Chương 125: Chapter 122: Clues

Lord Alardice's eyes darted down to the chains, frowning as he considered Llyr's words. He did look much less wary compared to before the reincarnation reveal and the "hey we've also been investigating the disappearances" revelation, but there was still some caution present in the furrow of his brows. Llyr was still a dangerous non-human, after all, and that suspicion wouldn't just vanish instantly. Sensing the lord's hesitation, Agnes turned to him and arched a brow.

"I do believe working with them is our best chance at uncovering the truth," she remarked. She paused, eyes serious.

"The disappearances are becoming more and more frequent—I know you're aware of this. We can't afford to delay." That seemed to be the final push needed. Slowly, Lord Alardice nodded. He made a flicking gesture, and Agnes strolled around the table towards them. Pyre could see both Daphne and Callan watching the knight captain warily as she approached. Agnes came to a stop beside Llyr and raised a hand. The center of her palm began to glow that familiar gold hue.

Carefully, she lowered the light to one of the engraved sigils covering the shackles. Pyre watched in interest as the lines lit up. Apparently those things opened and closed with magic alone, which, to be fair, was probably what made them so effective. There was no physical key to swipe. As the metal shackles slowly bent apart, the demon noted Agnes murmuring something too quiet to make out. Llyr inclined his head, so Pyre guessed that it was an apology of some sort. One that the siren had accepted.

Llyr's ire seemed mostly directed to Lord Alardice anyway, if his piercing stare was any indication. The shackles and chains dropped down to the table with a rattle and thud. Llyr idly rubbed his wrists. Without taking his eyes off Lord Alardice, he spoke in a perfectly even tone.

"If you try something like this again, I will kill you." The noble froze. With a slow, almost imperceptible movement, he nodded. Pyre snorted in amusement. Several of the knights were fully gawking at the healer, and one or two looked straight up devastated. Yeah, his "saintly" image was fully dead in the water at this point.

"Continuing our conversation, this group you mentioned," Agnes began, only to be cut off when Callan hesitantly raised a hand.

"Um, could some of the knights leave the room before we begin? They can stay outside—I'm not saying they need to leave the estate entirely—but I think the fewer people here, the better." The Henry guy looked affronted at the suggestion. Before he could argue, though, Daphne nodded. Her eyes were serious as she faced Lord Alardice.

"We still don't know who's involved. If word spreads about our investigation, the group could hear about it and run. And this" —she gestured to the row of knights—"is a lot of opportunities for something to leak."

"Agnes is the only one who could do anything against us anyway," Pyre added in a drawl. Henry directed a scowl at her that the demon returned with a casual wave. Lord Alardice and Agnes exchanged glances. After some conversing between themselves, the captain straightened and spoke to the knights. Some shuffling, suspicious looks, and disappointed faces later, the room cleared out until there was just them, Lord Alardice, Agnes, and Henry around the table.

"Will this suffice?" Lord Alardice said, a bit of his signature dry sarcasm now returned to his voice. It was kind of impressive how quickly his innate disdain overpowered his fear, Pyre thought. Honestly kind of useful. Was probably great for noble negotiations or whatever. Daphne rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, it's fine." She turned to Llyr more slowly next, waiting. Pyre could practically feel the expectant gazes coming from the other side of the table. Finally, after a moment of silence, Llyr opened his mouth and began speaking. It was an abbreviated version of what he'd told Pyre. He primarily focused on his previous encounter with the group in Ilyra and only made a brief mention of his past incarnation's experience with them.

The demon could see his hands grip the table so tightly that they shook slightly when he reached that part, quick as it was. He moved on before anyone could ask questions about those "experiments." Llyr continued with his arrival to Serindell and how he'd recognized the same signs as what had happened in Ilyra.

