A few minutes later, everyone, including Dave, was sitting in front of Daneel while waiting for him to shed light on exactly how he had managed to identify the threat to their lives in order to save them at the perfect mont.
After he had given that statent, the Head had only smiled in response and then flicked his fingers to make Jessica faint.
After that, he had walked to a particular location in the corridor and stamped his foot down, resulting in a formation that had been laid down around the building breaking into pieces.
It had been concealed in the most ingenious of ways, and it was only after it had been exposed that they were able to see that it was one which blocked them perfectly from any and all surveillance, while also putting out a fake image that would have fooled most surveillance thods.
Even ssages going out would be blocked, so unless soone was aware that sothing was going to go wrong, no help would have arrived, and those three daggers would have found their marks.
This revelation had shocked them all to the core, and made them look upon Daneel in a new light. Most of what had happened still didn’t make sense, but what was clear was that this had all been preplanned to make sure that no help would arrive. After all, the case was supposed to have been solved, and there would be no reason for there to be extra surveillance on them.
Even if there had been extra surveillance, it was a Hero level formation which Jessica seed to have obtained sohow, and most normal Heroes would have been hard-pressed to identify it and break it to co save them.
Only the Head was strong enough, but he was supposed to be engaged in further interrogating Letitia so that he could find out if there was anyone else involved in this matter.
In other words, their deaths had been predetermined.
But... Why? Why had Jessica been in the garb of the assassin? Why would she want to kill them? What could she hope to obtain? And how could the King even have known that sothing like this would happen?
Looking forward to the answers to these questions, everyone present waited, but it looked as if the king wanted to savor the mont for a little while longer.
Finally, after noticing that those in front of him were reaching a breaking point where they might just decide to attack him in case he didn’t give his reasoning, the King of Lanthanor opened his mouth and began to speak.
"I’ll be frank with you. For the longest ti, just like I ntioned before, I was also fooled. I thought I was on the right track, and because I had obtained that track after a lot of hard work, I was inclined to believe that it was correct. Step-by-step, I reached Letitia, and after she gave the explanation regarding what had happened, at first glance, it all seed to fit in perfectly. At that point, I think it was an inner wish to resolve this matter as quickly as possible which pushed towards accepting that she was the culprit so that I could end all of my investigations. However, as I had a habit of doing so, I took a step back and looked over the entire thing, again, and that was when I understood that I had actually been...lead to Letitia, instead of reaching her on my own, as I thought I had done."
All those present leaned forward as Daneel continued, and seeing this, his tone actually took on an additional aspect of slight pride.
"It is said that the best trackers require but a single clue to find the location of even the craftiest beasts. In this issue, when looking back, I found one major incongruency, and that was actually what led down a pathway of revelations which involved things that I hadn’t even paid mind to before. What I am referring to... is the incident where it beca clear that Mind Control was the reason behind all of you seeing that assassin."
As expressions of confusion appeared on most of the faces in front of him, Daneel smiled and continued.
"You see, after talking to Letitia, I got a clear gauge of her intellect and skill in making plans. It took years of ticulous planning to pull off the act of entering your group. So, when thinking about the whole thing with that information, it just didn’t...fit. Think about it. The entire reason why we were even placed on the track of Mind Control was that we were clearly exposed to that image where all five of the seeds were being targeted by soone invisible. The reasoning given was that it was a plan implented by Letitia where in its aftermath, Dave would expose himself as the culprit and then kill himself to close the entire matter. True, it was my actions which prevented that, and it had looked as if I had thwarted the plans of the one behind it all. But if soone with Letitia’s brains was really the one behind it, wouldn’t they have chosen a much safer option? There was no reason, at all, to expose to us that it was Mind Control. After a little bit of ti, while Letitia lay low, she could simply have ordered Dave to write a suicide note saying that he was the culprit before killing himself out of guilt. That, too, would have closed the matter, and there would have been no way whatsoever for anyone to interfere. However... Using that kind of shoddy thod allowed to create a plan where it was easily confird that soone else was the culprit. In fact, even that concealed attacking formation that was ant to target soone from the Central Continent was not sothing that Letitia would have chosen to use, as again, it would throw doubt on the story of the five seeds. Again, she wouldn’t have done that. From there, step-by-step, I was able to reach Letitia, and normally, everything would have ended there. However...this incongruency that was revealed to led to rethink the entire matter."
