Mahouka magian company v.., p.19
Mahouka Magian Company Vol.04 (-Manual TL-),
p.19
All of the security devices were disabled by [Electronic Golden Silkworm]. Even the security guards on duty, who perhaps could be magicians, were knocked out without any resistance. They were put to sleep without having noticed him, let alone when he had approached them. The difference in power was such that there was no need to injure, let alone kill, them.
Starting from the first floor, Minoru checked each room one by one. On the way, he came across some white stone tablets, which he poured Psions into and took pictures of. In total, there were 15 white stone tablets. Minoru left the room with just the pictures he had taken of them.
Minoru's objective is to seize the "Guru's Stone Tablet." All he needs is the black stone tablet.
The "Guru's Stone Tablet" was located in the center room on the third floor.
The members of FAIR weren't among his targets. Therefore, not even their leader Dean, who was in the room where the stone tablet lay, was in his sights.
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Minoru wondered briefly why he was in his office during pre-dawn hours. But he soon dismissed this thought. Dean being present didn't concern Minoru.
The "Guru's Stone Tablet" was on a shelf behind Dean.
Minoru nonchalantly walked up to the stone tablet.
"Who-!? What are you!?"
As Minoru's soundless figure glided closer to him, Dean felt as if the Grim Reaper or the Devil had appeared in front of him.
Dean unleashed his magic.
It was not his trump card [Dionysus].
[Dionysus] is a magic to be used on a group of people, and moreover, it only has indirect offensive power.
The magic that Dean used, which is for attacking spirits, is said to be effective against spiritual beings — however, Dean himself is unsure whether or not what he is seeing in front of him is a spiritual being or not.
Minoru, however, possesses a magic-resistance ability that not even the magic of parasitized star-class members of Stars who specialized in Mental-Interference Type Magic, namely Major Kevin Antares and First Lieutenant Elijah Sargas, would be able to overcome. For someone like Dean, who has never even appeared on Stars' scouting roster, there is no way that the magic he used, which isn't even his trump card, would stand a chance against Minoru.
Minoru walked past Dean, took the "Guru's Stone Tablet," and left the room at a leisurely pace.
Dean looked at the back of the shadowed figure walking away, trembling in humiliation.
Minoru did not even put Dean to sleep.
Laura was awakened by the news of the infiltration of the headquarters and rushed to Dean's side.
She found Dean not in his chair but on the floor, holding his head in his hands with a fixed look in his eyes.
"My lord! What happened?!"
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Dean looked up sluggishly and pointed to the shelf behind him with the motions of an old man.
"The 'Guru's Stone Tablet' has been taken…"
Dean's voice was a mixture of dejection, indignation, and hatred.
Laura rushed over to dean, dropping to her knees, meeting him at eye level, and shook his shoulders vigorously.
"It's not a problem, my lord! [Babel] is already inside me. The stone tablet is an empty shell, nothing more. There is no need to worry about it having been taken away!"
"I see. A shell…"
"Yes, my lord."
"No harm done?"
"None, my lord."
"So there's nothing to worry about?"
"Exactly."
"I see… how can that be!?"
All of a sudden, Dean yelled in a fierce voice.
Laura was pushed away and lay sprawled on the floor.
"My lord…?"
Laura looked up at Dean, who was standing up, her eyes clinging to him.
"The hell if I don't have to worry about it, after being humiliated like that! Bastard…
you'll pay for this! I will show you how things work, you'll see!"
Dean's fury was so intense that there was not a trace of the shadow of a frail old man left in him.
"Laura, you!"
"Aaah!"
Dean roughly grabbed Laura by her hair.
"You're going to use your witchcraft to find out who stole it! You'd better, or else!"
"Ye-Yes, my lord."
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Gasping at the pain of being grabbed by her hair and being swung around, Laura was neither angry nor frightened by Dean's outburst, but rather relieved.
◇ ◇ ◇
On the morning of July 19th. FAIR headquarters was raided by the San Francisco municipal police.
The police had asked for backup from the magician security force "Wiz Guard" just in case, and raided the building.
The resistance of the members proved to be fierce. It ended with casualties on both sides, with the police arresting all of the remaining members.
However, they were unable to find the leader, Rocky Dean, and the sub-leader, Laura Simon, anywhere along the way.
Tatsuya and Miyuki learned of this at noon the same day at Beale Air Force Base. JJ
himself came aboard the military transport plane awaiting takeoff and relayed the news of Dean's escape.
"What of the sub-leader, Laura Simon, were you able to capture her?"
Tatsuya was not so much concerned about Dean as he was about Laura.
"No, their sub-leader, Simon, seems to have also escaped… is she of more importance?"
JJ probed him with shrewd eyes.
