Published at 25th of August 2026 9:06 am

Volume 8, Chapter 44: Beyond Seven Steps, the Gun Is Faster

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Those who truly understood both him and the Black-Gold Armor...

Leon found himself thinking about the question alongside Rosvisser. There weren’t few people in the Empire who knew him well. From the cadets at the Dragon-Slayer Academy and the low-rank civil officers all the way up to the imperial court and the royal nobles—someone like him, the illustrious commander of the dragon-slayer Corps, could hardly avoid their attention.

And once the requirement of also knowing the black-gold armor was added, the circle of suspects narrowed down to only one group—the Imperial Family.

After all, the black-gold armor had been crafted by the royal engineers specifically for Leon. Even with his own strength, he could slaughter entire armies without armor. But to create a hero who stood out from the crowd, one whom the people would worship and adore, the royal family needed to give him a unique symbol. That symbol was the black-gold armor.

At first it had been nothing more than an emblem—a shining mark of legend that followed Leon into battle. But as dragon-slaying campaigns grew more and more difficult, that suit of rare-metal armor had saved his life on more than one occasion. That was also one of the reasons why, after waking from his two-year coma in the real world, Leon insisted on wearing the black-gold armor in his first battle.

It wasn’t just a showpiece forged by the royals for propaganda. It was a comrade—a steadfast, reliable partner.

Back to the point.

When Leon realized that the only remaining suspect was the royal house itself, he couldn’t bring himself to accept it right away. He gripped the bars of his anti-magic cage, closed his eyes for a moment in silence, then asked:

“You’re trying to sow discord between me and the Empire?”

“Oh~ so you’ve begun to doubt the very Empire you’ve served all your life.”

Rosvisser smiled. “But if there really is someone who understands both you and your armor, only the imperial household fits.”

“They might not even have a reason to frame me,” Leon said.

“These years I’ve conquered countless lands and gathered endless resources for the Empire. I’ve never once been defeated on the battlefield. Even when we broke the Silver Dragons, your people, that victory gave the Empire a foothold that let us strike any dragon territory we pleased. After that, two more years of fighting and a full third of the dragon realms would have fallen to us. Before I joined the dragon Corps, no one would have dared even dream of such a thing. So tell me—under those circumstances, why would my country betray me?”

Rosvisser listened quietly. She knew he wasn’t bragging. The Silver Dragons’ territory was positioned in a way that, while not deep within dragon lands, became a perfect launch point once captured. From there, the Empire could march westward into the western dragon territories with far less strain than any route from the capital, cutting down on the cost of war immensely. Just as Leon said, after the Silver Dragon campaign the rest of the conquest would only be a matter of time. The Empire had no apparent reason to turn on its most valuable hero—continuing the advance depended entirely on him.

But...

That was precisely the problem. The Empire never intended to end the war. And for that reason, Leon had to die.

All Rosvisser could do was guide him—let him come to that truth on his own. If she’d simply told him, Hey, great hero, I’ve seen the future—your beloved Empire cherishes you so much it wants you to live forever, and the price of that immortality... is your death at twenty, he would never have believed her. He’d think she was raving.

After a moment’s silence, Rosvisser spoke again.

“According to your reasoning, the Empire indeed has no need to target you. But that brings us to the next question—who ordered Victor to frame you? I’m not trying to drive a wedge between you and the Empire, only to remind you—when you’ve ruled out every impossibility, what remains must be the truth. If we’re going to search for the truth,” she added, “we have to dare to speculate boldly, don’t we?”

Her words once again drew Leon into deep thought. Indeed—if he excluded the Empire, there was no one else left who fit the conditions.

He lowered his gaze, murmuring her line under his breath:

“When you’ve ruled out every impossibility, what remains... is the truth.”

After a long pause, Leon drew a deep breath and slowly exhaled, as if making some reluctant concession. “If the Empire really did send someone to frame me, then I think... Victor wasn’t the only mole.”

“That sounds somewhat plausible. Not only Victor? What makes you say that?”

“When Victor failed to assassinate me, Rebecca blew his head apart on the spot,” Leon said evenly.

“Tell me—could it be that both Victor and Rebecca were traitors, and after Victor’s cover was blown, Rebecca killed him to silence him?”

“...Huh?”

Rosvisser blinked blankly.

Wait—what? That’s not how the script goes!

For a second she stared at him in disbelief, then quickly pieced together his logic. Actually, from a purely deductive standpoint, Leon’s reasoning did make perfect sense.

When a mole is exposed, you cut the root—silence the witness. A gunshot to the head fit the scenario perfectly.

But as a noble traveler from the future, Rosvisser knew that wasn’t what had happened. So after her brief moment of confusion, the dutiful sister-in-law hurried to clear Rebecca’s name.

“Not necessarily. Didn’t Rebecca also fall under Victor’s illusion magic back then? If they’d really planned the assassination together, Victor wouldn’t have dragged her into the illusion as well.”

In the simulated world, Leon, Rebecca, and Martin had already analyzed that assassination scene countless times with Rosvisser’s memory discs. So her saying Rebecca hadn’t been under the spell made perfect sense here; the logic held.

Of course, even that argument wasn’t airtight. No one could say for sure whether Rebecca had truly been caught in the illusion—her own word alone proved nothing.

So Rosvisser added:

“Even if Rebecca were a mole, she had far easier chances to kill you than Victor ever did. After all, beyond seven steps, the gun is faster...”

“The knife is faster within seven steps?” Leon interjected.

Rosvisser shook her head.

“Within seven steps, the gun’s still both faster and more accurate. If the mastermind could forge a dagger capable of piercing your armor, they could just as easily craft a few bullets of the same material. Why bother with a dagger at all?”

“But Victor was a deputy magic officer. Carrying a gun around would’ve drawn suspicion—that’s why they had him use a knife more often.”

“So, taking all that together, the chance of Rebecca being another mole is very low. Besides—”

Rosvisser deliberately drew out the last word, teasing him.

Leon bit. “Besides what?”

“Besides, she’s so cute. How could someone that cute be a traitor?”

“...Isn’t ‘cute’ basically the same as saying ‘female’ in dragon terms? Doesn’t that make your argument meaningless? Wait—how do I even know that kind of trivia...”

The base code flared again.

Still, Leon himself didn’t truly want to believe Rebecca was another mole. Compared to Victor, he trusted that half-crazy gunslinger far more.

It had nothing to do with looks. They’d known each other since academy days, and she’d always called his teacher old man. Their friendship ran deeper than anything he’d had with Victor. Even while he voiced his suspicions just now, he hadn’t really believed them.

Rosvisser’s rebuttal, dismissing that theory, let the weight on his chest ease a little.

She reached out and lightly patted his shoulder, pulling him back from his thoughts.

“Don’t dwell on that, detective. Look—after ruling out all the impossible options, what’s left is the one truth you don’t want to face.”

As she spoke, Rosvisser rose to her feet and gazed into the distance. At the edge of dawn, the sun crept up from the horizon, its first light glinting in her silver eyes.

“If you want to know who truly framed you, you’ll have to break the pattern—strike back in a way they’d never imagine. Leon, make up your mind soon. If the hand behind all this really is the Empire... then the time you have left is running out.”

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