Chapter 93

Carina quickly revised her offer.

“Alright, since you seem to want the Caraphine too, let’s do this. We’ll take custody of the recovered Caraphine for now. And once it’s confirmed that you really are an agent from the Empire, we’ll share it with you. How’s that sound?”

Her reasoning was based on the belief that the Empire only wanted the Caraphine manufacturing technique, not to use it to terrorize Laurencia.

“Let’s just recover the damn Caraphine quickly, then head to our interrogation room so you can write up a statement. I’ll even throw in a steaming bowl of offal stew as a bonus.”

“Hmmm.”

When Nice Goodman showed hesitation, Carina growled and urged him.

“I’m making a pretty generous offer here. I’m telling you, the stew’s legit. I’ll load it with pepper for you. One bite and you won’t regret it. I even order it myself sometimes when I’m working late. Isn’t that right, Conroy?”

“Uh, what? Oh, yeah. I mean, it’s a bit too greasy for me, personally, but…”

“Conroy?”

“Highly recommended.”

“You heard him.”

Just when her finger on the trigger started to cramp, Nice Goodman finally answered.

“On second thought, no. I’d rather chase them alone.”

“Fine. Let’s reconsider after you take a bullet.”

With that, Carina aimed for Nice Goodman’s thigh and pulled the trigger on her pistol.

Click!

The spring released, the flint struck the steel plate hard, the spark ignited the powder pan…

And the blessed, divine-power-infused bullet… didn’t fire.

“What—?”

Carina who was flustered checked her pistol.

The powder pan was sloshing with water.

There was no way it could’ve rained inside the theater—

Which meant it was magic.

“When did he…?”

She had momentarily forgotten that the man was skilled enough to use magic without chants or hand signs.

Carina gritted her teeth.

Nice Goodman spoke.

“Your boldness is admirable, but you’re still inexperienced. That’s what happens when you let your guard down against a mage.”

“You ungrateful bastard! Is this how you repay my kindness?!”

“You were going to shoot me anyway. Don’t act like it was some noble gesture.”

“I aimed for your leg, damn it!”

When Carina protested in genuine frustration, Nice Goodman let out a short laugh.

“If you’ve got time to whine, use it to help evacuate the civilians. The theater staff seems overwhelmed. There are plenty of high-ranking nobles here, and as a royal family branch member, you’d be helpful in restoring order.”

As he said, the nobles lost all decorum in the midst of the emergency. They were fighting at the exits, each trying to escape first.

Carina raised her middle finger high.

“You think I came here just to direct evacuations? The fire’s already out anyway…”

“Oh, is it?”

Whoosh!

The theater caught fire again.

“…Not anymore.”

“Y-You-you….youuuuu—!”

Carina stuttered in utter disbelief.

“You crazy son of a bitch!”

“I really don’t have time left. I’m leaving.”

Nice Goodman started to walk away.

Carina, who had been glaring back and forth at her useless pistol and Nice Goodman’s retreating back as if ready to kill, hurled the gun at him.

Sadly, it fell short and missed.

Nice Goodman paused for a moment and said,

“Oh, and there should be an actress wearing an eye patch up in a third‑floor box. See if you can save her too.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Instead of answering, Nice Goodman walked toward the wall and walked right through it.

To Carina’s eyes it looked like another weird bit of magic. When she moved closer to inspect, she found a hidden passage opened beyond a decorative drape on the wall.

“Seriously, how do you even know about secret passages like this?”

“So… what now, Chief?”

Carina began to ponder.

Her encounter with Nice Goodman had come about by a miracle… no clues, no grounds, just sheer luck. Letting him go now felt like a huge waste.

Should I follow him, come hell or high water?

She’d lost her sword, her gun was busted, and Conroy was useless, but as Head of Intelligence she could order soldiers to capture Nice Goodman.

Suppressing a mage of that caliber would cost lives, but he was an agent for the Empire. He wouldn’t run wild enough to spark a diplomatic incident.

Just as she worked that out, a woman’s scream came from the front of the auditorium.

“Walter! Walter! Someone, please help my child! His leg is injured, he can’t move! Walter! Oh, please, someone!”

Carina squeezed her eyes shut and made a decision.

“Goddamn it! Conroy! First, we rescue people!”

***

“That’s him! He’s the one who set the fire!”

“Are you sure?”

“Look at that suspicious getup. He’s hiding his face with a mask and even carrying a sword! What more do you need? He’s the bastard who burned down my theater….catch him now!”

