Ch.344[Episode 344] Event: Story

Sir Dominic gave his answer on the spot.

“I choose Red Arrow.”

With those words, Donna Carota’s expression brightened, while King Pin Shark’s face crumpled.

In truth, Sir Dominic wasn’t particularly fond of either group.

After all, they were essentially the darkness of Sanhof, and Sir Dominic was a knight who upheld chivalry.

However, since it seemed necessary to choose a faction to progress the event story, Sir Dominic selected Red Arrow, which at least had a reputation for playing fair.

“…You’ll regret this.”

King Pin Shark cracked his knuckles, clearly offended.

At this, the rat beastmen gathered around once more.

One signal from King Pin Shark and they would rush to beat Sir Dominic down.

However, King Pin Shark was unintentionally interrupted once again.

The police had arrived, finding the crowd gathering suspicious.

“Hey there! Why are you all gathered like this? Suspicious!”

“K-King! It’s the police!”

“…Tch.”

King Pin Shark signaled for the rats to disperse.

As he himself disappeared into the darkness of the alley, he pointed at Sir Dominic.

“You got lucky this time, but you’ll regret rejecting my offer.”

With those final words, King Pin Shark vanished completely into the darkness.

“Hmph. Where did everyone go? Huh? Who are you people?”

The police regarded the remaining Sir Dominic and Donna Carota with suspicion.

However, they didn’t dare act rashly, as Sir Dominic was dressed in expensive clothing.

“I am Sir Dominic of Feralant. And this young lady is—”

“M-my uncle! My uncle came to Sanhof and I was showing him around!”

Sir Dominic looked at Donna Carota as if to ask what she was talking about, but Donna Carota gave him a look pleading him to go along with it.

Understanding the meaning in her eyes, Sir Dominic nodded and said to the police:

“That’s right. I was being guided.”

“And then suddenly these thugs surrounded us and tried to intimidate us! They probably thought my uncle looked rich and wanted to extort money from him!”

The police found Donna Carota’s explanation plausible.

This was partly because the situation made sense, but also because Donna Carota’s acting was that impressive.

“…Well, I suppose we were of help then. Enjoy your trip.”

The police officer bowed slightly to Sir Dominic and left.

The other officers had gone after Iron Shark’s men, so they needed to help them, they explained.

Once all the police had disappeared, Donna Carota stretched with a sigh of relief.

“Whew. We almost got caught up in something troublesome.”

“You’re quite the actress.”

“Well, there’s nothing good about getting on the wrong side of the police. We make our living through illegal activities after all. Better to avoid getting involved if possible.”

Donna Carota said this with a grin.

“By the way, you’re pretty loyal, aren’t you? I actually thought you might sell me out to the police to escape the awkward situation.”

“How could I? If I wanted to escape the situation, I would have accepted King Pin Shark’s offer first.”

“That’s true.”

Donna Carota nodded at Sir Dominic’s words.

After pondering something briefly, she laughed heartily and said to Sir Dominic:

“I really like you! Enough to want you to join ‘that thing’ coming up soon!”

“That thing?”

When Sir Dominic questioned curiously, Donna Carota whispered in a very small voice.

As if no one else should hear.

“Milk smuggling. What do you think, interested?”

Sir Dominic pondered for a moment at the mention of milk smuggling.

He had certainly heard that milk was illegal in Sanhof.

Which meant there would be no milk in Sanhof and its vicinity.

But where would they smuggle milk from?

As if answering his question, Donna Carota scratched Sir Dominic’s itch.

“The milk prohibition law only applies in Sanhof. It’s still legal in other cities. We bring milk from the plains, load it onto trains, unload the cargo near Sanhof, and sell it to milk addicts.”

Sir Dominic thought this might be related to the Race when he heard the word “train.”

As soon as that thought occurred to him, Sir Dominic made a proposal to Donna Carota.

“Could I join in on this job?”

Donna Carota fell silent at Sir Dominic’s words.

She seemed to be considering something.

But soon she shook her head and said to Sir Dominic:

“Alright. You seem pretty loyal, and we happened to need a few more people anyway.”

