57. Magical Girl... Maybe
57. Magical Girl... Maybe
By the time Nikolai returned to the studio, Allen had already finished everything.
Unable to discard the footage already shot, Nikolai had no choice but to let the episode air despite his despair.
===============
Magical Girl Magical Mari Episode 30
<The Sins of the East>
At the center of a windowless, heavily fortified prison car, a masked prisoner was escorted by knights.
"Shackle positions secured!"
"Restraint magic operation confirmed!"
"Mana-Reactive Mine activation confirmed!"
"Third containment barrier integrity normal! Position fixed! Surveillance magic operating normally!"
"Second-layer cell entrance normal! Entrance normal!"
"First-layer confinement compartment entrance sealed! All hands, take your seats!"
“Escort preparations complete.”
"Moving out."
Along with the prisoner, the knights' bodies swayed slightly backward.
The confinement cell—no, the confinement compartment—moved its heavy body, pulled by the locomotive.
Amid the subtle rattling, the masked prisoner—Ignos—looked around at the knights.
Scapul's prison break had deeply wounded the Empire's pride.
The Empire hadn't truly been careless at the time.
The problem was that Scapul had exceeded every expectation.
This time, the Empire was determined to put Ignos in Trenchpole even if it meant extravagant waste.
Ignos knew that too and kept needling the knights from inside the barrier.
"Seems you were quite humiliated last time, weren't you? To extend a clown like me this level of hospitality."
"..."
"Thick iron walls covered in special alloys and magic, and a door that can’t be opened from outside until someone authenticates it from within. You’ve prepared this well enough to withstand a dragon’s charge, haven’t you?"
"..."
"To think I'd be treated like a dragon. I'm truly moved~"
"..."
The Basilisk Unit didn't react to Ignos's antics.
It was a hard-line response that refused to give a fool even a crumb of attention.
Compared to the reactions the White Lion Company had shown on the way here, their response was utterly dull, and Ignos smacked his lips and shut his mouth.
Clatter-clang!
The train hurtled toward the underwater prison.
*
An hour after departure, Ignos finally spoke again.
"Everyone. Aren't you bored? Do you happen to serve in-flight meals or radio broadcasts here?"
"..."
"Oh, for goodness' sake. You're all so cold. It'd be so nice if coworkers got a little friendlier. At times like this, you should share some stories about life, a bit about your lovers or your kids!"
"..."
"Sigh. Figures. Who'd make small talk in this atmosphere? Fine. I get it. I'll just be the one to break the ice. Everyone, do you like magic?"
Ka-chak!
Countless knights' crossbows aimed at Ignos simultaneously.
But the clown didn't stop his antics, even with his life hanging by a thread in that situation.
"Then, the first trick! When I call out one, two, three, my magic assistant should appear! Would you all like to count along with me?"
"..."
"As expected, you're a shy bunch. Alright. I'll count by myself."
One
Two
Three!
...
And nothing happened.
Contrary to his claim, the train remained utterly silent.
Ignos froze awkwardly before hanging his head low.
"Tsk."
"..."
The knights' cold, withering gazes converged on Ignos.
Under those stares, Ignos hung his head, his shoulders trembling.
Shaking violently as if writhing in embarrassment, he twisted his whole body before finally raising his head again.
For the first time, he stuck his tongue out from behind the mask. “Bleh.”
"Bleh~"
A tracking ruby glittered on his tongue for good measure.
"!!!"
"All hands! Battle stations!"
Woooooo!!!!
No sooner had the knights grabbed their weapons than a noisy horn sounded from outside the train.
That horn was of a different type from the Knight Order's train—an eerie and heavy one.
"Damn it!"
Their fatal oversight was that the prisoner car had no windows, leaving them unaware of the other train’s approach.
But since the incident had already occurred, resolving the immediate situation was the priority.
To assess the situation, Lieutenant Colonel Crack moved to the forward compartment from Ignos's confinement compartment and looked out the window.
And what greeted him outside the window was—
a skeleton train running parallel to their own.
Woooo-
The Skeleton Train let out a mournful horn blast.
