episode_0190

CLXXXII.

The capital of the Clitean Empire, the Rodwell Upper Headquarters in Hubble.

The upper area, consisting of a total of five floors, was already guarded like an iron wall by the knights and priests of the Caligo Order.

Even those who were loitering from afar had to be caught and investigated if they seemed even a little suspicious.

The Order of Caligo even accepted Shadow’s help on rare occasions, as they could have been the ones responsible for such heinous crimes as the attempted assassination of the Pope and the attempted assassination of the candidates.

Three carriages approached the upper building of the Rodwell.

In the previous case, the carriage would have been stopped before it even got close, but for some reason, this carriage was heading towards the upper building under the escort of the knights.

The carriage door opens and a middle-aged woman and an elderly man get out one after another.

And then, men and women of all kinds got off the carriage that arrived and looked up at the upper building.

“Welcome. Professor Jessica. Professor Frank.”

The knight who approached the woman and the old man who got off first bowed his head and greeted them politely.

As you can guess from the title ‘professor’, they are professors at Evergreen Academy.

And above all, the names of the two people are not unfamiliar.

“I am now the representative of the top secret.”

Because she is the unknown real owner of the Secret Top.

Considering that the Secret Merchantship was one of the companies that had been ‘lightly’ pressuring the economies of the two empires at the direction of Vice-Provost Fletcher after denouncing the empire in the faculty conference room when the truth about the plague ‘Lost’ was revealed, you can guess where her position is.

The light pressure at that time pushed the largest wealthy merchant in Clifton out of the top 20, and the merchant directly under the imperial family went bankrupt with a huge deficit.

“I also came as a representative of the top of Hundred.”

Professor Frank was also one of the owners of the upper class who led the light economic pressure at that time.

Why did the two monsters hiding in Evergreen come to this place?

“Huh? You’re here? Come in.”

It was because of the request for support from Pope Judas. To be exact, Pope Judas requested support from Shadow, and Shadow found the most suitable person.

That’s what happens when you’re on the same side.

Guided by Pope Judas, the two professors, or rather, the representatives of the upper class, and the merchants entered a room the size of a classroom, which was filled with a mountain of books that filled half of the room.

Pope Judas felt sorry when he saw it. That’s why he couldn’t easily say that he was asking for it.

“Huh? Look at this?”

Representative Jessica picked up a nearby booklet, flipped through a few pages, and squinted as if she had seen a dirty picture.

“Huh? One costs 2 gold, but if you buy all four, it’s 10 gold? What’s the calculation?”

“It’s trash.”

Professor Frank, who was watching from the side, also picked up a book, flipped through a few pages, and then suddenly tore out a few pages and threw the rest on the floor, giving this assessment.

“That’s sloppy.”

“rough.”

“It’s messy.”

“Rough.”

The two quickly flipped through the book, evaluating the accounting data and organizing the main items clearly at a glance.

And only then did the merchants behind them rush in and look at the booklets,

“How did these kids run the top?”

“There are people who do this kind of business? What are they doing?”

He began to offer evaluations similar to those of his own representative.

How much time has passed like that?

Suddenly, one of the upper-level staff members sticks a piece of paper in the middle of a wall in a wide room and writes something in large letters on it.

The paper that the employee showed as he stepped aside read,

[Top of Rodwell]

The words were written on it.

And while listening to the unintelligible words being uttered by the merchants around him, the employee attached to the wall began to stick papers in all directions and connect the names written on each paper with strings of various colors.

After about half a day had passed.

All the books piled up in the room went into the magic pouch.

Instead of the room where the books disappeared,

“That’s amazing.”

A detailed character chart that would have impressed Pope Judas took up an entire wall, consisting of figures associated with the Lordwell family.

“Let me explain briefly.”

Representative Jessica started to act like this as she approached Pope Judas.

“Here, the relationship connected by the red thread is not a simple relationship of interest. It means a relationship closer than intimacy.”

“Can you tell me that too?”

“Because a merchant’s money speaks volumes. Unless there is something more than profit or transaction involved, there can be no such absurd, one-sided flow of funds.”

“Huh?”

Pope Judas was the first to express his heartfelt admiration for these merchants.

“The relationships connected by the yellow thread were those who Rodwell unilaterally helped. They look similar to the red ones, but these yellow owners are thought to be targets of recruitment.”

Target of inclusion.

When told that he was a target of scouting, Pope Judas listened to the explanation with a serious expression again.

“It’s not just about handing out money, but the records show that the exact amount and support was provided at the right time.”

Professor Jessica concluded her explanation of the character relationship chart by explaining that green represents simple interests and blue represents a kind of oiling.

“Wow… That’s great. You’ve worked hard.”

Pope Judas was slowly looking at the character relationship chart drawn on the wall as if he was looking at a work of art, with a look of admiration.

“Come down and see.”

In response to Pope Judas’s unexpected words, Shadow, who had once said the famous line, “A retard is retard,” which he had seen at the palace, appears.

“Did you hear the explanation?”

– yes.

“Why are you there? Go and catch him quickly.”

