The Pale Rider watched Bruce roll several appearance checks. He basically succeeded every time, and he must have used points from the previous battle to upgrade charm-related skills. In any case, after a brief back-and-forth, he had the woman so thoroughly bamboozled she was completely turned around.
After the woman left, another two or three groups of reporters arrived. They had clearly caught the scent of a major story. Bruce chatted with them amiably, and in just a few words exposed Old Siltec's background.
His earlier provocation had also worked well. After nightfall, several figures poked around at the intersection. Naturally, this did not escape the reporters' eyes. Bruce saw several familiar figures get into the reporters' cars.
When the time was about right, they returned to their own car. As Bruce sorted through his equipment, he said, "If the church wants to kill Old Siltec, tomorrow's interview is the best opportunity. They'll definitely scout the place tonight."
Watching Bruce's movements, the Pale Rider said, "You're planning to go in?"
"I won't feel at ease if they make a move." Bruce said, "It's not that I'm looking down on the church, but if they want to cover up an assassination like they usually do by staging some strange incident, then Old Siltec, who has been on guard for a long time, won't let them succeed."
The Pale Rider nodded. He thought Bruce had a point, then asked, "How can you be sure the church will unleash a strange incident instead of just shooting him?"
"The church has done this often for decades. It gives them a kind of inertia. I mean, they only train people who deal with strange incidents, not real Assassins, because compared to unleashing a strange incident, killing someone directly is both more dangerous and less efficient."