Marina
When I woke up, the first thing I saw was Alincia, crying her heart out with a smile before throwing herself at me for a hug.
She then told me everything. How Vera had died, how she had come here to rescue me—
And how Father and Mother had perished.
My eyes widened in shock, but I didn’t say anything.
I didn’t even shed a tear.
“U-uwaaaa, I’m sorry! If I had come sooner, then they might have lived! I didn’t even get to help them! Vera was already dead when I arrived!”
As she hugged me with her tears, I didn’t feel anything.
Or rather, my mind refused to feel anything.
It was as if I was still a dream, and all this wasn’t real. I was still walking in clouds, with my mind unable to comprehend the tragedy that I just heard.
“…I see. So they came after all. Vera was speaking the truth.” I looked away, expressionless, my gaze staring into nothing.
“I-I can take you to them. But they… their bodies…”
I didn’t need to hear her actually say it. Just looking at her expression was enough.
Their body must have not survived intact, which wouldn’t be out of place if they were fighting such a powerful mage.
“…Take me to them.” I told her firmly, still not showing any signs of weakness.
And so she did, though not before handing me back my wand that she had found from Vera’s study. I pocketed it immediately.
Outside, not that far off from the mansion, she took me to a certain spot on the middle of the snowy hill the mansion was located on.
“I-I’ll have to dig through the snow first,” she declared. So their bodies must be buried underneath.
I let her do the job with her fire magic, watching quietly as my gaze was fixated downwards. I wasn’t especially preparing myself for the worst. Instead, I was just doing it mechanically, not really thinking about it in the slightest.
And then, I found them. Or rather, what remained of them.
And they were indeed in a horrible state. Just as I had feared.
I stared at them wordlessly for at least several minutes—I didn’t know exactly how long. There was no doubt about it. They were dead. Even though I could barely recognize them, I still knew they were Father and Mother, all thanks to their heads that had survived relatively well.
I didn’t know how I should react. Should I cry? But my tears weren’t coming out. Should I scream? But I didn’t want to scream. Should I fall down and beg at their corpse for them to return? That would be silly.
Instead, all I felt was anger—anger like I had never felt before.
“M-Marina?” She spoke
“…Stay back, Alincia. I’m going to bury them.”
“B-bury them? Here?”
“I can’t bring them home. Not in this state. But I won’t let them become food for monsters as well once the snow thawed.”
She did as I requested, giving a good distance away from where the remains were.
I took out my wand, transformed it to its staff form, before I began to chant.
“O spirits of the Earth! Listen to my plea! As you give stability and protection to those who walk on the land, let those who stood on your forbidden soil be accursed! Let them fall to a pit that they would never escape from! Let them fall to the depths of the Earth itself, swallowed by your jaws whole! Manifest your will by crumbling the very ground itself! Crumbling Earth!”
I aimed it not at the snow hill itself, but at the ground underneath it.
“E-Earthquake?” Alincia yelped.
The snow nearby began to get sucked down into the forming pit down below. I took a few steps backwards, as well as Alincia, making sure that we wouldn’t be caught by the falling snow.
And of course, in the process, the remains of my father and mother fell down as well, right down to the earth itself.
Eventually, the rumbling stopped as the pit I formed filled up with snow.
“Y-you’re okay with this, Marina? Just burying them here?”
I nodded silently. I felt if I had tried to collect their remnants, digging through all the snow by hand hoping I could reassemble them, I would have broken down completely in the process.
I remembered a tale about how some warriors wanted to die gloriously in the battlefield, instead of dying of old age on a bed. He even joked that he would perfectly be fine with dying in a fight, as long as he fought for his family, against an insurmountable opponent that even he would have trouble with.
Is this it, Father? Is this what you want? You have defeated a Grandmaster-level mage, a member of the Magocracy’s Council and one of the strongest people in the world. And you have succeeded in defeating her, even at the cost of your own life.
How about you, Mother? Are you happy now in the heavens above, knowing that I am saved because of you? Of course you are. You will sacrifice yourself for me and Hugo and Erika without question. I know it even without you saying it.
Drip
Drip drip
Ah…
It seems the rainfall is coming after all.
I turned my back to Alincia, not wanting her to see that I was crying.
But she took notice anyway, and she gave me a hug from behind, not saying anything at all, knowing that I hated to be seen in tears by others.
We stayed like that for a good while until my tears dried.
————-
We then moved on to Vera’s corpse next.
She was headless, but otherwise intact, although she was nearly buried under the snow completely.
“Huh? Where’s her staff? I swear she’s still gripping it the last time I saw her,” Alincia spoke. “Wait, don’t tell me those two took it with them!”
I didn’t care about her staff. I ignored Alincia completely to charge up my Fire and Earth spell.
“Magma Burst.”
A jet of magma spew forth from under the snow, obliterating the body completely until nothing remained.
You will not get the satisfaction of being buried as an intact corpse, Vera. Neither you or your grandson.
