51 — Chapter 51

I was walking through a deserted back alley, stained with fresh splatters of blood.

I wiped the crimson from my fingers onto the hem of my clothes.

I wasn’t the one bleeding.

My body was perfectly healthy and uninjured.

I took a moment to reload my empty handgun.

I spun the cylinder, listening to the smooth, flawless sound it made.

Once I confirmed there were no malfunctions, I slid the handgun back into its holster.

A few minutes ago, I had finished off every last one of the masked freaks who tried to ambush me.

They were reasonably skilled, but that was about it.

It hadn’t taken much effort.

If anything, I was almost grateful to them for letting me blow off some steam.

Lately, I’d been putting up with a lot of frustration regarding the organization.

If I don’t let it out once in a while, I feel like I’ll explode.

Relieving stress is vital for one’s physical and mental well-being.

As a side note, I had already located the City Core of the Black Wall City.

I’d found it during a little investigation born out of pure curiosity.

At the moment, I had no intention of recreating the explosion of the Imperial Capital, but depending on my mood, I might just end up touching it.

Of course, it’s not like I’m proactive about committing mass murder.

Let’s just pray I don’t have to wipe this city off the map.

Everything will be decided by how things unfold from here.

‘I’ve got plenty of enemies, after all. I’ll keep it in mind as a last resort.’

Looking at the memo in my breast pocket, I let out a private, wry smile.

By torturing the masked guys, I had already identified the mastermind behind the ambush.

His true identity was one of the city’s leading wealthy merchants.

It was a name I recognized, and he was someone Dorgu favored.

‘Now then, I wonder where I managed to earn his grudge…’

I tried thinking about it, but unfortunately, nothing came to mind.

Did my rampages somehow circle back and damage his business?

If he suffered a loss, he should have just come to negotiate with me directly.

I’m always willing to listen to complaints.

I’d even apologize if necessary.

Before resorting to a cowardly ambush, I wish people would protest through legal means.

Well, it doesn’t matter now.

I had the guy’s identity.

I planned to pay him a visit within the next few days.

It’s nonsense to just take it lying down after being looked down upon.

I had to make sure that coward who ordered the hit learned exactly who he was picking a fight with.

As I added a new appointment to the schedule in my head, I returned to the mansion.

I opened the main gate and entered the grounds.

No matter how much trouble I caused, this mansion remained mine.

Dorgu showed no signs of confiscating it.

Did he intend to tie me down to a base of operations to control my movements?

It was a distinct possibility.

Since there were servants here, surveillance would be easy too.

He likely thought it would be dangerous to leave me completely unchecked.

Just as I was about to enter the house, Alice came running over from the garden.

She seemed somewhat restless.

While I wondered what was up, she braced herself and spoke.

“I’d like you to see the improved Golem, if you have the time.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I’ve been curious about it myself.”

Ever since we talked about the Powered Suit, Alice had been working incredibly hard.

She had asked for my advice several times since then, and it seemed it had finally taken shape.

I’d avoided interfering until I got a progress report because I didn’t want to pry, so I didn’t know the current state of it either.

I had thrown out ideas as they came to me, but I wondered how it actually turned out.

Though, I wasn’t particularly worried.

This was Alice, after all.

I was sure it would be something fascinating.

Her status as a genius was nothing new.

Alice pulled me by the hand toward the storehouse.

Once inside, she closed the door and engaged multiple locks.

Then, she double-checked to make sure the door wouldn’t open.

She was being quite thorough.

It seemed she didn’t want the servants to see the results.

That was certainly wise.

A shotgun was one thing, but the Powered Suit incorporated a significant amount of technology.

If someone got a whiff of it, I had a feeling it would only lead to trouble.

They probably sensed we were developing something, but we were under no obligation to tell them what.

Inside the storehouse, where it was just the two of us, the Golem Car was parked.

Comparing it to my memory of the vehicle, various parts of the chassis had undergone subtle changes.

First, the external armor had become much sleeker.

