The Ruthless Act Cannot Be Killed, But People Can

The Nasty Work Can't Be Killed, but People Can

In truth, the Excommunication Squad was merely a collective label.

The label had spread so widely that, over time, even the Association had begun to adopt it in a semi-official capacity.

Strictly speaking, however, there was no organization or department within the Association actually called the Excommunication Squad. Ask anyone, and you would find no records of its operations or composition.

Even in the archives, there was only a name: the Forbidden Technology Standardization Consultation Seminar.

It was not a standing Association body.

Whenever the seminar was convened, aside from the managers appointed from the Council, members would be selected from among the Association's craftsmen according to the circumstances, forming a temporary team.

Then they would head out together for the full one-stop service of murder, silencing witnesses, and arson—sending people on their way, sometimes including their teachers above them, their students below them, and everyone else in the know.

Once it was over, they would take a bath, split the spoils, tally up their output and DKP, earn some Contribution Points and score within the Association, then each go home and find their own mothers, with the music and dancing resuming right afterward.

Finally, the seminar would disband.

Other than a single record sheet, nothing would remain.

That was precisely why the Excommunication Squad inspired such terror within the Association. When they came knocking, you would not even know whether your teacher, colleague, or student you had personally taught was among them.

All records of the Excommunication Squad's operations were also classified. Other than the president and the Eight Council Members, no one had the authority to inquire into them.

All of this was meant to exert the greatest possible deterrence and pressure upon craftsmen conducting Forbidden Research, while preventing