Pendragon's Infinity Gauntlet

Page 150

"Don't ask, just listen to your neighbor!"

Tsuchimikado seemed to have lost his mind; Jōjin couldn't understand what he was trying to say at all. She tilted her head, looking completely suspicious, while Tsuchimikado was so excited that his blue sunglasses were askew.

"Honestly! Jing Shen, didn't you notice anything wrong after you got up this morning?"

"Hmm? Oh, everyone does look a bit off. It's like their 'inner selves' and 'outer appearance' have been swapped. How did you know that?"

Jing Shen looked towards the shallows and saw three strange-looking guys playing beach ball.

"Let me tell you! The big boss believes you're the culprit who used magic to cause this 'role swap'!"

"what?"

Am I a prisoner? Jing Shen was completely bewildered. Just then—

"Finally found you, Purifying God and Exorcising Demon!"

A boy's voice, filled with hatred, flew in from the side.

"Oh dear..." Tsuchimikado sighed, looking up at the sky. Jōjin looked in the direction of the sound. Standing before him was a man with only half of his long black hair tied into a ponytail that reached his waist. He was slender, with skin as white as a prince, but he did not give off any impression of being delicate or weak.

P.S.: I'm tired of the 4 AM sun meme. I didn't even grind the Honkai Impact 3rd event today. I cooked in the morning and caught up on yesterday's sleep in the afternoon, lol.

Chapter 258 Unconventional Youth

Chapter 258

It's probably because of his outfit... He was wearing a short-sleeved white T-shirt, with the excess hem tied around his waist, revealing his navel.

She was wearing ripped jeans on her lower body, and for some reason, one of the jeans had been cut off at the root, exposing her entire snow-white thigh.

He wore tall boots like those worn by cowboys in Western movies, and in addition to the belt that tightened his pants, he also had an extremely thick belt hanging diagonally around his waist, just like the kind of belt used to hold a handgun in Western movies.

However, what was attached to the belt was not a pistol, but a Japanese sword.

Moreover, it was a specially made Japanese sword, at least two meters long. Paired with his long black hair tied in a ponytail, he resembled a male samurai from a period drama.

This boy, who looked like a swordsman from the Bakumatsu period, kept staring at Jōjin for some reason.

The boy, his face full of anger, strode towards Jing Shen.

What's even more dangerous is that his right hand has been maintaining a subtle distance from the hilt of the knife ever since.

"Purify the spirit and exorcise the demon! I know you're the one who started this role-swapping spell 'Angel's Fall'! Undo the spell before I count to three!"

The boy carrying a Japanese sword rushed towards Jōjin with the momentum of wanting to cut Jōjin in two before he even counted to three.

Jing Shen started to panic. Seeing an angry person approaching with a knife, any normal person would be afraid, right?

"What? What is this boy saying? Tsuchimikado, is she the 'big boss' you were talking about... Damn it! How could you leave me all alone and run away!"

Just a few seconds after Jing Shen shifted his gaze away from Tsuchimikado, Tsuchimikado had already secretly slipped further and further away on the beach.

Hearing Jōjin's call, Tsuchimikado flinched and turned around. The gleam on his light blue sunglasses looked like cold sweat.

As Jing Shen gazed at the shallows, the Forbidden Technique Index and Railgun, dressed in swimsuits and laughing and frolicking, were actually less than a hundred meters away from her, but in her eyes they seemed like a paradise she could never reach.

I really want to escape to that place...

The problem is that there's also a role confusion issue on that side. Just as Jing Shen was struggling with what to do, the unconventional-looking big brother in front of her seemed to have calmed down a bit.

"Ah, yes, that's right. I'm sorry, I was too anxious and my thoughts weren't clear enough. I should first confirm something with you. Who am I in your eyes?"

"who are you?"

You should ask your dad...

Jing Shen couldn't help but feel puzzled by this strange question.

