Kujou doubted his own perception, wondering if it was some kind of joke.
“A third party with good intentions. Today, I’ve come with the Labyrinth Agency staff to help you.”
The Salaryman, pushing up his glasses, calmly told Kujou and the others.
“…The very person who set the trap?”
Kujou was speechless at the sheer absurdity of it, and then—his whole body grew hot.
“Don’t screw with me.” Of all people.
The very person who put them in this situation was standing before them, so brazenly, pretending to be a good person…!
“Don’t fuck with me…!”
Hazaki next to him also erupted, glaring as if he were about to pounce.
Kujou instinctively reached for his sword, but—
“…!”
He barely managed to suppress his surging emotions with reason.
“…Calm down. Don’t fall for cheap provocations.”
If he acted now, the Labyrinth Agency staff next to them would get a completely bad impression.
That would be bad.
Suppressing his raging emotions, Kujou wiped away sweat, telling himself he was calm.
“Listen. It’s true we sent out a distress signal. But the reason for that is that Suit Man over there. He set us up. He set a trap in the Dungeon, locked us in, and then came to rescue us pretending to be a good person. There’s no way such inhumanity can be allowed, right?”
What Kujou needed to appeal to was—the Labyrinth Agency staff.
If there were fair and impartial people as third parties, Kujou’s righteousness should be properly proven—
Then, the Salaryman raised his hand smoothly.
“Excuse me, but do you have any evidence? How about the Recorder?”
“There’s no need to submit our Recorders. If you look at your Recorder, your activity history will be there, right? Or is there some reason you can’t show your Recorder?”
He didn’t know what kind of trick they used to deceive him.
But if they checked his Recorder, they should be able to expose any cheating—
“I’m sorry. Our Recorders malfunctioned just now. It seems they broke down when they were jammed by a Recorder Break.”
“Huh…?”
“What?”
The black-suited men frowned. That couldn’t be.
Certainly, Kujou and the others had activated a Recorder Break earlier. But that was just a jammer to block live communication with the outside, it didn’t have a function to destroy the Recorder itself.
“…Do you think such an excuse will work?”
“Then, would you mind showing us your Recorders? We passed through this place earlier as well, and if we were caught in the same jammer, some kind of error should be displayed.”
Kujou was at a loss for words.
Kujou’s Recorders weren’t broken, but… the footage from that time wasn’t there.
No idiot would leave evidence on their own Recorder of the moment they attacked.
But if that were the case… in the end, there would be no footage from either side…
“Hmm. It seems there’s no evidence after all.”
“…But the Recorder isn’t the only evidence. I’ve heard that Labyrinth Agency investigators can investigate the residual Magical Power left at the scene. If you investigate the culprit with that, you’ll find that it was you who set up that explosion Trap—”
“Yes. I certainly did detonate it, is there a problem?”
“!?”
“H-Huh…? Are you admitting it? That you destroyed that wall?”
“Yes.”
“……?? Does that mean you’re admitting your crime?”
“What crime are you talking about?”
The Salaryman tilted his head, looking puzzled.
Is he stupid? What is he saying—
“It’s the crime of blowing up the Labyrinth to trap us in there…”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying, but didn’t I just detonate an explosion right in front of you? To help you.”
“Th-That’s…!”
Certainly, he had seen an explosion-type Skill activated just now to remove the rubble.
…Did he blow away the evidence at the same time…?
The bespectacled Salaryman told the pale-faced Kujou calmly, without changing his expression.
“Excuse me, but let me say this. Thinking calmly, it’s a bit of a stretch to think that the person who set you up would go out of their way to rescue you…”
“S-Such a thing is easy to stage!”
“Even if it were staged, there’s no benefit for me. …It would be possible the other way around, though.”
After explaining that, the Salaryman began to explain the previous circumstances to Goto.
—That there was trouble between Kujou’s Numbers and Kageichi during the previous Dungeon raid.