– If this continues, I too will become a member of the Caligo Church.

“That’s not bad either.”

– Is it bad on my part?

“Go get him. If you don’t want to have lunch in a cramped room with the heretic judge.”

– I’ll be back quickly!

◈

The Pope of Judas’s unhesitating request for support and the Evergreen Academy’s cooperation, which seemed to have been waiting for it, went far beyond the expectations of the demon followers, including Nitas.

With Jessica and Professor Frank proving with their abilities that they are not called professors in the continent’s best institution for nothing, a full-scale search for the place that received support from the top of Rodwell began.

Search crews were able to storm the suspected location before word reached the top of the Rodwell, let alone give them time to prepare.

It had been less than 18 hours since the Lordwells had discovered that they were followers of the Demon Tribe.

Surprisingly, several candidates other than Gray participated in this search and arrest operation.

The 25th candidate, Sword Mage, Phoebe Noah.

Candidate 31, Shingung, Katniss Everdeen.

These two candidates were traveling with two superhumans from the Cradle of the Unmanned, with the support of a paladin and a priest.

Northeast of the Alfonso Empire, bordering the Cocytus Mountains and the Kingdom of Nuvernia.

At the foot of the mountain range, an old and shabby village that at first glance looked like a slash-and-burn farm village was barely visible, and I stopped and waited.

“What do you see?”

In response to the question of the superhuman Divine Bow, Katniss, a candidate with the same title, stared into the village for a long time.

“First of all… . There are too few people. Judging from the size of the village, including the fence, it is larger than a typical village, but there are too few people moving around or moving. And… .”

“And?”

“The people over there, their gait is not like that of an ordinary person. The stride, the degree to which they touch the ground, even the count. They must be at least expert level or higher.”

Katniss is amazing at being able to see the size of the entire town from a distance, and even the depth of the footprints her feet leave on the ground.

“And?”

As if that weren’t enough, the divine bow that says and is also amazing.

“What they’re saying seems strange.”

Can you see the horse?

That’s a description that only rangers who have reached the realm of skill can make.

I see the horse.

It was a lip-reading technique.

“What is it?”

“Um… …. I don’t know. As if it’s not a continental language. Words like ‘sacrifice’ or ‘offering’ often come up.”

“No more?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll give you 95 points for now.”

That’s a pretty high score.

So when a surprised Katniss turned to the Shrine with an ‘Oh?’ expression,

“Out of 285 points.”

The shrine calls a useless mediocre score a perfect score.

“Is it time to start seeing the flow of divine power? It’s slower than I thought?”

This is why hitting with facts is so fatal. You can’t refute it.

“They are oozing with magical energy. Well, they are probably in a remote place like this because they can’t control their magical energy.”

Whether or not the other party was injured, the divine bow was busy explaining the situation in the village.

“Hmm. And the most obvious, yet important, thing is missing.”

“What do you mean?”

Was it because it was a fact? The tone coming out of Katniss’s mouth was sharp.

“In a village like that, there should be a child. I don’t see a single child, right?”

“Ah… … !”

Right now, the Divine Bow was scolding Katniss, but was also educating her, even if it was in a sarcastic and polite tone.

I see.

When the superhuman Shin-Gung asked, “What do you see?”, he meant to ask if he found anything that felt strange in that village.

It was only after hearing the Shrine’s rebuke that Katniss realized that she wasn’t simply supposed to brag about how “I can see from this far away!”

The education at the shrine has always been like this.

When Katniss does something, she ‘questions’ why she does it, wants to hear Katniss’s answer, and then wants to try again.

It is a method that allows you to find the answers yourself.

Of course, in the process, sarcastic or belittling speech can make you feel deeply annoyed.

“I’m sorry.”

As she apologized for her mistake, Katniss looked at the shrine with admiration again.

At first, I didn’t agree with Gray’s words that he should not ignore superhumans while refusing his request. Although I acknowledged that they had reached the highest level of superhumans, their behavior that I had heard through rumors over the years made me tilt my head.

Did you think it was stuffy and stupid?

Rather than them, he thought it would be better to learn from Gray, who had fought with demons at a similar level as himself.

That’s why I asked Gray to spar with me.

But not anymore.

If she were to go back in time to the time when she asked Gray to spar with her, she would ask her to introduce her to a superhuman, not to spar with him.

And I’ll hit the back of your head with a stupid thought from your past self.

“You’ve chosen a weapon as troublesome as a bow, so don’t miss it. Even the small ones. That habit will save your life someday.”

There comes a day when Katniss comes to keenly realize this warning.

“Are you finished now?”

One of the only people the shrine treated with respect accompanied him.

“Yes, Mr. Muheo.”

“Then shall we start this side too?”

As I said, “Shall we start without a permit?” I looked over and saw the 25th candidate, Phoebe Noah, nodding vigorously while checking the hair tie she had tied on both sides.

“Yes.”

“Then. Let’s move first.”

With those words, Muheo disappeared from that spot. Not only that, but Phoebe, who was next to him, also disappeared in a similar, if slightly crude, form to Muheo.