The Strongest Gun Magus: I Cast Bullet!-Chapter 95: Snow Storm in Summer

"Amelia? Oh, you finally replied! Look, I feel like you should share a little more of your plans with me... Or a LOT more!"

"Are you sure, Reynard?" Amelia asked innocently. "You seem to understand them perfectly well on your own. For your age, you have the perceptiveness of a much older person..."

"Yes, I know. But look, I’m doing a lot for you, at least don’t keep me and Mari guessing in all this! Seriously..."

Amelia chuckled and rubbed her chest. A bittersweet feeling was spreading there at Reynard’s words.

Her entire life, since her mother told her that she was a bastard (but still rightful!) heiress to the Gelum bloodline, she was lying and manipulating. First, to hide her true name while getting access to Loremaster of Frost’s legacy. Then, to establish Children of the Frost and plant the seeds for the future overthrowing of the Orders of Winter and Snow.

She had long stopped feeling bad about anything she did on her path.

But Reynard was different from most of the people Amelia tricked. She could see that he knew he was being manipulated... But still helped her. Somehow, this made Amelia feel worse about herself. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Attraction was something she knew and used often, but love? That was a strange beast.

"Forgive me, Reynard. It’s a force of habit," Amelia said with sincere sincerity. "If I were to put it broadly, the plan is to let the Orders of Snow and Winter thoroughly weaken each other with full-out fighting. Ideally, both magisters have to be severely injured or even dead. Then our forces will perform a sudden double attack from the outside and the inside. The outside forces are mostly mercenaries hired by nobles and armed with guns. The inside force is Children of the Frost—they will suddenly turn on their former orders on my signal."

"I see... So the orders blame each other, as everybody guessed they would. It’s hard to believe they are so blind, but from their point of view, things must look very different from ours..."

"Yes. They are blinded by their arrogance and hatred of each other."

"So I guess Mari and I should continue guarding the mayor and attack when everybody else does," Reynard concluded. "Speaking of the mayor, did you organise an attack on him?"

Amelia smiled widely.

"Yes. Originally, he was supposed to become a martyr for other nobles and merchants to unite around. But he performs his role alive just as well, and for the sake of order in the rebel forces, it would be better for him to stay this way."

"Thought so... What about the weapons? Do you have enough to resell to the rebels?"

"It should be. There are also some other artifacts I have armed my people with, but they are much weaker than yours. But you should prepare more ammunition for yourself. By my information, the combat action is going to happen tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow—huh?!"

"The first phase. Oh, but I have to prepare myself, so I can’t speak with you for long." Amelia sighed genuinely. "Don’t worry. Soon, you will stand next to me in the open as a venerated hero. And what a sight that would be... Don’t you agree?"

"Being a venerated hero isn’t necessary, but it would be nice if you held my hand... See you soon, Amelia."

A soft smile appeared on Amelia’s face as the Repeating Bird’s glow went out. She hid the artifact again and began preparing herself for the approaching battle. After all, she would be in the front rows.

***

The next morning started with a blizzard the likes of which Darland had rarely seen. Especially in summer.

The sky was clouded by thick clouds, and howling wind carried hundreds of razor-sharp ice shards.

Two armies of magi that planned to attack each other met at Darland’s market square, and the entire city became a part of the battleground. So many frost spells were used that Darland plunged into winter for a day.

Citizens were fleeing in fear from the city or cowering inside their houses. Many of them were warned, but still, there was a large crowd of people leaving through every gate right now.

Reynard had to give the mayor and the city watch their due—the guards were ready for this situation, and acted in an organized and efficient manner, preventing stampedes.

Reynard and Marien watched all this from a hill outside the city. Near them were a thousand soldiers and two hundred magi. Each of them was carrying a single revolver or several front-loaded pistols, and the strongest of them was at the Final Cycle Nigredo stage.

They have marched to this place from the noble estates outside the city, and now they are waiting for the signal. They watched the distant fighting with uneasy expressions on their faces.

And the mayor was here as well, leading them alongside a few other nobles. Most of them preferred to stay safely away, though.

"We will wait until the fighting grows weaker and the streets become emptier. Then, we will strike," the mayor said, looking at the people going down the road.

Many of them stopped just outside the city gates, making their temporary tent camps there. Others went farther away.

Some saw the mayor’s forces and tried to speak with him, but were told to stay away by soldiers.

"I wish I were there right now... Any Fire Affinity magi out there are going to have such a boost to their mana..." Marien sighed. "Or die. But that’s not going to happen to us, of course."

Reynard squinted, trying to see over the city wall. From this distance, all he could make out were flashes of especially large mana blasts.

"I wonder which Magister comes out on top. Both of them are Citrinito-stage magi... I don’t even know what a magus at this stage can do, besides being generally ten times stronger than any Albedo magus," Reynard said quietly enough that only Marien could hear him. "But don’t tell that to other magi. They are already scared enough..."

He hoped they wouldn’t run away until they shot every bullet they had in the direction of the enemies.