Don't use Type-Moon references in Oregairu!

But now, they are going to pay the price for it.

Fujimaru Ritsuka, his face somewhat ashen, made a phone call. Before Sasagawa Yagokoro could even greet him, he cut to the chase: "Mr. Sasagawa Yagokoro, I have a big job for you. Whatever it takes, I need you to find out exactly how many homeless people there are in Chiba City. Whether it's targeting the entire city's yakuza organizations or pointing guns at the Metropolitan Police Department, I approve it all. Go ahead and do it, otherwise..."

Sasagawa Yagoko glanced at the time blankly, then subconsciously echoed, "What else can we do?"

"It'll be even more chaotic than the Five Rats causing havoc in Tokyo..." Fujimaru Ritsuka said casually, repeating an old joke. "We'll probably encounter more than ten monster legions with combat power equivalent to Awakened Ones, or even more. So we need to investigate the situation as soon as possible, take stock of and protect the remaining homeless."

Although it was during a call, Fujimaru Ritsuka could faintly hear the sound of someone swallowing saliva clearly on the other end of the line.

Sasakawa Yagokoro's voice trembled slightly: "I guarantee the mission will be completed, men, prepare to depart!" After saying the last sentence, he had already moved away from the microphone and began to gather the members of the execution team.

Fujimaru Ritsuka hung up the phone. He still had some confidence in Sasagawa Yagokoro, after all, he had been a diligent and reliable tool during his stay in London.

"Fujimaru~ Can't you use your eyes for once? Just like Merlin." Artoria had heard Fujimaru Ritsuka mention his Eye of Karma before, and looked like she wanted to copy the answers.

But she was disappointed. Fujimaru Ritsuka spread her hands, speechless: "There are too many... The causal threads between me and the monster's remains in front of me are too numerous to count. Each one is densely packed together, leading in all directions. Even if I wanted to find the person with the strongest correlation, I couldn't."

Artoria nodded, and the two exchanged a knowing glance: why don't we go and grab Rohan Kishibe, that guy who likes to watch the excitement, and have him use his current vision to search for him?

But before asking Rohan Kishibe for his invincible Merlin Eyes to come up with a solution, Ritsuka Fujimaru felt she needed to figure out what was going on with the guy in front of her.

He looked at the middle-aged man who had slumped helplessly onto the floor and said meaningfully, "Also, what's the deal with the sacrificial offerings?"

For a fleeting, almost imperceptible moment, Ito Reita's body stiffened. Just as he was about to speak, Fujimaru Ritsuka added, "Actually... I've studied psychology to some extent, so cold reading and physical lie detection aren't a problem for me. If you lie, we have a shrine maiden in our department who can use truth serum, you know."

So-called physical lie detection does not involve physically assaulting the interrogator to extract a confession; rather, it is exactly what it sounds like—using powerful hearing and vision to observe the other person's heart rate and other signs that indicate a lie.

Although Fujimaru Ritsuka only has a 50% accuracy rate in this question, that is ( ).

Ito Reita wanted to brush it off, but looking into his bright, piercing eyes, he began to panic.

No way, can it really detect lies? Wait, when I said my name, he seemed to give a cold laugh, as if he saw through something...

Besides, he figured he couldn't possibly run away alone at this time. Even if they let him escape, he wouldn't leave. Why would he refuse to cling to a powerful figure's coattails? He'd rather go out and get caught and subjected to all sorts of torture.

So... assuming the other party really has truth serum, you'll still have to try it once. Behave yourself now, and the big boss might let you off the hook later. Being put in the dark isn't a problem, as long as you don't become a bounty hunter.

In just a few dozen seconds, Fujimaru Ritsuka watched his expression change like a Sichuan opera face-changing act, finally settling on a look of surrender and dejection. Ito Reita then said obsequiously, "Sir, your eyes are sharp and discerning; you can tell at a glance that I'm hiding something."

He reached into his dark uniform and presented something with both hands: "This is what the mastermind found."

