Chapter 124 October 22, 2022
Chapter 124 – Stählern Kapelle (1)
Even after the Beast of Jévaudan disappeared, things that needed to be taken care of were still piling up.
“Everyone, move! There are still criminals remaining in the Kunst!”
The Clockwork Knight Order moved in perfect sync and entered the auction house.
They suppressed the remnants of the Liberation Army and caught criminals who were attempting to escape after stealing some belongings.
It was Casey Selmore who stood in the forefront and overwhelmingly swept away the criminals.
As if she was releasing her anger after letting go of her old foe, James Moriarty, whom she’d met after years of searching, she suppressed the criminals without a hitch.
It was only after she washed them away with her water that her rationality came back.
She analyzed the scene right away.
‘Has everyone been caught now? The most threatening foes, the black wizards, were all already dead.’
The black wizards whom she thought the most difficult were all already corpses when she’d arrived.
They’d all been bitten by the beast and died horribly.
There was no need to conduct an autopsy to find out what’d killed them.
They’d attacked the auction house while aiming for an Artifact, but it was really their defeat for having encountered the Beast of Jévaudan.
‘Rather than that, what on earth happened to the Beast of Jévaudan?’
She knew that Moriarty had defeated it, but it was strange to know that the huge body had suddenly disappeared.
She’d lost it for a moment due to the smoke from their fighting, and she hadn’t seen the Beast of Jévaudan after the smoke cleared up.
Instead of the Beast, Moriarty had been carrying someone big wrapped in a blanket on his shoulder.
Perhaps that was the Beast of Jévaudan?
‘That small something is the beast who went rampage a moment ago?’
It was definitely a test subject that was made through some kind of experiment by the Black Dawn Society.
‘James Moriarty… He’s definitely the Black Dawn Society’s executive.’
While she was thinking so inwardly, someone approached Casey.
“Miss Wizard. We have finished securing the place.”
Casey responded with a soft smile at the Knight commander who’d approached her while giving her a salute.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“No. We’re the ones to thank you instead. If an azure wizard hadn’t helped us, it would’ve taken a considerable amount of time for us to wrap up this situation.”
The knight commander thanked her once more while bowing his head.
He was the Knight commander who represented Leathevelk and a strong person who was a top-level Knight, but he couldn’t be compared to Casey.
She was the famous genius detective and wizard who’d received a color title from the magic tower.
In fact, if she hadn’t tied down the Beast of Jévaudan using water magic, there would have been an immense loss of lives.
“Please don’t call me a wizard. I prefer being known as a detective.”
“Ah, yes. I’m sorry, Miss Detective. And according to Miss Wi, no, Detective’s command, we have collected and stored the bomb used by the terrorist separately.”
“Thanks.”
‘Yes. Let’s just think of Moriarty next time.’
For the moment, she had to focus mainly on the bomb.
She wasn’t sure where on earth the Liberation Army had gotten it, but the bomb that they used was a special item which magic wouldn’t have any effect against.
‘It’s a dangerous item. To think that the Silence of Fire spell doesn’t work against it.’
It had been a long time since science had advanced and guns along with gunpowder had overtaken blades.
Currently, it was the generation where dreadful items like tesla guns, reinforced armor, and tanks were produced.
In that rapidly changing world, the old things naturally decayed throughout the generation, but wizards and Knights weren’t like that.
—Because guns and explosives weren’t threatening to them yet.
The Knights could avoid common bullets just by looking at them if they were beyond apprentice level.
Also, the wizards could use a spell called Silence of Fire that suppressed the action of ‘gunpowder’, which was the most important for guns.
Thus, they were still the faction in power in the world, and they were likely going to maintain the position in the future as well.
‘Gunpowder that Silence of Fire doesn’t work against… It’s nothing for the Knights, but it’s deadly for the wizards.’
Of course, it wasn’t like wizards didn’t have any other method of defense.
However, wizards couldn’t protect themselves while surrounding their body with mana barriers all the time.
‘For the moment, they just crudely created a bomb, but if they applied this to firearms as well…’
Casey tried to imagine it.
—A sniper attempted to assassinate a key figure of a country.
As it was a usually important position, a couple of wizards would maintain Silence of Fire while being alert of their surroundings.
