Ch.114A Story That Won’t Evaporate – The End of Childhood (2)

The number of angels on the rooftop continued to grow, and some didn’t even bother hiding the guns they carried. Not handguns, but submachine guns capable of killing multiple people with a spray of bullets.

That’s why I decided to stop the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn marching along the road. I didn’t know what they were thinking, but stopping them here would result in fewer deaths than letting them clash.

I tugged the detective’s lapel a couple of times before speaking. My heart was pounding in my throat. My hands were clenched so tightly from tension that I could feel my knuckles turning white. Just like usual.

“Stay behind me. Feel free to shoot if necessary, and you can even shoot that person leading them in front… no, even my second brother if needed. I think I now know who the spokesperson for the Forest’s Firstborn is.”

I calmly admitted it. It wasn’t the Forest’s Firstborn but my father, and not the Arch-Druid but my second brother wearing a ridiculous mask.

In fact, he wasn’t even an Arch-Druid. Texas branch manager would be more accurate. The detective’s language was caustic but clear. When mixed with my vague and emotional words, it revealed the truth.

I walked straight onto the road afterward. The detective left Ysil’s contractors in place and had only Paulina guard me. Though we didn’t exchange many words, Ysil’s contractors nodded briefly before heading toward the flank of the approaching Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn. They acted as if they knew what to do without being told.

His judgment helped me too. The reporters around the police station would consider my appearance a scoop, and I had learned from a senior reporter that there were certain conditions for something to become a scoop.

Rule one, show the weak standing up to the strong. The weak must appear appropriately weak. They needed to be fragile according to public prejudice, while still possessing an element of strength.

It wasn’t a rule I liked. There are many weak people who don’t look weak, and many victims who don’t look like victims. But it doesn’t matter. If even one more person can see this, I’ll use that prejudice.

I was an elf. I was small, and even now, I was a fragile elf who could only confront the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn with the protection of two people. Remembering the first rule, I blocked their path.

I could see my second brother’s eyes gleaming ominously under his mask as he led them. To prevent him from speaking first, I opened my mouth.

“No, you’re not Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn! Under those masks are faces and names. You’re just using the name of the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn to hide your names and faces behind those masks. Who wears masks in broad daylight? Bank robbers! Murderers! Kidnappers! And the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn! Isn’t that right, brother?”

Rule one, there must be provocation. Common stories won’t do. Circulation is everything. If you want to tell the truth, you have to make people buy the newspaper containing that truth.

A fragile elf stopping a group of Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn would catch attention, but the provocative news that the elf was family to the branch leader would sell even better.

I didn’t like this either. But I didn’t dislike it enough to refuse. I wouldn’t throw away what I had in hand for the sake of the future or ideals at stake.

The branch leader kept his mouth shut at my words. I needed to shake him up more. I had to use the detective’s language.

“Don’t pretend you don’t recognize me, Scott Charles Clichy! It would be ridiculous if an elf couldn’t recognize someone just by their voice.”

When I called his full name, he seemed flustered, as if he hadn’t expected me to go this far. If he was flustered, I had to strike. Ah, but… now even my editor-in-chief would know that I’m not Rose Leafman but Rose Clichy.

Would he think I’ve been deceiving him too much? Even with family right in front of me, that was the first thing that came to mind. I could tell my unmasked family that I loved them, but not over a mask.

“What are you doing there? Do you need to attack a police station to secure the future of elves? No. Whether the attack on the police station succeeds or fails, it hardly matters. If it succeeds, you’ll proclaim that we achieved something, and if it fails, you’ll shout that we tried but they tried to block the elves’ future! Either way, it ends in nothing but filthy self-gratification!”

Standing in front of the detective who had taught me how to hate, I spewed hatred. Hatred is toxic. It felt like the inside of my throat, where my voice rose from, was unpleasantly stinging. But hatred was also effective.

Respect was life, and insult was death. Unable to bear the insults I was hurling with the eyes of angels and reporters all on us, one of the followers drew a gun.

He had a shotgun hidden in his robe. I stared straight down the barrel. It wouldn’t reach me. The detective who had been standing in front of me exposed his back to shield me, and Paulina, who had been standing a step away, covered both of us with her shield.

