Luca turned the collection of hints on and off several times.

Then he waited, hoping it would update.

But nothing changed.

‘Is this really the end?’

He had killed Baron Max and even Montana Way, an executive under the control of Albino.

Yet, the hints hadn’t changed.

‘What else do I have to do?’

Surely it didn’t mean he had to prevent the catastrophic disaster that would strike Potro Village in the distant future.

It seemed enough to stop the incident that would serve as the branching point turning Bern Doyner into a villain.

‘Could it be that Montana Way wasn’t the right one? That’s hard to believe.’

Montana Way was an influential villain by any measure.

As mentioned before, he was an enemy the protagonist had killed several times, and he had been involved in the story to some degree.

Yet even after killing such a figure, Bern Doyner’s future didn’t change.

Luca turned his head slowly to look out the window.

‘Either something even bigger is going on… or maybe I actually failed to kill Montana Way completely…?’

To kill Montana Way for good, all the White Noise containing his data had to be destroyed.

If even a fraction remained, he would resurrect.

‘But didn’t I nearly kill him this time?’

Though he could be revived with just a part, that wasn’t invincible.

Any lost portions of the information that made him up would be replaced with indirect data instead.

And of course, indirectly replaced data was very different from the original.

The protagonist in the original noticed the disparity and found a way to deal with it—specifically, by stealing the power of the White Noise inside the executives’ bodies.

‘I couldn’t do that, so I just burned everything. After burning this much, there should be almost no data left, right?’

The White Noise the soldiers had seemed to have returned to Montana’s body, and there were no people fleeing nearby.

‘Wait. Could it be…?’

Luca thought of something and went over to the window.

He opened it and let out a whistle.

Ppii!

Immediately, Whistle appeared.

“What is it, master?”

“Whistle. Go to Baron Max’s manor and see if anyone is moving. If there is, find out what they’re doing and report back.”

“Got it!”

Padadak!

Whistle instantly took off for Baron Max’s mansion.

Luca watched him go, then saw Ottbo trying to repair the auto-carriage’s front bumper.

“Ugh… I can’t believe it doesn’t have an auto-repair function…”

He seemed truly distressed over the damage to his precious auto-carriage.

“Ottbo. Does it still work?”

“Yeah. It works. The front bumper’s just dented.”

Ottbo sounded a bit forlorn, but Luca remained indifferent.

“Then get ready to leave.”

“Huh? Where are we going?”

To Ottbo’s question, Luca hopped over the window frame and spoke.

“The place where embers remain.”

* * *

Montana liked to operate alone, but he wasn’t truly a loner.

All of Albino’s executives traveled with a few people as a precaution against emergencies.

Some were there to transport corpses to Albino’s hideout, others to request backup from headquarters.

“Yaaawn~ When do you think Sir Montana will be back?”

“No idea. I don’t really care, either.”

However, Montana’s subordinates barely did any work.

Montana was so strong that emergencies rarely arose, and if anything did happen, they just escaped with the ‘bare minimum of White Noise’ their bodies contained.

—No need to save my body.

—I’ll lose some information, but the White Noise will return to the main body on its own.

—I don’t need the original.

Unlike other executives, Montana didn’t cling to his original body at all.

He was, after all, fundamentally unchanging in essence.

Most of the ‘indirect information’ about him was just that he killed people cruelly, and with each ‘death’, Montana only became more brutal.

So long as he could kill people cruelly, he didn’t mind such changes.

“Well, out of loyalty, I’d retrieve his body if I could.”

“Honestly, it’s easy work following Sir Montana.”

Montana never interfered with his subordinates.

No, he didn’t assign them any tasks at all.

He handled everything by himself.

Whether it was torturing people or expanding his influence—he did it all on his own.

It wasn’t due to distrust; he simply preferred it that way.

But since his habits were so extreme, outsiders often pitied his subordinates.

The subordinates themselves didn’t really care.

“Ugh~ There’s really nothing to do in this country place.”

“Exactly. Watching people was my only solace, and now everyone’s dead.”

“Ah, right. Gotta collect the White Noise after extraction.”

White Noise could absorb the life force of hosts.

Of course, it didn’t drain Albino members; instead, it absorbed life force from ordinary people they had implanted it in.

When Montana deployed the White Noise, some people became basically mindless.

White Noise planted in these people kept draining their life force and wasn’t retrieved.

After all, ensuring White Noise was charged with life force was their job.

“Hm? What’s wrong with these?”

But something seemed off as they tried to collect the White Noises.

Normally, they’d remain still in the hosts’ bodies, even if the host died, following Montana’s orders.

But now, the White Noises were heading somewhere.

“Looks like… they’re trying to get to the main body…?”

“……!”

The subordinates instantly sensed something had happened to Montana.

“Damn, what could possibly be in this rural backwater to get Sir Montana…”

“Ah! There’s no time for this. Hurry, we have to retrieve the White Noises!”

“Hey! You, prepare the auto-carriage! I’ll gather the White Noises!”

