Chapter 28: Shot Fired
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Yes, a gun.
The shape of the gun body was different from the ones in gangster films, but instead it looked like those from an old Western film, the kind of a gun a cowboy would have. The workmanship of the iron-colored gun seemed coarse, but it still gave of the feel only a gun could give, the feeling of impending death.
Benjamin had not even see a real gun before, let alone be pointed at with a gun.
Prior to this, his only encounter with guns was during primary school when he threw a tantrum, his parents bought him a toy pistol, when triggered it would make a "pewpewpew" sound, and had no use at all. When he was in for national service, they said there would be gun practice, but it turned out that the event was removed somehow.
After crossing over, he had thought that this life would have nothing to do with guns anymore, the System when introducing the background of this world did not mention anything about firearms. He thought that under the influence of the divine arts and magic, this world's technology would not be so developed.
However, at this moment, an emotional, out of control, minor, was pointing a gun at his forehead.
Was he tricked by the System again?
Benjamin did not think that a so-called war game could escalate into such a situation. He did not expect that after escaping from Michelle for even less than ten days, he once again faced the threat of death.
And it was for such a ridiculous reason.
"Don’t get worked up, we won’t come any closer. Put the gun away, we don’t intend to do anything to you." Benjamin stopped his pace, spread out his hands, showing that he had no malicious intent.
What could he do? If he had the skills of Grant, he would have ambushed Dick, like the detective in a crime film, taking hold of the gun before Dick could react. Unfortunately he did not, and Grant?
Grant looked surprised and flustered, and did not move.
Too weak of him…..
Therefore, in order to prevent the situation from further deteriorating, and also because it was his first time facing a death threat from firearm, Benjamin chose to show weakness against Dick. He made the above series of actions in order to appease Dick, so that he made no impulsive moves.
"You are a liar! I, I will not believe you!" Dick did not intend to move the gun away.
"You do not need to believe me, but you have to think about yourself." Benjamin did not seem to be discouraged, he seemed to have turned into a negotiator, trying to stabilize the emotions of a criminal at a crime scene. "Do you really want to shoot? Give some thought about the consequences once this trigger is pulled. Will the people of the church turn a blind eye to you? What about your future in the aristocratic circle and your family? What would they do? You will ruin the whole Fulner family."
While he was persuading Dick, he thought that he managed to make the situation better, thinking that maybe watching TV dramas were actually beneficial. If there were sudden emergencies, he could imitate those scenes in the television.
However, the dialogues that he learnt from TVB about bargaining seemed to not be very useful.
"No, no, as long as you obediently let me smash this pot on to you, that will not happen! You can’t dodge! If you dare dodge, I ... I will shoot." Then, saying this, he raised his hand which held the chamber pot.
Oh darn...
How obsessed was he?
At the moment, Benjamin, did not have any sympathy for Dick anymore. He felt that Dick was a psychopath, only obsessed about smashing people with chamber pots
How could he deal with a psychopath?
In the stalemate, the atmosphere became more and more tensed. Suddenly, Benjamin felt a strong burst of magic fluctuations. The wave of fluctuations around them were so strong and intense, even ordinary people like Dick could feel it.
Therefore, in such a situation, they could not help but look to the source of the fluctuations.
They saw a holy light glowing within Grant’s palms.
"Grant! You dare to disobey the rules of the Church?" Dick seeing this, shouted, "If you use divine arts, you will be imprisoned for life!
Grant heard this and was surprised. What was he thinking of, his face was full of hesitation.
Dick was overjoyed, and he seemed to figure out something, and then said, "What are you trying to do for him? He is a loser! You do not have to help him build his own future. Moreover, I do not actually intend to kill him. I just need to humiliate him, returning him the favor! This has nothing to do with you!"
The power of hatred was far stronger than imagined, and could drive an emotionally out of control young man to utter such speech with clarity.
Grant was clearly convinced, the so-called bond of blood among relatives could not win over the harshness of reality. He seemed to also began to think that it was not a big deal if Benjamin was to be smashed with the chamber pot once. After all, Benjamin was still a child, and he did not have that much determination.
In the process of repeated hesitation, ultimately, he gradually lowered his head and disperse the bright light from his hands.
He backed off.
Yes, if in the face of death, being hit by a chamber pot seemed to be not really a big deal.
However...
At this time!
