Ch.142142. The Principle of Majority Rule

As rumors spread, becoming noticeable was unavoidable.

If Celia deliberately helped me hide, I could avoid it, but that would ruin our plan to stay one more night here and leave early tomorrow morning, forcing us to return to the academy.

Since the rumors were already overloaded with the appearance of the Holy Maiden, if she disappeared and nothing else happened, wouldn’t people quickly calm down thinking, “I don’t know what happened, but it’s already resolved!”?

But… I didn’t feel like it.

Though I’m not one to make or stick to plans well, today I wanted to follow the original schedule if possible.

Well, you know. I already skipped breakfast, so it feels wrong to leave like this.

“You could just eat the food in your inventory like we did yesterday.”

“Miss Lilith. Read the room.”

“What did I do?”

“Lilith… Ludion just wants to eat the same food again that we had yesterday.”

“…Oh.”

After Celia and Alkine revealed my true intentions, Lilith started looking at me with a strange expression.

Come on, I bought you dinner yesterday. Don’t look at me like that.

…Yes, fine. The fact that I skipped breakfast wasn’t actually a problem at all.

My inventory was already stocked with all kinds of processed foods and even several complete meals.

But… I wanted to experience that taste from yesterday one more time.

I felt this way especially because I didn’t think I’d come back to Ritten again.

‘If things get really annoying, I can run away then.’

Since I’d already decided that in my mind… I chose to just brazenly go out.

“Let’s decide by vote. Either we go eat and then return, or we starve all the way back to the academy, only to find the student cafeteria closed because it’s too late, and return to the dorms clutching our hungry stomachs.”

“But you have plenty of food in your inventory…”

Hey, Lilith. Read the room. What are you doing?

“I want to eat before going back.”

“Me too.”

But Lilith wasn’t the only one lacking awareness. The two people beside her gave answers that perfectly understood my intentions.

“See, favorability isn’t everything. Miss Lilith, you really don’t get it at all.”

“But feeling superior about something like this feels a bit… I never thought I’d feel this kind of superiority in my life.”

“What does it matter? Just take it positively as a good thing.”

“Is that okay?”

“Of course.”

I hadn’t intended for the conversation to continue or for their feelings to change, but anyway.

“According to majority rule, we’ve decided to eat before returning. Everyone, applause!”

“Yay~”

…Only Celia responds to things like this.

It’s unexpected. When the most introverted person responds this enthusiastically, I feel a bit sorry. Like I’m forcing her to do something she doesn’t want to.

If she didn’t like it, she wouldn’t do it. Let’s just think that way and move on.

Since the decision was made, there was no need to delay. We immediately headed to Belmont’s restaurant.

There, we encountered Belmont with an incredulous expression.

“What on earth did you do to cause all this commotion?”

He was so dumbfounded that he forgot his manners and formalities, asking questions before even greeting us.

“We don’t really know either.”

“…What?”

“I said we don’t really know either.”

But I didn’t know enough to answer such questions.

I had just finished my business and came out to find people in an uproar, and realized it was about us.

Celia, with her sharp hearing, seemed to have learned more… but she didn’t seem inclined to share.

So I honestly answered that I didn’t know… but he must have thought I was pretending not to know, because he approached with a more specific question.

“Do you know anything about the pillar of light that suddenly rose up?”

“Yes, I know about that.”

As soon as I heard talk about divine judgment or whatever, the only thing I could think of was Lilith’s flash bomb show.

It wouldn’t be strange if that intense light leaked outside in the form of a pillar of light.

So, I accepted responsibility for that part without making excuses.

After all, I was the one who encouraged Lilith to take action…

However, what came next was completely new to me.

“Then, what about how that pillar of light swallowed up the illegal business organization that’s been a recent headache?”

…Swallowed what?

I was speechless and couldn’t answer, but Belmont must have thought I was evading again, because he started pouring out information as if cornering me.

“Strange items have started circulating in Ritten recently. People have also been mysteriously disappearing. And as if to cover this up, false information has been spreading rampantly.”

“That sounds like a serious problem.”

“So you’re…! Huff… I apologize. I got a bit excited.”

I really didn’t know and just gave a casual response.

Of course, I didn’t want to think too hard and was waiting for the answer to come out.

From his perspective, it must be frustrating. I acknowledged my fault and decided to let his anger slide.

…So, stop glaring at him like that, Celia. You’re intimidating Belmont.

…Wait, it’s not just Celia? Why are you all angry together?

“You guys, take him and go over there.”

“Ludion?! Are you betraying me?”

“Mr. Belmont. One strawberry juice, one herbal tea, and coffee… something bitter for that table.”

I placed an order roughly matching their tastes and decided to separate them, and he accepted without even calculating the price, as if the taste of the awkward meal served by the princess was exceptional.

Fortunately, except for Celia, they maintained their composure and moved to another table at my request… only after separating the three women could I continue the conversation with him.

Perhaps because he had gotten excited earlier and been severely put in his place, Belmont, now overly calm, carefully opened his mouth again.

“Are you really going to keep pretending not to know?”

“I’ve never pretended not to know.”

“…Really. I don’t understand what benefit you gain from hiding this that makes you pretend not to know.”

I’m not hiding anything, I really don’t know. I really don’t know!

But in his common sense, it seemed impossible that I would know nothing about the current situation.

“The Elnos Association, will you still pretend not to know after hearing this name?”

Perhaps that’s why. He seemed to have decided to just directly confront me, as the name of the disappeared illegal business organization came out of his mouth.

From his position as someone who buys and sells information, he would have unconsciously avoided revealing it openly.

The fact that he went this far showed he truly believed I knew something and had acted on it.

I don’t know how he came to that conclusion… but I suppose he made what he thought was a reasonable judgment.

Well, putting that aside.

It was a name I knew.

How could I not? It was an organization from the original work.

The Elnos Association.

They’re very simple to explain.

If you brainstormed illegal business ideas and compared them to these guys, they’d all match.

That’s how much of a large-scale illegal organization they are, with octopus-like tentacles in all sorts of illegal businesses.

Most minor side quests or random encounter events involve them to the point where targeting them is usually correct.

Of course, with so many varieties, there are certainly trivial ones, but among them are those who illegally traffic forbidden books, buy and sell monsters, and conduct human experiments.

As the word “association” suggests, they’re a huge organization involved in many easy quests, and while most encounters are with their minions, their elite few are genuinely bad people.

Reflecting on what Belmont said earlier, it seems the recent troublesome illegal business organization was probably those elite few… I wanted to hear more explanation about that part.

I knew pretending to know would obviously be seen through, so I decided to just ask directly.

“What do you mean the pillar of light swallowed the Elnos Association?”

“No… I’ll ask you directly. What do you want?”

Belmont was now digging himself into a hole out of frustration.

He seemed convinced that I was pretending not to know because I wanted something from him.

I didn’t particularly want anything… oh, there was one thing.

“Then could I get a free meal?”

“…What?”

“Because of the situation this morning, I couldn’t eat breakfast. So I’m a bit hungry. I’d like to be treated to a meal.”

Since he already gave us free drinks. He could give us a free meal too, right?

It might seem a bit shameless, but based on what I’ve heard so far, it seems I’ve been quite helpful.

It’s okay to clear up the misunderstanding after getting a free meal, right?

“Right, guys?”

“Of course.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah.”

“What?”

Lilith still lacked awareness, but anyway, that’s what we decided to do.

The meal Belmont provided was delicious.