As befitted a major crime organization like Albino, they didn’t come here on foot.

Some of the subordinates went for the already prepared auto-carriage, while others began gathering the White Noises.

“Ready!”

“We’re set too. Let’s go!”

Though rarely needed, the subordinates had prepared for such emergencies.

It didn’t take even 10 minutes after realizing Montana was dead to collect all the White Noises in Max’s territory and ready two auto-carriages.

“Where should we go?”

“To Bizen! They said a new hideout would be set up there!”

The mining city of Bizen was their destination—a hideout had been prepared there.

Ppii!

And a bird was watching them.

* * *

Clatter! Clatter!

“Ugh… my Carivik…”

Ottbo’s beloved Carivik had magic on it originally, shielding the body from minor impacts.

But after colliding with Montana, that magic had completely shattered.

So now, while driving through the forest, the vehicle body was accumulating scratches.

“Just fix it later. We’ll stop by Bizen on the way back anyway—get it repaired then.”

“Okay…”

The trip required going some distance past the forest, so they set off immediately.

Hav and Moula were left behind.

—Where are you going?

—I’m going to check if there are any remnants left at Baron Max’s manor.

—Want help?

—No. You two help Bern.

—Understood.

Since both were snipers, they’d be little help in the auto-carriage.

Thus, only Luca, Ottbo, and Bella rode in the vehicle.

Ppii!

At that moment, Whistle arrived at the auto-carriage.

They opened the window and let her in.

“Master! There are remnants!”

“Tch. How many?”

“Five, maybe? They’re escaping in an auto-carriage!”

Luca clicked his tongue.

“Why didn’t you stop them?”

“You only asked me to observe.”

……

It was true; Luca had said to just observe and report.

Luca pursed his lips.

“You stop all the White Noise entering the village even if I don’t ask, but then follow my exact orders on things like this.”

“Well, protecting my master is obviously something I do automatically, but following orders is important, too. This time, you told me to just watch.”

That made sense.

“And master, I don’t need your life force to catch small insects, but those guys are actually pretty strong. To deal with them, I’d have to drain your life force—and right now, that seems unwise.”

“Hmm… True.”

Whistle required Luca’s life force to use any significant power.

But at the moment, it wasn’t a good time for Luca to expend any.

Indeed, using that power now was risky.

“What did Whistle say?”

Ottbo asked, curiosity on his face.

Luca started to reply, then clicked his tongue and turned away.

“There are still remnants. They’re trying to escape in an auto-carriage.”

“What?”

Ottbo’s eyes sparkled in an instant.

Whether he noticed it or not, Luca replied flatly.

“I don’t know exactly where they’re headed, but we have to stop them. If they get away, it’ll be trouble.”

“Then let’s go fast!”

“Right, wa—what?”

Luca glanced at Ottbo, feeling a chill.

But already, Ottbo’s expression had changed.

“I’ll definitely catch up to them!”

“Ott…”

BUAAANG!

Suddenly, the engine roared.

At the same time, the auto-carriage surged forward at explosive speed.

“Master!”

“Bella! Stay seated!”

“Hahaha! There’s no way I’ll let them escape!”

Ottbo was driving with crazed eyes.

At this point, he didn’t care at all about scratches.

‘He’s really good at this.’

Ottbo swerved around obstacles at breakneck speed, never so much as grazing anything.

Luca, who normally never got carsick, now felt queasy at the wild ride—yet it was impressive there’d been no accident.

‘Bella’s hugs must have really helped.’

Though it was embarrassing to ride on Bella’s lap, her devotion was clearly the reason Luca wasn’t suffering or nauseous from the insane driving.

“All right! Even faster!”

“Even more…?”

With the road in sight, Ottbo added speed enthusiastically.

The mad dash he’d displayed on the first day—the driving was now even faster.

“We’ll repair it anyway! Who cares if the engine strains a bit?”

The first day, he’d at least tried not to strain the engine; now he pushed the auto-carriage to its absolute limit.

Vroom! VROOOOOM!

‘Lunatic.’

Luca was sweating cold.

He’d driven before, back in modern times.

He’d pushed up to 110kmph on the highway, and even then, he thought an accident at that speed could be fatal.

But the current speed was much faster.

“If I die, please let me serve you in my next life too, young master…”

“Don’t say ominous things, Bella.”

“Don’t worry, master. If there’s a crash, I’ll protect you with clouds.”

Luckily, there was a cloud airbag now, so even if an accident happened, they should be safe.

After several minutes, they finally spotted another auto-carriage in the distance.

“That’s… a big one.”

“A cargo auto-carriage?”

It was about three times bigger than a regular auto-carriage—comparable to a modern cargo truck.

SCREEECH!

“?!”

At that moment, the cargo auto-carriage abruptly turned sideways, blocking the road completely.

If they kept going, there would definitely be a crash.

“Ottbo!”

Luca shouted urgently, but Ottbo just grinned, strangely excited.

“Haha! I never crash!”

SKRRREEEECH!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep