My Slain Dragon Bride

Chapter 256. If I Die, That’s it

Zed lowered the fist he had driven into the knight’s jaw.

Then he turned his gaze toward the woman who had helped him and asked,

"Are you okay with this?"

"With what?"

The woman grinned.

"You know, letting someone on your side get beaten up like this?"

"Someone on my side?"

She tilted her head like an innocent puppy who knew nothing.

"Why would I be on his side? That guy and I have nothing to do with each other. In fact, he was nothing but boring."

Her eyes began scanning the group one by one.

First Zed, then Penelope, Garnet, and finally Ferda.

"They promised to give me something interesting, and they kept their promise. That’s all this was—a contract. Though I got bored pretty quickly. I guess you guys don’t have to worry about killing that marquis again now, huh~?"

"Then will you choose us?"

"Because you look like the kind of people worth choosing?"

Her expression sent a chill down their spines.

Her gaze was fixed intently on Ferda.

Ferda could feel it in that gaze.

A destructive instinct.

An instinct engraved into her very genes, desperately yearning to tear Ferda apart.

"Stop rolling your eyes around like that."

Garnet quietly warned Gáe Bolg.

"And what if I do?"

"Then there’s nothing I can do about it."

Ferda waved his finger.

The shadow that had been pushed backward by the lantern immediately crawled across the floor and stretched forward.

The mission bestowed upon those shadows was restraint.

"Ugh!"

It instantly restrained Penelope.

She froze with her hand stretched toward a table covered with various objects.

"Don’t touch things recklessly."

"W-What did I even do!? That’s so unfair!!"

"You again..."

"I didn’t do anything!? I was just going to pick it up for a second!? I wasn’t doing it to satisfy my own greed or anything! Eek! My hair! Let go of my head! My beautiful hair!!"

Fed up with Penelope’s kleptomania, Zed grabbed her by the hair and subdued her.

If Penelope had been trying to touch some worthless trinket, he would have left her alone.

But the object she had tried to touch was a purple-glowing grenade sitting on the table.

It would explode the moment she touched it.

"How did you know?"

Gáe Bolg asked with a grin.

"That it was dangerous?"

"A dangerous object?"

"That’s right. The thing that that third-rate demoness just tried to touch was a bomb capable of blowing this entire area away. If you’d picked it up, this whole place would’ve gone KABOOM!!! and disappeared without a trace."

"W-What!? Then why would you display something like that in a way that makes people want to pick it up!? Are you insane!?"

Penelope protested indignantly, as though she were the one who had been wronged.

"Hey, miss. Keep your mouth shut for now. I was asking that handsome man a question."

Gáe Bolg’s eyes glistened with interest.

"Tell me. How did you figure it out?"

How did he know?

Because one of the Empire’s great catastrophes—and one of the reasons Ferda had developed even the slightest interest in her—was standing right before him.

The day an entire marquis’s estate disappeared in the middle of the capital had caused an uproar across the entire continent.

It had been the celebratory fireworks announcing the birth of the Godmother of Crime, Gáe Bolg, in earnest.

"Instinct."

"Hmm. You must have good instincts."

Rather than pressing him further, Gáe Bolg simply accepted his answer.

"So what do you want to do with me after taking me away? Are you going to make a complete mess of me?"

"If that’s what you want."

"Hehehe. If it’s you, handsome man, I’m sure you’d do exactly that... but tell me your real purpose."

Gáe Bolg’s eyes narrowed.

Her sharpened gaze created a palpable tension.

She had the air of someone who might cause trouble at any moment.

Ferda answered.

"Just do what you’re good at."

Ferda gestured toward the purple grenade.

"I want to use those bombs to hunt monsters."

"Use them to hunt monsters..."

She pursed her lips and shook her head like a wind-up doll.

"Handsome man. Have you ever walked around a marketplace?"

"I’ve been to markets plenty of times, both in the past and now."

Whether he was treated as a noble now or treated as less than human in the past.

"When you go to a market, you always hear the hawkers saying things like this."

Her voice suddenly took on a theatrical tone as she imitated a middle-aged merchant.

"Our shields can block anything! Buy a shield that will protect your life! Invest in me!"

"That’s what they say. So what do you think I’d think when I hear that?"

"That it’s probably a good shield."

"But you know what I always end up thinking?"

She pressed down on her own head as she spoke.

"That shield... is it really unbreakable? What would happen if I broke it right here and now...?"

"You wanted to prove its ability?"

"Yeah. I just wanted to prove it."

There were always people like that.

People who reacted to the word "absolute" by feeling compelled to challenge it.

