The Bomber (1)
The site of the massive explosion was a densely populated residential district. No doubt about it. This was a blast intended for mass slaughter. It was an atrocity that spat filth upon the prestige of the Valtaria Empire, the superpower that stood as humanity’s representative.
The moment I witnessed the horrific scene through the shattered window, I drew my pistol.
“I’ll be back shortly.”
The Holy Sword Aldebaran. And a custom revolver that fired magic bullets. That was more than enough. What more could I possibly need? No matter what enemy stood against the Saintess Party, I was confident I could win.
That was why I spoke while looking at Elisabetta, surrounded by her royal guards. The mastermind who had turned the city into a sea of flames was surely plotting his next atrocity. There was no way the explosions would end with just one.
“Stop, Edanant! It’s too dangerous to go out now!”
“I’ll be fine.”
A cry filled with concern flew toward me. In response, I shrugged my shoulders and showed the platinum-haired princess the pistol gripped in my hand.
“I’ll be back, kiddo.”
“Yeah! I believe in you, Edan, since you’re Max’s little brother!”
Even though she was in a state of utter panic from the sudden catastrophe, Lue desperately held back her fear and cheered me on as I prepared to leap into the inferno. How admirable. She truly lived up to her role as the Saintess Party’s mascot.
Lue waved her hand. I nodded in return, acknowledging her encouragement.
The flames are slowly turning a deep navy blue. That means they used processed magic stones to create magic explosives.
While observing the inferno that had begun shifting to a navy hue, I speculated about the terrorists’ backer. There had been such a group. A criminal organization that mainly used magic explosives to carry out terror attacks. But they should have been wiped out by the Sword Saint, a former member of the Saintess Party.
Although they unfortunately missed the leader during the subjugation, the organization had lost most of its members. Could this be the work of the surviving remnants? Damn bastards. Their tenacity was enough to astonish even cockroaches. Why couldn’t they put that persistence toward doing some good for once?
“Bomber Gale.”
I spat out the name of the villain I suspected was behind this. Then I immediately jumped from the fourth-floor window.
Smoke thick with soot. Flames hot enough to incinerate a person in an instant. Countless lives had already been devoured by the ravenous blaze. It was truly horrific. The scene resembled the endless torments of the lowest hell.
The leader who had planned this large-scale bombing with his subordinates was probably laughing maniacally as he watched the hellish inferno he had created. Just imagining his grotesque face made me want to vomit.
He placed explosives throughout the residential area to maximize casualties. Moreover, the epicenter of the blast is adjacent to the slums, which would have made preparing the crime much easier.
I sprinted forward at full speed. The city streets where I had strolled with Lue were now an ocean of fire. Screams echoed. Heart-wrenching sobs and cries hammered against my ears. But I didn’t stop running. The most important thing right now was to stop the bombers’ plans.
Bomber Gale… Bomber Gale… Where did that guy from Chapter 2 aim to strike again? It’s been so long since I read the original that my memory is hazy.
Villains who commit serial crimes each have their own patterns. Call them habits or quirks. Their actions may look like nothing but chaotic destruction, but even villains follow their own rules. If I could read those patterns, I might be able to catch up to Gale. So I racked my brain as hard as I could, trying to recall the contents of the original story.
“Damn it.”
I suddenly halted my reckless advance and raised my pistol.
-Grrrrrrrr!!
-Grrk! Grrrrk!!
Graaaaaah!!
Beasts that had been ferociously tearing into half-charred corpses appeared. Flame Devourers. As their name suggested, they were monsters born with innate fire resistance. Sharp horns and fangs. Red eyes that glowed like hellfire. Four legs armed with razor-sharp claws and a body covered in vicious spikes. It was a grotesque strategy: trigger a wide-area explosion with explosives, then summon these monsters to turn the surroundings into scorched earth.
Just like how the black mages had intervened when the thugs attacked the Hohenberg family, it was clear that a black mage was supporting the bombers this time as well.
Hmm. One disaster after another. Nothing ever goes smoothly. After all, in my previous life I was the kind of guy who sold out his own country, so I always ended up with the worst luck. This time was no different.
Staring at the fiercely glowing eyes of the monsters, I muttered.
“I’ll blow your ugly heads off!”
I pulled the trigger at the monster I assumed was the leader.
Bang—!
With the gunshot, the monster’s skull shattered. As the leader collapsed, scattering its brains, the monsters that had been approaching from behind all charged at once. I let out a rough breath and drew my second pistol.
-Kahoot!!
I thrust both hands gripping the dual pistols forward and aimed at the beasts. I pulled the triggers relentlessly. The more bullets rained down, the faster the number of monsters decreased.
But the fight didn’t go smoothly. The more the sharp gunshots rang out, the more monsters the black mage had released came swarming in. It was a positive outcome that the citizens’ safety had been secured, but unfortunately I was now surrounded on all sides.
As expected, two pistols aren’t enough. There are just too many of them.
The beasts had me completely encircled. Their sharp fangs and claws looked ready to tear me apart at any moment. Pistols alone wouldn’t cut it. The defensive net holding back the ferocious monsters was growing precarious.
