C257: Dean Gord Himbel (2)
"……What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
Gord asked again, as if he didn't understand Rudger's question.
"Have I ever done something wrong to you?"
"That can't be true. The dean was nice to me."
"But why would you ask such a question……."
"What I'm asking is not why you did that to me."
Rudger's eyes in the mask stared at Dean Gord. As soon as he faced those red eyes, Gord felt an indescribable chill.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Then I should tell you more accurately."
Rudger rose from the sofa and slowly approached Gord.
"Dean."
"Don't come near me."
"Why did you apply for the Steel Chapel research project?"
Gord opened his eyes wide wondering how Rudger knew.
"I told you. I went in there myself and checked."
"Well, that can't be……."
"I answered the question, dean. Now that I asked a question, it's your turn to answer it."
Rudger, standing in front of Dean Gord, looked down at him.
"Go ahead. Why did you do that?"
"I, I don't know……Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Gord tried to excuse himself, but screamed at the intense pain on the back of his hand.
Before he knew it, a dagger was embedded in the back of his hand.
"Ugh. My, my hands……!"
"Dean, this is a game."
Rudger whispered softly to dean Gord, who was struggling in pain.
"It's a game where we tell each other the truth. Ask questions and tell the truth. The dean asked a question, and I told the truth. Then shouldn't the dean also tell the truth?"
"Ugh!"
"But telling a lie is a violation of the rules."
"What do you want to hear from me?"
At the cry of Dean Gord, Rudger pulled out the dagger from the back of his hand at once. Blood splattered, and Dean Gord's scream resounded in the office.
"What I want is that the dean tells me everything about this case."
"You think I'm going to say that?"
"The questions are over, dean. I gave a second answer by answering just a moment ago."
"What?"
Gord opened his eyes in disbelief.
The question was 'what do you want to hear' a moment ago and Rudger answered it.
"That's ridiculous……!"
"Now that the dean asked a question, it's my turn."
"Hey, you crazy!"
"Dean Gord, what are the names of the people involved in this?"
Gord's face was grimly distorted.
"I, I don't know! I don't know!"
"This is a problem. You sold people out with the desire to go beyond the position of dean and enter politics, but did you think it would be possible to keep your mouth shut now?"
"……!"
Gord shuddered as the desire he had kept in his heart without being caught by anyone flowed out of Rudger's mouth. But what surprised Gord even more was that Rudger had already known everything about him and still came.
"I, I…!"
"The dean still shows hesitation, so I'll help you."
"What are you trying to do?"
"Nothing much."
Rudger held out the dagger that had just taken out of the back of Gord's hand.
Red blood was dripping on the dagger that shone sharply under the light in the room.
"I'm just trying to give you a pat on the back so the dean will have courage."
"You're going to torture me?!"
"If you don't want to, then you can answer now. Who did it? Who's behind it?"
"I, I…!"
Dean Gord shook his head with a pale face.
"I can't talk. I can't talk!"
"Is that so?"
Rudger looked at Gord and said,
"That's a relief."
Shortly thereafter, screams rang out in the dean's office.
* * *
"James Moriarty!"
The door of the dean's office opened roughly and Casey Selmore stormed in.
"As expected, you're here! Stay away from him!"
"Casey Selmore."
Rudger took a step back, looking at Casey Selmore as she was finally able to see the horrors hidden from Rudger.
"You…!"
Dean Gord Himbel was breathing heavily, squirming, covered in blood. After being tortured, he was barely breathing and was almost a corpse.
Casey gritted her teeth at the sight of the bloody dean Gord.
"How can you do this to the person who recommended you as a professor?"
"Oh."
At Casey's words, Rudger could see why she was angry.
"I see. It was something that could look like that."
"What?"
"No. It's nothing."
"Whatever it is, stay away from him!"
Casey Selmore warned Rudger, but didn't use magic recklessly.
Weak spells would not be able to hit Rudger, but if she used powerful magic, Gord, who was taken hostage, could have been hit too.
Rudger, who noticed that Casey was at a loss, asked, bending the red eyes in the mask.
"Is it difficult to move because of the hostage? Then I'll help you."
"……wait!"
Casey tried to stop him, but it was too late.
Rudger's hand moved, and a sharp dagger flew straight into Dean Gord's forehead. Casey shouted, twisting her face when she saw that Dean Gord, who was barely alive, was out of breath.
"James Moriarty!"
A huge spray of water filled the dean's office as Rudger flung himself out of the window, and shortly thereafter a giant water cannon passed by where he was.
The broken windows and debris from the wall fell, but Rudger extended his left arm as a wire launcher mounted on his left arm was shot and caught on the high spire of the university, and his body was pulled sharply and soared into the sky.
Standing by the broken window, Casey spotted Rudger standing on the roof of the building and glared at him with hostility.
"How? How could you do this?"
Rudger opened his mouth when he saw Casey like that.
"I remember I've already answered enough of that question. Casey Selmore, you're pretty sharp, but you're late again."
"You! What the hell are you going to do?"
"That's an interesting question. Why don't you discover it like a detective?"