What I ran into after escaping to the theater lobby through a backstage secret passage was the theater’s security, who had finally sealed off the entrance and Milliciano, the theater owner, shouting orders at them.

“You fools, you’re already too late.”

The arsonists who started the fire had long since fled the theater.

With a single gesture, I sent the guards flying and pinned them to the wall. Both the panicking security officers trying to arrest the wrong man and Milliciano whose mind was clouded with rage over the property damage.

[Casting Druid Gutierrez’s Secret Spell — Living Vines]

Thin, reddish-brown plants burst through the tiled floor and coiled tightly around the guards’ waists.

“Argh! Vines are coming out of the floor!”

“Witchcraft! He’s using witchcraft!”

“Somebody help!”

And so, I added an avant-garde decorative piece to the Estwick Theater’s lobby before casually strolling out the front entrance.

Outside the theater, the firefighters had arrived but were struggling to get inside to put out the flames.

It was because of the crowd that had gathered to watch the fire said to be the most entertaining sight in the world.

The firefighters’ faces were drawn with tension, but the flames I had conjured were merely an illusion, created to deceive Carina.

If I moved far enough away or dispelled the magic, they would vanish on their own.

For now, I focused on tracking down the escaped members of the Longsonniere organization.

My mana field was already at full extension, and with my S-Rank Mana talent, its radius easily exceeded a kilometer.

Still, while I could draw in all the mana within that range, the actual detection area was much smaller. It was a limit of perception.

The more I tried to sense at once, the more my focus scattered.

And with the crowd gathered in front of the theater, the resolution of the senses I felt through the mana field dropped even further.

Once again, the key to solving this lay with Caraphine.

Even under these unfavorable conditions, the presence of highly concentrated Caraphine stood out like a bright red dot on an ink wash painting.

Found you.

They hadn’t gone as far as I’d expected.

No… it would be more accurate to say they hadn’t gone anywhere at all.

One had short, striking blond hair tucked under a hat.

The other was tall and gaunt, with a thin ponytail.

The two Longsonniere members I’d located inside the theater were now boldly hiding in the crowd, watching me.

Their courage to stay rather than flee was admirable, but it seemed they still had no idea that, thanks to the Caraphine they carried, I could keep tracking their every move.

As soon as I looked directly toward where they were standing, the two spies flinched in surprise and turned their heads away.

The distance between us was roughly forty meters. Hitting them with a spell at that range would’ve been easy under normal circumstances, but the civilians between us were the problem.

There was no choice but to close the gap.

As I moved toward the crowd to push through, the human wall began to ripple in panic and stepped back en masse.

Why? Because of the sword I was carrying.

I still had the thin, twin-bladed sword I’d taken from Carina Valpenera in my hand.

At one point, I accidentally locked eyes with a woman holding a newborn. The baby, curious, reached a hand toward me and gurgled, “Booba” before getting scolded by its startled mother.

This really did feel like playing the villain.

Well, Winter Winslet was technically a villain.

But being a villain wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. So I decided to use their fear to my advantage.

“Out of the way.”

Just saying that in a grim voice and pointing the sword forward was enough….people recoiled as if they were about to be slashed.

In no time at all, a clear path opened before me.

As expected, intimidation gets results.

Textbook Winter Winslet behavior.

“He’s spotted us.”

By the time I was close enough to hear one of them say that, the Longsonniere agents finally began their full-on escape.

“Kyaa! A pickpocket!”

“Oh no! They’re shoving people aside!”

“My fruit stand! My fruit!”

The two spies took off at a sprint, shoving and batting away anything in their path without hesitation.

I hurried after them.

Or at least, I tried to. But suddenly, a wave of dizziness washed over me.

[Warning]

[Willpower and Health have temporarily decreased.]

[Trait Activated: Always Elegant]

Always Elegant

– Elegant even in death. Restraint is the true mark of nobility.

– Permanently increases Dexterity and Charisma by one level.

– When engaging in rigorous activity that causes shortness of breath or sweating, Health and Willpower temporarily drop significantly.

Winter Winslet was the kind of lunatic who would faint from running even a little.

I’ve cleared Candela of Judgment in just about every way imaginable. I’ve even imposed handicaps on myself to make things harder on purpose….but this was something else entirely.

Play the game without running? Seriously?

Now it all made sense.

Back when I played the original game, I always thought it was odd how Winter Winslet would throw up a barrier spell to block attacks he could’ve easily dodged with a simple step.

I assumed it was because he had excess mana to burn… or maybe even some kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

But no….turns out it was this gimmick all along.

A man who deleted the ability to run from his own brain… for the sake of dignity.

And now, that man was me.