Published: September 10, 2025
This chapter is from Lady Ringlande's perspective.
"An incident? Lean, you mean it's not just an accident but an incident?"
"Probably. You can tell by the desperate looks on the faces of the people running away."
I explained the situation to Hayato.
"Huh? Huh? Huh?"
Yumiri, having grown up in a peaceful world, seemed unable to react to such a sudden event.
"For now, let's go somewhere where we can get an overview."
"Wait, Lean. First, we need to ensure Yumiri's safety."
—I was a bit slow to respond to Hayato's unexpected words.
Usually, he would have rushed out first to resolve the incident.
I suppressed the words that almost slipped out.
"Let's leave early. If the customers panic, they'll get stuck at the entrance and cause a bottleneck."
Some customers were heading towards the entrance like us, but they were a minority.
Those by the windows were distracted by the commotion outside, while those seated further away looked around anxiously, not understanding what was happening.
Glancing at them, I exited the fast-food restaurant not through the front, but towards the corridor leading to the commercial facility side.
"Let's head to the upper floors."
"Huh? But those are stairs."
"We won't use the elevator."
I dashed up the stairs all at once.
Going up about three floors should suffice.
I rushed to a nearby window to assess the situation.
"Ugh, Hayato, that's terrible."
"Sorry, Yumiri."
Turning towards the tearful voice, I saw Hayato lowering Yumiri, whom he had been carrying on his shoulder.
I thought they were late in coming, but it seemed Hayato had gone back to carry the delayed Yumiri.
"Enough joking around, both of you. Look outside—"
◇
Flames were blazing in the center of the plaza.
Where politicians had just been on the stage, men dressed in black with masks were now standing.
Many people lay sprawled in the plaza, bleeding.
"No way..."
"This is horrible."
Yumiri covered her mouth with her hand, tears in her eyes.
Hayato, though accustomed to such scenes, still frowned and stared warily at the plaza.
"It looks like they were shot with ranged weapons."
Since no one had arrows sticking out, it was probably magic or ranged weapons. This world lacks demonic essence, so I suspect they used rusty antique firearms.
That aside, something caught my attention.
"Why is no one conducting rescue operations?"
Not zero. A few were helping with treatment and evacuation near the fallen.
But most simply formed a crowd at a distance, pointing black boards at the fallen and the black smoke rising from the raging flames.
"Unbelievable, they're filming this."
Hayato spat out bitterly.
I didn't understand what he meant by "filming," but from that distance, stray bullets could still be dangerous.
"True. Stray bullets might reach here, so we should evacuate to a safer zone soon."
"That's not it! That's not it!"
"Calm down, Hayato."
I couldn't understand what made him so furious.
Was it the lack of rescue efforts? Or the fact they were "filming"? Or both?
"Look at the stage instead."
Beyond the black smoke, a previously hidden spot became visible as the wind shifted.
"Are they forming a circle?"
On the stage, children sat in a small circle surrounded by masked black-clad figures, with adults standing in an outer circle facing outward, forming a double ring.
"Is this some kind of ritual?"
I recalled some forbidden magic involving sacrifices like that.
"They’re a human shield. Those guys are using hostages as shields."
"But the ceiling above is open. Can't we just shoot arrows in an arc or use magic attacks to end this?"
There are many tall buildings around; sniping spots are plentiful.
"Lean, that would put the hostages in danger."
Yumiri rejected my suggestion.
"Really? I don’t think it’s a distance an expert can miss… Hey, Hayato. Don’t you have those flying machines around? We could use one to shoot from above."
"No, that would risk hitting the hostages."
Yumiri rejected it again.
"Then how about non-lethal attacks like sleep or paralyze magic? Didn’t Cure Curarer use those in the anime Aika and I watched this morning?"