I should thank that follower. I didn’t even need the detective’s help to plant a false flag this time.

An angel’s voice rang out before the gunshot. The crowd gathered in front of the police station carrying guns was reason enough for suppression.

“They have guns! They might all be armed, so suppress them all! Protect the civilians! Capture only the leader at the front, and subdue all the rest.”

The moment those words were spoken, the shotgun fired. My body curled up. I felt no pain. All I felt was the smell of gunpowder and safety.

Most of the shot was blocked by Paulina’s shield, and though a few pellets hit the detective’s body, they didn’t even scratch his cursed vitality. The comrade overlaid upon him was protecting him.

Soon, an angel landed in front of us, spreading his gold-crafted wings wide to shield us. In that gap, two police officers approached us. They were human officers.

“Let’s get you inside the police station for now! That was a brave thing you did! Ah, well, since they have guns too, unless you’re okay with getting shot…”

I ran into the police station with the detective, following those two officers. We could leave the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn to the angels this time too. I glanced back briefly.

Gomorrah was falling. Angels took to the air to get better firing angles, raining bullets from heights where there was no worry about stray bullets hitting civilians. Followers fell as they tried to draw guns from their robes.

Most of the angel police must have been outside, as there weren’t many people inside the police station we rushed into. Most were reporters who had been outside, and a few non-angel police officers remained.

However, one elf officer was walking from a narrow corridor connected to the back door of the police station and flinched as if surprised when he saw us.

Weren’t the followers who marched forward all there were? We might have been caught off guard.

The detective seemed to have noticed this too, as he grabbed the shoulders of the officers who had brought us in and spoke. He pulled out a pistol without a silencer from inside his coat.

“Take everyone upstairs. Looks like there were followers among the police too. If you’re worried about getting in trouble with Internal Affairs, you’d better get out of here.”

The priority for those two officers was to escort the reporters and people to the upper floor, and Paulina stayed by my side. Is it okay to leave the detective alone on the first floor? I mean, even for him…

“Um, you might be better off taking Paulina with you. Or maybe these two officers…”

The detective still smirked. As if it wasn’t a big deal, he muttered:

“Why, do we have extra manpower to spare?”

It seemed like he was telling me to remember who was upstairs. My father was upstairs.

Old, confused, emotional… he had become unstable with hatred for the detective who had taken his child from him, but my father, the Forest’s Firstborn, was there. So I nodded and followed the officers upstairs.

The moment he disappeared from view as we headed for the stairs, gunshots rang out. The continuous firing indicated it was the detective’s automatic pistol, not the officers’ revolvers. He wouldn’t be slower than others.

When we reached the second floor, two human officers were guarding the interrogation room where the Forest’s Firstborn was. Both were officers I had seen when I went to write the article about Giuseppina. They seemed to recognize me too.

“Ah, Reporter Leafman. Did you apply for witness protection? Now doesn’t seem like a good time… What’s all this crowd? Why did you bring them to the second floor?”

“Well, um, Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn are invading through the back door on the first floor, so we escaped to the second floor for now! The contractor this reporter brought seems to have stayed behind to stop them, but if they came in through the first floor, there’s no guarantee they aren’t hiding on the second floor too…”

That officer grabbed the collar of the officer who had brought us, as if frustrated. He spoke with a voice that seemed to grind his teeth.

“Contractor? Probably just a detective. A detective is still a civilian, kid. A cop who became one to protect civilians…”

“Hey! Draw your gun and come down with me!”

Leonard, who had been in the interrogation room, came out amid the commotion outside. He looked quite haggard after arresting my father and coming here, but he seemed somewhat glad to see me.

“Ah, Rose. Well, um… I don’t know what to say. Is what we talked about succeeding now? Lunatics are attacking the police station, and the marching crowd is in a gunfight with angels, but, um, is this…?”

I grabbed his shoulder, which had a confused expression. I nodded as if this was obviously the plan.

“Of course, Uncle Leonard. It’s going well. So… clearly, it must be illegal, but… please let me see my father. Just for a moment. I want to settle things.”

Since he had been depending on my words rather than the Forest’s Firstborn until now, I might be able to persuade him. The other officers had gone down to help the detective, and only Uncle Leonard remained.

