Volume 2 – The World Sneered
The next morning, Mary left the car to get some fresh air after spending the night in it.
The others were still sleeping.
As for Ami, she had slept while hugging Mary, but Mary picked her up and put her on the seat, and she was still sleeping.
“Pheeew…… ah. I like the clean air here.”
Color returned to her face after she took a deep breath.
There were not many buildings around, only forests and suspicious ruins.
These were the ruins of Munbe.
It was a precious historical site where prehistoric buildings remained intact in form, and was under the Kingdom’s control.
According to a theory, this place was Lord Mizelma’s roots, and this civilization had greatly influenced the Kingdom’s culture.
Mary slowly went over the guardrails and approached the ruins.
The area was surrounded by forests and the smell of soil was strong all around.
The ground was also soft, and it was easy to trip if one did not pay attention.
“Do the ruins interest you?”
Mary turned around after hearing a voice and saw Calaria leaving the car.
“Did I wake you?”
“I always wake up when someone moves around near me. It’s ingrained in my body.”
She came up next to Mary.
“That’s an impressive habit. Being a mercenary must be dangerous work, huh?”
“It’s a job where you give your life in exchange for money.”
“Would you switch to another line of work if you had the chance?”
“Of course. When our fight against Henry is over, I’m going to look for an estate where I can work as a maid.”
“Please come to me, then, because I would gladly take you in!”
Mary spoke in an innocent and cheerful manner, but Calaria’s expression turned gloomy.
Mary tilted her head.
“……I’m sorry, I brought up the subject because I was expecting exactly that. How lowly, huh?”
“D-Don’t say that, you’re embarrassing me……”
“Hehe, I suppose it was ill-natured.”
“Right, you do have a habit of acting like that.”
“Hahaha, I actually talked about this with Cutie earlier. About what I would do after all this, I mean.”
“Did you make a decision?”
“I’m quite serious about the maid thing.”
“I’m serious about taking you in too!”
“It’s decided, then. I’m glad I’ve secured my future employment.”
Calaria spoke jokingly, but Mary was serious.
However, she did not know what would happen to her after the fighting was over.
Would she still be a princess?
Or, would she be chased as a wanted criminal?
“I’ve been feeling lonely recently.”
“Why?”
“I’ve gotten closer with you, Ami, and Miss. Cutie, and I’ve been smiling a lot more recently. My sister is still dead. But I’m alive, and moving forward……”
The desire for revenge filled up Mary’s heart.
Yet, as time passed on, she was leaving Francis’s death behind.
It was far out of reach now.
“Yeah…… Back when Yueri died, I never thought I’d smile again. But, it’s not like she’s gone, you know? Your sister is still in your heart, don’t you think that’s great? Just think of it as something that makes you stronger.”
“Strength……”
“That’s what I think, at least. The old me wouldn’t have thought about what comes after revenge. But now, that future gives me the strength to carry on.”
“I see, that’s one way to look at it.”
“Well, maybe it’s not so convincing coming from someone who constantly loses.”
“That’s not true! No one could defend against Hierophant’s attack!”
“Yeah, you can’t defend against my attacks either.”
A third party cut into the conversation.
Mary and Calaria turned around, and fired at the same time without checking who it was.
For a second, they saw a mask, but it quickly disappeared.
“Haha, good decision!”
Digi went behind Mary.
Calaria swiftly aimed at her with her handgun, but her opponent touched Mary with her ‘cane’ faster than that.
“But you’re slow.”
Digi disappeared along with Mary.
Calaria’s shot fruitlessly landed on the ground.
“Ugh, damn it, Magician!”
She could not have teleported far, but Calaria could not hear Mary’s voice.
Calaria grinded her teeth and returned to the car for the time being.
She swiftly opened the door and woke Cutie up.
“Uaah…… Good morning. You’re up early, Calaria.”
“This is no time to sleep! You too, Ami! Get up!”
“Hueh!?”
Ami immediately got up after hearing Calaria’s loud and angry voice.
Cutie also noticed that something was going on, and opened her eyes.
“What happened?”
“Where’s sis!?”
“Magician took Mary and disappeared. They should still be close by, let’s find them!”
Ami and Cutie quickly got out of the car.
Then, the three stepped into the forest surrounding the ruins.
◇◇◇
The scepter possessed by Magician allowed her to freely warp within a certain range with anyone it touched.
Digi repeated this process a few times and pulled Mary away from her friends.
“Let me go!”
Mary swung the blade she grew from her arm, and finally escaped Digi’s grasp.
But she was already inside the forest, and did not even know which direction was which.
“What do you want, Magician!?”
“I’m Digi. We’re sisters, so you should at least memorize my name.”
“So you are a homunculus…… Are you a beta type?”
“Yes, so we should understand each other. Because we’re connected by blood!”
Mary quietly faced Digi and shot bone fragments at her.
She warped and dodged.
“Whoa, scary.”
“You’re a hated enemy of Miss. Calaria, so I can’t let you live!”
“Don’t talk without knowing the details.”
“Are you saying you have an excuse?”
