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The explosive flames that raged in the high-rise trading building of Yamigasa Company blew away every window, destroyed the walls, and the explosion pressure not only spread on the floor that became the epicenter. It broke through the upper floors, pierced the roof, reached the heavens, and dyed the night sky red.
Beneath the red-hot night sky, the scream of the chairman of Yamigasa Company resounded. As I aimed down-sight with FN P90, I saw him and the adventurer of Rafflesia, with the heat wave on their back. They were caught by the collapsing trading house, which incapacitated both of them.
“Aa――! M, my company――”
When I turned my gaze slightly backward, I was able to see the light particles mixed with sparks disappearing in the burning and collapsing trading house. The wreckage of the Oshkosh M978 tank trailer and the burning fuel that was scattered must have changed into particles of light over time after the system judged that the vehicle had been destroyed.
The pillar of fire as well as the slowly disappearing particles of light, melding together in the night sky, presenting a fantastic landscape to my eyes. This should make for a good warning――of what would happen if you were to lay a hand on what the “Black Mask Shaft” is protecting. No――perhaps they didn’t even think that I would be in the Royal Capital at this time.
“Well—I’ll have you tell me everything. What is the plan of the ‘Rafflesia’ and what is its purpose?”
I grabbed the face of the chairman who couldn’t take his eyes off the collapsing trading house and forced him to face me.
“Whu han ho huck houhelf hih he huh!”
I didn’t get what he was talking about. I took out the adventurer’s rope I borrowed from the floor where M978 was summoned, pressed the chairman of the firm to the ground, tied both hands, and tied up his entire body so that he wouldn’t act violently.
I also gagged him with the rope so that he won’t yell. Then I noticed a large number of dots on the map floating in my field of vision and heard the sound of an approaching carriage, followed by the sound of bells ringing.
“Yamigasa company is in fire! Ready the fire brigade! Prepare to cast water magic! “
“Rescue team, don’t forget to cast fire resistance magic and body strengthening magic! See if anyone in need of rescue!”
So the dots were the capital’s fire brigade…… That’s a lot of them. Multiple dots wrapped around the trading house that was no longer a high-rise.
The number of bullets left in the P90 displayed in my field of vision was sufficient――hiding the P90 behind my waist, I stood up and turned around.
“You! What are you doing there!”
“This is the general guild headquarters patrol unit. Please show us your ID. If you resist, you will be regarded as the main culprit of this fire and will be detained!”
The ones who came here wore familiar uniforms—The armed General Guild staff.
However, how many of them came in such a short amount of time――perhaps they started moving after shooting through the crystal clusters, so it was a very quick response. The number of general guild staff who called themselves the patrol unit was greater than the number of dots that started firefighting activities. They must have been on high alert so that the fire of rebellion occurring in the first area would not spread to the second and third areas.
In such a situation, if an explosion were to occur at one of the largest firms in the Kingdom, it wouldn’t be surprising if they would come in droves.
“Hey, the one tied up behind you is the chairman of Yamigasa Company――Daikan?”
The eyes of the general guild staff were directed to the person behind me, toward the chairman of Yamigasa company, who was groaning breathlessly――so this man’s name is Daikan…
“It looks like you don’t even need to show your ID card… you, why don’t you settle down so we could accompany you to the guard station?”
The staff members drew their swords one after another, and I could hear the chanting of magic words in the background.
This is bad… I don’t have any intention to tussle with the general guild, and I don’t have time to follow them to the office and explain things. I have to get as much information out of Daikan and join Ashley and the others.
Oh well――no other choice but to run away.
I returned the P90 that was wrapped around my waist to my inventory, and instead summoned a smoke grenade and an M84 flashbang in my hand.
After a little while, the general guild staff who followed joined the previous one――.
“Is that guy the culprit――eh? Isn’t that the “Black Mask Shaft”?”
A familiar voice called my name just before I joined the patrol force in front of me.
“It’s a relief to see a familiar face, Siegfried.”
The one who pushed his way through the patrol guards was Siegfried, a tall and slim General Guild employee with slightly droopy eyes and a stubbled chin. At the mercenary headquarters in the Royal Capital, he was working as a mock battle examiner. While in the entertainment city of Veneer, he was chasing an adventurer who violated the contract.
What the hell is this man…
“Captain, is that black masked man really the “Black Mask Shaft”?”
