Volume 2 – The World Sneered
A long haired man swung his sword down in the depths of an abandoned mountain.
“Lady Francis!”
His sword drew a sharp line through the air, and launched a blade of wind by momentarily creating a vacuum in the air.
The slash continued and severed a tree far off in the distance.
“Lady Francis!”
There were no more trees in the area around him, so it was clear that he had been continuing this for a long time.
“Lady Franciiis!”
Emotions of anger and hatred filled his shouts.
He was lamenting the loss of the one and only person in this world whom he had to protect at all costs.
“Lady Francis! Lady Francis! Aaah! Aaaaaah!”
He seemed to be swinging recklessly, but his sword had an orderly trajectory.
The man was the Royal Army’s general, Ox Fordbull, and he had been devoted to the path of the sword for over twenty years.
So even if his spirit was shaken, his body still knew how to control a sword.
His master often said, ‘A sword in disarray is a heart in disarray’, but he was already above such things.
He was only sorrowful, and nothing else.
“Why…… Why can I control my sword? I’m grieving Lady Francis’s death from the bottom of my heart, aren’t I!?”
After hearing the news of Francis’s death, Ox entered the mountain to release his pent up sense of helplessness.
But he had strived so much on the path of the sword that even this release was not being permitted to him.
Where could he point these emotions towards?
Perhaps, one day, he would try to kill the king who raised the princess.
As he was amidst such thoughts, someone clad in a robe suddenly appeared in his view, which was empty just a moment ago.
“Who are you!?”
He pointed his sword at them.
The short figure was wearing a mask, so their face could not be seen.
“I’m Digi. An arcana user working for King Henry, y’see.”
“You biiitch!”
Ox swung his sword.
Digi, with a little haste, clenched her teleportation scepter and warped right next to him.
“Whoops, wait a bit, General Ox. I didn’t come here to fight.”
“I heard the news. An arcana user sent by the Kingdom murdered Lady Francis.”
“Well, I do know who did it, yes.”
Ox swung at Digi one more time.
She tried to evade, but her teleportation was too slow, and her arm was faintly cut.
Blood seeped into her robe.
“Ouch…… You’re a mean one, y’know. I’m just here to give you some information at a good price.”
“I have no questions to ask to the bastards who killed Lady Francis!”
“It’s about that Lady Francis of yours, though.”
“What……?”
His attitude clearly changed, and Digi could not help but almost laugh.
It was in a different manner from Mary, but he also seemed to love Francis dearly.
“You know about it, right? Mary’s Death God power.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard. What about it?”
“Do you know about this, I wonder? In the moment that an arcana user dies, they invoke a power that is the exact opposite of their power’s usual characteristic.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah, it’s true. It’s been confirmed by Pupa. So…… Life and death. Destruction and revival. You see what I mean, don’t you?”
“Wait-”
Ox opened his eyes wide after understanding Digi’s intent.
“That’s right, the dead will come back if we kill Mary. So, don’t you think that she would want……”
Digi, confident that the man was now interested, coldly laughed behind her mask.
“……to resurrect Francis, her sister?”
◇◇◇
The car driven by Cutie was going through the wilderness a few hours after leaving Captis.
“There isn’t even any grass growing around here.”
Ami stared outside with intense concentration through the window.
Mary, sitting in the backseat together with her, was chatting with her.
“Indeed. It seems that this is a land not even suited for agriculture.”
“It looks like there’s still people who live here despite that. What are they growing, I wonder?”
“Something you can grow on dry ground…… Who knows?”
Mary started to think about it, and Cutie answered from the driver’s seat.”
“They can’t grow anything properly. I’m sure the people who reside in this area barely survive.”
“So they’re even poorer than my family? Well, we barely survived as well, but still.”
“Rather than poor, this is the kind of place where only those who were chased out from the other villages, criminals, and people like that would live in. I mean, it’s also close to the territorial border, right?”
Apparently, the people who lived here had problems other than inequality.
“I keep seeing traces of fighting. Is the Royal Army really coming this far?”
Calaria asked from the passenger seat, and Cutie answered with a discontent expression on her face.
“The radical ones among them, yes. They’re the Royal Army, so they insist that there’s no problem with entering the Slava Territory.”
“Like when the Slava Army’s soldiers came into my village, right!?”
“……You say some really hard-hitting things now and then, Ami.”
“Was I wrong?”
“No, Miss. Cutie is praising you because you were right.”
“Oh, then she should be more upfront about it.”
“You’re wrong! Also, please don’t join her, Mary, because someone has to stop her!”
“I’m still here.”
“You’re the one who escalates things even further!”
Cutie already had no one left on her side.
