Seele stepped forward, her gaze falling on the corpse's head.
More precisely, on the bloody hole blown through it.
"He's really dead…"
Leon gave Seele a slightly exasperated look at her pointless remark.
"A mortal body takes a bullet to the head, of course it's dead. The blockers are gone now, so let's hurry and move on."
His calm, unflustered words sent a ripple through Seele's gaze.
Leon seemed… almost too accustomed to the passing of life.
Noticing her expression, Leon smiled.
"Wildfire's basically the Silvermane Guards of the underground. You're not thinking of charging me with a crime, are you?"
Seele shook off her complicated thoughts and lightly shook her head.
"That's not what I meant. I don't care about the life or death of those scumbags. They got what they deserved."
She'd just never killed anyone herself.
Her scythe had almost only ever been swung at Fragmentum monsters and robots.
"Can you tell me how you did it? I've never heard of or seen a bullet curving like that."
"What about you, surface missy? All you Silvermane Guards carry guns—ever seen it?"
"I'm not some missy. I have a name—Bronya."
Bronya's gaze toward Leon was equally complex.
A living person's life had just vanished before her eyes without warning.
No…
To be precise, there was a warning.
Leon had cautioned the vagrants: each person was allowed only three shots.
The one who broke the rules died by the bullet they fired.
What did that have to do with Leon?
Even taking ten thousand steps back, from a visual feedback perspective, who could prove Leon killed anyone?
Everyone saw his hands stayed behind his back the whole time.
"If I told the truth, would Commander Bronya arrest me for intentional homicide?"
Leon asked with a meaningful tone.
Bronya shook her head.
"…I only saw the bullet inexplicably curve back toward the shooter. I didn't see you act."
March 7th poked her head in: "Actually… I'm curious too."
Stelle: "I know."
March 7th: "Oh? Then tell me."
① "Leon's an Emanator of Beauty. The bullets couldn't bear to hurt him."
② "Leon's an Emanator of Finality, able to reverse the bullet's trajectory."
③ "Leon's an Emanator of Preservation. Bouncing bullets back is normal."
The sudden three options popping up had some players chuckling.
[Is it possible Leon's actually one of those Emanators?]
[Preservation… not impossible. Finality, probably not.]
[Beauty? The Aeon's gone, right? Can there still be an Emanator?]
"Emanator of Beauty makes sense. Isn't Leon beautiful?"
[That's called handsome!]
[To be fair, Leon's face is pretty great—appeals to both men and women.]
"Handsome is a type of beauty. The Beauty Aeon's listed as missing, not dead."
"Lots of story text loves to drop foreshadowing. Things that don't seem real might come true or be confirmed later."
"If the Path of Beauty's definition wasn't so vague, I'd really think Leon could be its Emanator."
"Because Leon's an Emanator of Beauty. Even Idrila would call him handsome, so of course mere bullets wouldn't dare harm him."
Stelle crossed her arms, her lips curling into a smirk.
Her little expression gave off a cheeky vibe, yet it carried a contrasting cuteness that didn't match her mature appearance.
[Trailblazer's smile is so pretty.]
[Wah, sorry, I couldn't help committing a crime against Stelle.]
[It's only human.]
[No worries, it's not illegal in Japan.]
[You guys are something else. Reverse-level insanity—leave that to me.]
[Yan Empire's map isn't long enough. Zero points.]
March 7th couldn't even count how many times Stelle's words left her speechless.
"I agree with the first part, but bullets don't have brains. Stop spouting wild nonsense."
Stelle: "Pretty wild, huh?"
March 7th: "Big sis, that's a bit of a dark joke. It's not funny."
Stelle: "I'm just praising my own sense of humor. Where's your mind going?"
"I—" March 7th froze.
Hardened…
Her delicate little fists hardened!
Yet another time she couldn't keep track of.
She wanted to punch Stelle.
So annoying.
But if she actually hit her, Stelle would probably say something like, "Why're you rewarding me?"
So frustrating.
Punch or don't punch—neither felt right.
[If you pick Caelus as the protagonist, March-wife calls him big brother here. Melts my heart~]
[Big sis is nice too.]
[Trailblazer's barely born and already a big brother or sister.]
[Don't sweat the details.]
March 7th: "So what's the truth, Leon?"
Leon, dead serious, spouted nonsense: "Stelle's right. I'm actually an Emanator of Beauty, blessed with beauty's protection."
In reality, it wasn't some special trick.
No matter how fast a regular bullet was, it was just a bullet.
It could be affected by wind.
Using a stronger wind to forcibly alter its trajectory while maintaining equivalent kinetic energy—wasn't that enough?
If he wanted, Leon could claim he knew "gun-shaking techniques."
Bullets fired at him would curve however he wanted.
March 7th: "…"
Ugh, these two were really…
She couldn't tell who was rubbing off on who.
"If you're an Emanator of Beauty, then I could be an Emanator of Remembrance!"
"Because my existence involves a major secret, even Fuli had to personally seal my memories and protect me with Emanator powers."
"Sounds reasonable, right?"
March 7th rolled her eyes, casually making up nonsense.
Stelle: "Not bad, pretty convincing."
Leon nodded earnestly: "I think it's possible too."
March 7th forced a polite smile, spreading her hands, too tired to explain further.
Exhausted… let it be…
Seele: "This isn't the time for chit-chat. Since the issue's resolved, let's move."
Bronya nodded: "We've wasted too much time. There's work to finish."
Seele: "Nat, please handle that guy's aftermath."
"Mm…" From behind, Natasha responded with a complicated look.
A life was lost, after all. Who knew how this would play out later?
Sigh.
This was going to be a headache for a while.
The group headed deeper into the main mining area, passing a fork leading to the vagrants' gathering spot.
There were guards there too.
Natasha's guess was right—these guys were indeed scared of the miners' retaliation.
At the sight of Leon's group, every face was filled with wariness.
But soon, some vagrants recognized Leon.
Without anyone needing to threaten them, they all fled as if they'd seen a ghost.
Seele smirked.
"Your intimidation factor with those rogue thugs has surpassed mine."
Leon didn't care: "Just for a few people."
The small interlude didn't delay them, but soon, they stopped before a blocked passage.
Bronya: "Why's this fork completely sealed?"
March 7th: "Should we blow it up with explosives?"
Stelle: "So you're the bomb queen, March? Didn't see that coming."
March 7th: "Hmph, scared yet? Annoy this girl again, and I'll blow you sky-high!"