In such cases, it could be said to stem from the desire to gain recognition by crushing the other party.

"But I couldn’t stand the thought of showing them just how much of a piece of trash their masterpiece was, how utterly worthless it was."

But what Gáe Bolg wanted was nothing more than to see them despair.

She wanted to crush her opponent and savor the ecstasy that came from watching them fall into despair.

"So that’s why you attacked a noble?"

"Yeah."

The reason she had attacked Marquess Phellus.

"That Aegis thing, was it? The guys guarding some fat nobleman looked so full of pride. They said that as long as they were there, I wouldn’t be able to lay even a finger on him."

Who would believe such a ridiculous reason—that she attacked them simply because they arrogantly claimed she could never break through?

"So I managed to lay a hand on him."

"And then you were caught."

"That was all I needed."

And thus, Gáe Bolg was born—the spear that pierces the heart.

If someone said something couldn’t be broken, she would break it without fail.

"Then there’s a position perfectly suited for someone like you."

Ferda needed someone like her.

Because when it came to sheer firepower, she was a genius among geniuses, someone even Vernel couldn’t catch up with.

"How many things do you think there are in the East that absolutely cannot be destroyed by the things you’ve created?"

"Hmm. Probably quite a lot?"

"There are countless places where your creations could be useful. All you have to do is destroy them."

She gave him a displeased smile.

Her answer was simple.

"No~."

Gáe Bolg rejected Ferda’s proposal.

"Why?"

"Why? Monsters? That’s no different from setting off a bomb in some completely empty mountain, is it? Who’s going to despair?"

"The Demon Race."

"But people would be happy about it, wouldn’t they? I don’t like that."

Ferda could tell for certain from those words.

She would not play along according to his intentions.

"If you refuse, you have only one choice left."

For a terrorist, death was the only answer.

Yet even that death would be a waste considering Gáe Bolg’s talent.

That was why Marquess Phellus had survived even after nearly being assassinated.

"I know."

Her hand moved.

At the suspicious movement, Garnet raised her crossbow and aimed it at her.

The moment Gáe Bolg showed even the slightest sign of attacking, Garnet intended to pull the trigger.

What Gáe Bolg picked up was a pencil-sharpening knife.

Holding it between her middle finger and thumb, she grinned.

"When this world becomes boring..."

She dropped it.

At the point where it would land, there was a taut rope.

Ferda’s shadow snatched the knife that was about to cut the rope.

But that had merely been a feint.

Somewhere, something snapped and began moving.

Zed’s ears caught the sound.

Whoosh!

Sharp nails shot out from a bottle hanging from the ceiling.

Their target was the Magitech Grenade.

The moment it broke, this entire area would be blown apart.

Zed reacted.

With his dazzling movements, he deflected every nail, knocking away all those that had been heading toward the grenade.

"Hehehe~."

The eyes that had not lost their interest were saying one thing.

It wasn’t over yet.

Ferda immediately used his shadows to completely surround the area around the grenade.

He created an isolated space so that no impact could reach it.

"What are you going to do now?"

Ferda asked.

"That’s what I want to ask you."

Gáe Bolg’s design still wasn’t finished.

"What are you going to do?"

At that moment, a vibration shook the entire floor.

The piles of garbage she had stacked began to shift, and light flickered from within them.

Purple light.

The exact same color as the light inside the grenade.

Ferda’s shadow lifted the garbage pile.

There were grenades inside.

Five of them.

Her attack had already begun within the pile of garbage.

True to her reputation as the Godmother of Crime, she had begun her assault by shattering everyone’s expectations.

She asked again.

"What are you going to do?"

Ferda asked himself the same question.

What should he do about this?

The first thing Gáe Bolg had created was the Magitech Grenade.

Her fanatical obsession with explosions had transformed into a genius that seemed to transcend all the knowledge she had accumulated.

It was the signature purple explosion of Gáe Bolg.

The culmination of destructive power that would later be called plasma particles.

And that explosion was about to be realized.

Was I too greedy?

Ferda blamed himself.

Because he needed her abilities so badly, he had failed to properly understand her nature and had exposed himself to danger.

He pushed that self-reproach aside and faced the problem.

What should he do when confronted with this explosion?

I have to run.

That was the most correct answer.

The slums would disappear without a trace, but that meant nothing to Ferda.

But what about the people here?

Garnet, Zed, and Penelope.

The moment they were caught in the explosion, they would be so badly mangled that merely surviving would be something to be grateful for.

He couldn’t run away alone.

Then what was he supposed to do in this situation?