Artoria and Fujimaru Ritsuka went over to look at what Ito Reita was holding.

It was a strange seal, its material neither gold, wood, bone, jade, nor stone, yet it possessed characteristics similar to all of these. However, it looked like a natural product, far removed from any synthetic creation of modern civilization. It was only the size of a palm, its shape extremely irregular, as if a piece of a complete monument or something else had been knocked off.

Strangely, it was engraved, or rather drawn, with abstract animal symbols representing greed, but both of them felt that it was something added later, completely inconsistent with the original. However, when Fujimaru Ritsuka picked it up and touched it, she felt that the symbols and the seal itself had a consistent experience. This sense of dissonance and contradiction between observation and actual contact left even Fujimaru Ritsuka somewhat speechless.

Ito Reita obediently knelt on the ground, and only touched the ground with his head after seeing them accept the strange hand seal: "Actually, I am one of the cadres of the Bymamon Cult..."

“I know.” Fujimaru Ritsuka fiddled with the seal on her hand, and only after realizing she couldn’t glean any useful information did she hand it to Artoria for safekeeping. “Didn’t you all die following the former leader to perform the great ritual? How come you were the only one who survived?”

Ito Reita chuckled awkwardly, "Well... I had a feeling something was off, so when the cult leader invited us, I secretly hid and then used a kind of substitute technique to create an artifact to follow them."

"Where did that seal come from?" Fujimaru Ritsuka was a little curious. This thing looked mysterious and could only be the prized possession of that fake Mammon. How did this deserter get it?

"...steal."

"what?"

“It was stolen!” Ito Reita said, sounding a bit bewildered. “After I sent my double there that day, the cult leader, along with his staff and some devout followers, went to carry out the ritual. They didn’t even care about the things left behind at the base. I thought people need to make a living, so I ran in and took a lot of things with me. Then, I’ve been gradually selling these things to people in the industry.”

Reita Ito looked helpless: "But... this thing just won't sell, no, it's more like it's impossible to sell. The person who buys it dies a violent death not long after, and then it ends up back in my hands by some twist of fate... Although the buyers in the black market are all small fry, this thing has become infamous over time and is known as a cursed object. So I just keep holding onto it, but nothing has happened while it's in my possession."

Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded noncommittally at his completely unvarnished, almost frank, reminder, and then continued to ask, "What exactly is this thing?"

"It's a magical artifact. You should know how extraordinary individuals come to be, right?"

"For those without the adaptability to extraordinary materials, there's no way to gain any benefit from them. So even if we manage to acquire them by chance, we're completely unable to integrate them. But it's different with the Master. He put those materials into this Seal of Greed, which grants us the possibility of having extraordinary abilities. Although we're much weaker than others, it's enough for us. Thanks to the Master, I was able to raise enough money to treat my daughter through extraordinary power."

Ito Reita played the victim card, trying to get Fujimaru Ritsuka to understand his predicament.

But you, in order to gain supernatural powers, joined a cult. If you committed crimes, then these are just excuses to whitewash your actions. I don't care how tragic a bad person's family was before committing the crime, or how touching their motives were.

Seeing that Fujimaru Ritsuka remained unmoved, Ito Reita shrank back, feeling that the look in her eyes just now was a bit sharp as a knife.

Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't respond much, only saying to him, "Come on, follow us. Otherwise, you can stay here." For example, as bait, you might be able to lure out some people.

The former cult members naturally dared not speak and obediently followed them as they walked towards the coffee shop.

On the way, watching Artoria constantly playing with the Mark of Greed, Ito Reita couldn't help but say, "Respected lady, I suggest you seal this mark away, and absolutely do not even think about using it. I once overheard the cult leader say something like, 'Does this mark have a life of its own? Is it constantly leading everyone astray from the right path?' I suspect he..."

If this were merely a metaphor, it would have a philosophical undertone, suggesting that power can devour people's hearts, causing them to become arrogant and out of control. But it clearly doesn't sound like something from a guy who doesn't seem to be very bright either.

