"Bang—!!"
"Huh?"
What left the fat old Count most dumbfounded was the strange guard beside him.
He actually fired a shot directly at the charging Silvermane Guard officer.
And now things were really messed up.
At this tense moment, the other guards instinctively followed suit and opened fire!
"Bang bang bang bang bang—!!"
"Clang clang clang clang clang—!!"
The scene descended into utter chaos for a moment.
Countless bullets poured onto the steel shields, sparking endlessly.
"Enemy attack, enemy attack!! Protect Captain Bronya at all costs!!"
"Damn it—they've all been controlled by Words of Power—quick, take them down!!!"
"For the glory of the Silvermane Guards—!"
In an instant, the two sides were actually exchanging real gunfire!
Proof positive: the Silvermane Guards' shields were truly tough. After the other side emptied a magazine, the shields remained intact.
Taking advantage of the red-armored guards reloading, the Silvermane Guards seized the opportunity and charged forward, instantly breaking their formation!
The troublemaking Silvermane Guard nearby raised a camera high, recording the moment the Count's soldiers fired first.
"Master, what do we do now?"
"I'm really…!!" The fat old man was about to explode with rage!
Once the formation broke, the situation became completely one-sided.
These Silvermane Guards were true professionals. Under their forceful suppression, the private troops were quickly disarmed one by one.
Even the fat old Count himself was pinned firmly to the ground by a Silvermane Guard, whose knee pressed hard against his neck.
"No no no… my neck's gonna break, it's gonna break." The fat old man lay face-down, pleading in pain.
But even so, the strange guard pinned beside him stubbornly kept talking:
"Damn it, Master… are we really going to end here?!"
"I beg you—shut up…!" The fat old man wailed in agony on the ground.
"What—they still have a backup plan?!" A Silvermane Guard officer grew alert.
"Full alert!!"
After the strange guard finished speaking, all the Silvermane Guards became even more vigilant. They immediately took out ropes and trussed everyone up tightly.
"…"
After the chaos subsided.
In the entire corridor, no one except the Silvermane Guards remained standing.
"Report to the Captain: the terrorist has been apprehended!" An officer saluted Bronya and reported.
This one sentence made the bound Count feel extremely uncomfortable.
"Aren't you people mistaken about your objective? I'm the one you're supposed to protect—not the terrorist!!"
"Oh, correction: the protection target has been apprehended."
"…"
Once everything had settled, Bronya slowly descended the steps. The Silvermane Guards parted to make way for her.
The soles of her shoes clicked against the floor—"tap—tap—tap—" echoing clearly in the now-silent corridor.
She slowly approached the fat old man and said gravely:
"Just now, your guard attacked Silvermane Guards. Don't you have anything to explain?"
The fat old man was about to speak when the bound strange guard beside him interjected:
"Explain? Does our Master need to explain anything to you? Let me tell you—"
"Shut up already—!!" The fat old man wailed in pain.
His lungs were about to burst—this time, the use of firearms against Silvermane Guards had been caught red-handed!
Gritting his teeth in frustration, he said:
"Bronya, you people provoked first!"
"Provoke? The Silvermane Guards never provoke."
"You dare say that guy did nothing at all?!!!" The Count glared furiously at the Silvermane Guard who had first thrown his guard with an over-the-shoulder slam, gritting his teeth:
"This is far too overbearing—I'm reporting you!! I'm going to petition!!"
"No problem. Right now, the petitions you submit are the ones I approve."
"???"
The fat old man's eyes widened as he scanned Bronya in front of him repeatedly.
This child Cocolia had brought up from the Underworld—when had she ever been this shameless growing up?
Where had that serious, inflexible, naive little girl who was completely oblivious to political schemes gone?
If it were the old her, she would definitely have found such tactics filthy or beneath contempt!
"Bronya, perhaps our side's attitude earlier did make you feel a tiny bit uncomfortable, but don't forget why you came here!"
"You people are acting so lawlessly—forget the impact it'll have when word reaches the rest of our family. If that assassin jumps out now to take my life, won't you have failed completely?!"
The silver-haired girl silently stared at the fat old man in front of her. Even now, bound and kneeling on the ground, he still maintained his previous momentum.
"You should know—many industries in Belobog are operated by our family! You wouldn't want to wake up one day to find many factories shut down overnight, leaving a huge number of people jobless and drinking the northwest wind, right?"
"Master, so this is our trump card?!" The strange guard beside him couldn't help praising.
"Hmph, I know what you're thinking! If I really get assassinated, the Silvermane Guards' prestige will plummet—after all, so many people saw you come here!"
"At that point, the whole of Belobog will be saying: An entire Silvermane Guard army couldn't even handle one assassin!"
"You wouldn't want to see the people lose faith, right?"
Thinking he held the winning hand and that Bronya would personally untie him in the next moment, the Count never expected the girl to simply walk past him silently.
She said gravely:
"Now that the main threats in this castle are basically all here—for the Count's safety, conduct another thorough carpet search of every area. Intensify efforts!"
"Yes!!"
Clearly, Bronya had no intention of untying the Count.
He remained kneeling like that for nearly an hour, until his knees turned red. Only then did a group of Silvermane Guards rush back in a panic.
"Report to the Captain: we discovered large amounts of gold, silver, and treasures buried under the soil in the rear garden!"
"Report! We found exhibits stolen from the museum in the warehouse!!"
"Captain Bronya, the basement is locked, but… there are traces of Fragmentum energy around it."
These successive reports left the fat old man completely devastated.
Weren't they only supposed to search for the assassin?
How did they dig up his entire family fortune?!
Bronya glanced at the fat old man and said gravely:
"Explain?"
"Ahem… well, the gold, silver, and jewelry in the rear garden—I have some private assets, that's reasonable, right?"
"As for those stolen exhibits—I really don't know anything about them. I don't even go to museums… they were all gifts from others. If you like them, I can give them to you!"
Bronya stared at the fat old man and asked again:
"Then what about the warehouse with Fragmentum traces?"
"Oh… that one—well, we once killed a few Fragmentum creatures, and their remains were thrown in there."
"Master, what are you afraid of! Release our secret weapon and wipe them out!"
"…"
"Regarding this guard's statement—Count, would you care to explain further?"
"I, I f***ing…"