Gotham's Arsonist

Arkham Asylum.

Harley lay in her hospital bed, her makeup removed, gazing calmly at the ceiling.

"I finally realized he doesn't really care about me."

"He just needed someone to help him escape from Arkham Asylum."

"And that doesn't mean he has feelings for me."

"If he doesn't love me, then I shouldn't keep wasting my time."

"I should focus more on myself, get better and leave Arkham as soon as possible, and continue my studies and research."

"He isn't my whole world!"

Harley suddenly noticed a flower and a note on the table beside her. She had no idea when they had appeared.

"Oh! Puddin'!"

The church.

Roland returned to his room and lay down on the bed without even taking off his clothes, ready to try out today's haul.

[Current goodwill value: 344]

[Current redemption value: 1]

[Your goodwill value has reached 100. Would you like to draw?]

[Your redemption value has reached 1. Would you like to use it? Doing so will slightly increase the probability of obtaining a rare item in this draw.]

Roland thought for a moment, then decided to warm up with two draws without using his redemption value.

[One Pure Silver Cross]

[A stainless steel Crown of Thorns]

As expected, single pulls rarely worked miracles. Roland sighed and pinned his hopes on that one point of redemption value.

Roland spun the pointer on the wheel. After spinning for who knew how long, the slender pointer finally stopped on a glowing section.

"Jackpot!" Roland's eyes lit up.

[Caesar Gattuso's bloodline: A-rank mixed-blood]

Well... an A-rank mixed-blood. As far as strength went, they certainly were strong. Dragon blood gave mixed-bloods greater muscular strength, better agility, the ability to bend their bones at extreme angles, and greater regenerative abilities. Overall, compared to ordinary humans, mixed-bloods were stronger beings with more special abilities.

On the other hand, without a word spirit, an A-rank mixed-blood might not even be able to beat a polar bear.

"Boss... why have your eyes turned yellow?" One of his underlings suddenly entered Roland's room and was startled to see two glowing pupils in the darkness.

"They're colored contacts..." Roland said after a moment's thought, lighting the candle by his bed. "What did you suddenly come looking for me for? Don't tell me something else happened?"

"Something really has happened. You should come out and take a look."

Roland stepped outside and saw spots of red light coming from the direction of the city, as though something were on fire.

But it was too far away to make out clearly, and beyond the range of Kamaitachi's domain.

"What's going on?" Roland asked.

"Looks like a fire."

"What does a fire that far away have to do with us?" Roland asked, puzzled.

"All the buildings around here are wooden. If the fire spreads this way, this whole area is done for. If there really is a fire, we need to figure out how to get out of here now."

"It's that bad?" Roland froze. "Won't the Fire Department do anything?"

"Gotham's Fire Department isn't very efficient. Besides, we're not in the city center. Who knows if they'll even bother with us?"

"Then get ready to evacuate. I remember there's a river nearby. Have Jason take everyone there," Roland instructed. "As for me, I'll go check out the fire and see if I can save a few people."

"Got it!"

With that, Roland headed toward the fire, "borrowing" a van parked by the roadside along the way.

It was a skill he had learned from Jason: smash the window with an elbow, climb inside, pull out the wires, hot-wire the ignition, and drive off. With older cars, it worked practically every time.

As for a more modern approach... he certainly wasn't going to spend a few thousand dollars online buying a keyless relay device.

He raced the van to one of the fire sites. The blaze had already grown fierce, engulfing several residential buildings, but the firefighters still hadn't arrived.

"You really can't count on those firefighters..." Roland charged straight into the burning buildings and rescued two survivors.

[Goodwill value +100]

[Goodwill value +100]

"Thank you, Father. God must have sent you to save us," one survivor said to Roland. He was an old man whose beard had been singed to a crisp, making him look rather comical.

His gratitude was entirely sincere, and he turned a blind eye to the two gold chains of familiar design that had appeared in Roland's hands.

"What happened here?" Roland asked. "Where is everyone else?"

"The others probably got out already," the other, younger survivor said. "The old man's hard of hearing. He probably didn't hear anything when the fire started."

"What about you?"

"I'm a very heavy sleeper, so I didn't hear anything either. By the time the smoke woke me up, I was already trapped and couldn't get out. If you hadn't come to save me, I'd have found out what the most hopeless way to die felt like."

"No need to thank me. You two should hurry somewhere safe," Roland told them, then opened a fire hydrant, preparing to put out the fire.

But no water came out.

"Fuck!" Roland couldn't help swearing. "Who's in charge of this thing?"

"If I had to guess, the Water and Power Department and the Fire Department will end up passing the blame back and forth," Batman's voice came from behind Roland. "That's how corrupt and incompetent this city's administrators have become."

"Oh, you're here too." Roland turned and nodded at Batman. "...You're looking pretty filthy. I thought they were making a Black Batman."

Batman was covered in soot, and even his exposed chin had turned black.

"This isn't the only fire. I just came from another one," Batman said. "I suspect someone is setting them deliberately."

"That explains why the place reeked of gasoline. It really could be arson." Something occurred to Roland. "So, any brilliant ideas, detective?"

"No leads yet." Batman shook his head. "There haven't been any property losses at the fire sites... Wait, what's in your hands?"

"Nothing. Go on," Roland said, putting his hands behind his back.

"The targets include homes, factories, and schools. There's no apparent pattern."

"That's strange. Could someone just be lashing out at society?" Roland said after a moment's thought. Gotham City produced no shortage of exceptional talents, and the sheer weirdness of its criminals' motives was second only to Beika City's. There might well be someone like that here.

"If that's the case, tracking down the culprit through their motive will be difficult," Batman said, sounding troubled.

But by the following day, he knew exactly what the culprit's motive was.

The front page of Gotham City's newspaper featured photos of Batman at various fire sites, beneath the headline: "Gotham City's demon: Bat-Man, the crazed arsonist."