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Retribution is Nothing but a Lie
Mary had already thought about the possibility of an Arcana user showing up during her chat with Cassy. But since Calaria was as strong as an Arcana user, Mary figured there wouldn’t be anyone else like that. So, she was surprised when they found out they were actually affected by The Magician’s power.
“An Arcana user here?! Calaria, aren’t you supposed to be working for Dugan? Why would they pull such a sneaky move to betray you?”
“Well, it’s just the way mercenaries like me are treated, I guess. Haha, I must be a total fool. Falling for the same trick twice
!”
Calaria weakly trembled and chuckled.
The same mistake
 Perhaps Calaria has had a prior encounter with The Magician? And it’s because of that encounter that some sort of fate has unfolded. That’s precisely why she’s filled with such despair.
Did my sister know about it, which is why she gave me that advice?
At the very least, that’s a piece of information Mary was unaware of. Even if the likelihood of it being a mere illusion or auditory hallucination had diminished, it only made it even harder to figure out who or what that Francis really was.
“Calaria, tell me about your relationship with The Magician.”
“What’s the point of asking all that?”
“Based on your behavior, it looks like you and The Magician aren’t exactly best friends. And as a hired mercenary, your ties to Duke Slaver shouldn’t be that strong. I mean, you didn’t even know I was an Arcana user, right?”
“Yeah, they didn’t trust me one bit.”
“Which means, the person trying to kill us, The Magician, is actually Duke Slaver’s true lackey and my archenemy!”
“Heh. So what now?”
Calaria chuckled and shrugged off Mary’s words. She didn’t seem interested in paying attention to them.
“I thought we could team up.”
“You’ve got an optimistic mind. Quite fitting for a pampered princess.”
“Why not? Together, we might be able to pull off things we couldn’t do alone. Calaria, don’t you feel the same?”
“Just because I lost to you?”
“Yep, that’s the one.”
“You say it so nonchalantly. It stings a bit, you know.”
Their banter seemed to ease Calaria’s expression. Mary believed that maybe one of her words had struck a chord in Calaria’s heart.
“If it’s the two of us
”
Narrowing her eyes, she reminisced. And she clenched her fist, relishing in the growing regret.
“Yeah
 I suddenly feel like pouring my thoughts out. It might not be the most thrilling story, but do you really wanna hear it?”
“Sure thing. But we’re in the middle of The Magician’s shenanigans right now. If you’ve got the time, I’m all ears.”
“As for time
 It should be good for at least a few hours.”
“Then we can take our time.”
“You’re one carefree soul. Well, I’m the same
 I only found out about their existence a few months ago. Back then, I wasn’t in the Orvis Kingdom yet. I was working as a mercenary in a neighboring country with my partner.”
Calaria started to share her story intermittently as per Mary’s request. Mary still couldn’t completely trust her, knowing she was only doing it because her sister told her to. But she didn’t feel bad, thinking that perhaps a connection, no matter how small, was forming between them.
“She was an Arcana user known as Justice. A kind-hearted woman, a bit of an oddball, who took in and raised a child like me, someone who didn’t even know where I was born.”
“So she acted as your surrogate parent
”
“She didn’t like being called a mother.”
“That’s why she was your ‘partner’ then.”
“She taught me how to fight and how to live. Well, even though she was a mercenary herself, she had a habit of taking on missions that didn’t pay well, a ‘poor liver,’ you could say
”
“Yet, despite saying that, she had a face that seemed to say ‘It’s my goal.'”
Mary squatted down in front of Calaria. The closeness between them was too much for two opposing sides. They could maintain this distance because Mary realized that beyond their conversation, there was likely an outcome where they could connect on some level.
“I’m not sure. Maybe I admired her, but at the same time, I also thought I couldn’t become like her. Risking your life for others without expecting anything in return
 That was the day she died. We took on another thankless mission together, despite me nagging at her, and headed towards a certain building. And it was when we were about to leave the building after defeating the lurking enemies and returning to the client
”
Calaria suddenly stood up and stepped into the darkness beyond the entrance.
And just like that, she vanished into it.
“Hey, wait! Where are you going!?”
Mary hesitated for a moment, then exclaimed, “Wait!” and chased after her. As they emerged from the darkness, they found themselves in an unfamiliar room. A long table was placed, with several chairs lined up
 Perhaps it was a dining room?
Looking at Mary, who had followed her, Calaria seemed both exasperated and somehow delighted as she said, “You actually believed me and followed me. What would you have done if this was a trap?”
“You led me to follow you. You’re quite mischievous.”
“That’s the kind of world I’ve lived in. Well, as you can see. No matter how we try to exit, we end up back inside the building.”
“The same phenomenon that is happening now happened back then too.”
