Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Let's Go to the Mart (3)
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K Mart had been raided by villains.
The villains, their faces masked, were aiming guns at the civilians.
"Stay still until the heroes arrive. Move, and you're dead."
Front entrance, back door, store changing room, restroom.
Masked villains who had been hiding suddenly appeared, guns in hand, taking control of the civilians.
Click—
"If you don't wanna die, get down on the floor."
"..."
"Get down now?"
The scale of the terror attack was bigger than expected.
They'd clearly prepared thoroughly.
I followed the orders from the guy who'd appeared behind me and dropped to the floor.
Then Hwarryun erupted like a volcano.
-Why are you obeying him! Dad, beat him up! I don't like that guy!
I muttered under my breath, keeping my voice low.
"...Not yet."
-Why!
"We don't know what they want."
Their goal was a mystery.
From the half-assed hero training I'd gone through after becoming one, I knew that in terror situations like this, you had to figure out what the other side wanted before you could resolve things.
That's why they said to avoid unnecessary moves until you knew.
"What could their goal be..."
Suryun replied to my musing.
-Probably something to do with heroes like you, Dad.
Her tone was full of certainty.
-If they wanted to kill humans, they wouldn't have said to wait for heroes. They'd have done it already. So it's obviously not the stuff in the mart they want either. What those weird panty-headed humans are after is a hero like you. They've just grabbed the regular humans to put themselves in a superior position.
"..."
Suryun kept pouring out her words like a waterfall.
I perfectly understood what she meant.
Probably...
"Ahem, yeah, I kinda knew that already. You're right, Suryun."
-I never say anything wrong, Dad.
"Yeah, seems that way."
My smart daughter, as expected.
If my hands were free, I'd have stroked her head like crazy.
Damn that gun-toting bastard.
"What're you looking at? No muttering. Stay quiet."
"..."
We'll settle this later.
I wouldn't even get hurt if that pistol hit me.
For now, though, I'd play the civilian.
With a sigh, I decided to just watch the situation unfold.
"You guys stay put and behave too. This is serious."
-Don't order me around!
-I know.
-Okay!
Choryun's response was the best, as always.
Anyway.
I kept low and observed their movements.
They'd forced all the civilians flat on the floor and were talking among themselves.
"...Can't hear what they're saying."
-Dad, I'll send my friends to listen!
Choryun said that, then poked her head out of the bag and opened her mouth.
-Friends! Go hear what those people are saying!
Choryun gave the order to her invisible spirit friends, as far as my eyes could tell.
And with that, she slipped back into the bag—poof.
-Now my friends will go listen!
"They're really your friends, right, Choryun?"
-Of course! What do you take my friendship for!
After Choryun's indignant little shout.
While we stayed flat on the floor, one of her friends must've completed the mission, because Choryun spoke up.
-Dad, my friend told me!
"What'd they say?"
-They said, 'When the heroes arrive, shoot all the civilians!'
"And?"
-And the bomb thing was a lie! They said they'd use the distraction to escape in the chaos!
"..."
They'd come fully intent on committing terror.
Against civilians, no less.
Maybe because they'd shown up masked.
I'd thought they looked too young from their builds.
But it seemed they planned to do something even more dangerous than their looks suggested.
'...This scale is too big for me alone.'
If I moved, they'd shoot the civilians right away.
The villains' goal was to kill in front of the heroes, after all.
No good.
We had to resolve this before the heroes entered the building.
"Hwarryun. Wanna help Dad out?"
-I don't listen to weak humans weaker than me!
"This is gonna be really fun. For real?"
-If it's fun, I'll do it!
Hwarryun, excited, poked her head out of the bag.
"Not yet."
I held her back and explained the plan.
Whisper whisper—
After hearing it, Hwarryun replied like it'd be a blast.
-Okay! I'll help Dad this once!
Good.
I'd been worried the capricious Hwarryun might refuse.
But she seemed keen since it looked fun.
"..."
-When do we do it! I'm bored!
We lay there still, waiting for the right moment to start the operation.
"This should be good now."
-I'm doing it now!
"Let's do it, Hwarryun."
-Raaawr!
Hwarryun burst out of the bag and opened her mouth wide.
Then she fired a fireball upward.
Shwooo—!
"What the hell?"
"Who's that!"
I seized the moment their attention turned and stood up.
Hwarryun's fireball shot up and—
Boom—!!
It burst like fireworks, flooding the mart with intense light.