So, he's telling the truth. Even when he went to perform the Mammon advancement ceremony, he wouldn't bring such an important item, which shows how wary he is of this Mark of Greed.

Speaking of which, this guy's pretty impressive. He seems to have mastered all sorts of unconventional abilities, like using a substitute to die in someone else's place, eavesdropping, and embezzling funds to escape...

Fujimaru Ritsuka gave a slight, trusting smile, then quickly suppressed it, and abruptly asked, "You didn't seem to answer me, did you? What was the offering?"

Ito Reita exclaimed that he was an expert, knowing that his extraordinary abilities would affect the senses of others to some extent. Even his eavesdropping and substitution techniques could fool the cult leader who was stronger than him, all because of his almost approachable abilities. That's why he deliberately sold the Seal of Greed twice on the black market without anyone causing trouble.

Unexpectedly, even though his abilities had been working all along, and he had even offered up the Seal of Greed to divert attention, he still couldn't escape this problem.

However, even if he didn't say it, after this big shot took him back, he would inevitably have to drink a bottle of truth serum. He had only been gambling on whether he could distract Fujimaru Ritsuka, and even after drinking the truth serum, he would ignore the problem.

Now look what happened, the boss died on its own in the first phase.

Reita Ito could only say, looking embarrassed, "Sacrifice? To be precise, they call me [the bride]. It's just a bit strange for an old man like me to be called that."

Fujimaru Ritsuka rolled her eyes: What's so strange about that? This special and odd title only proves that you are the chief offering, extremely important.

In the realm of mysticism, things that defy common sense are often the most important components.

This gender-reversed offering can only mean that Ito Reita is a very important part of it.

Therefore, experts using certain Russian-style operational methods often choose to destroy the chief offering beforehand, thereby disrupting the ritual. It's like saying, "You want to take hostages? Then why don't I just kill them first?"

But Fujimaru Ritsuka never intended to kill Ito Reita. Putting aside whether the guy's crimes were enough to warrant the death penalty, even if they were, killing him would probably not help.

After all... Greed isn't the only one of the Seven Deadly Sins; could it be that the others also have a seal?

The stability of six main offerings is not necessarily much worse than that of seven.

Moreover, Fujimaru Ritsuka had a vague premonition that killing him and confiscating the Seal of Greed was definitely not a good idea—the key was that Artoria had no intention of harming Itō Reita from beginning to end, which confirmed her intuition.

Although this intuition is a shameful thing that can be fooled by famous teachers who have been buffed.

After giving him a look that suggested he figure it out himself, Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others slowly returned to the cafe.

Unsurprisingly, the café was already preparing to close, and its dilapidated state made Artoria feel somewhat embarrassed.

Seeing their store manager come out to greet them, Fujimaru Ritsuka felt a little guilty—he was holding a compensation bill, wasn't he?

"Hello, Mr. Fujimaru. This is something that Mr. Kishibe left behind." The shopkeeper handed over a sealed letter.

Fujimaru Ritsuka breathed a slight sigh of relief and took it: "Ah, it's something left behind by Kishibe-sensei. By the way, boss, when can I come over and sit here for a while? Your blended coffee is pretty good."

"The cake is delicious too."

The shop manager had no idea why they were asking in roundabout ways when his shop would be repaired. Honestly, as an ordinary person, he fainted so quickly that even the events before he passed out were a bit blurry. When he woke up, Rohan Kishibe had already cracked a few jokes at him and even paid for the shop's renovations.

He shrugged: "About a week should be enough."

"Oh, a week? I'll bring my friends over later." Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others fled in panic.

The store manager shook his head, his face full of satisfaction: "You're really energetic."

Once out of the store manager's sight, Fujimaru Ritsuka deftly pulled out the letter, then glanced at it and immediately looked bewildered.

He handed the letter to Artoria, who took it and was also stunned: "The time is not right yet."

"...You prophetic dog, don't let me catch you!"

