EP - 029.1 - Purifier (3)
“This works?”
“…”
“…”
Silence spread around Elijah’s words.
Perhaps it's because everyone all share the same sentiment.
Man Eaters were strewn all over and wriggling the ground.
‘…Everyone was against it at first.’
Elijah chuckled, sword resting on his shoulder.
When Tallion first told everyone about the "plan," they thought he was crazy.
Even Elijah, who was urgently summoned here, would have reacted the same way if she hadn't been told that it was Dowd Campbell who came up with this plan.
In a state of emergency of monsters appearing in the city, the standard solution would be to call the knights and buy time until civilians evacuate.
No matter what anyone says, the strongest force in the Empire is the knights, and there are always knights residing in and around Elfante.
However, what about Dowd’s plan that Tallion told them about?
‘…We can deal with this with a dozen or so students, a few knights, and several academy professors.’
Recalling the contents of the plan, Elijah still found it absurd even now and let out a bitter laugh.
It was basically just to round up the nearest people around and throw them to deal with the monsters.
To put it bluntly, it was a death wish.
It had been quite some time since demonic power manifested, and Man Eaters were classified as enemies of humanity.
Even if their intelligence had deteriorated, they possessed simple but brutal combat capabilities that even warriors find difficult to deal with.
Therefore, dealing with Man Eaters is fundamentally based on the premise that "more humans" will confront "fewer Man Eaters."
So, the fact that less than 20 humans had unilaterally suppressed hundreds of Man Easters was almost miraculous.
The motivation behind the plan was even more absurd.
‘…There would be too many casualties.’
If civilians are evacuated while waiting for the knights to be dispatched, casualties inevitably occur in the process.
However, if they just subdue all the Man Eaters before that, they could eliminate such risk.
Truly a man with great foresight.
When it comes to the conviction of saving people first during a crisis, Elijah couldn't help but doubt that this man was more keen than her, despite being the hero candidate.
‘Is there any special reason?’
Elijah tilted her head in wonder.
“Good job.”
As she was having such thoughts, the Dean of the Knights School, Conrad Baltador, approached her and patted her on the shoulder.
He was one of the people who supported this plan, along with President Atallante, who had participated in the battle.
Because their influence was so strong, the plan was executed as is, shutting down the opposition.
“I'm relieved that both the Dean and the President are here. If even one of you wasn't, such an achievement might not have been possible.”
It really was.
No, to be exact, if even one human here was missing, this achievement would have been impossible
“…It would have been impossible if even one is missing.”
Conrad’s eyes narrowed.
“Yes, I share the same sentiment. Do you know why me and the President happened to be around here?”
“Yes?”
“She recommended that we eat here.”
“…”
Elijah frowned.
“is that so?”
“She already booked the seats, so I have no reason to refuse. But then, coincidentally, this happened.”
“…”
A hypothesis started forming in Elijah’s head.
And as Conrad continued, the more it became concrete.
“And that guy over there, he's a student from the Monster Research Department.”
Conrad pointed to Evan Kramer, a sophomore in the Monster Research Department.
Elijah remembers this face well.
Because he was the facilitator of the mock battle at the orientation that she did with Dowd.
Dowd had told Tallion to find this student as well.
“We probably wouldn’t have been able to achieve this result without him.”
Definitely.
Apart from their brutish fighting ability, monsters also have a variety of strange and bizarre traits. Even for a knight whose main profession was fighting against them, it's impossible to memorize all of their characteristics.
Unless one is geek who specialize in studying such things...
If that student named Evan hadn't provided them the Man Eaters' weaknesses, they wouldn't have been able to end the battle so smoothly.
“I heard that he was asked to come to the festival. He couldn’t refuse because it was from a benefactor’s request.”
“A benefactor?”
“The Monster Research Department is the least popular department among the Knights School. We were considering closing it by the end of this year.”
“…”
“But when I ‘coincidentally’ checked the mock battle stage, I found capable people. So I revoked that decision.”
Elijah’s pupils trembled slightly.
Right, we're saying it was a coincidence.
But it happened because of ‘a certain person’ Conrad was eyeing.
And coincidentally, the student from the rarely-visited Monster Research Department happened to be nearby.
At a terrifyingly perfect timing.
Because of someone's request.
"..."
Then it became clear.
The students affiliated with the "House of Purification" foundation, who participated in this battle, were also said to have not mutated into monsters because Dowd had done something.
The knights who were dispatched to this scene were also people that Dowd had called upon beforehand, after requesting it from the President.
“…Ha.”
When viewed separately, it's a series of completely unrelated coincidences, but there is one focal point that connects all of these coincidences.
“Uh, Dean.”
“Hm?”
“Has that person been preparing for this a long time ago?”
Conrad laughed instead of answering.
All the actions taken up until now, the people that Dowd has met, and the resulting outcomes - all point to this situation.
Dowd Campbell has been designing a response to an unnoticed threat since the beginning.
Everyone set in their positions.
From the beginning, that person had expected that something like this would happen and prepared for it meticulously
‘It's impossible if even one person is missing.’
It’s a tightly knit plan from the beginning to end!
Elijah said disheartened.
“…What kind of person is he, really?”
“I don’t know. In the first place, it could really be just a series of coincidences.”
Conrad replied while scratching his head.
“But if that's really the case, then I feel like there shouldn't have been one more thing.”
“Yes?”
“Have you seen Tallion during the battle?”
That's true.
If he was there, he would have undoubtedly been a great asset, but his absence was puzzling.
“What do you think he is doing right now?”
“…”
Elijah’s expression hardened.
“You think he's planning more?”
A boisterous laughter was what she got instead of an answer.
It had a carefree tone that didn't require any further questioning as to what it meant.
“Seriously.”
What kind of person is he?
Elijah sighed and tilted his head back to relieve the fatigue from the battle.
“Eung?”
Suddenly, her entire field of vision was covered in ‘gray’.
Like a smoke that spewed out from somewhere, it rapidly expanded. It endlessly covered the sky, space, and eroded everything in its path.
And then.
Everything stopped.
