Volume 2 – The World Sneered
Mary cared for the unconscious Eniri after the fight ended.
She was completely terrified when she woke up, and she hugged Mary.
It must have been very shocking to be kidnapped.
However, after learning that the culprit was gone, although she was still crying, she smiled.
The two then started walking to return to the village, but they heard an unfitting noise for a forest resembling ear ringing coming from far away.
In that direction, two flames resembling wings lit up the darkness.
She cut the trees in her way with her sword and approached Mary and Erini with a mad speed.
“Miss. Calaria!?”
“Uhyaaah!?”
Erini hugged Mary in shock after this sudden event.
Calaria slid while gradually stopping her momentum and stopped before Mary’s eyes.
She saw Mary and immediately grabbed her shoulders before shouting.
“Mary, you’re safe! Ah, what’s with the blood? Did Ox do this to you!?”
“They’re just bloodstains, my wounds already healed.”
“Oh, that’s a relief…… I see you rescued the hostage as well.”
Calaria put her hand over her chest and took a breath.
Mary had apparently worried her greatly.
“Why did you do this alone!?”
“I figured I couldn’t convince him if I didn’t do it alone.”
“But still…… So what happened to Ox?”
“I beat him, those pieces of meat there belong to him.”
Mary pointed at two lumps of meat that were not moving any more.
It would be difficult at a glance to make the distinction that they’re human.
“Did he transform into an angel……?”
“I suppose he was just a pawn of
World
as well, after all.”
She could not leave him there forever, so Mary grew a beast head from her arm and swallowed the remains.
“The arcana of
Power
…… I bet it was strong. I’m impressed you won.”
“It was just a literal match of power. I think you could beat him too with your new equipment.”
“I hope so…… We’ll talk about the details later. Let’s focus on escaping now.”
“Did something happen in the village?”
Erini asked with worry after noticing Calaria’s odd appearance.
It was hard to see in the darkness, but Calaria’s facial expression was unwell.
“Everyone in the village…… turned into monsters and attacked us.”
“H-Huh!? Monsters…… everyone!?”
Erini was bewildered.
But Mary had a guess.
“Did angels emerge there as well?”
“Yes, it looks like this village was always under
World
’s control from the start.”
“What do you mean? What are angels? Is Erio safe!?”
“Your twin is safe. Tsch, I hear footsteps.”
Calaria turned around.
Mary focused her ears and heard numerous footsteps coming from afar.
“Eek! W-What’s that……? Red flesh…… exposed…… it’s disgusting. Is that what happened to everyone in the village……?”
“It doesn’t look like a high grade angel. Should we kill it?”
“No, it’s a waste of time. We don’t know how many there are. Let’s just flee and preserve our stamina for now.”
They left the decisive battle for tomorrow.
The angels would vanish anyhow if they took
World
down instead of fighting here.
Calaria held Erini with both arms and had Mary cling to her back, then flew up into the sky as flames came out of the device on her back and escaped the forest.
♢♢♢
Calaria landed on the bottom of a mountain.
“Eriooo!”
“Eriniii!”
The blonde and silver-haired twins hugged each other and rejoiced that they were safe.
Ami also ran over to Mary with great speed and hugged her.
“Sis, you’re okay!”
“Yes, I settled things with Ox.”
Mary caressed Ami’s head with love.
She squinted her eyes with relief.
“I’m glad you’re safe, really.”
Cutie walked closer and also smiled happily while putting her hand over her chest.
Mary felt a little guilty after seeing that she was really worried.
“I know it was a letter of challenge, but it was too reckless to actually go alone like a fool.”
“I ended up winning, so please consider it a good thing. I also acquired the arcana of
Power
.”
“A man with such a high position, coming to such a foolish end……”
Edward lamented this.
Mary almost said ‘I think it’s a fitting end for him’, but she held her tongue.
“Anyway, what’s the current state of things?”
Mary obviously could not ask any questions in the sky, so she still did not know the details.
Then, Erio shook her head sideways and spoke in a weak voice.
“I-I don’t know. Our father turned into a monster while we were sleeping, and……”
“Our father…… No way……”
Shaiti and Stella continued after her.
“We were staying in the same house, so I wasn’t suddenly attacked or anything, but still.”
“This is a nightmare…… they’re all people we know. But they suddenly turned into those things without any warning.”
From their story, it seemed that the blood was already distributed before Mary and her group arrived in the village.
The place Luno lived in.
Further, her name was used for the name of the village.
Compared to other places, there were plenty of reasons for
World
to target this place.
It was a coincidence that Mary and her group visited this place, but still.
“Isn’t there anyone else from the village who survived?”
Mary was curious about one more thing.
Why were all the survivors people who were connected to her?
“I saw corpses. If they didn’t transform into monsters, that means it didn’t happen to everyone, but……”
“Even if we return to save them, they’re probably dead by now.”
Cutie frowned.
The village was in a more miserable condition than Mary thought.
“Well, at least this makes things clear. We have no kingdom or future unless we kill the king. You understand as well now, right, my prince?”
“……Yes. My father would not do something like this. We should end this before he commits even more sins.”
Edward also seemed to have made up his mind.
Philias nodded with satisfaction.
Still, Edward was not going to join the fight due to his low Sorcery Rating compared to an arcana user.
“The date is about to change. My father did not specify an hour, right?”
“Yes, he only said tomorrow.”
“The army will contact us if they see any movement.”
Mary’s comms device started ringing the moment Calaria said this.
“It’s here.”
Mary put the device over her ear while doubting the perfect timing.
She felt relieved when she realized that the caller was a sane vice commanding officer.
After some back and forth, she told him about her group’s situation and ended the call.
“What is it, Mary?”
Cutie asked right away.
“My father said he will release the angels by dawn.”
“What about evacuations?”
Mary had a stern expression on her face after Edward’s question.
“Around sixty percent of the residents have been evacuated so far. He said it will be seventy percent by the time it’s dawn.”
“So thirty percent of the people will be left there, huh?”
“Yes, Ami, the battle will begin with some residents still remaining in the city.”
“So there’s still 10,000 people……”
“Seventy percent is good for such a short time, right? It’s an astounding number.”
As Calaria said, the army was definitely doing their best.
But the number ‘10,000’ was still a big fact.
“We’ll just have to avoid getting people killed as much as possible while we fight. Prince Edward, you will assist with the evacuations when the battle begins.”
“But it’s the end of the road if an angel goes for me, you know!?”
“This is only meaningful because it’s dangerous. Try to act like the future king should. Well, there won’t be a problem with the prince appearing during the battle amidst all the chaos.”
“Ugh…… Fine. I’m honestly scared to death, but I’ll try.”
Edward was also apparently the most frightened one out of everyone as they ran away from the village.
He screamed more than Stella or Erio, so this was a very brave decision for him.
“Very well, let’s move to the hidden path Mr. Clive spoke of right away. Miss. Stella, you-”
“Maybe we can come along with you on the way. There’s no knowing when the monsters will attack us here.”
“Okay. Very well, we’ll part ways when we find a safe spot on the way.”
Erini and Erio, who were hugging each other, felt nervous about this decision.
“Will we find a place like that?”
“I don’t know, we could even turn into monsters ourselves.”
Their words were reasonable.
Normally, Mary would have liked to leave a guard with them.
But they did not have the leeway for that right now.