Crow coughed twice before explaining, "When I was nine, I once saw the Collector when she'd become extremely thin."
"Thin?" Silverback and Sally looked over at him in unison. "Crow, are you sure you mean the Collector?"
Crow nodded firmly. "I'm sure. It was after that time we heard clear-sky thunder rolling continuously over the back mountain. Later, while I was bored and gazing out from the clock tower, I saw her stuffing cotton into her clothes."
"She was skin and bones back then. It took her almost a year to recover."
"Stuffing cotton..." Lude pondered, then suddenly had a flash of insight.
"Sacrificial Secret Art?!"
Normally, Secret Arts required no casting materials, but there was one exception.
That was when someone deliberately imposed harsh constraints to enhance a Secret Art's effects, paying an additional price in exchange for greater power.
Based on what Crow had said, the Collector's Secret Art might well consume her own body fat in exchange for greater strength!
The Collector needed a whole year to recover to her peak. That meant she could unleash, in a single battle, all the power she'd accumulated over the course of a year while enduring the misery of conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes!
That might explain why she stuffed cotton into her clothes. People who knew her probably knew that the fatter she was, the stronger she became.
Lude furrowed his brow as he thought about the Collector's Secret Art, feeling a little troubled.
She wouldn't be easy to deal with...
"All right." Lude turned to Silverback. "Before we set out, let's stop by the place where you used to work."
Silverback, who'd been lost in thought, blinked. He glanced at Crow, then at Sally, and finally pointed at himself in bewilderment. "Me? Wait, boss,