owlsbooks Chapter 19: Is there a fourth player in this game?
Chapter 19: Is there a fourth player in this game?
"Impressive. No wonder you were so calm earlier; you were prepared beforehand?"
About an hour later, Orland looked at the controlled Elsie with great curiosity. His subordinates reported that the other party's two children had been picked up half an hour earlier!
Elsie kept a straight face, trying hard not to break down.
She had no idea what had happened. When the other party threatened her with her children, all she could do was try her best not to break down, to keep the other party from figuring out her weaknesses, and she even planned to reveal her identity as a member of the Blood Cult so that the other party would understand that she didn't really care about the safety of her two children.
Unexpectedly, the other party mistakenly thought that they had been prepared in advance.
In other words... someone took the child away beforehand?
who is it?
The Blood Cult... or that mysterious corpse collector?
"Since you came prepared beforehand, you must already have some suspicions about me, right?" Orland sneered. "I'm curious, what exactly did I do wrong that made you suspect me?"
How would I know?
Elsie thought to herself, but on the surface she sneered: "The Knight Commander is usually too mediocre, especially when the city lord was assassinated. As a superhuman warrior, you couldn't even stop the assassin. Do you think everyone else is blind?"
"I see..." Orland nodded. It was indeed true. He hadn't used his full strength and had indeed cooperated with the assassin to successfully carry out the assassination. He thought he had acted well enough, but the actual effect seemed to be not so good. He was seen through at a glance.
"Looks like you're not going to reveal who's behind you?"
Elsie closed her eyes immediately. She didn't resent the corpse collector for sending her to test this place, because it seemed that at least the other party had saved her child.
But if even Orland is a member of a cult, Mr. Bright... how can you possibly change the fate of Holy Stone City?
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Intelligence 1: Viscount Orant, the Knight Commander of Holy Stone City, has been bewitched by the Heart of the Forest. It was because of his help that so many vicious criminals were able to infiltrate the North Gate.
Intelligence 2: Elsie Knight has met with misfortune, and her children will become her greatest weakness.
Intelligence 3: All four city gates are under Orland's control. In order to prevent the nobles from going out to seek help, Orland will close the four city gates tonight.
Intelligence 4: To buy time, Prosecutor Lady will publicly question Orlando about the city's lockdown measures tomorrow, and the city's security personnel will clash with the prosecutor's office under Orlando's instigation.
Intelligence 5: The Heart of the Forest sect is divided into fanatics and secularists!
After transferring Elsie's two children in advance, Bright looked at the intelligence and felt extremely nervous.
Fortunately, I had taken the time to look at the intelligence again earlier. Otherwise, if Elsie's children had been captured and used as leverage, I would have been exposed immediately, and the people of the Heart of the Forest would probably have surrounded my place by now.
The situation is... worse than I imagined!
First, this unexpected situation made Bright realize one thing: the intelligence notebook is not omnipotent. It cannot predict the future at all times, and at least it cannot guarantee that things will go in a good direction. For example, this time, it could not foresee that there was a problem with Orland. Instead, it could only obtain further intelligence after Bright sent someone to test the waters.
From now on, we must not rely too much on intelligence, otherwise one day my fate will probably be exactly the same as Elsie's!
Then there's the fact that Knight Commander Orland is also from the Heart of the Forest, which is truly disheartening!
Minister of the Interior Allen has the support of many nobles and a considerable number of warriors under his command. The cult of the Heart of the Forest has secretly infiltrated many more people. Most importantly, the knight commander, who has the largest armed force in the city, is also one of them. How can this be a game?
The problem is that now it seems I can't even back out. The Knight Commander has closed the city gates tightly, and I can't escape even if I wanted to for a while. I should have known better than to be greedy and go to Mirandil with Dog Egg.
"Mr. Bright..."
Eliza, accompanied by Lord Martin, hurried over. Martin looked very weak, but his eyes were full of gratitude: "I have heard from Eliza. Thank you very much for your help to the Luther family."
"You're too kind, Lord City Lord." Bright stood up and bowed.
"Mr. Bright, as you instructed, we have already moved Sir Elsie's children and butler. According to our underlings, a group of people did indeed break into Sir Elsie's villa in less than fifteen minutes. Upon closer inspection, we can see that the leader is Hank, Orant's squire!"
Bright: "What about the incinerator?"
"No movement for now..."
Bright breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Elsie had chosen not to betray him after learning that her child had been rescued, so his identity was probably safe for the time being.
"Sir, what should we do now?" Martin was young, but he seemed very humble, without a trace of arrogance.
That's understandable, though. There are only two superhumans in Holy Stone City, and both could be enemies. Bright in front of him might be his last lifeline. He doesn't want to experience that unpleasant feeling of sprouting all over his body again.
Upon hearing this, Bright's mind raced.
Now I have no choice but to escape the vortex, but in such a situation, it is really difficult to survive.
