The temperature in the room plummeted to freezing as those words echoed. Asche finally noticed Siegfried's expression. The previous amiability had vanished, replaced by a chilling killing intent. Asche felt his blood freeze.
"S-Sir, you're joking," Asche tried to laugh it off, but he saw two soldiers dragging a blood-soaked corpse past behind Siegfried. His gaze was uncontrollably drawn to it.
Siegfried didn't turn his head. Looking at the pale soldier before him, he once again displayed that utterly frigid smile: "Joking? The last person who said I was joking is dead."
"I don't understand what you mean?"
"You don't need to understand. You only need to choose whether to kill yourself or wait for someone else to help you."
"You're goddamn kidding me! I'm a soldier of the kingdom, a soldier of Her Highness! You have no right to decide my life or death without reason. Who the hell do you think you are?!"
A barely perceptible smile played on Siegfried's lips.
(Four hours, he finally broke.)
"It's not me who decides your life or death, but your good colleagues."
Asche's face froze. At that moment, he thought of many people.
(Could it be them? Impossible! What benefit would they get from betraying me?)
"Is that so hard to understand? I simply told them that Asche had confessed everything, and that they could be pardoned if they confessed honestly. Then, they all spilled the beans. As for those who were stubborn…"
Siegfried gestured with his thumb towards the back: "As you can see."
Asche stared at Siegfried, his expression one of disbelief. After a long moment, he asked:
"You… you knew all along?"
The moment Asche finished his sentence, all of Siegfried's exaggerated expressions disappeared, the speed of his facial transformation astonishing.
(No, he didn't know, but he found out just now.)
Yes, it was a deception. A modified version of the prisoner's dilemma, designed by Siegfried based on the information he had.
Originally, Siegfried had planned to use the information from the Wanderer's Manual to directly catch all the traitors.
However, the Wanderer's Manual wasn't omniscient; it could only search for content recorded by other wanderers. Siegfried searched every soldier, and the results were disappointing.
Unlike the search for Bobo, this time there was no direct information indicating who the traitors were.
But fortune favored the bold. Siegfried still discovered an anomaly in one soldier.
This soldier's record showed that he had once served as a close guard for the Crown Prince Frederick. His name was Asche.
Siegfried immediately decided to make Asche the first target.
He designed and directed this play, confining Asche alone in a closed, dark room for a long time, gradually destroying his mental defenses.
When the time was right, he let him out to witness the blood-soaked corpse, delivering a fatal blow to the near-collapse Asche.
With the enhancement of deceptive talk, every word Siegfried spoke convinced Asche, and as long as Asche showed the slightest flaw, Siegfried, proficient in cold reading, would not miss it.
Once one traitor was unearthed, the rest would be easy.
Siegfried had prepared for the worst-case scenario.
If Asche was innocent, he would have had to detain all the soldiers and interrogate each one day and night. Using high-pressure tactics to force them to reveal their flaws. However, this method was not only time-consuming but would inevitably lead to misjudgments and omissions, and might even cause a mutiny. Krinhild certainly wouldn't support this approach.
Fortunately, the plan succeeded on the first try.
Roland, who was in the next room, heard everything. He walked over with a grim expression.
Siegfried didn't look at Asche, whose eyes had lost their luster, only leaving one sentence:
"If you have anything to add, tell Roland. Providing more information might save your life."
With Asche's unreserved confession, a total of 10 traitors were found among the 48-person team; they were all spies planted by the Crown Prince.
This shocked even Siegfried, let alone Roland.
"This number can't be called informants anymore! They could have directly captured Princess Krinhild and taken her away!"
Siegfried looked at the room full of people, his expression quite colorful.
"We never intended to harm Her Highness the Princess. The Crown Prince only gave us two tasks: to report on the Princess's condition and to protect her safety. We originally had more than 50 people, but many died in battle during the past six months, leaving only a few of us."
Roland frowned, pondering for a long time before posing the question to Siegfried:
"Melanthe, what do you think?"
(Sir, I think there's something fishy about this… I'm looking at your head! How would I know about your royal family's dirty business? I haven't known you for even a day!)
Siegfried grumbled inwardly, but still answered seriously:
"Something is wrong. It's difficult to see the truth with only the information we have."
Perhaps the Crown Prince had a little humanity, so he sent people to protect his sister, pursuing her while protecting her? It doesn't make sense.
"Separate them from the main force; don't bring them on the upcoming extermination operation."
Roland was worried; he didn't know how to tell Her Highness the Princess about this.
There were 11 traitors in a 48-person team. If those who had already died were included, there were more than 50. More than 50 spies followed them out of the royal city, and they hadn't discovered a single one.
Thinking of this, he glanced at Siegfried, who was lost in thought.
From their first meeting that morning to now, just a few hours, this man had precisely removed all the nails in the team, leading the team out of a desperate situation. This skill made Roland admire him while also feeling a bit of fear.
Powerful enemies are not terrible; powerful and intelligent enemies are the most terrifying.
(It's a good thing he's not an enemy…)
......
Night fell.
