Gun of Ashes

”Yeah, it’s calmed down now.” Lorenzo said, glancing at the Soldiers behind Gawain.

”New batch of the rapid response squad?”

”Yes. After Lancelot died, these fell under my charge.”

Gawain nodded as he spoke. This squad was on standby twenty‑four hours a day, rushing to any abnormal incident at the first moment possible—like now.

”But I don’t see any Armor of Original Sin.”

Lorenzo looked at the Iron Serpents parked in front of his house; they didn’t look like they were loaded with Armor of Original Sin.

”Because there’s no need. The source of the corruption is right by your place. I figured you’d have it all cleaned up before we even got here. We’re just here to secure the scene.”

Gawain said as Lorenzo led him into the alley. He had only just stepped in when he caught the reek of blood rushing at him, and through the murky shadows he could see one twisted silhouette after another.

”See? Just like that.”

”Really?” Lorenzo sounded doubtful.

”No. Moving the Armor of Original Sin takes more time. It’ll arrive later.” Gawain said, his face expressionless.

Lorenzo gave Gawain a strange look. He thought for a moment, then asked.

”Is this… you trying to be funny?”

”Bola said that if I talk like this, it’ll be easier to get along with you.” Gawain answered.

”Did Bola ever tell you not to keep your face so stiff?” Lorenzo stared at Gawain’s iron‑set expression, feeling absolutely no sense of humor at all. ”Don’t torture yourself, my friend. Let’s deal with this first.”

Lorenzo said, stepping into the darkness ahead of him. Following the route in his memory, he walked forward, treading on the still‑wet blood‑written characters, wiping away the message Watson had left for him.

There was no need to hand that intel over to the Purification Mechanism. Lorenzo alone carrying this fear was enough. In the face of a crisis like this, the more people knew, the harder it would be for Lorenzo to defend against it.

So the fewer who knew, the better. Best would be if even the last few who were in on it vanished someday, hiding these secrets behind the fence of ignorance, so the lambs could live on in blissful unawareness.

”A standard Demon incident?”

Gawain looked around the scene. It did look like a perfectly ordinary Demon incident.

”More or less. I was asleep when I suddenly felt a wave of corruption, so I came and killed them.”

Lorenzo said. In truth, his explanation was far from airtight. Blades and firearms couldn’t have made those bizarre wounds on the Demons’ bodies, nor the injuries caused by Bone Spikes during their mutual slaughter. And under normal circumstances, Demons didn’t engage in civil war.

”That so? Doesn’t seem too out of the ordinary.”

Gawain trusted Lorenzo a great deal. Lorenzo was a Demon Hunter, an expert in killing Demons; there was no reason to doubt the expert’s word. And this particular expert had always held a deep, bitter hatred for Demons—he wasn’t about to suddenly turn traitor.

Listening to Gawain’s reassuring words, Lorenzo actually felt for a moment that he was letting everyone’s trust down. Of course, that was just some baseless nonsense in his head.

Lorenzo ran one last check to see if anything had been left behind.

”The Cleaners are on their way. Leave the rest to us.” Gawain said to Lorenzo.

”Mm… but there’s no way I’m getting back to sleep now.”

Lorenzo said as he walked out of the alley and looked toward the far edge of the city’s night sky.

In the deepest part of that darkness, dim lights were slowly rising. They were like ashen lines sketching out the silhouette of the city, growing ever brighter as time passed.

Dawn was breaking.

”I’ll go change clothes, then lend me an Iron Serpent and send me to the Perpetual Motion Pump.”

”Got it.”

Gawain already knew Lorenzo’s upcoming schedule. The restart of the Red Signal incident was a major event inside the Purification Mechanism; people at the Knight Commander level basically all knew about it.

Before long Lorenzo returned to the street. He had put on his usual outfit: a loose black overcoat, the brim of his hat pulled low so the shadow completely hid his face. He leaned on a cane in his hand, looking utterly ordinary.

Gawain would never look at Lorenzo with an ordinary gaze. He knew perfectly well that under that loose overcoat there had to be more weapons than you could count, and inside that slender cane was steel tough enough to slice through flesh and blood.

”Let’s go… Should we give Bola a heads‑up?”

Lorenzo had half his body inside the Iron Serpent, then stuck his head back out to ask Gawain.

”No need. The Iron Serpent will take you to pick up Bola first. You’ll arrive at the Perpetual Motion Pump together.”

”Sounds pretty good.”

The door snapped shut, and as steam billowed out, the Iron Serpent sped along the tracks in the street, racing toward the faint light at the edge of the horizon.

…

”So that’s your reason?”

In the dim carriage the man spoke in a tone of utter incredulity. He had a ridiculous nightcap on his head but was otherwise neatly dressed, like someone had yanked him straight out of a warm bed by force.

”What else would it be?”

Lorenzo glanced at the wire‑mesh‑protected window. All of Old Dunling was waking with the sunrise; torrents of steam erupted from the corners of the streets, as if some giant were breathing hard.

”After all that, I couldn’t just go back inside, lie on my bed, and stare into space. Might as well get things over with early.”

Lorenzo drew his gaze back into the dim carriage. After handing the scene over to Gawain, he really couldn’t think of any excuse to crawl back into bed, so he simply started his day ahead of schedule.