A wild vacation
"Head my words...People of the Holy Lands. I am V. Leader of the Chaos Brigade, the organization that has laid waste to your beloved city as you know it"
His proclamation was greeted with cries and shouts which echoed throughout the entire city.
Each and every one of them was laced with such disdain and hatred for the man in black that Marie couldn't even imagine the guilt of bearing it. It's no exaggeration to say that amidst the chaos happening right now, everyone was still able to unite and express their anger for the man behind it all...
Yet despite all this, the man continued to speak in an indifferent tone
"We seek to destroy the world that has been created by your wretched gods. We are the evil that has been lying in the darkness for years, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. And this?...This is just the beginning. Soon, the entire world shall experience the true might of the Chaos Brigade"
Saying this, he raised a golden staff into the air. Even under the darkness, the staff was still able to glow a bright light. And everyone who saw it, including Marie, went pale upon the realization of what it was...
Even if one isn't a citizen of the Holy Lands, one would know full well what it was based on the teachings and illustrations that have been passed around the world. Marie believed that even a five-year-old child would be able to recognize what it was...
"The Holy scepter..."
Marie muttered under her breath as her knees gave out...
The entire city then turned silent. It seems that they too understood the gravity of the situation
"By the time your days of reckoning have come by, there will be no one around to save you helpless lots! With the scepter in our hands, your prayers would be nothing more than your last words. And when the moment we destroy everything that you and your gods have built has arrived, we would summon them into this world and crush them in front of your very eyes, just as we crushed this city!"
The man floated higher into the sky and spread his arms wide...
"It's still a bit far off...But look forward to the show, people of the Holy Lands"
The man then let out a chilling laughter before disappearing out of thin air
Even then, the entire city was still stuck in a state of silence. And that's when Mary and the other soldiers of the Holy Order noticed it
The explosions and the casting of powerful magical spells stopped, as well as the mana signals that were scattered about the city seemingly vanished as if they weren't even there. They came in like a storm and vanished as if they were nothing but ghosts...
"Marie! Come here!"
She was snapped out of her thoughts the moment Shiori called her to the side. Marie quickly ran towards her fallen grandpa who still seemed to be on the verge of death despite three mages casting healing spells on him...
"Shit, he's lost too much blood at this point"
"Yeah, and the trauma that his body experienced is intense. Someone get me a position on the double!"
"N-No...Don't..."
Isaac reached out his hands to stop the mage who was healing him...
"But sir..."
"I-It's no use...*Cough*...I know that I'm done for, there's no point in doing all this. Just give what you all have for those who really need it"
"What?! No, no way. Don't give up on me like this gramps! Go get the potion he needs, I'll take it from here"
Being a deaconess requires a couple of things. And learning how to cast healing magic was one of them. She wouldn't exactly say that she was proficient at it, but it was enough to ease the pain and cure a couple of wounds that he had...
"O-On it" The mage replied as she ran off
"My beloved Marie...Thank heavens I got the chance to see you one last time"
"Don't speak. Save all of your energy and rest up for now. We'll get through this"
"Marie..."
"I said shut it! Just focus on getting better..."
"You know better than I am that there's no hope left for me...The...The very fact that I'm still able to talk is miraculous enough"
"Focus on healing his lung sections, he's having difficulty breathing. Gramps, come on...Don't do this to me. We haven't even had dinner together yet. Look, once you get better we could just go to Delshion...I-I heard they've got lobsters as their specials tonight...Lobsters are your favorite right?"
"Ahaha...*Cough*...Yeah...Lobsters sound nice"
"Right? So focus on getting better...Please...Don't leave me too..."
Before she knew it, Isaac had already wiped the tears from her eyes
"Marie, remember the time when you were so...excited...to finally go out to the world and live your own life while spreading the word of the gods?"
"I-I did but...that was just me being cheeky, okay? That doesn't mean I want you to go-"
"Listen to me, Marie"
His voice was now stern, and he tightly grabbed her hand. Marie tightened her grip in response
"I will not reach the end of this day, let's not pretend anymore. And once I die, there will be a series of events that will trigger...Events that could not be stopped any further..."
