Volume 1 – Following the Maze Drawn With Lines of Blood
The warning lights inside the building lit up red and the alarm rang.
Mary and the others, who were taking a nap, jumped up after hearing the noise.
“What is it, an attack!?”
“Looks like their side is making the first attack. That’s helpful, because it’ll make it easier for us to reduce the number of their arcana users.”
“Are you sure this is the time to get cocky?”
“It’s just as I said earlier. I’m confident in the security of our building.”
Cutie showed a bold smile.
But, almost as if making fun of her, the room, no, the entire building shook.
And not just once, but many times over and over again.
“……Are we really going to be okay?”
“If they’re attacking repeatedly, that just means they’re not breaking through!”
Saying that, Cutie approached a communication device installed on the wall.
It wasn’t the type that transferred an image, but one that only transferred sounds.
There was a monitor attached, but it was used to display the other party’s current position.
The communication device immediately started ringing.
The words ‘president’s room’ were displayed on the monitor.
“It’s Cutie. Father, what’s the situation?”
“It looks like the enemy attacked from the front. He’s alone, a black haired adult man. The guard soldiers and the defense equipment we deployed are all wiped out, and the man is bashing on the building’s entrance right now.”
“Bashing!? By hand?”
“Yeah, according to reports, the man introduced himself as the arcana user of Hanged Man.”
“That’s a lot of confidence to give his own name out. Okay, we three will head there right now.”
“Okay…… Be very careful. The entrance’s barrier is built strongly, but I don’t know how long it can endure either.”
“We’re not going to lose a 3 versus 1. See you.”
Cutie looked in Mary and Calaria’s direction after the conversation ended.
“You heard the situation.”
“……Weird, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, all alone from the front…… It might be a diversion.”
“You worry too much. Besides, the president’s defenses are a lot stronger than the other spots. No matter how strong of an arcana user the enemy is, they can endure for a while and-”
Suddenly, Cutie’s words were interrupted and the device on the wall started ringing again.
She exchanged a look with Mary and Calaria, and stopped talking to answer the call.
This time, the monitor displayed the words ‘doctor’s office’.
“This is Cutie. Medical care team, what’s up?”
“Lady Cutie, it’s about that little girl named Ami you put in our care earlier.”
“Did something happen to her?”
“Actually, for a while now, she’s been having an impossibly high fever – over 55 degrees.”
“What the hell!? That’s too high to be the poison’s fault, right!?”
“The fever itself calmed down recently, but directly afterwards……”
The tone of the woman’s voice Cutie was speaking with blatantly went lower.
Mary’s chest started beating hard as she listened in from a slight distance away.
“Directly afterwards, what happened?”
Cutie asked the worker who had gone quiet, and the woman spoke while hesitating:
“She stopped breathing. We’ve conducted the resuscitation steps, but……”
The room fell completely silent.
Cutie’s eyes were opened wide with shock while her expression immediately became distressed, and she slowly turned around to look at Mary.
Mary stood up with a calmer demeanor than Cutie expected, approached the device, and spoke.
“……Does that mean Ami is dead?”
She asked again, to make sure, and the worker replied in a depressed voice.
“My princess, I’m sorry. We failed.”
“…..!”
Then, Mary’s face warped with frustration for the first time.
Blood emerged from her lips as she bit into them, and she punched the wall.
“I am so sorry.”
“……No, it’s not your fault. If only, if only, I could have protected her properly!”
She pushed her forehead against the wall and her right arm trembled as she clenched her first.
Tears welled up in her eyes, and Cutie asked the worker in Mary’s stead when she realized that Mary was in no condition to talk.
“The poison, was that the cause?”
“We had already finished detoxifying her, there’s no mistaking that. So, we thought it was due to poor physical health from psychological exhaustion, and fed her meals with high nutrition and made her rest, but……”
“I see…… Okay. You can talk about the rest of the details face to face. I’ll send Mary over right now.”
“Miss. Cutie!? But the enemy arcana user is-!”
“Go, Mary.”
“Miss. Calaria……”
“The cause of death is unnatural. If the Hanged Man at the entrance is a diversion like Calaria says, then this might be the main event.”
“You’re saying Ami’s death might be because of an arcana user.”
Mary had not considered that possibility at all.