Benjamin who was quiet all this while suddenly charged at Dick, who was unprepared for ambush. Benjamin gave his flying feet a kick to the hand which Dick was holding the chamber pot with. The chamber pot was not light, and Dick had troubled balancing himself while holding the pot. So, the chamber pot flew away after getting kicked, hit the walls behind them, and spilling all over the place.
Benjamin who made a jumping kick also lost his balance, and was about to fall. However, he used the inertia of his body, very decisively sprang towards Dick, his hands grasping the hands of Dick holding the gun.
"Hand over the gun!" He cried fiercely.
Benjamin did not want to become a ‘shitman’, nor did he want to be shot in the head.
So he chose to gamble!
Dick could not react in time, and wanted to dodge. Panicking, the two fell to the ground, he and Benjamin wrestled. Benjamin desperately wanted to snatch Dick's gun, Dick was half angry and half instinctively trying to fight back. Unfortunately, Benjamin's physical capacity was not great. Despite his hard effort, he did not succeed.
The two refused to give in. The scene was extremely confusing.
"You two ... I …..." Grant had dispersed the divine arts that gathered in his hands, looking at the two tangled together, he wanted to stop them, but did not know how to start, so he hesitated, and could only let them continue.
Suddenly there was a gunshot.
Bang!
Their actions stopped at the same time.
Benjamin's face, suddenly showing pain. He pushed Dick away and stood up, and then clutching his stomach, he collapsed.
Dick also stood up in horror, watching Benjamin with a painful expression rolling on the ground. He froze, like handling a red hot iron, he threw the gun far away, helplessly watching beside Grant.
"I, I did not intend to shoot ... it was not, he rushed at me, I, I ...…
Grant was also frightened by the sudden turn of events, he looked at the Benjamin who was rolling in pain, but did not know what to do.
It was not long before the other "corpses" in the castle were alerted by the gunshot. They looked at the absurd and horrifying scene here, and could not help but be scared soulless.
Only a few aristocratic children were smart enough to shout, "Go get the patrol!" They ran out of the castle, to seek for help. Dick saw these people, exposing his will to want to stop them, but hesitated, and eventually did nothing.
He looked at Benjamin on the ground and looked at the gun that he threw away, revealing the expression of despair and regret.
The church patrols rushed to the scene, they took off their helmets, looked at everything here, and frowned.
"What happened?" Asked the knight, who was the leader.
"I, I really did not mean, he ... ... he himself charged at me, I had no other way ... ..." Dick hurriedly rushed to the foot of the patrol and explained nervously.
The leading knight frowned, and said: "You can talk later, Master Grant, can you explain what actually happened?
Dick was surprised for a moment, and turned around and looked at Grant who was behind, his eyes suddenly had more intense despair. He stood up, took a few steps back, and fell to the ground, as if he had his soul taken away, as if the whole life became only gray.
Grant also began to stumble and explain. He described everything. His explanation naturally sided with Benjamin and the liability was on Dick. Dick who was in despair, forgot to defend himself by exposing Grant’s intention of using divine arts.
"Master Grant, please be rest assured that we will handle this matter." After listening to the words of Grant, the leading knight said so.
"Benjamin ... will he die?" Grant hesitated, then asked.
His expression was with filled with guilt. In the eyes of the knights, he was unable to prevent all this and felt guilty. The three people that were involved in the commotion were well aware that, he felt guilty, because he was timid, and chose not to intervene.
Perhaps in the adult world, this was nothing, and could even be the rational and correct to do. But for the hot-blood and naive juveniles, this was a betrayal.
Grant betrayed his own conviction.
"Do not worry, we'll heal him." The knight, who looked at Grant and smiled, promised so.
"May God bless you." Grant was silent for a moment, and said so.
He seemed to be relieved.
The whole thing was quickly settled. After listening to Grant's narrative, the patrol took Benjamin, Dick, and the gun in the distance away.
Nobody knew what consequences Dick would have to bear.
However, at this moment, Benjamin being the center of the whole commotion, was about to lose consciousness due to the pain. He could not worry about the commotion anymore. Dick, gunshot, patrol knights …
In his mind, there was only one name:
Michelle.
Screw you Michelle!
If Dick and Grant were vigilant enough, they would realize that Benjamin was not actually shot. Although he was clutching his stomach, but not a slight droplet of blood came out. Benjamin's appearance did not seem like he was shot, but more like he was suffering from an acute sickness, or demonic possession.
In a more proper explanation, Benjamin was actually bewitched.
The curse that Michelle planted in his body, finally ushered in its first attack.