The World's Ego

Troubles before the Meeting

Rimuru POV

After arriving in the cafe and taking a seat, Souei begins his report. First, he talked about the Founding Festival, which received glowing feedback from nobles to the common people alike, everyone was talking about it. Furthermore, there are rumors about the labyrinth going around, our promotion to the nobles were working. Some were even forming teams to challenge the dungeon. With these rumors, the number of challengers will continue to grow. Next was the more important matters.

"What about the results of the investigations of the merchants? Especially the connections that Duke Muze has." I asked

"I've investigated them all and ran a thorough search on the family members and trade partners of the merchants. The results show that they have not been in contact with any suspicious individuals as of late. However, they did seem to share common benefactors when they were applying for the business license. After doing some research on the officers who helped these merchants, we discovered that they were all connected to Duke Muze."

So they were all acting according to Muze's commands. Then there would be no use to continue investigating them and put our focus on Muze instead.

"And what about Muze? I heard that he was cunning, so what happened to him?"

Then Souei dropped a shocking fact, "He's dead."

"... What?"

"I suspect the cause of death was a ranged attack." He continued

To be this daring to assassinate someone like Muze... Our opponent this time must be holding high authority.

<Answer. It is estimated that they discovered that individual Souei was tracking Muze.>

So he was murdered to be silenced, huh?

"Even you did not notice?" Beni questioned

"Yes. Until Muze fell before my very eyes, I did not sense the slightest thing." Souei replied to him calmly

"Unbelievable. If Souei did not sense anything, then the assassin must have attacked from several hundred meters away. If it really was magic, surely, you would've been able to sense mana, and if it was some projectile weapon, surely, there would've been remnants of aura as well." Beni pondered for the possibilities

No... It was none of those cases. In fact, the most plausible answer is usually one that is otherworldly as well.

"This must be the work of a sniper." I concluded

"Sniper?"

"What is that?" Shuna asks in confusion

I threw my head back to give a grin to the girl that was sneaking up behind me, surprising her in turn, "Do you want to tell us the answer, Hinata?"

She sighed under her breath, "A gun. Yuuki has a pistol himself."

She sat down after giving her answer and we stopped our discussion temporarily to order our lunch now that she was here. We enjoyed the delicacies to our heart's content and I ordered a refreshing fruit tea to end it off.

"This is delicious!" I exclaimed

Hinata's eyes roamed my outfit before she said, "You really chose something that enhances your cuteness factor, huh?"

"Hehe~"

"Well, it does suit you and your child-like self anyway." She scoffs, taking a sip of her coffee, "Suits your style anyway."

"Thank you!"

Now that our lunch was over, it was back to discussing the heavy topic. I put up a Sound Isolation Barrier to prevent anyone from the outside from listening in.