5 Simon

Well, now I have some time to think. Not a lot, mind you - apparently I need to continue the 'talk' I was formerly having with Alessandro and Cael - but it's enough to ponder on something quite worrying.

I can't remember anything after I was laughing like a maniac in that crater. It's like I was suddenly knocked unconscious or went to sleep; I vividly remember the explosion and everything before, it's just that I can't remember what was after it.

Optimistically, I'd say it's because of my recent skull injury. If my skull was damaged, something definitely happened to my brain as well; whether or not it's permanent is another matter.

Pessimistically, this was on purpose and enacted upon me in some way. I remember various snippets of the conversation involving some sort of 'operation', and seeing how these people can apparently heal skull injuries and use some sort of supernatural force, nothing is off the table. I don't know what they could do, and I don't know what they would do - especially considering that something important was apparently about to happen.

But none of it matters for now, and thinking about it will get me nowhere concrete. In the end, all of the conclusions would be mere assumptions.

"Alright." Alessandro reached for his cup of water, realizing that it was empty right after with a bitter smile. "Time to continue. We left off on a… strange note."

Strange to him, normal to me. It's common sense that Christianity is true. I simply want proof of which branch is most valid - that way I can do away with those disgusting Protestants. Those craven neanderthals close off their ears to common sense.

"What did you leave off on?" Griselda asked.

"We told him that Christianity was true."

She seemed to be waiting for more, doing the same back-and-forth motion that Jacques did. "Go on."

Alessandro shrugged. "That's it."

"What do you mean, 'that's it'? You could cover that in a minute. Two, if the person is especially doubtful. I'd know if you're lying. How did you mess up so stupidly?"

What a nosy, disobedient woman. If she's his wife, I've lost the modicum of respect I had for Alessandro.

'Wives, obey your husbands as you obey the Lord. The husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the church people. The church is his body and he saved it. Wives should obey their husbands in everything, just as the church people obey Christ.'

Wives must respect their husbands in the same way as they do the Lord. Acting like this with her (alleged) husband proves how sinful and depraved she is; it shows her true colors in the face of God.

"Sorry…? It wasn't our fault, though. Go read the report if you want."

"'Read the report'? Think about what you just said. Use your brain. I wish I could read the report, but I can't!" she said, beginning to breath heavily.

Alessandro nervously laughed at that. "Fair enough. But this is the exact issue that led to not having the time in the first place, so could we not repeat it?"

"Well how was I supposed to know that?!"

Lover's spat. How distasteful.

"If you can't speak in a civilized way, can you write it down for me?" I wouldn't be able to understand it if they don't write in Latin, but that's not relevant. I shook my head to reinforce the point. "I want to know about whatever these little secrets are, and, according to the dubiously qualified doctor, we don't have much time."

"'Dubiously qualified'?! Do you even know who Jacques i-"

"Why are you so eager to argue? Please step out of the room; I'm afraid I don't feel safe around you."

She believes herself to be superior to me. I can see it in her haughty eyes - one of the things the Lord is stated to find abominable in Proverbs.

She is Eve, having eaten from the Forbidden Fruit - except this fruit is that of female arrogance. Just as Eve was cast out from Eden for having partaken in such disobedient behavior, so too shall Griselda; only, her Eden is the land of the living.

She will die, eaten by a swarm of locusts as referenced in Exodus and Revelations. Just as Lot's wife was thus transfigured to a pillar of salt upon disobeying the Lord, she will be punished.

With weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, she shall be cast into the bottomless, fiery lake of Hell - for my vengeance will reign.

For nobody treats me like dirt.

Anyway, allow me to exit the realm of the theoretical.

I doubt she normally acts like that, even with Alessandro - you can tell by the strange look he's been giving her - so she's probably still angry and wants to get it out somehow. I don't want to be around her while she tries to do that; according to various sources, I nearly died the last time that happened.

"Yo-"

"Griselda… can you just step out for a minute or two?" Alessandro said, sounding disappointed for some reason.

Apparently flabbergasted at something so reasonable, she clenched her fist.

"You're taking his side?! Fine!" She began stomping out of the room, slamming it on her way out.

I hope she gets brutally murdered sometime soon, preferably in a way that places no blame on me. I'll make sure of it someday.

I'll henceforth refer to her as Eve.

