Chapter 418: Shido Masayoshi
Later that day, inside an office building in Tokyo with the word "Ashikaga" on its sign.
"Asagiri, you're here."
Hearing the door open, Miwa Ashikaga looked up.
After confirming that the person entering was Asagiri, she pointed toward the black leather sofa.
"Sit."
"Late night, female teacher, office."
Asagiri sat down on the sofa while chuckling.
"Ashikaga-sensei, gathering so many misleading elements together is really a little scary. I'm not interested in old ladies."
Hearing this, Miwa Ashikaga could not help covering her forehead and sighing.
"Even after being a Player for so long, your personality is still the same as ever..."
After saying that, Miwa Ashikaga picked up the document on her desk and threw it directly at Asagiri.
As he caught it precisely, she spoke.
"The progress on the official side... has encountered trouble."
Asagiri opened the document in his hand.
He looked at the bald, middle aged man with a goatee and black rimmed glasses, who gave off a very serious and capable aura, then read the name at the very top of the file and muttered,
"Shido Masayoshi..."
"That's right. Shido Masayoshi."
Miwa Ashikaga took off her gold rimmed glasses, raised her hand to rub her temples, and spoke with a complicated look.
"Shido Masayoshi was originally just a local council member, but five months ago, he suddenly started rising at an astonishing speed."
"It took him less than two months to become a Cabinet member. I heard he even intends to become Prime Minister."
"Not only is his public support high, but he also has deep connections in political circles from unknown sources."
"Combining the time his career started to explode with the position he holds in the Cabinet, I suspect..."
"He's the person in charge of the official Player faction..."
Asagiri read through Shido Masayoshi's profile at an extremely fast speed.
Then he looked up at Miwa Ashikaga and asked,
"Is he a Player?"
"Not sure."
Miwa Ashikaga sighed again, took a sip of the cold, bitter black coffee, and frowned.
"I sent people to investigate his whereabouts, but since this guy is a current Cabinet member, it would be very troublesome if we were discovered, so we couldn't find out anything."
"I have already asked Iwanaga-san to send ghosts that ordinary people cannot see to investigate."
"Hmm..."
Asagiri nodded noncommittally.
Looking at Shido Masayoshi's seemingly righteous and serious face in the photo, he showed a slight smile.
"So, the recent termination of cooperation with the unofficial Player factions was also this guy's doing?"
"Perhaps."
Miwa Ashikaga lowered her hand from her temples, her expression returning to calm.
She looked at Asagiri, who was sitting on the sofa, and asked,
"Should we arrange a meeting to talk with him?"
"There's no need for that."
Asagiri placed the folder in his hand onto the table and spoke in a calm tone.
"The fact that he was able to rise to such a high position in such a short time, regardless of the method used, proves that Shido Masayoshi is a man of great ambition."
"Our plan is to have people we trust take over the Player factions formed by the authorities."
"To achieve this goal, we must replace Shido Masayoshi."
"We cannot abandon our plan, and he will not willingly give up the power in his hands."
"Therefore, there is an irreconcilable conflict of interest between us and him."
After saying this, Asagiri paused slightly before speaking again.
"Let's have Chika help investigate first. With the Fujiwara Family's connections in the political world, we might be able to obtain some valuable information."
...
The next day, after school, inside Miwa Ashikaga's office at Shuchiin Private Academy.
"Ahem~"
Fujiwara Chika paced back and forth in the office with her hands behind her back, wearing a classic detective hat and holding a pipe shaped candy in her mouth.
She looked inscrutable.
Seeing this, Asagiri could not help retorting,
"What is this outfit? Why did you put on the classic Love Detective skin? Are you going to give me and that Shido Masayoshi love counseling?"
"Pfft."
Hearing Asagiri's words, even Miwa Ashikaga, who was usually serious and rarely smiled, could not help laughing out loud.
Fujiwara Chika smiled embarrassedly, stuck out her tongue, and tried to act cute to get past it.
"Hehe, I just thought dressing like this would look cooler~"
"Don't worry about such small details. I'll start my report now."
After saying this, Fujiwara Chika paused for a moment before continuing with a smile.
"On the surface, Shido Masayoshi's resume has no blemishes."
"There are absolutely no scandals like embezzlement of campaign funds or drunken disturbances. It can be said to be impeccable, with absolutely no weaknesses."
"But..."
Fujiwara Chika's tone changed.
Her sweet and simple smile disappeared, and she spoke with a rare serious attitude.
"During the Dead Realm descent incident nearly two months ago, a coincidence with an extremely low probability occurred."
"Two city council members in Tokyo who had previously clashed with him were unfortunately caught in the disaster of the Dead Realm and died."
"And even more coincidentally, half a month ago, another city council member rumored to have clashed with him went missing and remains unaccounted for."
Hearing Fujiwara Chika's introduction, Asagiri did not seem surprised and only spoke calmly.
"It's definitely not just a coincidence."
"Exactly."
Fujiwara Chika sat down beside Asagiri.
She first glanced at Miwa Ashikaga, who was sitting behind the desk, then looked at Yuuki Asuna, Iwanaga Kotoko, Kaguya Shinomiya, and Hayasaka Ai in the office before speaking slowly.
"According to information obtained from various sources, although there is no concrete evidence, Shido Masayoshi is indeed the organizer of the official Player factions."