Do I really have enough power to swallow an explosion this large?

Ferda recalled the spells in his mind.

He searched through the defensive spells stored within his mind, which had been turned into a library.

But the answer was always the same.

Failure.

There wasn’t even a fifth-tier spell capable of stopping this plasma explosion.

—There is.

At that moment, a voice spoke.

The voice from within told Ferda.

—You can use it.

What are you talking about?

His mind couldn’t understand, but his body was different.

At that moment, Ferda’s mana began moving against his will.

It was residing within the Dark Circle.

"It’s going to explode!!"

"Regent! You have to get out of the way...!"

The purple light grew increasingly intense, and Garnet and Zed wrapped themselves around Ferda to protect him.

But Ferda’s body did not move an inch.

As though entranced, he kept his eyes fixed on the light.

Ferda did not properly understand Magitech Engineering.

Nor did he know the principle behind plasma, the force it possessed, or how to counter it.

Ferda could only wish.

For the object emitting that light to disappear.

He made his wish, and the Dark Circle moved.

It took the shape of a hand and reached toward the light.

Putting aside every formula and theory, there was one thing Ferda knew for certain.

The moment that hand swallowed the light, it would all become as though it had never existed.

Both hands became like a cloth and completely enveloped the purple light.

It became a round sphere and was gradually compressed.

The violent vibration brought down the piles of garbage and sent dust falling from the ceiling.

And when it finally became a single point and disappeared, everything returned to normal as though nothing had happened.

"...Huh?"

Gáe Bolg’s face, which had been captivated by ecstasy, twisted.

The explosion had disappeared at the exact moment it should have gone off.

"What...?"

She dug through the collapsed pile of garbage.

The grenades were nowhere to be found.

With an empty expression, she dropped the garbage she was holding and turned her head.

The gaze she directed toward Ferda changed into that of an animal that had lost its offspring.

She was furious.

"It became as though it never happened? What kind of nonsense is that!? This isn’t some children’s game! What the hell is this, some kind of rainbow reflection or something!?"

Gáe Bolg lost her reason and raised her claw-like nails.

She charged straight at Ferda.

But her body was nothing more than a pitiful skeleton.

"Take this, Pepe Attack!!"

Even a body slam from the third-rate demoness was enough to subdue her easily.

"Argh! So annoying! I hate you! Disappear!"

"Stay still! My bounty!! Woohoo!"

Gáe Bolg began throwing a childish tantrum.

"Regent Ferda..."

Garnet’s eyes were fixed on Ferda.

She was awestruck by an ability she had never seen before.

Ferda maintained a calm expression.

He was just as bewildered as everyone else, but he couldn’t let them notice.

"It seems she has no means left."

"No means left, my ass!? I can still bite my tongue and die right here—Mmph!"

"Thank you. Now I know you really have nothing left."

Zed quickly gagged her, preventing her from trying any more tricks.

"Lady Garnet."

"Yes."

"What do you think would be the better course of action?"

Garnet processed the information and judged the situation.

"Considering that she was capable of attacking Marquess Phellus single-handedly, she is probably the finest designer there is... And the fact that she turned a piece of Magitech equipment with no blueprint into such a specialized device also makes her one of the greatest engineers we’ve been looking for, but..."

With such enormous advantages came an equally enormous disadvantage.

"She will pose an extremely serious threat to Lord Ferda and the safety of the territory."

The safety of the territory was also the safety of Valdrova.

Garnet could not overlook that risk.

For the sake of the future, would it be better to simply dispose of her?

"Well, Vernel can just work a little harder."

Ferda concentrated mana at his fingertips.

He was about to pierce straight through her head.

That was when—

"Mmff! Mmph! Mmph!"

"You little bastard! You’re flailing around like a freshly caught fish! Stay still, you wench!"

Penelope, who was holding her down, tried to press her shoulder into the ground, but Gáe Bolg desperately struggled to escape.

It looked exactly like someone desperately fighting for their life because they didn’t want to die.

But Ferda thought differently.

It didn’t seem likely that her mind had suddenly changed after making such a fuss about wanting to die just moments ago.

"Remove the gag."

"What?"

"I said remove the gag."

Penelope cautiously removed the gag, and Gáe Bolg, finally free to speak, asked,

"That Vernel the handsome man mentioned..."

There was something strange in Gáe Bolg’s eyes.

It wasn’t the same smile she had worn when she tried to mess with them, nor was it the expression she had made when things didn’t go her way and she became irritated.

"Is he perhaps Vernel Marquis?"

There was no mistaking it.

It was a gaze filled with admiration.

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