Hearing that sound, the knights couldn't help but be puzzled.
The confinement compartment was made of thick iron walls without even a window.
It might have been possible in another car, but the horn should not have been audible here.
Their question was soon resolved.
As the Skeleton Train pulled ahead of the escort train and its side profile slowly passed by, skeletons sticking their upper bodies out from the middle of the locomotive blew bone horns.
Woooo
That horn blast that made the soul tremble was the exclusive domain of necromancers.
As the Skeleton Train pulled further ahead, blaring its horn, the beings inside the engine room became visible beyond the cab window.
Inside, skeletons hurled something black into the firebox instead of coal, and from the inferno, horrific screams pierced through the cab window.
Kill me.
It hurts.
Stop.
The train, fueled by the screams of the dead, increased its speed even further.
Moving just a little past the fuel room, the engineer steering this train could be seen waving his hand through the cab window.
At a glance, the engineer of this Skeleton Train appeared to be human.
The reason it was "appeared to be" was that flesh was indeed attached, but he wore a skull mask, making it impossible to know what was inside.
The engineer laughed jovially (that's how it looked) and picked up the cabin announcement microphone.
[Hey, friends. Good evening!]
Somehow, his announcement broadcast echoed throughout the escort train.
Lieutenant Colonel Crack's brow furrowed instinctively at the bizarre magic.
But the engineer, paying no mind whatsoever, maintained a constant, jovial attitude as he gripped the controls.
[Come on, come on! Work harder! We can't let those bastards beat us in speed, can we!]
Hearing this, Crack took a crystal from his pocket and contacted headquarters.
"Headquarters. We will respond according to Manual No. 18."
[Confirmed.]
The moment the call ended, he threw the crystal to the floor, shattering it to pieces.
'With this, no matter what those creatures do, this train will arrive at the station.'
The scenarios the Empire had anticipated included derailment/hijacking of the train and destruction of the tracks.
And they had prepared manuals corresponding to each scenario so that, in all these contingencies, the train would absolutely reach the entrance to the underwater prison.
Manual No. 18 was one of them.
If the train was predicted to be derailed/hijacked or difficult to control normally, control would be transferred to headquarters.
Thus, even if the knights were slaughtered to the last man, this train would not stop until it reached the station.
And at the station, reinforcements dispatched after receiving the report would be waiting, so he felt confident that Ignos's escape was practically impossible.
Unaware of Crack's inner thoughts, the Skeleton Train's engineer was nothing short of beaming.
Waving as if greeting a dear friend, he pulled a lever, and the Skeleton Train let out a shriek.
- Kieeeek!!
In response, the train's speed increased, and the engineer's figure rapidly receded into the distance ahead.
Just as they were watching the Skeleton Train pull ahead like that, unable to guess its intentions, a knight from the train's control cabin urgently called for Crack.
Wondering what the sudden commotion was, he entered the cabin, and the knight pointed to the tracks far ahead.
There, a barricade stood.
"Commander! Hurry and make a decision!"
"Stay calm. That barricade isn't on our side of the track."
"Sir?"
"Look closely. It's set up on their side, isn't it."
"Huh? Then why would they put it over there...?"
"Must've been a miscommunication. Which means those fellows are idiots."
Far away, next to the barricade, other skull-masked figures could be seen waving cheerfully, oblivious to the situation.
Looking at those morons, it seemed that even if there were several recapture attempts before reaching the station, they would pose no problem whatsoever.
As he was thinking that, the Skeleton Train had already drawn close to the barricade.
And before long, the front end of the Skeleton Train collided with its own barricade—
—and using the barricade as a jump ramp, the train soared into the air.
"!!!"
Kwaang!
The airborne Skeleton Train performed an aerial turn and settled back onto the tracks.
Except its front wheels were now straddled onto the escort train's tracks.
"A double-track drift??!!"
The knight steering the escort train was horrified.
The Skeleton Train ran as if drifting, its front and rear wheels straddling different tracks.
The skeleton engineer cheered at his successful stunt and pulled the brake lever.
Screech!
The side of the Skeleton Train rapidly approached the front of the escort train.
