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SPECIAL ADVISOR

Treat me to a Ko-Fi to give me more motivation!!!

*****

The upper echelons of the All-World Agency decided to detain Rob immediately after he and the others parted ways with Saburo and the Interworld Train departed. Arcelia, being nothing more than a novice investigator, had no choice but to follow that decision.

「The inquiry will be held tomorrow. Until then, please stay in this room. You will be provided three meals a day. You are free to use the attached toilet and shower.」

「No drinks tonight?」

Rob’s lighthearted tone, which hadn't changed even at this point, only made Arcelia's heart heavier.

「No, there are not.」

「I see. Oh, that’s right. Take care of Pashe for me.」

Pashe, at Rob’s feet, bit the hem of his trousers with its flat bill as if to resist, clinging to him with its short limbs.

There was no way a mere magitech machine could understand the situation, but given that Pashe had been modified and tweaked until it was something inscrutable, there was an atmosphere about it that made one wonder.

Arcelia gently picked Pashe up.

「Of course. However, I will also be present at tomorrow’s inquiry. I will come to see you in the morning.」

「Don't worry about it too much. It'll affect your career, you know?」

「No, I will certainly attend the inquiry. Then, until tomorrow.」

Arcelia managed to say just that much and left the room.

She simply couldn't bring herself to say, "Please, run away."

This ordinary business hotel-like room where Rob was confined was sealed by someone with an extraordinary ability, making it difficult to break out from the inside. In addition, this headquarters was home to over a dozen people with powerful extraordinary abilities equal to or greater than Rob’s, and over a hundred more if one included those less skilled.

No matter how great a Demon King Slayer Rob was, it would be difficult for him to break out unscathed, and if he failed, it would surely sour the upper management's opinion of him. Even if he succeeded, he would become a wanted man. Since he lacked the world-crossing technology that someone like Berta possessed, Rob would not be able to escape.

However, she couldn't bring herself to say, "If you don't run, I will protect you," either.

She didn't even know what intentions the upper management had in doing all this to begin with.

Arcelia felt such a sense of powerlessness that she felt like she might burst into tears.

She had lived with her own incompetence for over thirty years, but she had never hated it as much as she did today.

Her overly impulsive nature, her extreme awkwardness, her rigid way of thinking, and her extraordinary ability that seemed as if it would never grow.

Perhaps it was because she—someone like that—had protected Rob that things had turned out this way.

She couldn't help but think that.

But even so. No, precisely because of that, Arcelia had no intention of giving up.

She would see what was happening and confirm the true intentions of the upper echelons.

Arcelia steeled herself as she always did, deciding that she had to do what she could right now, and walked back to her workplace with quick strides.

***

The next day, Arcelia visited the room where Rob was staying.

「Good morning.」

It was not yet noon, but Rob replied in a drowsy voice as usual.

「Then, let us depart.」

Arcelia said this after waiting for Rob to finish his sluggish preparations.

「Depart?」

Just as Rob asked, the walls across the room began to display the pillars and walls inside the Alliance headquarters.

The display switched from one pillar and wall to the next, and at one point, the outside became visible.

「You cannot be seen from the outside.」

It was only then that Rob realized the room itself was moving.

The room seemed to be rising, and the scenery, which they had barely been able to see when they got off the Interworld Train, began to expand before them.

The world of "Femgraden," where five worlds had fused.

Situated exactly at the convergence point of this fusion was the Alliance headquarters, which had turned an entire island into a fortress.

The massive, pure-white castle was so aesthetically curved that it didn't seem like it had been built artificially; it was almost feminine. That it was the work of magic was immediately apparent, as parts of the castle undulated, and at times, the positions of the windows even shifted.

Five worlds bordered this Alliance headquarters, which could only be described as a flying magic castle.

It was as if they were covered in mist, but they were dimly dyed in the colors that seemed to be the base for each world: pastel, clear blue, black, green, and gray.

「Arcelia, which world are you from?」

「It is that one.」

It seemed to be the world tinged with pastel colors, and Rob, looking at Arcelia’s pink-white hair, was convinced of it without any particular evidence.

