act42side

Do old people always get so sentimental?

Haha. You don't get it.

What I'm trying to tell you is that everything is going to change after the Summit of Nations.

The prohibition on patron firearms for non-Sankta will be lifted, along with other rules like it. The Law's acceptance of the Liberi will extend far beyond just allowing you to live in the Holy City.

We will truly become one people, Fia.

Do you think it's enough to just issue a few edicts, close a few workshops, build a shrine, and take in some wanderers?

See? That's your first reaction.

It means that, deep down, you want to share true understanding with Lemuen, with Mostima... with us.

You will understand, Fia.

Then, if you're willing, you can take my place and become a true gun-knight... or go and do whatever else you want to, things that were once open only to the Sankta.

When that day comes, your friends will be there to bear witness, as they do now.

Now, take your guardian gun for a spin.

Fiammetta does not fully understand what the old man said, and her two friends say nothing, but everyone present smiles at her.

Fiammetta raises the old patron firearm.

She has held many grenade launchers in her time, but she feels a strange sensation come over her as she touches the gun's barrel, like a terrestrial creature touching the sea for the first time.

She cannot tell if the indescribable connection among Sanktas has opened itself to her, or if it is simply a reaction to Patrizion's words.

We were born different, Fia, but our paths must eventually converge.

Nothing makes an old man happier than recognition from his child.

Fiammetta holds the gun tightly and lines up the sights with the door.

Fiammetta... it's been a while.

Did you invite him, Lemuen?

I knew he was coming, that's all.

It was I who invited him.

Letting go of hatred is also part of achieving true understanding.

Is there anything I can help with, El? To make up for me not recognizing you.

Not so fast.

There's a few things about Laterano I'm really interested in... it's been a long time since I've been here.

Oh?

When did the Curia decide to shut down every firearms workshop in the city?

It was recent... the edict was sent to all the workshops in the city on the same day.

It wasn't that much of a surprise... arms control had been around for as long as I could remember, and it was about time they turned their attention to reforming gun control, after all these years.

Don't you find it strange?

Should I?

Magister Paganini said there was nothing unusual about shops shutting down and opening up. He'd been talking about closing up for years.

But this is a firearms workshop!

D-Does that make a difference?

This is where all Sanktas meet their guardian guns!

Have all of you forgotten the meaning a Sankta's patron firearm carries?

Well...

El, what are you doing?

Exusiai takes out a patron firearm and puts it on the workbench.

She smoothly disassembles it, from the magazine to the barrel to the action to the case ejector...

I'm not a terrorist, or some kind of super-mercenary. I just know my guns like I know my own joints.

I remember how I came into possession of each and every gun—yes, ALL of them.

But the one that left the deepest impression on me was the first one, when I stepped into this little shop, along with my parents and my sister...

Exusiai's hands do not slow down even as she continues talking.

My sister told me that every Sankta has their very own patron firearm, or guardian gun, the same as we were born with our unique halos.

So, picking a guardian gun is like making a friend.

We place our trust in empathy, open our hearts to one another, and learn to get along.

You were what, four or five years-old at the time? You were tiny, didn't have a halo, and you couldn't even talk. We didn't even notice you.

By the time we knew you were there, you had your hands on the scope I had picked, feeling it with a face full of curiosity...

Well...

Magister Paganini said he found me in the gardens of an Ecclesia Requietum, and brought me back to this workshop.

I seem to have, er, problems with speech, and he thought I was mute at first. It took a few years for me to be able to put a few syllables together.

I caused him so many headaches. I was never the kind of kid he could be proud of. I sneaked out that day, without even knowing why, and I was so anxious I almost cried...

Put your hand on it, Vani, just like old times.

Huh?

Hesitantly, tentatively, Vannini puts her hand on it.

Master Pag put my hand-picked parts together. My mind filled with thoughts when I held it in my hand...

Protect my parents and sister, make new friends, have the coolest graduation ceremony in Laterano... it told me I could do all that.

You felt it, didn't you?

The stuff you just said wasn't what I remembered at all, Vani.

I remember that I picked my guardian gun with a little girl I didn't know. We watched the fowlbeasts across the street, used the barrel as a talk tube...

She didn't talk, but I could feel what was in her heart when we played together with the parts. That's why I knew she was happy when I saw her reddened eyes at the end.

This is our secret. That's why I didn't say anything to my sis when she asked if I was bullying you.

For me, that wasn't the day I made one friend. It was the day I made two.

Exusiai brandishes her gun, which she has already reassembled, and smiles at the young apprentice gunsmith.

Vannini has her eyes fixed on Exusiai, that sense of confidence and pride that was on her face throughout the process.

Vannini cannot tell where the confidence and pride came from. It is almost like Exusiai is saying, 'I'm a Sankta, and this is a Sankta thing.'

What is it, Vani?

Well, I basically recreated what happened... you still don't remember anything?

(Shakes head)

B-But I believe you, El.

Uh... huh?

I was really sad when Magister Paganini told me this workshop would have to close.

I thought it was because I've lived here for so long with him that I didn't want to leave...

I believe you about this link that you say patron firearms bring us, El... even though it means that something has happened to the Holy City that I can't comprehend.

Yeah!

How can I help?

You've been here in the firearms workshop for so long. Surely you've got a way to help me make an explosion that will shake the city?

Is Fia alright?

Mostima is with her.

You know what she's like. It's not so easy for her to forgive.

What about Andoain?

He left.

If there's anyone who has a right to be angry, it would be you, Lemuen. You were the one who suffered the most.

I can't argue with that, Reverend.

But all emotions change with time.

In the five years that I spent in that coma, Andoain served his sentence in a nomadic abbey, traveling across Terra, offering assistance to our scattered kin as his way of atoning...

Finally, he decided to come back to Laterano, reintegrating as an ordinary Nurturer.

Laterano needs him, and he deserves a second chance.

I'm glad you think that way... what was it you wanted to talk to me about?

Still Fiammetta. You know she insisted on taking firearms courses when she was in school.

She was always the first to show up for class, and the last to leave the firing range. She loved guns in a way nobody could ever doubt... even though she never learned to use one.

But when you gave her your gun and that speech, that look in her eyes...

I couldn't tell if it was doubt or disappointment, but the one thing I know is that it wasn't pure joy.

Is that right...? I thought she would be happy. At least, before Andoain showed up.

I still don't understand how she feels, after all these years...

Your announcement took me by surprise, let alone Fiammetta.

'The prohibition on patron firearms for non-Sankta will be lifted, along with other rules like it.' That part.