“Can I ask you something instead? Why would I let that woman live? She’s the one who created us, right? So don’t you think it’s shitty of her to get scared and run away with her favorite, leaving the rest of us behind!? She knew what we went through, but the coward did nothing despite calling herself Justice!”
Digi heated up with the utterance of every word.
Despite the mask, her strong hatred could be felt clearly.
“What choice do we have other than death? Are we supposed to live? Also, I’m not the one who wanted to kill that woman first! I definitely hated her, of course, but I was just following orders too, you know!”
“Whose orders!?”
“That doesn’t matter! The important thing is that someone who is not even a homunculus wanted to kill that woman! I don’t care if you think she was a good person just because she was a relative of your ally, but it doesn’t change the fact that she ran away!”
She shot a sword out of her scepter at Mary.
Mary jumped back to dodge it.
But Digi instantly fired another slash, and Mary charged at her as she took it head-on.
“I don’t care if you people had a reason to hate her!”
Blood scattered around after Mary’s shoulder was deeply cut.
But Mary did not even flinch, and got closer to Digi while drawing her scythe.
She swung her large blade down.
“What about my sister!?”
Digi went down and dodged.
Mary continued the attack and swung again.
“And why did you slaughter innocent people!? How can there be a reason for that!?”
“Ahahahaha, so you blame us for your sister’s death! She died protecting you. Your weakness is the reason she’s dead. Nothing more, and nothing less!”
“Lieeeees!”
Another large swing.
Digi went behind Mary using her scepter.
“Yes, it’s all your fault, Mary. You. Perhaps you know? Not just about your sister, but your real mother as well. Your father’s anguish. Do you know how corrupted your very presence is!?”
She swung her sword.
Meat was cut.
Mary did not care as she faced Digi and swung her blade.
“If you’re gonna talk, at least use words that make sense!”
“That’s not the point!”
Digi dodged Mary’s attack and directly stabbed Mary’s abdomen with her sword.
“Don’t you understand? Don’t you!?”
She pulled her sword downwards.
Mary grabbed it, trying to break Digi’s wrists.
“Ugh…… All of it, it’s all your fault, Mary! Everything started going wrong the moment you were born!”
“You just keep quibbling over and over again! Don’t push the blame on me!”
Mary started choking Digi with her other hand.
Bone claws grew from her hand and dug into Digi’s carotid artery.
“I’m telling the truth!”
Digi warped some distance away.
“Ahh…… Ahh…… Yeah, it was all over 16 years ago. It’s pointless to argue now. The world is moving on a straight path towards destruction.”
Her shoulders went up and down as she breathed heavily.
Magician was a bad match for Death God.
Things were fine as long as Magician could run around, but her chance at victory was erased when it came to actually fighting.
She specialized in crushing tough opponents, but she was helpless if her foe regenerated.
Using a giant building to crush her foe only worked with Calaria because she had hostages.
There were no buildings here, nor anyone to take hostage.
“Father…… really is trying to destroy the world, isn’t he?”
“Who knows?”
“Why…… to do what!?”
“Don’t ask me.”
“If that’s how you wanna do it, then!”
Mary created gatling guns in both arms.
She immediately shot a barrage at Digi.
“Just die by yourself! There’s no need to entangle anyone else in this-”
Digi ran and dodged the barrage while swinging her sword.
Mary lightly stepped back to avoid the slash that cut through everything.
Then, the ground beneath her feet was sharply cut.
She was just on top of a hard stone plate.
Perhaps there was a cave below her, as Mary’s body started inclining.
“Wait, what’s this……?”
She immediately tried to correct her posture, but she could not move her body properly.
She tried to secure herself with the bones protruding out of her legs, but the crumbling of the ground beneath her was spreading.
“I’m being dragged in!? Aaaaagh!”
Mary fell down.
She fell deep into the depths of a strange cave.
“……Huh? What was that?”
Seeming unamused, Digi stood in front of the hole Mary fell through.
She peeked down to look at the abyss which she could not see the bottom of.
“It’s not…… a naturally occuring hole, is it? I see, did she fall into the ruins?”
The figure of a translucent woman floated up in front of Digi as she spoke with an annoyed voice.
“The door has opened. Welcome, Magician.”
She looked at Digi as she spoke in a joyful manner.
“Looks like something just came out of there, who is this?”
“I am…… Yes, as long as I am here, I should call myself Emperor.”
“……!
Digi clearly seemed shaken after hearing the word Emperor.
She had a sour expression on her face as she continued to listen.
“I’ve been awaiting your arrival for a very long time, but you don’t know me, so I’m sure that sounds confusing. I want you to know me, though. It’s a miracle that you reached this place, so that much should be permitted.”
Digi almost thought that they could have a conversation, but this seemed to be nothing but automatic playback.
“So I’m going to lose track of Mary if I don’t go inside? Lame.”
She leaped into the hole after almost spitting those words out.
The ‘woman’s image’, left alone now, looked at her and muttered while seeming lonely.
“That smugness just might make me laugh.”
Then, the open hole automatically closed.