Chapter 99: The fallen country and the cursed princess
◇Moon Oracle Furiae POV◇
I have always been alone since the time I had awareness.
I don't know the faces of my parents.
I don't even know if I have siblings.
No friends.
I can only rely on myself.
The eyes directed at me are only those of shirking and...hatred.
The fallen country, the Moon Country of Laphroaig.
That's the place I was born and raised in.
The Moon Oracle who betrayed the humans and colluded with the demons 1,000 years ago; her other name: Calamity Witch.
If you touch, hear her voice, or meet her eyes, she can control you at her will.
It is said that the only one who wouldn't be controlled was the Great Demon Lord of old.
According to legends, the Calamity Witch was the lover of the Great Demon Lord.
She was hated by the most people in history...the Moon Oracle of 1,000 years ago.
I am apparently her reincarnation.
At the ruins of the Moon Country, I was secretly raised by people who follow the Moon Goddess Naia, and was revered.
What a joke...
Because of a damn woman from far in the past, my life is a mess.
I just wanted a peaceful life.
I remember the time when I was captured.
"This can't be helped."
"I...am sorry for you, but..."
The guy that's apparently called the Pope Roma had a smile as if pasted on him, and the unconcerned look of the Sun Oracle named Noel.
At their back, there's the Light Hero that captured me.
...Why are you making such a sad face?
You hypocrite.
The peaceful life I was leading in Laphroaig was trampled down by a bunch of people calling themselves the Sun Knights.
Both my legs and arms were restrained with thick iron shackles.
A prison under the Grand Sanctuary.
In here, almost all of my magic is sealed by the power of the Sun Goddess.
I can't escape, but because of the curse in my body, they won't kill me.
I am being left alive as if I were livestock.
No, since I serve no purpose at all, I would be less than livestock...
"...Sorry."
For some reason, the Light Hero would come everyday to the cell I am in.
"If you are, then I would like you to get me out of here though." (Furiae)
"...That's...I can't..." (Sakurai)
If you can't, then disappear already.
Trying to put on a nice guy face makes me wanna puke.
"Moon Oracle, Furiae...you haven't led devilkin and have no connection with the Snake Church, right?" (Sakurai)
"I have led nothing, and I am actually hated by the Snake Church people." (Furiae)
The main cause devilkins are hated all over the world is said to be because of the Calamity Witch.
The appeased lifestyle between humans and demons that was pushed forward in Laphroaig.
This led to humans and demons having blood ties.
In those days, within the many countries that were controlled by the Great Demon Lord, Laphroaig was the only one that was spared from oppression.
The reason is because the marriage between humans and demons was pushed.
Slowly increasing the amount of devilkins, and eliminating the discord between humans and demons...was apparently the objective.
It ended up failing though.
They were being controlled with charm magic without getting the permission of the people themselves, so of course it wouldn't go well.
The one who made the devilkin increase plan was the Moon Oracle 1,000 years ago.
The result was that several tens of thousands of vagrants were born though...
But I have nothing to do with that!
The ones leading the devilkin are the Snake Church who aim to make the devilkin flourish.
I am unrelated with those people.
I am being treated in the same way as them though.
In the end, the Light Hero continued coming everyday.
My dislike in seeing his face slowly decreased.
"...Don't come anymore." (Furiae)
"Well, isn't it fine? ...This is a strange fruit I found recently." (Sakurai)
Why are you bringing things to me every time?
"I would like something more sweet..." (Furiae)
"Got it! Next time, I will bring something different!" (Sakurai)
The next day, he brought something else.
What's with this guy...
So weird.
◇◇
"Come! I know you are connected with the Snake Church!"
One day, a guy that's apparently the first prince of the Sun Country suddenly came and brought me to a different place.
I don't know the Snake Church.
Even if I told them that, they don't believe me.
But it was lucky that I was able to leave the church prison that has a strong barrier.
The pointless questioning was a pain, but I looked for an opening, talked to a knight nearby and controlled him.
And then, I hid in the underground canals, looking for a chance to escape the capital.
The underground canals are vast, and I created undead to look for an exit, and had them explore.
I explored for several days, but...
