"Extra! Extra! The Inlet Sea Fleet crushed the Feysac navy! Captured enemy commander killed himself out of fear of punishment!"
Stepping out of Saint Samuel Cathedral beneath the unusually fierce sun, Leonard was about to take a carriage to inspect the church in the East Borough when he heard the newsboy's cries. He took out a coin with his red-gloved hand, stopped the boy, and bought a special edition of the Backlund Morning News.
He boarded the carriage and shut the doors and windows before unfolding the newspaper. Turning past the front-page denunciation of the Feysac Empire, he looked at the battle report on the second page.
"...A major naval victory off the coast of Conston last night, destroying over half of Feysac's Inlet Sea Fleet, along with a general named Einhorn... New weapons intercepted every shell, ensuring that not a single civilian shed a tear... Hah, most of this is probably exaggerated. Even the rest should be thanks to Conston's Nighthawks or Mandated Punishers..."
A moment later, Leonard folded the newspaper and set it aside, muttering under his breath with a sneer.
He certainly didn't believe the Loen military, which had accomplished nothing during last week's air raid, had suddenly invented some new weapon. The interception of every shell aimed at the city was most likely the work of official Beyonders protecting civilians.
As it happened, a Red Gloves team had left Backlund yesterday to retrieve two important Sealed Artifacts from Conston. One was a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact which, if used properly in cooperation with the local Archbishop and other Nighthawks, or in a joint operation with the Mandated Punishers, would be enough to defend against the bombardment of Conston.
But Leonard knew the Red Gloves' rules. Unless the Feysac navy directly attacked the church and its surroundings,