Book 19: Chapter 39
The best time for them to strike was when the crowd was gathered. Most of the guards would be gathered around Miss Vera during that time, while others would be dressed in casual clothing and hiding in the crowd. Once that period passed, nobody would defend the buildings outside of the imperial palace. The marksman on the palace walls had his gun aimed at the crowd within the walls as he believed his only chance of being able to land their shot on Miss Vera was at close range. He believed firing from a long distance would only result in an inaccurate shot. In saying that, what if the gun was special?
Though Troy’s navy was very strict, that couldn’t completely prevent people from selling their guns and ammunition then reporting their equipment as missing. After all, the place was far from where Troy could directly impose his rule. In other words, there was a degree of autonomous rights there.
Troy’s hunters possessed rifles that could fire from long distances with precision. When that was combined with the flames emitted from the bullets, the bullets were virtually undetectable with one’s eyes during the day. Further, no smoke was emitted when firing. Though they were some distance away from the balcony, where Miss Vera gave her speech, they could still land a fatal shot from there.
It took a lot of effort to sneak the gun in. The gun was jammed into the horse’s body, which was then sent in as a sick horse. Nobody wanted to approach a dead horse that had flies swarming it. He was able to sneak the weapon and bullets in as a result. He didn’t manage to bring much in, but one shot was enough to kill.
The guards down below never expected there to be someone who could shoot from that distance, nor did anyone pay attention to the location the sharpshooter was at. Theoretically, he’d easily be able to kill Vera from that distance. He also already prepared an escape route to flee. He planned to leave the gun at the scene, framing Troy as the one who sent him.
“Perfect. It’s perfect if everything goes according to plan,” thought the sharpshooter.
Suddenly, a hand encroached upon him from behind and snapped his neck. The young man in white wrestled the corpse aside. He saw the reflection from the gun. The marksman had taken precaution measures, but what the young man in white was searching for was traces of the gun. The guards of Galaluocia were uninformed of the firing distance the gun offered. The young man in white, on the other hand, was educated. He never expected the marksman would use the accurate rifle his own nation produced, nonetheless.
“I will need to report this,” thought the young man in white. The young man in white hid the corpse as a measure to prevent instigating panic. Next, he looked toward the high spot next to his current location. His analysis went as so: “Some places aren’t so easy to spot. Regardless, I need to go and make sure it’s safe. There’s definitely not just one assassin.”
Suddenly, an explosion went off in the crowd. The crowd immediately cried out one after another. White smoke suddenly whisked through the crowd. The terrified crowd screamed and fled for their lives. Unfortunately, practically everyone was gathered on the lawn below the balcony. Additionally, the smokescreen was dense, thereby robbing them of their sense of direction. Subsequently, they didn’t know where to flee to. The crowd pushed up together, and some even tried to rush into the imperial palace.