"You know who did it? Could it be that you saw that person?!" Reon's friend exclaimed in shock. "If that was true, we might actually survive! Who is it?!"
A cunning grin spread across Reon's lips as he stared at an old man in the distance.
He walked to the old man, who was standing next to a twelve year old girl.
Reon's people followed him, wondering if he really knew the truth or was he only bluffing?
Reon stopped next to the old man. The old man lowered his head respectfully, recognising the influential merchant.
Reon's smirk widened. He observed the young girl next to the old man.
"You're one of our workers, aren't you? Is that girl your granddaughter?"
The old man felt something was wrong, especially since Reon talked about his granddaughter. Reon was said to be an arrogant man who never talked to the one beneath him like this. He usually only hung out with influential people. Why would he suddenly talk to him?
"Y-yes. She is my granddaughter."
"If I'm not wrong, she's also your only kin left after your son and daughter in law died?" Reon further asked.
The old man felt even weirder. Just what was this guy after? To talk about that, especially at a time like this when the entire city was about to be destroyed?
"Y-yes." He could only nod. His granddaughter was his only family member now. She was also the reason he worked so hard. It was all so he could give her the best life possible.
"What a pity." After a brief pause, Reon sighed. "In less than ten minutes, she would also die with everyone else. If only there was a way to let her live..."
The old man frowned. He didn't know how to react.
Receiving no response, Reon felt slightly angry. However, his calm expressions didn't change.
'This guy... Even after I said all this, he still doesn't realise? How dense can he be?'
"If only the person could've gone to the Holy Lords and accepted the mistakes, your daughter and everyone could've survived," he further said, breaking the silence.
His glance was meaningful and his words had even more meaning hidden inside them. Not many people could sense what he was trying to say, but the way he said it, the old man finally realized why he was here.
He could only clench his fist, understanding that he was being asked for a sacrifice. The Holy Lords didn't know who did it. So if he went forward and accepted death, his granddaughter could've been spared.
He looked at his granddaughter next to him. The young girl didn't even understand the situation they were in. The old man didn't want her to die. And at this point, it was clear that the real criminal wasn't going to step forward.
Reon stepped even closer to the old man, bringing his lips closer to the old man's ears as he whispered. "I'm sure you know what to do. Not only will your granddaughter survive, but I'll also make sure she gets the best life possible. You know our family can afford it. I can even adopt her after you do it. The choice is yours."
He stepped back after secretly telling the old man what he had to do. He turned and silently left.
The old man watched Reon leave. It was true that this was his only option. In any case, he was on the verge of death. Even if he wanted, he could only live a few more years because of his old age. If he could sacrifice himself to save his granddaughter and the others, he accepted it.
He went down on his knees before his granddaughter. "Little Wui, go with Master Reon. Grandpa has somewhere to be."
****
"Looks like they won't come forward." The Head Priest of Flames had been standing silently for the last six hours but now that time had almost run out, he finally spoke. "Are we really going to kill them all?"
"Of course we should! We already told them the consequences. We can't go back on our words, can we?" the Second Head Priest retorted. "We can only destroy the cities. I'm sure once we follow through our words, the culprit would actually try to escape or come forward."
"I see." The First Head Priest nodded. "So you want to scare the culprit into coming out by actually following through. I'm not sure if it'll work, but I won't oppose it. If it's the decision of the Holy Lord."
Both the Head Priests looked at Lerian who was the final decision maker.
Lerian was simply standing silent, having his eyes closed as if he was lost in some deep thought. The Head Priests thought that Lerian was thinking about how to destroy the cities swiftly, not realizing that his true thoughts were quite different.
'I don't know why, but there is this strange feeling in my heart... It's as if I'm missing something... Something really important. This bad feeling I suddenly have... Why?'
Lerian usually didn't feel like this in the past so he didn't know what to think of this. It was as if his heart was trying to warn him about something. He just didn't know what. He only felt as if he was standing in the middle of a bridge and the both ends of the bridge were burning with the fire slowly getting closer to him.
'Could it be that the killer is really here in this city? Is this feeling because of that? Or could it be related to something else? This feeling...'
He tried to think for a long time, only to be unable to come to a conclusion. It was like there was a puzzle that he couldn't solve.
He slowly opened his eyes, glancing in the distance in the direction of the Empire of Leviria for some reason. "Is it about the Church?"
As he was trying to figure out the situation, the time to the deadline had almost run out. Only one minute was left.
The Fire Dragon in the sky also started getting more impatient with time.
"What are you doing here?! There's no use begging for mercy!"
Lerian's attention was attracted by a Head Priest's words. He looked ahead, noticing an old man standing before them.
"I-i am the one who destroyed the Fate Stone!" The old man exclaimed.
Lerian frowned. He didn't even respond to the old man. He just raised a single finger and the old man's body started burning in heavy flames.
"Another liar... This city is full of liars it seems," Lerian stated, letting out a sigh. It was the thirtieth time he caught a liar who came forward to accept the blame to survive!
None of the people who came forward realized that Lerian was someone that could catch even the smallest of lies, making it impossible to fool him as long as the liar was lying in front of him.
"Enough wasting time. Destroy the cities and catch everyone who tries to escape. I'll interrogate them personally!"
