Bounty Hunters - Shokin Kasegi

Leonhardt Arc: Chapter 148

==Manipulator==

In the evening of the same day, the Kanzler is at his desk, as always.

Some subordinate comes in and announces: “Your daughter wants to talk to you, Sir Leonhardt.”

The Kanzler replies: “Let her in.”

Erika then cautiously walks through the door that closes afterwards.

She has her stuffed animal in her arm and asks: “Please be honest to me, daddy. What do you think of the cave people I met?”

The Kanzler sighs and stands up from his chair, slowly walking toward Erika as he answers: “I guess I can’t hide this from you anymore. Even your brothers haven’t found out about their destiny yet.”

He kneels down to look Erika in her confused eyes and keeps going in a calm voice, totally oblivious to the wrong things he’s saying: “Those people are inferior to us because they weren’t born human. They stand below you, made to serve you, made to obey your every order. You shouldn’t be friends with someone who isn’t on your level. They’re only going to corrupt you into thinking you’re equals but that’s wrong.”

Maximilian has a short flashback of a non-human attacking him in his childhood and keeps talking insistently to Erika: “It’s god given that humans are the most superior race that was made to rule the universe. We stand above the others just because we were born this way. It may sound unfair but that’s how the world works.”

Erika doesn’t know what to say and her dad asks: “Understood?”

Erika just nods and slowly walks out of the room as another subordinate enters.

She then walks over a field with the setting sun in the background and talks to herself: “Daddy was really scary… I really want to help my friends but my dad is still my dad.”

She walks past a tree and thinks: “But what he said sounds so wrong. He just said it in a tone that made it sound true.”

She now stands in front of the cave entrance and comes to the conclusion: “No! My dad’s just not right this time! I will help my friends and then maybe we can all live happily on the surface and play hide and seek or tag.”

She smiles with hope and enters the cave. Erika walks for a bit and finds the ‘Heart’ of the asteroid. She’d never seen it before and is mesmerized by the brightness it gives off.

An Azeopri girl comes by and asks: “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Erika gets surprised and the girl smilingly introduces herself: “I’m Hana. A 9 year old Azeopri. Everybody’s been talking about you since you came here for the first time so I already know your name.”

She wears the typical, jungle-like outfit of a Forest Haven Azeopri while holding a spear.

Erika replies: “Nice to meet you… what exactly are you doing here with that spear and everything? I thought everybody here is supposed to work or something like that.”

“This is my free time. I come here to admire the ‘Heart’. It’s our symbol of hope. As long as it glows bright, our hope for freedom will keep living.”, Hana explains.

Suddenly, Wista hastily comes by and loudly says: “Oh! Erika! You need to come with me! Grandpa has been wounded!”

Erika gets worried and runs off. Hana follows her and they run towards the little hospital that has been built in the caves. They arrive at the sickbed Flora-san is laying in.

Wista and Hana freeze and Erika walks all the way to him and asks: “What has happened to you?!”

Flora-san explains: “I wanted to go through with phase one of our liberation plan but somehow they already found out about it.”

He lifts the blanket and reveals a few bullet wounds in his stomach. Erika gets terrified and a nursing girl comes over. She’s a Limus, which is a slime species that can change color in a way they look like people but they cannot hide their gooeyness.

“I’m going to extract the bullets now so please don’t touch him.”, she says and Flora-san replies, “Thank you, Pituita-chan.”

He coughs up blood before the nurse can start and Erika gets angry. She runs outside to confront the person who shot Flora-san, being followed by Wista and Hana. At another entrance gate, there is a loud commotion and many people stand there. Chrono, Limosa and Zaffiro join her as they find her in the crowd and they all get in the front.

One of the guards shouts: “Back off you scummy people! We’re gonna shoot more of you if you don’t retreat now!”

Erika shouts: “No you back off! My dad’s gonna punish you if you don’t!”

The guards are a bit surprised but then reply: “Erika-sama, your dad gave the order to treat you like one of the slaves, now that you want to be on the same level as them.”

Erika is shocked and replies: “That’s not what I wanted! I wanted them to be on my level! Not the other way around!”

The guard replies: “Orders are orders, young lady…”

He tries to shoot her but Flora-san catches the bullet. It breaks a rib and opens up his chest but he keeps going. He destroys the gun of the one guard and punches his face, then goes on to the second guard and wrestles him to the ground. In the same moment, the guard gets a clean shot through Flora-san’s heart and Flora-san punches the guard unconscious. Flora-san tumbles backward and falls into Erika’s arms.

“Make a run for it…”, he mumbles.

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The situation escalates! Can anybody manage to flee from here?!