Volume 1 – Following the Maze Drawn With Lines of Blood
“According to the information I had my spies gather, there are 5 arcana users from other countries that have been confirmed dead. 6 if we include a mercenary not affiliated with any particular faction. Other than that, there are also arcana users who are not confirmed dead but are missing.”
“A mercenary…… Yueri?”
“Oh, Miss. Maid, I’m surprised you know her name.”
“Miss. Calaria is related to the arcana user of Justice.”
“Wow…… and she’s working together with the princess, who vowed revenge on His Majesty. Hmm, I see, so His Majesty is entangled with assassins from other countries too……”
“I’ll tell you about that when you’re done talking.”
“You’re pretty tight-lipped. Okay, I’ll tell you the details. From what I’ve confirmed, the death of Wheel of Fortune was confirmed in the Kingdom of Helias, which neighbors the Slava Territory.”
Noted put his hand on his chin and muttered after hearing that.
“So that’s the reason Helias did not make any moves despite Captis’s condition.”
From the point of view of a neighboring country, this was the time to attack.
Despite that, the border zone was still quiet. Noted certainly felt that this was strange.
Philias continued.
“Next, to the south, the Empire of Ganedia, which hungers for territory. That’s where Devil died. And further south, in the Republic of Ultenos, half of which is a lake, Tower died. Going even further down south, in the Kingdom of Orest, which is full of forests, Moon and Sun were confirmed dead.”
“That includes some people we fought.”
“Oh, you fought them already? Yes, in other words, the powers that left these dead arcana users were already inherited and taken in by the enemy as fighting power.”
“Hey. Ami, be quiet!”
“……Sorry.”
Ami dropped her shoulders after Cutie scolded her.
But it was not a big loss for that information to be passed on to the enemy.
“The ones we don’t know about are Devil, Moon, and Sun.”
“Wheel of Fortune was inherited and now dwells within this girl called Ami, right?”
“We actually fought with a different user before that. After that user’s death, the arcana immediately entered Ami. It looks like the inheritances are happening faster due to some reason.”
“You seem to know the reason.”
“I’d like to ask one thing before that.”
“I’ll answer if I can.”
“How did you learn so much about the arcana of other countries which have been kept secret so far?”
“Oh, that. Our spies are really good…… is what I’d like to say, but all the nations are in chaos because of the arcana user deaths. The presence of arcana users is a kind of deterrent, so their loss is very significant for a country.”
“I see, so that’s why it was easy to sneak spies in.”
“Yes, and they were all assassinations. Power struggles are essential in every country, and many people consider arcana users to be a pain. People were suspicious that their allies might have killed their country’s arcana users, so there were a lot of people willing to sell information to spies.”
In other words, this reinforced the theory that World’s holder was going around with the homunculi and killing arcana users.
World’s ploy to exploit the weaknesses of arcana was being carried out as Calaria had imagined.
And this also meant that the arcanas of Devil, Moon, and Sun were being held by homunculi.
Cutie imagined a fierce battle, and muttered to herself, ‘My head hurts.’
“That makes clear the whereabouts of 14 arcanas in total……”
“The missing ones are High Priestess, Empress, Hierophant, Lovers, Chariot, and Judgment. That means one of these is His Majesty’s arcana.”
“No, you’re wrong. The arcana possessed by my father is the 21st arcana, World.”
“21st? There’s a 21st?”
“Father is an arcana user!?”
Philias was surprised and her voice cracked.
Edward was also astonished, but he missed the point.
“What’s its ability?”
“From what we currently understand, it’s the ability to freely transform those he gives his blood to.”
“Then that’s why Dugan……”
“Dugan is the one who told us. World is also the reason homunculi like me were created.”
“…… What are you talking about, Mary? Homunculus? You?”
“World Destruction. The homunculus mass production project, which is connected to Pupa Industries.”
“Philias, you knew!?”
“When you reach my position, you understand right away when His Majesty acts suspiciously. I see, so that was ‘World’.”
Rather than investigating the locations of arcana users from other countries, it was a lot simpler to investigate one’s own country.
It was only natural for someone of Philias’s talents to know such things.
“It’s the first time I’m hearing anything definite, but, yes, I see. I thought assassinating arcana users from other countries was useless without a vessel, but I didn’t know about the homunculus manufacturing.”
It was a good thing that Philias was quick to understand things, after all.
Edward was ignored as usual, but she would probably explain in further detail to him later on.