The escort train hurriedly activated its brakes too, but the speed at which the train's side was closing in was far faster.
In the end, the front of the escort train collided with the side of the Skeleton Train.
At that moment, the skeletons attached to the Skeleton Train's side pulled out grappling hooks and fixed the escort train to the Skeleton Train.
And as the Skeleton Train slowed down, the escort train's speed followed suit and decreased.
The skeleton engineer giggled and picked up the announcement microphone again.
[Next stop: the road to the afterlife. The road to the afterlife. There is no need to disembark; our chief attendant will come to you.]
"Battle stations!"
Crash!
The train stopped, and the passenger car door was ripped off.
Along with the cold night wind, a giant of a man in a skull mask entered the car.
The moment he stepped into the car, he impassively delivered his sentence.
"I shall deliver the Twilight Council's judgment. Total annihilation."
Without introduction, the monster began killing the knights.
Through the windows, they could see him walking down the long corridor connecting the cars and dispatching the knights one after another.
Snapping arms, snapping necks, snapping backs.
Breaking the knights' joints in just one or two exchanges, the man finally arrived before the escort commander.
Sensing his imminent death, the escort commander squeezed his eyes shut and introduced himself.
"Karamzin Knight Order, Basilisk Unit Commander, Cr—"
Crack.
Before the introduction could even finish, the skull giant snapped his neck.
Like a doll moving solely for its mission, he merely carried out his task impassively, without any reaction.
Eventually, when he and Ignos were the only living people left on the train, he released Ignos from his restraints and guided him outside.
"It's been a long time, Riv!"
"I’m a little late, Councilor."
"Hey. How many times must I tell you, there's no need to be so formal. I'm not your boss."
"I am but a mere combatant."
"A 'mere combatant' who's as strong as a councilor doesn't need to act that way, do they?"
"I do not speak formally to every councilor. But Lord Ignos, you are one of the Four Heavenly Kings. I am not worthy of comparison."
"There you go being humble again. You're strong too, I'm telling you!"
"..."
"Sigh. You always clam up whenever you have nothing to say."
Ignos good-naturedly clapped the man called Riv on the back.
"Have you been working out lately? Your muscles seem even firmer."
"..."
"Yeah. Yeah. So your private life is off-limits for answers."
The two climbed back onto the Skeleton Train.
Inside, the skeleton engineer cackled as he greeted them.
"Our guests have arrived. Where would you like to go?"
"To my place, as always, please!"
Ignos and the engineer got along like a house on fire.
Amid their boisterous laughter, the Skeleton Train shrieked and began to move.
The train, straddled diagonally across two sets of tracks, slowly vanished beyond the fog with the grinding screech of scraping rails.
When the fog cleared, only the rubble from a fresh landslide remained, as if erasing every trace of them.
==================
After The Sins of the East arc aired, the world buzzed once more.
The fusion of the Necromancy School's ghost ship manufacturing technology with a train was particularly met with universal acclaim.
Nikolai had given me an earful, but the public’s response was positive, so wasn’t it all’s well that ended well?
But I wasn't in a situation where I could respond to people's praise one by one right now.
Because Duke Karamzin, seated in front of me, was tap-tapping his pen.
"Because it was filming for my daughter, I lent you an unused railway line."
"..."
"I even rented out two full trains as special filming locations."
"..."
"Even when you said you would turn one of them into a ghost ship, I was able to let that slide."
"..."
"I trusted you, yet what came back was a railway ruined by foreshadowing drift, two trains that had somehow collided engine-first, and a landslide."
"..."
"How do you intend to take responsibility for this situation?"
He was usually as expressionless as Diane, and with an equally flat voice, there was no way to know what he was thinking.
I couldn’t tell whether he was handling the matter without emotion as an administrator or reprimanding me as lord of the territory.
For the first time in a while, I activated the language center of my temporal lobe and carefully chose my words.
"So I’ve turned the wreckage into a tourist attraction."
Pew.
The Calamity Duke's death beam grazed my cheek.
"Care to repeat that?"
"I’m sorry."