Ch.345[Episode 345] Event: Story

“Ha! Now we just need to arrive at Sanhof first.”

King Pin Shark, the boss of Iron Shark, boasted with his tiny body.

He was currently riding a steam locomotive, which was of course different from the one Donna Carota was on.

Why was he here?

It was because Iron Shark had begun to extend its reach into milk smuggling.

There were numerous organizations in Sanhof, and they already controlled the city.

In such a situation, Iron Shark, being the newcomer, had no place to stand.

Iron Shark was considering conflict with existing organizations to establish roots in Sanhof, and during that time, they received news that the Red Arrow Bunny Gang was heading to the plains for milk smuggling.

Seeing this as an opportunity, King Pin Shark devised an amazing plan to both open a channel for milk smuggling and deal with the Red Arrow Bunny Gang.

And this plan seemed to be proceeding suspiciously well… until just now.

“Put in more coal! Run faster… huh?”

King Pin Shark was watching Donna Carota’s burning locomotive when he suddenly noticed something jumping out from the cargo car on the opposite train.

Though it was obscured by smoke, King Pin Shark thought it was just cargo falling off and didn’t pay much attention to it.

And that was King Pin Shark’s complete misjudgment.

A loud bang echoed from the back of King Pin Shark’s locomotive.

“Kuk!”

King Pin Shark grabbed a nearby safety handle to avoid falling off the violently shaking locomotive.

It was a situation where he could have died falling from a moving train.

He happened to see a spider tank emerging from the smoke, clinging to the moving train against the tremendous wind.

It was Sir Dominic.

“W-what on earth is that?”

King Pin Shark was greatly surprised at the sight of the spider tank.

The spider tank itself wasn’t surprising, but he had never seen one fast enough to keep up with a locomotive’s speed.

The spider tank was crossing its six legs rapidly as it ran, then jumped off the ground and clung to King Pin Shark’s locomotive with a splash.

Shocked by this sight, King Pin Shark struggled back inside the train and urgently ordered his subordinates.

“D-detach the cargo car!”

“What? But boss, the cargo car is full of milk! If we detach it, we’ll be at a loss-“

“Shut up and detach it!”

King Pin Shark growled, grabbing the collar of his rat beastman subordinate.

Even now, Sir Dominic’s spider tank was advancing.

And if that spider tank reached the engine room, the fate of this locomotive would be uncertain.

“…Understood, boss.”

The rat beastman quickly ran to the cargo car upon hearing this.

But it was already too late.

Sir Dominic’s spider tank had already passed the cargo car and was moving through the third-class car.

…

Sir Dominic’s spider tank was advancing step by step on top of the locomotive, fighting against the tremendous wind.

Fortunately, this was the plains, mostly flat land with no obstacles or tunnels to hinder Sir Dominic.

Sir Dominic moved forward, forward.

To effectively attack the locomotive, he needed to attack the front part, the engine room.

This was a fact he had learned while practicing with Hime.

Sir Dominic’s spider tank soon passed the third-class car and moved to the second-class car.

Just then, the cargo car was detached.

It was because King Pin Shark’s subordinate had finally detached the cargo car as ordered.

“…I need to get to the front quickly.”

Sir Dominic could have thought it was just the cargo car being detached, but he soon realized that they could detach other cars in the same way.

The spider tank’s legs moved faster.

Of course, the wind Sir Dominic had to endure became stronger, but he had a 13.5% damage reduction effect, and the damage from the wind was also reduced by 13.5%.

Sir Dominic now entered the first-class car.

At the same time, the third-class car was detached.

It was definitely faster than before.

As they got closer to the engine room, the time between giving orders and executing them seemed to be shortening.

Sir Dominic only needed to pass through the coal car to reach the engine room.

That’s when it happened.

Sir Dominic suddenly noticed something overtaking this locomotive on the adjacent track.

It was a burning locomotive, and with its flames trailing behind, it looked like a fire arrow.

Sir Dominic already knew what it was.

It was the locomotive Donna Carota was riding.

…

“Is this right? Is this really right?”

Donna Carota looked at her subordinate who was frantically shoveling coal into the engine room.

“I don’t know! But more is better, right? Hahaha!”

A rabbit beastman covered in soot laughed maniacally while continuing to throw coal into the furnace.

Too much of anything was never good, but he wasn’t smart enough to know this fact.

Coal was being fed into the furnace as if it might explode, and a red pillar of fire shot up from the furnace entrance like a dragon breathing fire.

