Chapter 68 – The Mastermind’s End

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“You’ll реrform dogeza for us, wоn’t уou?”

“Of сoursе I wоn’t!”

“Sо, uр until now, you’ve bеen spоuting nоnsеnse through thе саmera? Is thаt what yоu’re saying?”

“……!”

His bоdу trembled with rаgе.

Just who dоes this guy think hе is?

Himuro Seiуa is thе Мaster of the Shisei Guild, оne оf thе Тhreе Majоr Guilds.

Аnd tо demand hе pеrfоrm dоgеzа… what аn insоlеnt bastаrd!

Нowever, it would also be dangerous for the viewers to think it was all nonsense.

For a TV commentator, image is everything.

If he was seen as someone who just spouted whatever came to mind here, he would lose all credibility.

The heat of his anger faded, replaced by chaotic thoughts swirling in his head.

Having been subjected to the staff’s cold stares for so long, he felt like he was going crazy.

(What should I do!?)

Himuro looked at Eligos with a pleading expression.

She wore a serious look and gave a single, slight nod of her chin.

Having been with her for five years, Himuro understood exactly what she meant from that alone.

–Find an opening,

Kill

(

him

). I’ll signal the timing.

“……”

Himuro bent his knees in the center of the studio and slowly placed both hands on the floor.

He lowered his head deeply.

“…I apologize.”

“That’s not heartfelt at all. Could it be you’re thinking about something else even while performing dogeza?”

“–!”

“Sincerity means keeping one’s word without fail, being genuine and without falsehood. Neither the Shisei Guild nor Himuro Seiya possess any sincerity.”

“!”

The other’s words made his gut boil with rage.

(Not yet? He’s still not letting his guard down!?)

He gritted his back teeth hard, waiting for the moment.

Perhaps growing weary of Himuro’s dogeza, Yuki momentarily averted his gaze.

That was the moment.

“–Now! Kill him!!”

“Raaaaaagh!!”

At Eligos’s signal, Himuro sprang up and activated his Magic.

He activated Ice Magic using <Mubyoshi>.

The next instant–

“–Huh?”

Yuki’s figure vanished in an instant.

It was an evasion maneuver executed with terrifyingly perfect timing, as if he had “known in advance” the exact moment the attack would come.

(Wha, why…)

The Ice Magic passed through the now-empty space.

Immediately after, a voice came from behind Himuro.

“Hunter Law Article 2 Section 3–“

The moment he tried to turn around, Himuro’s consciousness was already plunging into pitch-black darkness.

○

The person at the center of the storm gave an exclusive interview to the television station.

The topic instantly spread across SNS, and the number of online viewers temporarily exceeded five million.

As a result, Himuro Seiya’s actions, which had framed Asuto, became widely known to the public.

There were still some who maintained the argument that Asuto was the villain, but they were limited to a very small portion of fervent Shisei Guild fans.

While it would be difficult to say Asuto’s trust had been completely restored, he had at least completely escaped the crisis of being crushed by public opinion.

With the incident coming to light, the orders to appear before the Hunter Association and the talk of having his Hunter License revoked were completely withdrawn.

Later, once the incident had settled down somewhat, he was scheduled to receive a formal apology from the Association.

Until then, the Association would likely be swamped dealing with the fallout of the incident.

The main perpetrator of the incident, Himuro Seiya, was a Top Hunter who represented one of the pillars of the Three Major Guilds.

If his license were revoked, Japan’s defensive capabilities would be greatly diminished.

Yet, they couldn’t very well not give him an appropriate punishment.

The Hunter Association was being forced into an extremely difficult decision.

As for Asuto, he didn’t care what happened to Himuro, but he earnestly hoped the man would never involve himself with him again.

As for Kanzaki, who had stalled the Shisei Guild members in front of the TV station–

“It wasn’t even enough for a warm-up.”

Glancing sidelong at the four Hunters collapsed on the ground, she lowered her willow-leaf eyebrows with a somewhat disappointed look.

She was disheartened that Hunters from a first-rate Guild had been utterly helpless against her, Kanzaki, who had just undergone her Awakening.

(Poor things…)

If it were me, I might never recover.

Asuto couldn’t help but sympathize with the Hunters who had been shown firsthand the pinnacle of talent in Japan.

The next morning, Asuto delivered Ginzan to the Hunter Association.

“You were a huge help yesterday. I’d prepared myself to die like that.”

In truth, if it had been anyone else who went to help him, Ginzan would undoubtedly have died.

Because, at this point in time, Asuto was the only person in this world who knew how to produce the cure-all medicine for the Parasitic Tree.

Asuto mixed the ‘Herbicide Poison’ from the cylinder with the ‘Antidote’ to create the cure-all medicine.

He injected that medicine into Ginzan’s vein.

The Herbicide Poison withered the Parasitic Tree while the Antidote neutralized its poisonous Effect on the human body.

The crucial point of this medicine was that while the Herbicide Poison was effective against both the Parasitic Tree and humans, the Antidote only had an Effect on humans.

Having received the injection, Ginzan safely returned from the brink of death.

To serve as a living witness to the Shisei Guild’s atrocity–

“Well, I’ll be. But who would have thought that just investigating the matter of Asuto’s personal information leak would get me captured by the Shisei Guild?”

“That was a real misfortune.”

“Absolutely. And it’s all Asuto’s fault.”

“How is it my fault!?”

“Because Asuto stood out so much, that’s why unscrupulous people appeared trying to steal information.”

“Even so, that’s the fault of those ‘unscrupulous people,’ isn’t it?”

“If Asuto didn’t exist, the information wouldn’t have been leaked.”

“After I saved you, that’s a harsh thing to say…”

Don’t blame others.

Asuto sighed, and a certain thought suddenly floated into his mind.

(Maybe… the reason Makoto died last time wasn’t suicide, but because the Shisei Guild eliminated him…)