Volume 1 – Following the Maze Drawn With Lines of Blood
The explosion that occurred in Captis blew away even the buildings around Fidelis’s estate.
Windows were broken even in places far away, and the night city was in great turmoil.
A few minutes after that, the man who proposed the ‘fighting stage’, Marquis Fidelis, had a pale face as he sat down on a couch inside his villa far away.
“I heard you would use an explosive, but this…… how do we handle the aftermath?”
“You can’t kill an arcana user with anything less than this.”
The dubious man standing next to Fidelis pushed up his sunglasses and spoke in a questionable tone of voice.
“Besides, Duke Slava allowed this, did he not?”
“Yeah, he actually praised me when I said I would end Mary, but……”
“Then there is no need to be afraid. If you were recognized by His Majesty the Duke, a bright future awaits you!”
The man spread his arms and celebrated.
But Fidelis was not happy.
The man Dugan introduced to him, this Magician, did not look trustworthy at all.
Where did he find an arcana user in the first place?
Fidelis thought it was suspicious precisely because he was in such a close position to Dugan.
Then, there was a knock on the door before the servant entered.
“Lord Fidelis, it looks like the mercenary you hired has arrived.”
“Mercenary?”
“She calls herself Calaria. Umm…… She says she brought Mary’s corpse with her.”
Fidelis quietly stared at the man’s face.
However, the man also seemed to be surprised at these words.
“H-Hey, shouldn’t she be dead?”
“She’s a top-class mercenary. I suppose she found some means to survive.”
“But isn’t she going to be hostile to me if she knows you installed the explosive?”
“Please don’t worry, that’s why I’m here. Besides, see?”
The man raised his hand and four men in robes appeared from the corner of the room.
They had been hiding up until now.
“T-This is……”
“I’m not the only one guarding you.”
“Ooh, 5000 Sorcery Rating…… They’re fine sorcerers. That makes five men including you! This puts me at ease.”
“Right?”
“You there, maid, you can bring Calaria in. Tell her to come here by herself!”
“Understood.”
The servant left the room to call in Calaria.
After a while, the door opened after a knock.
It was Calaria, of course.
She was holding onto a gatling gun with her broken left hand.
On her right hand, was the burnt up, slack corpse of Mary.
Calaria crudely tossed Mary’s corpse near Fidelis.
“Ooooh!?”
Fidelis was surprised at her grotesque appearance.
“Proof of a job done, take it.”
“I didn’t tell you to bring her corpse here!”
“But you can’t know she’s dead without seeing the body, right? Especially since she’s an arcana user.”
Calaria glared at him after saying that.
“Ugh……”
“I didn’t know the enemy was an arcana user, Fidelis. That’ll cost double.”
“You can ask His Majesty for compensation!”
“That’ll be trouble for me. Besides, you’re the one who didn’t tell me, aren’t you? Pay up.”
“Uh…… F-Fine, I’ll pay, so…… Eek! T-Take this corpse somewhere else! It’s disgusting!”
“Is that included in the fee?”
“Just do it! I’m a marquis, don’t you know!?”
“Then ask your servant to do it for you.”
“Ugh…… H-Hey, sorcerer, put that thing somewhere I won’t see it!”
“Understood.”
The man in sunglasses raised his hand to lift Mary’s corpse with sorcery and moved it behind the couch.
Fidelis patted his chest with relief after the corpse went out of sight.
“Phew, you damn barbaric mercenary… Shit, the stench of that corpse is going to seep into this room!”
He put his hand on the table while cursing.
There was a device connected to a network, and when he finished touching it, the cash bonus was deposited into Calaria’s account.
“Look, I deposited the money. We’re done now, right? Leave!”
“……”
“Why are you so quiet? I hate dirty mercenaries like you. I can make my sorcerer kill you if you stay here any longer, you know?”
“……Yeah, sorry. I was just waiting for her to recover.”
“Recover?”
“She restored her inner organs first, so I don’t think she’s as bad as she looks on the outside, but…… I guess it still takes some time to recover after taking that much damage. Ugh, she barely handled it even after all that big talk. Why do I have to worry about stuff like this?”
“What are you talking about…..?”
Fidelis tilted his head.
Then, Mary crawled like a ghost and stood up behind the couch he was sitting on.
Her skin full of burn injuries had healed half-way, and she was now wearing her dress again while holding a giant sickle with both hands.
The corners of her mouth almost tore as she smiled, and she swung her massive sickle……
“Crap! Kill that woman!”
The man with sunglasses gave the order after noticing her first, and the sorcerers waiting in the room made their moves.
Fire, ice, rock, wind – spells of various attributes were cast at Mary but her swing was faster.
