Chapter 31

The response from the beehive began just as the intruders had anticipated.

“Enemies! It’s an enemy raid!”

“All hands, prepare for battle! Halt them!”

In an instant, dozens of navy forces rushed out and formed their ranks.

Without a hint of confusion, they completed their formation with guns and swords at the ready, revealing just how well-trained they were.

The one commanding them, currently managing this place, was General Ritorio Gardibaldi.

He stood with his sword drawn in front of the slain soldiers, glaring at the mysterious intruders…

A pair dressed in animal masks, weapons in hand, he shouted in a sharp voice.

“What are you?! Why are you committing such deeds?!”

“…”

Their response to suddenly appearing and committing murder was strikingly normal.

However, in response to Ritorio’s question, the two simply ignored him and continued their conversation.

“Could it be… are they truly Akroiel’s subordinates? They seem to be responding much better than I expected.”

“Y-Yeah. You can tell they have good discipline just by looking at them.”

“Why won’t you answer! What are you doing?! If you don’t respond to my questions, I’ll kill you on the spot!”

The soldiers stood like an iron wall, ready to fire at a moment’s notice, their presence alone radiated danger.

Meanwhile, the so-called enemy was merely two in number.

Two versus dozens—at least, several dozens to hundreds.

Thinking about it normally, the outcome was already clear.

From a distance, it looked less like a battle and more like two people standing on a gallows while an executioner approached.

But…

“At least it’s a relief that there doesn’t seem to be a strong enemy in sight…”

“True. There seems to be one that looks somewhat tough, but… they’re probably just at Elkana’s level, right?”

In this situation, it was the two who felt at ease.

The overwhelming magical power emanating from them sent chills down the spines of Ritorio and his soldiers.

And then…

“Damn it! Fire! Wipe them out!”

Driven by sudden fear, Ritorio shouted the command to fire, and the soldiers, also gripped by unimaginable terror, began shooting.

– Tap tap tap tap!!!

The noise of gunfire erupted, covering the area in a deafening roar.

Dozens of bullets poured down on the two, and for an ordinary person…

No, even those who could wield magic would not survive such firepower; they would undoubtedly become Swiss cheese.

Yet…

“!!!”

“What… what’s happening?”

Countless bullets froze in mid-air as if they were stuck against a wall.

To be precise, the barrier made of magical power they emitted effortlessly deflected the incoming bullets.

“I’m sorry, but to break through this, you’ll need to fire cannonballs.”

Along with his words, the man lowered the hand that had been stretched forward.

At that moment, the bullets that had been suspended in the air fell to the ground with a loud clatter.

“Well then… shall we have some fun for a change?”

With those words, the two darted towards Ritorio’s forces at an astonishing speed.

Like a pair of rampaging beasts, the soldiers, already in formation, felt their bodies freeze in place at the sight of them approaching.

And.

In an instant, they appeared right before the soldiers.

Having seen them countless times as a resident of this place, they felt more terrifying than ever at this moment…

The animal masks.

“Ah… Aaaah!!!”

– Bang!!!!

With the screams erupted, blood splattered everywhere.

Flinging their butchering knife and sword, the two began to slaughter the confused soldiers.

“Damn it! Block them! Stop them!”

In the rapidly changing situation, Ritorio attempted to regroup his soldiers.

However, his troops were composed mainly of riflemen shooting from a distance.

As such, they were strong in long-range combat but terribly vulnerable in close quarters.

Even the ones wielding swords were immediately cut down as their weapons clashed with the intruders.

Instead of discussing formations or tactics, Ritorio and his subordinates were simply being overwhelmed by sheer strength.

Despite the two appearing like lions rampaging among sheep, Ritorio was unable to stop them.

“General! It’s impossible! We must retreat! The soldiers have already lost the will to fight!”

“Ugh…”

By the urgent voice of his officer urging retreat, it became clear that with the formation crumbling, they were unable to fire back again.

In that brief moment, over thirty soldiers had already been massacred, many more were still dying, and morale had plummeted to a subterranean level.

Ultimately, Ritorio recognized there was only one course of action left.

“Retreat… and you, go report this to Admiral Akroiel right away. I’ll do my best to hold them back and buy some time.”

“Yes, General!”

After sending off his officer, Ritorio fell back with the remaining soldiers.

As he watched the navy retreat before him, the two—Franklin and Magellan—took a moment to catch their breath.

“What shall we do? Should we chase them down?”

“N-No. After all, our role is as bait. To draw their attention, it would be better to cause as much shock as possible and escape alive.”

“Understood. If that’s the Captain’s decision, I will follow.”

Magellan responded with a formality, and indeed, unlike before, following Franklin’s lead seemed to come more naturally to him.

In the previous meeting, he even supported his girlfriend Elkana in a disagreement with her.

However, from Franklin’s perspective, he felt both grateful and somewhat concerned.

‘Sigh… But is that okay?… No matter what, it must feel pretty bad for her if her boyfriend takes someone else’s side…’

Despite never having been in a romantic relationship, as a woman, she might feel quite unpleasant about such situations.

Even if she were in the wrong.

While he wouldn’t interfere with others’ love lives, as the captain, he felt he should do something to help.

Determined to focus on the task at hand, Franklin resolved, “Then let’s proceed according to plan.”

“Got it, so we just need to set the world ablaze, right?”

With that idea of using fire, something with a longstanding tradition in history, Magellan created a raging flame in one hand.

That blazing blue flame.

Without a moment of hesitation, he threw it directly into the nearby warehouse.

Into the place filled with boxes of gunpowder…

– KABOOOM!!!!

“What? The military supplies warehouse?”

“Yes! We just received word. One-tenth of the warehouse area has already become a sea of flames, and the scope is expanding!”

A sudden, thunderclap-like report pulled Akroiel from her tea.

“Who dares to do this at such a time in Benessa?!”

Her voice was sharper than usual, flared up by the interruption to her tea time.

The officer who had come to report stammered as he spoke.

“W-We don’t know their identity. They were masked, and they’re strong enough that it’s difficult for us to approach them.”

“…Ugh…”

The situation was suddenly troublesome in many ways.

Amid this turbulence, Akroiel reached a conclusion: she had to choose.

To continue committing all defenses to this place or to redirect efforts to secure the military supplies.

Normally, she would choose the latter without hesitation, but…

The problem was that a grand event, the Great Auction, was taking place here and now.

Such grand-scale events essentially reflected a nation’s dignity, and the monetary and diplomatic stakes were far too high to allow the warehouse to be lost.

“What should I do…?”

“Hmm… It is indeed important here, but shouldn’t we go to the warehouse first?”

“Putting out the fire is the priority; if we stay like this, it could lead to a monumental disaster.”

While one location was battling immediate danger, another held great potential risk.

Given what had transpired, the answer seemed clear.

As the subordinates prepared to move without hesitation, one of them suddenly spoke up.

“Wait…”

“Wha…?”