naples is a powerful demon that killed two Executors and several priests who accompanied them. Even the Church has given up on it, do you really believe you can defeat it?"
"Well, it'll be difficult, but... we've only ever done difficult things, so it doesn't feel particularly hard...."
Johanna let out an audible sigh of, "Ah."
These were the people who had triumphed over the dragons and the King of Knights from legend.
She had forgotten that while they were girls who cried for their mothers, they were also exceptionally talented individuals.
"I... I see. Now that I think about it, that's only natural. I misspoke."
Johanna fanned herself with her hand, cooling down.
Then she made them a proposal.
"Since you are pursuing the demon of Naples, I will assist you in any way I can. I will put its extermination on the Papal States' official agenda, and I will arrange for you both to receive the highest level of treatment at any church."
"W-Whoa. You're radiating the aura of a Saint. It's like I'm looking at Georgios."
"Perhaps it's because she's a Pope. It's incredible...!"
Lavish treatment always comes with a price.
Of course, Johanna had nothing to demand from them in return.
There was merely something she wanted to know.
"In return, I'd like you to find someone for me."
"Anything! I'd be happy to!"
Johanna told them Lupus's name and description.
"Anything will do. If he's alive, bring me proof that he's alive. If he's dead, bring me proof that he's dead."
"Black hair and looks like an East Asian, right? I wonder if he'll be easy to find~."
"East Asians are very rare on the Italian peninsula during this period, and you said he's an Executor, so I don't think it will be too difficult."
Having received the OK, Johanna's heart pounded, despite the slim chances.
Because 0% and 1% are different.
"Well then, we'll be on our way! Lady Johanna! See you later!"
"We will be sure to look for this person named Lupus."
After seeing the two of them off, Johanna quickly changed her clothes.
There wasn't much time.
She wrapped her chest with a compression bandage to hide it and put on her cassock over it.
It had been five months since the death of Pope Leo IV.
An election for the next Pope was in full swing at the Papal States.