Although Liltotto's tower had not collapsed, many other buildings nearby had.
However, for the Quincy, rebuilding these structures was not a particularly difficult task.
Large numbers of Quincy and ordinary citizens were already busy with the hurried reconstruction work.
The members of the Girl Group wove through the ruins before dispersing.
Liltotto returned to her tower once more.
Just as she expected, Beltz had already prepared a grand feast and was waiting for her.
Beltz naturally sat at the dining table, and Liltotto took her seat as well.
She recounted the events of their earlier summons.
There wasn't much else to say, but Yhwach's solemn vow to root out the mastermind behind the scenes in a month left Liltotto somewhat uneasy.
"What do you think?"
This time, Liltotto was not in a rush; she ate her food slowly while asking.
A month...?
After hearing Liltotto's words, Beltz was also somewhat puzzled.
Why was Yhwach so confident?
Why did it have to be a month later?
Was there something special about that one-month mark?
He tried hard to recall the plot, but could not think of anything happening on this timeline... "If I had to say, there's only one thing that could be considered special for the Empire in a month."
Beltz suddenly thought of something and looked up sharply at Liltotto.
Seeing the look in Liltotto's eyes, Beltz realized they were thinking the same thing.
Liltotto had been thinking about it since her way back; by the time she reached home, she had a rough answer, but still wanted to ask Beltz.
This guy... no wonder he was chosen.
Liltotto marveled inwardly.
She had spent the whole trip thinking of it, but Beltz had come up with it in just a few moments.
"It seems we have the same answer. Let's say it together."
After Liltotto spoke, she watched Beltz nod, and they both said the same thing at once.
"Sternritter Selection!"
Exactly!
In one month, new Sternritter would be selected!
Could it be that Yhwach had already pre-selected the new Sternritter?
And among those new Sternritter, would someone have a Schrift that could uncover the truth?
Although the new Sternritter had not appeared yet, it was clear that Yhwach had already pre-selected a few.
Unlike them, Yhwach could see directly into the core of everyone's soul.
Even before a Schrift was bestowed, he could see the potential abilities of one's soul in advance.
With so many Quincy gathered just now, Yhwach must have already seen who was best suited to track down the culprit.
At this thought, both Beltz and Liltotto's expressions turned grave.
"If our guess is correct... then it might be a bit troublesome." Liltotto's appetite diminished significantly at the thought.
"No need to rush."
Beltz suddenly said, "I have a way."
"Oh? You have a way?"
"Did you forget? I still have a Memo-Memo Fruit here," Beltz said softly. "With the Memo-Memo Fruit, I can rewrite the 'past'."
Yes, the Memo-Memo Fruit!
The Memo-Memo Fruit grants the eater the extraordinary power to manipulate memories. Not only can memories be extracted from someone's mind in the form of film strips for the user to peek at, but they can also be edited and rewritten!
Just like making a movie, by using the Memo-Memo Fruit to rewrite someone's memories, they could make that person a scapegoat for him and Liltotto!
Of course, Liltotto's memories would also need to be appropriately rewritten so she would temporarily forget her previous actions.
Beltz shared this idea with Liltotto.
"...It seems this is the only way to solve the problem," Liltotto nodded, agreeing quite readily.
"But, who should be the one to operate it?"
After all, manipulating memories involves a person's most private domain.
Since one of them had eaten the Azure Dragon Fruit and the other the Mirror-Mirror Fruit, they could not consume a second Devil Fruit, so someone else had to eat it.
But unless it was someone they trusted, it would be difficult to hand over their memories to be manipulated.
And the current situation was very special. Should they go find Giselle?
They could reveal their hand to Giselle at any time to get her to join them, but this was the one time they couldn't!
Because Yhwach was so confident in finding the culprit, why would Giselle trust them over Yhwach?
The price of trusting them would likely be death, and Giselle was someone who feared death greatly. At a time like this, any normal person would make a choice.
Trusting that Yhwach would discover their tampering and root them out meant not only avoiding punishment but potentially receiving a reward, at the cost of betraying friends.
But trusting Liltotto and Beltz meant not only helping them with the tampering but also pinning their hopes on Yhwach being fooled, with the risk still being death... So even if Liltotto wanted to recruit Giselle, Beltz would never allow it.
Fortunately, Liltotto was wise enough to have realized this herself, so she had not considered the members of the Girl Group as options from the start.
Then, there was really only one person left.
Beltz said softly, "Let's go with Ginny."
Kuma and Ginny from One Piece were both children Beltz had rescued from God Valley, and they were kind-hearted by nature.
Kuma had eaten the Paw Paw Fruit; if he gave Ginny a Memo-Memo Fruit, the two of them would owe him even more.
"You mean... that little girl?"
"Yes," Beltz said. "We'll set out tonight, but we still need to find a scapegoat. Who do you think is most suitable?"
"..."
Who would be the best person to pin the blame of collaborating with the World Government on?
Liltotto thought hard.
"What do you think?" she finally asked Beltz in return.
"Normally, Bazz-B would be the best. He has a blood feud with Yhwach for the destruction of his clan and joined Yhwach specifically to seek revenge."
"So he has every reason to collude with other forces."
After saying that, Beltz dismissed the choice: "But Bazz-B is too strong. Even with a sneak attack, you might not be able to subdue him in one blow."
"If we can't succeed in one hit and he has time to react, we're finished."
"So we need to find someone weaker and more... sinister..."
As Beltz spoke, one person actually came to mind.
"What about PePe?"
"PePe?" Liltotto was startled, the man's image quickly surfacing in her mind.
Ugh... no, just thinking about him makes me want to vomit!