The color of the dwarf's face changed rapidly after hearing those words. Ultimately, his entire face became so red that smoke seemed to have been blowing out of his ears. He glared at the dhampir soldier standing in front of him and said in a voice laced with anger, "Do you know what you're talking about? If you were a citizen of my kingdom, I'd have shut you inside the cell for talking to me like that!"
But Martin was already furious after hearing how the king was too lazy to even solve a murder case. If the king weren't that lazy enough, he wouldn't have forced so many citizens to be locked up for two days straight! He could have sent out his soldiers in search of the real killer, and he could have done the investigation himself with a humble attitude!
What was up with this man's behavior? It wasn't like there was some other pressing matter than the murder case! Martin's expressions darkened when these thoughts popped up in his mind. He glared at the king and said, "Do you have any shame? The innocent people are suffering here, you're just trying to minimize your work! What if someone had waged a war against your kingdom?! Huh? What would you do at that time?"
"Oh, now I know why you guys decided to come to my kingdom and demanded a meeting with me. You wanted to attack us, didn't you?! I should've known that all the Dhampirs are backstabbers!!" Just as he said that he turned toward his soldiers and said in an angry tone, "Guards, capture them!"
"Humph, your majesty, you just know how to blame others once they point fingers at your face!" Martin was too angry at this time to think of what he was saying. He pointed his finger at the man and said, "If you think you're so great, then sure, lock us up, and try solving this case. I'd bet anytime that you'd end up missing out on who's the real murderer because of your carelessness!" Martin scoffed and crossed hai arms on his chest. "And here I thought I'd ask for your help to save her highness!"
"You!" The king was so angry that he wanted to spit blood on the spot. "How can you bunch of fools talk to me like that?! Don't you know I'm the king here? Where's your etiquette?!"
"Can you just stop talking about etiquette?! There's a murderer out there, and I believe he already left this area before you even came! And why won't he leave huh? You arrived half an hour after the entire event! None of the guards were here to stop the audience from leaving!"
"Fine!" The king laughed out loud in anger. "If you think you're so great, why don't you do me a favor and solve this case? I'll give you a month! If you fail to find the murderer within that time limit, you're dead! You hear me?! Dead!"
After saying this, the dwarf king flicked his hair and walked off in anger. Even Martin was too angry. So he just glared at the king hatefully and left that place with Zion in tow.
Zion didn't think the situation would turn out to be like this. He was surprised to see that the king gave the dhampir soldier the authority to solve this case so easily! Didn't that mean they could do whatever they wanted without fearing that the dwarfs would stop them? Even if they got one week to solve this case, it was more than enough!
When the two of them finally end up going to a secluded place, Martin stopped all of a sudden as his entire body leaned against a tree. His eyes were wide in horror as he stared at Zion's face in dismay. "What the heck did I do?!" He covered up his head in anxiety as if he had done something terrible enough to put his life in danger. "Did I really just argue with that stupid king of all people?! I should have known that things would end up like this! Why the heck did I even think I could argue without any consequences?! I'm gonna die now!"
Zion pursed his and kept listening to the man ranting his heart out. He saw Martin sitting on the ground with his hand covering his head. Soon, big beads of tears fell from Martin's eyes as he looked on the ground with his eyes wide open. "Zion, why didn't you stop me?! I was talking nonsense just now with the king himself! I was angry because the king didn't do his duty well enough. It's like, the entire Vanne kingdom was in trouble, but the late his majesty did all he could to save the people who are still out there outside the borders of the kingdom! If it were this stupid king from Potentia kingdom, I know for sure that things would have gone down in the drain soon enough!"
Zion kept watching as if he had no intention of stopping Martin's ranting. He even crossed his arms and leaned against the tree to stare at the man on the ground expressionlessly.
Martin didn't look at the human's expressions and continued to wail in dismay. "I have done a great sin! If I were really some great leader, I wouldn't have chosen to argue with the king on a whim! Why the heck did the late his majesty entrust me with such a difficult and important task of following her highness and keeping her safe?! I just made a choice that could cost not only my life but even her highness's servant! How could I have been so stupid?! I'm doomed! If the seniors back in the kingdom found out about my mistake, they would surely scold me for being so careless with my choices!"
After wailing for what it felt like hours, the soldier finally calmed down and sat on the ground while leaning against the tree. He kept staring at the ground blankly as if he didn't know what to think at this moment. Then he opened his mouth and said, "Zion, what do you think I should do? I'm clearly not a detective!"
It was now that the soldier asked him this question that the human turned toward him and said, "I'll help you."
Martin waved his hand as if he were taking things for granted and said, "Sure. But what can you do anyway? You're just a human!"
It had been a misconception inside the minds of several people that humans didn't have many brains, and they couldn't do anything useful with their lives. So right now, even Martin thought about Zion like that. He didn't think that this human could solve a case as hard as this one. In short, he took the humans for granted thinking they were all useless.
Zion frowned when he heard those words. He felt a little uncomfortable after hearing that the image of humans was so bad in the minds of people from other races. His lips pursed as he parted his lips and said, "Well, you already know that we were facing some serious issues back in the elf kingdom, don't you?"
Martin nodded while still staring on the ground blankly. He didn't want to think of anything at this moment. He was sure that he would die at any moment, and now that the king had declared with his own mouth that Martin would be solving this case within a month, the dhampir soldier didn't have any other choice but to agree to that! Even if he planned to escape from this place, he knew that other dwarfs would stop him.
He knew that along with great architecture, the dwarfs were also famous for being brutal while fighting their enemies. Even though the dwarfs didn't use magic like the elves and the royals in the Vanne kingdom, the dwarfs knew how to use the tools in the best way possible. A knife would become a killing machine in the hands of a well-trained dwarf rather than an experienced soldier from any other kingdom. These people were masters of weapons.
So it would just be suicide if Martin would go against these people alone just because of an argument.
Then it meant he could only stay inside the borders of the Potentia kingdom, and force himself to solve this damned case within a month! But how could he do this?! He didn't really have any detective bones in his body! In fact, if he were to try and solve any crime-related case, he knew that he might even end up messing things up in a terrible way! He had no confidence at all when it came to crime-solving things!
So how could he not be sad and depressed after what happened just now?
At this time, he didn't think that a human could help him solve this case.
Zion, who looked at the man's expressions, shook his head and said, "What if I tell you I helped her highness to get out of that dangerous situation?"