"Yes, I will definitely tell you that. So..."
Rosien slumped over his dead brother and stroked his wet hair.
"Don't worry about me, Lou."
I'm sorry. Because I was the weak older sister you had to protect, I won't do that anymore.
"We must go, Miss. The pursuit is going to start again."
Before the tears could even dry, the nanny grabbed Rosien's arm and dragged her.
Rosien, who had dug the frozen ground and buried Rupert, got up.
As she emerged from the rapids, her complexion grew even paler after having even created a grave for Rupert. However, her eyes were shining even more fiercely.
"Call me Lou, not Rosien, from now on."
“Lady Rosien...!"
"No, my name is now Lou."
Rosien's life was no longer hers alone. It was the beginning of a struggle to live on, bearing her younger brother's name and the grudge of her deceased parents on her back.
'Lou, I'll live your life. I'll do everything you wanted to see and places you wanted to go for you. However, only after I pay that guy back...'
Lou remembers.
That every step she took walking away from the riverside where her younger sibling was buried was the heaviest moment of her life so far.
'Joachim Lantz, why did you say you were coming to Karkan, to this lord's castle?'
Lu bit his lip, suppressing the seething hatred.
One must not lose one's reason to the flames of the past. He tried to cool his head.
'You moved so secretly to avoid getting caught, and now you're revealing yourself?'
He couldn't possibly be unaware that his very appearance would become a weakness, could he?
'And that too, with so many nobles gathered here?'
At that moment, Lou was pushed toward the pillar by a passing noble.
"Oh my, excuse me, why were you standing in the middle of the road?"
The dress, with its back half exposed, touched the pillar.
Lou flinched at the unfamiliar cold flowing down his spine.
'What?'
He turned and touched the pillar. The banquet hall was as warm as spring, yet the pillar that touched her palm was as cold as freshly taken ice.
Lou quietly went to the opposite pillar and touched it.
Both of the two largest pillars supporting the hall were emitting cold air from within. It was a chill so subtle that it could not be noticed unless touched directly.
"If those black boxes get wet, my head will be the first to fly off. The 'fireworks' are supposed to start during the banquet, but if there is no signal from underground..."
The words of James, Barmia's secret agent, flashed through his mind.
'What if those fireworks were an explosion?'
What was the medium? There was no smell of gunpowder anywhere in the banquet hall. Since it was an open space, there was no suitable place to store gunpowder.
But.
'Barmia is receiving ice iron via the Black Anchor.'
Ice iron has good magical conductivity, so it is a metal used to smelt powerful explosive weapons.
'What if they turned the ice iron into dust and filled the pillars with it?'
The coldness felt right now must be a characteristic property of ice iron.
'They're planning to blow up this entire banquet hall.'
Then, the reason Joachim went out of his way to show himself here is also explained. After all, everyone who witnesses him in this banquet hall will turn to ashes.
Lou turned around without hesitation.
***
"Part of the security consists of Barmia's forces. It appears that additional unidentified troops have already been deployed to the rear side."
Lou reunited with Les at the end of a shaded corridor where the noise of the banquet hall could be heard in the distance.
He was wearing a short-haired black wig and dressed as a knight. This was likely to avoid those who might recognize his face, as he was from the Imperial City.
“...Are you hurt?”
He turned Lou's hand over. It seemed he had already discovered a scratch with a faint bloodstain.
"I scratched it wrong. Les, this isn't the time for that. We need to go underground and meet Eric and Maya. I found out the Governor's plan."
Lou pulled his hand away and caught his breath, gasping for air.
"They have filled the pillars of the banquet hall with ice-iron dust. They intend to blow up the entire place."
Peleus stroked his chin.
The reason why Barmia went out of their way to leak the uneasy news about ice iron's smuggling finally became clear.
'So it was to lure me into this rat trap.'
"They plan to massacre the nobles in the banquet hall with an explosion and frame the Emperor of Valdina for it."
Lou nodded at Les's words.
"So that is why Barmia's forces have occupied the Lord's Castle. They plan to seize Karkan's key strongholds by taking advantage of the chaos immediately following the explosion."
Lord Osric's castle was massive. Even if one of the banquet halls were to be blown away, the castle itself would remain intact.