“Is World the reason arcana inheritances are getting faster?”
“I think so.”
“It’s like the arcanas are in a hurry, huh?”
“That means…… World is just that terrifying.”
“And you’re saying His Majesty possesses that. I feel like the tip of a sword is up against my throat. But contacting you was the right thing to do. A lot of my questions were answered. And while you’re at it, it would be great if you could tell me the details about what happened around Duke Slava.”
“That’s up to Mr. Noted.”
“Oh, that will make things difficult.”
“I’m ready to have a connection with the Royal Army. But I would have to choose the right time and the right means to make King Henry look as bad as possible.”
“Scary, Majoram’s president is quite the cunning fox.”
“He does look like a fox!”
Ami spoke without any delicacy, and Cutie pushed her index finger into her cheek.
“C’mon Ami, what are you saying?”
“His belly looks like a fox’s, doesn’t it?”
“……I can’t deny that.”
“Cutie, please deny it!”
Noted sounded miserable.
Philias laughed while her shoulders shook.
“Hehehehe, I hate being the person in power, because you can’t trust people from the heart, despite this pleasant exchange. Well, I have a vague idea of what happened to the duke, so I’ll wait for the details.”
“You will keep us informed in the future as well, right?”
“Yes, give-and-take, right?”
“I think I gave too much information this time.”
“You’re greedy. Okay, I’ll tell you His Majesty’s plans for the future.”
“……You’ll go that far? Mary is coming to kill him, you know?”
“If His Majesty really possesses that crazy arcana, then he’s not going to die so easily even if Princess Mary goes after him. And if she’s cornered, she’ll be exposed and I’ll get the leftovers.”
She coldly smiled.
The Imperial Knights all had a strong sense of loyalty towards the Kingdom.
Mary, who saw this up close, knew that although Philias was frivolous with her words and deeds, thought that she was still firmly loyal in her heart.
(If she can switch so easily, maybe I was wrong.)
Mary was not disappointed, but she could no longer trust Philias’s smile.
There could also be another possibility.
(……She’s attaching herself to us as a close associate. I’m feeling like this is similar to what happened with Dugan.)
That was probably overthinking it.
The fact that Henry changed was also similar to what happened with Dugan.
However, the possibility of Henry being the owner of World was high.
It wasn’t strange for his subordinates to notice the changes if World’s intense power was influencing his personality.
After that, Philias conveyed Henry’s schedule to Mary and her friends, and hung up.
Mary loudly sighed as Calaria patted her on the cheek.
“Good work.”
“Ehehe, I was nervous.”
“I think it was a good information exchange. We can mostly estimate the enemy’s fighting power now.”
“And Henry’s moves. If we’re going after him, it should be during the large-scale army drill 2 weeks from now.”
“I think so too. If we miss that, his defenses will be more strict after his conference with Emperor Ganedia.”
“Is the king stronger than Dugan?”
“I want to enter the royal capital 3 days early and ascertain that.”
“So we have around 10 days……”
“That’s more time than I expected.”
Traveling by car, it took 1 day to reach the royal capital from Captis.
Even with a lot of detours, it would be difficult to spend 10 days on the road.
“If we’re going to stop by Pupa’s facilities as well, then it’s a good thing we have some leeway.”
“Yes yes! I want to eat lots of delicious stuff in all kinds of places!”
“This isn’t a vacation.”
“I’ll contact our affiliate companies in various places to make sure we can eat well. Food is vitality, and that is victory.”
“Thank you for everything.”
“Now, let’s figure out a detailed schedule in a different room. We’ll use my car, and-”
“Vacation! Vacation!”
“I said it’s not like that……”
Cutie and Ami left the room first.
Mary suddenly stopped behind them, and Calaria suspiciously turned around to her.
“What’s wrong, Mary?”
“……I’m sure this will be Ami’s last trip. I want to stop by the places she’d like to visit, if we have the time.”
“That would make her happy. But the most important thing for her is to be together with you.”
“I’ll always be with her, of course. That’s how I can pay my gratitude to her.”
“Well, I may get angry if you pay too much attention to just Ami.”
“Huh!?”
“Heh, I’m kidding.”
“……No, I’ll pay attention to you too. With my utmost!”
Mary smiled again and left the room with Calaria.
Noted remained behind and watched the four leave with a smile on his face.
◇◇◇
Edward loudly sighed after the call was over.
