Volume 2 – The World Sneered
Before arriving at the town hall, Mary had searched the founder’s house while running away from the disciples.
She figured it would be a big house, probably near the church, and found a certain mansion.
The words ‘Lord Mizelma’ were carefully written on the door plate, so it was easy to find it.
It was an old mansion, probably used by the previous founders.
She carefully searched the house, looking for something that could expose the incident.
She arrived in Rodney’s room.
She was not certain, but thanks to her experience with her brother, Mary guessed that this room was used by a man.
She searched under the carpet, the bed, behind the bookshelf, the cabinet – but she did not find anything suspicious.
The footsteps of the disciples were getting closer.
Their senses were sharp, and they would notice any slight noise.
They had already entered the house and were going up the stairs.
Mary started to hurry.
She searched the desk.
The drawer was locked.
She clicked her tongue, crushed it with her fist and forced it open.
The disciples started running after hearing the noise.
Mary pulled out the notebook that was inside the drawer and jumped out the window.
◇◇◇
It was the notebook Mary came to the town hall with.
It was a diary written by Rodney, who was the current ‘Lord Mizelma.’
“One year ago, Mr. Grody, the previous generation’s founder, passed away.”
Mary recited the writings into the microphone.
Her voice reached the church thanks to the speakers set up throughout town.
This was also thanks to Majoram, which had provided the equipment in this town.
“On the surface, he died in an accident after a sorcery car ran him over, but the truth is different.”
The footsteps of the disciples approached closer.
Bang! Bang! The stone statues were bashing the door.
Mary had blocked it with a barricade, but it was still only a matter of time until they broke through.
(I can’t panic. I can’t let the people think I’m not telling the truth. I have to be calm and speak like a princess. I have a lot of practice with speeches, so I should be okay.)
It was over if the disciples made it in here.
She was so nervous that her heart felt like it was about to explode.
But, she could not let it show in her voice. She took a deep breath while making sure the microphone did not pick it up.
“The one who killed him is the current founder, Mr. Rodney.”
◇◇◇
Mary’s words caused a big commotion in the church.
Rodney’s mother was especially confused.
The refugees who were huddled next to each other in the place of worship all suddenly focused their gazes on her.
Meanwhile, Andre, who was in his personal room, hurriedly stood up and jumped out of the room.
“Mr. Rodney was born with the appearance required to become the next founder, in other words, red hair, but his turn would not come as long as the founder was still alive. But his mother wanted to escape their poverty, so she strongly desired for Mr. Rodney to become the founder.”
Rodney’s mother blocked her ears and crouched down.
But she still could not escape Mary’s voice.
“And she continued pressuring Mr. Rodney, and convinced him to kill Mr. Grody. And, finally, she pushed Mr. Grody from behind, and caused him to get run over by a sorcery car.”
This crime was probably completely unplanned.
She simply took the opportunity when it suddenly came up.
However, thankfully, there were no witnesses.
“After that, Mr. Rodney became the founder. He was highly praised for this by his mother. It was the first time that he was praised so much. He was pleased. Happy. But behind this happiness, the sin of murdering Mr. Grody clung onto him. He lived all this time with the guilt of murder in his heart.”
According to his diary, Rodney knew Grody.
Before he became the founder, Rodney was naturally cherished by the believers for having the features of Lord Mizelma.
On the other hand, however, his mother continued hating Grody.
If only he was never born, if only he was dead, she thought.
Rodney was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and it was not hard to imagine how this damaged him psychologically.
“N-Nooo! No, no, no no no! That’s some kind of a mistake! Why does it have to be my fault!?”
The mother screamed while covering her ears.
Her voice did not reach Mary, but Mary spoke as if they were having a conversation.
“Mr. Rodney’s mother will say, ‘No’, and deny it. But, didn’t Lord Mizelma warn you all many times up until now?”
She spoke as if she knew the will of Lord Mizelma.
But this resonated with the believers.
“Wait, do you think Lady Mary is talking about……”
“A curse……”
“Yes, it’s Lord Mizelma’s curse! That is the reason for all this!”
This was probably just a coincidence.
It was simply a chain of unfortunate events.
But humans were creatures who always looked for a reason in things.
This was a town where the believers of the Mizelma Faith gathered in, and because they always believed deep down that Grody’s death was strange, the rumors of this ‘curse’ had already spread around.
For Mary, it did not matter whether that was real or not.
She used this word, curse, which had a lot of power, as it was the only way.
Then, Andre, who had jumped out of his room, finally arrived at the place of worship.
He vigorously opened the door and shouted out loud when he entered inside.
“Please wait, everyone. These are nothing but wild delusions! She does not have any proof, and she’s trying to make Lord Mizelma out to be the villain! Mary Pulsherima is wanted by the police. You’re all being tricked by a criminal!”
“These are not delusions.”
“Then what are they!?”
“It’s from Mr. Rodney’s diary, which he had hidden in his room.”
It was silent again.
Rodney’s mother suddenly started crying.