While Jacques was in here, she tried acting normally and even spoke differently, but, as soon as he left, she got angrier and angrier. I couldn't even imagine getting so worked up over a few words. I'm the one who should be angry here - or even Alessandro, what with his amputated arm - why is she?

Women are such selfish creatures.

"Anyways…" Alessandro turned back to me. "Do you want me to be blunt? Or do you want me to ease you into it one thing at a time?"

Why is he treating me like I'm emotionally unstable? It's demeaning, being viewed as a Griselda of sorts.

"Whatever's simplest." I threw the blanket off myself to get up, seeing that someone had changed my clothes while I was unconscious.

Honestly, it's understandable. I don't think my clothes were even remaining after the explosion; at least I'm not waking up naked. I have higher quality pants and socks than the rags I wore before - and I can find a shirt later.

I don't know why they would be generous with everything but my shirt, but I won't question it.

They even gave me boots.

"To be blunt about it…" Alessandro scratched his scorched hair. "All religions are real, except for random stuff like African and Native American tribal religions. Don't ask me why, though I think it's because they didn't have enough believers or even a solid faith."

I knew it. He's a heretic.

"Don't be too aggressive about it," he said, seeing my incoming rebuttal. "You don't have to believe me for now - it's not my job to give proof or anything, that comes later - but just keep it in mind. If you don't, everyone will feel like they're speaking gibberish to you."

To be honest, I'll accept that compromise. I'll know that he's lying later on; no need to waste my energy on disproving heathens like him. Just look at Protestants and Jehovah's Witnesses, not to mention the pagan religion followers. If I cared enough to try and save their souls from Hell, I'd be in Heaven from how exhausted it would make me, what with the billions that exist - why should I treat him differently?

He continued, this time with some more confidence at seeing my seeming acceptance. "Since we don't have much time and since I don't know what topics to go about in detail, I'll try to give a general overview. Sacred Gears are powers given to Humanity by God to fight back against the supernatural that tries to take advantage of us. Magic exists, Humans can use it. Heaven - and the Church, since we're an organization under Heaven - protect the unknowing members of Humanity against the supernatural… kind of. You'll get what I mean later. Any questions?"

So… I was always right. My ability was gifted by God - going by how he called it a 'Gear' before, most likely as a shortened term for 'Sacred Gear'.

I'm gifted. I'm chosen.

I was handpicked to eradicate the enemies of God.

I also have one question, however.

"Why hasn't God exterminated the dirty minions of evil Himself?"

It's a fair question. I can even think of a plausible answer myself - that God wishes to test His children - but I want to know what a supposed expert knows. Why delay the fumigation of sin?

"...That's subject to debate. No one has seen God in a few hundred years, so it's assumed that He wants to test us, but there have been other arguments. The main belief is that He has left and is testing us, constantly observing - most of the theories take inspiration from Deist beliefs."

So, they don't know. Fair enough; one cannot understand neither God nor His actions.

I formerly believed Deism to be a deplorable amalgamation of doubt and heresy, but it looks like it does have some sense to it when looking through the lens of the… what did he call it? Supernatural.

There are more questions I'd like to ask though.

"What… mythologies are considered to be strong?"

I made sure to use 'mythology' rather than 'religion' - the latter implies that it is worthy of worship.

"Well…" He cupped his chin in thought. "The first that comes to mind is the Hindu Pantheon. After that is the Norse Pantheon, and after that would be Buddhism or the Greek Pantheon - I'd say they're… tied? I don't know much about them since we're not hostile towards them. The rest aren't really worth mentioning, to be honest. The Japanese and Chinese Pantheons aren't really strong, and stuff like the Ancient Egyptian Pantheon has basically no followers and not much presence… and they're weak. I don't think the religions from the Americas are even real; if they are, then they're barely even regional powers. The South American Inca and Aztec ones fall into that category, and the Native American ones barely even count, if they exist."

The rest are weak, in other words. The first two he mentioned must be decently significant, but the others can't be important at all.

Of course, all of this is assuming that these pagan mythologies exist, but, in order to continue the conversation, I have to pretend that they do.

"What kind of powers do people have? Humans, to be more specific."

I'd like to know how mine measures up to the rest.

