*****

「――If you are going to eliminate him, then please kill me along with him.」

Arcelia declared this with determination.

「Wait, is this... what is this? A confession? Does that mean this is a double suicide? A double suicide!」

「...」

Rob’s voice sounded as if he were about to start dancing, but after Arcelia glared at him as if to say, 'Don't make fun of me,' he shut his mouth, looking slightly disappointed.

「Do you understand what you are saying? You are no longer an investigator. Do you intend to throw everything away for a momentary lapse in judgment?」

Cubas admonished Arcelia for her reckless act of rebellion. But Arcelia did not back down.

「Even if it was for a short time, I cannot overlook a treacherous ambush against the Hero who slew the Demon King—against Rob-san—who trusted me and came with me. Not as an investigator... no, not even as a Rylireth. It is a shameful act.」

If Rob had broken the rules, then being punished was unavoidable. But if that wasn't the case, then she had to protect him.

「...Is that so. I had valued that straightforward dedication of yours, though.」

However, Cubas could not back down either. In the darkness, only the tension continued to tighten.

「――Then, as a Hero, I can't really let the cute heroine be taken out alongside me, can I?」

Rob activated his ability. Truly nonchalantly. It was a casual movement of will, as if he were picking his nose. The people surrounding him, hidden in the darkness, had been caught off guard, failing to sense any tell as Rob activated his ability, but they reacted clearly to his words—

「――Don't move.」

Rob had already armored his entire body in guns, and with a revolver that no one knew when he had drawn, he aimed at Cubas while simultaneously pointing overhead with his other hand. Naturally, there was only the ceiling there.

「Higher. Outside.」

At Rob's words, Cubas operated something at hand, and the ceiling became transparent in an instant. It was a black muzzle. The sight of a cylindrical black gun barrel, wreathed in deep purple haze, protruding from the sky felt somewhat unreal. Yet, that muzzle possessed a bone-chilling, eerie quality.

「I brought it closer so you could see it better. You already know, but this is the only thing I can use right now. I don't know the power or the effect. I can only fire one shot.」

Inside Cubas’s body, an exceptionally large bubble formed and then vanished. He had considered the worst-case scenario that things might turn out this way. Naturally, assassination had been a realistic option. But in the first place, there had been no opening to kill him. In addition, the details of the Demon King Cannon were unknown, and the risk if he failed to kill him was too great. He was, after all, the Hero who slew the Demon King. The possibility of failing and being counterattacked could not be denied. Bringing him in as an investigator was not out of the question, but that would mean holding onto an unexploded bomb that could go off at any moment. The wielder of the worst ability, the Demon King Cannon, and the Demon King-slaying Hero with a sense of justice that no one could control. The upper echelons of the Alliance had overreacted, and their approach to handling Rob had gone astray.

「Just like I was tested, shouldn't you all be tested too? You're not children, so you understand that, right?」

「...」

A slight fear had begun to mingle with the tension filling the room. Even those with the ability to read abilities did not know the power or effects of the Demon King Cannon. But they could not ignore this ability. Those who had seen the Demon King felt the Demon King's presence clearly in the Demon King Cannon, and those who hadn't felt its ominous nature on their skin and shuddered. If fired, the land would be contaminated, scattering the factors of the Demon King. Everyone present felt it.

「Tested...」

「I mean, whether your organization is worthy of my trust. If I didn't do something like this, we wouldn't be on equal footing, would we?」

First, without showing strength, one would not be treated as an equal.

「Equal? This is a desperate threat. It's no different from an anti-Alliance terrorist.」

「Rest easy. It's not much different from what you're doing right now.」

Although the number of people on their backs was on a different scale, they were doing the same thing.

「Can you fire it? If you fire that, you will be a heinous villain who has dragged innocent people into this.」

「I'll fire it. If this is a formal proceeding according to the law, and if it has gone through a process agreed upon by your so-called Alliance members, then everyone must accept the consequences.」

「No, you cannot. Your sense of justice shouldn't allow it.」

Perhaps that was Cubas’s wish. He wasn't a Hero who couldn't be reasoned with. He wished, somewhere, that Rob would be aware of his own power, agree to go to a rehabilitation facility, and live quietly afterwards. Then, having built up trust, once things had cooled down, perhaps he could have been allowed some freedom. Judging that this was the only landing spot, Cubas had stood up for the inquiry himself.

「I appreciate that assessment, but—」

Rob smiled fearlessly and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

*****

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