Chapter 67 – A Dead End Before You Know It

Соuld it роssibly be а fake?

Нimurо, who hаd dоubtеd it, hurriеdlу loоked bеyond thе саmеra.

Thеn, he sаw the figure of а singlе young man walking tоwаrd them.

(Yuki… Asuto!)

No mistakе, it wаs the real one.

Тhе real Yuki Аsuto hаd аррeared.

(Damn it. Did thаt Uzuki bastard fаil?)

Оn tоp of thаt, his оwn рawns plаced bеlow had also fаilеd to delау him.

Himurо gritted his teеth.

He hadn’t thоught theу’d bе so useless they сouldn’t еvеn hаndle а simple еrrаnd.

(I’ll dеal with them whеn I get bасk tо thе Guild.)

Whilе supрrеssing his murkу emоtiоns, Yuki sat down in the opposite seat.

It was only then that Himuro finally calmed down.

The Uzuki matter could wait.

The problem was why he had appeared here now.

(How did he get in here? No, more importantly, what did he come here for?)

You couldn’t just waltz into a TV station.

Had he forced his way in?

Even if that were the case, the reason was unclear.

He couldn’t see how anything would change even if the suspect went out of his way to appear on television.

Was his intention to settle things with force, then?

(If he tries to cause trouble, I’ll restrain him immediately.)

To prepare for a violent confrontation, he circulated Magic Power within his body.

Himuro was one of Japan’s foremost Mages.

He specialized in Ice Magic, and thanks to his Mubyoshi Skill, which required no incantation, he could respond instantly no matter how fast his opponent was.

(He must be quite confident. But he picked the wrong opponent.)

Himuro’s Hunter Rank was A.

He was at a level where he could almost reach S.

He could subdue a C-Rank Hunter as easily as twisting a baby’s arm.

“Everyone, we will now conduct an exclusive interview for our station alone. Now then, Hunter Yuki Asuto. Rumors are currently circulating that Hunter Yuki annihilated the Hound Dog. Is this true?”

A glance—cue cards appeared below the camera.

‘Online viewer count skyrocketing!’

‘It’s buzzing on SNS too!’

Both the director and the producer were beaming as the connection numbers surged.

It seemed Yuki hadn’t forced his way in after all.

(…Well, fine. Whatever he tries will be pointless anyway.)

The image of Yuki as a villain was already perfectly established.

Eligos had devised a strategy solely to crush him.

It would be impossible for a mere Hunter to break through her schemes.

“Before I speak to the truth of that, please take a look at this footage.”

Saying that, Yuki placed a laptop on the desk.

The camera zoomed in on its screen.

He opened the data from the inserted memory stick, and the video began to play.

The footage started with a scene looking down on two men.

Seeing Uzuki’s figure on that monitor, Himuro’s heart rate jumped.

‘Are you awaaare? That staff member is being eroded by a Parasitic Tree.’

‘Why did you implant a Parasitic Tree in Makoto?’

‘Because he was a nuisance, you seee. That staff member was sniffing around for information within the Hunter Association. It was making Espionage difficult, so I decided to eliminate him while I was at it.’

‘I don’t understand. Explain properly from the beginning!’

Blood dripped down with a splat sound from his head.

Letting this continue was bad.

Himuro stood up forcefully.

“What is this? Yuki Asuto, what exactly are you trying to do!?”

Hoping to possibly cut off the audio of the footage and turn the camera from the monitor back toward himself, he raised his voice loudly. However, Yuki dutifully paused the video.

The timing was as if he had “anticipated this move.”

He had no intention of letting him interfere.

At this strong display of will from his opponent, Himuro ground his teeth.

“Mr. Himuro, do you have something to feel guilty about?”

“What are you talking about!?”

“If there’s nothing, then you should be able to watch quietly, right?”

“Guh…”

The Magic Power that leaked out lowered the temperature around them.

The ice crystals that formed on his fingertips cracked with a snap sound.

Raising his voice further here would be a bad move.

However, sitting back and watching would be even more dangerous.

(Stop it.)

Himuro signaled to the director with just his eyes.

However, the director, unable to understand the meaning of his gaze, merely tilted his head in confusion.

(Damn it, he doesn’t know Uzuki!)

Uzuki’s position was special even within the Shisei Guild.

He was Himuro’s right-hand man, but he rarely appeared in public.

It was only natural his face wasn’t known.

While he was searching for a way to break open the situation, the video continued to play.

‘Privilege gains its value precisely because few possess it. To ensure you do not lose that privilege, we decided you should make an early exit from the Hunter stage. Ginzan Makoto was used as bait to lure you in.’

‘…Whose orders?’

‘Why, of course, my Guild Master, Himuro Seiya—’

“No way, Mr. Himuro…”

“That’s a lie! I haven’t done anything!!”

At the announcer’s voice, which sounded drained of blood, Himuro couldn’t help but raise his voice angrily.

After that, an unpleasant silence visited the studio.

Startled, he looked around.

The announcer, AD, director, producer, cameraman.

Everyone was looking at him with eyes of a different color than before.

It was the color that appears when people consciously regard another as an enemy.

“I, I haven’t… done anything…”

“Mr. Himuro. You spread false rumors everywhere to frame me, didn’t you? Thanks to that, it developed into this much of an uproar.”

“Th-that’s not true. I haven’t done anything.”

“Then, let’s verify it. Online articles, weekly magazines, newspapers, TV. If we ask the journalists who wrote the articles who their informant was, it will be easy to tell if it’s a lie or not.”

“…Th-that footage is fabricated! Otherwise, there’s no way it could have been filmed from such a high-angle shot!”

“No. The footage that just played is real. At the Gold Shop, there are Avatar Items specifically for Angels. Among them, a camera for filming is sold. The odd angle is because my Angel filmed it.”

“Wha…”

Indeed, Himuro also knew that there were Avatar Items for Angels.

He also knew that cameras were among them.

However, the price of a video camera was fifty thousand Gold, an exorbitant amount.

He had thought that aside from one person, there was no other eccentric fool who would Purchase such a thing just for an Angel.

(That’s impossible…)

“Now then, Mr. Himuro. You said earlier, didn’t you? ‘If I have made a mistake, I will not run away, but will perform Dogeza before everyone.’

—You will perform Dogeza, won’t you?”