This is not the date I wanted.

Woodman's side was in an uproar at this time.

No, to be precise, the three "parliamentarians" at the round table meeting in front of him were furious.

The reason was not about Gokawa Shido's rampage, which had already calmed down, nor about the sudden appearance of the "Phantom". Even Klein, who had secretly hidden the activation device of the "Dáinsleif" and should have been in a position of being accused, seemed to have forgotten his previous actions and was rioting about another matter.

Just now, the Dáinsleif that was supposed to target Gokawa Shido completely ignored Japan's Amamiya City and attacked three completely different areas on Earth.

And those three areas are exactly where Clayton, Walronstead, and Dagulas, the three members of the Round Table Conference, live.

Although the three shellings finally hit deserted suburbs, causing no casualties or property damage, this is not a reason to feel at ease.

For the three congressmen who never liked to show up in public, it was like having a gun pointed at the back of their heads without them noticing, and then having a blank shot fired at their temples. To be honest, if it were Woodman himself, he would probably be scared to death.

(This is really a difficult problem for me, that elf.)

Woodman couldn't help but hold his forehead with a headache.

Although, on the surface, this accident seemed to be the work of the two artificial elves in Kotori's airship, but as long as one thinks a little, one can understand that the hacking method that can learn the top-secret satellite weapon of Ratatoskr (Tarotsk) <Dáinsleif>, and can crack the indestructible and basically unsolvable firewall, and change the satellite attack coordinates, is definitely not something that artificial intelligence can accomplish on its own.

There is only one target that can be thought of, the most dangerous elf to humans, the Hacker, who has been sealed by Shidao Gokawa.

Since I can think of it, there is no reason why these old foxes can't think of it.

As a sealed spirit, it still showed such dangerous fangs. One can imagine how the three people felt at this moment.

The elves that were originally defined as safe were labeled as dangerous again, which was undoubtedly very difficult for Woodman who advocated protecting the elves. In the worst case, not only Ryougi Yumezuki, but even Yatogami Tohka and others would lose the right to live in the ordinary world.

"Chancellor Woodman."

Just when Woodman was worrying about how to protect Liang Yi Meng Yue, Kallen, who had been waiting behind him, suddenly came to his side.

"what happened?"

"Just now, a letter was received in your private mailbox."

"Ok?"

Woodman opened his email with some doubts, and then his eyes widened involuntarily.

"This, this is-"

……

[The investigation is clear. Indeed, during the autumn period, we received a report of a hacker from Fraxinus.]

[Is this really the work of a hacker? ! ]

Hearing Dagulas' words, Clayton in the video slammed the table hard and let out an angry roar.

[It was probably the time when they infiltrated the virtual world. Hackers took advantage of the gap when DEM was invading and Gokawa Shido and the elves were trapped in the computer world, and invaded Dáinsleif through the computer of the airship. There is no other possibility.]

[Really? He actually allowed someone to sneak into his airship. What on earth is Commander Gokawa doing?! ]

[Well, we can't put all the blame on Commander Gokawa. After all, he is just a 14-year-old junior high school student, and it is inevitable that he will make mistakes. Compared with these, what we need to discuss now is the issue of hackers. ]

With a smile, he calmed down the angry and irritable Clayton, and pretended to be a good guy to smooth things over for Gokawa Kotori. In fact, he deliberately led the topic in the most dangerous direction.

【That’s true. 】

Dagulas nodded in agreement.

[Although I have always felt vaguely uneasy, I didn't expect that a hacker could actually control the Dáinsleif. Even after being sealed, the most dangerous elf is still the most dangerous elf. If I let her live in human society like this, who knows what fatal actions she will take.]

[Imprison! She must be imprisoned! I have always been against letting dangerous creatures like that wander around in human society, and now you have seen the result. I don't want to have a gun pointed at my head all the time! Otherwise, while she is sealed, I will kill her——]

[Congressman Clayton. Please respect yourself for making such reckless remarks. We are not like those guys in DEM.]

【Well--】

After blocking Clayton's mouth, Walronstead showed a sly smile at the corner of his mouth, put on a fair and selfless face and continued.

[However, what you said does make sense. Judging from the potential threat revealed by the hacker this time, the current lax control is indeed ineffective. And not only the hacker, I am worried that other elves may also show the same potential danger. We can't rest easy just because their spiritual power is sealed. Although it is not to the extent of imprisonment, the control of elves does need to be reconsidered——]

"That's enough. Walronstead, I was just keeping silent for a while, but you took the initiative to continue the topic. You are planning to bring the elves and Shidou under your management."

Seeing that his passionate speech was interrupted midway, Wallonstead did not get angry, but looked at Woodman with a puzzled expression.

[What are you talking about? Speaker Woodman, I am seriously discussing solutions with everyone present. This is also for the future of Ratatoskr.]

"Well, that's it. However, I have a more serious problem that I need to discuss with you all than what a hacker can do."

Glancing at the three people indifferently, Woodman snorted coldly and sent the files attached to his email to the three people.

Looking at the document in front of them, the three of them looked at each other and saw confusion and fear in each other's eyes. Obviously, they didn't know what Woodman was up to.

Opening the documents in their hands, Clayton, Walronstead, and Dagulas - the expressions of the three of them turned ashen without exception.

「This, this is……where are you from……」

[Impossible! This is impossible! I have already dealt with those things perfectly. Why do you have these things!? ]

[…………This is such a funny joke. You have all these things but you are only showing them out now. Have you been playing tricks on us from the beginning? Speaker Woodman.]

As the saying goes, all crows are black, and this principle also applies to humans.

