Episode 224 – Eat and Run (3)

Eat and Run (3)

I’I have several bullets in my body. I’m not exactly sure how many bullets are lodged in me. But thanks to that, I’ve learned something new.

Even the worst weapons, bullets, can’t completely penetrate this body in the No-Mana Zone.

It hurts quite a bit though.

“I’m fine.”

Johanna looked at me as if to say otherwise, but I slightly lifted my coat.

“I have one too.”

A bulletproof vest. Quite a few bullets were embedded in it. Johanna’s lips twitched expressionlessly.

“You managed not to let go of the steering wheel.”

If I had let go of the wheel or jerked it randomly due to the pain, we’d probably be dead by now.

“It’s the basics for a driver.”

I replied and looked out the window.

A dark and quiet night. However, occasionally the sound of sirens can be heard. There must be more than a few civilians who got caught in that massive shootout.

Thanks to that, we managed to escape safely and are now entering the premises of the [Golden Casino].

“It seems information about this vehicle leaked out in advance.”

At my words, Johanna shook her head.

“No. If they had known beforehand, there would have been an easier way. They probably spotted us through the windows. Should have gone with a darker tint.”

Well, the minimum requirement for a hitman is sharp hearing and eyesight, after all.

I gently turned the steering wheel. I stopped the car at the entrance of an alley in the town.

“Let’s get out. The car is too conspicuous.”

Driving around in a car this banged up is almost like asking to be caught.

“Are we walking?”

Johanna asked as she got out of the car.

“No.”

I inhaled the night air. The sensation of a space without mana is quite peculiar.

“How far does the no-mana zone extend?”

“Is it too much to bear?”

I smiled faintly and shook my head.

“Not at all.”

“In this area, mana does not exist. [Golden Casino] is a natural No-Mana Zone. It’s built on such a place, which is why it’s the biggest casino.”

In gambling houses, magic equates to deception. The effort to exclude mana, the No-Mana Zone technology, was developed in casinos and exported across the continent, and [Golden Casino] has the largest magic isolation area of them all.

Ironically, that’s why [Golden Casino] is a magical space. The reason [Golden Casino] is a No-Mana Zone is because of the ‘magic core’ formed on the ley lines, sucking in external mana.

“That’s a pity.”

I found a car. A regular SUV. There was no owner, but I managed to open the door skillfully.

Picking locks was something I did too often before my regression.

“Get in.”

But there was no answer.

“?”

I turned around. Johanna was gone. She had been right there.

A chill went down my spine, but she soon returned from around the corner, clutching a small medicine bag.

“Take it. It’s painkillers.”

“Thank you.”

It was a bottle of painkillers in a yellow container. I poured them all into my mouth at once.

“Get in.”

I opened the door of the car. Climbing into the driver’s seat, I started the engine.

Starting an abandoned car was something I had done too often before regression.

Johanna sat in the passenger seat.

I drove off again, advancing along a deserted road in the darkness. Johanna took a bite of her hamburger.

“Does it suit your taste?”

“……”

Johanna let out a small laugh.

“I actually like it. This thing.”

A small smile appeared on my lips too.

To think that I, who even knew the dietary preferences of the Libra lineage, would be somewhat dumbfounded.

“……However.”

Suddenly, I became curious.

“Aren’t you afraid of death, Johanna?”

Right now, Johanna was standing on the edge of a cliff where one wrong step could mean certain death, yet she was too calm, as if she was on a trip or a leisurely walk.

“I am not afraid.”

Her voice was serene.

“My life, in the grand scheme of things, is a gamble. It’s all about what cards you’re holding and how you’re going to bet.”

I looked at her through the rearview mirror. Wearing a beret, she continued softly.

“Once you decide to sit at the gambling table, you’re essentially participating in the absolute laws of the table. If there’s victory, there’s also defeat. No, it’s because there is defeat that winners exist. I, who have reigned as a winner until now, cannot complain about a single crisis as being unfair.”

Johanna had her own beliefs and philosophy.

“Is that so.”

I neither deny nor affirm her.

Libra is a clear scourge of the continent.

Johanna is no different. Too many people have faced great ruin because of her. After all, she herself has no hesitation in killing. Like butchering cows and pigs, she is the phantom of the casino who kills anyone who crosses her.

