C168: The hottest festival (1)
"Is that true?"
Despite the feeling of numbness in his skin, Rudger remained expressionless but inside he was satisfied. He reconfirmed that the hound's teeth are very sharp.
"Yes, I overheard them talking. I didn't know exactly what it was for, but I knew the name of the organization."
Rudger explained the situation and asked naturally.
"Do you know them?"
"……To some extent."
"Then it will be easier. Please take care of the mess."
At that, Casey was stunned to realize what purpose Rudger had called her for.
"Hold on! Did you just use my business card for cleaning up?!"
"Wasn't it you who told me to call you if I needed help in the first place?"
"That's……."
At Rudger's point, Casey blurted out the end of her words.
That's right. In fact, she asked Rudger to call if he needed help when she gave him her business card. The business card she handed him was like a promise to help only once. However, she never imagined that he would call her for such a trivial thing.
Casey, who had mumbled her lips a few times, said as if protesting.
"You could've used it for something more important."
If someone else had received the same business card, they would have thought a lot about where to use it.
"This is important enough for me."
But Rudger did not.
He only caught a suspicious group, and called Casey to be in charge of cleaning up. As it was herself who promised to help, Casey couldn't think of anything to refute.
"Oh, I see. But did it have to be me? If you found a suspicious group during the festival, it would be better to call Theon's people."
It was a sharp question, but Rudger, who had thought of it in advance, answered it easily.
"It's because of the festival."
"……What?"
"I don't want to ruin the atmosphere by letting others know."
"Ah. Are you sure you called me to keep it quiet?"
"I don't intend to hide this incident. However, there is no need to immediately inform them that it has happened during the festival. So we have to deal with things quietly right now."
Casey looked at Rudger with an unexpected look. The choice of the man who is as cold as an ice mountain in the north surprised her.
It was just so amazing for her.
"Just in time, the right person came to mind and I called you. Didn't you say you are a detective?"
Rudger pointed to the remnants of the black Dawn Society, which collapsed.
"Where the hell are these people from and what kind of people they are. I think you know better than anyone else."
'This man…'
Casey listened to Rudger and realized what he was thinking about when he called her.
'He didn't mean to call me for personal purposes.'
The business card she handed to Rudger, as a [Colour] wizard was very valuable but he used it so easily.
Even if you give 10 million won to others, precious things that you can't get are just a handful of trash in front of this man. At the same time, he is even considerate to handle things quietly so as not to ruin the atmosphere of the festival.
'Of course, I'm not included in that consideration.'
Maybe he's moving around like this for the students even though others don't know about it because he believes it's the right thing to do.
Casey judges that Rudger is a superman who pushes ahead with what he believes to be right, not a superman who transcends humans.
'Nevertheless, what is this feeling of anxiety? I feel like I'm missing something important.'
No matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn't get an answer so Casey thought about what to do with these fainted people first.
"The Black Dawn Society. I'm sure these guys are connected to James Moriarty.'
She could interrogate them appropriately and hand them over to Theon after.
Rudger, who was watching Casey thinking about what to do in the future, breathed a sigh of relief inside. Fortunately, she doesn't seem to have much doubt.
'I was able to deal with the business card that I had been forced to receive.'
When he first received her business card, he seriously thought about throwing it away. For him, who should not be identified, the business card handed by Casey Selmore was uncomfortable. Still, it was fortunate he could get rid of it now.
When he heard that Joanna Lovett and other sub-orders of the Black Dawn Society were secretly moving he thought about how to use this business card.
'I shook off Casey Selmore's suspicions, and at the same time, I thinned out the Black Dawn Society members that hid in Theon.'
Of course, there was a possibility that Casey Selmore could suspect Rudger because at first glance, it seemed suspicious that the situation was flowing too naturally.
'But I am nominally a teacher of Theon. Even if I do this or that, she will not doubt me since I'm under the protection of the president.'
It was fortunate that the president was an outstanding person. If she was an incompetent person, Casey would have been rather suspicious.
