When Randy returns with Theo on his back, he thinks he'll be the last.

Not only did he have to carry Theo on his back on the mountain path, but he couldn't walk too fast, lest Theo wake up from his jolting. In addition, on the way back, Randy also went to the department store in the central square and bought a pillow with Missy printed on it.

All of this adds up, and Randy thinks that his group will be the last to return.

But in fact it is not.

The presence of people except for Yuki Tatsumi and the two guerrillas meant that they were definitely the last group.

As agreed, they met at the guerrilla association.

Everyone had a gloomy look on their faces, and it seemed that the various groups were not going well.

After a brief report to Michelle, Randy struggled for a long time about the demon, and finally decided to say it. After all, being ridiculed is a small matter, and it would be too bad if someone attacked Crossbell with a demon and had no defense on his side.

As for Theo, Randy temporarily placed her on the second floor of the guild. This little girl is so tired that she should be allowed to sleep for a while.

Just as Randy was about to go downstairs, a voice came from downstairs, and it seemed that Yu-Tatsumi's group had returned.

――――――――――――――――

"It's great that everyone is safe."

After the exchange of information, Michelle folded her hands and said in a feminine voice. He was happy for a few people from the bottom of his heart.

"You're amazing."

Seeing the low level of the crowd, Arios rarely praised the crowd.

It's just that what everyone has seen and heard can't make them feel at ease to accept this praise.

"So, let's summarize the information. It's not a way to always be sad. ”

Michelle saw that the atmosphere was gradually solemn, and quickly began to lead the topic. Lloyd, Ellie, and Yuu Tatsumi took out their police notes, and Aeolia and Joshua took out their guerrilla manuals to record.

"What I want to discuss the most is really a demon."

Michelle sighed as she spoke.

It's easy to say if it's an ordinary monster, but if it's a demon, the meaning is different, it's a creature that only exists in legends and church books.

"According to your descriptions, there are three demons that have been discovered, located in the north and south of the city, and in the east of the city. Moreover, they all have one thing in common. ”

"It all happened because the magic array was destroyed. That's it. Lloyd said as he recorded. This is an important question.

"Well, that's right. Since there is a magic array, then someone must have arranged the magic array in advance, so, who is it and for what purpose? Michelle nodded affirmatively, and then threw two questions in a row.

The crowd was silent.

"It's okay everyone, just talk your mind. Tell me what you can think of and try to analyze it. ”

Michelle encouraged.

After all, there are too few clues now, in this case, list a variety of possibilities, and then filter out the unlikely, and use the remaining possibilities as alternative answers. This can more or less have some ideas.

Hearing Michelle say this, Estelle frowned, pouted, and said a little angrily: "I think it was the Carrummen who made it themselves, and they were promoting their nasty weapons." ”

"Oh? Quite an interesting idea. Is that really the case, though? ”

Michelle nodded amusefully and looked at Lloyd. Lloyd was stunned and smiled embarrassedly.

It turned out that Michelle saw it?

Lloyd sorted out his thoughts a little and retorted, "No, I think it's very unlikely. ”

"Huh?"

Estelle was a little surprised, she thought her guess was the real thing.

"First of all, the location is too remote, and if it is their self-directed and self-acting publicity, then it should be in the city of Crossbell." Lloyd calmly expressed his opinion.

"But wouldn't that be easy to spot? If someone finds out that they directed and acted themselves, everyone won't buy it, right? In order to conceal it, that's why they set up a magic array outside the city. You see, didn't they still agree that everyone would follow with their weapons? ”

Stepelle immediately spoke her mind, with a serious expression.

Although Estelle is not as thoughtful and agile as Joshua, she is also a regular guerrilla who has come all the way from Libel's mutation, and her observation skills are not too bad. She was quite confident in her conclusions.

Lloyd shook his head and continued to explain, "That's the second point. Although some residents were involved in the operation, the Karumon Consortium found a reason to send the civilians back before they could defeat the demons. If it's propaganda, it doesn't make sense. ”

"Uh......h That's what I said......"