The first three pieces of intelligence are hopeless, while the last two seem to hold some secrets. Intelligence 4 indicates that Prosecutor Lady will publicly question Orlando's lockdown measures tomorrow in order to stall for time, and then Orlando will turn the tables on her, leading to a conflict between the security guards and the prosecutor's office.
This confirmed two things: First, although Lady stood against the city lord, she did not stand with the Heart of the Forest. The intelligence said that she needed to buy time. It seemed that she wanted to stall the situation here before her nephew returned, so that all the nobles here would be infected, but this place would not become a cult site!
Second: Although Orland has control over the samurai, it's highly likely that many of them are unaware that Orland is a member of a cult. Otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to deliberately provoke a conflict between the security personnel and the prosecutor's office. How many people are in the prosecutor's office? Why would he need to go to such lengths to stir things up? He could have just taken them down directly.
The only possibility is that if Orland's identity is exposed, not many warriors will dare to stand with him. After all, in the Rhine Empire, standing with a cult is a serious crime that could get your whole family roasted!
Then there's the fifth piece of intelligence: the Forest Heart Cult is divided into fanatics and secularists!
He had been wondering before that many of the actions of the Forest Heart, such as using the Thousand Faces Flower Poison to control the nobles of Holy Stone City, were not in line with the style of Minister of the Interior Allen!
How many years has Allen been the Minister of the Interior? He has served three generations of city lords, single-handedly revitalized the economy of Holy Stone City, and is loved by the people and respected by the nobles. With such prestige, he could easily become the master of Holy Stone City. Is it really necessary to take such an extreme action?
Now that the intelligence has revealed the secular and fanatical factions, Bright immediately drew a conclusion.
Allen is indeed from the Heart of the Forest, but he's probably not from the same group as the people doing those crazy things now!
"Mr. Bright?" Martin asked cautiously, looking at Bright who hadn't spoken for a while.
"There are still some questions that haven't been answered, but we should be able to get the answers by tomorrow. Tonight, Orant will seal off all four city gates, and all the nobles, including you, the city lord, will be unable to leave. Since the way out to seek help has been cut off, we might as well hide and observe the situation first."
"This... Allen and Orlando are both their people, so what's the point of looking good about the situation?" Martin couldn't help but ask.
"And what about Lord Lady?" Bright chuckled. "If the City Lord wants to survive, it's best not to expose himself easily. After all, neither Lord Lady nor the Knight Commander knows that the virus in your body has been cured. Isn't that our advantage?"
"That's true... but we have limited resources," Martin said, somewhat troubled.
Grandpa listened to Allen's nonsense advice and delegated most of the samurai's power to outsiders. After all, in Holy Stone City, the role of the samurai was to maintain the city's security, and there was no possibility of external enemies. He just didn't expect that this was a conspiracy from the beginning.
In previous years, Rose Avenue attracted a large middle class and, in order to generate more tax revenue, he allocated half of his warriors to Elsie. Now, all the warriors on Rose Avenue are under his control, and he only has a little over a hundred men left. What use are they?
"Although our strength is weak, it may still be effective if we seize the right opportunity."
Bright was even more uncertain than his opponent, but at this moment, he could tell that the city lord was a coward who couldn't handle things. If he didn't act confident, the team would probably fall apart immediately!
"What does Mr. Bright mean by 'timing'?" Eliza wasn't easily fooled, and her question went straight to the point.
"When two tigers fight," Bright said, sipping his hot coffee, "the prosecutor's goal is to use the central government to purify Holy Stone City and thus take control of it. But to survive until then, he must hold the line. We'll see tomorrow; Orant has sealed off the four city gates, and he will definitely take action."
Eliza nodded in agreement. This corpse collector looked young, but he had an extremely keen understanding of the situation. She wondered who he was and whether cooperating with such a person was a good or bad thing. However, she had no other choice now.
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"Oh? Someone moved the female knight's child away beforehand?"
The young girl touched her smooth skin as she examined it in the mirror, a hint of curiosity flashing in her eyes: "Who could it be? That old fogey Allen?"
"It shouldn't be... He has no reason to." Orland shook his head and said, "Although he opposes our radical methods, he wouldn't deliberately sabotage us. Besides, we know each other well, so there's no need for him to send a knight to test us."
"Could that be that prosecutor named Lady?"
"If Lady knew you were one of us, she would never dare to risk cooperating with us so easily, and it shouldn't be him." Orland continued to shake his head: "Do you really think I don't know what he's planning to do?"
He then opened the back gate, revealing Will, who had supposedly left the city, now lying in the ground in the garden. His limbs had been severed, his eyes and nose gouged out, and his body was entangled in black thorns, convulsing in agony…
"Who could it be?" The girl frowned slightly.
"Do you remember that Blood Cult follower we controlled before?"
"Hmm..." The girl nodded; it was meant to frame the female knight Elsie.
"She disappeared, leaving Lady with nothing. And that assassin who was supposed to be dead suddenly came back to life and stood right in front of me again. For the past few days, I've been suspecting that... there's a fourth player hiding in this city!"