From the red car's windows, the scenery stretched endlessly—rolling grasslands and undulating hills.
The island possessed plains and granite mountains, dazzling beaches, and inland terrain covered with Mediterranean shrublands. Myrtle and wild thyme grew freely, alongside prickly pear and dwarf oaks. The coastline was tranquil, the sea crystalline and clear. Isolated reefs rose from the water, long stretches of sandy beaches extended into the distance, and caves lay hidden among the cliffs.
Amid such landscapes, traces of civilization occasionally appeared—like the ancient stone fortresses Satsuki could see, the Nuraghe. Built in prehistoric times by the island's inhabitants before the Phoenicians arrived, these ruins had now become important tourist attractions.
By the time they reached Oliena, it was already around six in the evening the next day—just past what could properly be called dusk.
Beneath a cloudless sky, sparsely populated Oliena truly was a picturesque little town.
Nearby lay refreshing green forests and beautiful springs. Though its population was fewer than ten thousand, the town possessed all the essential features one might need.
The residence of their target, Lucretia Zola, was located near the forest just outside the town.
It was a standard courtyard-style villa—or perhaps it could be called a small estate.
Stone buildings formed a tall enclosing wall. From the main Gothic-style structure drifted an ancient and mysterious aura. Through the Tenseigan, Satsuki could clearly see the magic power floating around the building from afar, making it stand out conspicuously.
Satsuki stepped out of the car and walked forward, pressing the doorbell beside the main gate.
After waiting for a short while, however, there was no response from within.
The Tenseigan clearly showed the witch herself reclining lazily on a sofa. She had undoubtedly heard the doorbell—yet she made no move to answer.
"Not home...?"
Erica muttered, her gaze occasionally drifting toward Satsuki's back.
Inside the car earlier, she had been genuinely surprised by Satsuki's composure. She had half-expected that her driver's rather reckless driving skills might at least draw a flicker of fear or reaction from her.
Instead, this seemingly refined young lady from the East had been even calmer than Erica herself—a trained [Knight] and [Mage].
Then she noticed Satsuki's eyes had shifted toward something atop the stone wall.
A black cat.
"A new face, I see. And who might you be?"
The black cat let out a drawn-out "meow~~," its tone indifferent and languid.
Though it possessed a slender, elegant body and sleek fur, it was not particularly cute. The intelligence gleaming in its eyes was not something an ordinary cat should possess.
The system prompted within Satsuki's mind, Host, that is a familiar—a common trick among magicians.
The reminder was unnecessary. One could say that no one understood the manipulation of other beings better than Satsuki.
Looking at the cat, she said calmly, "I have come to return something to Lucretia Zola on behalf of Ichirou Kusunagi."
"Ichirou, hm?"
The cat's voice carried a hint of nostalgia. It also took note of Satsuki's attire and black hair.
That man's descendant? Unexpected... and so unlike him in appearance.
The black cat turned and walked deeper into the residence. After a few steps, it paused, lifted a paw, and waved as though beckoning them before continuing onward.
At the same time, a heavy creaking sound came from the gate. Though it was merely a simple iron door with a basic lock, it opened automatically.
The black cat stood at the entrance, gesturing for the two to follow.
"It's telling us to come inside," Erica said with certainty.
"Yes. Let's go."
Satsuki followed calmly behind the cat, showing no trace of wariness about stepping into a magician's territory.
After all—even the territory constructed by the former King of Magecraft, Solomon, had once been broken through by her directly. A mere witch could hardly be considered threatening.
They were led into what appeared to be a bedroom.
The air smelled strongly of medicinal herbs. The interior was somewhat cluttered. Upon a bed sat a woman, propped upright from the waist up.
The black cat curled into a ball in the corner of the room, yawning in boredom.
"Welcome to my home, relative of my old friend—Ichirou Kusunagi's granddaughter. I am Lucretia Zola."
The woman on the bed suddenly addressed them in flawless Japanese.
Satsuki was not surprised. She merely regarded the woman with an emotionless gaze.
Before her was a beautiful woman dressed only in undergarments, greeting guests while reclining on her bed. Her unfocused eyes radiated an inexplicable charm. Her long flaxen hair was beautiful as well.
