There was a beast person wearing sunglasses in the same spot where Qualia picked up the signal of a Black Hole ancient magic stone.
Backdoor. Qualia repeated that name again.
This Backdoor had robust, and clearly identifiable as threats, beast people behind him, as he finally reached Liebe.
“Qualia and Ace of the guardian knight order Hello World… We had a near miss during the all out attack on the capital, but I know you very well. I’m Backdoor. Nice to make your acquaintance.”
Backdoor stood as if acting on some sort of stage, and laughed scornfully.
“Looks like you tried to convince our boss here, but even an uneducated idiot like me could have predicted this outcome. You’re not going to do anything about the wall between humans and beast people at this point.”
“You are wrong. Error. The classifications of humans and beast people are not defined as a wall.”
“Ah?”
“A wall is something that prevents passage. But humans and beast people can make contact if they so intend. Humans and beast people can both become threats to each other, but they can also present ‘tasty’ to each other.”
Backdoor sighed, as he saw Qualia and Ace’s completely unperturbed faces despite his provocation.
“…You wet blankets. You’re the type I hate the most. Right, Liebe?”
“That’s right. There’s definitely a wall between humans and beast people. What’s wrong is the world that excludes us. That’s why I’m busting that wall, and taking back everything humans have taken from us.”
“…So says Liebe, the one who will lead all beast people one day. Beast people have no intention of obeying or being friends with humans.”
Backdoor borrowed Liebe’s words, and grinned.
“…And I hear you gave that beast girl that was devoted to humans a very cruel end. Ah, and I’m pretty sure that was Liebe’s sister.”
“Yes.”
Liebe took a deep breath, as his sooty eyes burned with a desire for vengeance. Everyone thought so, as their eyes were glued to Liebe.
“Humans, most likely from the Clear Skies Church, killed the noncombatant Ina in that way… It must have been so painful. It must have been so bad.”
Liebe faced down, and Backdoor approached him.
“Yes yes. Ina’s lungs were stabbed… She couldn’t breathe. Did she suffocate, or was it blood loss? One thing is certain, she suffered… And you even found her alive and everything… And she grew up so cute too… But those humans… Those humans!”
He instigated him. He was intent on instigating him.
The flame of Azure Skies called Liebe continued to be fanned. It was fanned to involve not just the capital, but the whole kingdom.
And for that purpose, Backdoor took out an ancient magic stone from his pocket, and presented it.
“Use this Black hole. Take out as many humans in this city as you want.”
The deep seated grudge was rising.
Backdoor smiled slightly, but confidently, as he placed the Back Hole in Liebe’s right hand, and glared at Qualia and Ace.
“…I jumped in all of a sudden, didn’t I? But rest easy. I called beast people, including ones from Azure Skies.”
Backdoor made eye contact with beast people around them, and big ones with muscular bodies made their way towards Qualia and Ace. They were all the ‘elite of violence’
“Type GUN.
Threats detected. Neutralizing.”
“Gaia.
Taking action to kill threats.”
Each was very strong, and that was also the conclusion Qualia and Ace reached.
And so, they were not going to be merciful, and were about to start fighting per their own optimal solutions.
But that was when Liebe clutched Backdoor’s cranium.
“Eh?”
Needless to say, Backdoor was not the only one who was taken aback by this. Beast people around them froze, not believing what they were seeing.
“…One question. How do you know Ina was stabbed? In the lungs, no less.”
Those eyes filled with malice looked at Qualia and Ace many times. But now, they were not pointed at them anymore.
That anger that came from hatred was pointed at Backdoor, who was supposed to be a fellow beast person.
“The rumor going around only says she was lynched. Even I only heard she was killed like that, so how come you know the details?”
“Ah, no, that’s… Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
That claw tore it up, as three cracks ran through the sunglasses and Backdoor’s head.
“Gofuh…”
Backdoor crouched while spitting blood, and Liebe kicked him.
But that was not enough, and Liebe howled.
“It really was you who killed Ina, wasn’t it Backdoor!?”
Liebe threw the Black Hole with his other hand. And the moment he caught it, Qualia began hacking it.
“Confirming ancient magic stone Black Hole. Neutralizing.”
“W-what…!?”
The beast people looked on in disbelief as the ancient magic stone was passed to a human, and turned into a mere rock.
And that was when Backdoor understood everything.
“…He’s a traitor of beast people! Destroy Liebe!!”
“What he just did… I guess it was that…! He just tossed a magic stone to a human!”
The nearest beast person, despite almost being swallowed by that situation as well, raised his big sword. But immediately after, a beam penetrated his right arm, and a section of earth emerged to push away another beast person.
“Uaaaah…!”
As a beast person rolled in front of him, two shadows positioned themselves on either side of Liebe.
“Ace. You asked me what my role was.”
The magic doll to his left heard the response.
“…In the end, it’s leader of Azure Skies. It’s all I can leave behind now.”
“Yes, your role has been confirmed to be leader of Azure Skies again. That is why I attacked you before. You proposed a ritual to prompt the appearance of Backdoor, but that is unrelated.”
“Yes, that motivation is more like you… Let me introduce it again. This puke here is the one who hurt my sister, stabbed her, took her consciousness away, and might have taken her life…!”
Ace turned to him in response to that voice filled with hatred.
“Yes, detecting puke.”
As she linked that designation with Backdoor, Ace felt her thoughts falter. Something inside her called for her to kill Backdoor.
She neither resisted or obeyed it, and simply continued to focus on him.
And Qualia was the same.
“No prediction corrections except for one point. Confirming completion of task of false hostility to prompt Backdoor to appear.”
“Except for one?”
“That is that your actions have placed an exceedingly low value on yourself. This false hostile action was not planned to cause low estimation of you or Azure Skies.”
“…Sorry, but I’ve already decided how I’m going to die again.”
A request for an explanation passed through Qualia’s circuits, but he went beyond even that cool-headed decision, and simply turned his attention to Backdoor.
There were strong emotions surging up. And memories of Ina in a sea of blood.
The static from the emotions and trauma became a tsunami that fanned him, but what Qualia said made it clear he intended to fulfill his role as a member of Hello World.
“Confirming priority task to be the apprehension of Backdoor. Executing task.”
Human.
Magic doll.
And beast person.
Backdoor was in a stupor, as he watched them talk and held his face.
He called Liebe a traitor, and he realized too late the other meaning of that.
“…Liebe… With a human…”
“Yes, and you took the bait like I thought… The one who actually hurt Ina.”
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