“Yes…I think――is there a doubt?”
“Should I present my Mercenary guild card? Or should I remove this black mask and show my face to you?”
“Oh no no no no! Your true face is quite――I heard about it, but there’s no way to confirm it even if you show me something I’ve never seen before. I haven’t fully grasped what’s going on here, but if I knew you were biting me, that would be a different story.”
Siegfried turned to the patrol guards, ordering them to help with the firefighting and rescue of the injured. Then, he put his arm around my shoulder and led me to a position a little further away.
“Shaft, what’s going on in the Royal Capital? The general guild has been requested by the 4th Knight Order and the 2nd Prince to maintain security and emergency alerts in the 2nd and 3rd districts at the same time. I know that a battle is taking place in the first area, but I don’t know who is fighting who.”
The 4th Knight Order and the 2nd Prince――I guess this is through the Rafflesia, but the reason why they both shut out the general guild is to avoid the adventurers of the Royal Capital from participating in this rebellion.
From the perspective of the 4th Knight Order, it would be impossible to defend with an adventurer whose connection to the Rafflesia is unclear. From the point of view of the “Rafflesia”, it is best to have fewer hostile forces.
They were keeping their distance from the adventurers, in order to protect the Royal Capital and eliminate the Royal family.
“Then, let me brief you… What I know is that the Rafflesia and the Cactus are two sides of the same coin, and they are attacking the Royal family tonight. On the way here, there was also a battle going on at the Royal Castle. I don’t know what the result was, but… in a nutshell, the Second Prince has rebelled.”
With the Yamigasa Company having a direct relationship with the Royal family of the Viceburn Empire, it is difficult to imagine that the Royal family of the Kingdom of Kurtmerga was not involved in tonight’s rebellion.
Although there is no evidence yet, I had no doubt that Prince Kilik was the mastermind.
It was a simple explanation, but Siegfried opened his eyes wide and put his hand over his mouth to restrain himself from leaking out his voice. He must have been quite surprised――the Cactus is a huge organization lurking in the darkness of the Kingdom of Kurtmerga, while the clan Rafflesia pretty much represents the nation.
In addition, there was also the betrayal of the Clan Master, Prince Kilik. It’s not a problem that the general guild, which is one of the Kingdom’s organizations, will go on a business trip to solve.
“If that’s true… Where did Prince Kilik acquire backing? Even if he rebelled in this way, the Nobles of the country wouldn’t accept the usurpation of the throne.”
“The Viceburn Empire. I don’t know if it’s enough proof, but there should be a headless corpse lying in the warehouse behind me. The corpse――if what I heard from Daikan is true, should belong to a member of the Viceburn Empire Royal family.”
“Viceburn Empire?! Headless corpse… did you do it?”
“I didn’t know he was a Prince. If I had, I might’ve considered crippling his legs or arms instead. But, in order to stop the rebellion, it’s necessary to remove the user to prevent him from creating more soldiers for the rebels.”
“ ――I didn’t know about it… No, that’s not for me to judge. So, what were you planning to do with Daikan tied up?”
I was planning to bring him to Duke Barga’s――I was about to answer immediately, but some members of the police were listening to the conversation between me and Siegfried on the spot.
I don’t know how far the roots of the “Cactus”――or “Schuldtiana” have extended. Judging by Siegfried’s heartbeat, I don’t think he’s acting surprised――this man isn’t on the Rafflesia side.
But, the same can’t be said about the other patrol guards around――
This time, I put my hand on Siegfried’s shoulder, brought his face closer, and continued talking in a low voice.
“I will take Daikan to the residence of Duke Barga. Rafflesia’s goal is to kill the Royal family and detain Chancellor Zephanel. We have escaped and taken refuge in the Duke’s mansion. We can consider moving from there, but right now it’s the most important point along with the Royal Castle.”
“Detaining the Chancellor? Why do they need to let only the Chancellor live?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out by keeping this Daikan here alive.”
“What about the Prince of the Empire?”
“I want to leave that matter to you. Including whether or not to cover up the death.”
“Uwaa, you’re forcing the troublesome part on me――oh well, I’ll just give the old man a visit.”
With that, I left the cleanup of this place and the task of collecting the evidence of crime done by Yamigasa company to Siegfried. With Daikan on my back, I started moving to Duke Barga’s mansion.
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