Chapter 63: Question Game (Part 2)
"Who was the knight who killed the Black Falcon?" Ian asked. This information was crucial to completing [Optional Mission 1].
"No, I won't answer that question," Aris shook his head. "I won't betray my companions."
"The Whitewalls ghosts are finished! Ser Wilder has deployed a hundred men here, awaiting the arrival of your 'caravan,' and the Black Falcon's adopted son, Dorian, assembled the entire strength of the Black Falcon Company yesterday and set out for Taman Village. You cannot save any of them, but you still have hope of saving your house."
Aris was silent for a moment, then uttered a name: "Ser Ryon Shett."
"If you're willing to answer more fully, I'll answer your questions in return," Ian tempted.
"He's a member of the Shett branch of Gulltown. Like me, he grew up as a squire in service to House Grafton. This time, he joined this bandit company out of desire for wealth, just like us. After the Black Falcon discovered our secret and threatened us, Daeron gave him the task of silencing him."
Ding! A system notification chimed in Ian's mind.
"Pardon me," Ian said to Aris, then quickly turned to the corner of the cellar, closing his eyes and checking the system interface.
It was then that he realized an optional quest had been updated:
[Optional Quest 1: The Truth Behind the Black Falcon's Death.
Quest Objective: Kill Ser Ryon Shett.
Quest Reward: Dorian will swear allegiance to you.
Bonus: Unknown.]
"Annie, Annie," Ian called inwardly. "Does this quest objective require me to kill Ryon Shett myself?"
"In quest completion, players can kill targets themselves, or have their subordinates, hired personnel, or collaborators complete the task," Anne's electronic voice echoed.
"Even collaborators? Does that mean Wilder and his men killing Ryon Shett counts toward my quest?" Ian was somewhat surprised. After all, their ambush at the abandoned fishing village would be a chaotic battle, and Ian wasn't certain he could kill a specific target himself or with only his own men.
"That's correct. Even allied players can help each other complete tasks." Annie gave an affirmative answer.
"All right, that's all. You can go back to standby mode." Ian opened his eyes again and quickly returned to Ser Aris.
"Did you just piss over there?" Aris looked at Ian with disgust.
Uh. His behavior just now did seem like someone who'd urgently needed to relieve himself.
"That's right. You'll be sleeping tonight with the smell of my piss."
"..."
"Let's continue the game we were playing. How did the Black Falcon discover your secret?"
"Rules of the game, ser. This time it's my turn to ask questions." Aris certainly wasn't fool enough to answer that question.
"Oh yes, I nearly forgot. Ask away, Ser Aris. I'm listening."
"Still the same question as before. How did you discover the Whitewalls ghosts were connected to us? I just told you quite a bit, and I hope your answer won't disappoint me."
"Your answer just now wasn't entirely forthcoming. But it doesn't matter. I can assure you that every word I tell you is true, and every detail is accurate.
The process of discovering the truth was actually quite lengthy, because I gathered my information from various sources, including the Black Falcon's adopted son Dorian, Ser Wilder just now, some sellswords..." and the original story, Ian added in his mind, which he certainly couldn't say aloud. "I first became involved in this matter with the Black Falcon's death. I happened to be staying at the crossroads inn at the time."
"That's less than a week! Not even enough time for you to reach Taman Village!" Aris shrieked.
Ian ignored Aris's surprise. "After examining the scene of the Black Falcon's death, I discovered that the murderer had come specifically to silence him. Furthermore, his adopted son Dorian told me that the Black Falcon already knew who the traitor was.
So it's obvious which group was responsible for silencing him, but why would the Black Falcon approach them alone when he had ten other men available? I could only think of two possibilities.
One is that the Black Falcon himself was the traitor. The fact that he was silenced while acting alone at night fits too well with the characteristics of a traitor, making it hard not to suspect.
The other is that the Black Falcon discovered a secret that absolutely could not be shared with anyone, and was killed when he attempted to use this secret to threaten them.
But this raises a question. The Whitewalls ghosts are clearly a bandit company searching for the Blackfyre treasure. What secrets could they possibly have threatening enough to kill over?"
Aris looked at Ian silently without commenting. He even regretted revealing too early that 'the Black Falcon was silenced after threatening them with a secret'.
"I formed a theory about this after speaking with Ser Wilder, because Ser Wilder told me he suspected the informant was on his side," Ian continued. "The core members on his side are all prominent knights of this generation.
If the Black Falcon discovered the identity of the informant and went to threaten that knight, then the Black Falcon's story would make sense—he wore his finest mail and plate, and out of confidence in his own skill, he chose to go to the meeting alone, but unexpectedly the other party had no intention of negotiating at all, and simply killed him with a war crossbow."
"Just based on the informant being a certain knight, you still wouldn't suspect us, correct?"
"Of course. After making such a deduction, I'd only made a preliminary assessment of the Whitewalls ghosts' stronghold. There are twenty or thirty villages near Whitewalls. Some of them are fiefs belonging to members of Wilder's Knights' Alliance. If the Whitewalls ghosts were using the informant's fief to deceive everyone,
then the problem of Ser Wilder and his men being unable to find the enemy's trail in the not-so-complicated terrain near Whitewalls would be solved.
But in that case, since the Whitewalls ghosts' base would be in a village, doesn't the only camp that's been discovered suddenly become particularly conspicuous?"
Aris swallowed.
"That's right. You deliberately established that camp not far from Taman Village. Your purpose was to give Ser Wilder and his men the illusion that the Whitewalls ghosts were camping in the wilderness.
It was precisely because that camp was your diversion that you were able to abandon it in such an 'orderly' manner in such short time without leaving any goods behind."
"What does it mean that the camp is close to Taman Village? It's entirely possible that someone deliberately approached Taman Village and left it there. After all, the patrol from Taman Village reported to Ser Wilder as soon as they found any trace of bandits, didn't they?" Aris whispered back.
"So my plan at the time was to conduct an on-site investigation. Once you have a suspected target, clues are always easy to find." Let Bronn conduct an on-site investigation, Ian corrected himself silently. He would never take such a risk himself.
(End of Chapter)
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