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“I’m glad to see that we understand each other.”

Qudels said with a grin. And the villagers smiled back uncomfortably.

 

“Now then, I expect you all to treat it as if it were an accident. Disperse!”

A sound of applause echoed in the room.

When he turned around he saw that Adelia was looking at him with an expression that could have been admiration, but could have also been exasperation.

 

“Oh, Miss Adelia. Are you not satisfied then?”

“I am quite impressed, Mister Qudels. You managed to make all of them agree with you with an argument that was full of holes.”

You are like a con artist.

Adelia said with a snort. And the villagers suddenly returned to themselves.

 

Yes. It was the investigator who would decide if this was accident or not. It didn’t matter how much Qudels claimed that it was.

But his confident attitude and strangely competent work, in spite of the trouble he also caused, had fooled them. When they thought about it for a moment longer, they realized it was a great lie.

 

Now the villagers started to look at Qudels with suspicion. However, there was no remorse at all on Qudels’s face.

If anything, he just seemed slight annoyed at Adelia’s meddling.

 

“Miss Adelia… I don’t know what it is that you’re trying to accomplish, but could you pester someone else? I swear it on everything in this world. This was an accident. And it will be most inconvenient if needless suspicions are raised.”

I have gone through all this trouble in order to help the villagers. Please stop interfering out of selfish pride… That was what he was saying. But Adelia just shrugged it away.

In fact, these two were starting to resemble each other in the way that they worked.

 

“Oh, I have no doubt that you were speaking with good intentions, leader. However, you have yet to explain anything to us regarding this accident.”

The eyes of the villagers widened as they heard this.

Indeed. Qudels had declared that it was an accident. But he had said nothing about what led him to that conclusion.

 

“What would be the point in doing that? Why should anyone get involved in such things?”

“Still, you do realize that it must be clarified, or else the investigator will never back down?”

It was as if sparks were flying between Qudels and Adelia.

Both of them were speaking in calm voices, but behind that exterior, they were in a ferocious struggle.

 

“I will arrange things so that doesn’t happen. I cannot tell you much, but I have prepared a means of which to silence the investigator.”

Gasps could be heard around the room.

Apparently, Qudels had been moving behind the scenes.

 

However, it had only been half a day since the death of the magistrate.

What exactly could he have done?

 

“Well then, I suppose Darten and I will just have to investigate it ourselves? After all, it will be useful to have a trump card of our own, if it turns out that we must be rid of that investigator.”

“Huh…me?”

The young man in construction worker clothes seemed very surprised to suddenly be brought in.

 

While he too wondered about the truth, he was well aware that he was no detective.

His eyes seemed to plead to Adelia. Don’t involve me in this. But Adelia ignored him cooly.

 

“My, my. You are a troublesome one. But as long as it doesn’t affect your work, you might as well do as you please. I trust that you will not overstep your boundaries?”

These words suggested that Qudels not only knew the truth, but he had prepared things so that the matter would conclude in the best possible way.

In other words, he would not allow her to ruin all of that.

 

Adelia understood this and smiled.

“Well then, I will look into this little trick that you’ve prepared for us.”

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