Chapter 228 Trails

"Hmm? I thought you were going to tell me everything you know?" Seeing that silence was the only answer he received from Antoine in response to his earlier question, Valyr moved closer to the man and radiated a hint of killing intent, invoking the feeling of fear into the man to possibly have him answer the question.

However, even with that, all Antoine did was shiver in fear as Valyr's killing intent washed over his body, choosing to continue remaining silent.

Lightly scratching his head in slight confusion, Valyr asked Antoine the question a few more times, thinking that the latter would eventually budge at some point. Though Antoine did open his mouth to respond to his question eventually, the answer Valyr got from him was not what he had expected.

"I'm willing to tell you… everything I know… but this… this I cannot say." Antoine looked at Valyr with a slight frown, his expression steadfast. "I'd rather die… under your hands… than tell you… his identity."

"Is that so?" Though Valyr gave Antoine the feeling that the latter wasn't going to escape so easily, he could not help but inwardly let out a long sigh, feeling that he had already gone too far on a person that, even though he had killed multiple innocent people, was forced into a situation he did not even want to be in.

With that in mind, Valyr sent a couple messages to Tryndall and Douglas through the party chat before moving closer to one of the throwing daggers that pinned Antoine to the ground. Then, while the latter was expecting Valyr to push the throwing daggers even deeper, Valyr instead did the opposite, removing it outright.

Letting out a low sigh, Tryndall moved closer to Antoine and did the same thing, proceeding to help out Valyr in removing the throwing daggers that were pinning Antoine on the ground. After that, the two of them worked together on helping the man sit upright before proceeding to remove the throwing dagger that dug deep into his back.

Sometime later, Douglas had appeared before the three, bringing a great amount of shock to Antoine as it was only then did he realize where the throwing daggers that pinned him to the ground had possibly come from. With that in mind, he looked at Douglas with grudge evident in his eyes.

However, this grudge somewhat subsided once Douglas offered him a Lesser Rejuvenation Potion, healing Antoine up to the point that the man was in a state that he was able to walk somewhat. Noticing that the man did not have enough energy to return back home, Douglas then offered him an Inferior Stamina Potion, which finally reduced the grudge Antoine held towards Douglas to nothing.

"Are you… are you letting me leave?" Even though the three people in dark clothing did not tell him that he was allowed to leave, the things that they've done for him so far were definitely giving him that feeling.

Just as Antoine was about to ask the three once more as to whether he could leave, Valyr eventually gestured to the man that he was allowed to leave, causing a gleeful expression to appear on the man's face as he thanked the trio before disappearing from their field of vision.

"To think he'd even thank us." Finding Antoine's actions before he left somewhat ironic, Valyr let out a light chuckle, only for his expression to turn solemn as he shifted his gaze towards the two in front of them. After looking at each other for a while, all of them let out a collective sigh as they proceeded to head back to the place where all of them previously met up.

Whoosh!

"It'll probably be a while before the others update us on what's happening on their end." Sending a message through the party chat as they moved through the rooftops, Tryndall could not help but let out a low sigh. "Though, considering what Antoine told us, the other suspects will probably tell them more or less the same thing."

"The city forced the five to become the Clossbay Killer with the purpose of increasing the guards' reputation in the city…" Sometime later, Valyr sent his speculations to the party chat for the other two to look at. "If you think about it for a bit, then the mastermind is most likely someone within the city guards, no?"

"Anyways, what's our next plan of action?" While Tryndall and Douglas pondered over Valyr's earlier words, Valyr sent a question to Tryndall, who replied that their goal from this point onward was to find out the identity of the mastermind, the one that orchestrated the whole thing.

With the three exchanging a few more messages between one another on what they were going to do for the next few days regarding this incident, they eventually arrived at the spot where all of them met up earlier, with the others eventually arriving at the same spot at some point, informing the others of their discoveries.

…

"Sir! Sir! We have bad news!" Late into the night, within a modestly sized manor, a door that led to a certain room was slammed open by a man that seemed to be in his late twenties. On the other hand, within the room was an older looking man who appeared to be in the process of falling asleep, only for him to greatly frown as he shifted his gaze to the man that slammed his door open all of a sudden.

"This reason better be good," said the man to the one who had opened the door. "If not, you better be ready to disappear from my sight."

Though the man's words made the young man panic for a bit, the latter took in a deep breath to calm himself down, reminding himself of the reason why he had disturbed the older man's sleep in the first place. "Sir, we've received reports that a few people have caught onto our trails regarding the five you've designated for the special operation."

"Any notes on who those people are?" Raising his eyebrow in slight interest, the older man focused his attention on what the young man was going to say next.

"According to what was written, it says that you already know who those people are." Saying these words, the young man tilted his head in slight confusion, wondering to himself whether what he recalled was right. Feeling as if the older man would lash out at him, the latter instead nodded in response to his words before proceeding to try falling asleep once more.

Waving his hands towards the young man as if to shoo him away, the older man then told him, "Alright. I know what to do. Just tell them to keep an eye on those people."

"Speaking of which, assign someone to relay my message tomorrow." At these words, the young man solemnly nodded, committing the older man's words before apologizing to him once more, to which the older man said that it was fine. Sometime later after the young man had left the older man on his own, the latter turned on his bed to look at the ceiling before letting out a light sigh.

"Who knew my younger brother's request would come in handy at such a moment like this?"