Chapter 92: The Truth Hidden in the Corner

Looking at the adventurers who started spouting nonsensical things as soon as they arrived, Marcelo furrowed his brow again, his expression subtly becoming a bit displeased.

“Listen, if you are passing through and just looking for a place to stay, or if you’re a team here to investigate cases, the village of Adelaide 192 welcomes you. But if you’re here just to pick a fight… our village guard isn’t a bunch of pushovers.”

With a whistle, the dazzling magical searchlight on the watchtower immediately cast its beam down, illuminating a nearby area of several dozen square meters. Shortly, over a dozen armed militiamen rushed out from the surrounding buildings, surrounding the adventurers with their numerical advantage!

“What’s going on?! Is there an enemy invasion?!”

“Captain, who are these people?”

Seeing the imposing approach, Enrique and the others naturally wouldn’t stand by idly and quickly drew their weapons, vaguely confronting the soldiers.

“Miss Vilyric, please be clearer! We can’t ascertain the facts based on this alone!”

“Oh, calm down~ Since we’ve decided to lay everything on the table, I certainly won’t come empty-handed.”

Facing the urgent questioning from the Tree Bow and the unfriendly gazes from Marcelo and the village guards, the Priestess maintained her calm demeanor, slowly counting off on her fingers.

“First, I started to suspect something was off here when I found a large gap in the tracking traces nearby, coinciding with when Miss Qionghua mentioned the stars in the night sky were somehow flipped.”

“I once heard a saying — ‘The starry sky is a reflection of a hypocritical mirror; if you doubt the truth of the world you’re in, just look up.'”

“Of course, I can’t read the stars, so that’s nonsense, but thanks to Miss Qionghua, I could skip that step. When I noticed the two anomalies at the same time, I had already stayed alert and quietly protected myself with a magic barrier to avoid the influence of some inexplicable things.”

Vilyric snapped her fingers, and a pure, flawless pale golden glow began to subtly shine around her body, enveloping her entirely. Even under the dazzling light of the watchtower, it was still vaguely visible. Not only her, but even Enrique began to emit the same glow.

“Huh? When did this happen?”

“Oh my, did you forget so soon about the buff I gave you last night? Otherwise, how could you and Sophie avoid the effects of this place and retain your memories? Didn’t I mention that Priests can ward off evil? Mr. Enrique, you don’t think I’m bragging, do you?”

She snapped her fingers again, and the golden barrier around the Priestess faded away. Then, she pulled out a smooth, round crystal from her backpack.

“Since I had no idea what kind of crisis was hidden here, beyond passive defense, I made a secondary preparation, and that is this.”

She deliberately showed the others the appearance of the crystal before pressing a hardly noticeable groove at the top. Soon, a faint white light rose from it, transforming into several palm-sized figures.

The figures began to move on their own. Although they weren’t overly clear, upon closer inspection, it became evident that they were, in fact, Enrique, Sophie, and Marcelo, appearing to be engaged in conversation with each other.

“Eh? Isn’t this thing…?”

Le Qiao Qiao, the only one present who recognized this Ancient Spirit Domain treasure, exclaimed, and Vilyric nodded affirmatively.

“That’s right, the Shadow Stone. It’s an item that can record events happening around it and preserve them. The reason I leaned against the wall yesterday was to capture these from a better, more concealed angle.”

“I had a similar experience not long ago, and though I don’t quite understand the principle, I couldn’t guarantee I could resist that kind of power, so I specially prepared this as a precaution.”

Pausing the playback on the crystal, amid the surprised looks of Enrique and the increasingly grim expressions from Marcelo, Vilyric fast-forwarded to a certain moment and continued speaking toward the Bear-Human.

“Actually, at first, I didn’t think you would be the ‘exception’ in this box garden, a sort of ‘Administrator’, but during your conversation with Enrique and the others last night, I gradually noticed something strange.”

“Look here, did you notice, Uncle Marcelo? Your understanding of time and date information seems a bit too clear. You not only blurted out the date without any preparation in conversation, but you even remembered various situations afterward, including when you sought aid in Adelaide City and how long ago it was, all perfectly clear.”

“That’s too skilled! It’s as if you’ve said something similar many times before.”

“Think about it, does that make sense? You’re just a low-ranking officer retired from the military, a mere martial artist. Bluntly put, you might barely know the basics of reading; why would you be so extraordinarily focused on these minutiae of time like a professional civil employee?”

“I thought that was a bit strange. Of course, I might be overly suspicious, but considering the vastness of the world, anything can happen. You might simply be that unique, meticulous type, much like the Tiger-Human I’ve seen who enjoys reading and thinking.”

“To further validate this suspicion, I intentionally interrupted you at the most critical moment, just to see your reaction.”

At this, the black-haired girl slightly nodded.

“I must say, your response at that time was indeed very clever, adapting to the situation, letting us go, which left me somewhat uncertain, even causing me to temporarily dismiss my doubts about you… But looking back now, that was probably because you were too confident in the ‘powers’ here, right?”

“As for my second suspicion regarding your role in this little box garden, it came from when we returned to ‘the other side’ this morning to inspect that long-abandoned village, and there were some clues I noticed in your room.”

She pointed to Marcelo’s mechanical arm armor and the great sword on his back.

“During our conversation in the house last night, I noticed you have a habit of not parting with your weapons, especially the sword and arm armor. Besides those times, you prefer to hang them in a specific spot in your room.”

“And while checking your room during the day, someone noticed that spot had no cobwebs or dust, as if someone had cleaned it… right?”

The Tree Bow, cast a startled glance at the girl, then seemed to realize.

“That does seem to be the case, um… so what does that signify?”

“Eh, how dense can you be? Isn’t it obvious? It signifies that someone has used that spot to hang something there.”

After disdainfully glancing at the brainless teammate, the Treant Tribe Youth slightly turned his gaze away, and Miss Vilyric once again looked forward to the village guard captain, making the final judgment.

“Now, in a long-abandoned mountain village, valuable items have long been plundered by bandits. Even if adventurers or outsiders come to investigate, who would specifically go to your room to hang things in that particular spot?”

“Such behavior is clearly illogical, unless someone has unconsciously developed a fixed habit over the years. But the only one who fits the criteria, you, the homeowner, is stuck here on this side! How could you have left traces in the real world, right?”

“Uncle Marcelo, if you ever left here for the real world without taking any actions or spreading the news, and even deliberately said such things to us last night… then your identity is laid bare, isn’t it?”

   

---