Thus, attacks like bombs or firearms wouldn’t work.
However, what would happen if that special gunpowder was used?
The sniper would pull the trigger very easily, and the bullet which should have been misfired would perform its role and be fired.
Thus, the assassination would be complete..
‘…Dangerous. This is too dangerous.’
It was an item that would be a game-changer to the world.
There was no way that such a dangerous thing was created by the Liberation Army.
They were the Liberation Army just by name, they were in fact the anti-socialist terrorists that opposed the country.
Their scale was pretty big, and they formed one huge organization, but even so, there was a reason for them to conduct guerilla warfare.
‘The Liberation Army doesn’t have the technical skill to create this dangerous item. There must be someone else… The one who made this dangerous item and gave it to the Liberation Army.’
The very first person who went through her mind was James Moriarty.
However, it wasn’t something that could simply be done individually.
A bigger power which wasn’t individual was hiding beneath it.
‘The Black Dawn Society.’
It wasn’t that long since Casey had discovered their existence.
Surprisingly, the Black Dawn Society was a secret organization that had been acting secretly all over the continent since long before she knew about it.`
‘James Moriarty. No, it’s obvious that the man is affiliated to the organization as well.’
Black Dawn Society… They were extremely dangerous people.
Perhaps all the incidents that happened in the Kingdom of Delica were also orchestrated by them.
Her intention to catch those guys as soon as possible soared, but for the moment, Casey decided to be calm.
‘The evidence and information is still lacking. I can’t estimate how big their scale is and how many powerful people are swarming there.’
According to her view, the man called James Moriarty was only a part of the Black Dawn Society.
He at least possessed a high position amongst the executives, but he wasn’t the boss of the organization.
The sole fact that there was someone who’d created the Black Dawn Society and led those guys made Casey tense up.
‘If that person manages James Moriarty, they’re definitely a highly dangerous person.’
If she thoughtlessly tried to search for those people, they would hide deeper instead.
She needed to calmly grab their tail and aim for the crucial moments when they couldn’t hide.
‘First of all, I have to analyze how this gunpowder works.’
Fortunately, she had an acquaintance who possessed an extremely amazing skill in that kind of field.
—It was her assistant that she’d brought along, Betty.
* * *
The workers got rid of the collapsed debris and escorted the injured people.
The Leathevelk city’s police formed a guard line and blocked people from entering.
Beyond the restricted guard line, the area was full of people who’d come to see what had happened in the middle of the night.
Enya watched the sight from the site while recalling the catastrophe back then.
Not only the incident of sudden ambush in the auction house, there was even an appearance of the Beast of Jévaudan whose death had been confirmed long ago.
Moreover, it was a mysterious group that overpowered the Beast of Jévaudan.
‘Detective Casey called them the Black Dawn Society.’
She also knew very well about the name James Moriarty.
He was the godfather of the criminal world who’d stirred up trouble in the Kingdom of Delica three years before.
Not only was he still alive, but the fact that he was affiliated to the Black Dawn Society organization was extremely shocking.
Most of all, the one who made Enya feel dizzy was the masked man who’d fought with her.
‘That man… He knew about the technique that I use.’
The Joynus family was a legitimate Knight family from old times.
They were beyond practical and, because of their vicious visionary swordsmanship, the other Knight families loathed them, but even so, they couldn’t ignore the Joynus family’s status.
In fact, it hadn’t been long since Enya had joined Nightcrawler Knight Order, and she’d risen to the position of top-level Knight fairly.
The Sting Swordsmanship that she performed couldn’t be blocked by even general-level Knights.
‘That man knew my sword technique.’
The people who knew about her technique were very few.
Even her fellow Nightcrawler Knight Order Knights didn’t know about it.
The people who knew about it were only her senior Lloyd and Commander Terina Lionhowl.
‘No way, did the information about my family’s visionary swordsmanship leak out?’
‘Perhaps he was someone who I knew in the past.’
‘Who was he? No way, was he an enemy I failed to kill in the past?’
As she suddenly recalled the past, her chest throbbed and ached.
It wasn’t physical pain, but it was a recurring heart’s wound from a long time ago.
‘No. It’s not him. Let’s not recall the incident of that time.’
It wasn’t the important thing right then.
