Chapter 238 - Confounding Variable (2)

In the guest room of Familia Hotel, Iliana, Cray, and Whitney sat in the same sofa while looking at Basil tensely. All of them were anticipating Basil's explanation, hoping that the very thing they thought Basil had done didn't really happen.

On the opposite side of them, Basil was sitting in the bigger sofa with Chibi Deacon on his lap while calmly sipping his tea. He had Poppy, who was observing the solemn mood of the room, standing quietly beside the sofa.

"Let us have our talk over the tea. The mood is sour, but I assure you the tea is not." Basil gave the three people a light smile.

"I am a straightforward person, so I won't dilly-dally. Did you kill Eugene?"

Cray and Whitney were slightly appalled at Iliana's direct question as they turned their widened eyes to her. Iliana didn't pay any attention to their gaze at all; her gaze was planted solely on Basil, who was still giving her the same smile.

"May I know how did you reach that conclusion?"

"Call it a gut feeling."

"That is very ironic considering who you are, Iliana."

Basil talked to Iliana the same way he always talked to her—tenderly and calmly. He didn't even make a face that indicated he was viewing her as someone below him, but she still felt slightly insulted at Basil's word.

Knights were individuals who were known to prefer their gut feeling over logic. It is not that big of a deal, but when it comes to Mages, those who preferred their gut feeling were an absolute failure as a Mage.

Basil didn't have any intention nor did he want to insult Iliana in any way, however his word reminded her of the decision she made inside the Dungeon. She, who had thought with her heart instead of her brain, was a failure as a Mage.

What is worse, she was also a failure as a human for the things she had done while she was assuming her role as a Mage.

"Hating me is one thing, but hating yourself is an unforgivably stupid act, Iliana."

"Are you thinking that I am having a self deprecating thought right now?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong."

"..."

Basil gave another faint smile at Iliana's silence, before putting down his teacup. Pushing the other three cups on the table forward, he motioned the three people to drink their tea.

"Am I misunderstanding something or have I never been considered a friend since the very beginning?" Basil quirked his eyebrow at Cray and Whitney. "Have a tea, both of you. I swear upon my ancestors, your tea is not poisoned."

While Whitney was looking at Basil complicatedly, Cray was scratching his head in frustration. He had never liked politics since the moment he was born, so the "talk" they were having was torturing him.

"Darn it, Basil! Let's be honest here, Mate. We are just worried about you." Cray picked up his teacup, and gulped it at once. "Did you kill that bastard, Eugene?"

"Do you think I could do that?"

"Quiet blokes are mostly absurdly strong, and you are the most absurd quiet bloke I have ever met—of course, I think you could!"

Basil shook his head faintly amusement and gave Cray a light smile. "Thank you for your confidence in me, but I am nowhere near as strong as you imagine I am."

Glancing briefly at Iliana and Whitney, he continued, "I do admit that Eugene's death is partly because of me though."

Silence engulfed the entire room at Basil's confession. Whitney's and Iliana's face immediately darkened as they looked at Basil; they couldn't believe what they thought had happened did happen.

"It was a coincidence to be honest." Basil lightly frowned in dissatisfaction. "I didn't expect that the clash between the Monsters and the Beasts I caused would cost Eugene's life."

"What do you mean by that?"

Basil turned to Whitney at his question. "Did you forget what I did before we entered Raneil Barony? I herded the Beasts here to cause conflict between them and the Monsters."

"Why did you do that?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Basil quirked his eyebrow. "I don't really care about this Barony, but it is still the place where my family stays. I can't just let the Monsters destroy it as they like."

"So, you are telling us that the clash between the Beasts and the Monsters you caused is just an effort to distract the Monsters?" Iliana stared into Basil's eyes seriously. "Does that mean you really don't have a hand in Eugene's death?"

"I do. I have told you that—"

"Are you directly involved in the matter?"

Iliana looked at Basil neutrally, and Basil immediately understood she was being serious; he had seen that look on her face countless of times in his past life. He smiled at that, and shook his head faintly.

"I find it reasonable for you to be that suspicious of me considering the grudge between us but sometimes you need to think rather than feel."

Basil took another sip of his tea before turning his calm gaze back to Iliana. "Do you think there is a way for me to go back and forth from Oster Forest to Raneil Manor in a span of half an hour?"

"..."

"I have Robert and Jake as my witnesses—they followed right behind me the entire time. Deacon might lie, but they wouldn't, don't you think?"

