act16side

Blasphemy! I think they're delicious!

Gun-Knight Giovanni has spoken. I suppose we can all agree, then?

Agreed.

Anything that Giovanni likes, you know is bound to be terrible.

Mostima, belittling me again, are you?!

Please, my children, quiet down. I'm too old for all this bickering.

The laws instruct us to face the unknown with goodwill...

We mustn't treat fruit tarts with such scorn.

And why am I unfamiliar with this law?

I just thought of it this morning.

Your Holiness...

We'll go with your plan.

Vel, Giovanni, give Fiammetta all the help she needs.

Andoain... will make his way to his goal.

Phew... This is why I hate closed-door meetings...

We spent three minutes on the main topic! The rest of the meeting was everyone babbling their stupid side conversations!

Excuse me, Seniores? May I ask what the decision was?

You're still here.

I'm taking over the Andoain case. Thank you for your work the past couple days. You should head home to get some rest. I'll talk to the Notarial Hall later. Everything you've done will be written off as you helping us out.

Miss Fiammetta, I...

Anything that comes after this is way beyond the bounds of your authority and ability. Don't forget. You're still in training.

I know you're worried about Cecelia, but I'm taking over this case, and that's the best case scenario you could hope for.

Miss Fiammetta, are you friends with this... fallen angel? And the both of you are familiar with Andoain?

That's right.

Is that your answer to both of those questions?

We aren't familiar. We're nemeses.

But don't you worry. I won't take it out on Cecelia. I don't really understand what was going on with her this morning... but she's still a kid.

What about you? You stayed there for two whole days. Did Andoain say anything to you?

Just a bunch of heretical nonsense.

I suggest you forget all of it, then.

You still have your whole life ahead of you, right?

Go home and take a couple days off, then keep up with your good work at the Notarial Hall. You are pretty qualified for the job if you ask me.

Cherish your life, you know? Life in Laterano is precious. Even I look back on it fondly sometimes.

My life...

Right, unlike them, I'm just a regular nobody.

Okay, let's clock out!

The Pontifica Cohors have taken over the border checkpoints, and the Apostolic Knights are keeping an eye out for us too. We won't be making it out anytime soon... We have a safehouse, but still...

I can't get in touch with Oren either... Dammit!

No matter. We can wait.

Cecelia?

Do you regret your decision?

I don't know...

But if I went with Miss Fiammetta... she would've taken me... to the Basilica, right?

I still haven't figured out... my goodbye to Mamma.

It's okay, Cecelia. You still have lots of time to think.

Mister Friar... There was a lady with horns and a halo in the Ecclesia Requietum just now... Is she... a Sankta?

Maybe. Maybe not. It's up to her to decide.

I thought... Sankta are Sankta?

That's true for most of us.

But some people get to choose. Or perhaps I should say they don't have a choice but to choose, because of some... unfortunate circumstance.

Incidentally, you too have to choose, Cecelia. As for whether that is fortunate or not... no one can tell.

Can't the Sankta be with the Sarkaz?

Of course they can. You are the living proof.

But... I'm causing everyone a lot of trouble, right?

Even Mister Ezell...

If you're always worrying about everything, you won't get anything done.

People will always fight. Neither 'gentleness' nor 'understanding' can stop that.

A lot of times, when people fight, it's not because one side is right and one side is wrong. It's because the things that both sides have to do conflict with each other.

In other words, the things that you and I need to do are different, and that means we're in somebody else's way.

Why can't we go the same way together?

Because, for a lot of people, the path that they take is determined by the path itself.

For example, the Sankta and the Sarkaz. No one can say why the two sides fought each other at first, but the hatred between them has paved the road for everyone.

Can't we choose our own path?

We can, Cecelia, but it's not that simple. If you want to leave the path you are on and find a new path forward, you must first make your way through a boundless wilderness...

It's vast and empty there. You might never find that new path, even if you give up everything you've ever known.

Then... why do we still have to look?

Right... why do we have to look?

Maybe it's because that's what we want.

'What we want...' Is that so important?

It's the only thing we still have.

Mister Friar... Can I ask a question?

Go ahead.

What is it that you want?

Cecelia, can I tell you a little story?

Sure, Mister Friar. Go ahead.

Many years ago, when I was still young, I ran into some... setbacks, and then I left.

Where did you go?

Anywhere. I traveled everywhere.

There was a place I stayed for a while. It was a very small town, and it felt a little like my hometown.

But it was even more run-down. Life was tough for everyone there.

(Huh? That doesn't sound like Laterano...)

Once, I passed by the town's pub and came across a humming drunkard. He threw up all over me and insisted that I'd tripped him, and that I should pay for his drink.

Everyone in the pub... no, everyone in town laughed at him and cursed at him.

Those who were scared of him avoided him. Everyone called him a dirty, filthy moron, a lowlife, a sick scumbag... He was a Sarkaz.

They never chased him out of the town, however. He kept living from one day to the next, doing little odd jobs.

Then, on one windy, rainy night, a night when no one would go outside, the church's bell started to ring. It was an alarm, and it woke everyone up... There were... some bad people in town.

It was lucky that the bells woke everyone. It was hard, but we chased the bad people away. No one knew who rang the bells, and we all thought it was a miracle...

I headed in the direction of the bell tower and reached the wastes beyond. There, I found the church watchman digging a grave. Next to him was a cart, and in it a thin coffin, with the Sarkaz drunkard inside, wounded all over.

I started to help digging. The watchman kept complaining as he dug. He said he was saving the casket for his mother and it was a waste to give it to a Sarkaz. Then he complained that he'd have to bury the sick Sarkaz...

The watchman said that, not long after the bells started ringing, the Sarkaz came and knocked on his door, telling him to run, before the man died at his doorstep.

The watchman said that since he saw it was about to rain, he couldn't bear seeing the Sarkaz man sleep out in the streets, and so he let him into the bell tower for the night.

He kept complaining and kept digging. Then, when he was finished, he stood in front of the grave and sang a song that the drunkard always used to sing, even though he didn't remember how the second half went.

In the end, he complained a little more, and poured half a bottle on the grave.

The winds through hills on high...♪ Tail the hero's farflung stride...♪ Over long ways long...♪ Over briars and thorns...♪

Sorry, I don't remember it either.

That's... the song that Mamma and Rosella taught me...

So... the Sarkaz man rang the bell?

I think he did.

So he was the hero that saved everyone?

Maybe. I don't know if someone like him can be called a hero, but I think most people probably wouldn't want to call him one.