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The Lanpeach Complex is at a 1 hour distance on foot from the Surface District. In other words, it is a distance that wouldn’t take even 20 minutes in a car. 

Judging whether this is far or close would depend on the person. But the ones who have cars would judge this as being close. 

There aren’t many locations to ambush someone for bandits with just this much distance, and the people walking on foot are normally poor people from the slums, so there’s not much enticement. 

That’s why, even if they head to the Lanpeach Complex in a car, they would only be dealing with monsters that appear every so often. They would have one or more machine guns installed, and it should be enough to just attach some armor for appearance’s sake. 

The street with ruins spreading all over the place was difficult to advance in by foot with the falling snow, so an armored bus with a shovel installed at the front to remove snow was driving by. 

The sun had begun to rise, snow was scattering around due to the spinning tires inside the morning mist, and was sparkling with the sunlight. 

The snow absorbed the sound in the surroundings, the engine of the armored bus being the only thing echoing as it advanced in the spaces between the abandoned buildings. 

There’s no presence of monsters or people. 

That’s the usual sight and isn’t strange at all. 

—That’s how it should have been. 

[Explosive Fireball]

But a fireball suddenly flew towards the passing armored bus from an abandoned building. 

The armored bus couldn’t avoid properly because it was inside the snow, was hit by surprise on the side, and an explosion happened. 

The armor was dented, the armored bus turned sideways and slid on the snow, crashing onto an abandoned building, crushing its front, and stopping in place. 

A ‘pssht’ sound came from the engine, the tires spun slowly, and silence returned once again. 

The armored bus stopped and fell silent after a few minutes without anything happening. 

Men began to show up one after the other from the abandoned buildings, most likely after confirming this. 

“…Did we get it?” 

“Yeah, no signs of movement.” 

The men were wearing equipment that doesn’t suit people who attack residents from the slums. 

Swords and spears imbued with mana, people who are wearing simple Spirit Armor, and there’s even people who are carrying disposable bazookas that have high firepower. 

There’s around 20 of them. 

They all have trained bodies, and they are giving off an atmosphere of people seasoned in battle that random hoodlums wouldn’t be able to bring out. 

They carefully surrounded the armored bus. 

A man with a face covered in scars and equipped with Spirit Armor that looked better than the ones around, who seems to be the leader, waved one hand. 

That served as a sign for the robed man with a staff ready at the back to use magic again. 

[Explosive Fireball]

A mass of fire showed up from the tip of the staff, shot it towards the armored bus that was turned sideways, and exploded as if finishing it off. 

The fire licked over the armored bus and burned fiercely. But only the surface burned thanks to the armor, and disappeared without burning the inside. 

That was enough. 

The man with his hands on his ears listened to the sounds with a serious face, and made an ugly smile. 

“Boss, there’s only one person inside the armored bus. They were shot up from their driver seat. They have collapsed and I can only hear their weak and faint breathing.” 

“Good work. Looks like this was an easy job.” 

“Was there really a need to gather these many? I feel like it is a bit of a waste.” 

“I was also thinking about just keeping it to around 5 people at first, but…there were some bad rumors when I investigated this request, so this was just in case. Just in case.” 

“Such a steady boss. That’s why we have survived though.” 

“No doubt about that.” 

You could tell the men were not tense anymore because of their carefree laugh. 

The boss also shrugged his shoulders and smiled as he took out a cellphone and operated it as if used to this. 

“We have finished the job… Yeah,  yeah, that’s right. There were no issues. Guards? No, there were no guards just as the information stated. Well, there normally would be no issue with this much armor after all.” 

He turned off his cellphone, put it inside his pocket, and looked around. 

It really is quiet with only the tires of the armored bus making slow spinning sounds. 

“Oh, the breathing coming from inside the armored bus is gone now. The mission is over with this, isn’t it, boss?” 

The man listening to the sounds made a thoughtless smile and the man called boss laughed back. 

“Just this is already 100 million Ele, huh. We struck big with such an easy job.” 

“No doubt. Sorry about that, boss. Getting a reward when I did nothing.” 

“True. I will be living in the brothels all winter once I am back.” 

“You are planning on using all the money you got?”

The men laugh with a gehahaha. 

Those faces showed absolutely no remorse about attacking and killing someone. 

For some mysterious reason, even though they are bandits that did an ambush, they are not showing signs of entering the armored bus to search for anything of value. 

Not only that, the quality of the men’s equipment was so high it was out of place here. 

The laughs of the men echoed in this place where the morning mist was still not gone, but one man pointed at the road. 

“Looks like they are here, boss.”

“Yeah, the arrival of the hero.” 

An armored car was driving through a road filled with cracks and with rubble laying around. 

It is different from an armored bus. It is a real military vehicle. 

A round chassis like a drone beetle, and an automatic machine gun was installed on the roof. 

The ambushers didn’t run away from the approaching armored car, and were just waiting there with grins. 

The armored car eventually arrived right in front of the ambushers, and the door of the armored car opened slowly. 

The man that came out was wearing sparkling golden Spirit Armor. There’s jewels attached to it everywhere, and his appearance was like that of an upstart with bad taste. 

“Ooh, what’s this? I am being attacked by bandits!” 