I charged straight at the guy controlling me and threw a punch.
"Pulling a gun in front of kids?"
No mercy.
I slammed my fist into his gut.
"Aaagh—!!"
The masked man took the hit and dropped to his knees on the spot.
But he didn't pass out.
'I hit him full force, and this guy's an awakener too?'
Just a faint trace of mana in his body.
Not a high-rank one, though.
I kicked the kneeling guy's head.
Thwack—!
Only then did he fully collapse, unconscious.
'While they're all dazed, gotta take 'em out quick.'
First priority: my kids' safety.
Second: my safety.
Third: the civilians' lives.
Villains had goals? Well, I had mine too.
Thinking practically, I grabbed a gun from one and rushed the other villains, swinging punches.
"You bastards! I'm trying to shop hard with my daughters and head home! Why make it harder for me!"
Weak as hell too.
Why pull this pointless crap?
Their motives made no sense.
And the dragons felt the same, apparently.
Before I knew it, Hwarryun had crawled out of the bag and was tapping the downed villains' heads with her front paw.
-You're no fun! There was one strong human! Where'd he go, and why're only you weaklings left! Hmph! Hmph! Die, weak humans!
"Ugh..."
It looked like one-sided bullying.
I'd told her to stay inside for safety and was about to look for the next target.
But then.
"Argh, my eyes... That was you, huh?"
"...Yeah, my bad."
Click—
The last masked man standing aimed his pistol at me.
He glared at me venomously and asked.
"My eyes are killing me... You a hero?"
"Nope?"
"Then what?"
"I'm a dad."
Just a dad shopping with his kids.
A dragon dad.
The guy aiming the gun at me snorted in disbelief.
"Bullshit... That body enhancement! You're a high-rank hero... No way my crew goes down like that otherwise...!!"
They were all awakeners, it seemed.
Not a single skilled one among them.
Probably some villain tail-end trying to stir chaos by killing civilians.
"Die!!"
He spat venom at me one last time and pulled the trigger.
Ting—!
The bullet didn't pierce my body.
Obviously.
My body was premium-grade, soaked in dragon mana.
I walked slowly toward the panicking guy.
"Come here."
"Th-this bullet's supposed to work even on max B-rank heroes...!! Wh-why didn't it penetrate...!!"
"Either you got scammed, or I'm tough. One or the other. Don't run—come here!"
I charged at the terrified, backing-away guy.
By the time the summoned heroes entered.
The situation was already cleaned up.
I'd stuffed the big adult villains into the cart and said to the heroes staring like "What the hell?":
"Stopped the terror. You got a nice reward bounty?"
I'd worked on my day off.
Gotta get paid.
***
All the villains were handed over to the association and thrown in jail.
"Crime rates spike whenever villain groups pop up. Their mood's foul lately. Be careful on your way home."
According to the association staff.
Crime rates shot up sharply when villain groups formed and dropped just as fast when they disbanded.
But this was the first indiscriminate mass terror targeting civilians.
"With all this recent activity... No time to slack off since I joined."
Too bad.
Feeling a bit disappointed, I pulled the cart packed with all sorts of goods toward home.
K Mart had given them to me for free as thanks for stopping the terror.
They'd stuffed my pockets with gift cards too.
"They even gave me the cart for easy transport with my purchases. Should've bought more."
-See! I told you to get lots of tasty stuff!
I'd wanted to flick her forehead when she threw a fit at the mart.
But looking back, maybe that was forgivable.
"Hwarryun really is a dragon."
-Duh, I'm a full-on dragon!
Shrug—
Hwarryun popped out from the bag in the cart.
She'd come right out and was sightseeing.
-A strong-looking guy ran away! But today was still fun!
"What was that guy even here for."
-Dunno! He just watched and bolted!
"...That's kinda fishy."
Didn't feel like everything wrapped up neatly.
Like there was some shady loose end.
Hope it has nothing to do with me.
All I want is to make bank and live peacefully with the kids.
"Suryun, Choryun. How was today for you? Fun?"
-It was okay despite the interruption.
-I had fun! Let's go again next time!
"...We'll see."
Still.
Even with the incident midway, they had fun, so that was good.
The dragon kids had all come out of the cart before I knew it.
I pulled the full cart along, heading toward the fading crimson sunset.
Evening had crept up on us without notice.
'Already this late?'
Time flew by unnoticed.
Being with the kids made it pass so fast.
Probably meant today was a good time.