However, as the exterior and interior of a person can differ.

So can closeness and distance.

Johanna reflected in the rearview mirror of the driver’s seat is a bold human being. She is a sufficiently beautiful woman.

Because her sins are not visible.

“……Aren’t you afraid of death?”

Suddenly, Johanna asked. I replied softly.

“No.”

Because I’ve always lived near it.

“I am not afraid at all.”

“I can see that.”

Johanna looked out the window. We were now inside the premises of [Golden Casino]. But there were apartments, parks, shops, restaurants, etc… the typical appearance of a small town.

“It’s called Golden Casino, but there’s no casino. A casino without a casino.”

“The Golden Casino is underground. It’s wrapped around the magic core. Underneath this town, slot machines must be spinning.”

“……Ah. Is that so.”

It was a bit of a joke, but Johanna didn’t laugh at all.

She turned to me and asked,

“Who do you think looks like a traitor?”

Traitor.

I don’t know much about Johanna’s division. I pride myself on knowing everything about her direct lineage, but she changes her division almost every year.

However, there is definitely one person who is not a traitor.

“At least Beckman is not.”

Beckman would not betray Johanna at times like this. He’s the type to protect her steadfastly.

“That would be likely.”

Johanna nodded in agreement as if to say she thought the same.

“But always be careful.”

“Careful?”

“Yes. His loyalty is heavily tinged with emotion. It could be more dangerous than betrayal… Overconfidence.”

Beckman commits a betrayal that is not a betrayal, driven by his mad desire to monopolize Johanna.

“Overconfidence, huh…”

“I’ll stop for a moment.”

I pulled the car over. There was an [Extreme Shop] nearby.

“Do you have cash?”

Johanna handed me her wallet.

“I have 320,000 Ren. The wallet itself must be worth 100,000 Ren.”

“Yes. Please wait for me.”

I got out of the car and entered the shop. The owner, wearing a hat, was dozing off at the counter but greeted me.

“Oh, what brings you here?”

“Do you have a hang glider?”

“Ah, the integrated type? Or the mechanical type?”

“The mechanical type.”

A mechanical hang glider, simply put, is like wings attached to your back. It looks like a backpack with small engines on each side and wings attached. It flies like a rocket, but the downside is that it can only be used at high altitudes.

“Here~ This one. It’s made of special materials so it won’t break easily, and it’s easy to operate. But it costs 160,000 Ren each?”

“Two units. Make it 300,000 Ren.”

“Hmm. 20,000 Ren is-”

“Cash.”

I took out all the cash from the wallet and handed it over. The owner glanced at it and smirked.

“…Well, let’s do that.”

I put the two mechanical hang gliders in the trunk. I took the pamphlet with the instructions and sat in the driver’s seat.

“Here’s the hang glider manual. Get familiar with it in advance.”

I stepped on the accelerator again. Johanna looked intently at the manual.

Rustle─ Rustle─

The sound of the pages turning was making me sleepy. No, I am very sleepy.

It means I need to recover. If it goes on like this, I might fall asleep while driving.

“…Lady Johanna.”

I had no choice but to call Johanna. She glanced at me briefly.

“Can you drive? It seems we only need to go for about 30 minutes to reach the Golden Tower.”

Johanna nodded her head.

“Move over.”

I stopped the car. Johanna sat in the driver’s seat, and I switched to the passenger seat.

“For a while… I might fall asleep.”

Leaning back in my seat, I spoke. Johanna stepped on the accelerator.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Her driving skills were not bad at all. It seemed she might even be better than me… Soon, my eyes began to close first.

A brief blackout. A faint voice flowed in.

“…You’ve worked hard.”

But I had no energy to respond. I was too sleepy.

“Rest comfortably.”

That phrase bothered me a bit.

It felt as if I was dealing with someone who was dead, no, someone about to die…

* * *

Even as she drove, Johanna felt odd. The blood clinging to her body was unpleasant.

It wasn’t her own blood. It was from Shion Ascal, who had been sitting and driving in this seat before her.

Just how much blood had he lost? Johanna couldn’t begin to estimate.

“…”

She silently looked to the side.

The guy in the passenger seat was now barely breathing.

He was dying.

Dying.