There were many empty houses in Wind Peach Village, usually used by villagers to store goods. Now they were available for the soldiers.
The soldiers, who had been sleeping rough for the past six months, sleeping in caves or trees, returned to civilization.
Under the villagers' arrangements, they took a bath, ate a full meal, and even got their own beds.
They knew that they received this treatment because of the Melanthe adult, so Siegfried's image in the soldiers' hearts rose even higher.
Of course, not every soldier received this treatment. For example, the eight soldiers who robbed the village yesterday, led by the yellow-haired soldier Lyme, were arranged in a cramped room, with no beds, only a floor mat. Whether they slept or not was their own business.
Although they were dissatisfied, they dared not protest. After all, they were at fault, and Catalina had managed to cover it up. If it got out, even without Krinhild's intervention, the model knight Roland would carry his great sword and chop them all down.
Siegfried was sitting at his desk in his room. On the table were four old pieces of parchment, a single oil lamp providing enough light to illuminate them.
These four pieces of paper were torn from the Wanderer's Manual, each recording information about one of the main figures in the current faction.
This included information already recorded and new intelligence he had gathered today through investigation.
"Catalina: the child of a palace maid, originally unqualified to be a knight, but due to her exceptional talent and close relationship with the Princess, she was exceptionally chosen as a guardian knight. Current class: Great Knight… but not very bright, and I have leverage over her, so she's not a worry."
"Roland Pedinan: a commoner from the Pedinan Earl's territory, also chosen by the Earl because of his talent. After receiving knight training at the Earl's mansion, he developed a deep relationship with the Pedinan family's daughter, and has since married into the family and even had a son? What a winner in life! At 26, he was promoted to Golden Knight, the youngest Golden Knight in the kingdom's history. Now, he's only one divine bestowal ceremony away from becoming a Holy Knight?"
Roland's strength was undeniable. When Siegfried confronted him during the day, he saw absolutely no chance of winning.
"Overall assessment: at least A-rank, conservatively A+. He doesn't seem to like me very much; I need to watch out."
Siegfried picked up the third sheet. This one contained much less information.
"Darren Hilruf: a half-elf boy, with the highest level of wind elemental affinity, at only 15 years old he can already use mid-tier sixth-order magic, an unparalleled magical genius. That's all. The information is scarce, but upon contact, he's not difficult to deal with."
Siegfried picked up the last piece of parchment. This one contained the most information, densely written over an entire page.
"Princess Krinhild. All about her life story… huh?"
Siegfried's expression froze. He saw information that surprised him.
Miracle [Solas's Favor]: Princess Krinhild is a divine favorite of the Sun God Solas. With this miracle, her light and fire elemental affinities will reach their peak, and she can converse with light elves. Light elves can discern malice and see through lies.
Siegfried's brow furrowed slightly: "Able to see through lies?"
"I… can't see through him." Krinhild smoothed the hair falling over her ear, her tone hesitant.
Roland looked surprised, incredulously asking: "Even you can't see through him? You're the Sun Saintess."
In Krinhild's bedroom, the mistress and servant were whispering. The topic, of course, was the suddenly appeared Melanthe.
"Shh, quieter. Lina is asleep." Krinhild put her index finger to her lips, then pointed to Catalina, who was sleeping sprawled out on the side.
"Cough, sorry. But this… this is impossible. I've never heard of anyone being able to deceive a light elf, not even a hero."
Light elves are the Sun God's followers; ordinary people cannot see them. As the Sun God's favored saintess, Krinhild can, to a certain extent, command light elves to serve her.
The greatest use of these light elves is that they are extremely sensitive to lies, killing intent, and other forms of malice. Once they detect anything, they will automatically alert Krinhild. In fact, half a year ago, they were able to organize people to escape the royal city in time because Krinhild had sensed the danger beforehand.
However, when facing Siegfried, these infallible lie-detecting elves showed anomalies.
Some were like headless flies, sending meaningless signals to Krinhild, while most remained completely unresponsive. It was as if the person standing before them wasn't even human.
Because he wasn't human, there was no reaction.
This had never happened before. Even Krinhild didn't understand what was going on. She shook her head and said:
"At least for now, Mr. Siegfried hasn't shown any hostility, and…" Krinhild recalled the warm hand that had helped her up in the church that day.
Perhaps it was wishful thinking, but she felt that someone with such hands couldn't be a bad person.
"Roland, you spent the most time with him today. What kind of person do you think he is?"
"..."
"What's wrong?"
"Your Highness, there's something I don't know if I should say."
Krinhild smiled faintly: "Roland, privately, you're like my brother. What's there that you can't say?"
This Princess didn't seem to realize what being "like her brother" implied…
"Then, please forgive my impoliteness. This Melanthe gives me a very uneasy feeling. Whether it was facing Bobo in the morning or interrogating the soldiers in the afternoon, his understanding of human weaknesses is too profound, and his ability to precisely control and utilize them is not something a hero's family should possess. Most importantly, it all reminds me of someone else…"
Roland took a deep breath, his tone unusually serious:
"Your brother, the Second Prince Roderick."