Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

"I haven't heard of normal. The spring-loaded gun is a new type of gun invented up north that uses a mechanical contraption instead of a match to ignite. It only arrived at Sea Blue a few days ago, and it's still a rare item; I don't have one either." Lieutenant Colonel Field tried to draw a diagram with his finger dipped in alcohol on the table, but failed: "You would understand if you saw the actual object."

After much study, they finally determined two directions for investigation. One was to look into the recent disappearances and deaths among the Sea Blue Army spellcasters; the other was to start with the dock workers, investigating the assassins disguised as porters.

There were also two leads Field wasn't very hopeful about: the sword and gun the assassin dropped into the sea; and the possibility that the Carters' Brotherhood helped the assassin handle the carriage.

Although there was no real progress, the situation was at least no longer as clueless as before, which was a cause for celebration.

Major Moritz's sick leave was cancelled by Colonel Field, whose words were, "Keep taking leave and you'll sooner or later choke to death on your own vomit, so roll back to headquarters and be on duty."

Armed with ten steel spikes and a target board given by the major, Winters returned home eager to start practicing the Arrow Flying Spell.

According to Major Moritz, the target board should be hung ten steps away initially, and only when one could hit a silver coin eight out of ten times with the Arrow Flying Spell while ensuring its potency, should the target board be pushed back another five steps, gradually increasing the distance.

But then he remembered he still had to visit the Benwei family, so he packed up the training equipment again. With the flour and meat Marita Granny had bought as gifts, he rode straight to the Benvenuto house.

Back in his junior school days, Winters often went to the Benwei house for "dock meal". Dock meal, as the name implies, was the food eaten by dockworkers, high in oil, salt—and later, when sugar became cheaper, high in sugar too. Not everyone could stomach it, but the workers needed such meals to have the energy to work.

Winters particularly enjoyed this kind of food high in oil, salt, and sugar, but Kosha usually wouldn't cook such dishes and wouldn't allow Winters to eat a lot of it. Therefore, Winters would sneak off to the Benwei house for his guilty pleasure, and Benwei's mother never minded fixing an extra plate for him.

The Benvenuto house was not far from the docks, but in comparison to the bustling docklands, the street where the dockworkers lived was less attractive. Low wooden houses clustered together, and roads paved with coal cinders turned into a muddy mess whenever it rained.

The Benwei's family of twenty-two—if they hadn't increased their number during the years Winters was away in The Federated Provinces—lived in two small, adjacent houses. Originally separate, they had knocked through the walls to connect them. As the children grew, the small courtyard behind the houses had been converted into sheds, and an extra level had been added on top of the bungalows.

The elder Benweis were Vaughan People, who had fled war and taken refuge in Sea Blue over thirty years ago. The Vaughan People generally had a strong sense of family, liking to cluster together when times were good, and even closer when times were bad.

It was hard to say this was due to a strong bond of kinship, but rather a valuable lesson learned from hard times—that a family must be united to survive.

So the Benwei family was not just his parents and siblings, but also his uncles, aunts, and cousins. Although it was crowded living together in two houses, there was a unique warmth to it.

But Winters, who had arrived at the Benwei's home cheerfully, was shocked to find the place deserted, the usually bustling house now completely empty of people.

"Moved out?" Winters was bewildered, thinking, "No way, Benwei clearly said they hadn't moved."

Both houses had locks on the doors, and peering through the cracks, he could see only darkness inside; nothing was visible.

Winters knocked at the neighbor's door of Benwei, and an old man opened a crack, eyeing Winters warily.

"Sir, may I ask where the family next door has gone?"

The old man looked at Winters's sword and then his boots, and with a hoarse voice said, "I don't know anything, and don't ask me."

At this time, Winters had only changed back into his boots, still wearing the clothes he had put on for his visit to the civilian streets. He thought: Could it be the old man has taken me for a bad guy?

After speaking, the old man moved to close the door. Winters hurriedly blocked it with his foot, clarifying, "I'm a friend of Benvenuto."

"A friend? Do you take me for some old fool?" scoffed the old man, "How could Benwei have friends like you wearing military boots."

A stick poked out from the gap in the door; Winters stepped back to avoid it, and the old man took the opportunity to shut the door. No matter how much Winters knocked after that, he refused to open it again.

The atmosphere in the street also began to change, and Winters keenly sensed it. No pedestrians could be seen on the cinder road between the rows of houses; the women quickly secured their doors and windows, herding the playing children back into their homes.

Winters could feel wary eyes watching him from behind the wooden windows.

He knocked on the door of another neighbor. The knocking echoed down the corridor of the house. No one answered, but Winters was certain someone was at the door.

In a soft voice, he said to the gap, "I'm an old schoolmate of Benvenuto from the Army Junior School. Could you please tell me if their family has suffered some misfortune? I would do everything I could to help."