Enya pulled out the crystal ball which only the Nightcrawler Knight Order could use.
She sent a signal to her commander using the crystal ball.
“Commander. It’s Enya.”
She reported everything that she had experienced and seen that day.
Lastly, she added this sentence:
“And Casey Selmore is here.”
As she finished her call, Enya looked for the third princess to check her condition.
At that moment, the third princess was with the girl named Betty.
‘She’s Detective Casey’s assistant, right?’
However, the princess’s reaction as she talked with Betty was somehow strange.
“Your Highness. Are you alright? Did something happen?”
“W-well this person…”
Elendil pointed at Betty with a trembling hand.
When Enya saw Betty as she thought that Elendil’s reaction was strange, she found out that Betty was standing with her eyes closed.
‘What? Did she faint?’
No, she was too soberly standing to say that she was fainting.
No way, was she asleep while standing? As she had learned to sleep while walking on the march when she’d trained in military school, she understood Betty.
“Sh-she isn’t breathing.”
“Pardon?”
Enya checked Betty’s situation just in case. She brought her fingers to Betty’s neck and investigated her pulse.
As Betty closed her eyes while seemingly asleep, her body was cold and she didn’t breathe.
‘Sh-she died? Suddenly?’
Since she couldn’t see any wounded parts, it was extremely shocking for her to die.
At that moment, Casey, who had finished taking care of the interior situation, approached them.
“What’s the matter, you two?”
“Ca-Casey! Well… Betty… Betty is…”
Elendil was about to cry.
However, as she heard those words, Casey showed a reaction as if saying, ‘Oh, I see.’
“Oh. Betty is asleep again?”
“Pardon? A-asleep, you said? She isn’t breathing!”
“You don’t have to panic. Hmm. Now that you know it, it’s better for you to see it directly.”
As Casey said that, she loosened the hem of Betty’s coat and revealed her back.
When Betty’s white skin was revealed, Elendil’s eyes widened.
“Ca-Casey! What are you doing?!”
“Your Highness. Please wait a second.”
Unlike Elendil, who shouted in apall, Enya discovered something strange.
“There’s a keyhole in her back?”
“Good job for noticing.”
There was a very small keyhole in the middle of Betty’s shoulder blades.
Casey pulled out something from her pocket.
—It was a small key.
As she put the key into Betty’s back, Casey spun the key clockwise.
Creeaak. Creeak.
When the interlocking sound of machine and cogwheels was heard, Betty opened her shut eyes wide.
“Heek!”
Elendil got startled when Betty, who hadn’t been breathing until then, opened her eyes.
“Y-you revived her?”
“No, Your Majesty. Rather than reviving… Miss Betty isn’t a human being.”
Enya’s sharp gaze stared at Betty’s situation.
Casey put her hand on her waist while nodding her head.
“Yes, right. My assistant Betty isn’t an ordinary person. No, she isn’t a person in the first place.”
“She isn’t a person?”
“As you saw just now, Betty is, umm… a machine. To be exact, an autonomous driving machine. She’s an automaton.”
At the word “automaton”, Enya finally realized why Betty could display a horrifying herculean strength unfitting to her physique.
In the end, if she wasn’t a human being consisting of skin and flesh but was instead a steel machine, she understood why Betty showed such herculean strength.
“A-automaton? But Miss Betty obviously looks like a person similar to us…”
“You are keen, Your Highness. You are right. Betty knows how to think like us, she even possesses emotions like human feelings.”
She was an automaton with an A.I. and feelings.
A machine could do that?
No. She had never heard of a machine that was highly similar to a human like that.
“If there was an automaton as exquisite as this, it’s only normal that rumors would spread wide about it.”
“Betty is different from the commonly known crude automaton.
“Pardon?”
“She is some kind of a secret weapon… which was made secretly a couple of years ago in the Kingdom of Delica.”
As she said that, Casey’s face became slightly gloomy.
“She is an illegal project that is made secretly within the darkness of the Kingdom of Delica. One of the only two successful products had the code name Beta—Betty’s real name.”
Without letting them be surprised by the shocking fact from Casey’s mouth…
“O-oh? Kyaaa! Casey! What did you do with my clothes!”
As she had regained her consciousness, Betty screamed when she saw her top.
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