Basil stroked the back of Deacon, who was watching the rather tense exchange between the two sides calmly. Deacon was keeping an innocent face as if he didn't understand what the two sides were actually talking about.

On the one hand, he was completely aware of the fact that his Master was lying, but on the other hand, he knew his Master's act must have been done for a reason. He felt slightly bad towards Iliana, but he would always choose Basil over her.

After some time, Iliana eventually sighed lightly in exasperation. "I am not mad even if you did kill Eugene—I am happy even. That prick had never deserved to live, but you also have to think of the consequences."

"Our Kingdom is not always the Church's playground, Iliana. I have witnesses and many other things to prove my innocence—the Court will not stay still if the Church just blames me out of nowhere."

Whitney sighed as he shook his head helplessly at Basil's response, meanwhile Iliana merely kept her silence.

The purpose of the talk had been reached—to make sure if Basil had something to prove his innocence. None of them really cared about Eugene's death; like Iliana said, they didn't mind if Basil had indeed killed Eugene.

They were smart enough to figure that the grudge between Basil and the Church had already been established. They had encountered a group of Executioners on their way to Raneil Barony, after all—that is why they couldn't help but worry over him.

Now that they had found Basil could prove his innocence, they could already heave a sigh of relief. They still didn't know whether Basil had killed Eugene, but it was fine since they weren't too eager to know it either.

"Receiving the Church's baseless accusation is not the consequences I am talking about," Iliana spoke after some time. "Say, you have achieved your goal, but at what cost?"

Whitney and Cray slightly recoiled in surprise upon hearing Iliana's bitter tone, meanwhile Basil merely sipped his tea as he looked calmly at her. He knew what she was talking about—the rest of Team 3.

He wasn't very proud of the fact that he had sacrificed unrelated people for his personal gain, however he didn't regret his action in the least bit. That is just how life works—it is unfair.

He had ever been in the rest of Team 3's position—a clueless pawn in someone's chessboard. He knew how bad tasting it was to be in that position, but he had managed to become the player with his own effort and a twist of fate.

The rest of Team 3 couldn't, and they could only blame their fate for that. He had heard about Rose's and Elaine's painful death, but he didn't even feel a slight sympathy over them despite being the one who had Kuzo kill them.

No matter how gruesome their death looked, he was sure they didn't even feel any pain. Kuzo had poisoned the two girls with a concoction that destroyed all of their nerves ending, before sending them to the Demons.

They had basically been sedated before they died, so none of them felt the agony of being eaten alive by the Demons. Even the encounter and the things Rose said to Team 1 was something Kuzo had orchestrated under Basil's order.

"My goal is to kill my parents' murderers. I haven't achieved it yet, however I don't mind killing those innocents standing in my way to achieve it."

"I see... Revenge matters to you that much, huh?"

"You will understand what I am talking about one day, but now you may think of me that way."

Basil had emptied his teacup by the time the room was engulfed in silence once again.

"You lot must be spent. There is around half an hour before we leave, so you shall have some meal to fill your stomach."

Basil gestured his hand at Poppy, and she Immediately nodded her head upon the gesture. She dragged the food trolley beside the table between Basil and the others, put the foods on it, then returned to Basil's side once again.

"I have eaten earlier with the others, so I will give you the time to enjoy the meal amongst you." Basil stood up, but Iliana immediately stopped him.

"Where are you going?" She looked at Basil with a frown.

"I am not going to cheat on you—don't worry." Basil smiled before gesturing his hand at Poppy who was beside him. "She can attest to my innocence later."

Poppy immediately scrunched her neck the moment Iliana scrutinized her, but she could somehow nod her head reassuringly. Iliana stopped looking at her a few seconds after, then focused her attention on the foods.

Basil slightly smiled at that, before getting out of the room with Deacon on his shoulder and Poppy in tow. Thompson immediately greeted him the moment he exited the room, and they nodded at each other in acknowledgement.

"Have you decided what you are going to do with my offer?"

"We will only stay here for 6 days—no longer than that."

"That is what I want."

"I am sorry to tell you this, but after what happened, my trust in you is not as strong as it used to. Therefore, we will leave the moment we deem you are harming us."

"I don't mind."

Thompson quirked his eyebrow before eventually sighing helplessly. Basil extended his hand, and he grasped it firmly in his hand.

That way, the agreement between the two that no one other than Thompson's party knew about was established.