Estelle pouted dissatisfied, a little disappointed. It was only after Lloyd remembered that it was true that the four routes had dismissed civilians before they could start searching for demons.

"And most importantly. If they really want to advertise their weapons, then they should use their weapons to fight demons. ”

Lloyd's idea was clearer. After all, it is necessary for those who are qualified as investigators, and both logic and reasoning must be elective.

"Ahh Speaking of which, the main people who fought were Arras, Mussel and Lancet, not the Carumen consortium! ”

Estelle suddenly realized.

"Arras is using that great sword. It's not technical, it's just an ordinary iron sword - an iron sword one size bigger. ”

Randy adds to Arras's weapon. Not only had he seen Arras fight the demons with his own eyes, but before that, he had personally confronted Arras's greatsword.

"Mussel's weapon is a guiding spear, but it is said to be a weapon in development, and it seems that it has not yet been mass-produced."

Lloyd also introduced Mussel's weapons to the crowd. Now, he'd woken up from the superior lethality of the Guiding Spear.

It was just a demonstration. If the Guiding Spear could just give off that power casually and without side effects, then there was no reason to be so polite to Crossbell.

Maybe it's damage to the user, maybe it's energy, maybe it's something else, in short, there's a limit to the superior destructive power of the Guiding Spear. It's impossible to use them endlessly, and in poker terms, hole cards.

Wait, why should I explain in poker terms? It must be Randy's fault......

"I'm too lazy to say anything about Lancet, although that guy has a gun, he uses it as a cold weapon at all."

You's voice was a little resentful, and at the mention of that name, he felt a dull pain in his stomach.

Michelle nodded, and said, "In other words, not only was it not the Karuman consortium that did it, but their goal was not to advertise their weapons - right?" So, does Lloyd-kun have any ideas? I'm optimistic about you! ”

Asked by Michelle, Lloyd nodded and said, "My thoughts are a little different, change your thinking, what if this operation is not led by the Karuman consortium?" ”

Everyone showed expressions of incomprehension, but Yuu Tatsumi and Michelle had funny expressions. The Sword of the Wind Saint Arios has always remained serious and has not changed his demeanor.

"In other words, it's not 'the Karumon Foundation is going to take the initiative to crusade against the demons,' but the idea of 'the Karuman Foundation knows something, so it has to go to the demons'. And the Demon Beast Cleanup is just an excuse for them to openly exterminate the demons. ”

"Oooh! That's amazing, Lloyd! I don't really understand, but it seems to be true to hear you say that! ”

Estelle looked at Lloyd with adoration.

Lloyd's expression was a little subtle when he heard her say this. You didn't understand it, but you think I'm right, and I'm not happy at all.

Lin also had a thoughtful expression, hearing Lloyd say this, it seemed that this was really the case.

Regardless of who set up the summoning array, in short, the Karumon consortium knew, and then they wanted to exterminate the demons, and the exposure of the demonic beast infringement incident just became their excuse. That makes sense.

"Well, I'm a little disagreeable." Joshua raised his hand as if a Sunday school student were speaking. But before anyone answered, he continued: "If it is according to Lloyd, then they should strictly prohibit civilians from participating." Why are they asking for trouble? Judging from the results, they did disperse the civilians before exterminating the demonic beasts. ”

"This ...... Probably to promote your own weapons by the way, right? ”

"Presumably to give us an excuse to act."

At the same time, two voices.

Lloyd believes that the Karuman consortium is an arms dealer after all, and it should be using this operation to promote its weapons by the way.

Yuki Tatsumi proposes a completely different perspective.

"Let's have an excuse to act?"

Lin tilted his head, and his purple hair fluttered suspiciously.

"Hmm. In other words, Karumon not only knew about the existence of demons, but the existence of this demon made him have to exterminate them. And this process, Karuman wants us to know. The support section is left alone, but the guerrillas' principle is to protect the civilians, and after knowing the bad qualities of the Karumun Foundation, I heard that they actually led civilians to fight, and they would definitely let the guerrillas get in. ”

Yu Tatsumi said his analysis. Perhaps because of the different experiences, Yuki Tatsumi always thinks about conspiracy theories when thinking about problems. However, when he said it, it seemed to make some sense.

