Youjo Senki - Volume 12 - Chapter 6.6

THE SAME DAY, THE ALLIANCE MAGE TROOPS

Justice would prevail. It was how justice worked, and why those who were just could win. Always. This was how the world needed to be. Not because of logic or reason. It was just how things were meant to be, and First Lieutenant Mary Sue knew what she, a just person, must do.

“Our allies are under attack?!”

Mary was the first to stand up upon hearing the terrible news.

As a mage for the multinational volunteer unit and as a mage who fought under the Commonwealth, she felt indebted to the US Marines. It was their mages who came in to fight alongside the multinational volunteers a few days prior while they defended the port. They were reliable allies who had managed to make the Imperial mages send over a formal complaint after the battle was over.

Mary could not sit idly by if they were in trouble.

Moved by impulse, she ran straight for the command center.

“Colonel Drake! Please send me!”

“First Lieutenant Sue…”

Sue’s commander looked dumbfounded. Clearly upset by the motion, he glared at Mary before letting out a sigh.

“First Lieutenant, the only report we’ve received is that there was contact with the enemy. They haven’t sent a request for reinforcements.”

“Are we to remain here while our friends are attacked?!”

Mary retorted with the most earnest of expressions, to which Colonel Drake lazily responded with his cigarette in his mouth.

“We’re the reserve forces, First Lieutenant.”

“So the reserves are here to watch our allies perish?!”

“You need to listen to what I’m saying, First Lieutenant. We are the Alliance’s strategic reserve forces stationed here in Ildoa.”

A big puff of smoke left Drake’s mouth as he spoke.

“Do you know what that means? That we can’t just up and go when we feel like it. You learned the importance of maintaining reserves back during training, didn’t you?”

He spoke as if he were speaking with a child. Despite Mary’s best attempt to show her objection with her eyes, it was clear Colonel Drake had no intentions of hearing her plea while he smoked that cigarette of his, something that rubbed Mary entirely the wrong way.

“Colonel, ever since you’ve been promoted to your new rank, you’ve grown complacent.”

“What are you trying to say, First Lieutenant…?”

“Does your rank really matter to you that much?! So much that you can sit and watch your friends die?!”

Colonel Drake furrowed his brow at Mary’s shouted verbal attack and shoved his cigarette into his ashtray before slowly getting out of his chair.

“First Lieutenant, do you understand what you’re saying right now?”

“I’m asking if you have no shame!”

“I don’t expect you to understand politics, but it’s high time you learn that the army isn’t a place for you to pretend to be some hero! If you can’t get this through that thick skull of yours, then you can go back to your country!”

“I’m in the multinational unit to reclaim a country for me to return to!”

With a loud slam, Colonel Drake hit his desk and shouted back at Mary.

“Then you need to understand this! And if you won’t, then leave!”

“I fancy I will then!”

With another loud slam, Mary shut the door behind her while letting out a loud sigh. Filled with so much rage she didn’t know what to do with, Mary took flight and left the command headquarters.

She was told to leave after all.

If he wanted her to leave so badly, then she would be happy to do him the favor.

It was time for her to do the right thing with the right people.

Mary calmed herself before heading to the barracks, where she hoped to find like-minded people.

She didn’t know what to say, or if anyone would go with her.

Would everyone understand that she was in the right here?

Mary knew that as long as she was sincere, then everything would turn out okay.

There had to be people who agreed with her—people who could be her true companions. Of course they would. She was doing the right thing, after all.

When Mary opened the door to the barracks, she mustered up all the courage she could to speak up.

“Everyone! Please, listen to me!”

Mary started by making her case to her peers.

Her words hit their ears and penetrated their souls.

Each and every one of them was a good person.

They all had the desire to do good.

To do what was right, with courage in their hearts.

Was it a curse? Or was it a blessing?

Not all of her peers would accept her plea, but not all of them would reject it, either.

However they felt, the majority chose to follow what they believed in.

Some chose to follow Mary into battle to save their allies.

Some were more reluctant, ultimately declining.

One thing was for sure, though.

That Mary Sue’s calling was akin to a curse, not unlike a spell, and her words were spoken with utmost sincerity and a devotion toward helping the world.

And many would answer her call.

Thus, she took flight.

And just like she had been told to do, she left.

She flew straight for her allies who were under Imperial attack.

With her like-minded companions in tow, she flew toward more companions who were in danger.

“There they are! We have to cover them!”

Without fear, Mary and her peers flew straight into the raging battle between an aggressive Imperial mage squadron and the navy that viciously fended them off.

She was ready for a bloody battle. They all were, but she and her peers, having come here to fight for a just cause, were able to push the Imperial Army back with incredible ease, the likes of which they’d never experienced against the Imperial forces.

The Empire had been putting up a fierce fight up until that point.

The moment Mary and her fellow mages flew in, glimmering as they cried out for justice, the enemy line crumbled and quickly fled in a complete rout.

The enemy was so frail in their retreat.

