Rael and Lilith stared at the man responsible, and the sight was quite... strange.
There was a middle-aged man running around, his entire body on fire.
But soon, he ran toward the pool and jumped in, extinguishing the fire that had nearly consumed him.
"Looks like I was right," Lilith said with a smirk.
"Hmm..." Rael didn’t reply as he merely stared at the man in the pool.
He had begun chugging HP potions of all kinds, recovering swiftly from his burns.
Eventually, he was completely healed, so he stepped out of the pool and wrapped himself in some cloth before glancing over at the two of them.
"Hmm? Neighbors?" the man said, picking his ear. "I was playing around with a few spells. Apologies if I was too loud, I’ll settle down."
However, it only took a few moments for the man to recognize Rael as his brows began to twitch.
And once again, those same surface thoughts that he had heard when he was beside Lilith sprang out.
[Shit... how did this bastard find me? Did someone snitch on me?]
[No, it’s impossible. Only the king should know about what I’m doing...]
"Why would the King know about what you’re doing?" Rael asked with a slight smile.
"Huh?" The man’s eyes widened. "You can hear my thoughts?"
"Maybe. I can also tell when someone’s lying to me," Rael said matter-of-factly as he took a few steps forward, until he stood face to face with the man. "Tell me one thing, were you responsible for trying to fuck over my wife and me?"
The moment Rael’s words fell, the man tried to lunge backward, attempting to escape.
But Rael simply took a step forward and tripped the man, causing him to fall into the pool like an idiot.
"Guah!" The man got out of the water, having nearly drowned.
He dragged his body over to the grass and flipped over, staring at the sky that had been blocked by Rael’s face.
"Should I take that as a yes?" Rael asked.
The man scoffed. "What? Your Majesty, are you planning to kill a noble in his own residence? Hm? Even you’re not immune! I have the king’s blessings, so he will avenge me!"
"You’re really making this hard on me," Rael said with a sigh. "Just tell me why you did it, who set you up to it. If you tell me, then I’ll consider sparing you. How does that sound?"
"Hahaha! Did you not hear what I said? King Arthur protects all of his nobles, so if you kill me, he will send all of the Holy Knights to destroy those you care about."
"Should I just cut off his tongue and reanimate it?" Lilith suggested. "It would do the talking for him, and it would be a bit less annoying than this guy."
"No need, let’s try something else..." Rael said and tapped the man on the forehead.
Immediately, the man’s eyes rolled to the back of his head as he passed out on the spot.
As for Rael, he gave Lilith one last nod and decided to check this noble’s mind out.
<(NEW) Voice of Reason>
Rael stared at it for a few moments. Then he chose the recommended invasion type.
His vision turned dark for a few moments. He began feeling a tiny amount of pain in his knees that got progressively worse until eventually...
Rael looked around briefly and noticed he was sitting in a wheelchair, his legs completely immobile.
So I’m a cripple... awesome.
Aside from that, he was under an apple tree on what seemed to be a small hill.
In the distance, he saw the familiar nobleman come rushing over to Rael, his steps hurried and filled with panic.
These descriptions are the thoughts of this Herald Partivan fella, huh? Interesting...
"Lucaviel." Rael waved with a slight smile. "It’s nice to see you again. What’s the occasion?"
"Ancestor, remember the bastard I mentioned last time? He’s actually here. How am I supposed to stop him, Ancestor?" Lucaviel said, his expression darkening.
"To stop him, you must first examine the root cause, yes?" Rael began bullshitting. "Think of what made you begin messing with him in the first place."
Lucaviel grumbled. "I told you last time, Ancestor. That bastard ruined the deal I had spent years trying to establish..."
He took a deep breath and began recounting the deal.
"It was the biggest deal ever. I acted as the third party that oversaw the exchange between Aztera, the Holy Kingdom, and even Yrgon."
"The Holy Kingdom wanted the infinite electricity source for a secret underground project, and in exchange, Aztera took over Temperia. But that’s not all... Temperia was used as a base of operations for the Aztera spies, and by chance, Yrgon contacted one of the spies looking to buy a set amount of trees every winter."
Underground project...?
Lucaviel chuckled. "Since Aztera knew me from the last deal, I was able to take part in it. I mediated the terms, got a big bonus, and in the end, I got a massive commission every year... it was heaven."
"But... after that bastard negotiated a better deal, my bonus was gone and Aztera cut me off from the deal," Lucaviel said, his hands trembling.
After a brief pause, he continued.