"There's Magic and Sacred Gears. To be honest, those are the only distinctly Human ones. Stuff like Holy and Demonic Swords aren't technically 'Human', and I'm not sure if it's even possible to learn that Asian energy thing anymore. I forget what it's called… Senjuice? Senjutsu? One of those. You'll be forced to take a Magical Aptitude test later on, so I don't need to cover Magic for now - the Holy and Demonic Swords are also something that you'll be explicitly involved with as well. Light Swords are a given, too, so there's no need to cover those… I really don't need to tell you anything that you won't learn on your own in the span of this next month."

Good to know, I suppose.

I've yet to ask the most important question I have, though.

"Where do I tie into all of this?"

At that, he hesitated.

"...It's very, very complicated. We'll have to keep it simple for the sake of time. I'll only tell you what your future entails for now. Good with that?"

I nodded.

"You're going to become an Exorcist, a Human who fights against the supernatural. The profession is very broad and can do a lot of things depending on what you're assigned to do, but the general outline is this: You will get assigned to do something. You will complete that something under one condition: Keep the secrets of the supernatural safe. Make sure that normal people don't see anything supernatural. You will have independent decision-making authority as long as you get the job done within a reasonable timeframe. It's fairly simple, again, depending on what assignment you get. Cael and I got a mission where we had to infiltrate Germany one time… that mission was not so simple."

Matthew, chapter twenty-one, verse twenty-two: 'And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.'

The Bible wasn't lying, obviously.

At this point, I am inclined to believe what he's been saying - it means that I'll personally be able to stomp out the heretics using God-given power. It's like a dream - so I need to keep in mind that this kind of response would be exactly what someone trying to trick me would want. I'll keep hoping, but I won't let my guard down.

But, given the believability and lack of lying in his expression, as well as all of the strange things that have upturned my life lately, I'm willing to come to a compromise of sorts and open my mind a bit.

These supernatural creatures are not from religions; they're enemies of God depicted in the Bible someway. Just as Exodus mocks the Egyptian gods with its Ten Plagues, there could be more subtle references - there's even a magician in Acts, chapter eight, verses nine through twenty-four.

If Simon Magus – AKA Simon the Magician, AKA Simon the Sorcerer - is real, what's to keep me from acknowledging Magic? If the Egyptian gods are nearly referenced in Exodus, why would I deny the existence of other heretical beings?

Leviticus, chapter nineteen, verse twenty-six: 'Ye shall not use enchantment, nor observe times.'

Leviticus, chapter twenty, verse twenty-seven: 'A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.'

Deuteronomy, chapter eighteen, verses ten through eleven: 'There shall not be found among you any that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.'

You know… I'm almost beginning to look forward to my future. A future of holy extermination.

That sounds particularly pleasant to me, no matter what challenges may arise.

Alessandro suddenly turned towards the door while observing my response to his words. "Looks like our time is up; no more questions for now. Ioann, the best advice I can give you is… keep an open mind, I guess. You'll need it, along with some luck."

With that, the door opened.

*****

GERMANY ANNEXES AUSTRIA! AUSTRIANS OVERJOYED!

By Leopold Pichler

Edited by Erwin Freud

As an Austrian myself, I find this recent news to be worthy of jubilation. After a poll where an overwhelming 99.73% of Austrians voted in support of Hitler's generous annexation offer, Austria officially became part of the glorious German Reich.

After chaotic Italian activity to the south and economic downturn in our homeland, we all find this change to be incredibly relieving. No Austrian mothers and fathers need to fear the Red Terror from the east, nor must they fear the fat, money-grubbing fingers from the west—and the Blackshirts of the south shall be quelled.

Hear us, powers that be: Austria needs this! Austria wants this! Austria will have this! And no imperialist interference will stop this!

If the Anglos want to have their cake and eat it, so will Austria! If your brutish treaties wish to split up our precious holdings and leave them to the wolves, we'll simply have to prosper on our own!

And the National Socialists will assure this!

*****

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Rather than yelling at Griselda and throwing a hissy fit in his mind, MC let out his anger in a different, biblical way.

I'll be including little newspapers like the one at the end of this chapter from now on. They're just a way of letting the audience know about the current ongoing events; as of right now, it's March of 1938 in the story, so I included news relating to that (Germany annexing Austria). Expect some more of these as time goes on, and let me know what you think of them.

By the way, the chapter is named 'Simon' because Simon has to do with MC's conclusion at the end, and Simon means 'listen' or 'hearing'... which is basically all that this chapter is.

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