—That the commotion was so great that a criminal came from within the Numbers.
—That Kageichi was not at fault in this matter, but there was a possibility of being resented….
Goto glared at Kujou and took a deep breath.
“I know. It’s about Akushichi Nana. We were the ones who caught her.”
“I’m glad we’re on the same page. Then, the Labyrinth Agency understood the situation?”
“…Originally, the Labyrinth Agency should have refused the participation of ‘The Numbers.’ …But there was an unavoidable reason.”
Kageichi bowed to Goto, who had a bitter look on his face, saying, “Thank you for your hard work.”
Damn it, this is bad. …The flow of the conversation is too bad.
That’s not it. At that time, Akushichi went on a rampage on her own… In the first place, it was her who set the Trap first.
Kujou and the others were victims, and they were malicious perpetrators—but why were they being made out to be the bad guys?
He hadn’t done anything wrong.
It’s unfair. This world is wrong. It’s absolutely strange, it’s crazy.
But, but—there’s no way to refute it…!
Goto looked down at Kujou, who was sweating profusely, with cold eyes.
“…Unfortunately, I can’t overlook the abusive language towards the rescuer. I will report this matter to the main office and take appropriate measures. Depending on the circumstances, we may even consider revoking your Hunter License.”
“Wh-…!”
Revocation. License revocation.
The fatal words swirled around in Kujou’s head.
The Hunter License is like a driver’s license for Hunters.
It is the foundation for the Numbers to operate as Numbers, and if they were to be deprived of it—they would no longer be—
“W-Wait! License revocation is too much!”
It can’t be allowed. There’s no way such injustice should exist in this world.
In the first place, if they revoked the license from a man named Kujou Shin, he would have nothing left—that, that alone.
Pale-faced, he opened his dry lips and tried to explain somehow.
Everything was a misunderstanding by the black-suited man. He was being taken in by the Salaryman’s smooth talk and was just having a terrible misunderstanding.
That’s not it. They weren’t bad.
Kujou had just been working hard seriously, but he was being dragged down by his companions, deceived by this damn old man, and was just suffering unreasonably, and if he appealed to that, he would surely believe him…!
Such a futile attempt by Kujou was—
“Don’t fuck with me! You’ve been saying whatever you want, you’re just messing with me!”
—Drowned out by a battleaxe that cut through the air with a roar.
Hazaki, with bloodshot eyes, took up his weapon and pounced on the black-suited man—idiot, stop it—!
“Shut up, you noisy bastards, in the Dungeon, power is everything, don’t mess with me—”
“I see. I agree with you on that point.”
The black-suited man muttered, and… smoothly slid his body.
Immediately after the great axe cut through the empty space,
Thud.
The black-suited man’s body blow caught Hazaki’s abdomen perfectly.
“Gah… Wh-…!”
“Don’t say any more, you scum. Your foolishness ends here.”
“N-No way…”
Hazaki collapsed on the spot, sobbing.
…Unbelievable.
Even though he’s a muscle-brained idiot, Hazaki was taken down with one blow…?
In front of Kujou, who was stunned by the sight, the black-suited man released his combat stance, and Kageichi smiled at him.
“Thank you for your response, Goto-san. After all, I’m just an ordinary civilian. If I were to fight directly, I might be sued for excessive self-defense, you see.”
“Violence in the Labyrinth is endless. We are also concerned about that point… but I’m sorry that we lack the power.”
“No, no. For an ordinary person like me who has no special skills, the existence of public safety officials is very reliable.”
Kujou could do nothing but kneel and stare blankly at them as they spoke cheerfully.
—Is there no justice in this country?
The righteous like them are deceived and exploited by lying villains—is this the current state of Japan, the current state of the Dungeon?
Unfair. Unfair, unfair, unfair—!
While stirring the negative heat that was boiling in his heart, Kujou had no room to resist.
Damn it… he cursed in his heart, but he had no choice but to be taken away by them as he was told.
—How miserable.