Chapter 372

Tohsaka Rin: "In other words, the Yullifeis family and the Animusphere family could both be Heartless's partners."

Caules: "However, if there really is cooperation, then what did Heartless bring out to make a Lord agree to cooperate."

Waver: "These are all just guesses now; until the end, everything is unknown."

Shishigou Kairi: "Maybe it's not cooperation, but being sold out; after all, it's not the first time."

Fiore: "Haha, there is indeed this possibility."

【In the evening, in the new hotel room, the Second and his party were organizing the information they had obtained so far.】

【Flat: "Professor! I can't remember any of it!"】

【The Second: "Although the number of people involved this time is indeed large..."】

【Reines: "Then why not summarize it with a chart, Brother?"】

【The Second: "A diagram? That's not a bad idea. Svin, can I leave this to you?"】

【Svin: "I understand."】

【Svin often did things like organizing data into diagrams, so he was very skilled at it.】

【"Then, let's start with the members of the Grand Resolution."】

【Democratic Faction, proposing the Albion re-development plan; the confirmed participants are: Lord Trambelio, Lord Valuaretta.】

【Aristocratic Faction, opposing the Albion re-development plan; confirmed participants are: Lord Yulifeis, Lord Animusphere (Representative: Olga Marie).】

【As for the Second, considering the traditions of El-Melloi, he seems to be counted in this camp.】

【The remaining Lords, the Neutral Faction, and the last of the three great noble families, the Barthomeloi family, are almost all not participating.】

【According to this situation, these five out of the twelve families will participate, which is normal in terms of attendance for a Grand Resolution. However, is it somewhat special that four of them are attended by the Lords themselves?】

Rin Tohsaka: "Sigh! I thought it would be a gathering of all twelve Lords, but it turns out there are only five."

Kayneth: "Five is actually quite a lot; after all, people don't get involved in things that don't concern them."

Kayneth: "Unless it's a very major matter, the Grand Resolution has never had all twelve people present."

Waver: "Looking at it this way, El-Melloi seems to have been dragged into this."

Feng Xi: "Isn't that the case?"

Waver: "... eah, didn't even have a chance to oppose it."

Kayneth: "That is the difference between strength and weakness; remember that well, you brat."

Waver: "Yes, Master."

【Svin: "What is this about, Teacher?"】

【"It refers to the high level of seriousness."】

【The Second said seriously: "In this Grand Resolution, Trambelio is serious about passing the Albion re-development plan. It is precisely because he felt how serious the other party is that Lord Yulifeis is attending in person. If he had sent a representative as usual, there would be a risk of being easily overwhelmed by the opponent due to the disparity in status."】

【"Then, the Neutral Faction decided not to even send a representative, likely because they don't want to be accidentally involved. The higher the level of seriousness, the more likely rash actions are to trigger a chain reaction and offend others. If the Aristocratic Faction and the Democratic Faction want to kill each other, that's fine, but if they are serious about destroying each other, it's best to keep a distance... That's probably what the Neutral Faction is thinking."】

【Gray: "I see..."】

Waver: "Sigh, what bad luck."

Shishigou Kairi: "Even if you hadn't been dragged into it, this Grand Resolution has a significant connection to Heartless, so you would have had to join in eventually."

Waver: "... hat's true."

【Svin then began to draw a diagram of Heartless and his five disciples.】

【The two encountered earlier at the Department of Sealing Designation: Karger Iselied, Ashira Mistras.】

【The three who have already gone missing: Geshelz Tolman, Jorek Kurudes, and—one nameless individual.】

【That's right, for this last disciple, nothing could be found, neither name nor background.】

【However, Touko Aozaki is still as resourceful as ever; she found a name that is suspected to be the other party's: Kuro.】

Kayneth: "This must be that boy; to have left no information at all, Heartless's secrecy work is truly excellent."

Caules: "But this way, we are truly in the dark about the boy's situation."