The dim golden sunlight filtered through the window behind her, falling across her curvaceous body. Judging solely by appearance, she seemed to be in her late twenties.
Yet considering the magic within her and Ichirou Kusunagi's stories, this woman was likely closer in age to someone one might call "grandmother"—much like Tsunade from another world.
Just as medical ninjas of sufficient skill could maintain youthful appearances through special techniques, witches whose curse power reached a certain level could likewise preserve their youth.
After all, love of beauty was every woman's nature—a truth that transcended worlds.
"Miss Lucretia may call me Satsuki."
"And this young lady? You appear to be local. How did you come to be traveling with Miss Satsuki?"
"If it is Miss Lucretia, you must have seen today's papers—the truth behind the catastrophic storm that appeared near the harbor..."
"Oh? So you encountered the god manifested on this island. How fortunate that you survived. And since you speak of the so-called truth, you are no ordinary person either, are you?"
"Erica Blandelli, Great Knight of the Copper-Black Cross. For certain reasons, I am currently traveling with... Satsuki."
Seemingly not noticing the subtle pause in Erica's words or the faint blush that crossed her face, Lucretia nodded.
"So you are Lord Paolo's niece. I have heard of you several times. In that case, your reason for coming to this rural place must be that Heretic God. Your initiative is impressive."
After a few brief exchanges, Satsuki withdrew the stone slab from her sleeve. The fleeting ripple of spatial fluctuation caused a sharp gleam to flash in Lucretia's eyes.
"This is the sacred relic my grandfather intended to pass on. It is also the item Miss Lucretia once left behind in Japan."
It was the stone slab engraved with the image of a man bound in chains.
After a glance, Lucretia accepted it from Satsuki's hand.
"Ah... the Prometheus' Grimoire. I discovered this long ago in the depths of the Caucasus Mountains. How nostalgic."
Prometheus—
That was the name of a god.
Satsuki had heard the tale before. A deity who stole fire from Mount Olympus so that humanity might continue to survive.
However, that was not the point she needed to focus on.
From something Lucretia had just said, Satsuki caught an implication beneath the surface.
"Since Miss Lucretia knows the truth behind this recent disaster, then you must also know which god was involved, correct?"
Reclining against the sofa, Lucretia revealed a faint smile. Her sly eyes curved into a graceful arc.
"How perceptive. If you're searching for information about a Heretic God, then you've certainly come to the right place. I'll tell you."
Only then did Erica suddenly realize.
"—Miss Lucretia, do you know which god participated in this incident?"
"Since that happens to be your objective as well, I'll answer both of you at once."
Setting the Prometheus' Grimoire aside, Lucretia idly twirled a strand of her flaxen hair around one finger as she spoke.
"Strictly speaking, I can't be completely certain. The information I possess only confirms that it was a being with the divine authority of a war god. At first, I assumed it might be Melqart or a similar divinity. But judging from that avatar, it seems it was not so simple."
Melqart. The name meant little to Satsuki.
Lucretia continued casually.
"Though historically significant, he is no longer especially famous. The supreme god worshiped by the Canaanites and Phoenicians—Semitic peoples. That is Baal. Originally a god of storms, lightning, and the sky. But his authority expanded over time, and he eventually came to possess numerous divine powers. Gods similar to him would be Zeus among the Indo-European pantheon, and Odin as well. You know those two, yes?"
"Yes."
The chief god of Greek mythology and the chief god of Norse mythology.
If he could be mentioned alongside those two, then he must likewise have been a chief deity within his own pantheon.
"Gods of that rank typically possess multiple divine aspects and authorities. Supreme god, king, god of wisdom, god of life, god of war, god of the underworld... Baal is a typical example. Multi-faceted deities naturally acquire alternate names. Melqart was the honorific title bestowed upon him when he served as the guardian of the city of Tyre."
In other words, this was a god whose true self commanded more than a single authority. If constrained by a particular name, then what manifested would likely be only a portion of his full strength.
However—
If he had descended in the form of a Heretic God, the specifics might not be so predictable.
