Volume 1 – Following the Maze Drawn With Lines of Blood
A few years back, Cutie had visited the Pulsherima family’s estate in the capital.
Because she was going to the same academy as Francis, and had randomly decided to see Francis as her rival.
In the first place, Francis was two years above her, and while Cutie’s grades were excellent as well, she was still no match for someone like Francis who was known as a genius.
They used to say that Francis’s intellect could ‘even see the future.’
As long as she was alive, the future of the Kingdom of Orvis was in safe hands – that’s what everyone said.
Cutie probably had a distaste for Francis, who received such praise from those around her but did not even show any pride.
“I looked at your records from two years ago, and mine were higher on this subject.”
“Well, that’s two years ago. Okay, here’s tea.”
“Gulp gulp…… Buhaah! You sound like you think you can get better records now, huh?”
“Maybe I can. Okay, here’s some sweets.”
“Hmm…… Mnngh.”
“Okay, here’s a refill for the tea.”
“Nngh… Nngh… Phew. A-At any rate, it’s my victory this time!”
“Congratulations, Cutie.”
“Then…… wait, why aren’t you bitter!?”
“What’s there to be bitter about my close friend and junior working hard?”
“Pretending to be some nice senior again like that, eh!? Hey, I’m going to prove for sure that I can defeat you next time!”
That’s how things were between them.
Francis seemed to think of Cutie as a friend, and Cutie may not have said so, but that’s how things looked like to Mary as well.
Thanks to that connection, Mary and Cutie were acquaintances as well.
“I want to confirm something.”
Cutie asked through the monitor.
“Go ahead, Miss. Cutie.”
“When did you notice that I was Mr. Q?”
Cutie seemed displeased, resting her chin on her hands.
“You were always one of the candidates. I figured that Majoram Technologies was the only thing that could build such a facility.”
“Well…… That’s true.”
“Other than that, it’s the equipment they use. They’re state-of-the-art, and I could spot Majoram’s designs here and there. You were collecting real battle data by making the terrorists use your weapons, weren’t you?”
“Correct. There’s not much fighting in our neighboring countries recently, and we’re stuck in a staring contest with the Kingdom’s army. We can’t collect any data by supplying the army yet, so we needed people like these guys.”
“Further, Mr. Q is an easy name to understand. Considering the voice changer as well, you were clearly trying to hide your gender, but you don’t talk like a man, so it was easy to make a guess. Also, you weren’t even trying to hide it that much, were you Miss. Cutie?”
“Their leader Jaysam has already noticed, anyway.”
“Is he still obeying you after that?”
“He can’t do anything without money. He knows he’s being used, so he’s just trying to use me as well.”
Mary’s expression clouded after hearing Cutie’s words.
Taking these feelings into consideration, the difference between aristocrat and commoner had already disappeared.
This organization was set up after so much struggle, but…
(Miss. Cutie understands that they will never truly become Majoram’s pawns. No, maybe even Mr. Jaysam understands this too.)
But, as long as it would bring them hope, they were looking past this.
Or, he was obeying Cutie to maintain a place for his people to come home to.
“Do you have disdain for me?”
“Yes, from the bottom of my heart.”
“Wow, that’s a bit of a shock. But there’s no helping it, nobody’s going to be happy even if I stop what I’m doing.”
Getting away from the influence of Majoram Technologies also meant the collapse of the Liberta Liberation Front.
The group members would lose their leader, and have no place left to go back to.
“That really sounds like a good argument, but…”
“It’s a convenient explanation, isn’t it? But this will only lead to more arguing back and forth.”
“I understand, shall we stop it now?”
“Mhm, mhm, that would be best. Hey, more importantly, I want to ask you something.”
“About my sister?”
Cutie should have been able to imagine the answer by the darkness of Mary’s tone of voice.
But she wanted to hear the words clearly, and so asked again:
“Is it true that Francis is dead?”
“Yes…… She was murdered by an arcana user after rescuing me from the dungeon.”
Mary bit her lips as she answered.
Cutie clenched her teeth, tried to push down all the emotions that were coming up, but she failed to do so and hung her head down, shaking it left and right.
“……It’s unfair, she quit while she was ahead.”
She was able to stop the tears from coming out, at least.
Mary squinted her eyes and sorrowfully looked at Cutie as she grieved.
“You said an arcana user murdered her, right?”
“The arcana user of the Hermit. His name was Magrat. He was a tall, skinny man, and his face was full of tattoos and piercings. I think he was an assassin hired by Dugan, but…”
“Yeah…… So, where is he now?”
“I killed him, and ate him.”
“Ate – oh, the Death God. Then…… Francis too?”
“Yes, my sister is inside me.”
Mary put her hand on her chest and grabbed her dress.
“We will kill Dugan, together. I will never forgive him. Never. No matter what happens…… I will make him suffer alive as much as possible, destroy him so that there is no trace of him left, and make an utter mess out of him!”
Mary talked on and on with crazed eyes.
Cutie on the other hand had calmed down, and took a breath before speaking in a monotone voice:
“You look scary. You’ve changed, you know. Perhaps it’s the arcana’s effects?”
“It’s not as if I wanted this, but I think it’s a fitting transformation for revenge.”
“I see…… I can see a part of Francis in you, isn’t lineage an interesting thing?”
“By the way, can you tell me what you know, Miss. Cutie?”
“Give-and-take, right? I’ll tell you all the information I am able to tell you.”
“So not all of it?”
“Well, don’t worry about the little details.”
Cutie started talking about what happened before Romeo’s death.
“Two days earlier. Without even informing the army or my company, the rulers of the Kingdom, and Prince Edward visited the Slava Territory.”