“Please forgive me for searching the room. But, it was necessary to save this town. Won’t you admit your crime? I want you to calm Lord Mizema’s anger. This is the only way to save Mr. Rodney from suffering under his guilt!”
Mary’s speech arrived at its climax.
The refugees completely believed her words.
Strange things had been happening in this town for an entire year.
This was the perfect answer, and it convinced everyone.
(I had no idea that – no, I could have learned if I had some time, but I had no idea the faith could be shaken like this!)
Mary was not trying to expose Andre’s true identity, she was trying to erase Hierophant’s powers by stripping Rodney of his founder status.
Andre panicked.
He already knew.
He had already lost.
“……I’m sorry.”
Rodney’s mother groaned.
She stood up, turned around to face the believers, and started trying to excuse herself with eyes full of tears.
“It was my fault. But I had no choice! I wanted money, I wanted fame! This was the only way…… to turn our lives around……”
She collapsed to the floor again.
The others then looked at the founder.
“Then the real Rodney is…… huh?”
Then, they finally noticed it.
The person standing there as the founder did not even resemble Rodney.
“No, that person isn’t Rodney!”
“Who are you!? Why didn’t we notice!?”
“It’s sorcery, he changed his face with sorcery!”
After the believers’ devotion was gone, the powers of Hierophant stopped working.
The faces of the stone statues filling up the town peeled away, and they went back to their normal forms.
“This is…… I have to retreat now!”
Andre bitterly clenched his fist and rushed out of the place of worship.
He entered his office through the open door, and jumped out of a window.
He broke the frame while escaping outside, and got on top of a large sorcery bike that was hidden in the building’s shadow behind the church.
Then, he turned it on without putting his helmet on.
(I hurried things too much. Hierophant’s powers first form by ‘beating to death’ the leader of a certain faith. And after that, I have to continue being the founder without raising any suspicions! I told that damn man named Ox, I needed more time!)
The bike got faster and faster as he grumbled and complained to himself.
The stone statues went back to normal, and the exit of the town came into view as he went through the confused residents.
A last straight road.
He stepped on the pedal and increased his speed.
Only a few seconds until his goal.
Realizing that he was about to successfully escape, Andre smiled.
Then, a woman in a maid outfit stood in front of him.
She grabbed him by the collar and raised him up.
“Ugh!? G-Gah……!”
His ribs broke from the shock and pain ran through his body.
Losing its driver, the bike continued for a few dozen meters and exploded after falling down.
Calaria smiled as the flames lit up one side of her face.
“Huh, so you were the scared little man trying to escape.”
“A-Aaaagh! Calaria, Turquoise……!”
“I see, so you do know my name, after all.”
Calaria squeezed harder while holding him, closing his collar and choking Andre’s neck.
“A-Agh…… Please stop…… Ah!”
The other two showed up as the man continued begging for his life.
“I see, so this guy is the mastermind behind this.”
“Hey, how do we kill him? Should we break all his limbs one by one, with Mary starting first?”
“Eeeeeek!”
He reflexively screamed after seeing the crazy expressions on Cutie and Ami’s faces.
Then, finally……
“I just want to eat him alive, so you can do whatever you want until then.”
Mary pushed the man down, and the group surrounded him.
Andre peed himself out of fear, wetting his robe.
“P-Please wait. I’ll tell you everything! I didn’t want to do something like this either!”
“Then why did you do it?”
“Hierophant ordered me to! I’m a priest of the Theocracy of Feluse. My real mission is to protect my country. But I was suddenly instructed to come to Orvis, and some weird guys started ordering me around!”
Despite not being ordered to do so, Andre honestly confessed to everything.
“Who are these weird guys you speak of?”
“T-The first one was a masked woman!”
“Magician……?”
“But, after that, I was ordered to obey a man named Ox. I came here by his orders!”
“Hmm, so that man was going after you, Mary.”
“How disgusting to hate you just because you’re Francis’s sister!”
“See, I told you. So please let me go. I just want to go back to the Theocracy of Feluse!”
“Are you going to disobey Hierophant?”
“W-Well……”
“Even if you go back, you’ll just try to kill us again after they order you to do so. I can tell from how easily you confessed to everything that you are not to be trusted.”
Andre could not argue against Mary’s words.
If he had to choose between Hierophant and Mary, he would obviously choose Hierophant.
Because he was a believer.
Mary continued and explained to him the reason for his punishment.
“Most of all, did you think you could survive after trying to kill us?”
He caused the group a fear of something worse than death.
He made them suffer.
He tried to kill them.
This already made his death certain.
“I want to hit him a few times too.”
“I deserve to hit him ten times.”
“Mhm, it was really scary. I want him to be even more afraid than we were!”
“……You heard them.”
Leaving aside Mary, the others obviously did not want to let him live either.
At best, death.
At worst, death again.
No matter how much he struggled, death.
“N-No…… Please stop! You will be divinely punished if you hurt me! The Theocracy of Feluse will be your enemies! Aaaaaagh!”
The man’s foul screams echoed throughout the mid-day Feedam.