Volume 1 – Following the Maze Drawn With Lines of Blood
“Aa, aa, hello?”
Diji held up her portable communication device to her ear.
She was sitting down on a chair in Dugan’s room inside an underground hideout.
Dugan’s hips were buried in a guest couch, and he was continuing to read his usual book.
“Can you hear me? There’s some weird sorcery jamming here so it’s hard to get a connection.”
“Mhm, I hear you. How are things over there?”
A woman’s voice came out of the communication device.
Diji’s tone of voice was very polite compared to how she spoke to Dugan’s butler Platy.
“Alpha-type has-”
“Tell me the name.”
“Hemlock’s older sister has died.”
“By herself?”
“I told her to take someone else with her, but yes. Maybe it’s because there was another alpha-type on the enemy’s side.”
“It was Calaria, right? Ironic, she might have been in the opposite position if the timing was different.”
“You like this type of setting, don’t you? Why don’t you use it as material?”
“That would be quite imprudent.”
“Haha, I bet.”
Diji cackled as if she had expected that reply.
The other party also laughed, ‘ahaha’.
“One casualty, so 4 remaining…..? Did you launch everyone already?”
“No, arcana users are all ruffians. They’ll stand in each other’s way if there’s too many of them together. In particular, my Magician and that person’s arcana are an especially bad match.”
“Yeah, you’re right about that. It would quarrel against Infinite Corridor.”
“Right? That’s why I’m leaving it to that person and Hanged Man this time. ‘Ampoule’ has arrived as well, so they’re probably being driven to the wall, and even if we lose-”
Then, the woman Diji was talking with spoke in a firm voice of tone to interrupt her.
“Don’t tell me you’re fine with dying. I want to watch the world’s destruction together with you all.”
Diji squinted her eyes and a lonely smile appeared on her face.
“This isn’t some fireworks show, so don’t be ridiculous. In fact, we’re the ones who are supposed to shoot our lives up like fireworks. If you see that and believe it’s a miracle, that’s enough for me.”
“I don’t want you to return my favor in that way.”
“If that’s what you think, then I’ll return the favor in a different way in the other world. We’re all going to meet again there anyway.”
“……Indeed.”
“So, how are things going on your end?”
“All according to play. The reconstruction of World Destruction is going well. We can destroy this world after 1 more month.”
“Ahaha, that’s good to hear. This is a joyous occasion. I’m glad I joined you.”
Her smile was sincere this time.
A pure, very pure smile that was not fitting for such a dangerous conversation.
Then, she calmly declared:
“I want to destroy this rotten world as soon as possible.”
The other party did not say anything.
But, Diji was sure that she was nodding in agreement.
◇◇◇
After hearing about how she was related to Magrat and Hemlock, Calaria was sitting on her bed eating a baguette.
Cutie had asked an employee to bring it for her.
She offered Calaria some fancier food, but Calaria refused, saying that bread was enough for her.
Meanwhile, Mary and Cutie were eating a main dish of meat and fish, which was the employee cafeteria’s set menu.
The three continued eating in silence.
Mary and Cutie were raised well, and did not make any noise with the cutlery.
It was painfully quiet in the room, which Cutie could endure no longer, and she opened her mouth to speak.
“Let me say one thing, it’s not as if I want to push you into a corner, Calaria.”
“……I know. I want to know the truth too.”
“But I feel like we’re not going to learn any pleasant truths by digging further, you know.”
“I feel the same way. Yueri told me that I was ‘an orphan without any relatives’, but that was a lie.”
“So she was in Pupa, after all…… She kidnapped a child to have her undergo the surgery to turn her into an arcana user……”
“In that case, I don’t understand why you three are related. To elaborate further, according to the matching mana waveforms…… you’re more like identical twins, rather than just siblings.”
“Or triplets, right?”
“Maybe, it’s possible.”
Cutie evaded the question.
Everyone had the same possibility in their minds.
But, nobody spoke it out loud.
However, Calaria herself did speak.
“We’re children created in order to become vessels for arcana…… right?”
Then, she took a big bite from her baguette.
“……Is that possible? Can a human create other humans?”
“According to the researchers, it’s an extension of homunculus technology that existed for a long time already.”
“Homunculus…… That’s a type of sorcery to use blood in order to create a human-like golem with no will, right?”
“With the advance of science, that turned into something that could create humans with their own will……”
“No matter how renowned a sorcerer someone is, they can only make so many children in their lifetime. So it’s rational to mass produce them artificially instead.”
Mary expressed her disdain for the concept: ‘Human lives are about more than rationality……’
On the other hand however, she also knew that this is how the world worked.
Otherwise, Francis wouldn’t have been murdered so easily.
“But, if blood was used, that means Miss. Yueri could have been Miss. Calaria’s mother, right?”
“It’s possible. But even if that’s true, would that make Calaria happy?”
“Her name, and everything about her was a lie. At least having that connection with her would make me feel a little better.”
“I see…… Well, maybe we can ask Pupa about it and find out for sure.”
“We’re going to the royal capital in order to kill the king after we kill Dugan, right? We’ll find out on the way, even if we don’t want to.”
Calaria continued eating her meal, as if trying to appear calm.
But everyone could see how much she was forcing it.
Calaria followed up by asking a question to Cutie, as if to stop the others from realizing how she felt.