That was proof she had lost her composure.
Right now, she decided that she should listen to Cutie and Calaria instead of her own judgment.
“……I understand, I’ll head there right now! Good luck to you as well, Miss. Calaria, and Miss. Cutie!”
“Yeah, to all of us.”
“Be careful, Mary.”
After receiving the two’s familiar words of kindness, Mary leaped out of the room.
The call ended at around the same time, and Cutie faced Calaria.
“Well, then. I’m not happy about being left with you, but whatever.”
“Force yourself if you have to, he’s not a foe we can defeat so easily.”
“I know. Let’s start by taking some weapons.”
“That’d be great.”
“Okay, let’s use the elevator to go to the lower floor and-”
Cutie wanted to leave the room immediately after Mary, but the device started ringing and interrupted her.
This took the wind out of Cutie’s sails, ‘Ugh, again……’ and she looked fed up.
But when she looked at the monitor, that expression disappeared from her face and she stopped moving.
An electric sound echoed through the quiet room.
“Why are you frozen up so suddenly?”
There was no reply to the suspicious Calaria’s question.
Growing impatient, she moved next to Cutie and looked at the monitor.
It said ‘morgue’.
“You have a morgue?”
Cutie finally replied after Calaria’s question.
“We don’t.”
She gave a brief, cold answer in a dry voice.
“What?”
“I’m surprised because we don’t have one. Calaria, be cautious. It’s probably coming.”
There was no need to ask what was coming.
In short, this meant that Calaria’s prediction was correct.
Cutie pushed the button, and said to the other party:
“Good day, arcana user. You really love creepy performances, don’t you?”
“……Hello. Are you Emperor?”
The voice coming from the speaker was the voice of a delicate woman.
“Introduce yourself first. Do you want to boast about breaking through our security or something?”
“Not really, no. There’s no point to security, or anything like that. You all shut yourselves in your own coffins.”
“You talk big.”
“I’m not big. I’m small. But-”
Then, the call broke off.
“She’s gone?”
“Cutie, look at that monitor.”
Calaria pointed with her head to an oblong monitor hanging down from the ceiling.
There was static noise on the display, but it suddenly stopped.
Then, it displayed a lone woman standing in front of a completely black background.
A white haired, slender and tall woman.
Her hair was very long, coming down her back to her feet, and her bangs also completely hid her face.
Her attire was a simple white dress.
She almost looks like a ghost, Calaria thought.
The woman declared to Cutie through the monitor:
“Fortune. Destiny. Chance. God is saying this. Kill Princess Mary. And the people who get in the way, kill them too.”
“Brave words from someone who’s too scared to show her face.”
“You’re the one who’s bluffing. Despite being in a coffin.”
The woman’s body faintly shook, and all her hair swayed like waves.
Then, something started making a ‘krrrrk’ noise right next to Cutie.
The bed moved.
“Now, let’s see what kind of a trick she’ll show us.”
“Cutie, the wall just moved!”
The room’s walls closed in to crush the two.
Cutie immediately reached out to the door.
“Tsch, it won’t open.”
“Move, I’ll break it! Aaaarrrrh!”
Calaria punched the door with all her strength right after Cutie stepped aside.
It was a shock strong enough to shake the entire room, but the metal door did not even move an inch after the punch.
“Is it being blocked by an arcana power?”
“Looks like it. My Empress is being deflected too. It’s frustrating, but it looks like the enemy’s mana is higher.”
Cutie touched the doorknob and sighed.
Then, she touched the bed which was being pushed by the wall and sliding on the floor.
“Looks like this can work.”
Then, she used her mana.
“Taming Familia – shall I make you turn into a wild boar or something?”
Suddenly, after a shockwave, Cutie transformed the bed into an animal.
On the other hand, Calaria lowered her back facing the door and clenched her first.
The walls were gradually closing in to crush the two.
“Can you time it with me, Cutie?”
“Obviously. Let’s go, Calaria. One, two-!”
“Threeeeeeeee!”
“Gooooo!”
Calaria’s fist and the wild boar’s charge – this shockwave shaking the floor blew away the door that was anchored by the enemy’s arcana.
The two leaped out of the room, right before the walls suddenly gained speed and completely crushed the room.