WRBEFM 08
Chapter 8
“Believer Number 100.”
A little while later, it was my turn, and the priest gestured toward me. I obediently walked toward the platform.
But just as I was about to climb the stairs—
“Ah!”
“?!”
My body tilted forward and came crashing down in front of the platform.
“Karin!”
I heard my sister’s voice from far away. But before she could run over, I had already crashed into the platform.
‘Ouch…!’
I had only intended to trip lightly and drop the match, but I ended up taking quite a spectacular fall.
However, I had no time to worry about the pain. I quickly slipped the small match that had fallen onto the floor inside my sleeve.
“Are you all right?”
The priest hurriedly checked the platform before looking at me. A guard nearby also approached after hearing the commotion.
I quickly brushed myself off and stood up.
“I’m okay! I’m sorry. My foot caught on something.”
My knee hurt a little, but if I honestly admitted that I was injured, they would take me to the infirmary. Then they might discover that I had hidden the match.
“No, no. The step can be rather high for a child.”
The priest smiled kindly and reassured me. While the guards set the platform upright again, the priest took my hand and led me in prayer.
Afterward, I returned to my seat and rubbed my aching knee.
The pain was gradually getting worse, probably because it was starting to bruise, but—
‘Compared to when the Count used to beat me…’
This was nothing.
‘At least now I have all the materials.’
Shall I give it a try?
“……My lord. Are you still thinking about it?”
As the sun began to set, Siss, who was finishing up his work in the office, glanced toward the sofa across from him.
Rodrigo, who was sitting with his long legs arrogantly crossed, raised one eyebrow.
“Thinking about what?”
“The young lady’s proposal.”
At those words, Rodrigo let out a deep sigh before asking,
“What do you think?”
“I…”
Siss’s expression darkened for a moment.
“Actually, I believe the young lady’s proposal is reasonable.”
“……”
“The child clearly has a purpose, but we know nothing about her.”
All they had was the information written in the forged documents.
“Even if only to determine whether she might become a hidden threat in the future, I believe we should take the child with us when we escape.”
It wasn’t because he felt sorry for her or because he trusted her.
They needed to take her because she was suspicious.
At the very least, they needed to find out what she was plotting.
“It would be better to keep her within our sight and watch whether she does anything suspicious.”
“I see.”
Rodrigo replied quietly, and Siss nodded heavily.
“After all, she’s still just a child.”
And a terribly weak little one at that.
Even if she fought, she would obviously lose quickly. There was no way she could possibly stand against a dragon.
Therefore, she shouldn’t be much of a threat—
BOOOOM!
“!”
“?!”
Siss and Rodrigo instinctively jumped to their feet.
An enormous explosion completely shook through the walls of the warden’s office.
Siss reflexively turned toward the window.
At that very moment, Rodrigo sensed a presence and quickly concealed himself.
Bang!
A guard hurriedly opened the door without even bothering to knock.
“Th-the situation is serious, Warden!”
“……”
“T-the annex has exploded!”
One Hour Before the Explosion
As soon as we returned to our room, Sister Veronica made me sit on the bed so she could examine my knee.
When she saw my knee turning blue with a bruise, her expression darkened.
‘Should I just tear that place down?’
She muttered it in a terrifying voice.
But…
‘Karin is going to destroy it herself!’
I slipped into the bathroom and took out the paper, the emerald, and a piece of black ore that I had prepared beforehand.
I crouched on the floor, spread the paper flat, placed the ore and gemstone on top of it, and rolled everything up.
I also made sure to tie it tightly with a string I had made by tearing strips from my blanket so that the paper wouldn’t come undone.
Before I could spend too long inside and arouse the guards’ suspicion, I hurriedly came back out of the bathroom.
In my pocket was the homemade bomb I had just made.
‘This is all I need.’
The method of making it was extremely simple.
The gemstone I had created and the black ore that had been deliberately scattered around the prison floor.
Black ore served as a buffer that controlled magical power, but it had one fatal weakness.
It was extremely vulnerable to heat.
When exposed to heat, it would swell tremendously, and once it reached its limit, it would explode.
However, this fatal weakness would only become known much later.
For now, the ore had only recently begun to be distributed, so nobody knew about it yet.
‘This alone would be enough.’
But if I was going to make something explode, I might as well do it properly.
When heated, the ore would swell rapidly and release an enormous amount of power.
‘And the gemstones I created contain magical power too.’
What would happen if those two forces collided?
‘It would go BOOM!’
A small amount would be more than enough!
‘It’ll be mealtime soon.’
The prison was located in the central main building. The dining hall was in the eastern building, while the guards’ living quarters and the warden’s office were in the western building.
And the prayer hall was in the annex behind the main building.
After finishing their meals, the guards and prisoners would walk around the area surrounding the annex.
Besides, the prayer hall was completely locked except during prayer, so there shouldn’t be any casualties.
If I blew up an entire building, surely they’d send me to solitary confinement, right?
‘Normally, if you were going to commit an act of terrorism, you’d do it secretly.’
But I had only one goal.
I wanted to make it so obvious that—
“Come on, baby. Let’s go eat.”
Everyone would look at me!
“Sis.”
“Yes? What is it, baby?”
“No holding hands today!”
“What?! Why?!”
My sister looked horrified.
But this time, I was determined.
“Just until we go to dinner!”
Otherwise, my sister might end up in solitary confinement with me.
The debris could hit her, too!
“Absolutely not! No way!”
I had to make sure my sister stayed safe!
.
.
.
And so…
“I heard you blew up a building.”
After the enormous BOOM! of the building being blown apart rang through the prison, the building caught in the explosion was, naturally, completely destroyed.
It hadn’t merely been damaged.
It had been blown into pieces.
Even an ordinary bomb probably wouldn’t have been this dangerous.
“Of all places, you chose the prayer hall.”
It was the only place in Izteille known to be sacred.
It was part of a rehabilitation system specially established by the Emperor, who maintained a cooperative relationship with the Temple.
“Do you know what you did wrong?”
“Yes!”
“You seem remarkably proud of yourself after causing such a commotion.”
“Yes!”
“……Haa.”
What was he supposed to do with this little girl?
Siss was extremely troubled.
Of all places, she had chosen to attack that one.
No, even the fact that there had been materials inside the prison that could be used to make a bomb was astonishing in itself.
After wondering what he should ask first, Siss decided to start with what he was most curious about.
“Why did you blow it up?”
There hadn’t been anything unusual when she was praying earlier.
“Were you dissatisfied with the priest? Or perhaps angry about the system? Did one of the guards annoy you?”
Honestly, he doubted he would understand no matter what reason she gave him.
Still, he wanted to know what on earth had possessed her to destroy an entire building.
“I thought you would believe me if I did this.”
“Believe what?”
“That I really hate the Imperial Family.”
“……?”
“You didn’t believe me before, remember? That I really hate the Imperial Family.”
That was…
‘She does have a point.’
How could he possibly believe it?
That a tiny child had attempted to assassinate the Emperor 388,112 times.
Karin nodded as though she understood.
“So I proved it. I thought you wouldn’t believe me otherwise.”
“Then you blew up an entire building just to make me believe you?”
“Yes!”
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