In its place, the magic circuits on the surface had increased.

It was a refined design, with all the waste trimmed away.

I could see the effort Alice had put into it.

On the other hand, there were no visible additions of heavy weaponry.

Was this really going to become a Powered Suit?

Looking at its appearance, I found it hard to believe.

Alice stood in front of the Golem Car and extended both arms out to her sides.

Then, she spread her feet shoulder-width apart.

It seemed she was ready to unveil it.

I stepped back a bit to watch so I wouldn’t get in her way.

Keeping her posture, Alice whispered.

“First, the equipment phase.”

The moment she spoke, the Golem Car’s engine roared to life.

The chassis began to transform, folding in on itself.

The interior of the armor was bellows-shaped,¹ which seemed to allow for compact movement.

The transforming vehicle parts wrapped around Alice’s body one after another.

While lighting up the room with the glow of mana, the suit assembled its form.

When the light finally subsided, a large armored humanoid was standing before me.

It was taller than me, standing at least seven feet.

The build was generally thick and blocky.

The head was large, like a mascot costume.

The limbs were as thick as logs; it looked like some kind of mascot character.

I could hardly believe it had been a car just a few seconds ago.

It truly looked like CG effects from a movie.

“Amazing. It’s a real Powered Suit, isn’t it?”

I walked around to the back of the suit.

The Powered Suit was carrying a large metal box on its back.

She likely kept the luggage from the car inside it.

Four arms sprouted from the sides of the box.

Each was equipped with claws for grabbing things.

The top of the box opened, and one arm pulled out a rocket launcher.

It handed the weapon to Alice’s arm in a natural motion.

Alice smiled as she leveled the rocket launcher.

“How is it? Is it anything like what you imagined, Jack?”

Her voice sounded a bit muffled.

With the Powered Suit equipped, Alice placed her hands on her hips.

She looked quite proud of herself.

I gave her an honest round of applause.

“It’s beyond my imagination. I didn’t think you could make something this complete.”

“It only has minimum functions right now, but I plan to add weapons to every part of the body from here on.”

Alice explained while gesturing with her hands.

There was no sense of sluggishness in the movements.

This looked like it could actually be used in real combat.

If it had defensive capabilities equivalent to the conventional Golem Car, half-baked attacks wouldn’t even scratch it.

Even if Alice ended up on the front lines, I felt I could leave things to her with peace of mind.

Just as I was thinking that, there was a sound like a lock snapping open.

Before I could search for the source of the noise, the right arm of the Powered Suit was launched, flying straight toward me.

“Whoops.”

I blocked it, parrying with my forearm.

A fair amount of impact traveled through me, but thanks to my level corrections, there was no pain.

The metal right arm, its trajectory diverted, slammed into the warehouse wall and became embedded.

Cracks spread across the wall centered around the fist.

The momentum had been so great it was on the verge of piercing through.

Seeing that, I asked with a wry smile.

“Is this also one of the features?”

“…A malfunction in the coupling, I think.”

Alice answered after a slight pause.

I couldn’t see her face, but she seemed somewhat awkward.

Alice took a step forward to retrieve the right arm embedded in the wall.

At that moment, a jet burst erupted from the sole of her left foot.

The Powered Suit leaped up at a sharp angle.

“Ah!”

Losing her balance, Alice tackled the wall head-on.

The impact caused the Powered Suit to break apart mid-air, and Alice was ejected from the inside.

She was going to get hurt at this rate.

Kicking off the floor, I caught her in a bridal carry.

“Easy there, are you alright?”

“……”

Alice looked away while in my arms.

Her profile looked truly apologetic.

“I’m sorry. It seems there are still points that need improvement.”

“No, it’s a great achievement just to get it into this shape. I couldn’t have mimicked this.”

I comforted her with a gentle tone.

Those were words straight from my heart.

“Failure is a part of everything. I’m rooting for you.”

“—Thank you. I’ll try a little harder.”

Clenching her small fist, Alice smiled, the gloom vanishing from her face.