I thought of throwing my staff as well to the lava, knowing that it was given by her. But I refrained from doing so. As much it disgusted me to be using anything she gave to me, it was a useful weapon. And I had gotten well-acquainted with it, almost like a trusted friend.
No, it would be a shame to just leave it behind. Instead, Vera should be angry instead in the afterlife that I ended up triumphant in the end, and still using the staff she bought expensively for me as a bribe.
Afterwards, Alincia and I returned back inside the mansion, without a word spoken between us.
———
We then ate together silently in the dining room. Just some dry, leftover bread that was as hard as bricks. I ate them anyway, not because I felt especially hungry, but just because I could.
“O-oh I forget to tell you. Your little brother was here too. But he left five days ago and he never returned.”
I paused.
“Hugo was?” I looked at her.
“Y-yeah. I think he fought with your parents against Vera, actually.”
“…Did you notice anything strange when he left?”
“Well, he’s—he was crying. After I asked what happened to his parents, he ran away after he told me that they’re gone. And that’s when I last saw him. I did notice his footsteps going down the mountain, using the eastern route.”
“…That idiot.”
I stood up, fully intending to chase after him immediately.
He must be blaming himself for their death. And now he decided to run away.
I thought you’re a smart and wise boy, Hugo. But this… this is exactly something a child would do.
If there’s anyone to blame, it would be me. It’s for my sake that you and them came here and fought Vera, knowing very well how powerful she was. If I had just thrown my pride and stubbornness away, I could’ve stopped their death.
Or, the even wiser thing is to just blame Vera, the monster behind this all.
“W-wait, Marina! You can’t chase after him! You don’t know where he is now!” Alincia stopped me, hugging me from the back
“He must be near Mau Uvarsa. He took the east path, right?”
“No, please! Listen to me first! You’re going to become a criminal soon! You, him, and your little sister back home! You can’t spend time looking for him!”
At first, I was going to ignore her plea. I was not going to leave my little brother in this accursed country, especially when I knew he would be hunted down too.
But then, I realized something. He took the east route instead of the west. Why would he do that? If he wanted to go home, then he would take the west.
Then I imagined the map of the country inside my head.
And I realized where he could possibly be going.
…That idiot! He’s going to the Holy Continent, isn’t he?!
If you were aiming for the port town Tulpio, then yes, you would take the east route. You could go north from Mau Uvarsa, get to the Brine Province, and then took the river transport for a quick ride to the port town.
…He’s going to go chase after Sherry, isn’t he? After he reaches the continent, he’ll go all the way across it to the far north. Then he’ll take another ship from there to the Demon Continent.
That’s… that’s completely outrageous! What can he do on his own, going all the way there without anyone more experienced in adventuring to accompany him?
If not for the fact that I have to fetch Erika first back home, I can go after him! The Holy Continent is a safe place to run from the Magocracy after all, especially if you go all the way to the Holy Capital. They won’t dare to chase us all the way there! Then I can get a job as an adventurer and we can start a new life together there!
But now, I have no choice but to take the northwestern route. It would be too risky to go back into the Magocracy after I get Erika.
I have to go to Grandfather’s place, drop Erika there, and then go after him.
I’ll knock some sense into him, and drag him back home. Even if it will take me years to do it.
But for now, please be safe, Hugo. Please be safe.
I’ve lost Father and Mother. I can’t lose you too as well…
———
“…I see. So that’s how it’s going to be.”
I was now sitting once again at the dining table.
“That’s something they would do indeed,” I said with a bitter smile.
“D-don’t worry, Marina! I’ll get Grandpa to change his mind! And Selendia already agreed to vouch for your innocence as well!”
“…Do you believe them?”
“H-huh?”
“Do you believe them to keep their word? Or rather, do you still believe them to be just rulers, after what they did to me?”
“W-well, what they did was certainly horrible! And I’m still angry with them! And I no longer think of them as just after letting this whole thing happen for sure! But I can still change their minds so you won’t have to leave!”
“Then, I wouldn’t be kowtowing to them if I were you.” I stood up, looking away from her. “I had enough. I had enough of this country altogether. I’ll never forgive it for what they did to me and my family.” I then looked down at her before resuming. “You’re Merlinus’ granddaughter, so I wouldn’t expect you to understand. As her granddaughter, you would always possess some amount of familial love towards him, even if you hated him right now But I am different. I have nothing but pure spite for him and the other Council members. And I won’t step in in this country anymore as long as they are still in charge.”
“W-wha—but you can’t! W-what about your study at the Academy? You haven’t even graduated yet!”
“Do you think I’ll care about such a trivial thing anymore?”
“B-But I’ll—I’ll be lonely if you’re gone!”
“Then, would you rather come with me instead?”
She paused speechless. She was taken completely off-guard by my declarement.
“I…” Her eyes darted away. “I can’t… Grandpa will…”
“…I understand.” I walked over and patted her on the shoulder, giving her a smile. “You belong here, Alincia. One day, you’ll take your grandfather’s place. And I hope you can be a better ruler than he is.”
“U-uwaaahhh! I’m sorryyyyyy!’
Before I knew it, she threw herself at me again.