"But what can we do when we know that?"

It was Aioria who asked the question.

This beautiful girl with rich medical knowledge reacts quickly in the field of thinking, after all, many toxins are instantaneous, if you want to neutralize the toxin, you must react to what kind of poison this is the first time, and what herbs are needed to neutralize it, and where should this herb be picked Have you a backup. It all requires flexible thinking.

Yuki Tatsumi nodded, as if he was sure that Aioria would be able to ask the question.

"Nothing can be done."

"Huh?"

"Accurately, they just want us to 'not be able to do anything.'" Therefore, the Karumun Foundation first lured us over with civilians, then showed the high performance of the weapons and the tacit cooperation between the combatants, and then let us see the strength of the three bodyguards at the peak of the Karumun Foundation's force. And the purpose of this series is to make us retreat and ignore their actions. At least before stopping them, they will first think about whether it is necessary to make so much effort to stop them, and then, they continue to say that they actually have no intention of harming civilians, and they are also hinting to us that we should not trouble them if we have nothing to do. ”

Listening to Yu Tatsumi's analysis, Lloyd subconsciously nodded in agreement. And for people like Lin and Estelle and Randy, who are not very good at thinking, this kind of tirade will only give them a headache. Now they feel that they can't keep up with Tatsumi's train of thought.

Lloyd thought about it carefully for a moment and asked rhetorically: "So, that is to say, there is a force that has set up a demon summoning array in advance, and this force has a holiday with the Karumon Foundation, and the Karumon Foundation has designed us to see the battle between the Karumon Foundation and the demons in order to prevent the police and guerrillas from interfering." Is that so? ”

"Yes. That's my speculation. ”

Yuki Tatsumi nodded and stopped talking. He's already said everything he can think of.

"Moreover, the combat effectiveness of this unknown force must be so strong that the Karuman Consortium has no spare strength to deal with the Guerrilla Association while fighting them, so it will carefully design such a play, so that we are afraid of their force." Joshua added some details of his estimates, and by and large, he agreed with Yu-Tatsumi's analysis.

However, a group suddenly appeared in Joshua's heart: the Snake of Body-Eater. However, he didn't say it, this mysterious organization has no way to investigate at all, there is no need to add to the chaos, and when everyone disperses, he is ready to talk to Michelle alone about this possibility.

"I see. It's a really novel angle. Let's write both of them into the notes as possibilities, You Jun and Lloyd Jun, just join us in You ......"

"Sorry for the refusal."

You and Lloyd smirked very synchronously and rejected Michelle's offer.

"Wow...... It's a neat voice. So, is there anyone else who wants to give an opinion? If not, skip to the next question? ”

Michelle's question was not answered, and it seemed that both accepted You's and Lloyd's statements. Or maybe there's no insight.

"Then, the next thing to talk about is the performance of weapons. What do you think? ”

"Very strong. The firepower is at least five times more than that of the garrison. ”

Lloyd had been exposed to the armed forces of the garrison in the police academy, and he was well aware of the difference between the two. As for five times, it's just a superficial statement. When it comes to really fighting, I'm afraid there will be a gap of ten times or even higher.

"If I were given it, I would have annihilated even an army of a thousand men unscathed - without thinking about supplies."

Yu Ze illustrates the ferocity of the Karumun Consortium's weapons in another way.

With his kamikaze speed and unpredictable concealment, it was indeed possible to annihilate an army of a thousand men with a heavy machine gun.

"Far beyond the performance of conventional weapons, not only is it more powerful, but the recoil and overall weight are greatly reduced, and it is easy to get started."

Randy speaks his mind, unexpectedly professional.

Lloyd looked at Randy with some surprise, originally thought that Randy was just a person with considerable strength and fun, but he didn't expect to be unexpectedly experienced in weapons. No, Randy was originally on the garrison, so it's normal to have common sense of weapons.

"Huh? That's a really high evaluation. The Karumon Consortium ...... Tut-tut......"

Michelle sighed meaninglessly.

Several people continued to discuss the information they had gathered, and outside the door, it was getting dark.