Standing on the opposite side of evil does not necessarily represent justice.

Power, wealth, status. The more these things accumulate, the more desires will expand, and at the same time, people's bottom line will become lower and lower. It is very difficult, very difficult, to maintain a clean record while being in a high position.

It can be said with certainty that what these three people have done is not much cleaner than what DEM has done.

At this time, the information that Woodman handed over to them was enough to destroy everything they had accumulated so far, or to say, it was enough to easily crush their most important things.

If the attack launched by the hacker controlling the satellite was like firing a blank shot at their heads, then Woodman's attack pierced through their flesh, bypassed their blood vessels, and accurately grasped their hearts.

"Where did these come from?"

Looking at the three people who were in such an ugly state at this moment, Woodman sneered, as if he was mocking their ignorance.

"Weren't you guys discussing her heatedly just now?"

【……she?】

【Could it be that……】

【Hacker...! 】

After hearing Woodman's words, the three of them seemed to have thought of something and their eyes widened in surprise.

Why did the satellite controlled by hackers target the three people present at the Round Table Council, but not Woodman, the Speaker?

Why, in Woodman's hands, would there be information that only hackers could possess?

The three of them had actually noticed this sense of disharmony a long time ago, but until just now, they had not thought about it in that direction.

[Hacker... is he actually your pawn, Woodman? ]

Woodman did not confirm or deny the question, but just let the three people guess freely and spoke calmly.

"Don't worry, I have no plans to make this information public. At least not now. Although I don't intend to make you obey me, at least please abide by your agreement. Otherwise, I also have my plans."

【………………………………………………………………】

"I will inform you of Clayton's punishment later... That's true. The channels for obtaining the activation device are very limited. I guess you, Walronstead, also had a hand in it. After the investigation and confirmation, I will also inform you of your punishment." 　

No one raised any objection to Woodman's words. They all knew that when the other party held the almost foul card of hacker, they were doomed to be unable to hold their heads up in front of Woodman.

……

"Phew...so exhausted." 　

Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Woodman couldn't help but sigh with lingering fear.

When was the last time he sweated from nervousness? This question popped up in his mind, and Woodman shook his head with a wry smile.

"You think too highly of me, you treat hackers as your pawns? I don't have that much magnanimity."

"Woodman..."

"I'm fine, Kallen."

Seeing the worried look from his secretary, Woodman waved his hand to indicate that it was okay.

Reopening his mailbox, Woodman scrolled to the note at the end of the email.

[Because you are Kotori's boss. So I choose to trust you, and I hope you won't let me down. Former DEM magician - Elliot Woodman. ]

To be honest, when Woodman saw this sentence, he almost had the same idea as Clayton.

"In order to avoid people taking my danger seriously, I found someone to transfer my fear to. This way, everyone's attention would be diverted..."

Although it was not explicitly stated in the email, everything Liangyi Mengyue did clearly conveyed her intentions to Woodman.

"I used to think that the title of 'the most dangerous elf' was slandered by others, but now it seems that it is not groundless..."

Hacker, no - it's great that Liang Yi Meng Yue is not his enemy. Woodman now feels thankful from the bottom of his heart.

28 Winter, hot pot, ideal

==============================

"Well……"

With a soft moan, Gokawa Shidao opened his eyes.

"——a familiar ceiling."

After muttering something involuntarily, Shidao climbed up from the bed and looked around. There was no doubt that this was his room.

"Strange... who am I..."

As if he didn't understand the current situation, Shidou shook his head in confusion.

Looking up at the clock in the room, it was already past midnight. Apart from the time when Mengyue strangled him and he lost consciousness, Shidao's memory only stopped at the physical test in the morning.

What happened during this blank period of time? Shidao was filled with anxiety.

"Yumezuki...Tohka...Kotori...how is everyone?"

Please don't let anything happen. Praying in his heart, Shidou threw off the quilt, got out of bed, and walked out of the room in his pajamas.

"Is Kotori... here?"

Walking in the dim corridor, Shidou knocked lightly on the room next door to Kotori. After a long time, there was no response from the room.

"not here……"

Shidou muttered quietly, looking out the window at the Elf Apartment next door to his house, only to see that no house in the building opposite was lit.

"Could it be that they are all in the airship... huh?"

Just when Shidao was about to take out his cell phone to call everyone, a scent floating in the air caught Shidao's attention.

"It smells good."

Gollum—

While he was sighing, his stomach also made a complaining sound, which made Shidao feel a little embarrassed.

"This smell... is coming from the first floor?"

Following the scent down the stairs, Shidou discovered that from the living room where the lights were still on, there were bursts of lively conversations.

"Kuku. Show me my treasured secret technique - Falling Shadow and Catching Wind."

"Cracked. What a cheap secret technique! Yakuya, this piece of beef belongs to Yuigen."

"Wow, why are there vegetables again!"

"Nanabi-chan, this piece of meat is already cooked. It's juicy and tender, and it tastes really good with the sauce. Don't be shy, come on~ah——"

“No no no no no no no no no – don’t come over here you cow, I won’t fall for your trick!!”

"Shino, Shino, remember to eat more vegetables as well as meat. Only in this way can you grow into a mature woman who can make Shidou-kun fall in love with you~"

"Hmm... Shiona... Ham... So warm... So delicious..."

"Mmmmm--Mengyue! Another bowl please!"

"Don't be anxious, Tohka. There are still a lot of ingredients. There's no need to wolf them down like a starving ghost."

"But, Ham—it's too expensive and stupid to do anything."

"...wait until you swallow everything in your mouth before you speak."

"Ah——Why did you take my meat away? Tobiichi Origami."