Drinking a bit of conjured water and keeping the smile on his face as he saw the enraptured expressions of those in front of him, Daneel spoke again.
"I read soone once say that ’when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth’. The truth that was shown to was that there might be soone else behind this, and it set on the track to ask so very important questions.
"Is there a different explanation that can explain the facts, even if it has so grey areas?
"Could Letitia, herself, have been manipulated to implent her plan in that way, so that she could be frad as the culprit?
"Could there be soone else who could benefit in so way from this matter?
"It was in the process of finding these answers that I began to connect the dots. When that illusion of an assassin was attacking the five seeds, four of them had bunched together to protect Jessica. From that, itself, it was clear that she was the treasure of the group. Going back to the testimonies of the others, this was displayed, too, because they all expressed emotions of extre attachnt to her. Before Letitia arrived, she was actually the center of attention of the group, with Scarlet being deeply interested in her, Dave pursuing her, and mphis and Matthew treating her like their little sister. Basically... She fulfilled the conditions for the first part of Letitia’s technique perfectly. She had a perfect group of people who might be ready to sacrifice themselves for her. Also, those who are guilty often find themselves almost unconsciously trying to show themselves as innocent. Even in the most experienced of criminals, this behavior is seen. Since the beginning, Jessica was the most vehent in stating that she and the others shouldn’t be the suspects, and this didn’t even fit that well with her ’innocent’ description."
Expressions of awe slowly started to appear as the dots which had all seed inconsequential ca together, like a jigsaw puzzle whose pieces had all been painted the sa color.
"The grey area was clear: I don’t know how she could have obtained the technique, or overpowered Letitia. But I had a working theory, and there was an easy way to see if I was right. If Jessica was behind this, she would fear Letitia’s mind being skimd, which might reveal sothing about her. She seed to have already used Mind Control to erase all mories of herself being responsible in Letitia’s mind, but traces can still be found. Before that happened, it would be best to carry out the sacrifice and obtain power. After that, she would have ti to make more plans to bla others, which she seems to be an expert in doing, or use so other thods to make herself look like the victim. I confess that I am not perfect: I knew that she would do this tonight, before the Head would skim through Letitia’s mind, as she must know that by tomorrow, Letitia’s mind would be stable enough. The Head had identified this after an examination. If so, after this sacrifice, she must have planned sothing to make sure that she will remain hidden. This is another grey area, and I think it is ti I ask the Head to speak, so that he can give us the answers."
With a nod, the Head spoke up.
"I have checked Jessica’s mind forcefully, and even though she placed safeguards against it, I broke through them, even if it ant injuring her in the process. Jessica was always the one with the weakest talent in the group, and her goal had always been to use sothing forbidden to increase her power. That is why she was secretly building contacts with those from all other sects, who all were attracted to her due to her ’cute innocence’. By the way, that is also how she obtained the formation she just used. Anyway, she was able to hear about Letitia, and the whispers in the Eternal Blossom Sect that said that she could have a very valuable technique. On the day that Letitia arrived, Jessica used a one-ti Hero-level trinket that she had obtained as a gift from a pursuer to overpower Letitia and take her under her control. She found out her plan, and when she looked for ways to obtain the technique, herself, she saw that there was a process where the test could be placed by soone who had passed, as the objective of the one whose Inheritance is the reason behind the Eternal Blossom Sect’s existence was always to propagate his techniques to those whom he deed worthy. Jessica took the test, and surprisingly passed. She saw the opportunity where she could use the first pathway which grants the most power, and she edited Letitia’s plan to make everything happen in this way. Her last step was to grow in power with this sacrifice and then visit Letitia to kill her using a sudden burst of power as ’revenge’ for killing her friends(she would have frad Letitia for this, too.) She would attribute this ’burst of power’ and increase in talent which she would have obtained from the sacrifices to the rare chance where a Mage can break out of their proverbial shell in tis of crises. She would have gotten more resources, and happily entered another group to repeat the process. King, you...have really averted a disaster. How can I ever hope to repay you?"
The answer from the King was simple, and so prompt that it made the Head go speechless.
"Oh, it’s nothing. A treasury or two will do. All right, fine, I jest. But how about five weapons, instead of just one?"
Reviews
All reviews (0)