Chapter 495

Laughter burst from the audience that had been holding its breath. The commentators, who had been expecting a satisfying strike, were no exception.

<Is that one of those bubble guns that are trending these days?>

<Hahaha, it is impossible not to like him! He always creates such entertaining situations!>

With a clear This is not it expression, Ero fumbled and hurriedly reloaded another round. In the meantime, the opposing team’s cart closed in tightly on the rear of his. The grinding noise of wheels scraping against the rails grew harsher by the second. Just then, as Ero looked around like a meerkat, a fork in the track appeared ahead, splitting left and right.

“Boss, that one, that one!”

As he pointed and shouted into the air, a massive sphere of water instantly formed above the target point. A transparent whale, rounded from head to tail, revealed itself. Through the gap, Orca, his coat fluttering, stepped forward and leapt boldly down from the cliff.

The entire connected rail system jolted with a heavy clatter, shaking unstably. Orca waited until Ero’s cart reached just before the fork.

Then, just as the first cart passed right in front of him, he forcefully pulled the lever that switched the direction of the rails.

Screeeech—

<Ah, it is Orca! He is controlling the tracks!>

<A sudden change like that can lead to derailment due to inertia. What will happen?>

A vicious spray of sparks erupted with a tearing sound. Of the three carts that had been tightly grouped together, two tilted—and in the blink of an eye split off toward the left and right forks. The last one, coming from behind, failed to withstand its speed and flew off the rails entirely.

“Aaaaah—!”

<Team JOKER, what excellent teamwork! They have successfully shaken off Team Vertex’s pursuit!>

Ero, who had barely managed to regain his balance by firing a vine round, heard the scream and peeked his head out.

Watching the opposing team’s ore scatter down into the boiling abyss below, he broke into a grin.

“Hahaha! How is that? The brilliance of my command!”

“Joker, do not lose focus!”

At that moment, Gillian’s heavy voice rang out from above the canyon. Snapping back to his senses, Ero whipped his head forward.

Oh no, this is bad. The rail guiding the wheels led straight into a narrow tunnel. The problem was that the tunnel was so tight it could barely fit a single cart.

“Eek—”

At this rate, his head would slam into the tunnel entrance—or he would be dragged inside and have the back of his skull crushed. His face turning pale, Ero frantically searched for another round.

“Idiot!”

With that familiar form of address, a black shadow suddenly fell over his vision. In the next instant, his breath caught, and he was yanked upward by the back of his neck.

“Where is your head at?”

“Ugh—B-Bell!”

When he pushed aside the abundant folds of a skirt blocking his view, the first thing he saw was the lady extending her hand. Above her, Morvan braced himself with both feet against the cliff, supporting her waist while hooking onto an umbrella handle. Watching the two who moved as one, Ero dangled there and broke into a wide grin.

“I knew you would come!”

“What about the ore?”

“Huh?”

“I am asking if that thing is heading the right way!”

With Beatrice’s sharp shout, the cart that had passed through the tunnel alone raced along the rails. It seemed there had been quite a bit of impact inside, as the tonic water bottles that had provided propulsion were gone, torn away. The cart cut across the winding gaps of the canyon, then once again slid down a slope approaching ninety degrees. This was the final destination of the match—the location of the brass furnace deep within the heart of Trigon Canyon.

Despite having been dormant for a long time, the furnace’s overwhelming scale raised the surrounding temperature to one hundred fifty degrees. The cart, which had entered this suffocating battlefield alone without passengers, soon encountered once again the opposing team’s cart it had parted from at the fork.

<Team JOKER executed a brilliant coordinated operation! But unfortunately, the cart has now entered Team Vertex’s attack range after losing its operator!>

<At this rate, the ore will not reach the furnace. They may have to start again from the mining site—>

The distance between the two carts steadily narrowed, and after passing through another tunnel, they ran side by side along parallel rails.

The two members of the opposing team, who had just missed their target earlier, looked at the yellow ore across from them and smiled coldly. One of them raised the bazooka slung over his shoulder, aiming to send Team JOKER’s cart crashing down. Towering rock pillars passed between the two carts moving at equal speed.