'In this way, Casey Selmore will focus on the Black Dawn Society, not me.'
It was for this reason that the remnants of the Black Dawn Society were handed over to her.
Give a good hound the smell of the prey to bite forward.
At the same time, Casey Selmore will even prove Rudger's alibi. For Rudger, it was a way of killing two birds with one stone to deal with the troublesome matters all at once.
'If I can deal with Esmeralda as well…'
As he was thinking so, a huge pillar of fire that killed the dark night soared from afar. The eyes of the two naturally turned to the place where the flame burst. It was not the colorful color of the firecrackers, but a bright red fire that seemed to have overflowed from hell.
At the same time, Hans' urgent voice rang out from the communication device in his ear with a chirping sound.
[I'm in trouble!]
As soon as he heard that, Rudger realized that something unexpected had happened.
Rudger said to Casey.
"I'll leave this to you."
"What? Oh, wait!"
Rudger didn't listen to Casey's shouts from behind and left. He tapped the communicator with his hand and signaled Hans.
"Hans, what happened?"
[As planned, we succeeded in luring the witch by leading Crollo Fabius to the target location.]
The target location is the equipment warehouse. It was a place where no one would come right away, but at the same time, it was a place where they could avoid people's eyes.
A maze-like place with all kinds of things piled up was suitable for Crollo to escape without being caught.
[However, Crollo suddenly stopped and started talking.]
"What did he say?"
[I don't know. It happened so suddenly.]
Hans was receiving information through his mouse and as a result there was a limit to the amount of information that could be obtained.
Crollo suddenly stopped and said something to Esmeralda. After that Esmeralda immediately exploded and flames swept through the warehouse.
[Whatever it may be, it's certain that he did something that wasn't planned.]
"I see."
He didn't expect that Crollo Fabius wouldn't follow the plan. Rudger thought he wouldn't do anything because he was scared, but he was pushed to the edge of the cliff, so did he snap?
Whatever it may be, Esmeralda, whom he thought would stay calm, seemed certain to have revealed her power.
"What's the situation now?"
[…All the rats I sent inside are dead so I don't know about anything else, but it's going to be hell. The rats outside are not listening to my orders because they are afraid of fire.]
"It's not good. How big is the fire now?"
[It's big enough to be seen from the outside because it swept away a third of that big warehouse in no time. Right now, we will survive with the fire extinguishing system inside the warehouse, but it's only a matter of time.]
Theon's warehouses had an automatic fire extinguishing system to extinguish the fire. That's why he lured Esmeralda to that place in the first place.
'But to deal with someone who wields the highest level spirit of fire that alone is not enough.'
It is impossible to extinguish the fire itself, even if it can be controlled a little bit by bit. The fire Esmeralda handled was not so simple.
"Seridan."
Rudger signaled Seridan through the communicator.
[What's going on, Nari?]
"What about the festival?"
[Fireworks are being prepared right now. But why?]
"Didn't you notice any abnormalities there?"
[Anomalies? I can't see anything]
"I'm glad to hear that."
[Hmm. Based on your reaction, I think something happened there. [Right?]
"Yeah. I'll have to take some time over there."
[Hehe, I got it. I was waiting at the scene just in case.]
Seridan said so and cut off communication. Soon after, colorful fireworks exploded one after another over the night sky.
* * *
"Why were the fireworks launched now?"
"Who was it? We still have 30 minutes left before we start!"
"You didn't manage it right!"
Seridan, who heard from the shouts from afar, giggled.
'There are still a lot of firecrackers left to set off, but for now, this should be enough.'
People were drawn to the sudden fireworks display.
Originally, the fireworks would start in 30 minutes and some people were puzzled that it had already begun, but the idea was quickly forgotten by the splendid colors that magical flames created in the air.
"Wow! Pretty!"
"Look over there! It's a flame!"
A dragon made of flames flew through the sky and spewed fire from its mouth. The children were amazed by the existence of the dragon in the legends, their eyes shining.
'Nari, what's left is your role.'
They were not bombs but fireworks weren't bad. Seridan vowed to make something similar when she returned to the hideout later.