Loss of ichor in the surrounding land (neither Agnes nor Lord Alardice looked surprised at this, which proved that the nobility, at least, was aware of the issue), the disappearances, and finally, the bloodless bodies. Pyre's eyebrows rose when he mentioned them. She'd half-expected him to conveniently leave that fact out, considering the optics, but the healer laid out the facts with a clipped, clinical detachment. This attitude, of course, didn't magically extend to the others at the table.

"You kept the bodies?" Henry's hand was already gripping the hilt of his sword, and Agnes's presence in front of him was seemingly the only thing keeping him from drawing his blade right then and there.

"And we're to believe that you aren't responsible?"

"That's what I said," Daphne muttered under her breath. Louder, she cleared her throat and met the knight's scandalized face evenly.

"I saw the bodies myself and can confirm their existence. As Llyr stated, they were indeed bloodless." She hesitated, then added, "From what I could tell, they were perfectly preserved and didn't show any signs of abuse. They were killed quickly and painlessly. I… do believe that Llyr was simply studying them." The words were slow, but Pyre could tell that, however cautiously, the noble did believe them. The same couldn't be said for Henry.

"Why not tell the knights, then? And even if he killed them quickly, that doesn't discount the fact that he could easily have kidnapped them to begin with! No offense intended, my lady," he added half-heartedly at the end. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Pyre kept one eye on Llyr in case that earlier wildness returned to his gaze, but his expression remained steady as he focused on the knight.

"I already explained why I didn't inform anyone of the bodies," he said, perfectly calm. His unblinking eyes seemed to glow under the chandelier light.

"And if I did decide to kidnap humans, I wouldn't be so careless as to leave evidence behind." Henry's outraged yell didn't fully cover the sound of Callan's groan as he dropped his face into his hands. Pyre thought she heard the ghost mutter something like, "He's as bad as Pyre," which the demon didn't think was a fair comparison. She had the amnesia excuse—nevermind that she'd likely act similarly with full memories anyway.

Probably, It did seem a little out of character for how cautious the healer usually was in social settings, though. Maybe he was well and truly tired of acting. Pyre shot him a glance, but he was still outwardly calm. Her eyes narrowed. He was definitely shifting his weight and fidgeting more than usual. Agnes cleared her throat, and Henry's jaw immediately clicked shut. The knight's expression had gone blank again, and she now gave Llyr a considering look.

"We'll need to check those bodies ourselves." It was a statement, not a question. The siren simply nodded. Now that they'd gotten this far, it was unavoidable. Seated at the table, Lord Alardice's brows were furrowed in thought. He muttered under his breath, repeating the details that Llyr had laid out. The fact that he was so absorbed in trying to determine the group's location and identity was probably the only reason he wasn't reacting worse to the "secretly hiding mercy-killed corpses" reveal.

"And you think they're working with Serindell's nobility?" he finally said, dark eyes fixed on Llyr.

"Most likely, yes. It would mirror what they did in Ilyra and explain how they've escaped capture for so long."

"Have you noticed any odd behavior from the other nobles?" Daphne asked.

"Especially after the disappearances started?" Lord Alardice huffed at that.

"Half the Upper Ring's acted odd since the disappearances began," he muttered.

"They're becoming impossible to ignore." Daphne and Callan exchanged looks. The ghost leaned forward a little.

"Are there any places around Serindell that a group like this could hide?" Callan questioned.

"They—they've taken enough people that they'd need some amount of space to hide them. And while they have the teleportation runes to return to their base, they'd still need to enter the city by foot, so they can't be that far." That was a good point about their location. Pyre hummed, considering.

"I don't suppose the city guards've noticed anyone entering Serindell with weird arm tattoos." They were distinct enough that someone should theoretically remember seeing them.

"I questioned the knights and guards about it after we collected the tattooed man's arm. None of them recognized it, and no one had seen anyone enter the city with those markings even after we increased security," Agnes explained. So, either they were getting into the city through some other means and dodging the gates entirely, or they were just concealing the tattoos. Considering the amount of magic shit in this world, the latter certainly wasn't impossible. Callan straightened as an idea seemingly came to him.