【Svin: "It's roughly like this."】

【Flat: "As expected of Doggy! If I had drawn it, the art would have exploded long ago!"】

【Svin: "Alright, just write a paper that others can understand! Write down the reasons why the changes happened clearly! It's clearly incomprehensible, yet Teacher Charles always says there might be earth-shattering discoveries hidden in it and asks me to translate your papers. Think about it from my perspective!"】

【Flat: "In that case, you can be the co-author of my paper!"】

【The two started again.】

【The Second looked at the diagram and said slowly: "The problem lies in the reason for the disappearance of Heartless's disciples."】

【Reines: "Oh, even Brother can't imagine it? This is your area of expertise, right?"】

【The Second: "There is too little material to judge. However, appearing as a keyword so frequently, the matter should be related to the Spirit Tomb Albion in some form."】

【Reines: "There is another mystery at the moment, right? Is Heartless gathering his former disciples? Or—"】

【"Reines!"】

【The Second stopped her with a serious expression, seemingly denying what Reines was about to say.】

Rin Tohsaka: "Why did he interrupt suddenly?"

Tokiomi Tohsaka: "Some things are better not mentioned in front of others, especially on such an occasion."

Kayneth: "... hat's right."

Most of the people in the group had already guessed what Reines wanted to say.

This topic is indeed not suitable for discussion in front of Gray.

【The Second: "Regarding Heartless's missing disciples, in any case, it is necessary to collect relevant information again. Reines, sorry to trouble you, but could you return to Slur and re-investigate the news about the disciples?"】

【Reines: "Sigh, I wish my brother would think more about how to ask his sister to do things. So, what does Brother intend to do?"】

【The Second: "Although it's troublesome to be discovered by the students, I will accompany you."】

【As soon as these words were spoken, Flat and Svin's attention was immediately drawn back.】

【Flat: "Wow! That's a big deal, Professor! I have to think of an invisibility magecraft now!"】

【Svin: "You should first think of a magecraft to sew your mouth shut so you don't attract too much attention!"】

【Watching the two arguing again, the Second felt a stomachache.】

【However, although the plan was set, it didn't go according to it.】

【Because early the next morning, the Second was called to the Department of Sealing Designation by Hishiri Adashino.】

Shishigou Kairi: "It seems something happened to those two from yesterday."

Waver: "Ashira has already left, so the one who met with an accident is most likely—"

【The location was the 45th underground floor from yesterday, the scene was in the laboratory.】

【Densely packed monsters lay on the metal floor, all of them having lost their breath.】

【In addition to the multi-headed monster they saw yesterday, there were giant beetles with curved horns, giant lizards covered in dense steel scales, and so on—】

【At a single glance, there were already more than seven.】

【Even the colors of the blood sprayed on the ground were different.】

【Blue and green are understandable, but what the hell is white blood?】

【Many claw marks were left on the bodies of the monsters and throughout the laboratory, as well as traces that looked like they had been dissolved by strong acid.】

【It looks like a fierce battle took place before they died.】

【And in the deepest part of the laboratory, a figure lay in a pool of red blood.】

【It was Karger.】

【No, one can't even call the other party Karger anymore.】

【The corpse was severely damaged, not just dismembered, but simply a mess, as if a toddler had used scissors to cut it for a full hour, destroying a doll at will.】

【The Second also looked for a long time before barely finding an object that looked like a head.】

【This was definitely the first time he had seen a corpse in such a miserable state.】

【He was very puzzled as to why Heartless would use such cruel means to kill the other party.】

Mrs. Emiya: "Illya, don't look!"

Shishigou Kairi: "Good guy, that's really tragic."

Caules: "Are these all Phantasmal Species from the labyrinth! I've almost never seen them before."

Fiore: "The blood is actually white, that's rare."

Rin Tohsaka: "Shouldn't we be concerned about Karger? He was—so miserable."

Waver: "How much hatred must there be to use such a ruthless hand."