"What do you mean?"
"The extremist faction...*Cough*...Haaa...Had already outnumbered us in the first place. With me being gone, not even the pope himself would be able to hold their reigns of influence. And they will use the failure of us right now as an advantage..."
"B-But that's not true! You fought valiantly under the name of the gods! Surely even the pope would-"
"No Marie, you don't know just how sad the state of affairs is in the Holy Order recently... Even if it is the truth, I'm sure that they'll find ways to spin it into a lie for the sake of their own benefit...I reckon that they'll even find a way to blame it on you too..."
"T-That's..."
Marie was speechless, not because she was surprised. But because she knew that it was the truth. The order wasn't the same as it was before...
"Which is why Marie...You need to go. You need and run and never look back...*Cough*...Here, take this...Haaaa..."
Isaac took out something that seemed to be a stopwatch and handed it over to her...
"I have...A trustworthy friend in the Ironborne Empire...He owes me a huge favor. Just show this to him, and he'll do the rest...Marie, my sweet girl...Are you still there? Haaa...I-I need you to promise me something..."
"Y-Yeah, I'm right here. What is it?..."
"Promise me that you'll survive...That you'll live the life that I and your parents wanted for you. Will you promise that to me, Marie?...Hello?...Marie, will you promise that to me?..."
"Y-Yeah...That's a promise, gramps..."
"That's good...That's great to hear...Haaaa...Dear, could you give old gramps a hug...One last time? I-It...It feels so cold..."
"...Sure thing gramps..."
Marie had just barely managed to prevent herself from crying as she holds the dying body of her grandfather one last time. He could feel his breaths getting slower and slower as his grip on her turned weaker with each passing second...
"I love you, sweetie..."
"L-Love you too gramps...I love you too..."
And despite all of their efforts to keep him alive, Archbishop Isaac took his last breath when the first rays of sunshine peered through the darkness. At that moment, Marie released all of the emotions that were being bottled up inside her. Everyone in the safehouse gave a moment of silence to mourn for the fallen servant of the gods...
That was the day that Marie Sue changed...Be it for better or worse, no one knew at this point
All that she knew, was that she's sworn to never cry ever again...
[---]
"Hm? Well, you're back awfully early. Did your trip got canceled or something?"
My mom asked as she eats a bunch of sweets while reading a book along our chimney. Not gonna lie, I'd like to sit back and do that as well. It's been a wild and fun vacation, but it's certainly been tiring as well...
"Yeah, for some reason the guards of the border won't let me in. Apparently, there's been some commotion at the Carisville. I figured that it'd be a hassle to argue and wait so I might as well come back home. Practice my magic or something..."
"Well, It's quite surprising seeing you be a bit motivated to your practice at magic, I'm sure your sister would be proud...But Carisville, huh?... It seems that something bad is really going on in there"
"What do you mean?"
Unlike in my previous world, the news would usually take at least a day or two to arrive all the way here so I'll be quite impressed if they knew about what happened already...
"No, it's nothing...It's just that your father suddenly got summoned to the capital because of an emergency meeting regarding the Holy lands, so I figured that there must be something wrong...And we were in the heat of doing it as well, pesky killjoys-"
Okay, I did not need to know that.
Why did you tell me that?
You didn't need to tell me that!
"Hmmm, Well I guess we'll know that tomorrow or something. Anyways, I'm pretty tired already, so I'll just go ahead and take a quick nap"
"Okay, sweet dreams sweetie"
"Kay..."
As I sluggishly made my way to my bed and basked in its comfort, I closed my eyes with a smile.
"Sweets dreams, huh?...Hehe, I guess so"
Though my body is exhausted, I couldn't help but feel excited about the future. The actors are now placed, the stage is all set, and the prologue of our tale has begun. Now that the villain of this world has been established, all I need now is a valiant hero to try and stop us...
A symbol of righteousness and justice
One that with power and will not falter to evil
And a person that has a rooted hatred for the Chaos Brigade
...It'll be hard to find someone who'll fit all the criteria...But, I guess that's another problem for another time...
I closed my eyes and had the best sleep that I've had in a long, long time...