“Even the army didn’t know?”
“Worrisome, isn’t it?”
“In other words, Dugan himself wanted this to happen.”
“There were some secret promises at play. That’s when they decided to kill you as well.”
“The fabricated crimes were quite messy too. I don’t think they prepared well.”
“The one who financed the arcana user is probably King Henry.”
“My father? But Lord Romeo said that Dugan is the one who-”
“Hehe, still calling him by his title? You’ve been raised well.”
“Ah…… sorry, it’s just a habit.”
She was more used to saying Romeo’s name than Dugan’s.
Besides, he was already dead, so she probably felt no need to change the way she said his name.
But she did feel embarrassed about it after it was pointed out, so Mary corrected herself.
“Romeo said Dugan called in the assassin.”
“Ehehe, you corrected yourself.”
“Please stop laughing!”
“Sorry, sorry. Yes, that’s probably true. But, if an arcana user came after just anyone called one, the big-wigs wouldn’t be so frantic about finding one. It’s probably the King that caused the arcana user to come in so easily. Well, it feels like the King is in with some pretty shady people too, so……”
There were only 20 arcana users in the world.
Among them, only two were based in the army of the Kingdom of Orvis.
Zero in the Slava army.
Just as Cutie said, if there was an arcana user to be called in so simply, he had to be based in the army.
On the other hand however, arcana users were desperately wanted by the King’s army as well.
So, how did they have enough that they could ‘loan’ one out like that?
“At any rate, Majoram and the Duke of Slava are in the same boat. Despite that, they made a secret arrangement with the King without informing us, and called in an arcana user somehow on top of that. After all that, they also used a poison gas that was not made by us.”
“You mean the poison gas that was used today?”
“Yes, we did sell powered suits to Logance, but that poison gas was not made by Majoram. It was probably manufactured by Pupa Industries near the royal capital. They run errands for the Kingdom’s army, and are a worthless company that is smaller than us.”
Cutie sounded annoyed.
But she couldn’t help it.
Everything had happened outside of Majoram’s knowledge.
Despite the fact that a large part of the authority of the Duke of Slava existed thanks to Majoram Technologies.
“So…… that means Uncle Dugan has betrayed us.”
Cutie spoke in a very cold voice without a trace of warmth.
Mary, while listening through the speakers, felt a cold running down her back.
At the same time however, she also felt hopeful.
“We both want to destroy Dugan. If so, I think we can become allies.”
“Hmm…… Unfortunately, I can’t make that decision so easily right now. I can cooperate with you, though.”
“Why!?”
Mary couldn’t help but raise her voice, but Cutie replied with a cold expression.
“It will have too large of an impact if the Duke dies. I have to lay the groundwork with the army and the aristocrats.”
“So I can kill him after that’s done?”
“Yes, as long as you can wait for just a few more days.”
“It’s like you’re telling me when I am allowed to kill him. Miss. Cutie, do you know where Dugan is?”
“What if I said I do?”
“Please tell me. I will go kill him right now.”
After an expected answer came back in such a threatening voice, Cutie couldn’t help but smile.
“Of course.”
“Naturally!”
“That’s why I can’t tell you. First of all, there could be secret paths out of that hiding house that even I don’t know of. I found it very strange that there were few guards inside the facilities.”
“Then we have to hurry!”
“Come now, calm down. Let’s get rid of his other hiding spots first. Even if there is a path, there’s no point to it without a destination, right?”
“We can kill him right now, but you want to make detours…… That’s vexing.”
“We don’t even know how many arcana users he has, do we? The way you kill is like that too, but his usage of the Hermit was too rough. We should assume that there are at least a few people.”
“Even if there are arcana users, I will kill them all, and bite them to pieces!”
“Even you can’t fight multiple arcana users at the same time. Considering my fighting power, it’s all over for me if you end up dying. Let’s kill them reliably, one by one.”
“So, by getting rid of his hiding spots, you mean killing other arcana users one by one?”
“I don’t know how many there are, but it can’t be in the double figures. Besides, he’s already lost the Hermit. He will be more careful from now on.”
“So, while I’m fighting, you and your friends here will move ahead with the preparations for what will come afterwards?”
“Correct. You may not be as smart as Francis, but you’re still smart, Mary.”
“Obviously, no one can be as smart as my sister.”
“Hehe, you really do have a sister complex.”
Cutie couldn’t help but laugh after Mary’s boasting.
At the same time however, she also felt grief when she remembered that this person had already left this world.
“I’ll send you the data on the spots that might be Dugan’s hiding places.”
“Are you sure it won’t be intercepted?”
“I’m connected directly to that facility, so there’s no need to worry about that. Even if it does leak out, that just proves there are spies there. You can kill and eat them when you find them.”
“I won’t hesitate if they’re Dugan’s pawns.”
After that, Mary left the room when their conversation ended.
She talked strategy with Jaysam while sitting on a bench some distance away from the room, and then a meeting for the group members was held.
There were two targets for the attack.
Dugan’s villa, and the estate of Marquis Fidelis, someone closely connected to Dugan.
The group members wanted to fight along with the princess, but considering the difference in fighting powers, Mary decided to attack Fidelis’s estate by herself.
The group members were sad about this.
Yet there was no time for anything, as the plan would go into action immediately.
Mary checked Ami’s condition and caressed her head before leaving.
Ami faintly opened her eyes, and spoke in a weak voice:
“Lady…… Mary. Are you, going outside?”
“It’s alright, I will be back soon.”
“Good, luck.”
“Thank you very much, Ami.”
Mary felt empowered by these words, and sallied forth outside.
She jumped high after a running start and grew hooked bones from her wrists.
She clung to the walls, and ran through the night town.