Unfortunately, your path and mine split here, Alincia.
I shall travel to the far west, to my own grandfather’s land. We might never see each other again. And perhaps, we might even become enemies in the future, should the Magocracy decide to insist on chasing me or any of my remaining family.
But even so, I wish you the best of luck. And may Mira be with you.
——–
Afterwards, she led me to the loot she had gathered from the mansion. Apparently, Selendia was gracious enough to let me take everything left behind that she hadn’t plundered first.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t a mountain of gold around. Not like Vera was a dragon in the first place. Instead, there were only jewelries left behind, and not many of them either. Vera didn’t seem to be a fan of collecting them in the first place.
However, what’s more valuable to me was the grimoires she left behind. I made a visit to the library, and began to scramble through the place. As expected, many of the books were missing, most likely taken by Selendia, and some of them were just useless like books about the spells I already knew, but some of them indeed contained knowledge of spells that I had yet to know. I believed I could grow more as a mage from them, if I spent my time learning their contents. Though I didn’t know if I could reach Master-level at the element of Ice in the first place. But I certainly would try.
“With the jewels, I believed I would have enough money to flee with my little sister. So you don’t have to worry, Alincia,” I said to her with a smile, after she offered to give me more money for the road. “Not to mention that you don’t exactly have much money in the first place, do you? You get your allowance from your grandfather after all.”
I didn’t tell her where I was going, so that she would genuinely not know where to look for me if the Magocracy decided to hunt me down. Thankfully, I never mentioned to her where my extended family lived. Or to anyone else for that matter.
“How would you return back to Marchen, Marina?” she then asked me. “Can you ride a horse?”
“No, unfortunately. I would have to hire someone to take me there on horseback.”
“Ooh, then I’ll introduce you to Mr. Courier!”
“Mr… Courier?”
“Yes! He’s the guy that helped me get here all the way from Mira! I can ask him to help you as well! I-if he’s still in the city that is. He’s a courier after all…”
I took up on her offer. And, after packing and then storing as much as I could all the jewelries and books and even some valuable-looking candelabras and plates into my dimensional storage (its space is limited unfortunately), we departed.
But not before I did one final thing.
“Crumbling Earth!”
With my spell, I made the entire mansion fall to the earth, erasing any remaining wealth and prestige that Vera and her family might once have with said house.
“Might as well do this, since I’m going to be branded a criminal and all.”
Judging by Alincia’s scared expression, my smile at that moment must be quite the evil-looking one indeed.
—————-
We reached Rau Uvarsa in record time, as we were just running downhill while taking the relatively smooth dirt road. To our surprise, the guards at the front gate had abandoned their posts completely, leaving the gate wide open.
They already knew that their mistress was assassinated, huh?
The atmosphere in the province capital was one of clear unrest, as its citizens all whispered with each other with a scared tone, fearing what would happen to them now that their patron and ruler Vera was dead. They were mostly gnomes, and they practically worshipped her for being one of them. I tried to ignore all the praises they were giving to her, as well as the curses they gave to her murderer, even if I had to grit my teeth in the process.
We went to the post office, and, to my fortune, the person Alincia hitched a ride on was there.
He quickly agreed, not even asking any questions after Alincia showed her family emblem. Such was the power of being one of the ruling houses in this country.
At the stables, Alincia and I said our goodbyes. Possibly for the final time.
“U-uwaaaahh! Be careful, alright, Marina? I’ll miss you so much!” She hugged me yet again.
“I’ll miss you too, Alincia.” I hugged her back, patting her on the back of her head. “Thank you for being my friend all these years.”
“I-I should be the one thanking you, Marina! You’re always there to comfort me from the start. At first, I thought you were just a stuck-up girl like Big Sis said, so I teased you a lot. And yet, when Big Sis passed away, you didn’t push me away. You embraced me and told me that everything was going to be alright. You even told me that you’re willing to be a replacement big sister for me, if I missed her that much.”
“Ssh, don’t say that out loud. You’re embarrassing me, you know,” I replied with a smile, a little blush forming on my face.
“And then.. And then you teached me magic as well. You made me become so much better at it! And now, I’m a Master-level mage, just like Big Sis!”
“That’s from your own hard work, no? You always trained hard at night, even passing out in the process a couple of times. Not to mention that I have to be the one thanking you, Because without you healing my little brother with your magic, he would’ve died for sure.”
She had told me about how she found Hugo unconscious in the snow when she arrived. It really was sheer luck that he even survived, which I was deeply grateful for.
“I-I could only do that because you’ve trained me!”
“That’s true. But that’s a good lesson to take, isn’t it? That if you do a good thing for someone, then, one day, that good thing will be repaid, perhaps even in a way that you wouldn’t expect in the slightest.”
She sniffled, wiping her face with her long sleeves.
“I-I swear I’ll repay you one day as well! I’ll work even harder to become a mage even stronger than Grandpa! Then I’ll replace him and reform the Council! That way, you’ll be willing to go back to the Magocracy, right?”
“…Perhaps I would.”