The target flickered in and out of sight as if the light itself were blinking, but it did not matter. Three, two, one. Just as he counted silently, preparing to blow both the obstacle and the target away at once—

“Hm?”

With a puzzled sound, the scope lowered. A pale haze had begun to rise around the previously empty cart.

In that brief moment when his view had been blocked by the rock pillar, someone new now sat calmly atop the pile of yellow ore. Looking closer, a cloak fluttered behind the figure, trailing white vapor along the path of the rails.

“It is Lion.”

“What?”

The participant who had been about to fire lowered his voice instinctively. The teammate steering the cart behind him flinched, then urged in a hushed tone.

“Just blow him away.”

“Wait, if we do that, we will—”

“That is their last piece! If we hesitate, we lose anyway! Just hit the cart!”

Pressed for time, the two struggled atop the speeding cart before finally managing to aim the weapon. Unlike before, when there had been no hesitation, the barrel now wavered.

Boom—!

With a roar, the shell shot forward in a straight line, spewing fire and lightning. It tore through the rising smoke, seemingly about to destroy the cart—but no further explosion followed.

Because Lion, arm extended, had caught the steaming shell in one hand.

“...Damn.”

The red-hot iron sphere spun violently in his palm before abruptly coming to a stop. Then, crushed by his grip, its surface began to crumple, collapsing into a grotesquely twisted shape.

Waaah—!

As the crowd’s roar intensified, the two men on the cart swallowed hard. Beyond the crumpled mass of metal like a sheet of paper, golden eyes flashed like lightning, shining fiercely against the background.

<The lion from hell guards his team’s final cart!>

Amid the commentator’s awed voice, Leonardo twisted the shell in his grip and then lifted his lowered golden gaze, glaring sharply at his opponents.

—Leo, we...

However, his senses could hardly register the blazing heat, the acrid metallic stench, or even the roaring cheers. His ears rang as if submerged underwater. It was neither the roar of the shell nor the excitement of the moment—it was the voice of a man that had lingered in his mind since the previous night.

Whether it had been a tail, surveillance, or protection—shortly after he had shaken off any pursuit that might have followed him and returned to Libertas. He had been debating whether to personally send a message that he had arrived safely, and so he had taken out the communication device he had stored in the safe.

Unable to sort out his thoughts, he went out onto a secluded terrace, sat down heavily on the floor under the moonlight.

Leaning his back against the railing, one knee raised, he settled into the most comfortable position. Shielding it with his palm, he had just lit the cigarette he had brought along.

A faint signal tone pressed into his ear.

...

He knew it was a communication line paired to only one device. The moment of hesitation did not last long. For the sake of the one on the other end, he crushed out the cigarette he had not even taken a drag from. Even though there was no way the smell could carry through.

A slight hesitation passed as he pressed the connection button. He smoothed hair that could not even be seen and cleared his throat for no reason. His fingers brushed the faint bite mark left at the back of his neck, but it did not bother him.

Because the question that came back from the man, right after he offered a gentle greeting, was unexpectedly serious.

—Have we met before?

It was a vague question, impossible to tell exactly when he meant, yet in that instant Leonardo’s pupils widened sharply.

All of a sudden? Why?

Did something come back to him?

Countless thoughts rushed in, and once his eyelashes parted, they did not easily come back together. Among them, the anxiety tangled within the threads flickered through as well.

The relationship between them demanded extreme caution with every single word. The bridge they stood on was like glass—fragile enough that even the smallest clue carelessly revealed could drive everything to ruin.

His complicated mind quickly assessed the situation, while his unsteady tongue hesitated to answer.

Just now? A few days ago? Or that day?

He even considered deflecting with a vague question in return, pretending not to know.

But in the end, it was neither the mind that usually worked so well, nor the lips that were so good at lying, that answered.

Perhaps it was because of the moonlight that seemed to wash everything clean.

At that moment, his unnecessarily honest and foolish heart confessed on its own.

Yeah.