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“…There we go, all done. Just a few scratches, so treatment was easy.”
“Thank you so much, Ms. Roche! Master, your apprentice is fully healed!”
“Yeah yeah, that’s great, good for you.”

After moving our private discussion to Ascles’ church, Momo got patched up by the Saint.

That said, it was nothing serious—just a few scratches from when Daigorou went berserk and started roughhousing.

“You ended up with just that after tearing apart a rampaging golem barehanded? You’re not even human.”
“I am human! Geez, War and you are both so rude, Master!”
“Now now, Ms. Laika only said that because she’s shy. Let’s be kind and overlook it.”
“Enough with the Saintly delusions—let’s get back on topic. The main issue here is that girl, War.”

I cut off the conversation before it could spiral into nonsense, dragging it back on track. We didn’t move this meeting to a church just for chit-chat. We needed to share information about the recent incident.

“You’re right, I’m curious as well—about the connection between ‘Ragna’ and ‘War.’”
“Momo, you brought it up in the first place. What similarities did you notice between them?”
“Just a feeling!!”
“Right, right… that is just the kind of person you are.”

I had no idea how many times Momo had given me a headache at this point—it wasn’t even worth counting anymore.

Honestly, I hadn’t expected much from her observation. Her intuition alone didn’t offer enough to go on.

“But I mean… how do I put this? It’s just a feeling, but War and Ragna kind of feel the same, like their presence is similar,” Momo explained further.
“Are you suggesting they’re twins?” Saint asked.
“From what I remember, their faces weren’t that alike. But both of them definitely harbored murderous intent toward humans.”

Ragna had aimed her bloodlust indiscriminately at any human in sight, while War carried a deep hatred specifically for Outlanders.

To top it off, they both had power that completely defied their apparent age—albeit in different directions. So it’s not like they had nothing in common…

“One with combat ability on par with a Saint of Thuru, the other able to weaponize even pebbles with that strange power…”
“If we assume what Momo said is true, the next thing to consider is—what are their goals?”
“Oh yeah, Master, didn’t War say something about themselves being part of a group with leaven commodities¹ or something?”
“……Oh, you mean the Seven Calamities. You butchered it so much I barely got it.”
“That’s the one! You’re amazing, Master!”

What a half-baked memory. If War had heard her words misremembered like that, she’d have absolutely exploded.

Still, her mangled phrasing had jogged something in my own memory too.

“Ragna referred to herself as a doomsday device. When I asked if she had any siblings or comrades, she started to say ‘seven’ before stopping herself.”
“That lines up with the Seven Calamities.”
“See, Master?! That totally backs up my theory!”
“Yeah, but it’d really annoy me if your gut feeling was actually right, so I’m going to need a bit more evidence first.”
“You’re so mean.”

Jokes aside, this was a connection we couldn’t afford to ignore.

Even if it was pure coincidence, the phrase “Seven Calamities” was far too ominous to take lightly.

“…Saint. Say there really are seven monsters on Ragna’s level. If Ascles gathered everyone and fought as one, would we stand a chance?”
“I’d do my best, but… realistically, no. Even one Ragna was enough to defeat a Saint of Thuru.”
“…I see. So we really don’t stand a—wait, what did you just say?”
“Oh, right. I meant to tell you both, I’ve been looking for you. Unfortunately, just recently, the Saint of Thuru was defeated in a duel and took their own life.”
“Th-they died…?!”
“Yes. It must’ve been devastating to lose to such a young girl, especially as a fellow follower of Thuru.”

The Saint folded her hands over her chest and lowered her head in a silent prayer.

A Saint of Thuru was one of the most elite combatants even among sorcerers. If someone like that was brought down in single combat, then even the entirety of non-combatant Ascles would stand no chance against such an opponent.

“I want the details. Are we sure it was Ragna? What decided the outcome of the fight? Did she use any unusual abilities?”
“All of that is still under investigation. Thuru’s followers are notoriously tight-lipped, so right now Koutei is challenging them to duels one by one to make them talk.”
“Mr. Koutei is being worked to the bone again…”

“Still, something like a Saint’s death can’t be kept secret forever—it’s only a matter of time.”
“True. The public will be in an uproar. The real issue is that someone strong enough to kill a Saint is still at large,” the Saint agreed.
“Master, what does that mean!?”

“It’s like a starving beast roaming around without a collar. You’ll get people who want to stop her before the next victim falls… and people who want to put a collar on her and use that power. Either way, everyone’s going to start making moves.”
“Then let’s find Ragna first!”
“If only it were that simple… Wait—maybe we do have clues?”

Come to think of it, the first time we encountered Ragna was over a conflict surrounding a dragon gem inside Claxton.

But that particular spark had been snuffed out when Momo swallowed the gem. Ragna had pulled out without ever getting her hands on it.

“…Saint, have there been any recent reports of dragons dying?”
“I haven’t heard a word. If a dragon were to die, it would make even bigger news than the death of a Saint.”
“Then Ragna still hasn’t gotten hold of a dragon gem… All right, that settles it. Momo, we’re going dragon hunting.”
“Are we going to fight them?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. We only beat Claxton thanks to pure dumb luck. We’re going to stake out a dragon Ragna’s likely to go after next.”

The Seven Calamities. A doomsday device. Girls trying to wipe out humanity. Words like those weren’t something you could just forget and sleep soundly after hearing. And if that threat was bound to reach us eventually, then we’d rather cut it off at the source.

We’d been on the defensive this whole time—but now it was our turn to strike first.

1. TLN: This is kind of a hopeless pun. Seven Calamities in japanese is “Shichinin Yakusai” while momo said Shichimi (seven spices/flavors) and Yasai (vegetables)

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