162. Beat them up, then find the Rainbow Bridge.

Fujimaru Ritsuka is now truly furious.

Back then, the Riddler, Old Shepherd, tormented him so much that he even doubted whether Old Shepherd was on the enemy's side. Unfortunately, Old Shepherd dragged on the main storyline for many years without updating it, and then he was transported to another world. The bunch of literary works he had read back then also reminded him of the pain he suffered at the hands of the Riddler. He really wanted to shout at the top of his lungs, "Riddler, get out of Gotham!"

After thinking about it for a while, he calmed down a bit. Tonight, Rohan Kishibe said he would guide him to see Luna. "See if I catch you in my dream and you don't teach me a lesson?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka was itching to get started, wishing she could find a bed right now and lie down to offer some warmth to Kishibe Rohan.

Artoria turned the note over and over with curiosity, clicking her tongue in amazement: "How could Lord Merlin have chosen such a troublesome fellow... When I met him back then, he wasn't such a riddle-teller. At least he would tell me that Britain was going to be destroyed and give me all sorts of advice."

"...Maybe we're not very familiar with each other? Forget it, let's not talk about this troublesome guy. I'll give him a good beating in my dreams later. Let's think about where to find a place to rest tonight." Fujimaru Ritsuka stroked his chin, his fists already itching to punch.

“Alright, let’s just find a hotel nearby. This guy will stay with us, and I’ll keep watch for you.” Artoria calmly said goodbye to the boss. After learning that Rohan Kishibe had given the boss compensation including the cost of closing down for renovations, she was completely at ease.

"Okay, let's hurry up and leave, so as not to cause trouble for the boss." Fujimaru Ritsuka said and left without hesitation, leading the others smoothly to a nearby hotel with the help of her phone's navigation.

While they headed straight to their hotel, others were quietly investigating the scene.

It was a man dressed in black similar to Ito Reita, who was carefully examining the scene that Artoria had created before she used up all her resources.

He touched them and smelled a strange, burnt smell on his hands, but he shook them off without a care, as if he felt no pain at all.

"This is really starting to get a bit of a headache. I never thought that having gained such a long life would lead to being restrained by so many things..." He raised his palm to examine it. Most of the skin and flesh had peeled away under the residual glow of the Holy Lance, revealing the muscle tissue underneath, and there was even a faint smell of roasted meat.

He didn't smell anything; instead, he seemed to be enjoying the aroma as he took a deep sniff before remembering the task his boss had given him.

They were determined to get Ito Reita, but the weapon he possessed had a counter-attribute to their current situation, making the situation far from optimistic.

The man in black, his pale lips curling into a sinister smile beneath his hood, thought: Even if the opponent possessed the power to restrain, it was like water extinguishing a flame, while the wildfires that engulfed the entire continent could not be easily extinguished by a few scoops of water.

And...who said we have to defeat them?

He tore at the flesh on his palm with his teeth, thinking with pleasure.

Next, all you have to do is wait a little while, and your colleagues will be able to get here.

Even if Chaldea had twenty or thirty Awakened Ones with Heroic Spirit lineages, they would still be overwhelmed. So, the next step would be a calculated move to lure them away from their stronghold. He was eager to see what that would look like.

"No one can stop the coming of my Lord." His body melted in the moonlight and finally disappeared, leaving only a fervent murmur that lingered in the place.

-------------------------------------

Fujimaru Ritsuka stood calmly at the hotel reception desk, handing over her ID card: "Here you go."

The hotel receptionist, who was fairly cute, took their ID cards and registered their check-in information while giving them a complicated look.

It was past midnight, and there were two men and one woman in one room. It didn't feel like something was going on.

"Hello, hello? Is everything sorted out?"

"Oh? Hi! Your room has been booked. Here's your room key." The young girl nervously handed the room key and her ID card to Fujimaru Ritsuka with both hands, then said in a barely audible voice, "I hope you have a good time, cough, and a comfortable stay."