Shocked by the sudden change, Mary and her fellow mages began firing off formulas to keep them from escaping with their lives, but the enemy mages were able to evade their attacks by the skin of their teeth. Despite the angry roar of the enemy commander demanding they stand their ground, the Imperial mages fled like cowards.

Mary, assisting the navy’s counterstroke, charged straight into battle without a trace of fear in her heart. Where usually Colonel Drake would be barking for her to fall in line, she knew it was her duty to act as the spearhead of justice and chase down their vile enemy.

It didn’t take long for the Empire to shift into a retreat formation. Perhaps some sort of spoils of war, a Unified States flag unraveled from behind one of the mages as they pathetically fled from Mary. The other mages seemed worried for her safety, as there were calls for her to stand down. She felt thankful for their concern but knew this was her chance to defeat her sworn enemy.

With her steadfast companions in tow, she would save Ildoa and the world from the Imperial menace. Having a clear goal in mind made fighting much easier. When normally there was more to be concerned about, even anguish over, by removing Colonel Drake from the picture, the world was so much simpler.

Mary charged with all her might. Through the clear, blue Ildoan skies, she chased down the wicked Imperial mages and delivered them the punishment they deserved. Every now and then, the Imperial Army would stop to try and fight back, but the sight of Mary was enough to send them fleeing once more.

“Do not run! Treacherous cowards! You shall receive swift justice!”

With rage in her heart, she let off multiple explosion formulas. The world, contorted by the magic and heat, manifested a lethal series of explosions. The sight of the Imperial mages thrown into such a pathetic panic at the blazing fire was exhilarating.

They chased their fleeing enemy. There was nothing else to consider. They had the enemy right where they wanted them. Eventually, it seemed the enemy commander gave up on trying to get her mages to hold their ground. Mary watched as her sworn enemy, the wretched Devil of the Rhine, fell into a panic similar to her subordinates and fled for her life.

The unbridled acceleration with which she flew away told the story of an enemy fleeing in fear. Mary and her mages, on the other hand, were already at their limits. Trying to shoot an enemy out of the sky took a much larger toll on a mage than fleeing for one’s life did. Nevertheless…learning that she had successfully driven the enemy away quelled the flame in Mary’s heart.

Fighting as the sword of justice felt good. Mary took in the moment, noticing that below her was the city. In fact, there were buildings and houses for as far as the eye could see. She pulled out a map and there was no mistaking it.

“This is…the capital…?”

This was the city that was being occupied by the Empire. She had followed the enemy mages into the city and driven them off. This city, however, was supposed to be under Imperial occupation. And yet, there were no AA guns firing at her and the other mages.

Mary, immediately overcome with suspicion, called out to those who followed her here. The group took a quick flight around the city to see what was going on. That was when she realized what she was looking at.

“There’s no one here…”

The buildings that had housed the Imperial soldiers were all empty. Left behind were collapsed piles of documents written in Imperial and abandoned vehicles. There wasn’t a single wretched Imperial soldier to be found. What started as a sneaking suspicion quickly turned into conviction after a few more laps around the city.

Then, it finally dawned on Mary what she had accomplished—her expression brightened immediately. She hadn’t realized that they had pushed back the entire Imperial Army. Those cunning, wicked soldiers who always used their cowardly tricks to win. Mary had never had the power to fight back before. There were nights where she cried herself to sleep over her powerlessness to stop their evil deeds.

“Did we liberate…the city?”

Justice always prevailed. Pride, dignity, and determination always triumphed over the darkness. Doing the right thing, no matter how impossible it may seem, was possible for her and the mages who fought alongside her.

Mary soon regrouped with her fellow mages and found one of them had seized the flag that had been stolen from the Unified States. There were many soldiers who came from the Unified States in the multinational volunteer garrison.

“Let’s hold this flag that we’ve reclaimed up high!”

Mary decided to march the US flag through the center of the town. The town was a ghost town at this point. Despite it being Christmas night, there was nobody to be seen outside. It was no mystery why, seeing as how the city had been occupied up until just now.

It was easy to tell just by moving through the city that it had been, too. At every corner, there was a poster or sign that seemed to be of Imperial origin asserting its detestable dominance over the poor city. What was most loathsome…were the Imperial flags that flew high for all to see in the city square.

These were the symbol of evil.

The flags, arrogantly flown over the peaceful city the Empire had dominated, sparked a rage in Mary’s heart.

“This is wrong.”

Mary felt she must right what was wrong.

That the existence of something wrong mustn’t be tolerated.

That which must not be tolerated, that which must be done away with.

The Empire, and all evil, should be eradicated from this world, and Mary needed to do it.

This was the only way for her to correct the evils of the world, and to bring back the peace it once knew.

Mary raised her flag.

The right flag.

The flag that banished injustice.

As the liberator of Ildoa, she held it high in the city center.

It waved gloriously in the breeze.

It let the world know the Empire’s end was nigh.

That the Ildoan capital had been reclaimed.

“We will not lose!”

She would bring justice to the world.

“We will destroy the Empire!”