Still, she seemed to be enjoying the exchange as well, and while she muttered, ‘Damn it’, her expression did not look gloomy in the least.
They kept pushing their way through the wilderness, and as greenery started to increase, they finally saw fences lining up in the distance ahead.
“Is that the territorial border?”
“There are a few soldiers there as well.”
“There used to be more. Most of the fighting force returned to Captis.”
Then, Cutie suddenly turned the wheel.
They left the road as she started driving over the plains while the car clattered.
“Miss. Cutie!? What’s with the sudden change?”
“We can’t go out into the open route. The Royal Army is swarming the other side of the fence, you know?”
“So you have another route in mind? Still, that was really random.”
“What do you expect? I had no time to plan things! Well, it’s just for caution’s sake. The Royal Army must be in disarray as well after the news of Francis’s death.”
Mary and her group had listened to the radio in a mana station they stopped by to rest a while.
The story of Francis’s death, Mary, and Edward was being actively discussed there.
They quickly understood that it was Philias’s doing.
It was no harm for Mary anyhow, and she knew it would happen when she shared that information.
“Shaaaaky~!”
Ami’s voice shook along with the car clattering and shaking up and down.
Even Mary was getting nauseous, but she seemed to be enjoying this.
Ami had never left her home town before.
Even if it was just the wilderness, everything she was seeing was new to her.
Mary was also remembering the landscapes she saw when she was about to become a bride, and thinking about that made her realize that she was on a path of no return as her heart started beating louder.
Then, the car crudely passed through a gap in the fences.
“We’ve left the Slava Territory.”
“……That was abrupt.”
“That’s how borderlines work.”
The car continued after passing through the fences, and none of them had any strong feelings about it.
But, Ami alone, was staring fixedly at the landscape behind her getting farther and farther away.
◇◇◇
The landscape changed.
They returned to the road again after crossing the territorial border, and Ami breathed in the air rushing through the open window.
“Something smells strange.”
Mary looked at her and got closer to the window as well and smelled the air.
“Yeah, it’s the smell of the sea.”
“Sea? Is there a sea ahead of us?”
“Right, the Kingdom’s foremost resort is just ahead of us.”
“Yukum Beach…… right?”
Mary’s facial expression clouded after she remembered going there with her family when she was little.
Cutie on the other hand started talking a little boastfully.
“Actually, there’s a hotel here run by Majoram, and we’ll be staying there tonight.”
“We’re still barely past noon, aren’t we?”
“Wait, can we play in the sea!?”
“……Well, yes.”
“Yaaaay!”
Ami happily hugged Mary.
Marry hugged her back as they both smiled at each other.
“Who was it that said this was not a trip?”
“I can’t help it. There’s too much free time on our schedule. Besides, we should be at an advantageous location in case the enemy attacks us, right?”
“Majoram’s security……?”
“Got any complaints!?”
“No, not particularly.”
Calaria and Cutie were chatting with a strange sense of distance in the front, and Mary and Ami were hugging each other in the back.
Before long, Yukum Beach became visible.
“Whoa…… so this is a sea!”
Ami’s eyes sparkled.
The great emerald green sea was reflected in her pupils.
The sea’s surface was shining like a gem reflecting the sun, and the sound of the waves comforted the group.
The unfamiliar scent and this landscape made a charming combination.
“The white sands on the beach are beautiful too.”
“They look like salt!”
“Hehehe, the salt is over in the sea.”
“Is that water really salty?”
“Yes, it’ll be really bad if you end up swallowing any.”
“Whoa! I wanna try it out just once!”
“That’s the curiosity of fear, eh?”
Ami and Mary were excited because of the sea.
“There are so many people here, so I’m impressed it’s still so beautiful.”
“The rules regarding trash are very strict, and there’s a fine if you break them.”
On the other hand, Calaria and Cutie were having a conversation with no romanticism.
◇◇◇
Yukum Beach was lined up with elegant hotels and mansions.
One of them was the destination of Cutie and the others.
They parked the car and entered inside.
The employees welcomed them together.
The company president’s daughter was coming to stay over, so they had prepared well.
But they had no time for sightseeing this time, so there was not much point to all the preparations.
Mary and her friends handed their luggage over, and were taken to a building different from the one with the normal rooms.
They were led to a hall used for banquets and such.
There were swimsuits lined up on a hanger there.
“Whoaaaa…… Sis, these! These are all swimsuits!”
“There’s so many of them……”
“……It definitely doesn’t look like something arranged by someone who said this was not a trip.”
As expected, Calaria looked dumbfounded.
Cutie frantically explained herself.
“No! I just told them to make sure we had a few choices!”
She could not deny it any longer – this was definitely a vacation.