If Barmia begins to advance using Karkan, whose leadership has vanished, as a base,
"Yes, if the lord and they all die, there will be a vacuum in Karkan's chain of command, so Karkan will easily fall into his hands."
Internally, spread distrust toward the Emperor to divide Valdina, and externally, occupy Karkan.
Joachim's net, spreading poison both inside and out, became even more vicious. For the sake of his ambition, he would not care about the lives of dozens or hundreds.
Lou's amber eyes glowed as if on fire.
"There is still a chance. He will likely go up on stage to bid a final farewell and disappear, if only to prevent the high-ranking nobles from scattering. The fact that he hasn't appeared yet means there is still time before the explosion."
It was clear where to attack the dust-filled pillar.
Les's calm voice continued.
"Let's go to the basement."
***
There was no news of Eric and Maya, who had entered the castle by hiding in a food supply wagon through the western loading dock.
First, we must stop this explosion.
They found soldiers in black armor in front of the basement.
"It is the coat of arms of the Barmian royal family. We were right."
It was the moment he opened his mouth while devising a bait using a blind spot.
"...The plan is to lure eight people out at a time and deal with them..."
Thud.
Lou looked up at the dull sound that came before he could even make a plan.
The soldiers, who had been standing there with fierce intensity just moments ago, collapsed to the ground all at once.
“You were an Auror knight?”
If you can handle this number in one go, without even letting out a scream, just how strong are you?
"So, I didn't need to save you at the harbor at all before."
"..."
Lou paused for a moment, marveling yet feeling a strange sense of betrayal. There was a reason why the person was always so relaxed and never felt pressured.
"Let's go in."
Instead of answering, Les stepped inside first.
The ceiling of the basement met the lower part of the banquet hall pillars.
The inside was white with iron powder, and the joints at the base of the pillar were tightly sealed with beeswax. And piercing the center of that beeswax layer, only a single strand of rope descended downwards, like a candle wick.
"There is too much dust. They didn't prepare this overnight. It's impossible to remove all of that right now."
The sensitive dust could react to even small frictions.
Moisture, as James said, is the only weakness.
But how can that moisture be created in this dry basement where there isn't a drop of water?
Just as Lou was nervously pushing against the wall, a thick cylindrical tube came into view.
"Water! I need hot water! If only I could cut off that hot water pipe..."
However, when the air in the banquet hall was warmed, the massive coffin was reinforced with several layers of iron plates, making it very thick and sturdy.
It was something Lou himself wouldn't even dream of, but it would be possible for an Aura Knight.
"Yes."
Les, who had drawn his sword, paused as he noticed a subtle wave in the air.
“What’s wrong?”
"Magic detection tracks are installed. You cannot use Aura. If the dust reacts to Aura, it will explode."
Ice iron was an object with high conductivity to begin with, so being turned into powder made ot even more sensitive.
Lou gritted his teeth at the bastard's thorough preparations—could he not even tolerate the possibility that the explosion might fail?
"Then..."
How can you cut that without an awl? Looking at the thickness of the steel plate, it seemed absolutely impossible.
Then, a chilling voice rang out.
“Please step back.”
Les gripped his sword tighter. There was no time to think of another way.
The ivory-colored blade, characteristic of Mithril, absorbed magical power and attempted to absorb a blue light, but was suppressed by his will and fell silent as if dead.
With the circulation of magical energy—the backbone of an Aura Knight—stopped, he had to face Steel relying solely on his natural physical strength.
Gang!
A heavy thud, without even a spark, echoed through the basement.
The recoil, transmitted without the protective shield of aura, seeped directly into his bones and muscles. He tightened his grip on the sword.
The sound of impact echoed one after another. If it hadn't been for Mithril, his tooth would have been broken by now.
The shock of the reverse flow every time the steel pipe was lowered reminded him of the time he first held a sword when he was very young.
"Les, this won't work. I'll find another way."
At that moment
Pajik-!
The steel pipe was torn apart with a scream.
Pushushushu~!
As the hot water pipe was severed, high-pressure steam poured out like radiation. A distant column of boiling water instantly engulfed the void in white.
Just before a splash of hot water hit Lou.
A hard, strong arm snatched his waist.
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