Conspiracy theory about deaths by Ravagers

Sure... But everyone dies of Ravagers... Him, her, and that person that criticized the queen last week.

— A suspicious person

For most, the dangers of living in a post-devastation syndrome world are well known. The Ravagers are ruthless, and do not care to make any distinction of their victims. But there are plenty in the world of Erina that firmly believe that the high death count is still inflated by those that use it to hide murders. Or arrange for someone to be caught unaware outside the safety of city walls.

Variations

While all of those that believe the constant number of deaths occurring 'caused' by Ravagers are too high and convenient, there is no firm answer on 'who' is actually causing all of them.

For some, serial killers and other criminals are clearly the perpetrators. In this case, the person is generally suspicious of the lack of action taken after a person dies to confirm that they were actually killed by Ravagers, and that their body wasn't just thrown outside the city to be found afterwards. The issue of course is that this is hard to determine, and if it was the case would be very effective. Ravagers have their names for a reason, being able to perform an autopsy is rare. Two sub-variants exist in this, either the Local Forces are lazy or they are being paid off to not fully investigate by criminal elements, or that the criminals are actually traitors, colluding with the Ravagers to kill their targets.

Another version places the blame fully with the Royalty/High Ranks, ridding those who speak out against them in a way that is easily disguised. Who else would have the power to make sure you were in the wrong place at the wrong time? Those that see this as the reasoning are usually highly suspicious of the upper ranks, worried that what they might say or do will land themselves outside and into the jaws of a Ravager. Or that there are assassins running about ready to take their lives, and then use the Ravagers to destroy the evidence. Another version insists that these people aren't dead at all, and that they were really just captured, finding their fate as being interrogated for information by the government.

The third type are those that see it as an overestimate of those that are really just lost or missing. A way for the search and rescue teams to wash their hands of having to actually look for someone that recently went missing by just calling them dead and moving on. These people often have had someone close to them in their life go missing, only to quickly be declared dead and killed by Ravagers. It's not often that a body is recovered, and even if it is, some are deemed to not be revealed to their loved ones. While this can be done for compassionate reasons, believers of this version accuse them of lying, and not looking hard enough.

Basis in Reality

While there certainly are plenty of deaths caused by Ravagers in legitimate ways, people that travel outside the city on a regular basis, the attacks on the city, it is absolutely true that not all of those declared dead were caused by the Ravagers directly. There have been multiple cases where traitors have been found to be working directly with the Ravagers. Given the through destruction of evidence by them, many criminals have admitted to using the easily accessible threat to dispose of those they've murdered, because even if the person is found, it is usually too late to determine how they died. Due to these two, it is very easily to underestimate someone's ability to survive outside a safe area, it's one of the reasons the Elements Academy exists, to find those that went missing, and likely dead.

Of course, someone who vehemently believes in the conspiracy theories does not look at the facts, and slowly starts to claim every death is due to some ulterior motive. And others use these ideas to push for a rebellion. But that only leaves some to wonder if the reason that some of the most vehement of the conspiracy that the Royals are getting rid of their enemies are still breathing is because it would be too obvious...