Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

"Then... ah, just don't scare the children and don't randomly flip through and break things..."

"Alright, alright, rest assured. By the way, aren't you a free person too, Mister Rudolf?"

"Ah? What do you mean?"

"Then why aren't you getting dressed quickly? Find your gun! Follow us to search for the rioters! Don't you know? All free people have already been conscripted tonight! Captain Berny said, anyone who dares not go will be dealt with by military law!"

Soon, outside another house.

"Open up! Quickly open the door?"

"Who is it? Mister Rudolf? What's this about?"

"Ah, following Captain Berny's orders, searching for rioters."

"But... where would my house have any rioters?"

"It's the captain's orders, ah, I can't help it either, just following orders. Casimir, you'd better get dressed quickly too, find your sword, and join us in the search for rioters."

…

The surroundings were engulfed in deep night, with only Winters, Caman, and white-haired Roger left at the crossroads.

Caman's gaze was cold and he remained silent. Ever since they left the inn, he seemed to have fallen into a state of recklessness, acting even more decisive and ruthless than Winters.

Winters, on the other hand, was closing his eyes, holding his sword, conserving energy.

"Every path taken leaves a trace. The Oath Breaker's assassin [may run away from the monk, but not from the Monastery]. So even if they couldn't capture a live one, Winters wasn't overly concerned, because what he wanted was to completely destroy the Empire's nest of vermin.

According to Winters' arrangements, each search party was equipped with two Revolver Guns, and if there was any anomaly, they would immediately fire the gun to signal. If nothing was found, they would conscript adult males from the households they searched, and continue to search further.

In this manner, the more houses they checked, the larger the searching party grew. As the residents of the district were drafted into the search squad, they encountered less and less resistance during searches.

How does one find the quickest way to locate a needle that has fallen to the ground?

The correct answer is simple: start from a corner of the room and search inch by inch.

The Empire's assassins disguise themselves as trees, hiding in the forest.

Winters was neither familiar with the forest nor did he have friends therein, so he decided to adopt a simple and crude method—cut down all the trees.

As Xial and others swung their axes, Winters quietly waited.

But the silence was abruptly broken by a voice.

"My lord," white-haired Roger stood before Winters' horse: "I have a question to ask you."

Winters opened his eyes.

Roger shifted his weight back and forth between his legs uneasily, his hands clinging tightly to his sides while his thumbs unconsciously picked at his middle fingernails: "You've assumed so many identities, who... who exactly are you?"

"Why do you ask?" Winters found the white-haired boy before him quite interesting: "Knowing the answer might get you silenced immediately."

Roger smiled a relieved smile, as all his tension and anxiety vanished in an instant. He smacked his lips in a resigned manner and said: "Anyway, I'm going to get silenced no matter what."

Winters remained noncommittal.

"I probably won't enter heaven, but at least before I go to hell, I'd like to know who you really are?"

Winters didn't answer; he hadn't decided how he would deal with white-haired Roger yet.

"Well then... all right." Roger went on to say, as if talking to himself: "May I ask you for one more thing?"

Winters raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Old man Kovyrian doesn't know anything, really, I swear, any kind of oath is fine. It was I who sold your whereabouts to others, if you want to sew up my mouth, killing just me would suffice. I could place my head on a chopping block for you to behead, or I could jump into an icy lake myself, so you won't have to dirty your hands."

Winters gave a noncommittal "hmm" and asked, "Is that the only thing you request?"

Roger, now unconcerned and completely unguarded, began to talk more: "There's one more small matter... please tell Kovyrian to give all my money to Luna, he knows where I hide it. Ha, it's definitely not enough for a single Divine Arts donation for Luna, but there's nothing I can do about it, whatever is lacking, let him contribute..."

Meanwhile, Xial was leading a militia in the search of a house with a separate entrance.

The owners of the house were an elderly couple; the male owner was a doctor with some reputation, and the militiamen were very polite, greeting him proactively upon entering and restrained in their actions.

