Under Ryuto's questioning, the little girl closed her eyes and bravely spoke out the answer in one breath.

"It's because of Glaucus."

Upon hearing this response, the group fell silent, including Space who was standing beside Ryuto.

Amazement filled Miyuki's voice as she said, "Glaucus? Isn't that..."

"Ah, the sea god known for his prophetic abilities."

To this, Ryuto coldly replied.

"In other words..."

"In our terms, he's the world-famous oracle."

Ryuto's words had already lost their warmth.

Is that so? No wonder there were those abnormal behaviors and that dreadful acceptance of fate.

Without minding the silent crowd, Ryuto reached a chilling conclusion in a cold voice.

"If I'm not mistaken, all of you have probably been deemed 'slaves' by Glaucus."

"..."

Only a wave of silence followed, but that was enough. While it was a confirmation, in reality Ryuto had already received the answer long ago, and this silence was the best explanation.

At this moment, Miyuki stood up in astonishment.

"Darling, are you saying they became 'slaves' because Glaucus deemed them so? But that thing doesn't even have such a function."

"No, it does. That person once said it can predict a person's future profession."

And if I'm not mistaken, this profession might...

Although he had a suspicion, Ryuto chose to keep silent and conceal it in the end.

"Profession? Could it be...?"

"Ah, it might be difficult for us to understand, but in this country, 'slave' seems to be a profession too, albeit a complex classification..."

"Isn't that strange though? Even if it's considered a profession, they don't have to do it. Aren't there other paths? And why obey that thing's words?"

Miyuki yelled at Ryuto in such a manner.

In reality, regardless of who, it was clear that she wasn't yelling at Ryuto out of anger, but at the matter itself. She was only hoping to get the answer from Ryuto by yelling at him.

Of course, Ryuto was well aware of this.

Therefore.

"But what if it's determined by a machine that's supposed to be almost infallible, especially one that uses the prophetic abilities of the Holy Heir."

He answered without any reservation. Since the conversation had reached this point, Ryuto had no intention of hiding anything, except for earlier.

"Holy Heir...?"

"Ah, though I'm not entirely sure, the Holy Heir seems to possess prophetic abilities that are absolutely infallible, and perhaps... those abilities are unrelated to rank."

"Unrelated to rank? Could it be the 'prototype'?"

"That's probably it."

Prototype, as the name suggests, is an innate ability one is born with. Because it doesn't fall under superpowers or magic, it can only be called an ability. The biggest difference between the ability of a prototype and superpowers or magic is that the prototype's ability has no rank.

In other words, the "prototype" cannot be strengthened through postnatal efforts, and at the same time, the "prototype" is something that the individual cannot control; it will only be triggered under specific conditions, similar to a passive skill of a game character. Whether it's triggered has nothing to do with the individual's will. As for what these specific conditions are? No one can say for sure, because the triggering conditions for each owner of a "prototype" are different. Furthermore, in reality, even targeting a specific person, it is very difficult to determine the specific triggering conditions, after all...