Chapter 878: Misunderstanding
To rescue Sister Orsola, Lin Wuming and Kamijou Touma were driving towards the southeast gate of Academy City.
During the journey, Kamijou Touma, while catching his breath, finally had the chance to recount his experiences of the past half-day to Lin Wuming—starting from the early hours of that morning, when the uninvited guest Stiyl had trespassed into his home...
After all, at first, Stiyl and Kamijou Touma didn't know that Lin Wuming had already intervened in this incident, and had even directly provided refuge to Sister Orsola.
Not wanting to disturb Lin Wuming rashly, they abandoned the idea of directly seeking his help.
Of course, they didn't just rest and wait for dawn.
Under Stiyl's urging, Kamijou Touma had no choice but to leave his dormitory with him in the middle of the night, wandering around Academy City under the cover of darkness, searching for clues about Sister Orsola and the Amakusa-style Cross Rosicrucian.
It must be said that Kamijou Touma, as a local, coupled with various reasons that gave him many strange but quite useful connections and channels.
After an intense exchange of blows, he actually managed to obtain some clues from the thugs of the Armed Unskilled Group.
—Someone witnessed a girl dressed as a nun checking into a certain hotel.
Although these thugs' information was also hearsay, obtained from bragging and gossiping with other 'colleagues,' Kamijou Touma still grasped the key information.
Upon obtaining the keyword "hotel," Kamijou Touma immediately began searching.
However, he was not a super hacker like Misaka Mikoto or Haruue Erii, so he couldn't directly access the internal management systems of various hotels for investigation.
However, the surveillance cameras in Academy City's public areas could be freely accessed, and their footage viewed. Academy City's network had public projects similar to "street view photography," used to improve the construction of the city's three-dimensional map.
He had only tried with a sliver of hope, but unexpectedly, Kamijou Touma actually found a few frames of footage containing Sister Orsola's image.
Through these images, Kamijou Touma successfully pinpointed the hotel where Sister Orsola was staying.
However, when the two of them arrived near the hotel, Stiyl suddenly detected traces of magical energy flow.
Subsequently, Stiyl, as a rune expert, indeed found magic spells hidden in various corners around the hotel.
It was obvious that these spells were set up by the Amakusa-style Cross Rosicrucian—before them, the Amakusa-style people had already found Orsola Aquinas!
Stiyl couldn't help but suspect that Sister Orsola might have already been controlled by the Amakusa-style, and that the hotel was a trap, just waiting for them to fall into it...
Therefore, Stiyl dared not act rashly, choosing instead to observe cautiously from outside the hotel.
He waited until dawn, when early-rising students began to appear on the streets, and Kamijou Touma finally couldn't bear it any longer.
He decided to enter the hotel directly to gather information—because it was already daytime, his entry into the hotel lobby as an ordinary citizen wouldn't seem too abrupt.
After venturing into the hotel, Kamijou Touma found that the difficulty of this task was shockingly low.
Without encountering any obstruction or suspicious enemies, Kamijou Touma found Sister Orsola Aquinas in the breakfast buffet area.
Kamijou Touma went up to greet her, confirm her identity, and even snagged a free breakfast.
Upon learning that Kamijou Touma had come to rescue her, Sister Orsola was very happy and, without a trace of suspicion, immediately agreed to leave with him.
At this moment, Stiyl, who had been waiting impatiently outside, also entered the hotel.
Confirming that Sister Orsola was safe and sound, and that there were no enemies in the hotel, Stiyl breathed a sigh of relief, then wanted to discuss a plan to leave Academy City...
Then, a nearby server drew a rapier and attacked.
—Members of the Amakusa-style Cross Rosicrucian had already infiltrated the hotel!
"...And then, we started fighting in the hotel," Kamijou Touma said, "Perhaps because it was a public place, the Amakusa-style people didn't go too far, only using cold weapons. So Stiyl and I were able to contend with them for a while."
But with the manifestation of the "Expel Bystanders" rune's effect, coupled with the shock of the sudden battle, the irrelevant personnel in the hotel quickly evacuated.
Thus, the intensity of the battle sharply increased.
Stiyl and Kamijou Touma's numerical disadvantage immediately became apparent.
Stiyl had no choice but to summon the Witch Hunt King, relying on its powerful firepower to pin down the enemy, allowing Kamijou Touma to escape with Sister Orsola.
Little did they know, the Amakusa-style had the same intention—they also wanted to "rescue" Sister Orsola and take her out of Academy City.
"I should have realized it earlier," Kamijou Touma said with great regret, "Those two Amakusa-style girls hardly attacked us the whole way; instead, they seemed to be escorting us as we left Academy City..."
The Amakusa-style Cross Rosicrucian knew more of the truth than Stiyl and Kamijou Touma, and having arrived earlier, they also knew that Sister Orsola was under Lin Wuming's protection.
However, according to the Amakusa-style's observations, they found that there were simply too many women around Lin Wuming, and thus they always felt he wasn't exactly a righteous gentleman...
The most crucial point was that those women were not very friendly towards Orsola, and could even be said to harbor undisguised malice.
Therefore, the Amakusa-style Cross Rosicrucian still couldn't fully trust Lin Wuming, so they specifically observed near the hotel, preparing to intervene and rescue Sister Orsola to escape Academy City if any unexpected situation arose!
By this morning, the "unexpected situation" indeed occurred.
Kamijou Touma and Stiyl's intrusion and their attempt to "abduct" Sister Orsola immediately provoked the Amakusa-style Cross Rosicrucian.
Battle subsequently broke out...
"After leaving the Academy City gate, we indeed encountered a unit composed entirely of nuns," Kamijou Touma's expression of vexation grew stronger, "Looking back, I ignored Sister Orsola's almost desperate expression, and actually personally handed her over to that nun unit!"
At the same time, the two members of the Amakusa-style tried to reclaim Sister Orsola, but were defeated by the nun unit.
It was then that Kamijou Touma sensed something was wrong and intervened to save those two Amakusa-style members.
Meanwhile, within Academy City, Tsuchimikado Motoharu appeared in time to stop the fierce shootout between Stiyl and Itsuwa.
After they talked things through, although some doubts lingered, they realized that Tsuchimikado Motoharu's explanation indeed made some sense.
So, the misunderstanding was temporarily resolved, their recent grievances set aside, and they hurried towards outside the city together.
When they saw the disheveled trio of Kamijou Touma, but Sister Orsola was nowhere to be found, both sides finally completely trusted each other.
