When the plot-skips players into the game world

It would be more accurate to say that without the "Transcendent" tag, the Weapon Cards materialized by the Phantom Cards couldn't even scratch monsters two versions later—most enemies by that period were basically covered with non-Transcendent resistance, and weapons and consumables that didn't involve Transcendent power had become ineffective against people.

Unlike now, where even this blue and white outfit could kill someone.

What is this?

This is the suppression of version updates.

"You see, she made me shoot. I just wanted to scare her,"

Watching Hayna's somewhat astonished and somewhat bewildered gaze, Aiwass innocently shrugged: "It's not my fault."

"...I know. Don't be afraid, Mr. Aiwass. You are completely innocent, it was because your life was threatened that you were forced to shoot—I can prove it for you,"

Hayna was half a step late, then slowly nodded her head.

She turned her head back to look at the body of the female magician, and fell silent for a while.

"...But why did she dare to be so arrogant?"

She tried to rationalize everything that happened in front of her: "Perhaps she thought your shot would miss..."

"—Right, she said 'I didn't manage to kill you last time.' Could she be the Demon Scholar who kidnapped you? That's why she underestimated you, not expecting that as a Priest, aside from having the ability to reason, you also possess the courage to fight her!"

Hayna spoke more and more smoothly, feeling like she had completed the logic.

Aiwass shook his head repeatedly.

This person is charmed, really can say anything... if you covet my body, just say so. He didn't know how to respond to this logic.

"A single person's body, we could still take back. But definitely not two,"

Without picking up on the previous topic, Aiwass suggested calmly, "So my advice is, we try to get in touch with the Supervisory Bureau nearby. Have them send someone to oversee—by the way, seal off this place. Pelican Bar must be related to these Demon Scholars.

"You can check the basement of this bar, there should be a large amount of ritual materials,"

"That's great!"

Hayna was extremely excited: "The case is solved!"

But then, she suddenly remembered something: "Speaking of which, how did you know the bartender's name?"

"Because I've been here before,"

Aiwass didn't avoid the question: "The very day I was attacked and kidnapped."

"In fact, what I told you before wasn't entirely right. Or to say... at that time, I didn't know they were Demon Scholars."

"They?"

"Yes. Besides this woman, there was also a middle-aged man. Before I was attacked, they both came to have a drink with me... I thought they were good people at the time, so I treated them to a meal."

"Unexpectedly, shortly after I left the bar, I passed out. In a daze, I saw a huge stone arch. So I knew I must have been taken to Stone Arch Gate Park. I never thought it was them—rather, it must have been something wrong with the food I ate that day."

"That's why I tested the bartender. I suspected he had poisoned me and recognized me."

"So I think we can't let our guard down. There should still be another more powerful Demon Scholar alive. He is a man, about forty years old, with brown eyes, also bald, with a bit of an accent from Star Antimony— he said he was a stone merchant, usually traveling between Star Antimony and Avalon,"

Aiwass spoke a mix of truth and lies.

His whereabouts on that day were easy to investigate. The lasting impression he left was not only on that Wild Elf bartender but also included all the guests who came here that day.

So this was not something he could deceive anyone about.

And Aiwass had to be especially careful about the perspective issue.

If he truly was an innocent man, then he shouldn't know anything special about these two people. So it made perfect sense that he didn't report it on the first day—at the time, from Aiwass's perspective, indeed he was just someone who went out for fun and was then attacked on his way home.

But now, he had to reveal this matter. Because once the investigation of Pelican Bar began, his activities that day could not be hidden from anyone.

Likewise, from his perspective, he definitely wouldn't know that the man had already been killed by him in retaliation. The fact that there was one dead person at the ritual site, and he was a wanted criminal, was something he didn't know.

Sure enough, Hayna immediately explained to him: "Don't be afraid, that person is probably already dead—I now completely understand the whole course of the incident.

"They must have been hiding in this bar from the start. Then that day, seeing you come to the bar alone, they planned to use you as a sacrifice to summon a Demon.

"The bartender is their man, so he poisoned you, making you unable to resist their sacrifice."

"That woman just said things like 'I didn't manage to kill you last time,' and that man also died at the ritual site... It must have been the Demon they summoned who turned on them, and his student decisively fled the scene. Unexpectedly, the Demon first killed its summoner, and as a result, you survived."

"So that's how it is."

Aiwass nodded thoughtfully: "If that man is already dead... then that matches up with my guess, roughly."

"In that case, senior sister—we don't need to go to the Supervisory Bureau right away,"

It was time to make use of Hayna, so Aiwass dropped the direct name and returned to addressing her as senior sister.

"Why?"

Hayna was a bit puzzled: "Wouldn't it be quicker to search with more people?"