(...The undead have been defeated?)
It was sudden.
All of the undead that I made to explore the undead canals were defeated.
It looks like the templars have begun to search.
Well, fine.
I learned that I can't escape from the underground canals anyways.
There were templars in all of the exits.
If it is only one or two, I could manage somehow, but if it is a squad, it is impossible.
(I have to make new warriors...)
I was walking through the communal cemetery of the capital.
The communal cemetery is my headquarters.
There's a whole lot of corpses for necromancy.
...I actually don't want to make undead though.
I controlled undead at night, and at noon, I would go to the 6th District to act as a fortune teller and gather information.
There was interesting information recently.
There's apparently a beastkin rebellion in Symphonia.
Even so, at the time when the Light Hero is having his inauguration ceremony and the knights of the Sun Country are gathering? It is a question I had, but once I investigated further, the mystery was solved.
The ones pulling the strings from the shadows was that annoying Snake Church.
A heretic church that is made up of people from the Moon Country.
They plan on causing an insurrection here.
I will run away using the chaos created there.
I don't plan on stopping the rebellion.
I have no responsibility to.
Rather, the Pope and Sun Oracle that looked down on me should be caught in it and die.
That's what I was thinking.
I can see the future with Destiny Magic.
But it is not an assured future.
If I could do that, I wouldn't be captured.
But the beastkin rebellion and the mayhem set by the Snake Church.
I can clearly see the time of it.
Just a few days.
In that time, I can escape.
I will stay hidden in the communal cemetery until then.
I am controlling all the templars watching the cemetery with charm magic.
I also have undead on watch.
There shouldn't be any problems.
But today was different from usual.
(...Someone has come.)
No, I know who.
It is the Light Hero.
The thread of fate that only Destiny Magic users can see.
By seeing the amount of fate threads the person has, I can tell the importance of that person and their influence.
A normal person would have 10 and it would be on the high side.
Nobles would have around 100.
The Light Hero has thousands.
I can understand why he is the reincarnation of the Savior Abel.
What unbelievable influence.
I can tell a person like that is approaching me.
"How about you come out, Light Hero, Ryosuke?" (Furiae)
I called out the name of the guy that I haven't seen in a while.
"Hey there." (Sakurai)
An eloquent voice that doesn't fit a cemetery.
It is the same face I saw everyday at the prison.
...No, he looks a little tired?
Is he okay?
"What did you come here for?" (Furiae)
But well, I have a guess as to what it is though.
He most likely will say some naive stuff like he wants to save me.
It would be one thing if he came alone, but he has come with comrades.
It is most likely the usual female knight.
...Don't come to the place of a woman with other women.
Is what I thought, but they were unknown people.
Subordinates of the Light Hero.
One of them is a pretty young looking child.
The other one is...incredibly weak?
What a weird duo.
I will use undead knights to buy time and escape.
The Light Hero won't be fighting seriously, judging from his personality.
I was thinking about having the two warriors he brought get a little injured with charm magic, but...
"Eh?"
Wait, Ryousuke?!
Why are you covering for your own subordinate and getting injured?!
"Aah, geez!" (Furiae)
I got flustered and ended up running away from there.
◇Takatsuki Makoto POV◇
"Sakurai-kun!" (Makoto)
I used [RPG Player] to change my perspective, and the spaced-out eyes of Prince Leonard attacking with his sword and Sakurai-kun getting in between happened almost in that same instant.
Blood splashed under the light of the moon.
Crap!
The newly learned [Calm] from Prince Leonard was not enough to block it!
"Guh!"
The sword of the prince cut the right shoulder of Sakurai-kun and he fell down on the ground.
"Just w-what in the world did I..." (Leonard)
Prince Leonard returns to his senses.
He was controlled only for an instant, huh.
"What are you doing?!" (Furiae)
The Moon Oracle looked over here and had a surprised expression.
...You did that yourself, right?
"H-Hold them back!" (Furiae)
The Moon Oracle ordered the undead and she ran away.