* * *
Rudger was relieved by the spectacular flames bursting in the distance. Thanks to Seridan, people won't know there's a fire here yet.
[Brother, when are you arriving?]
"I have a place to stop by for a while. What's the situation?"
[There's not much difference from before, but it seems to be a matter of time.]
"Are there any witnesses nearby?"
[Not yet But it'll happen if we don't subdue it in time.]
"I'll have to hurry."
Rudger, who cut off the communication, stopped walking.
In the center of an open-air exhibition hall that people have stopped visiting was a structure covered with a large cloth.
Rudger peeled off the fabric that covered the structure while in his right hand, a blue mana stone was shining softly.
* * *
There was a strange heat at the festivals. Even those who normally wouldn't have had much to do felt their hearts beat strangely and heat up at festivals. It was also the time when the love between the opposite sexes burned the strongest.
That's why there are the most couples after the magic festival. Naturally, there were couples who could not control their hot hearts and made love in places where there were no people.
"Oh, my. What are you doing here?"
"Wait a minute. The spectacular fireworks will start soon"
A couple was sitting close to each other on the grass. The boy smacked his lips as if he had been waiting for this time. He stopped by the dormitory and brushed his teeth more than three times.
'It's my first time, but I must be careful not to make it obvious…….'
He manages to move his right hand, which is stiff and does not move well on the shoulder of the female student sitting next to him.
The female student only flinched her shoulders but did not move his hand away. It was a sign of permission.
'This is my chance!'
The male student was about to make his move when all of a sudden colorful flames embroidered the sky. Originally, the fireworks, which would take another 30 minutes, had already begun.
"Wow, it's pretty."
'What? The timing was good. Why did you start all of a sudden?'
Unlike a woman who was purely happy, the man had no choice but to be embarrassed. It was the moment when I was determined to go further that this happened.
"Squeak! Squeak!"
Large gutter rats appeared through the dark bushes. If they were ordinary rats, it would have run away after seeing the two, but the ones that appeared now were different. The rats approached the two couples threatening them with their hideous front teeth.
"Ah! Why is the mouse here?"
"Oh, that's disgusting! I hate mice!"
"Huh? Where are you going? Hey, you bad guy! You're leaving me alone!"
The male student screamed and ran away, and the female student who followed after him. As the two disappeared, Hans, who was hiding in the dark, appeared.
"Students, huh? Even in the midst of studying, they're still dating."
A swarm of mice gathered around Hans and raised their front paws. It was like asking, 'Did I do a good job?' and they wanted to be praised.
"Yes, you all did a great job."
Hans, who used a flock of mice to drive away all the people gathered around here, returned to the warehouse again.
The blazing fire showed no sign of going out. It would be okay because there are no witnesses right now, but how long will this last? It's only a matter of time before they would get caught.
'When the hell are you coming?'
At that moment the sound of horse hoofs was heard from the thick darkness.
"What?"
At the sound that did not match the current situation, Hans' eyes naturally turned to the source of the sound. In the distance, something was approaching him at great speed.
"Is that a horse?"
It was not just a regular horse, but a metal horse that shone. The appearance of a horse with shining blue eyes in the dark, emitting white steam behind its back, gave a sense of intimidation.
"Brother?"
Riding the horse was Rudger Chelici.
Steam Golem, DT-3000 accelerated and its blue eyes stretched like tails in the darkness of the night. In the midst of the shaking, Rudger did not lose his posture.
The place where Rudger was headed was the warehouse where the fire was spreading. At that moment, a huge flame erupted outside through the entrance of the warehouse.
The fire was about to engulf Rudger, who was running towards the warehouse.
"It's dangerous!"
The moment Hans shouted, watching the scene nervously. Rudger gave a big swing at the reins.
Blue mana began to form on the back foot of the steam golem, and the giant soared high into the air. Rudger and the Steam Golem jumped into the open logistics warehouse.
"Huh?"
Hans had no choice but to watch the scene blankly as if he had been possessed.