“Ugh…… What’s with that Mary? She’s completely different from before.”
“I told you not to underestimate her.”
“You can’t get rid of an image that’s stuck in your mind after such a long time! More importantly, Philias, weren’t you too arbitrary during the talks? You told them about my father’s plans, what if their assassination succeeds before we’re ready!?”
“That just means his time was up, right?”
“And you call yourself an imperial knight!?”
Edward raised his voice but Philias replied in an unchanging tone.
“The Imperial Knights. The pinnacle of the Royal Army, and as for its leader, for a position employing those other than royalty and specific blood relatives, their status stands side-by-side with the rank of general.”
“I know that much.”
“But maybe it’s not actually that big of a deal. No one panics if someone from the Imperial Knights goes missing.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s treated as a vacation, so no one makes a fuss about it. Currently, the two people I sent to investigate Pupa are actually missing.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Until you’re truly on the winning side, that’s what being an imperial knight is all about.”
“Are you saying you have a grudge against my father?”
“No.”
And then, still not changing her expression, she suddenly brought her face closer to Edward.
“Hey, prince. After being born as a destitute aristocrat, how hard do you think I had to work to become the leader of the Imperial Knights?”
She did not even blink her eyes, and he was frozen like his hands and feet were tied up.
“I want power. This isn’t enough, I need more. Something more concrete, more permanent, something no one can get in the way of – and something that will revive the Toulope Family. For that, I want to cut this country up and eat it with you.”
“You’re the incarnation of greed…….”
“Hehehe, I’m an easy to understand small fly, and easy to control, eh?”
Indeed, this felt more comfortable than being told, ‘I’m unconditionally your ally’.
But Edward did not trust Philias.
It was true that she was his one and only ally.
They were in the same boat, and had to travel together until the end.
But, he could not stop himself from telling himself, ‘Don’t trust her’. It was instinctual.
“You have good eyes. Unlike His Majesty. I’m sure you’ve taken after your mother.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
“Well, shall we get started already?”
“What do you want to do?”
“I’m going to make the death of Princess Francis public. That will really make this story hit its peak.”
“You’re going to use her death!?”
“Yes. If you want to be king, you must throw away your half-baked common sensibilities. That’s the reason you still haven’t become a real royal, Mr. Oedipus Complex.”
“!……”
Philias lightly touched Edward, then turned around and left the room.
After being hit with a sound argument he could not oppose, Edward clenched his teeth and nodded.
◇◇◇
The reality of Francis’s death spread through the Kingdom that day.
But the story greatly differed from the truth.
King Henry always found the presence of Mary, someone inferior in terms of magical power, unpleasant.
Then, he negotiated with Lord Slava and proposed a plan to kill Mary during Romeo’s party.
However, that was avoided thanks to Edward’s cleverness.
Mary survived, but was taken prisoner by Lord Slava.
Francis learned of these plans and came to the Slava Territory to save Mary.
But an arcana user sent by King Henry murdered Francis.
Mary survived and the arcana of Death God awoke within her, and she began her revenge – that was the story.
Things fit together somehow and the citizens were convinced by the story, and their criticisms towards the self-righteous King Henry was strengthened.
Meanwhile, the Kingdom opposed this head on.
The cabinet ministers pointed the blame at Mary for the deaths of Romeo and Dugan: ‘Mary was controlled by the arcana and slaughtered everyone in her bloodlust.’
It was clearly a bad move going against the currents of society.
The posters put up by the army were immediately torn off by the people, and small fights started between them and the soldiers trying to put them back up.
As the chaos gradually spread, 2 days after the battle with Dugan, Mary and her friends departed from Captis.
Starting with Noted, the workers, and Jaysam, the surviving members of the Liberation Front saw them off.
The car driven by Cutie went through a road which was cleared of rubble.
The soldiers working in reconstruction noticed that it was Mary and her friends, and all bowed.
The town was destroyed.
Duke Slava, who used to be an absolute presence, was gone.
But the people would have lost their lives too if it was not for Mary – everyone knew that.
There was no need to think about the lost lives and feel sad now.
But, the thoughts of the survivors were still helpful.
That was only natural.
Rather than being told, ‘I wish you were never born’, anyone would prefer being told ‘Thanks for being there’.
Conveniently leaving some things out, and conveniently focusing on others.
The avenger realized her own selfishness, and headed for her next objective.
The royal capital, where her father was located.
To the royal castle, where the source of everything, World, dwelled within.