Casey Selmore raised her magic as if she had no intention of listening anymore.
"James Moriarty!"
Casey Selmore, riding a stream of water, rushed at Rudger but Rudger turned his back.
"Stop there!"
Casey shot several spears of water, but Rudger avoided them all. Soon Casey Selmore landed on the roof where Rudger was and immediately tried to chase him.
"He's gone?"
But Rudger disappeared.
Whether he rose to the sky or fell to the ground, his traces disappeared as if they were completely cut off.
'How the hell?'
It was only for a moment as she landed on the floor that she lost sight of Rudger but in that moment he disappeared.
Casey was embarrassed to see no traces.
[Casey Selmore, I suggest you don't chase me anymore.]
At that moment, at Rudger's voice, Casey subsided her anger and rolled up the corners of her mouth.
"Ha. You provoked me and now you want me to quit? Do you think I'm going to do that?"
[You're bluffing but I admire your courage.]
"Can you say such a thing without being caught?"
[Isn't it a waste of your life?]
Casey answered without hesitation to the question.
"If it was a waste of my life, I wouldn't have done this."
[Then try to chase me. This is a game.]
Casey frowned at the word game.
"What?"
[You chase me and I run away from you. Of course, in the meantime, I intend to finish things that have happened across the kingdom beyond this city.]
"…Do you think I'll let you do that?"
[The fun of the game is not knowing who will win. But I'll give you a hint because I think I'll have an advantage at this rate.]
"Who said so?"
[I'll act in Dartans city next time. If you want to catch me, come over there.]
Casey asked in a suspicious tone when he even said something blatant.
"Why should I take your word for it? You might run away somewhere else."
[If you're scared, you don't have to come but you will regret your choice after people die there.]
Casey clenched his fist at Rudger's words that blatantly touched her pride.
"Okay, I'll go. Wash your throat and wait there."
[I look forward to it]
The voice that seemed to be laughing at her but was satisfied disappeared like an echo.
* * *
After dealing Dean Gord, Rudger immediately joined Hans and headed to Dartans.
Dartans, one of the largest cities in the Delica Kingdom, was the heart of the kingdom and was the place where the most factories were built.
Rudger's goal was one of the factories.
"A new experiment?"
Hans asked while on the train heading to Dartans and Rudger in disguise nodded.
"Hans, Steel Chapel project was definitely a dangerous experiment that can change the game of the battlefield but isn't something strange?"
"What do you mean?"
"With that alone, do you think a country can prepare for war without looking at its neighbors?"
Hans' expression hardened at Rudger's words.
"I mean, there's more."
"Steel's Chapel is a project to create knight-level power indefinitely within the limits of resources."
The problem arises here.
If a special automaton created by the Steel Chapel project replaces the knights how would they replace the wizards?
"What, making a magical automaton?"
"No. They don't replace wizards."
"Then what are they going to do?"
"Hans, why do you think wizards still exert great power in modern warfare?"
"The [Silence of fire] suppresses the action of gunpowder, and people can't shoot a gun, it also makes bombs useless."
Rudger nodded.
"Yes. No matter how much they modify and strengthen the automatons, they can never replace the wizards. So those who are working on the project changed their thinking."
"How?"
"If they can't make wizards, they will make magic useless."
"Hmm…"
Hans still looked like he didn't understand.
"How can they make magic useless? You mean, it can't be used? That can't be possible in the first place."
"Yes, it can't be possible. Magic to get rid of magic. Such a thing……"
Rudger paused for a moment, not trying to speak.
"Brother?"
"……It's not making magic useless, but only making it available to special people. Of course, it's not something that can be used normally."
"So how will they make wizards useless?"
"Didn't you say that a moment ago?"
"What did I say? I only said the [silence of fire]."
"Yes."
Rudger saw a scene passing by outside the train window.
In the distance, I could see a city full of factory chimneys and black smoke, it was Dartans.
"Hans, what do you think would happen if the [silence of fire] used by the wizard could not neutralize gunpowder?"
"Uh, it's…."
Hans pondered the answer.
"It will be dangerous, right? Of course, wizards won't die easily because of that."
"Yes, they can use defensive magic. But……at least the gunpowder weapon exerts its power."
"No way……the kingdom made such a dangerous thing?"
Hans asked just in case, but he prayed that it was not the case. Sadly, however, Rudger betrayed Hans' expectations.
"They made special gunpowder. Gunpowder unaffected by the [silence of fire]."
Hans swallowed his saliva.
"That would certainly be dangerous. But how the hell did they make it?"
"I don't know that."
With the [Silence of fire] wizards exert their strongest power in modern warfare. This alone is a weapon that deals with gunpowder.
That's why knights who can avoid bullets and wizards who neutralize the weapon itself still occupy high positions.
But if the knights were replaced by a steel weapon and the advantages of the wizards over gunpowder weapons disappeared, what would happen then?
The spark of war will spread quickly and engulf the entire continent.
"There is a secret factory somewhere in this city that manufactures that gunpowder."
"Hmm……"
"So, Hans."
"Yeah?"
"Find it. You have one day."
"……."