“So, how are we going to attack Dugan’s hideout?”
“The important part is coordinating with the army and the aristocrats in the area. We’ll be finished before noon.”
“After that’s over, we can finally kill Dugan, right?”
“Who will rule the Slava Territory after Dugan’s death?”
“That’s what you’re worried about?”
“I’m just curious. Right, Mary?”
“Rather than the future of the Slava Territory, I’m more worried about what will happen to Miss. Cutie’s family.”
“Hehe, thanks. Right now, the plan is for my father to take over. He doesn’t want to, and I don’t think the king will accept it. But, that’s the only way we can convince the others in this area.”
The biggest weapon of the Slava Territory, its military strength, could only be maintained by Noted.
However, Dugan’s political strength had also been based on this territory up until now.
Things were probably going to be different after this.
“In that case, I’m a little worried. There might be people trying to kill Mr. Noted while we invade the hideout.”
“If Mary is the enemy’s target, there’s no need to worry about that, but there’s still a lot we don’t know.”
“No need to worry about that. We’re an internal military affairs company, right? You have no idea how strong our security is. Even if an arcana user comes charging in, my father will be far away before they ever reach the top floor.”
“So you’re saying this place is nothing like the Liberation Front’s underground hideout?”
“Of course, this place is flawless. Our budget is on an entirely different level.”
Cutie seemed to have a lot of confidence.
She also understood the power and peculiarity of an arcana user and their abilities.
But she still spoke with such confidence.
“The thing you two should worry about is yourselves. Get some proper rest until it’s time to make our move.”
“The same goes for you, Miss. Cutie.”
“I know. My father already told me many times to make sure I get some good rest if I intend on fighting.”
“Should the three of us sleep side by side then?”
“Stop it, that’s creepy.”
“Then you can sleep with m-”
“Of course not!!”
“Hehehe, I’m joking. Right, Miss. Calaria?”
“Yeah, jokes are jokes. Don’t take them seriously, Cutie.”
“Ugh…… Why are you two so close…..? It’s so disgusting!”
Cutie ate the rest of her meal while pouting.
After the three finished eating, they turned off the lights and laid down again.
(When I wake up, it’s finally going to be time to kill Dugan……)
Mary’s spirits were lifted when she thought about that.
(Ah, no, I need to get some sleep. But I can’t stop thinking about it……)
Her emotions fired up and her body burned.
But she could still rest her body by just closing her eyes and laying down.
The three slept for around two hours.
◇◇◇
The main office building of Majoram was one block of a large site that included factories and such.
For security, there were soldiers deployed by the doors inside the site, wearing the newest model powered suits.
There was one man standing in front of the main gate.
He had an aloof face and black hair. Very thick eyebrows. And strong features.
He was wearing a black coat and a white shirt, and ordinary black pants.
He first crossed his arms while a soldier in a powered suit aimed a gun at him, and shouted after taking an imposing stance:
“Challeeeeeenge!”
It was almost as if he was visiting a rival martial arts school for a fight.
Of course, no one reacted.
Then, he pointed at his own face and began a haughty self-introduction.
“My name is Kalinga Diata! I am the arcana user of Hanged Man! Is Mary Pulsherima here!?”
Of all things, the man revealed himself as an arcana user.
The guard was confused after hearing that, and conveyed this to those inside the building.
The order came quickly.
“Copy that, I’ll eliminate him.”
Ask no questions and shoot to kill – the large barrel sorcery gun spurted fire after those words.
“Guaaaaaah! How cowardly to attack me without answering my question!”
Kalinga did not even defend, and instead took the mana bullets head on.
His coat was torn and his entire body got covered in wounds.
He was battered inside the rising smoke, but he did not go down and instead wiped the blood staining his face with his right fist.
“Ugh…… I can’t lose in a place like this. I can’t lose to such cowardly people……”
Almost as if drunk on himself, he faced the soldier in the powered suit, his eyes glaring and seething with rage.
“As for why, it’s because I’m the protagonist.”
Of course, anyone would have thought the same thing: ‘What’s this guy talking about?’
But Kalinga continued his speech.
“Yes, this power rising up from within me, I am the Hero’s Pride! That’s why I will stand, I will fight, and I will win!”
Then, he raised his fist and charged it with massive amounts of mana.
The Analyze feature installed in powered suits displayed his Sorcery Rating.
The numbers on display quickly got higher and higher.
“I, the protagonist, have to keep moving forward for the sake of this wonderful world!”
“This guy’s Sorcery Rating was in the three-digits just now, but now…… four-digits, no, it’s over 10,000!?”
“The protagonist must always be at the center! Eat my hammer of justice, zealous pulverization, Buuuuuuuuurning Knock!”
He extended his fist forward.
It fired not flames, but a shockwave that shook the air.
“What is this power!? Buagh!?”
The main gate blocking Kalinga’s ‘path’, the remote controlled machine guns, the powered suit’s sorcery gun all turned into rubbish and disappeared.
And the guard soldier inside the armor exploded and died.
“Pathetic NPC, do not cry. Your existence has been carved into the memory of the protagonist, me.”
His entire body swelling with great mana, he brazenly entered the estate.
After that, he was attacked by many automatic weapons and crowds of guard soldiers, but none of them survived.