Donna Carota suggested meeting Sir Dominic two days later around 2 o’clock.

“I’ll prepare the tickets to the plains. Let’s meet here at 2.”

Sir Dominic was about to nod, but couldn’t because of the system window that suddenly appeared before his eyes.

The system window read [Prologue Complete].

It seemed that choosing a team was the end of the prologue.

Sir Dominic immediately pressed next to enter the first chapter of the story.

Chapter 1 was set two days after the prologue, on a train returning to Sanhof, apparently after loading the milk.

….

6:22 PM, on a train bound for Sanhof.

Donna Carota grinned at Sir Dominic.

Or rather, she was grinning at the profit this deal would bring.

“The milk we’ve brought this time is quite premium, so we can charge a lot for it.”

“I see. By the way, I never imagined we’d be returning this late.”

Donna Carota answered Sir Dominic’s question.

“Well, we need the cover of night to avoid detection. Smuggling works best in darkness.”

Sir Dominic nodded at Donna Carota’s words.

It was logical enough.

“Anyway, it’s too peaceful. Look at that amazing sunset—”

Donna Carota was trying to make conversation with Sir Dominic, but just then a loud bang was heard from somewhere.

“An explosion?”

“Quite close.”

Sir Dominic and Donna Carota jumped up from their seats and went out into the corridor of the train.

At that moment, members of the Bunny Gang came running to report urgently to Donna Carota.

“B-Boss! We’re in big trouble!”

“What’s happening…? I heard an explosion.”

“W-well—”

“Iron Shark attacked us!”

“What?”

Donna Carota was shocked by the Bunny Gang’s words.

Why would Iron Shark attack Donna Carota’s Red Arrow Bunny Gang?

Unless they were crazy…

“Ah.”

Donna Carota recalled how two days ago, Sir Dominic had rejected the offer from Iron Shark’s boss, King Pin Shark.

King Pin Shark was a man as narrow-minded as he was large, certainly capable of such vindictiveness.

But that wasn’t the main problem.

“Where did the explosion come from?”

“T-that’s… the engine room.”

“What?”

“We don’t even know if the conductor and engineer are alive or dead. We heard an explosion and they disappeared!”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake.”

Donna Carota realized things had gone terribly wrong.

It seemed the Bunny Gang now had to fend off Iron Shark’s attack while also operating the train.

Donna Carota quickly began organizing the necessary personnel.

“We need a conductor, an engineer, someone to guard the cargo, and someone to hold off the enemy.”

At least four people were needed.

Donna Carota looked at the Bunny Gang members and asked:

“Does anyone here know how to drive a train?”

“…”

But the Bunny Gang members couldn’t answer.

They only knew how to ride trains, not operate them.

“Sigh… can’t be helped. Go find someone who can operate it!”

“Y-yes!”

The Bunny Gang members scattered to find someone who could operate the train.

Sir Dominic realized that this situation was the starting point of the Race.

“So this is how it begins.”

“What?”

“Nothing, just talking to myself.”

Sir Dominic dismissed Donna Carota’s question.

Donna Carota tilted her head but returned to pondering how to resolve the current situation.

After much deliberation without reaching a conclusion, Donna Carota lifted her bread hat and scratched her head vigorously.

Putting her bread hat back on, Donna Carota suddenly realized Sir Dominic was beside her.

And that she hadn’t asked him what he could do.

Donna Carota immediately asked Sir Dominic:

“Sir Dominic, what would you like to do? Can you operate the train?”

“I can’t operate a train. However—”

“Boss! There’s a spider tank in the cargo car! Not military grade, seems to be civilian!”

“—I can operate a spider tank.”

“Really?”

Donna Carota pondered Sir Dominic’s words briefly, then decided his position.

“You hold off Iron Shark. Keep them from attacking us. Since there’s a spider tank in the cargo car, take—no, requisition it. As for compensation… we’ll figure that out later.”

“I’ll do it.”

By coincidence, Sir Dominic got the opportunity to operate the spider tank in the cargo car.

That was one of the things Sir Dominic could do best.