The way he asked the question made it seem as if "he" would become "someone else".

The problem is that Jing Shen, who has lost her memory, has no idea who this boy is.

When asked such a strange question, Jing Shen could only tilt her head and give him a suspicious look.

The Japanese swordsman seemed to have gleaned some response from the spirit's expression, and said in an impatient tone:

"Stop playing dumb with me with such terrible acting. Didn't you just call me 'Big Brother'? I am Kanzaki, Kanzaki Mizuori. A magician from the Church of Necessary Evil of the Anglican Church. Although we've only met a few times, it hasn't been long. Don't tell me you've already forgotten who I am."

Kanzaki's impatient tone surprised Jōjin in two ways.

First, this samurai-style young man with a flamboyant, non-mainstream look turned out to be an old acquaintance of his.

Secondly, the boy openly admitted that he was a British Puritan magician.

The Church of Necessary Evil of the Anglican Church is a special organization dedicated to dealing with sorcerers; the Catalogue of Forbidden Arts and Tyr are among its members.

In that sense, Kanzaki's strange attire, though out of place in modern society, does indeed bear a resemblance to the attire of Index and Tyr.

But if this is true, another question arises in Jing Shen's mind.

Why does his classmate and neighbor, Tsuchimikado, seem to have such a close relationship with this real magician?

At this moment, Tsuchimikado sighed and said:

"Hey, Kanzaki-sama, you don't have to be so murderous."

"What are you saying, Tsuchimikado? I'm just trying my best to solve the problem at hand. In my opinion, it's you who lacks the self-discipline expected of a mage."

Upon hearing this, Jing Shen was immediately taken aback.

"Hey, what did you just say? What do you mean, 'as a magician'?"

Jōjin looked at his neighbor Tsuchimikado with disbelief, while Tsuchimikado gave him a smug grin.

“That’s right. I am also a member of the ‘Church of Necessary Evil’.”

Haruka Tsuchimikado said it casually.

It took Jing Shen several seconds to realize what this guy had said.

The blue sunglasses sparkled.

The reflected sunlight turned into an eerie color.

"Wait, wait a minute! You said you're a magician???"

"Yes."

Tsuchimikado nodded frankly: "You think there are no magicians in Academy City? Quite the opposite. Academy City is an enemy of the Church World, so it's not surprising that there are one or two spies who have infiltrated enemy territory, right? Besides me, there seem to be several others."

"But……"

Tsuchimikado's words do have a point.

However, the fact that Tsuchimikado, a man living an ordinary daily life, would say something that "makes sense" is extremely jarring to Jōgami.

"Don't you find it strange that I was able to come 'outside' Academy City? In fact, just thirteen hours ago, I was in Windsor Castle in England with Kanzaki. Of course, I didn't write an application, nor was I injected with a nanomachine. I used a special backdoor technique."

"..."

Getting in through connections is acceptable.

Even hearing these words from the person himself, Jing Shen still couldn't believe it was true.

In Jōjin's mind, Tsuchimikado Haruka was just a "dormitory neighbor in daily life".

In order to be popular with boys, he deliberately dresses like a hooligan. When his younger brother Wu Xia, who is not related to him by blood, catches a summer cold, he will rush to Jing Shen's room in a panic to ask how to deal with it.

In short, he was just an ordinary person, and should have absolutely no connection with anything from the magical world.

Therefore, Jing Shen subconsciously wanted to deny it and find an excuse to refute her.

"Wait a minute!! You've also received training in Academy City, haven't you? I've heard before that espers can't use magic! So..."

"That's right. So in order to infiltrate enemy territory, I, Tsuchimikado, was forced to give up magic and the title of the highest-ranking Onmyoji. But in the end, all I got was a completely useless Lv0 ability. What a huge loss!"

Chapter 259 You're a Girl

Chapter 259

My roommate flashed his signature smug grin: "But in this world, some spies can live under an assumed name for fifty years to gain someone's trust! If you can't even handle this small sacrifice, then you're being too naive."