"Laura Simon is a 'witch,' isn't she? I'm betting it was her knowledge in that area, that enabled them to make use of the 'Guru's Stone Tablet.'"
Since he didn't see the need to hide it, Tatsuya frankly disclosed his speculation.
"I see… I'll put in a word with the police to keep a vigilant eye out for Laura Simon."
"Please let me know if you find anything out.
"Yes, of course."
With that, JJ stepped off the military transport plane.
Shortly thereafter, the military transport plane carrying Tatsuya, Miyuki, and the Air Car took off for the Western Pacific Ocean.
◇ ◇ ◇
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In the western Pacific Ocean lies the USNA Navy's massive aircraft carrier, the
[Independence].
It was around 15:00 JST on July 20th when a small-sized military transport plane departing from Beale Air Force Base on the West Coast landed on its flight deck.
Tatsuya and Miyuki descended from the military transport plane while in the Air Car, and from there they went straight across the flight deck and plunged into the sea.
Naturally, the crew of the aircraft carrier panicked, but the captain had previously been notified about the self-propelled car and the identity of its occupants, so he was able to quickly quell the commotion.
Moving underwater until they were far enough away from the aircraft carrier and its naval convoy, it then emerged and flew through the air.
It submerged once again just outside Japan's territorial waters, and the Air Car driven by Tatsuya arrived at Miyaki-shima shortly after 17:00 on the 20th.
Then, at 20:00 on the same night.
On the top floor of the Yotsuba Family building on Miyaki-shima, which Tatsuya and his family use as their home while on the island, Tatsuya, Miyuki, Lina, as well as Minoru and Minami were all present.
"Tatsuya-san, here it is. I'm pretty sure this is the 'Guru's Stone Tablet.'"
Minoru returned to the "Takachiho" after his infiltration of FAIR's headquarters with the black stone tablet he seized, and the photos he took of the white stone tablets. And now, he had been called by Tatsuya to come down to Miyaki-shima with Minami.
"Thank you for your help. I can't draw any conclusions without a careful examination, but I'm sure this is the correct stone tablet."
"What's this Guru tablet?"
Lina, the only one not familiar with the details, asked from the sideline.
Lina hadn't been called to come over by Tatsuya. When she heard that Miyuki had returned, she had Hyougo pilot the VTOL and had him fly in from Chofu.
"It's an artifact that records magic and has the capability of imparting it to a magister."
"Oh, a 'Guru,' like the guys who preach things, I get it… Wait, it can really do that!?"
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Lina exclaimed, giving a flashy reaction with her facial expressions and gestures. No one present thought that her surprise was an exaggeration. That's about the extent of how preposterous the "Guru's Stone Tablet" was.
"It seems it can. Though, I have to see whether or not it is definitely true."
"I can assist you with that, if you need."
Minoru offered with a glint in his eyes.
He, too, is a scholar by nature.
"That's good. Considering how this stone tablet must use a Mental-Interference Type Magic that belongs to the system of Ancient Magic. It'll be a great help to have your cooperation, Minoru."
"Yes, by all means. …By the way, here are the photos of the white stone tablets…"
"What do you take from it?"
Judging from Minoru's expression, Tatsuya guessed that he had found some kind of lead.
Minoru exchanged glances with Minami.
Minami gave Minoru a nod of encouragement.
"You may think this is silly, but…"
Apparently, the conclusion Minoru had reached was something rather preposterous.
Tatsuya as well as Miyuki looked at Minoru, who was hesitating to speak, prompting him to say something.
"Can you see the writing on a part of the stone tablet in this photo?"
Minoru singled out one image file and zoomed in on a part of it on the display.
That being said, Tatsuya, Miyuki and Lina peered simultaneously at the tablet screen.
"…Indeed. It looks like Sanskrit characters, doesn't it?"
"Yeah. I thought so too, so I had Takachiho's AI decipher it. The results show that it is definitely an archaic form of Sanskrit."
"And the text?"
"—[On the north bank of the Sita River, which originates from Lake Manasarovar at the foot of Mt. Kailash.]"
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"…Isn't that the same as the description of the location of the Shambhala in the Kālacakra Tantra of Tibetan Buddhism?"
"…Are you also familiar with it? As expected of Tatsuya-san."
Minoru was genuinely surprised.
"I recognized it because I had dabbled in Tantra in the process of learning Ancient Magic, but I didn't think that Tatsuya-san, being a Modern Magician, would be acquainted with it…"
"I've only skimmed a few overview books on Tibetan Buddhism. I've never studied Tantras per se."
"No, it's still amazing that you can remember all that."
All the ladies nodded in agreement to Minoru's words with widened eyes. Miyuki was so surprised that she even forgot to express her usual words of praise.