Uncle Leonard shuddered a bit but nodded. We walked through the small corridor leading to the interrogation room with Paulina and Uncle Leonard, and entered through the door.

My father was there. Except for wearing a robe, he sat comfortably as if he were sitting at Cafe Two Face. I sat across from my father at the metal desk in the interrogation room, which had a glass of water on it.

Uncle Leonard stood with his hands on the desk, and Paulina also approached the table, placing her leg against the table leg as if to prevent it from being flipped over.

Everyone seemed filled with anxiety, but only my father was calm. I think I take after him in that way.

“You’ve come this far, Rose. I’m truly proud. If Scott had tried to rebel against me, he wouldn’t have made it past the forest, but you… you’ve come this far. You’ve imprisoned me and come to see me behind bars.”

He tapped the desk a couple of times. It was a gesture he always made when telling me to reconsider. I was his daughter, and I had seen that behavior dozens of times, so I knew.

“But think realistically. Do you think one person can stop a dozen Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn? Armed ones at that. And when the angels outside subdue the followers, they’ll return here, and I’ll be taken to court. Do you think it’s realistic that I would lose in court?”

It was already a detached reality. Looking at my father, I smiled as I answered.

“The only thing that’s realistic is reality, Dad. The detective will be coming up soon. Since he’s a man who dresses well, he might be upset about the soot on his clothes. But he won’t have a scratch on his body, will he? That’s reality.”

I heard footsteps behind me. The sound of his steel-plated shoes that he wears when working went click, click… pleasantly echoing from outside the interrogation room. My father must have heard it too.

There was a smell of ozone in the air. And while Paulina could remove her hands from the desk, Uncle Leonard began to tremble with his hands still on the desk. Electricity was flowing.

For the first time, I heard my father’s angry voice. It was a voice I had never heard, and a face I had never seen, even when I accidentally broke expensive decorations in the house or damaged them while playing.

“Don’t act like you know reality better than I do, Rose. I won’t lay a hand on my precious daughter, but that doesn’t mean I won’t touch these traitors…”

At that moment, a voice came from outside. It was my brother’s voice, and the police had been told not to touch my brother, the son of President Clichy.

“Forest’s Firstborn! Forest’s First… Father! Nine yards forward from the window! Now!”

It wasn’t hard to understand what he was requesting from my father. Paulina immediately swung her shield to block, but when it touched my father’s cheek, it left a wound, yet Paulina also began to tremble as if electric current was flowing. It was electric magic. Even with his cheek pressed against the edge of the mythril shield, my father didn’t waver.

The smell of ozone spread thickly. And from outside came a voice telling people to take cover… and a massive flash appeared outside the window. Lightning struck. It was as if a river of light had formed from sky to ground.

It was so bright that I couldn’t see for a moment. This was what a mage was—one who sat in a safe place with the help of an observer. Always had been. Should I draw my gun? No, no. Wait…

Right now, my father was stopping Paulina and couldn’t move because he was dropping lightning outside. And even with electric magic, it doesn’t make you immune to current. He was just wrapping current around his body.

I picked up the water glass from the desk. To my father, who was using magic to wrap his body in current without any insulator… I splashed the contents of that glass. It was like pouring water on a live wire.

A short circuit occurs. The current protecting my father’s body from Paulina’s shield flows through the water splashed on him. It escapes from the flow he could control.

Just as the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn had become a flow he could no longer control, his electric magic also became an uncontrollable flow with just a glass of water. I felt a chilling sensation in my hand.

My father seemed to have immediately cut off the magic while enduring the pain of the electric shock, but due to the considerable current that had flowed, he was still trembling. I wanted to look away. I wanted to say it wasn’t my doing.

Nevertheless, my father opened his mouth. He barely opened his trembling lips to speak.

“This is why I try not to wrap it around my body… Yes, yes… I must be getting old. Making nothing but filthy stupid judgments… Still, this is all you can do, Rose.”

While Paulina and Uncle Leonard were still recovering from the electric shock, my father got to his feet. Though trembling, he moved toward the small window of the interrogation room.

I drew my gun from my coat. But I couldn’t pull the trigger. The detective pulled open the interrogation room door and entered. I wanted to leave it to him. It wasn’t something I wanted to do… with my own hands.