The elderly doctor was very understanding of the militiamen's dilemma and generously allowed them to search the premises.

With that, the militiamen felt even more guilty.

But Xial was not a man of Steel Keep. Winters had sent out his own guards to lead the team specifically to prevent local militia from being partial.

Therefore, Xial showed no mercy, holding a lantern, stepping through the gate without glancing sideways.

There were two four-wheeled carriages in the courtyard without horses attached.

"One is for making house calls," the old doctor explained. "The other is for everyday use."

Xial walked up to the carriage, put the lantern down, and directly crawled underneath.

Soon, he crawled back out and confidently brushed off dust from his clothing under the puzzled looks of others—it wasn't the suspension springs he was concerned about.

The elderly couple's house had two floors above ground and one below, but nothing odd was found during the search.

However, Xial always felt there was something strange. He stood in the center of the courtyard, carefully inspecting the surrounding environment.

"If Big Brother Montaigne were here," Xial thought, "what would he notice?"

Soon, Xial understood why he felt something was off.

The courtyard was too spacious.

The field of fire was too good.

The courtyard walls were a bit too high.

The space between the house and the courtyard walls was like a small "killing field."

Xial walked straight to the old doctor who was casually chatting with the militia: "Is it just the two of you living here?"

The old doctor was taken aback: "Yes."

"No servants?" Xial pointed to the carriage in the courtyard: "Who drives the carriage for you? Where are the horses?"

"We don't have live-in servants," the old doctor replied quickly. "The coachman took the horses away, my wife doesn't like the smell of horse manure. The coachman lives at his own home."

The response was plausible, but Xial wasn't so easily fooled; he shouted, "Bring the dogs in."

Another militiaman, following the order, led two sled dogs into the courtyard. As soon as they entered, the sled dogs barked furiously.

The old doctor's expression didn't change, but a trace of nervousness flashed across the old woman's face—Xial keenly caught this.

The sled dogs brought by Kovyrian were good at pulling ice sleds, but when it came to finding things, they were nowhere near as good as the two Blood Wolf dogs trained by the Shaman Hurd.

However, the wolf dogs were taken by the other two teams, leaving Xial with just the ordinary sled dogs.

But well… there's a benefit to being dumb.

Sled dogs, unlike wolf dogs, don't have that same sharpness—they would bark excitedly at the scent of anything. The simpler-minded sled dogs bark at anything they find exciting.

Those without guilt in their hearts, upon hearing it, would only find it noisy. But to those with guilty consciences, the barking is a death knell.

Xial immediately took the leash, and led the sled dogs to the side of the carriage, intentionally letting the dogs sniff the wheels.

As expected, the sled dogs began to bark themselves hoarse.

With a loud shout, Xial drew his Revolver Gun, his gaze dark as he glanced at the old couple. Instead of speaking to them, he led the sled dogs toward the house door: "Come with me!"

The other militiamen, not understanding the situation, obediently followed Xial into the house. The cheeks of the old couple twitched slightly; they hurriedly followed.

The first floor, second floor, and attic had already been searched, with no secret rooms or anything unusual found. Therefore, the only possible place for tampering was the underground storage, so without another word, Xial led the dogs straight toward the basement.

The elderly couple suddenly became agitated and started trying to dismiss the visitors. They accused the militiamen of lacking manners, demanding a written order from Colonel Berny or the captain, and insisted that the basement contained medical supplies that couldn't be contaminated by cat and dog excrement.

Xial didn't bother to argue with the old couple and directly ordered the militiamen to restrain them.

The elderly couple, who started to curse and swear, were locked in the living room while Xial led the militia down the ladder, cautiously rechecking the basement a second time.

The barking echoed in the somewhat empty underground storage room; suddenly, the wooden wall behind Xial collapsed with a thunderous crash.

A serpent-like slender blade trembled as it thrust forward.

...

At the crossroads, Winters, who was observing the non-stop babbling Roger, heard a gunshot.