One flash. Her intent to kill cut through the sorcerers.
Calaria kneeled down at the same time.
As for the sorcerers who couldn’t put their guards up……
“I-Impossible……”
A faint red line showed up on their necks.
Immediately afterwards, their torsos and heads slid and separated.
Five heads fell to the ground with a thunk.
Blood started seeping out of the bright cuts, eventually overflowing like water from a fountain and staining their robes.
Their limp bodies then fell down because of gravity.
Silence filled the room.
Fidelis screamed after looking at the severed head of the man with sunglasses.
“Uh, uuh, eek, hiiiiiaaaaaaaah!”
“What a foul scream.”
Fidelis started crawling away from Mary while peeing himself.
“W-Why, why, whyyyy!?”
“You thought you could kill a Death God with that?”
“With that explosion, yes! Normally!”
“Well, I’m not normal.”
“Eek!….. Calaria, C-Calariaaa! You betrayed meeee!”
“You’re the one who betrayed me first with that sorcerer’s explosive trap. Well, I’m taking your money and your life, so I shall mercifully forgive you.”
“We shall use that money to help us kill Duke Slava.”
“Y-You wretcheeeees!”
The two replied in turns to Fidelis as he screamed and cursed before Calaria aimed her gatling gun at him.
“That’s a funny line…”
“…Coming from you.”
A rain of bullets came down on Fidelis from all sides.
It was more than overkill, as bullets pounded him until the two vented all their anger.
They both stopped firing at the same time.
Mary devoured the corpses in the room using the beast heads growing from her chest and asked Calaria:
“This dubious person isn’t the sorcerer, is he?”
“His Sorcery Rating is 5000, that’s too low. Besides, that sorcerer has more powers than the infinite corridor. I don’t think he would die so easily without using a trump card. He’s probably laughing somewhere as he watches us right now.”
“Arcana users are trouble, huh?”
“You’re one to talk.”
Mary innocently laughed, ehehe.
“You don’t look cute laughing right now.”
“Is it that bad?”
“You look like a zombie.”
“Uuh…… Really?”
Mary seemed down after that.
“Thanks.”
“……Huh?”
“I could have died if I made a blunder, but I survived thanks to you protecting me. I feel like I was saved a little.”
“Hehe, I guess I did well to use my body.”
“So does it hurt?”
“I still have a normal sense of pain. It hurts, it’s hot, and I don’t want to do that ever again.”
Mary pouted while saying that, and Calaria smiled when she looked at her.
◇◇◇
Platy visited Dugan’s hideout a while after that.
“Your Majesty, it’s awful! A massive explosion occurred in Captis, and on top of it, I hear Marquis Fidelis has gone missing-”
She frantically reported to Dugan as he elegantly turned a page on his book.
But her gaze quickly moved to a mysterious person who stood up to approach Dugan.
A robe hid her short physique, and she was wearing a beast mask – it was probably a young girl.
This unfamiliar person stood near the Duke, almost like a friend.
“…Your Majesty, who’s that person?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“B-But……”
“Your master says not to worry about it, so it’s your duty as a servant to obey him. Nooom!”
The young girl took a fruit from the table in front of Dugan and put it in her mouth from under the mask.
This insolent behavior was inexcusable, but as long as Dugan permitted it, Platy couldn’t say anything.
“Ugh…… Your Majesty, about Marquis Fidelis……”
“It’s a shame.”
“Yes. I believe it was done by Mary Pulsherima.”
“Dugan already knows that. Calaria also survived, didn’t she?”
“Calaria…..? Who is that?”
“You don’t know? Oh, right, I guess there’s no helping it. We’re the ones who hired her. Mhm, there’s no helping it indeed. But y’know, I wanted her to die since she seems to be one of the alpha types raised by that shitty woman. She’s too tough, that maid cosplayer.”
“Stop babbling nonsense!”
“Oh, scary. Are you jealous that I took your master? Yeah, you ignored Dugan’s orders to come here, so. Sorry, but it’s not my fault.”
“You…..!”
Platy clearly glared at the young girl with hatred.
But she seemed to be enjoying that, and simply continued cackling.
Then, Dugan warned Platy.
“Platy, she’s a guest. Be polite with her.”
“…Understood.”
“Oh no, she’s mad at me.”
“Ugh……”
“W-Whoa, scary. Sorry, sorry, I went too far. We’re in the same boat, so let’s get along.”
“In that case, would you at least tell me your name?”
Platy spoke with a heavy tone of voice, and the young girl pleasantly replied.
“Sure. I’m Diji. A sorcerer and an arcana user.”
She wasn’t joking as she continued:
“I’m Mary’s older sister related by blood.”
She spoke very clearly.