"What about supplies? If they've been here for months and no one's seen anyone with those tattoos around the city during the day, then some of the group members must be living at the base. There'd probably be food and water sent to them. Ichor, too, to sustain those preservation spells Llyr found." Lord Alardice's eyes flashed, and he suddenly straightened. He turned to Henry.

"Bring me my files," he ordered.

"Fourth book on the topmost shelf in my office." The knight saluted and quickly rushed out the door, metal armor clanking behind him. When the doors shut again, only the six of them were left in the room.

"Do you know something?" Daphne demanded. She was leaning forward, her fiery hair falling onto the table. Lord Alardice's lips thinned.

"I might." He gestured to where Henry had disappeared.

"I keep close records of the city's ichor requests." He paused, eyes sweeping over Pyre, Callan, and Llyr.

"In Serindell, we funnel a constant supply of ichor throughout the city," he explained. Ah, so this was a "noble thing" that he was now explaining to the peasants.

"Nobles will sometimes purchase additional ichor for personal use, which will then be sent to them after approval." Callan scowled, though he didn't look surprised at this. Llyr didn't either, but based on the brief hints of his past they'd gotten, Pyre got the impression that he was quite familiar with the stuff the upper crust got up to. Daphne, meanwhile, was staring at the other noble with her brows furrowed.

"Private ichor purchases usually go through a separate board, unless things are different in Auren," she pointed out.

"How do you have access to those records?" Lord Alardice smiled thinly.

"I may have pulled a few strings," he said.

"I like to keep an eye on what's happening in my city." Before anyone could comment on that, the doors of the dining hall opened again. Henry rushed in, pausing only briefly to bow before hurriedly setting the thick book in his hands down in front of Lord Alardice. The thing was, indeed, huge. It had to have decades of detailed information inside. Pyre whistled. Pulled some very big strings, it looked like.

Lord Alardice opened the book and began flipping through the pages with a familiarity that made it clear that he'd done this many times before. He only slowed down in the back half, where the most recent records were, dark eyes rapidly scanning the page. He muttered under his breath as he read through the dates and purchases.

"They were rebuilding their mansion that month, they would've wanted ichor for construction spells… magic private lessons… they had that party with the magical decorations… gardening…" The noble continued muttering what Pyre realized were his hypothesized explanations for the ichor requests. In addition to having a copy of all the ichor requests in the city, he apparently also had an encyclopedic memory of what every noble house was doing on any given date. Well, it was certainly helpful now.

A quick glance around the table revealed that even Daphne looked begrudgingly impressed. Callan was making a complicated expression that Pyre guessed had to do with the many frivolous ichor uses being listed. All the while, Llyr remained in place, muscles tense as he watched the pages turn. Finally, the flipping stopped. Lord Alardice's finger moved slowly down the current page, lingering on a few specific lines. Daphne shot up from her chair and strode around the table to get a closer look at the records.

Callan hurried to do the same. Pyre stood at a comparatively more relaxed pace, casually walking over to join them. She was aware of Henry's eyes following her the whole time. Llyr remained seated, and when she passed him, she noted how stiff he looked. Thanks to the demon's height, she was easily able to peer over everyone's shoulders to get a closer look at the records. Lord Alardice was pointing to a series of different ichor requests that were all listed under the same noble house name.

The requests occurred at fairly regular intervals, Pyre noted, and were in small enough quantities that they didn't particularly stand out on their own. Her eyes moved to the first date. If she was remembering the newspapers right, it was about a month before the first disappearance. The requests had continued ever since then, and if the way Lord Alardice had paused was any indication, these purchases didn't have any "standard" ichor-use explanations, either.

The demon cocked her head, parsing out the scribbled name. Rotham, it read. She didn't recognize it, but Lord Alardice clearly did. Whoever it was, it was the biggest lead they'd gotten since the tattooed man had been killed. In that moment, everyone at the table seemed to be thinking the same thing. This was the first step towards finding that group.