"But you..."

Jing Shen wanted to say something more, but swallowed back what she was about to say.

Seeing the surprised expression on Jōjin's face, Tsuchimikado gave a self-deprecating smile and said:

"That's right, this is Tsuchimikado's true identity. A bugging device that reports all the movements of Academy City to the Anglican Church. Simply put, he's a spy."

spy……

Those two words feel so unreal. It seems like you only hear words like that in movies.

At this moment, Kanzaki, completely disregarding Jōjin's astonishment, asked Tsuchimikado in a listless tone:

"I'll ask you one more time, Tsuchimikado, are you really sure it's okay to reveal your identity?"

"It doesn't matter, the higher-ups discovered it a long time ago anyway, they just haven't taken any action yet. My current situation is like being played with like a monkey in the palm of their hand."

Through his blue sunglasses, Tsuchimikado's eyes narrowed slightly.

"The fact that I haven't suffered any harm yet means that the information I have isn't enough to make them need to kill me immediately to silence me."

“Indeed, even if we know the truth about the Five Elements Mechanism in the Imaginary Number District, we still can't fight them. After all, it's just a job, and I don't want to risk my life. It's time to retreat for now; continuing the investigation will be dangerous.”

"We can't possibly harm Aleister on our own. Seriously, the dark side of Academy City is not easy to deal with."

"..."

Tsuchimikado's words made Jōjin stop, feeling a chill run down his spine.

Jing Shen did not glean any shocking inside information from these words.

In reality, Jing Shen couldn't understand anything.

However, because Tsuchimikado's words were completely incomprehensible to Jōjin, it is clear that Tsuchimikado and Jōjin are not from the same world.

"So you really are a magician?"

"A rather special, quite peculiar magician."

spy--

Even knowing this, the faint impression that Jōjin had of Tsuchimikado Haruka remained in his mind.

In the eyes of the god of the gods, Tsuchimikado is still his dormitory neighbor, still the good older brother of his adopted younger brother Takeka, and still the kind-hearted person (brother-complex) who always provides accommodation when his younger brother sneaks out of the boys' dormitory.

Even though he revealed his true identity, it did not affect the impression that the Goddess had of him, which shows how well he had infiltrated Academy City.

And that's the scariest part!

"Well, let's not discuss that now."

Tsuchimikado abruptly changed the subject, saying, "The main focus now is on how to handle the role reshuffle, right? Jōjin, you must have noticed this phenomenon as well?"

"Wait a minute, judging from the way you're talking, it seems you know a lot about the ins and outs of these strange things?"

"Ah, not really. All we know right now is that 'role replacement' is not the 'main purpose' of this event; 'role replacement' is just a 'side effect,' meow."

"Side effects? Main purpose?"

Jing Shen frowned slightly, sensing that things were not so simple.

She understands what "role replacement" means.

Everyone seemed a bit off when they woke up in the morning, and when they turned on the TV, all they saw were strange things.

But what do "side effects" and "main purpose" mean? Using such terms makes it seem as if these strange phenomena are "man-made."

Seeing the doubtful look on Jōjin's face, Kanzaki couldn't help but sigh.

"Tsuchimikado, it seems a bit unreasonable to expect someone who has never heard of the Kabbalah Tree theory to understand the current situation."

"I know that. But if that's the case, then your original reasoning was wrong, meow?"

Tsuchimikado laughed and said, "How could a layman in the magic arts, who is skilled in exorcising demons and purifying the gods, possibly perform such a powerful magic, 'Angel's Fall,' which completely replaces the 'inner' and 'outer' aspects?"

Jōjin was startled by Tsuchimikado's words and stared intently at him.

"What? What do you mean this has to do with me?"

Jōjin questioned Tsuchimikado, but the one who answered was Kanzaki, who looked quite unconvinced.