“I quickly realized that only an Arcana user could pull off such a trick. She and I fell into a trap.”
“But with this, you’re just trapped, right? So why did she end up dying?”
In response to that question, Calaria began walking without answering, searching under the table and inside the shelves. Mary watched her curiously and followed along.
“Even if you’re an Arcana user, you can’t trap an entire building forever. Unless there are limitations in either time or space, it would drain mana endlessly.”
“So, if the constraint is in time, waiting might lead to an escape, right?”
“Yeah, but no matter how many hours we waited
 I mean, even a whole day, the magic didn’t wear off.”
“So, the constraint wasn’t time-based, but rather in the spatial realm?”
“Exactly. While waiting for time to pass, we explored the possibility of finding an exit within the building. And that’s when we stumbled upon a conspicuously placed large ‘box’.”
“A box
 Is there something similar in this mansion too?”
“Probably.”
“Well, I’ll check every room.”
“Hey, about that eerie thing
”
“Did it give you the creeps?”
“Oh, absolutely! Seeing rows of corpses lined up like that
 Can’t it have a less creepy appearance?”
“I get it. I’ll focus only on the eyes then.”
Mary paused and closed her eyes. Bones emerged from the soles of her feet, spreading and taking root throughout the entire mansion. Then, thin bones pierced through the floor, blossoming into eyeballs at their tips, resembling flowers.
“Isn’t it getting even creepier?”
Calaria held her head in her hands, confronted with the visual.
“I can only manipulate corpses, so this is what happens!” Mary protested, pouting dissatisfiedly.
Contrary to their conversation, the “results” appeared instantly.
“Is the box quite big?”
“Oh yeah, it should be taller than knee height. And it’s probably near the center of the mansion.”
“Then it must be it. I found it. Let’s go!”
This time, Mary took the lead as the two of them exited the dining room. Before reaching the location of the box, Mary stopped by a window. Through the glass, they could see the view of Captis city.
“Can’t we escape through this window?”
“You’ll find out if you open it.”
Following the instruction, Mary opened the window, only for the scenery to vanish instantly, replaced by a pitch-black darkness.
Mary closed it without a word.
“Well, it’s not that easy
”
Mary sulked, and Calaria chuckled before continuing their walk.
In the nearby corridor, in the shadow of a shelf with a vase, the box sat. Made of metal, it had a rough, nearly square shape.
Mary squatted down, her eyes fixed on the box. “Is this it
 What does this box have to do with The Magician’s abilities?”
“Well, you could say it’s a weak spot. If we break it, we can shatter this infinite corridor. Without this object, the separation of space that approaches infinity wouldn’t be possible.”
“So, if we destroy the box, we can escape. But
 in trying to do that, your partner lost their life, Calaria
”
Upon hearing Mary’s words, Calaria nodded silently.
“Is there a bomb or something inside this box?”
“You guessed it. It explodes upon impact. It’s a cutting-edge device, and even experts would struggle to disarm it without proper tools. Its power is strong enough to blow up the entire mansion, and even an Arcana user would perish.”
“But to escape, we have no choice but to destroy it?”
“That’s right. Even if we tried to detonate it from a distance, we wouldn’t be able to leave the confined space within the mansion.”
“No matter how you look at it, there’s no way out
”
And so, Calaria was the sole survivor. The reality of the situation became clear

“Well, this is troublesome. I should have practiced bomb defusal or something.”
“What should we do, Yuri? At this rate, we’ll both
”
“Yeah, first, I’ll create a barrier using mana I’ve gathered with Justice. Calaria, hide behind me. That way, both of us can make it out alive and celebrate.”
“But, Yuri, yesterday, you used your power to help the injured
 Aren’t you already drained?”
“Well, things will work out somehow. At worst, if only you can survive, that’ll be good enough.”
“What are you saying
”
“It’s the right time. I’m sure it’s just my turn for retribution.”
“Yuri, please stop. I’m begging you, Yuri!”
“I’m sorry for dragging you into this with my selfishness. Stay strong and keep living, Calaria.”
“Yuriii!”
The cruel reality of being the lone survivor. Calaria vividly remembered that event. She also recalled the words Yuri spoke in her final moments. Surely, Yuri said those words with hope for the future. But for the present Calaria, those words felt like a curse.
Every time she remembered, it brought forth nausea and self-blame, accompanied by the image of Yuri’s motionless, charred body.
“Hey, Yuri. Perhaps, it’s just my turn for retribution,” she mused to herself, repeating the words she had once heard

“Mary, listen. Stay as far away as possible and protect yourself. You should be able to survive even amidst an explosion.”
To destroy the bomb, Calaria unsheathed her sword.