Whether the deep ones were telling the truth or not did not really matter, but their words made Lynch realize that his previous judgment had flaws, ones that neither he nor Miss Valente had noticed until now. Some natural conclusions now seemed to have other possibilities.
Holding the young deep one hostage, Lynch quickly combed through the events of the past few days in his mind, finally confirming logical loopholes in three key issues.
First, even if Princess Chloe had orchestrated the theft of the gem, and even if she had handed it over to the deep ones, it did not necessarily mean she was trying to use it to find the Gate of Falsehood and Reality. She could have had other, perhaps even perfectly reasonable, motives.
However, because she had shown considerable hostility toward Lynch from the beginning and used ruthless methods, it led Lynch and Miss Valente, who were being targeted without cause, to instinctively hold a hostile attitude. They did not hesitate to measure her intentions with the greatest malice, assuming her actions were ill-intentioned. This was why they were uneasy about letting her hold the gem and instead intended to keep it for themselves. As for why she harbored such strange hostility, the two had not delved deeper.
Second, even if it was the deep ones who set the trap on the beach, and even if it was the deep ones who took the ruby, the Flaming Red Lips, it did not mean that the two groups of deep ones were together. They could easily be two independent groups. There was no shortage of other deep ones around Rhine City; Davis, the wanted criminal who had bombed the ship to steal the Red Moon Memories, was one such example.
Third, when reading the final resonance of Mark, even if Princess Chloe had given him the Flaming Red Lips to pass on to the deep ones, and even if someone had told him to leak the news to reporters to frame them, it did not prove that Princess Chloe had done both. The latter could easily have been the conspiracy of someone with an agenda.
It was only because they were already hostile toward Princess Chloe, combined with the fact that the version of Miss Valente in his dream had been dressed in the attire from last night’s party, that it created a psychological suggestion. This led Lynch and Miss Valente to naturally conflate the person framing them with the already hostile Princess Chloe. Furthermore, blinded by the rage of being targeted repeatedly for no reason, they had directly summoned the Yellow Apostle, who had also been plagued by the deep ones, and the two sides had joined forces to confront the deep ones living in the wreckage.
They had not felt it at the time, but now, the more they thought about it, the more it seemed someone had used their hostility toward Princess Chloe to guide them into a direct conflict with these deep ones. There was no need for lies; every event had truly happened.
‘Is this what you meant earlier when you said the truth is sometimes the most dangerous lie?’
【Yes.】
‘You saw it a long time ago, why didn't you tell me?’
【Do you need me to tell you in the future?】
Lynch hesitated for a moment: ‘No, this is my journey. I don't like spoilers.’
【Heh...】
The gentle laughter gradually faded from his mind. Lynch steadied himself and activated the telepathic conch, allowing Miss Valente, who was waiting to support him by the shore, to hear. He then gave a dry cough and said, “I will state this first: I am just a detective in Rhine City. I am not with anyone, and I am certainly not a robber. I think there is a misunderstanding between us. While there is still time to avoid irreparable consequences, why don't we sit down and talk this through seriously?”
Dozens of fish faces stared at Lynch with eerie gazes, especially fixed on the arm he used to restrain the little girl and the revolver in his hand. Finally, the elder deep one leading them asked in an aged voice, “Do you dare to sit down and talk?”
“Er, or we could talk standing up.”
I dare not, if I let go you would tear me apart alive. Lynch curled his lip and asked, “Who exactly are you, and why do you say the gem is yours?”
The little deep one girl in his arms no longer looked as frantic as before, but she still said bitterly, “What do you mean why? That was our treasure from the start, you wicked robbers.”
“I am asking you... wait, that is yours?”
Lynch suddenly realized that according to West’s intelligence, the Flaming Red Lips had been stolen from a tribe in the New Continent, but he had never mentioned it was a human tribe:
“Are you the tribe from whom the gem was stolen? Did you come here to bring it back?”
“Otherwise what? Are we out on vacation with Mom and Dad?”
Lynch curled his lip, pretending not to hear the mockery in her tone: “So you got the gem from Princess Chloe, but I don't understand—if she stole it, why would she give it back to you?”
“Who said Princess Chloe stole the gem? How could she possibly steal it? She is... hmm.”
Sigh, the intelligence only said it had been in Princess Chloe’s possession for two years, but it never said she was the one who stole it. It seems this was another assumption on my part.
“So, she helped you find the gem and returned it to you? Then you should have just taken it and left. Why destroy the merchant ship and slaughter the sailors? The innocent crew members didn't provoke you.”
“Merchant ship? Sailors? Innocent?” Lynch could feel the little girl trembling all over, her tone rising with every word. “Who do you think stole our property and slaughtered the old and young of our tribe? The murderers included this ship. We have been hunting the killers for two years and finally lured the last group of robbers out to kill them. You really are their accomplice, saying they are innocent? Are we not innocent as well?”
Lynch opened his mouth but found he had nothing to say. If everything the other side said was true, then in their eyes, this was a completely different story.
Their homeland destroyed, treasure stolen, the whole tribe chasing the killers for thousands of miles, finally managing to lure them out to kill them with the help of a foreign princess, only for an old enemy to interfere, and while the whole tribe was engaged in battle, their home was robbed, nearly resulting in the deaths of the children left behind.
“It does seem they are quite innocent, but I am innocent too. I was targeted by Princess Chloe for no reason, and then induced by someone with ill intentions to come find you in the middle of the night. The mastermind behind this somehow tried to provoke a death match between us, and fortunately, it didn't succeed. I just don't know why they did it, putting in so much effort to lure us into this trap. They can't be doing it out of boredom; they must have a goal. I wonder what they want from either of us... wait.”
Lynch’s voice came to an abrupt stop. His expression tightened, and he asked in a dry voice, “Oh no, the gem—where did you put the gem?”
“Why would we tell a robber like you?”
“You don't have to tell me, but is anyone guarding it right now?” Lynch asked anxiously. “I suspect their goal is the gem. They provoked our conflict to take the gem while we were distracted. They are the ones who want to use the gem to find the mystery relic.”
As he spoke, Lynch gritted his teeth and released the little deep one’s neck, stating sternly: “This is my sincerity. You had better check on it. That gem is extremely dangerous. Regardless, it cannot fall into the hands of someone with malicious intent.”
The little girl rubbed her neck and glared fiercely at Lynch. The surrounding deep ones breathed a sigh of relief, and some began to grow restless, but the white-haired elder waved his hand to suppress the malice of his clansmen, looking thoughtful, as if he felt Lynch’s words made perfect sense.
“Impossible. The item is safe. That is our most heavily guarded place. Even if your high-level soul manifestation users came, they wouldn't be able to take it.”
The little girl curled her lip, but the white-haired deep one whispered a few words into her ear. Only then did the girl bite her lip and reluctantly beckon to Lynch.
“Come with me. Let you see for yourself, and then I will deal with you.”
With that, he had the group of deep ones surround Lynch, escorting him back to the first mate’s cabin.
The room was the same as before. In the gray sludge beneath the large hole, dozens of sailor corpses floated. The little girl waved her hand near the edge of the hole, and one of the corpses drifted up, floating all the way to the edge. Resting on the corpse was the wooden box seen in the final resonance.
“See, robber? This is the safest place on the entire ship, guarded by Dagon himself. Nothing could have happened to it.”
Phew. Lynch let out a sigh of relief, no longer intending to seize the gem, and began to think of a way to escape: “In any case, it is good that the thing is fine.”
“Of course it is fine. Look.”
Saying this, the little girl opened the wooden box, and the eyes of everyone around them went wide.
The wooden box was empty; there was nothing inside.
Rate on N.U.