He then raised his voice in an exaggerated manner that looked performative. The ambushers laughed at that monotone line of his. 

“Oi oi, you guys. Be a bit more serious. I am paying you good money after all!” 

“Yeah yeah, got it, Krita-san.” 

The boss stopped laughing and bowed lightly at the man wearing sparkling golden Spirit Armor. 

It is the general store owner that calls himself kind to explorers. 

◇◇

“Good. Keep a lookout to check if someone is coming.” (Krita)

“Okay, but you should still hurry, okay? It is possible other people will pass by after all.” 

“I know. Let’s retrieve the corpse quickly… The corpse of my friend that I somehow managed to save but ended up dying because I wasn’t strong enough.” (Krita)

Krita made a devilish smile as he approached the armored bus…to retrieve the corpse of his dear friend Sage. 

(Don’t hold a grudge, Sage. It is your fault for being so defenseless. Even though you are monopolizing such a gold mine.) (Krita)

—Krita gathered information of the Lanpeach Complex again, and doubted his own ears at the contents of it. 

Apparently, Lanpeach Kouza has connections with the Underground District.

Apparently, he is borrowing Artificial Spirits that have sentience to a degree that has never been seen before even in the Surface District. Moreover, their military use is unbelievable. They are strong. 

Apparently, he has borrowed a special portal for experimental use, and raising natural chickens and vegetables. Their growth speed can only be described as abnormal. 

Apparently, the day is close for the Surface District to transform with Shangri-La as the center. 

Apparently, Lanpeach likes flat girls and also loves little girls. 

Apparently, Lanpeach is from a wealthy family, but was exiled because he was incompetent. 

And……Shangri-La is earning hundreds of millions a month. 

The authenticity of that information is not clear, but even if only half of it is true, it is still information that could lead to a dazzling future. 

It is information that was worth betting his life for. He thought this was the turning point to bet his whole self. 

And so, Krita steeled himself to do a dangerous tightrope walk. 

In other words…he would coincidentally show up when Sage was ambushed. Krita was different from the defenseless Sage in that he was wearing his Spirit Armor, Spriggan, was even riding an armored car, and was heavily equipped, so he succeeded in chasing away the attackers. 

(But my strength wasn’t enough and Sage died. The words he left on his dying breath to his close friend, Krita, was: Please have Krita take over the management of Shangri-La from here on.) (Krita)

“I will do exactly as asked from that will while in tears. It is the will of my close friend, so I will support Lanpeach from here on with all my power.” (Krita)

That mutter that he did with a big grin on his face had zero credibility. 

Krita is aware that this plan is full of holes. But his only chance to steal the management of the base from Sage and take control of Lanpeach is in this winter. 

He is sure that Lanpeach will be making contact with a lot of industries once spring comes. 

Once that happens, he won’t be able to make a plan like the one of today. That’s because it would be discovered in an instant.

He will rise from a poor general store to a big enterprise with this plan. He is willing to cross a dangerous bridge for the sake of this, and that was reflected in this plan. 

“Sage-san, what happened?! Are you okay?” (Krita)

There’s no spectators aside from the explorers he hired. But Krita acted as if he really came to save Sage in order to erase even the tiniest bit of guilt, and pushed the door of the armored bus to rewrite his memories.

The door was a bit sturdy, but it is practically paper in the face of the Spriggan that can show superhuman strength. The sound of the door being crushed rang, and he tore it off easily and entered. 

As expected from a bus, there’s chairs lined up and…

“Hm? Where’s Sage?” (Krita)

Sage should be sitting on the driver seat, but he wasn’t there which made him dubious. 

He should have been lying there a corpse, he would retrieve it in tears, bring it all the way to Shangri-La, and then tell Lanpeach and the others that he will be supporting them in Sage’s stead.

“It would be pointless for you to say you will provide support while in tears. Krita-san, your reputation is way too bad.”

His body flinched at the familiar voice. 

He turned around at the unexpected voice from behind, and there was Sage sitting at the seats at the very back without a single scratch and with an air of composure. 

“S-Sage-san, you were okay? That’s a relief. It seemed like you were being attacked, so I hurriedly came to save you.” (Krita)

“Heeh, and yet, you seemed to be awfully friendly with those attackers. You shouldn’t be doing half-baked acting. There’s no telling where there are spectators after all.” (Sage)

“W-What are you talking about? No, you should be able to understand if we talk. Come on, we might be having a misunderstanding here.” (Krita)

“Hoh, a misunderstanding?” (Sage)

Krita showed a fake smile and slowly approached Sage. He approached him all smiles and…

“Please keep it as a misunderstandiiiing!” (Krita)

He raised his fists and rushed at Sage. 

His steps dented the floor of the bus as he mowed down the chairs, and tried to crush the head of Sage like a tomato. 

*Pashi*

But he was stopped by the palm of Sage, and his eyes opened wide. He isn’t budging at all even against superhuman strength that managed to tear off a sturdy door. 

It is as if he took on the punch of a baby. 

“Krita, is this punch also a misunderstanding?” 

“Y-You, that appearance…?!” 

The man that he thought was Sage slowly changed shape with a faint smile, and a man wearing black clothes showed up. 

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