Chapter 696

【At night, in the new hotel room, Waver and his party are organizing the information they have obtained so far.】

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

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

【Reines: "Then how about summarizing it with a chart, Brother?"】

【Waver: "A diagram? This idea isn't bad. Svin, can I leave it to you?"】

【Svin: "I understand."】

【Svin often does things like organizing data into diagrams, so he is very skilled.】

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

【Democratic Faction, proposing the Albion redevelopment plan, the currently confirmed participants are: Lord Tranbelio, Lord Baluleta.】

【Aristocratic Faction, opposing the Albion redevelopment plan, currently confirmed are: Lord Yulifeis, Lord Animusphere (Agent: Olga Marie).】

【As for Waver, considering the tradition of El-Melloi, it seems he is considered to be in this camp.】

【The remaining Lords, the Neutral Faction, and the Basemelo family, the last of the three great aristocratic families, almost none of them participate.】

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

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

Kayneth: "Five is actually a lot; after all, people don't care about things that don't concern them."

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

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

Feng Xi: "Isn't it?"

Waver: "... Yeah, there wasn't even a chance to oppose."

Kayneth: "This is the difference between strength and weakness; you kid remember it well in the future."

Waver: "Yes, Teacher."

【Svin: "What's going on, Teacher?"】

【"It means the degree of seriousness is high."】

【Waver said seriously: "In this Grand Resolution, Tranbelio is seriously intending to pass the Albion redevelopment plan. Precisely because he feels how serious the other party is, Lord Yulifeis will attend in person. If he sends an agent like usual, there is a risk of being easily overwhelmed by the opponent due to the gap in status."】

【"Then, Neutralism decided not to even send an agent, which should be because they don't want to be accidentally involved. The higher the degree of seriousness, the more likely rash actions are to trigger a chain reaction and offend others. If the Aristocratic Faction and the Democratic Faction kill each other lovingly, that's fine, but if they are serious about wanting to destroy each other, it's best to keep a distance... Neutralism probably holds this idea..."】

【Gray: "So that's how it is..."】

Waver: "Sigh, really unlucky."

Shishigou Kairi: "Even if you weren't dragged in forcibly, this Grand Resolution has a significant connection to Heartless, so you'll have to join in the end."

Waver: "... That's true."

【Svin then drew a diagram of Heartless and his five disciples.】

【The two met yesterday at the Department of Sealing Designation: Karger Islay, Ashira Mistras.】

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

【That's right, for this last disciple, neither name nor experience can be found.】

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

Kayneth: "This is that boy, right? Actually leaving no information at all; Heartless's confidentiality work is really well done."

Caules: "However, with this, we are really in the dark about this boy's situation."

【Svin: "It's roughly like this."】

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

【Svin: "Alright, write a thesis that others can understand! Write down the reason why the change happened like this! Even though it's incomprehensible, Teacher Charles always says there might be earth-shattering discoveries hidden in it and asks me to translate your thesis; think about my position!"】

【Flat: "Since that's the case, you can be the co-author of my thesis!"】

【These two started again.】

【Waver 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?"】

【Waver: "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 right now, right? Heartless is gathering his former disciples? Or—"】

【"Reines!"】

【Waver stopped her from continuing with a serious expression, seemingly denying what Reines was about to say.】

Tohsaka Rin: "Why did he interrupt suddenly?"

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

Kayneth: "... That's right."

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

This topic is indeed not good to discuss in front of Gray.

【Waver: "For Heartless's missing disciples, in any case, it is necessary to collect relevant information again. Reines, I'm sorry, can I ask you to return to Sla and re-investigate the news about the disciples?"】

【Reines: "Sigh, I hope my brother can consider more about how to ask his sister to do things. Then, what is Brother prepared to do?"】

【Waver: "Although it's troublesome to be discovered by students, I will go with you."】

【As soon as this was said, the attention of Flat and Svin was immediately pulled back.】

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

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

【Looking at the two who were arguing again, Waver had a stomachache.】

【However, although the plan was set, it was carried out according to it.】

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

Shishigou Kairi: "It seems those two from yesterday had an accident."

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

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

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

【Except for the multi-headed monster they saw yesterday, there were also giant beetles with curved horns, giant lizards covered with steel scales, etc. —】

【At a single glance, it already exceeded seven.】

【Even the color of the blood sprayed on the ground was different.】

【Blue and green can be understood, but what the hell is white blood?】

【Many claw marks were left on the monster's body and various parts of the laboratory, as well as traces that looked like they had been dissolved by strong acid.】

【It looks like a fierce battle happened before death.】

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

【It was Karger.】

【No, now he can't even be called Karger.】

【The corpse was severely damaged, it wasn't just the degree of dismemberment; it was as if a toddler had taken scissors and cut it for a full hour, destroying a ragdoll at will, a complete mess.】

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

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

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

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

Shishigou Kairi: "Good guy, it's really miserable."

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

Fiore: "The blood is actually white; this is rare."

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

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