“More to the matter, huh?” With a curious expression still on his face, Merdus briefly thought that the two were talking nonsense yet again. However, recalling the rookie guard’s words from earlier, as well as the evidence they had to back up their claims, he decided to listen to what they had to say.
“Alright, I’m all ears.” Seeing that Merdus had gone silent, gazing at the two as he waited for either of them to start talking, the two glanced at each other for a bit before Tryndall took the initiative to open his mouth.
“Sir Merdus, there are quite a few reasons as to why us two think that there’s more to the matter than it seems.” Tryndall looked at Merdus with a calm yet stern expression. “First of all, the number of people involved.”
“As you’ve said earlier, even us people who aren’t even born in this city know that the Clossbay Killer has always been one person. However, out of nowhere, that number has increased to five. On top of that, the time at which they found their victims and killed them is more or less the same, giving me the feeling that this incident was all orchestrated.”
“Don’t you think it’s kind of suspicious?” Listening to Tryndall’s explanation, Merdus pondered over his words for a bit before eventually nodding in agreement.
“Anything else?” As this question came out of Merdus’ mouth, Valyr took the initiative to talk about the other reason the two of them came up with, letting out a brief sigh before opening his mouth.
“The second reason we have is the simplicity of finding them and tracking them down,” said Valyr as a neutral expression appeared on his face. “Though we’ve employed the aid of the Adventurer’s Guild in this regard, once we were able to deduce who the possible suspects that could be the Clossbay Killer were, we were able to swiftly ascertain whether they were the Clossbay Killer or not by waiting for the usual time an incident arose by keeping track of their movements.”
“In this case, all the suspects we’ve tracked the previous night ended up being the Clossbay Killer.”
“However, for some reason, the description of the quest you’ve given out states that the Clossbay Killer has remained elusive.” At this point of Valyr’s statement, Merdus opened his mouth to clarify something.
“Let me remind you that multiple people have already seen the Clossbay Killer’s appearance, even the ones who have accepted the quest in the past,” said Merdus with a stern expression. “It’s the fact that the Clossbay Killer hasn’t been captured and arrested yet being the reason why he remains elusive, even taking into consideration many people have already seen the person’s appearance.”
“Though, I definitely do admit that I did not know that the Clossbay Killer was actually five people.”
Listening to Merdus’ explanation, Valyr found it odd that the Clossbay Killer, even though their identity had already been discovered multiple times, was still not captured and arrested. For some reason, as he thought about this, he could not help but think that the Clossbay Killer not being captured and arrested was purposefully done.
Thinking about the things that he found odd after hearing Merdus’ side, Valyr opened his mouth once more. “That’s what makes it even more odd, Sir Merdus.”
“From what we’ve narrowed our scope down to, the five people, which we presume is the Clossbay Killer, are all people that are only at the peak of Rank 1 at most. For a city of this scale, it’s highly unlikely that there’s no Rank 2 class holder or Rank 3 class holder that would be able to apprehend them without a problem.”
“With that in mind, I’m certain that the city guards also have Rank 2 and Rank 3 class holders amidst their ranks.” Reading between the lines of Valyr’s words, Merdus could not help but frown as he furrowed his brows.
“Are you saying that the city guards are incompetent?” Merdus asked Valyr. “That the ranks they’ve achieved are all for show?”
“I don’t think that at all, Sir Merdus.” Valyr shook his head. “I’m sure that with a mayor like Sir Merdus, all of those that have enlisted as city guards are exemplary fighters in their own right, capable of handling themselves on their own.”
“It’s just that I have a feeling that there’s something else going on between the city guards and the Clossbay Killer.” Ending his explanation, Valyr looked at Tryndall, who nodded at him in approval.
After that, the two of them waited in silence as Merdus pondered over the words the two of them have said to him earlier, his forehead creasing from time to time as a frown adorned his face. Eventually, he scratched his head before letting out a light sigh, looking at the two as if they had enlightened him regarding a certain matter.
“I’ll take your words into consideration,” said Merdus to the two of them. “Though I have great confidence that the city guards would not intentionally ignore the fact that they had the strength to capture and arrest the Clossbay Killer at any time, it’s still worth looking into.”
“That’s what you were trying to infer through your earlier words, right?” Merdus looked at Valyr, who nodded in agreement.𝑶𝑽𝐿xt.𝚌𝞸𝕞
Nodding back in response, Merdus continued. “Either way, the reasons you’ve given me to be more mindful regarding the matter have merit to them. However, from this point onward, consider this problem regarding the Clossbay Killer something the city shall handle on its own.”
“Nevertheless, you’ve helped the city out by giving us information on who the five people making up the Clossbay Killer are, as well as the fact that you’ve given us an idea regarding their whereabouts. With that, it is only apt that your efforts should be rewarded.”
After saying those words, Merdus willed a screen to appear in front of his field of vision, interacting with it for a bit before proceeding to look at the two once more. “I guess this is more than enough of a remuneration for your efforts.”
Ding!
[You have completed the quest ‘The Clossbay Killer’.]
Hearing the notification sound resound in his mind, Valyr went ahead and looked at the notifications he had received. Though, once he did, a look of incredulity appeared on his face as he turned his head to look at Tryndall.