Prologue – A Cry Rings Out Because You Died
“Kill…… me? Why? Why would he do that…..?”
Mary couldn’t help but ask.
Indeed, who, and for what? A few names quickly came up in her mind, but she realized she did not have much time left after seeing Francis’s impatience.
Francis opened the jail door with the key in her hand, and grabbed Mary’s hand.
“I’ll explain later. It’s time to escape, Mary, hurry up.”
“O-Okay!”
Francis pulled Mary by the hand, and Mary spotted the figure of a man on the ground with blood stains around him.
“T-The guard…..!”
“I did it. I don’t think he’s dead, but I didn’t have time to hold back.”
Francis’s words sounded cold.
This scared Mary, but also made her feel a sense of reliance.
Normally, Francis definitely was not the kind of woman who would use violence.
If she wanted to, she would use water as a top-grade sorcerer, and could easily kill many people.
That’s why she always controlled herself, and made sure not to use too much power.
Mary wasn’t so dull that she would not grasp the gravity of the situation after her sister hurt someone to save her.
“……Three people are coming at us.”
“Huh!?”
Francis stopped right before a turn in the corridor.
Mary could not sense their presence or even hear their footsteps, but she could hear the men’s voices after a few seconds.
There were three soldiers carrying rifles and wearing waistcoats.
Their equipment was mostly the same as the soldiers who restrained Mary.
There was probably anti-magic plating inserted into their waistcoats, and their guns were most likely the type that utilized the user’s mana to generate bullets, sorcery guns.
“I-Invaders? I can’t believe they snuck in into such a strict facility.”
“The duke wants to keep this hidden, so everything is piled up in here. This is like a mountain treasure for a thief, isn’t it?”
Francis peeked at the soldiers around the corner and checked their firepower.
This was converted into numbers in her eyes due to a spell named analyze, and she saw the ratings of her foes.
(The first one’s sorcery rating is 104, the guy next to him has 201, and the third one is 236… none of them are really sorcerers. In other words, there’s no need to be wary of any sorcery. Well, it’s obvious from the fact that they’re using sorcery guns.)
Sorcery rating was a combination of the volume of mana a person possessed and the amount they could use at once.
The minimum amount to be called a sorcerer was 300, but it still depended on the combination of volume and output.
It was no good to have a high volume of mana but low output, nor high output but low volume.
However, it was possible to fix the imbalance caused by having low output if one used a sorcery gun that shoots bullets using the wearer’s mana.
In the first place, this only mattered for people who could not become sorcerers… Top-grade sorcerers had no need of sorcery guns, nor would they use them.
“Stop the idle chatter, you two. There’s no telling where the invaders are.”
“It’s fine, man. Regular sorcerers can’t get through our armor these days.”
By the way, just for reference, Francis’s sorcery rating was 5658.
“Move.”
She raised her hand and some translucent water materialized.
It extended out to one of the soldiers like a snake, pulling on his ankles and toppling him.
“Wha!?”
The two soldiers turned their eyes on the man on the ground.
Using this opportunity, Francis stepped forward and shot the man between the brows with a water needle.
“A-Aagh…!?”
“F-Fuck yooouu!”
One of the soldiers brandished his gun after seeing his comrade killed up close.
Francis used the corpse as a shield, and her foe hesitated to shoot.
Francis used this chance to steal the gun from the ‘shield’ and pulled the trigger.
The man’s body convulsed after a series of shots in close distance and he lost his life.
“One left.”
Coldly muttering so, Francis aimed her gun at the temple of the man on the ground.
The man’s skin burned with a sizzling sound after hot metal pierced his body.
Francis had thought ahead and used a compact strategy to conserve fighting power, but her power was still overwhelming.
“E-Eeeek! Please let me go…… I, I, I don’t want to die…..!”
“……Yeah, I don’t want to kill you either.”
The man looked relieved after hearing Francis’s gentle words, but he was strongly slammed on the ground by his ankles the next moment as he lost consciousness when his nasal bone broke.
Mary approached Francis and hugged her after the fighting ended.
“Sister……”
“I’m sorry if I scared you, Mary. Let’s hurry up, we’re almost at the exit.”
She pulled her little sister by the hand again and started running.
Mary looked back on the corpses as her eyes teared up, but she quickly swallowed her fear and exited the corridor without shedding a tear.
◇◇◇
They went outside through the backdoor of the building.
Mary turned around and saw the area for the first time.
“This building is right at the center of town… I can’t believe this is where I was.”
A lot of glass windows lined up the large gray walls extending high into the skies to emphasize the authority of the duke.
The engagement party was held at an estate constructed with wood owned by the Duchy of Slava, but this building was also owned by the duke himself.
“It ruins the townscape, doesn’t it? They say Romeo loves how this looks, though.”
“That’s creepy, especially considering the underground dungeon……”
“I’m sure he intended on using it for ill things.”
They walked further from the building while talking until a large wall stopped them.
Francis held Mary in her arms and threw a rope of water created by her water sorcery on the top of the wall.
She then jumped and lifted herself high up.
She went over the wall in one leap, and landed without making much sound.
She was clearly a sorcerer specializing in close combat, and had a good control on not only her mana but also her physical power.
Mary looked at her sister with adoring eyes.
“Now, Mary, get in the car. We have to leave quickly.”
The black car arranged by Francis was waiting before their eyes.
This was called a sorcery car by some, and it could run at great speed for lengthy periods of time using a combination of electricity and mana.
There were very few of them spread around the Kingdom of Orvis, but there were plenty of them in the relatively affluent territory of Slava.
Mary sat in the back seat as Francis was about to close the door.
“Aren’t you getting in, sister?”
“Sorry, Mary. There’s still something I have to do.”
“No!”
“It’s okay, we’ll meet up soon.”
Francis spoke as she patted Mary on the head, but it was difficult to believe these words so quickly.
Even if this really was Francis’s intention, she had already killed numerous guards.
It was hard to believe she could remain safe after that.
“No, I don’t want to leave you!”
“Mary…”
“I may not be of much use, but… Still, I don’t want this. We’re not going to see each other again if we separate now!”
Francis looked sorrowful after these words, but she quickly turned to a full smile and spoke.
“That’s never going to happen. I will, always, be near you Mary.”
“Sister……”
“I promise.”
“You promise, right? You really, really mean it? Let’s do a pinky swear too, okay!?”
Mary and Francis entwined their little fingers.
Then, this time for sure, Francis closed the door.
The driver stepped on the pedal, and the car went off.
Mary clung to the window and burned the figure of her sister into her eyes as she went farther and farther.