"Everyone line up properly! No crowding, no shoving, take your time, keep it quiet! There's bread enough for everyone!"
"Today's food is provided free of charge by Demeter Familia. Supplies are plentiful, no need to worry about going without!"
Alise was straining to keep order in the increasingly restless line, cupping her hands around her mouth like a megaphone, her voice carrying with extra force through the noise.
But even though she was the captain of Astraea Familia, and the well-known Scarlet Harnel...
The crowd was already starving. Who cared about any of that?
Getting bread in hand and hot soup in their stomachs was the only thing that mattered.
The sword of the justice faction had clearly underestimated how the human heart could turn.
What was more... mixed in among the gathered crowd were certain individuals stirring the pot in the shadows, with motives that weren't exactly pure.
"Alise, we don't have enough hands! We're not gonna hold this together much longer!"
Lyra, Kaguya, and Ryuu shouldered their way through to Alise's side, panting, anxiously looking for a plan.
"..."
Alise's brow furrowed tightly, a flicker of doubt crossing her eyes.
"Something doesn't feel right. It's like... every time we manage to get order back through everyone's effort, the crowd kicks up again a little while later, for one reason or another."
"At first I thought someone was stirring up trouble in secret, but I've checked discreetly and haven't found a trace of any agitator."
After hearing Alise's analysis, Lyra looked at the increasingly agitated crowd and let out a thoughtful smile.
"Interesting."
In the shadows at the corner of the square, Leon stood beneath an umbrella with Jeanne and the others, calmly observing the spectacle of it all from beside a wall.
As for Astraea Familia's troubles, Leon hadn't gone running over to stick his face in.
He wasn't some lapdog, after all.
Besides, looking at the situation as it stood, this was clearly a hot potato.
"Leon, what do you make of it?"
In response to Jeanne's question, Leon let out a soft chuckle.
The girls of Astraea Familia might not have figured it out, but how could a man who'd lived two lives not see what was happening here?
"Simple. Put plainly, what's going on right now is that someone's mixed in with the crowd to whip them up."
"It's the oldest trick in the book."
Kureha's brow furrowed tightly, her hand resting on the hilt of the beloved sword that never left her side.
She gazed at the crowd stretching as far as the eye could see, the agitation steadily building, and murmured worriedly.
"There are so many people in this square, and from the looks of it... there are still more citizens trickling in toward this area. If this keeps up, isn't there going to be serious chaos?"
Leon arched an eyebrow.
"There won't be. The citizens of Orario are different from those of other cities by their very nature, from the moment they're born."
"This is Orario, the city of adventure. Even if they aren't adventurers themselves, living here, dealing with adventurers and familias day in and day out, you absorb things. You pick up on how it all works, more or less."
"Right now, everyone's just anxious because of hunger and the long wait, which is making their emotions volatile."
"On top of that, Astraea Familia is too eager. They're unconsciously cranking up the pressure on the crowd, which has actually triggered a backlash."
"Not to mention there are people fanning the flames in secret."
He went on, his tone carrying a touch of feeling.
"That nothing's broken out into a fight even now... I'd say the average level of self-restraint among Orario's citizens is impressively high."
Self-restraint?
The corner of Rose's mouth curved up in a playful arc, her gaze meaningful.
"Is it self-restraint... or is it that they have a clear enough understanding of their own situation?"
Leon narrowed his eyes, watching with a half-smile that pallum slipping shiftily through the crowd, occasionally moving to a new spot to shout something and stir up division. He chuckled.
"It's the awe of strength and power, carved into their very bones, that forces them to stay civil and stay calm."
"After all... if you accidentally provoke the wrong sort of person, losing an arm or a leg around here is just an everyday occurrence."
"Adventurers as a group are extremely polarized to begin with. You've all seen those bottom-rung adventurers scraping out a living on the edges of the Dungeon, haven't you? Those aren't heroes chasing some dream. They're licking blood off the blade's edge."
The moment Leon finished, several of the ladies couldn't hold back smiles.
"Wasn't a certain someone a bottom-rung adventurer who clawed his way up himself?"
Leon shrugged. He could sense the surging undercurrent beneath this whole spectacle, a playful smile lingering at the corner of his mouth.
"Well, how should I put it. I'd say... even when I was knocking around in that bottom-rung circle, I still counted as a breath of fresh air."
"Sure, my moral floor is pretty flexible..."
His tone shifted, with a touch of self-mocking candor.
"But when it comes down to it, I have lines I won't cross. I know what to do and what not to do. At the very least... I don't do the things that go past my line."
"Those thugs are a different story. Bullying people in Orario, robbing other crews in the Dungeon, getting in bed with shady underworld outfits, killing over the slightest provocation..."
"Look at me. Compared to them, I'm practically as pure as a lily..."
A wave of explosions tore through the air from every direction, cutting him off before he could finish the word "lily."
The instant the roar erupted, the women around Leon snapped their bodies taut, their gazes turning sharp as blades, sweeping across the entire scene in an instant.
Only Leon remained as relaxed as ever.
"Frost Armor!"
Casually wrapping himself in a sheath of ice, Leon clapped a hand on Kureha's shoulder and spoke with ease.
"Relax, no need to tense up."
"Those explosions, not a single person was hurt. It's obviously someone trying to manufacture a riot."
Jeanne knit her brows, her expression darkening.
"You mean... Evilus is using these civilians as shields and decoys, manufacturing chaos so that these uncontrolled ordinary people can tie up the Order Faction's forces?"
Leon didn't answer.
His draw was nearly instantaneous. Without even looking, a wagon-wheel-sized fireball ripped through the air, shooting straight at that shifty pallum trying to slink into a back alley under cover of the chaos.
The fireball detonated point-blank, flames erupting skyward.
The agitated crowd fell into dead silence.
Then...
"Aaaaaaaah, it's an attack! A familia's coming!"
"Run!"
"Don't... don't block the way!"
"Damn it, get out of my way!"
"Stop pushing me..."
"Bastard!"
"Aaah!"
A relentless string of violent explosions tore through the streets and buildings ringing the square like an incantation of doom.
The chaos surged like cold water dropped into boiling oil, exploding instantly and swallowing the entire square whole.
"All... of... you... shut... up... right... NOW!"
Alise planted her hands on her hips, drew a deep breath, and bellowed at the top of her lungs.
But it clearly had no effect at all.
...
...
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