He looked a bit more sensitive than before. It was clear that he felt upset after eating spoiled food.

“Are we going back to the hotel?”

“Yeah, do you want to play more?”

“No, my legs were starting to hurt.”

As they were walking through the crowd back to the hotel, it happened.

Bang[Dash]

A gunshot rang out, followed by a scream, turning the scene into chaos in an instant.

Riley thought the gunfire had come from somewhere far away. But it wasn’t.

“……This is.”

The bullet was hovering in midair. Specifically, right in front of Gibnen’s forehead, as if it had been blocked by something. If the bullet hadn’t stopped in midair, it would have gone straight through Gibnen’s head.

Riley looked at Gibnen in surprise. Gibnen nonchalantly caught the bullet with his hand and crushed it in an instant, then threw it away. As the metal hit the ground, the crumpled bullet rolled across the floor.

As Riley stood with her mouth agape, Gibnen patted her shoulder.

“You okay?”

“……I think that’s a question I should be asking.”

“I’m fine.”

“Clearly.”
How could she be so calm in a situation where a bullet almost hit her head? Where on earth did that bullet come from?

Riley looked around. Gibnen wrapped her up and started walking again.

“Shot from a distance, you won’t see it even if you look from here.”

“You… no, your head almost got pierced.”

“I know. But it didn’t, did it? So, it’s fine.”

“My head could have been pierced too.”

“You let it?”

The street was chaos. The crowd screamed and ran, falling and rolling in a panic at the gunfire in broad daylight. Riley was almost swept away, but Gibnen held her tightly and protected her.

One would mistake them for passersby, so calm that it looked like they were not threatened by the gunfire. Gibnen was so composed that Riley’s frightened heart calmed down a bit.

“Did you block it with magic?”

“Yeah.”

“How did you know the bullet was coming?”

“I didn’t, I just used magic instinctively for that brief moment.”

“……You have incredible reflexes.”

“I hope those magic department guys don’t make a fuss about this. If the magic department calls me, be a witness. I acted in selfdefense.”

“I’ll testify that your handsome head almost flew off.”

“Reassuring.”

“But aren’t you looking?”

“For what?”

“For the person who shot at you.”

Gibnen looked around and soon gave up.

“It’s annoying.”

“They tried to blow your head off? They might target you again somewhere.”

“I can’t find them right now, not for a day or two. Maybe if I take out this control needle.”

“Control needle? The one in your ear?”

“The magic department guys put it there to monitor me.”

“Won’t they recognize it as selfdefense?”

“It’s difficult to take out the control needle too often. It’s under closer surveillance since I took it out once before. Anyway, I could track the enemy’s location if I take it out, but I don’t feel the need to go that far.”

“It’s for monitoring?”

“Monitoring and control. I can barely use magic when this is in. It suppresses magic activation.”

“But you just used it.”

“I can only do basic things. It’s not that I can’t use it, but ‘almost’ can’t.”

“Oh.”

He can block bullets from afar with basic magic, and I can’t even do that basic thing.

How used to this dangerous daily life has he become? His composure left me speechless. Someone was targeting his life, and a bullet almost hit his head, yet he took it in stride.

‘……It’s not just a glamorous life.’

The man who was almost shot in the head remained calm, but Riley felt very strange.

Somehow, the glamorous life of a man who is the envy of everyone felt a little pitiful today. His broad back seemed particularly lonely and heavy.

“Are you really okay?”

“What?”

“You almost died just now.”

“It wasn’t almost dying. Someone tried to kill me and failed.”

“Are you used to people trying to kill you?”

“……It’s pretty common. I should be used to it by now.”

What kind of life is it to become accustomed to death? I can’t even imagine.

It’s terrifying to think that unknown people are after my life every day…… Is he really not scared? Isn’t he just pretending not to be? People can’t help but fear death.

Maybe…… he’s just used to pretending not to care?

They arrived at the hotel while talking.

They enjoyed a splendid feast and relieved their fatigue in the hotel’s hot springs.

It was a far more satisfying day than expected.

But the moment they finished everything and entered the room, Riley realized.

There was one room, one bed, one man.

There was one more thing left to do.