Recalling the countless hardships I endured while working as a non-regular member of the Saintess Party, I thought of the divine protection I had kept sealed away until now. The lives of countless citizens were at stake. I pushed aside the murky hesitation gnawing at my mind along with the pistols gripped in both hands.
Since the entire area is a sea of flames, there’s no worry about it leaking. I’ll use the protection just a little.
I threw the pistols aside. Then I grasped the hilt of the Holy Sword Aldebaran. It was to release the Restriction.
A dark, ink-black hue like black gunpowder emerged. The intangible darkness soon transformed into muskets with long, slender barrels.
Ta-da-da-da-dang——!!!
A simultaneous volley. The muskets that filled the air all spat fire at once. A downpour of bullets. The sky filled with gunfire and the roar of guns. The beasts that had charged so fiercely collapsed like sieves, riddled by the relentless barrage. Even though some continued to struggle in a bloody frenzy, none could break through the newly reinforced defensive net.
“Gunshots!”
“The sound of gunfire is coming from over there!”
The moment I withdrew the Gunman’s divine protection after completing its original duty, cold metallic clangs and shouts began to echo from beyond the flames. They were the Empire’s knights. A large force had finally been deployed to the site that had become an inferno.
The knights who had rushed over the instant the emergency order was issued bravely broke through the flames and immediately engaged the demonic beasts summoned by the black mage. A street battle unfolded within the blaze. True to their name as the order defending the imperial capital, they sliced through the monsters in a completely one-sided slaughter.
And then they arrived at the spot where the simultaneous volley had taken place. The knights who witnessed the countless corpses strewn across the ground swallowed their groans and hesitated for a moment.
“Y-you are… Lord Hohenberg?!”
“You arrived just in time. Well, actually you’re quite late.”
I picked up the pistols I had thrown to the ground and explained the situation to the knights who had joined the scene. Bomber Gale. The vicious criminal and his subordinates were planning a second act of terror. The knights looked half-doubtful but eventually nodded. Since they didn’t have much information at the moment, they seemed to accept it reluctantly. Or perhaps they believed me because of my close relationship with Princess Ludmila.
“M-my lord…! Where are you going?”
The knight who appeared to be the commander asked in an urgent voice. I answered.
“To deal with the bomber. I have a rough idea of where he is.”
I guessed at the new target the cruel criminal was aiming for. There was no evidence. It was a decision based purely on intuition. That was why I couldn’t carelessly reveal my speculation to others. I decided to go alone. After all, right now I was the only one who could face the bomber.
Gale Doher, more commonly known by the alias “Bomber” than his real name, had once threatened Beatrice by blowing up the grand cathedral of the Savoyard Duchy that sponsored the Saintess Party.
There is no such thing as divinity. You are nothing but a whore who exploits people’s faith. Proclaiming his malice toward religion, he had burned countless lives in flames.
Why did the Bomber resent the seekers of the Goddess so much? It was because Gale, whose face had been horribly burned in a tragic fire, had begged a priest of the cathedral for holy magic, only to be coldly refused. The reason was that he was penniless. It was because he was of such lowly birth. That was why they had turned their backs on him without offering even the slightest mercy.
Perhaps the malice and hatred boiling in his gut had finally spilled outward. The face of Gale, already covered in hideous scars from the fire, twisted into something even more monstrous.
“Yeah, I figured you’d be here!”
The Bomber, who had ordered his subordinates in the Bomb Squad to plant explosives, was viciously scratching at the scars on his face while reminiscing about the past, when—
Kwaaaaang——!!
A violent roar erupted as the entrance was blown apart. Amid the scattering debris, the intruder revealed himself.
“Who the hell are you…?”
“Someone who came to stop your little game of fire.”
Fire. The annoying tone made it sound like he had come to stop something trivial. Gale’s face twisted at the intruder’s answer. Rage surged at the provocation that dared to dismiss his grand revolution meant to shatter the hypocrisy of the so-called seekers of divinity and piety as nothing more than “playing with fire.”
Moreover, the young man’s appearance as he casually held his pistol kept unpleasantly reminding him of someone.
“You think you alone can stop the Bomb Squad?”
“The only thing I know how to do is imitate others… but I still have to try.”
Strangely, the intruder was the only male present. In other words, he had charged in alone into a place where explosives were planted everywhere. Gale couldn’t hide his bewilderment at the intruder’s reckless behavior that defied all common sense.
But soon he drew a sharp dagger and a gunpowder bomb at the same time, revealing his hostility toward the intruder.
“Imitate? What a pathetic joke. I’ll cover you from head to toe with bombs. The sight of your body being blown to pieces will be quite the spectacle.”
“Then go ahead and die to this imitator.”
Imitate. Yes, no matter how hard he tried, it would only ever be an imitation. But for now, that was enough.
Recalling the blunt-faced man who had always led from the front, I drew the Holy Sword. The blade of the Holy Sword Aldebaran, gleaming with a vivid violet hue, revealed itself.