Volume 2 – The World Sneered
The next morning, Ami and Calaria woke up to the sound of the door opening.
Cutie, who was in very low spirits the previous day, entered the room.
“Good morning, you two!”
Her smile was almost unnatural as she loudly greeted the girls.
Mary was behind her with a wry smile on her face.
Calaria slowly sat up, and stared at Cutie with her sleepy eyes.
“Good morning. You’re lively…… are you alright now?”
Ami also got up a little after her and rubbed her eyes with both hands.
Meanwhile, Cutie, who was wide-awake, spoke in a boastful tone.
“Nope, not at all. It’s not like the pain of losing my father will heal in one night. It’s just a show of courage!”
“Then don’t tire yourself out, you should rest for now.”
“I’m gonna snap unless I trick myself like this. I recovered enough that I can at least put on a brave face and stand up, so I’m going to keep running until I avenge my father. Even if I have to lean on Mary.”
Cutie pushed her shoulder against Mary’s after saying that.
Calaria put her hand on her chin, and muttered, ‘Hmh’.
Ami imitated this and nodded, ‘Mhm, mhm’.
“I suppose last night must have helped, then.”
“Sis’s therapy was a great success!”
“‘Therapy’……? It’s not that big of a deal……”
She just hugged her and spent the night with her.
But the trust directed from Cutie to Mary increased greatly in just one night.
She stopped holding herself back, in a good sense.
The distance between them got closer, both physically and psychologically.
This was also a type of ‘weakness’, as Cutie feared, but she wanted to believe that this was the right choice right now.
“Well, at least I have as much ‘motivation’ as the rest of you now. I’ll never let
World
get away with this. I’m going to kill him.”
In truth, it was not a great thing to possess this determination.
Determination acquired after a tragedy indeed made one stronger.
But to continue to live comfortably in peace was a much bigger blessing than to acquire this strength.
“At any rate, it looks like we’ll be on standby here for a few days even if I can stand up.”
“Ah, so Mary told you.”
“Just earlier. Honestly, King Henry’s conduct is perplexing.”
Mary told the three about this village’s name, and that Luno was here.
Although Calaria and Ami had already found out the previous day.
“Hahaah, I see. I couldn’t make sense of it until now, but I finally understand
World
’s motive.”
“Yeah…… I suppose you’re right.”
“I don’t get it. What do you mean?”
Ami tilted her head, and Cutie started talking with a boastful expression.
She was making this face by force, however, and it was a more obvious performance than usual.
“
World
, or Mytis, was friends with Luno,
Death God
, right? And according to the images Mary saw in the ruins, arcana were originally normal human beings, and they abandoned their human bodies and hearts to become ‘Gods’ and create this world.”
“Mhm, mhm, I understand that part.”
“In short, Mytis lost Luno because of this world. So he hated it, so much that he wanted to destroy it.”
“But didn’t that Mytis person and Luno both become an arcana together?”
“It was said that there were originally twenty arcana.
World
’s existence was thoroughly hidden. He was definitely an irregularity.”
Cutie nodded in reply to Calaria’s remark.
“And 16 years ago, until World Destruction was carried out, Mytis existed inside Luno.”
“Mytis acquired godly powers in order to stop the world’s creation. But he could not do it, and was sealed after his defeat. Does that outline sound correct?”
“Come to think of it, the legends in this village also say that Miss. Luno had sealed an evil God.”
“Then that fits Calaria’s theory.”
“So he’s on a rampage trying to clear his grudge for being sealed for a long time?”
“Who knows? I think it could be the opposite as well.”
“The opposite?”
“He was sealed, but, as a result, Mytis could be with Luno, whom he wanted to protect with his life.”
“And after what happened 16 years ago, they were pulled apart……”
Dugan was controlled by
World
and destroyed the town he himself built up, then died.
And if Henry’s future was to be killed after losing his dignity in the same way, then-
“Dugan, Henry, and Mary. Seeing as
World
is prioritizing taking his revenge on the people involved with what happened 16 years ago, the reason is likely the fact that Mytis was pulled away from Luno.”
“That’s why he’s acting in a way that stains my father’s dignity…… And he’s going to top it all off by making parent and child kill each other.”
“But did he need to prepare a military force of angels if that was all he wanted?”
“500 is a big number, isn’t it? Enough to completely annihilate the royal capital, even.”
“The royal capital…… annihilate……”
Those words made Mary feel uneasy somehow.
The royal capital was the symbol of the Kingdom’s prosperity.
Henry had heavily concentrated his efforts on urban development.
“……Could his goal be to annihilate the royal capital?”
“In that case, we have to make a move, whether we like it or not. It’s going to be quite the tragedy; ‘the father gets killed by his daughter after destroying the royal capital.’”
The stage was already set.
Henry killed his daughter, Francis.
Then he tried to kill Mary and lost the support of the people.
The only things he had to lose were his country and life.
“Even if we succumb, Mytis’s revenge against Mary will still be concluded.”
“It’s like
World
wins either way!”
“Indeed, I’m sure he started this fight after finishing all his preparations.”
The day of Mary’s engagement party with Romeo.
Henry and the others intentionally went all the way to Captis.
He felt that comfortable.
No matter how anyone will try to stand in the way, vengeance will be had.
So, they said:
I wish I died sooner.
No matter how long you lived, you could not escape from the track laid out by
World
.
In fact, survival only destroyed one’s heart and made them more miserable.
“Sis……”
Ami looked at Mary with concern.
But Mary did not let this bring her down after all this time.
“The enemy may think otherwise, but there is definitely a way out of this. Let’s stop him, there should still be something we can do.”
“Indeed…… and I would be grateful to keep on the move rather than have a strange pause. The problem however is that these are all just assumptions. How many people will really believe us?”
“Probably just Philias.”
“How about the army? Because they seem to be fleeing the royal capital while using the drills as a pretext. They might join our side right now.”
“Yeah, they’re going to be sacrificed to dubious people if they remain in the royal capital, so.”
Some of the soldiers were still loyal to the king, but on the whole, morale was at an all-time low.
They could easily change sides.
“Yeah. Fortunately, we don’t have to worry about someone who hates Mary, like Ox, interfering either.”
“I think the soldiers will listen to the princess!”
“Maybe the army could safely evacuate the people from the royal capital.”
“Wait, how do we even go there? We can’t rely on Majoram any more.”
“It’s okay! Sis and I can create a car if we combine our powers!”
“That flashy thing you make with bones?”
“Yep, that super cool thing!”
“Cool, huh……?”
Cutie’s cheek twitched.
She never saw it with her own eyes, but the bike looked considerably ominous, so it was easy to imagine that a car would be even worse.
“Won’t that be too conspicuous?”
Calaria sent a lifeboat to Cutie.
Cutie gave a firm thumbs up, and Ami dropped her shoulders: ‘Oh……’
“Let’s go with a bike, then. I can make it faster with
Chariot
’s powers.”
“It’s going to be a bone bike, isn’t it?”
“Better than a car, right?”
“So only two people can ride on it?”
Mary and someone else could ride on the bike.
The three felt nervous.
The privilege of riding with Mary – this could be their only chance to have such an opportunity.
Leaving aside Calaria who already experienced this, it was a hard thing to concede for Ami and Cutie.