[Vol. 7] Chapter 92: The Truth Hidden in the Shadows
Seeing the adventurers suddenly spouting strange accusations, Marcelo furrowed his brows once more, his expression growing noticeably less friendly.
"If you’re travelers looking for a place to stay or an investigation team sent to look into the case, Adelaide Village 192 welcomes you. But if you’re just here to stir up trouble... well, our village guard isn’t here for show."
With a sharp whistle, the magical searchlights atop the watchtower immediately flared to life, illuminating the surrounding area. At the same time, over a dozen armed militiamen rushed out from the nearby buildings, quickly surrounding the adventurers with sheer numbers!
"What’s going on?! Are we under attack?!"
"Captain, who are these people?"
Seeing the sudden hostility, Enrique and the others naturally weren’t about to just stand there and do nothing. They swiftly drew their weapons, standing in a tense standoff with the guards.
"Miss Violet, please explain yourself! We can’t just assume things without solid proof!"
"Aww, no need to rush~ Since we’re already laying our cards on the table, of course, I wouldn’t be making baseless claims."
Despite Enrique’s urgent demand and the unfriendly gazes from Marcelo and his men, the priestess remained completely calm. She casually raised a hand and started listing her points as if she were counting on her fingers.
"First, I started getting suspicious when I noticed that the trail we were following had a large gap in this area, right around the same time Miss Qionghua pointed out that the stars in the night sky seemed to be reversed."
"I once heard an old saying, ‘The starry sky is a mirror reflecting falsehood. If you doubt the reality of the world you live in, then look up’."
"Of course, I don’t actually know how to read star positions, so that saying was useless to me. But since Miss Qionghua could, it saved us a step. The moment I noticed these two abnormalities at the same time, I became wary and secretly cast a magic spell to shield myself from any strange influences."
Violet snapped her fingers. Instantly, a soft, pure golden light shimmered over her skin, forming a faint protective barrier that covered her entire body. Even under the bright beams of the watchtower’s searchlights, the light was clearly visible.
And surprisingly, the same glow appeared on Enrique as well.
"Huh? When did this... happen?"
"Oh dear, have you already forgotten the buff I gave you last night? Otherwise, how do you think you and Sophie managed to resist the influence of this place and keep your memories? I told you, a priest can ward off evil. Enrique, you don’t actually think I was just bragging, do you?"
With another snap of her fingers, the golden protective light around Violet faded away. She then reached into her backpack and pulled out a smooth, round crystal.
"Since I had no idea what kind of danger was lurking here, I didn’t just rely on passive defense. I prepared a second precaution. This..."
She deliberately showed the crystal to everyone before pressing a nearly invisible indentation on its surface. A soft white glow rose from within, forming several small, palm-sized figures.
The figures moved on their own. Though they weren’t perfectly clear, a closer look revealed that they were none other than Enrique, Sophie, and Marcelo, sitting across from each other in conversation.
"Wait, isn’t that...?"
Hearing the only person present who recognized the item, Le Qiaoqiao, speak up, Violet nodded in confirmation.
"That’s right. A [Memory Stone]. A stone from the Ancient Spirit Realm that can record everything happening around it and store it. That’s why I leaned against the wall last night, to get the best, most discreet angle for capturing this."
"I saw something similar not long ago in another place. I don’t fully understand how it works, and I couldn’t be sure I’d resist the effects of this place. So I prepared this just in case."
She paused the playback, letting the glowing figures freeze in place. As Enrique and the others stared in shock and Marcelo’s expression darkened, Violet fast-forwarded the recording to a specific moment before turning her gaze toward the half-bear warrior.
"To be honest, at first, I never considered that you might be the 'exception' in this enclosed space, a figure similar to a 'manager.' But during your conversation with Enrique and the others last night, I started noticing something strange."
"Look here. Did you notice it, Uncle Marcelo? Your knowledge of time and dates seems a little too precise. Not only did you effortlessly mention the exact date in an unprepared conversation, but you also recalled every detail afterward. When to head to Adelaide City for help, exactly how much time had passed since then, down to the last detail."
"Isn't that a bit too smooth? Almost like you've said these same things many times before."
"Think about it, does that make sense? You're just a warrior, a retired lower-ranked officer from the army. No offense, but someone like you, who probably only knows basic literacy at best, shouldn't be so meticulous about tracking time, like a professional clerk or a record-keeper would be."
"That’s when I started feeling something was off. Of course, I could’ve been overthinking it. After all, the world is full of strange people, and we don’t really know each other that well. Maybe you’re just the type to be exceptionally detail-oriented. Kind of like how I once met a tiger beastman who loved books and deep thinking."
"So, to test my suspicion, I deliberately interrupted your conversation at the most crucial moment, just to see how you would react."
At this point, the black-haired girl gave a slight nod.
"I have to admit, your response was incredibly smart. You chose to stay passive and let us leave, which made me doubt my own suspicions for a while. I even started to dismiss the idea entirely…”
"But looking back now, I think that was because you were just too confident in the power of this place, wasn’t it?"
"The second time I started suspecting your role in this little enclosed world was this morning. When we went back to the other side to inspect that long-abandoned village. That’s when I noticed something odd in your room."
She raised her hand, pointing at the mechanical arm armor on Marcelo’s arm and the large blade strapped to his back.
"Last night, while we were talking inside your house, I noticed a habit of yours. You never part with your weapons, especially your blade and arm armor. But whenever you do put them down, you always hang them in a very specific spot in your room."
"And yet, when we checked your room during the day, someone noticed that exact spot was completely free of cobwebs and dust. Almost like someone had recently cleaned it. Right?"
The one called [Tree Bow] blinked in surprise before realizing what she was referring to.
"Yeah, that's true… uh, but what does that mean?"
"Ugh, you really don’t get it?"
Violet sighed, giving her clueless teammate a look of disdain, making the tree man shift his gaze awkwardly.
"It means someone did use that spot. Someone had been there and hung something there."
With that final statement, Violet turned her sharp gaze back to Marcelo, delivering her conclusion.
"Now, think about it. This is a remote, long-abandoned village in the mountains. Anything of value was looted by bandits ages ago. Even if an adventurer came to investigate, why would they specifically go into your room and hang something in that exact spot?"
"It just doesn't make sense. Unless the person who did it was acting purely out of habit, something they’d done so many times over the years that they weren’t even thinking about it. But the only person who fits that description is you, the owner of that room. And yet, you’ve supposedly been stuck here, unable to return to the real world.
"So tell me, Uncle Marcelo. If you have been able to leave this place and return to reality, yet you didn’t do anything, didn’t send out any messages, and even deliberately misled us last night… doesn’t that make your true identity very obvious?"