Tia followed Ryougi Shiki and Azaka Kokutou and asked all the workers. Finally, they got some results.
Some of the workers were missing.
Before the machine was broken, and before the people from outside came in, all the workers were here. Now that the machine has just been broken, some workers have disappeared for no reason.
Clearly, these missing workers are the ones who brought the machine in.
Tia and her group understood right away.
"I see, these missing workers might be related to that big octopus," Katsushika Hokusai said quietly.
That's right, they can't be sure what these missing workers are. According to the other workers, these missing workers were very strong and ate a lot. But because they didn't have bad intentions, nobody suspected anything about them. Even now, nobody suspects the missing workers' origins or purposes. Ryougi Shiki and Azaka Kokutou are even worried about the missing workers' safety, rather than questioning where they came from.
Ryougi Shiki never even wondered why the machine was put there. She just thought that the machine was bothering the mages, so she wanted to stop it.
"Big octopus?" Mash doesn't know why Katsushika Hokusai is here.
"Big octopus? What's that?" Gudako also doesn't know.
"Huh? Don't you know why I'm here?" Katsushika Hokusai was taken aback. "Oh, right, you don't know. You know that my class is Foreigner. The main reason I became a Foreigner is because an evil god entered my dad's spirit origin and became Katsushika Hokusai with me. That evil god is the big octopus. You all know that the octopus you usually see around me is my dad, right?"
Gudako and Mash both nodded.
"You can see that my dad has become like this," Katsushika Hokusai said, pointing to the black mist around her. "The evil god ran away from my body. The reason is... well, you know, Chaldea is facing the Wall of Human Order, and the Foreign Gods in Chaldea have been affected by it and have all run away one by one, except for this big octopus. After he ran away, my dad became like this, and I can't even talk to him anymore. I had no choice but to catch the big octopus again."
"Huh? Have the Foreign Gods in Chaldea all run away? That's too bad..." Gudako seemed quite disappointed to hear this news, as if she really wanted the Foreign Gods in Chaldea to stay.
"Since the big octopus ran away, my class has changed to Caster. But in order to catch the big octopus, I specially asked Miss Scathach to help me change it to Assassin, so that I could hide my identity here as much as possible and prevent the evil god from sensing my presence and running away again. That cloak I wore before is a treasure cloak borrowed from my grandpa. It's very powerful," Katsushika Hokusai explained to Gudako and Mash.
"Why does the evil god run away when it sees you? Isn't it an evil god? Shouldn't it be very strong? Why didn't it run away with the other Foreign Gods? Why did it come to this Lostbelt?" Gudako asked a series of questions as soon as she heard Katsushika Hokusai's words.
"I don't know either, that's what I've been looking for," Katsushika Hokusai also wants to know the reason.
At this time, Ryougi Shiki and Azaka are also looking for the missing workers.
"How is it? Have you found out the identities of the missing workers?" Ryougi Shiki asked.
"I've found out all of the identities of the missing workers here. I'll send people to confirm their safety right away. I'll make sure they're safe no matter what," Azaka Kokutou said very seriously.
Tia didn't pay attention to what Katsushika Hokusai and Gudako were saying, because she already knew. She was listening to Ryougi Shiki and the butler talk, but when she heard them constantly talking about ensuring people's safety, Tia was speechless.
Although she knows that there's no evil in this world, Tia is speechless to hear them thinking like this at this crucial time.
"Master, should I go take a look too," Lancelot said at this moment.
"Okay," Tia nodded.
Lancelot said, found a corner, made sure no one was there, and disappeared in spirit form to catch up with the people Azaka Kokutou sent out.
Next, the group was left here quietly waiting for news.
After who knows how long, Lancelot finally returned.
"Master, the missing people have been found. They are safe now, but their behavior is very strange. Although they all say they just went home from Miss Ryougi Shiki's house, they have no idea why they brought strange machine parts to Miss Ryougi Shiki's house. They don't even remember where they got those strange machine parts. They only remember that one day, a few of them gathered together and took out the machine parts they had brought and put them together. That's how the machine suddenly appeared, as Miss Ryougi Shiki said."
Lancelot explained to Tia in his mind.
That means it's highly likely that the big octopus mind-controlled them. But in that case, the clues are cut off, and it's completely unclear where the big octopus is.
Tia was thinking, when she suddenly realized something.
That's right! Mifune's Mother! If that's the case, let's go find Mifune's Mother and ask where Araya Souren and the big octopus are hiding.
After a while, the people Azaka Kokutou sent out also returned and reported the same thing to Ryougi Shiki.
"They have no idea why they did that?" Ryougi Shiki asked in surprise.
"Yes, they don't know anything."
"Why? What happened to them?" Ryougi Shiki couldn't understand at all. "I'm sorry, Tia, that's all I can do here for now. I'll let you know if there's any new information."
"It's okay, I also have other things to do, so I'll leave first," Tia said, preparing to go find Mifune's Mother right now and ask her everything clearly.
Tia said, turning around to leave, while also remembering to call out to Katsushika Hokusai and the others.
"What's wrong? Where are we going?" Katsushika Hokusai asked curiously.
"Um... Mr. Emiya Shirou, where are we going now?" Mash also asked at this time.
"Dad, why are you in such a hurry to leave? Do you know where you're going?" This is what Gudako asked.
"To find Mifune's Mother," Tia said. "Let's go, Lancelot, bring the car."
"Okay."
(End of chapter)
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