Taking a couple seconds to take in what Tryndall had said earlier, Valyr eventually took in a deep breath as the man’s words finally sinked into his mind. At that moment, he could not help but find it surprising that Tryndall, with the help of the Adventurer’s Guild, was able to narrow down the possible suspects to five people within one and a half weeks.
All because he told Tryndall to expand his scope to include those at the peak of Rank 1.
Then again, after mulling over it for a bit, Valyr understood why Tryndall limited his scope to only those at the middle of Rank 1 and below in the first place. For the Adventurer’s Guild to give Tryndall a quest, then it naturally meant that Tryndall had the capability to clear the quest with relative ease.
With that in mind, Tryndall was inclined to think that the Clossbay Killer was around the middle of Rank 1, taking into consideration that he was Level 12 when he had accepted the quest, as well as the fact that he could fight people a few levels above him without much problem.
Nevertheless, now that the number of people who could possibly be the Clossbay Killer that they had to find for the quest was less than 10, Valyr decided to put those thoughts at the back of his head, taking in a deep breath once more before opening his mouth.
“How certain are you that those five are highly likely to be the Clossbay Killer?”
“With the help of the Adventurer’s Guild, pretty certain,” Tryndall said in response as a waiter had arrived the meal he had ordered.𝒪𝚟𝐿𝐞xt.𝒞𝑂𝐌
Taking a few bites of the food, he then opened his mouth once more. “We’ve taken into consideration their classes, their stats, as well as the skills they own. Though the amount of help I can employ from the Adventurer’s Guild is limited, only allowing me to look at the suspects’ information at the surface level, it’s more than enough for me to find out who’s not the Clossbay Killer among the few dozen suspects I’ve kept tabs on back then.”
Lightly nodding, Valyr went ahead and took a few bites of food, sipping a bit of water from his glass before asking the question that came to his mind. “Is there a way we can find out which among the five is the Clossbay Killer?”
In response, Tryndall nodded as he ate a bit more of the meal he had ordered, though his expression had turned slightly grim. “For some reason, the rate the Clossbay Killer has been killing innocent people has become consistent for the past month, doing so once every week. I have no clue behind the reason why he has become consistent, but it’s something we could use to find out who among the five it really is.”
“Hmm…” As Valyr pondered over it, he continued digging into the food he had ordered, deciding to do so as he found it somewhat difficult to think on a slightly empty stomach. Seeing what the man before him was doing, Tryndall went ahead and did the same thing, allowing his friend to finish his food since the latter had come from a faraway place.
Thankfully, by the time Valyr and Tryndall had finished their meals in silence, a thought had surfaced in the former’s mind. Having a eureka moment as his eyes widened in understanding, Valyr looked at Tryndall with a hint of excitement as he asked the latter a question. “Can you employ the help of the Adventurer’s Guild one more time?”
“Why?” Though he noticed the look of excitement on Valyr’s face, Tryndall could not help but ask in response.
“How long do we have till the Clossbay Killer strikes again?” However, rather than respond to the question with an answer, Valyr instead posed another question to Tryndall.
“About three days or so.” At this point, Tryndall had no clue what was going inside Valyr’s mind, yet he still answered nevertheless. “Again. Why do you ask?”
Fortunately for him, Valyr’s response to the question finally cleared all of his confusion.
“Is it possible to enlist the help of a few members from the guild with Assassin classes?”
For a brief second, Tryndall pondered over the reason why Valyr asked for help from the Adventurer’s Guild. Thankfully, it did not take long for him to put two and two together, his eyes widening in understanding before eventually lightly nodding. “Am I thinking what you’re thinking? Keeping tabs on all the suspects three days from now?”
“Exactly.” With a light grin adorning Valyr’s face, the two then ironed out all of the specifics regarding what they were going to do three days from now, making sure to prepare for any possibilities, just in case some things didn’t go according to plan.
Eventually, the two of them went their separate ways, reminding each other to contact the other person through the chat function if there was any update regarding the situation of their quest.
With plenty of time left before the sun would set, Valyr swiftly made his way to the city’s combat training hall, recalling the offer Gabriel had given him before he left for the village. After asking one of the attendants behind the counter as to where Gabriel was, Valyr eventually found the man in the same room where he had his combat proficiency tested, noticing the man practicing with his magic at the center of the room.
“Ah.” Sensing that someone had entered his room, Gabriel immediately stopped what he was doing, taking a glance at the door who had entered. Though, once he realized who had appeared, an expression of excitement swiftly appeared on his face as he unhesitatingly dispelled the magic he had cast, making his way towards Valyr.
“Valyr! You’re back!” With great glee, Gabriel greeted him, leaving Valyr no choice but to nod and lightly smile back. “Have you considered my offer?”
“Well, I wouldn’t be here to meet up with you if I hadn’t.” In response, Valyr had a knowing smile on his face, prompting Gabriel to talk with the former regarding the schedule that they could work around, as well as the amount of pay Valyr would obtain.
While that was happening, a man and a woman leisurely walked past the open door that led to Gabriel’s room, only to stop in their tracks once they noticed that another person was conversing with Gabriel.
Deciding to head into the room where Gabriel was in, the two appeared in front of Gabriel and Valyr unannounced, with the woman being familiar to both of the latter.
“Oh, Arcenne!” Realizing who had appeared in the room, Valyr was all smiles. “I was actually planning to find you after talking with Gabriel regarding the offer.”
“Oh? Did he accept?” In response, Arcenne’s eyes slightly widened in surprise as she shifted her gaze to Gabriel, who nodded back with a smile on his face. With that, a hint of excitement adorned her face after obtaining Gabriel’s response.
Though, before she could act upon this excitement, the man that accompanied her decided to clear their throat, letting Arcenne remember who she had brought along with her. Apologetically smiling to Gabriel, she then shifted her gaze back to Valyr as she took in a deep breath. “Though I’m quite curious to find out what we have to talk about later, let me introduce someone to you first.”
As she said this, Arcenne gestured her hands towards the middle-aged man behind her, prompting Valyr to look at the man from head to toe.
“This man is Aster Stelyra, the current leader of the Stelyra clan’s Astella City branch,” Arcenne said, causing Valyr to do a double take as he blinked a couple of times to make sure if the man behind was real. Though, what Arcenne said next snapped him out of his trance, his gaze towards the man slightly aghast.
“Well, aside from being the branch clan’s leader…”
“He’s also my father.”
