Chapter 44: The Terrorist (7)
“The suspect is about 3 rinits tall, quite slender. Male. I couldn’t see his hair because of the hat, but his eyes were a deep brown.”
As soon as Helena returned to the palace, she immediately convened a meeting again.
“Order the guards assigned to the main candidate areas to detain any man matching that description if he approaches.”
This would at least prevent the terrorist from approaching the bombs or relocating them to crowded areas.
The likelihood of accomplices was probably very low.
‘Those kinds of people prefer to work alone, and the higher-ups would want an easy scapegoat anyway.’
“What are today’s search results?”
“…We couldn’t find any bombs.”
Iago answered Helena’s question with a grim expression.
Two days left.
Almost the entire day had passed, leaving only two days until the date the terrorist had announced.
“Where did you search today?”
“We started with the square, then searched all the lockers at the train station. The search was slow because we had to move discreetly.”
“The only places left are… near the clock tower and the Royal Academy. Can we finish searching everything in two days?”
“We’ll try.”
Iago said calmly. It was tight, but possible.
“I just hope it’s not too late…”
“…”
“…”
Iago’s words, tinged with worry, cast a heavy silence over the meeting room.
Another day passed.
Today, Helena led seven bodyguards toward the clock tower.
Thanks to that, the search team was able to take more risks and speed up, covering the area thoroughly.
Still, no bombs were found.
Only one day remained.
By evening, none of those gathered in the meeting room looked healthy.
The elders, many of them old, had barely eaten or slept for two days, and looked almost like corpses.
The only one appearing unscathed was Iago.
Even he hadn’t slept or eaten properly for three days, but outwardly, he showed no signs of it.
The extremely anxious elders clung to him for reassurance.
“Your Majesty! What are we to do!”
“If… if we fail to find the bomb… Ugh!”
“Everyone, calm down.”
Iago maintained an astonishingly composed and steady demeanor.
It was to prevent the spreading panic among the ministers.
“We can still find it. Worrying now won’t solve anything.”
Yet when he returned to his room after the meeting, he reverted to being just Iago, not the Black King.
A human being, trembling with anxiety like everyone else.
And only Helena could witness and comfort him in those moments.
“It’s okay. It’s alright, Iago.”
Helena gently patted Iago’s back as he collapsed fully into her embrace.
“It’s okay. We’ll find it before the announced time. Trust me—I’m a priestess.”
“Helena… if people get hurt, or… if someone dies…”
The large, solid body pressed against her trembled faintly.
Helena held him tighter to transfer her warmth, whispering just as he had once whispered to her:
“It’s okay. Everything… will be fine.”
Finally, the day the culprit had announced arrived.
The only place left was the Academy in the capital.
One relief was that it was a weekend, so few students were on campus.
Since they didn’t need to attract attention, Helena stayed in the operational meeting room, not outside the palace.
The atmosphere in the room had shifted from anxiety to near despair.
“Speed up the search. Forget about being discreet today and focus on moving fast!”
Iago, who hadn’t slept for four days, issued the order loudly into the comms.
The elders, pale as corpses, muttered prayers to the gods.
Instead of praying, Helena focused, thinking relentlessly.
“The Academy… the only place left is the Academy…”
But the terrorist would surely know it was a weekend too.
Would they really have placed the bomb on the Academy grounds?
Helena rested her forehead on the table, trying to loosen the stiffness caused by anxiety.
“If I were the culprit… think. Think. I have to think…”
Iago was brilliant, but absurdly kind.
He couldn’t even comprehend the culprit’s motives, much less read their mind.
No one in the room could.
Good people who cannot understand evil.
So Helena had to figure it out herself.
“A psycho like that… would naturally want to create chaos at the moment when people are most excited and active.”
But would they really place a bomb on a nearly empty campus on a weekend?
“Where do the most people gather on a weekend?”
A voice answered her question as she pressed her forehead to the table.
“On weekends… probably the square.”
“The square?”
Another voice replied, head lowered, identity unclear.
“Yes. Because the market is held there every weekend.”
“But the square is open. There’s no place to hide a bomb. We searched there first.”
‘The market… coinciding with the date the bomb is set to go off?’
The square she had seen on the first day was a broad area with paved tiles, with only a giant fountain in the center.
As the minister said, there wasn’t much space to hide a bomb.
“We’ve already searched the fountain and the temple next to it. No bombs.”
Iago’s voice came over the table.
‘The detector can search a radius of 3 meters… 3 meters…’
Think from the culprit’s perspective. Where would I hide a bomb? From their perspective… 3 meters…
Helena, repeating it in her mind, suddenly opened her eyes and sprang upright.
“Iago.”
She called his name in front of everyone, though no one was focused on such a trivial detail now.
“Hm?”
“Has there been any recent waterworks near the square?”
“…What?”
“Oh! I know about that. Yes, there was!”
An elder, supposedly the Minister of Urban Environment, shouted from his seat.
“About a month ago, there was a leak at the temple, so we repaired the underground water pipes. Part of the square had to be dug up too.”
“How deep are the pipes buried?”
“Ah, to prepare for potential earthquakes, the law requires at least 5 meters underground…”
The minister’s detailed explanation stopped abruptly.
“If it’s regulated by law, the culprit surely knows this too.”
A collective realization lit up everyone’s minds.
“Of course! Then it’s the water pipes?”
Gesturing to the excited crowd, Helena spoke calmly and sharply.
“It would have been difficult to secretly dig the ground in a busy area and place the bomb. The most likely location is somewhere under the square, inside the water pipes.”
“If it’s under the square, the pipes connect to the temple basement! Enter there and you can quickly find it!”
The excited elder explained, spittle flying as he spoke.
“There’s not much time. Immediately send the soldiers at the Academy who are skilled in bomb disposal to the temple!”
Iago ordered promptly, and several ministers responsible for the military rushed out to relay the orders.
Only about two hours remained until the bomb’s scheduled time.
Time was critical.
“…How long to reach the temple from the Academy?”
“Fortunately, the Academy has teleportation!”
“Perfect!!”
“Now! We can save people!”
A cheer erupted among the previously despairing elders.
But Helena, still expressionless and deep in thought, spoke suddenly.
“It’s still too early to be relieved. Just in case… I—”
“You, the priestess…?”
She looked calmly at the astonished elders.
“I’ll be standing in the square.”
“What?”
All other ministers’ shouts were drowned out by Iago’s roar.
Even against the thunderous sound filling the room, Helena did not flinch, gazing up at Iago.
He growled at her in a deep, menacing tone.
“That’s too dangerous. I can’t allow it, Helena.”
His uncharacteristically fierce tone wasn’t just because the ministers were watching.
Yet Helena remained calm and expressionless.
“I won’t be relieved until the bomb is found. Whether it’s divine wrath or witches, what they want… is me.”
“Probably alive. Not me shattered by the bomb.”
“…!”
“P-priestess!”
Her indifferent tone made some terrified elders clutch their hearts.
Some more fragile elders even wiped away tears, shouting:
“Please, don’t say such horrible things!”
“How can you speak of the priestess dying!”
“That’s why I’ll stand in the square.”
“Absolutely not… If you can get out of this room, try it and see.”
His voice lowered dangerously, eyes fixed on her like a predator about to strike.
Though he didn’t intend to intimidate, his sheer size made him incredibly threatening.