The air was so hot it felt like flesh would cook, but this crazy rabbit didn’t seem to care.

“Red is three times faster! So a red-burning train must be three times faster!”

“What are you talking about!”

The rabbit who had been frantically shoveling coal into the engine room finally closed the furnace door.

The flames that had been shooting up were now blocked by the cover and began circulating inside the furnace, which rattled as if it might explode.

As the furnace flames grew stronger, so did the locomotive’s power.

The power was so strong that Donna Carota felt like she was floating in the air for about 2 seconds after the rattling.

Of course, they had actually jumped off the tracks and flown for about 2 seconds.

“Ugh, I don’t care anymore. Just go!”

Donna Carota shouted with a whatever attitude after experiencing the floating sensation from the rattling.

“That’s what I’ve been waiting for!”

At those words, the soot-covered rabbit beastman let out a maniacal laugh and shouldered his coal-covered shovel.

Donna Carota’s locomotive thus began to run wild.

…

“W-what is that!”

King Pin Shark was terrified at the sight of the locomotive that was flying along despite being on fire.

A burning train like something out of a ghost story!

But King Pin Shark soon realized that it was Donna Carota’s train.

“Eek! She’s quite tenacious! Even though I took care of the engineer and the captain…!”

King Pin Shark glared at Donna Carota’s locomotive as it slowly passed by his locomotive.

Of course, “slowly passing by” was only from King Pin Shark’s perspective.

In reality, both locomotives were moving at a ferocious speed, with Donna Carota’s train just slightly faster.

King Pin Shark soon seemed to forget about Sir Dominic’s existence and shouted to his subordinates.

“Attack that locomotive!”

“What? But there’s a spider tank on the roof-“

“We can’t stop the spider tank anyway. We can’t be the only ones to die! Let’s take that locomotive with us!”

“Ah, yes!”

King Pin Shark knew that once the spider tank reached the coal car, it was only a matter of time before the engine room was taken.

If the operation was doomed anyway, shouldn’t they at least make it successful?

King Pin Shark thought that to succeed in the operation, he needed to blow up Donna Carota’s locomotive.

At the moment Donna Carota’s locomotive exploded, she would lose everything.

Her milk, her life, her organization.

At King Pin Shark’s words, the rat beastmen raised their homemade bombs or guns.

Then they threw them at the locomotive right next to them, or shot at the couplings between cars.

As they did so, Donna Carota’s train began to shake more and burn more intensely.

The two locomotives were racing at neck-and-neck speeds.

They were moving so fast that the distant shape of Sanhof was starting to appear.

What was this race heading toward?

…

Sanhof train station.

A mayoral candidate’s campaign rally was in full swing here.

“Many things have happened in our Sanhof this year. From the current mayor Alejandro’s scandals, to scandals, to more scandals. It has truly been a year full of scandals. All while taking away people’s enjoyment!”

Candidate Muscleman, who was quite well-known for his macho appearance, began his speech.

He had been strongly opposed to the milk prohibition, which he considered womanish, and was in favor of repealing the milk prohibition law.

Since the current mayor was from the opposing party, if Candidate Muscleman became mayor, it was certain that all the current mayor’s associates would be blamed for everything.

Therefore, the current mayor spread rumors to prevent Candidate Muscleman from being elected.

Rumors that damaged his macho image, such as him being a fashion macho or actually liking womanish things.

This speech was a very meaningful occasion for Candidate Muscleman.

It was an opportunity to dispel the rumors and reestablish his image.

“I know there are many rumors about me! But none of them are true. I have the strength to work for Sanhof! Everyone, you know how macho I am! As proof, I-“

That’s when it happened.

While Candidate Muscleman was giving his campaign speech, two locomotives suddenly began entering on two tracks at tremendous speed.

Candidate Muscleman didn’t notice at first, but after they whooshed past behind him, he became acutely aware.

It was a situation where an accident might have occurred if he had stepped back just a little more.

However, Candidate Muscleman was a very experienced person.

And he was excellent at improvisation.

“…I propose locomotive racing! Look! What a magnificent sport!”

Candidate Muscleman spoke to turn the crisis into an opportunity.

People who had initially thought it was just an accident began nodding at Candidate Muscleman’s words one by one, and soon became enthusiastic about the inauguration of this sport more thrilling than milk.

It was the moment that marked the beginning of steam locomotive racing.