"He used his status as a council member and the authorities as a cover to create Player factions that actually belonged to him."
"Then he used the Players under his command to assassinate those who stood in his way, blaming the disasters caused by this death game."
"The abilities of Players are far beyond what ordinary people can imagine, so even though the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and the Public Security Bureau have suspected him, they cannot find any evidence."
"And because his position is too high now, no one dares to offend him."
"This is too..."
Compared to the disgusted look on Yuuki Asuna's face, Kaguya Shinomiya's expression was extremely calm.
She spoke lightly.
"Eliminating dissent in the political world is very common, but using the power of Players to kill people directly is indeed going too far."
"It just so happens that he has the status of a council member as a cover."
"If no one stops him, he might soon eliminate everyone who opposes him."
"By then, with some additional methods, it wouldn't be impossible for him to even become Prime Minister."
Asagiri nodded noncommittally and looked at Fujiwara Chika.
"Then the matter of interrupting cooperation with the unofficial Player factions should also be a decision he made, right?"
"I'm not completely sure, but it should be."
Fujiwara Chika replied with a smile.
"The fact that he can even directly kill his competitors shows that Shido Masayoshi has a high degree of control over the Player factions."
"I think that unless he is a Player himself, he wouldn't be able to do such a thing."
"I think so too."
Asagiri agreed with Fujiwara Chika's idea.
Players who were still alive at this stage had already witnessed horrors that ordinary people could not imagine and experienced life and death situations that ordinary people could hardly face.
They had done everything in their power to win a glimmer of life and survive until now, and they also possessed extraordinary power far beyond ordinary people, placing them on a completely different dimension.
Because of this, Players were unlikely to obey an ordinary person.
Even if the other party was a high ranking Cabinet member.
This was also one of the important reasons Miwa Ashikaga wanted to register as a Player.
"Since he is such a villain..."
Yuuki Asuna's eyes showed a look of determination as she spoke softly.
"Let's just kill him, the Cabinet member, Shido Masayoshi."
"It's not that simple."
Asagiri leaned against the sofa and spoke slowly.
"Assuming Shido Masayoshi is a Player himself, then with his ambitious personality, he must have also obtained extremely powerful strength through the Dungeons."
"Coupled with the Player factions under his command, it is difficult for us to kill him silently without leaving any evidence."
"Moreover, the point is not Shido Masayoshi."
"The real issue is how to let people we trust take over the power of the authorities after killing Shido Masayoshi, ensuring that there will be no mistakes in our base in the real world."
"In the real world, it is indeed very troublesome..."
A thoughtful look appeared in Kaguya Shinomiya's red eyes as she looked at Asagiri.
"But if we take action inside a Dungeon, it won't leave any evidence, and it won't affect any innocent people."
Iwanaga Kotoko said lightly,
"Then we just need to use Crazy Mita's ability to confirm which Dungeon Shido Masayoshi will participate in during the next stage."
"Once a Dungeon is registered, it cannot be changed or canceled."
"Even if he notices something unusual, he cannot change the Dungeon he is about to enter."
Yuuki Asuna asked with slight confusion upon hearing this,
"Then how do we confirm the date he participates in the Dungeon? And his email address?"
"That's simple. Leave it to me."
Fujiwara Chika raised her hand to adjust the brim of her hat and spoke with a smile.
"For a council member of Shido Masayoshi's level, his daily schedule is very busy."
"As long as we know from which day his schedule suddenly clears up, that must be the date he signed up for the Dungeon."
"As for the email address, just ask around and we'll know."
"But there is another problem."
Kaguya Shinomiya pursed her lips and said thoughtfully,
"How do we ensure that we can definitely select the same Dungeon that Shido Masayoshi is about to enter?"
"That's simple."
Asagiri took out his phone, opened the app with the Eye Icon, and chuckled.
"Just let the system arrange it."
"No need to reveal Shido Masayoshi's information. Just let the same Dungeon options appear for us, assuming we already know which Dungeon he is going to participate in."
"Huh? Can it be done like that?"
Seeing that Yuuki Asuna and the others all looked surprised, Asagiri spoke indifferently.
"Isn't this normal?"
"The system is the incarnation of the collective will of multiple worlds."
"The ultimate goal of this death game is to screen out Players who can fight and eliminate Nyx."
"The current situation is obvious."
"There is an irreconcilable conflict between us and Shido Masayoshi, and we will both hinder each other."
"Instead of this, it is better to decide the winner in the next stage's Dungeon."
"The winner will be able to completely control this real world."
"This is also what the system wants to see, right?"
"But..."
Hayasaka Ai frowned slightly and asked with doubt,
"The system won't give special treatment to either side in this kind of conflict between Players, right?"
"Even for you, who triggered the main hidden quest..."
"No special treatment needed."
Before Hayasaka Ai could finish speaking, Iwanaga Kotoko spoke with a smile.
"Once you enter the Dungeon, it's a fair duel."
"Our only advantage here is that Shido Masayoshi doesn't know we exist."
"Since that's the case, just have the system give him a special prompt when entering the Dungeon, telling him that there is a Player in this Dungeon who wants to kill him."
"Hmm..."
Kaguya Shinomiya thought about it carefully before nodding.
.....
https://discord.gg/KvMN2CFsMR
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]