Chương 69: Traitors

Adolin stared at Luna for a few moments in disbelief. Luna had just used the same type of flare as the culprit with the cursed item, and they had questioned her before. There had been no signs of betrayal. And now she was broadcasting the news that the Count had survived the curse. The soldiers around him moved immediately and apprehended Luna, forcing her to the ground and taking the artifact from her hands.

The knights behind him drew their swords and began scanning the crowd, searching for traitors in their midst. And they weren't the only ones. The mage moved toward a corner that left his back clear of people as he watched everyone around him. Well, shit. Adolin was left speechless once again. How were they supposed to fight the enemy if everyone was doubting the person next to them? The estate's morale would plummet at this rate. With that in mind, he took a few steps back as well.

He was low on mana and didn't want to take any unnecessary risks. Nor did he want to waste a mana potion.

"Take Lady Luna inside the mansion," Adolin ordered.

"And block every entrance."

"... she was suspicious. Look at how she had been acting all week."

"... the mansion? The Count is there!" a soldier said, his hand hovering over his sword. Even after everything that had happened, the knights didn't hesitate and immediately started moving. They took Luna from the soldiers who had apprehended her, despite their protests. Then the knights started giving orders, and soon everyone was on the move. Adolin ignored the protests around him. He really needed to learn the names of the people under his command before too long.

They were proving quite useful, especially the first knight he had met. The mage under his command hesitated for a few moments before he, too, left the safety of his isolated corner and moved in front of the mansion's entrance. Still, he kept his back against the wall. Adolin approved of the decision. Even if the man had to follow orders, he was still taking his own safety into account.

The crowd started moving toward the mansion's entrance as well, protesting about the Count's safety, the traitor Luna, and the other traitors they believed were among them. The soldiers guarding the entrance struggled to hold them back until the knight stepped forward and started shouting orders. Adolin didn't bother listening. Some time later, the noise faded away. He needed to question her thoroughly this time and see if he could uncover any other traitors.

There were several ways she could have slipped through their questioning before. She could have been under some form of mind control, had her ill intent toward the Count been suppressed, or been affected by a spell that altered her memories. Or it could have been something else entirely that he had failed to consider. Adolin entered the mansion, ignoring the quiet protests still echoing behind him. Inside, one knight stood guard in front of a room, while the other guarded the Count's door.

Only three guards and the mage remained at the main entrance to the mansion, which meant the others had been stationed at the remaining entrances. He stopped in front of the room where he assumed Luna had been taken.

"Your name?" Adolin asked the knight.

"Sir Tristan, Lord," the knight said.

"Sir Tristan," Adolin muttered.

"Don't let anyone into the room until I say otherwise," he said as he opened the door.

"Or anywhere in the mansion," he added quickly. He didn't want to deal with anyone at the moment, and his trusty subordinates were the best way to accomplish that. Were they trustworthy? He wasn't sure. Based on the situation with Luna, everyone could be a traitor. He needed to find a few questions that would root out the traitors and work regardless of whatever had been done to them. And where was the butler? Wasn't he supposed to rush to the mansion when another flare lit up the sky? It didn't make any sense.

Even Eduard was missing. He was left to deal with everything on his own, which he didn't appreciate. Well, he didn't have to. But he was curious about Luna, and maybe he could at least question his men. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. He entered the room in front of him. The room was large and filled with shelves stacked with food supplies. It made sense, since it was located right next to the kitchen.

In the middle sat Luna on a chair, her hands tied behind her back. She stared at the ground with a gloomy expression. He walked toward her, and she looked up.

"Lord," she said.

"What happened? I don't understand. Why am I under arrest?" Adolin had already used the Trust spell, and Luna wasn't lying. She genuinely didn't understand why she had been arrested. That didn't help him narrow down the list of things that might have been done to her to make her act on the organization's behalf. He stopped two steps away from her. He needed to choose his questions carefully if he wanted to find out what had happened and how. There was also the mana problem.

He had very little left after protecting the Count and needed to hurry. There was no way he was wasting a potion on this.

"I need to ask you some questions first," Adolin said. Luna looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding.

"Go ahead, Lord."

"Umm..." What was he supposed to ask? He really sucked at investigating.

"Who told you to fire the flare?"

"The flare?" Luna asked.

"The thing... the artifact you used after discovering that the Count was going to survive." Luna stared at the ground for a full minute before raising her head again.

"I..." She stopped.

"I don't know. It's just that... I knew I needed to do it. I don't remember why."

"Why did you need to do it?" That made her pause again.

"Because..." She stopped talking once more.

"I..." Adolin took a deep breath. This was going to be much harder than he had thought.

"Can you tell me anything about the device you used?"

"Yes!" she said excitedly.

"It's a device that announces that the Count is safe!"

"Announces it to whom?" She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again a moment later. Her excitement vanished, replaced by the same gloomy expression she had worn when he entered the room. He really needed to read a book or two about investigations. She could talk about the device, but not about who was supposed to receive the news about the Count. That was a start, if nothing else. He needed to avoid asking about the organization or anything related to it.

If he chose his words carefully, he might even get some information out of her. But what would the right words be? He wasn't cut out for this kind of work. Adolin started pacing around the room.

"Where did you pick up the device?" She didn't say anything.

"Were there other items with the device?"

"Yes," she answered without lifting her head. He smiled at that. Something had finally worked, and it seemed to be important to the whole situation.

"How many items?"

"Three," Luna answered. There was the flare she had used, but what were the other two items? Could they be the cursed item and another flare?

"What were the other items?" She didn't answer. He didn't really understand why. Perhaps there was an explicit rule preventing her from mentioning the items. That was the only explanation he could think of. What kind of spell could do that? He was certain mind magic had been used on the head maid, but little beyond that. Mind magic was difficult to detect and even harder to determine the effects it had on a victim.

Even if he used the same spell he had used on Lira, the chances of discovering something were so small that he didn't even consider trying.

"Was one of the items the one you used to announce that the Count had survived?" Luna nodded slowly.

"How about the other two items? Did either of them look like the one you used?"

"Yes," she said.

"One of them." In the report he had read, the cursed item had been a brick. A normal one.

"Was the last item a brick?" She nodded again. So far, he was sure of a few things. Luna had been used to smuggle the items inside the estate. Her memory about the organization had been wiped out, and some kind of orders that she couldn't go against the organization were implanted into her mind. One thing he was sure about was that Luna was not a traitor. She was the victim. He was also capable of making a few basic questions for his men, to learn if they were traitors, or had been influenced with mind magic.

"Did anything else come with the items?"

"Yes," she said. At that, she looked uncomfortable, and a slight grimace appeared on her face.

"What?"

"It... it was a..." Her grimace deepened. He was poking at something she wasn't supposed to answer. Something she had a direct order not to reveal. But the way he had asked the question seemed to be slipping around the order, and yet the order was still resisting. It wasn't as strong as when she simply couldn't answer.

"Was it a person?" She gritted her teeth, and her hands flew to her head. The questions were hurting her, but there was nothing he could do at the moment. Maybe a pain-relief spell, but that wouldn't work because of the nature of mind magic. Still, he had to push. There was a chance she had smuggled the culprit into the estate and fabricated whatever paperwork had been needed for him. But was there another person she had smuggled in?

"How many?" She let out a scream, and her whole body shook. Adolin stopped there. It was too cruel for him to continue, and he didn't want to cause her more pain.

"T-Two," Luna said with difficulty before letting out a painful shriek and toppling over with the chair.