"Sakurai-kun, are you okay?!" (Makoto)
"S-Sakurai-san, what have I done...?" (Leonard)
"Don't worry, Prince Leonard. Sorry, Takatsuki-kun. Can you chase after Furiae since the charm doesn't work on you? I will catch up. But don't touch her at all cost!" (Sakurai)
Saying this, Sakurai-kun uses an item to restore himself.
Doesn't look like a fatal wound. Good.
"If you are okay, that's fine, Sakurai-kun... By the way, what happens if I touch her?" (Makoto)
"Even when I was under the light of the sun, the moment I touched her, I couldn't go against her charm magic. There's no one in this world who won't get controlled when touched by the Moon Oracle!" (Sakurai)
"Got it." (Makoto)
Must not be injured.
Must not be touched.
What a problematic opponent.
But I can't just let her go like this.
(Sakurai-kun was injured because of my mistake...) (Makoto)
It was an attack of Prince Leonard that I could have avoided with my RPG Player perspective change.
I lowered my guard because I thought things would go well with Sakurai-kun here.
That's not good.
I leave the undead to Prince Leonard and Sakurai-kun, and chase after the Moon Oracle that ran deep into the cemetery.
(She runs fast!) (Makoto)
I chase after the Moon Oracle, but I can't catch up at all.
We are drifting further and further apart instead.
(Well, she is an Oracle after all.) (Makoto)
Oracles are in the same class as Heroes in this world.
There's practically no scenarios where they fight directly with monsters, but the stats of the Oracles are apparently abnormally high.
On the other hand, I have stats lower than that of regular people.
If I were to do arm wrestling with Prince Sofia, I would lose...probably.
So sad! Even though I am a Hero!
(Well, if you can't win fairly, you can pull her leg .) (Makoto)
[Ice Floor].
I freeze the footing of the Moon Oracle.
"?!"
The Moon Oracle was about to fall.
But she somehow managed to stay on foot.
She is good.
She tried to change directions and escape, but...
[Ice Floor] [Ice Floor] [Ice Floor] [Ice Floor].
I freeze all the places the Moon Oracle was going to run to.
"......"
The Moon Oracle-san looks at me with hatred and turns over here.
Did she give up?
The Moon Oracle extends her hand towards the moon and...
" My servants pulled from the gates of death... " (Furiae)
The voice of the Moon Oracle resonated as if singing.
That tone of voice was mesmerizing.
Guided by that beautiful voice, an army of ugly zombies crawled out from the ground.
Hoh, so this is necromancy.
"You deal with these guys!" (Furiae)
The zombies surround me and block me from proceeding.
The Moon Oracle tried to escape in that opening, but..."
"Spirit-sans, Spirit-sans..." (Makoto)
Water Magic: [Ice World].
I freeze the zombies, the ground, the trees -everything.
But I only exclude the place around the Moon Oracle.
With this, there shouldn't be a curse counter.
"...How skillful." (Furiae)
"Sorry about that. I am a bit pissed after having my friend hurt." (Makoto)
Reflecting from my battle with Geralt-san, I put [Clear Mind] to around 50%.
Looks like my anger transmitted to the Spirits to a certain degree.
"Wait for a bit here until Sakurai-kun arrives." (Makoto)
"..."
I haven't attacked the Moon Oracle directly.
If she tries to, I can just make the ground slippery with ice.
All around the Moon Oracle has been covered in ice.
"What a troublesome mage." (Furiae)
The eyes of the Moon Oracle that felt as if they were trying to kill me with its glare were shining golden.
Charm magic again?
That doesn't work on me though.
(No, that's not it. It is not only her eyes. The whole body of the Moon Oracle is shining...) (Makoto)
*Crack*
The sound of the ice on the foot of the Moon Oracle cracking reached my ears, which was the same moment I noticed that was the sound of her dashing forward...
(Geh! She is coming towards me?! So what's covering her whole body is Aura?!) (Makoto)
I take a stance with my dagger at her charge.
Moreover, she is quite fast!
(No, I can't attack.) (Makoto)
I remember the words of Sakurai-kun about getting curse countered and hurriedly lowered my dagger.
I hesitated on what to do.
Damn it!
Lowering my [Clear Mind] came to bite me here...
In that instant I couldn't choose the best response...
The hand of the Moon Oracle grabbed my arm .
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