The chances of him surviving… no matter how much she thought about it, there were none.

Was it like the feeling of breaking a toy belonging to a younger sibling?

Was it that kind of panic?

No, it was a bit more severe than that.

He could have run away on his own. After all, he was a follower of Zia, and he could have just discarded her.

But he didn’t do that. Instead, he risked his life.

Johanna didn’t know why.

A subordinate risking their life to protect her. Such things belonged in the fairy tales of her reading days, and moreover, he wasn’t even her subordinate.

He was loyal only to Libra…

Johanna looked through the window. The Golden Tower was coming into view.

All she had to do was climb to the rooftop and take the hang glider. A certain escape route.

She had already memorized how to use it.

But.

“…What to do about him.”

Johanna looked at Shion Ascal beside her. His pulse was now just a matter of time.

His breathing and heartbeat, everything was slowing down as if he were already dead.

“…”

Looking at him, Johanna belatedly realized her own feelings.

I’m sorry.

It seemed like a type of emotion she was feeling for the first time in her life.

* * *

“We can’t track them.”

At the family residence, Karlos bit his cigar in frustration.

“…Weren’t they going to the embassy?”

“Yes. It seemed so.”

This was a serious problem.

If time continued to pass without any results, it would become increasingly disadvantageous for Karlos. It was likely that among the remaining mafiosi, someone would betray him.

Karlos pressed his brow, thinking.

They’re not going to the embassy.

He had placed hitmen on all the routes Johanna could have used.

Suddenly, a certain man came to mind.

“Where is that gambler?”

“Sir?”

“That Shion or whatever his name is. The player Johanna sponsors!”

“…”

The Consigliere was silent. It seemed he had missed it while focusing on Johanna.

“…She went with that guy.”

Karlos let out a hollow laugh.

“However, there’s nowhere for them to go. Every route—”

“If not outside, then they must have gone within.”

Karlos stood up. The Consigliere still had a puzzled look on his face.

“If they go within, there are even more ways to get out—”

“The sky.”

Karlos lifted his index finger upwards.

“Whether it’s a hang glider or something else. There’s definitely a way. Search that area.”

* * *

Johanna arrived at the tower. She stopped the car in the parking lot and pressed down her beret firmly.

Shion was still sitting there.

“…”

The car was so quiet that his breathing could no longer be heard, nor his heartbeat.

Johanna trembled as she took off her suit jacket and covered his silent, closed-eyed face with it.

She got out of the car. There were two hang gliders in the trunk. She hid one on her back.

She entered the tower. Despite the late hour, there were quite a few people around.

It was a tourist spot, after all.

Johanna got on the elevator.

The rooftop was on the 110th floor, but you had to buy a ticket for the observation deck from the 30th floor.

Ding—

She got off at the 30th floor and approached the counter to ask for the price of an observation deck ticket.

“100 ren.”

She bought one ticket and got on the observation deck’s dedicated elevator, pressing the button for the 110th floor.

Just as the doors were about to close.

“Ah. Wait a moment.”

Someone got on. The elevator started moving again.

Ding—

31st floor.

The elevator stopped immediately, and one more person got on.

Ding—

35th floor.

The elevator stopped again, and another person appeared.

Three people in total.

They each stood at the corners of the elevator, and Johanna put her hand inside her coat, gripping the handle of her revolver, maintaining her composure.

“…”

37th floor. 39th floor. 41st floor.

The elevator ascended rapidly. Johanna scrutinized the three men.

They were nondescript. But she continued to suspect they might be hitmen.

—.

—.

From somewhere, a very faint sound came from the men’s pockets. That’s when Johanna drew her revolver and shot one of them.

His head burst open, but two were left. Johanna kept pulling the trigger. The remaining men, hit by bullets, still rushed at her. One strangled her neck, and the other tried to break her arm.

Ding—

In the midst of this, the elevator stopped. Naturally, she wouldn’t know what floor they were on, but the doors slowly opened.

Through the opening gap…

—! —!

Two gunshots rang out.

The strength of the two men who had subdued Johanna was released. Their bodies collapsed like dust.

She gasped for air and staggered, leaning on the elevator, looking beyond.

And then…

“…!”

Her face turned pale as if she had seen a ghost.