STABLE BOY ; Trash of the Count's Family

34. BOMBS IN THE PLAZA

They close the gates to stop civilians from entering after all the nobles are present. The remainder around them will stay around the stalls and shops and watch from afar. You can only go in now if you're manning one of the stalls, or you can go out, but you can't come back in.

Fairly strict, but not completely barricaded. Makes sense, they can't just tell all the houses around their biggest plaza to get out while they have their party.

"[Cold Human, you're here too.]"

South paused briefly when he felt a weight around his shoulder and heard a voice in his head. He acted natural, though.

"[Stay far away, okay? We're still looking for something, you're a little in the way.]"

And then the Dragon left.

The bombs were apparently not easy to find, only mages or magic-inclined like the Dragon capable of sensing the slight fluctuations of magic in the bombs to make them out. It must be tedious work.

He tried to recall the antagonist. Not much was known about him yet, but South remembered the descriptions of him bloodthirsty and cruel, and kind of insane. And that his name was... Radical? Ah, Redika.

-

The magic bombs were activated, and Choi Han, Rosalyn, and the Black Dragon jumped into action.

It was clear Cale was also uneasy, counting the bombs and trying to line up the amount of bombs to correspond with what was supposed to happen, but it didn't match.

The last few would be sent down directly by expendable minions self-destructing, and Cale would protect everyone from that with his shield. That's how the story goes.

A magic barrier was thrown up into the sky.

South looked up, and there were three items, wrapped in the Black Dragon's and Rosalyn's magic, to be teleported somewhere safe.

"[Hmm,]" the Black Dragon sounded displeased. "[Weird.]"

Weird.

Weird.

There were supposed to be four on the ground, which were disarmed before 9 o'clock. There should be four on people, which they will teleport away. And then the last two, Redika fires directly at the center of the plaza.

But there's only three up there.

But they had no problems searching for all those in the story, so why couldn't they find the last one? Or is the last one going to make the explosion that Cale has to shield everyone from stronger?

...no, that doesn't sound right.

("On the bright side, I think most magic would slightly malfunction around you. It's like your body rejects mana," Rosalyn had told him. "You just feel a little weird to me.")

Ah.

Ah, this is bad. The barrier is already up, it's too late.

But South had the horrifying, sinking feeling in his gut.

He remembered the guy that bumped into him when they went out a few days ago— how that man picked up his hairpin, which he didn't feel fell, and gave it back to him.

Didn't that man look exactly like Redika?

("It's not like it's a perfect anti-mana physicality or anything," Rosalyn had also said that.)

It just made the slight magic signature harder to notice than the others, and thus, it was impossible for the inexperienced dragon to pick up such a staggered signal.

It's not as if the bomb wouldn't work— it would just be delayed. The second South touched it and jostled it a little hard, it would probably blow up. Except, even if he could take it away from his head carefully, Redika could still manually blow them up.

This is so, so bad.

His eyes found Choi Han's in the crowd.

He seized immediately, and South knew why. South must look like he's panicking right now— panicking really, really badly.

Knowing there was nothing they could do.

South reached for it, eyes turning up to Redika— whose blood red eyes were trained right on him, with bright anticipation. Redika's lips were upturned, excited.

Choi Han's running in his direction.

"SOUTH-SSI!"

Ah, no.

Can't let that idiot come any closer. Luckily, in this far corner of the plaza, there's no one else around. They were already panic-evacuating. So if it explodes here, there'll only be one casualty.

(Oh. That's why he had to be here.)

(So when the hairpin inevitably exploded— he'd get help, immediately.)

(Huh. Fuck that.)

South yanked the hairpin out of his head and immediately hurled it directly upward— he closed his eyes and braced himself, feeling the crackle of magic send tremors through the air. 

It explodes before it fully leaves his hands, but he still manages to launch it away from him. 

The Dragon's magic wrapped around the bomb so quickly, sending it upward— but it wasn't fast or strong enough. It only got a little higher before it detonated, breaking through the hasty shield and sending reverberations through the plaza.

South felt the burning before it hit him, first reaching his outstretched arm, shrapnel and burns coiling down his arm like wildfire before Choi Han finally reached him, dragging him down bodily as close to the ground as possible.

And then, in the aftershocks of the blast, Choi Han covered him fully, keeping him on the ground, hood and coat over their heads as the head set everything around them ablaze for a frightening few seconds.

With the ringing in his ears and the numbness boiling through his left arm, South kept his eyes closed and breathed through the pain wracking his entire body, and only red hot smoke seemed to enter.

Still, he breathed.