"—I think the white stone tablet may be a map to Shambhala."
Minoru adjusted his tone and began to explain how he reached such a conclusion.
"…Isn't Shambhala just a legend?"
One could tell from Lina's tone of voice that she hadn't recovered yet from being surprised.
"The Shambhala that we know of is what has been passed down from legends. But I believe that, behind the legend, there may have existed an ancient, highly magical civilized country. It could have been the civilization that manufactured the Relics, such as Antinite, and the 'Guru's Stone Tablet.'"
"—That sounds like a reasonable conclusion."
Tatsuya agreed with Minoru in a grave tone.
"Tatsuya-sama, let's check it out!"
Miyuki vigorously suggested this to Tatsuya.
"Miyuki, check what… Shambhala?"
"Yes, let's look for Shambhala."
Lina asked dumbfounded, to which Miyuki answered with an earnest conviction.
"But there is a problem…"
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And, this is when Minoru interjected with a somber voice.
"Even if there is a map visible on the surface of the white stone tablet, it is completely different from any modern day layout. Without a compass or something of the sort to help us pinpoint our location on the map, it would be difficult to even get a rough idea of where to go."
At the mention of the word "compass," Miyuki exclaimed, "Tatsuya-sama!?"
"Miyuki-san?"
"Miyuki?"
Minoru and Lina respectively asked back quizzically, with Minami also giving Miyuki a quizzical look.
"Actually, there is something I got at Mt. Shasta before we came back to Japan."
The answer came from Tatsuya.
Minoru, Lina, and Minami's gazes were drawn to the small box he placed on the table.
"This box was formed by using a similar technique to that of Decomposition Magic."
Hearing this remark, Miyuki stared at the stone box once again.
"And, here's the thing that was inside of it."
Tatsuya opened the lid and took out the octagonal stone.
He placed it on his palm and held it up for them all to see.
When all eyes were on him, Tatsuya poured Psions into the stone.
The stone moved about two centimeters more than in the experiments he conducted at Mt. Shasta.
West-northwest, in the direction of Central Asia.
"Miyuki and I believe this Relic might be a compass."
Silence reigned in the room.
The silence itself was oppressive, but the eyes of the four others, with the exception of Tatsuya, shone with anticipation.
〈To be continued〉
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Afterword
This was the fourth volume of "Magian Company." I hope you enjoyed it.
In this volume, chapters [1] to [5] covered the omitted events that took place during the same period of time in the third volume. And the rest of this volume, from chapter [6]
and onwards, is a continuation of the third volume.
Finally, I must say, this series has reached a new phase in its development. The contents of the first three volumes were more of a follow-up to the previous series, but from this point on, the series will take a new turn into a new adventure tale.
As most of you may have gathered by this point, the exploration of Shambhala will be a major focus of the series from the next volume onward.
However, it will not be a faithful reproduction of the legend of Shambhala, may I add.
Instead, it will be an almost completely fictional "Search for Shambhala" incorporating elements of the legend of Shambhala, including the "Arctic Paradise Theory," which can hardly be called an original interpretation of the legend of Shambhala. As such, it may not be enough to be considered a novel about occultism with super-ancient history, and I apologize for that.
In fact, I wish I could write a full-fledged story like the "Treasure Hunter Yagashira Dai"
series by Kikuchi Hideyuki-sensei, but unfortunately I am afraid I am not up to the task.
Meanwhile, Lena Fehr, one of the main characters (but not a heroine) of "Magian Company," started to play an active part in the series with this volume.
Laura Simon, who has only shown us a glimpse of her true abilities as a "witch," will be making her mark in the near future.
Rocky Dean, who has shown nothing but a shameful attitude towards the aforementioned and the newly introduced female character, will be showing a behavior befitting the "leader of an evil organization" in the upcoming volumes.
I hope you will look forward to it.
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The location of Shambhala31 within the story will be referenced from the book, "Chō
Mikkyō Jirin Tantra" by Tanaka Kimiaki (The Eastern Publishing Co., Ltd., honorifics omitted). If you are interested in this book, please have a read of it.
It was a difficult read for me, but I think it is quite interesting both as a scholarly text and as an inspiration material for creative writing.
Well, I'll be excusing myself for now.
I believe my next publication will be the fourth volume of "Cygnus Maidens." I hope to see you there as well.
(Satou Tsutomu)
31 Shambhala is an ancient kingdom that is believed to be hidden somewhere in Central Asia. The name finds a mention in both Hindu as well as Tibetan Buddhist literature. It is believed to be a place filled with happiness, peace, and tranquility. Shambhala - Wikipedia
Unknown, Mahouka Magian Company Vol.04 (-Manual TL-)