After a while, the room stopped at the very summit.

When Arcelia opened the door, circles of light continued at equal intervals in the pitch-black darkness, as if telling them to walk there.

Rob followed Arcelia forward, and when they stood at a particularly large circle, it stopped.

And just as they stood there, a pillar of light appeared directly in front of them, and someone was standing there.

It was Cubas the conductor. He was now wearing a white investigator's uniform.

「――Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Kalervo Cubas Oldman, Special Advisor to the All-World Agency of the Interworld Alliance.」

Arcelia was stunned by this.

A Special Advisor was an independent position directly under the Chief, one that almost never acted in public. It was an existence whose daily duties were a mystery, and for Arcelia, who had been nothing more than a clerical worker, it was someone in the clouds; she only knew the name.

Moreover, the publicly available documents only listed "Kalervo Oldman," omitting the middle name, so there was no way she could have known that the person in front of her had also been a conductor.

「I apologize for the deception, but everything was a coincidence. Both the fact that I served as the conductor of the Interworld Train at the request of the Chief, and the fact that Rob-san had to be placed under emergency protection, and the fact that the Interworld Train, which I happened to be conducting, was chosen as the fastest means of transport to reach the scene at that exact moment.」

Rob had no way of knowing whether that was truly a coincidence or not, but it didn't change anything, whether by chance or necessity.

Rob’s interest now was solely in what this "inquiry" meant.

Having said that, Cubas began the procedures for the inquiry.

「Rob, Demon King Slayer, from the unregistered world of the Kingdom of Hanover. You are suspected of 'Interference in Undeveloped Worlds' and 'Murder.' The Alliance has judged that these are matters that would have a significant impact on our protection and acceptance of you, a victim of summoning, and in accordance with the Alliance Law regarding the protection of summoning victims, we will hold an inquiry.」

While listening closely to Cubas’s words, Rob was bothered by the presence he felt vaguely in the darkness beyond, which remained invisible even with the aid of his extraordinary ability.

Cubas, noticing Rob’s reaction, did not mention it, as the person seemed to have no intention of showing their face.

「Then I ask you. When you were caught in a local riot in the 989th world, the Nichirin Empire, you took civilians and evacuated to a police station. Afterwards, with the cooperation of a world-crossing witch, you took it upon yourself to go and suppress the rioters. Am I correct?」

Rob looked Cubas straight in the eye, feeling he had nothing to be ashamed of.

「Someone was about to be beaten right in front of me. I had the power to save them, so I did. Is that wrong?」

「Self-defense is valid as long as it is until you evacuate to the police station. But after that, you went to suppress the rioters by cooperating with a criminal. As a result, you killed two people and caused countless injuries. It is true that the Nichirin government did not prosecute your crimes through extrajudicial measures. However, Alliance Law takes a position of *lex loci delicti*—no, *lex personalis*—and murder by an Alliance affiliate is subject to the charge of murder.」

Regarding this charge of murder, the murder in the 961st world, where Rob had been abandoned in the wilderness, was also illegal, but the circumstances were taken into account, self-defense was established, and this time it was deemed a non-issue.

「If that is the law, then so be it――」

「――Objection. Rob-san was only under the Alliance's protection at the time; he is not a member of the Alliance. Since the Nichirin government has decided not to prosecute, the Alliance cannot try him for murder.」

Arcelia interrupted Rob, who was about to affirm Cubas’s words.

After parting ways with Rob last night, Arcelia had investigated many things. She hadn't figured out what was actually going on with this case, but she had reread the Alliance Law many times.

「Yes, that is correct.」

Cubas easily acknowledged Arcelia’s counterargument.

In short, Rob could not be punished.

Rob did not understand why they were doing this if that were the case.

「If that's the case, then an inquiry isn't necessary... No, is this a farce?」

While presenting a facade of propriety, something had already been decided. This was a farce just to set the stage for it.

Rob suspected as much, but Cubas’s next words denied that suspicion.

「――No. First, I must inform you that everything up until now has been an aptitude test.」

Rob, and Arcelia as well, doubted their own ears at Cubas’s abrupt confession.

*****

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