Satsuki summarized this silently in her mind.
Lucretia smiled faintly and continued.
"Tyre was a city built by the Phoenicians. Even Alexander the Great required a full year to conquer it. It was the mother port of the Phoenicians, rulers of the ancient Mediterranean. They reached Sardinia and became the island's overlords."
Within her mind, the system muttered, I just heard the name of an old acquaintance. That red-haired brute even has quite the legend in this world. In battle he was just shouting incomprehensible things the whole time...
Lucretia's meaning was clear—Melqart had deep ties to Sardinia.
Then she finally provided direct evidence.
"In regions surrounding Greece, Melqart is depicted as a large man wielding a club. A few days ago, I witnessed Melqart manifest in precisely that form, near the standing stones of Sassari. Five days ago, I sensed an unusual concentration of divine power there through spiritual sight. To observe the situation, I went there myself."
Spiritual sight—another familiar form of magecraft.
For a witch of her caliber, such ability was hardly surprising.
"What I saw was a battle between two gods. One was Melqart. The other appeared in the form of a warrior, wielding a golden sword. Their clash was fierce. In the end, both were grievously wounded. Melqart struck with his club, and the other god delivered a final blow with the golden sword. Both suffered severe injuries. Melqart transformed into lightning and fled. The god bearing the golden sword shattered on the spot."
"Shattered? Lost his physical body?" Erica pressed.
"No. The sword-bearing god's body split into pieces. Each fragment transformed into a new form. One became a boar. Another, a vulture. There were also a horse and a goat, and other creatures besides. These fragments immediately flew toward the sea or into the sky."
"A [Boar]?" Erica froze, then turned toward Satsuki. "Then that's the divine beast we encountered?"
In other words, the so-called [Boar] divine beast was merely a fragment born from the god of the golden sword.
Yet faced with such explosive information, Satsuki's response remained elegant and detached.
"Mm."
Only that single syllable.
So the one she had encountered before was indeed the god who wielded the golden sword. At the time, her Tenseigan had already discerned the connection of divine power between him and the boar. Now it all aligned.
Her thoughts turned briefly before her Tenseigan settled once more upon the witch before her.
"Even as a witch, observing a battle between gods from a mortal perspective while ensuring your own survival would require magecraft beyond your limits. Your curse power is now completely depleted, Miss Lucretia. The reason you can only lie in bed is because you are unable to move, correct?"
"Mm—how perceptive. I'll likely be unable to move for about three months. So taking back the Prometheus' Grimoire right now would only invite disaster upon myself."
Though she spoke of inconvenience, her tone remained utterly relaxed.
"And before coming here, Miss Satsuki, you encountered someone interesting as well, didn't you?"
"Does she count?"
Satsuki gestured calmly toward Erica beside her.
"Hehe—Erica certainly counts... but I wasn't referring to a magician."
"Yes. I did meet a young man who spoke with the airs of an old veteran."
From their first meeting, Satsuki had known he was one of the gods. Yet that he could clash with a chief deity had surprised her somewhat.
At the time, his manner of speech had left a stronger impression than his divine power.
"I see... Since even he did not take the sacred relic from you, perhaps that is the will of the gods. In that case... I will entrust this book to you."
As she spoke, Lucretia extended the Prometheus' Grimoire toward Satsuki.
"A sacred relic from the Age of Myth—handed to me so easily? Is that acceptable?" Satsuki glanced at Erica. "Perhaps she is more suited than I to hold this thief's scripture."
"Ah—well..."
Erica flushed, at a loss for words.
"Though I have not witnessed it with my own eyes, my intuition as a witch does not fail me. Miss Satsuki possesses abilities far superior to both myself and Erica."
Those words startled Erica, pulling her from her embarrassment. She suddenly recalled the surreal moment when she had been "rescued" midair.
"Was that... magic?"
Only now did the Great Knight truly begin to realize something.
"In that case, I will accept it without further ceremony."
Satsuki took back the Prometheus' Grimoire and said softly,
"Then how I choose to use it is my own freedom, correct?"
"Ah—yes. In fact, that is precisely what I hope for."
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