"You're right," Aris said, falling silent for a moment before seeming to decide there was no need to hide it anymore. "We never should have let Mountain Weasel leave alive. We thought he hadn't discovered anything, but not long after, Black Falcon threatened us."
"But you've never been to Taman Village, have you?" Aris abruptly changed the subject. Otherwise, don't even think about leaving here alive, he added inwardly.
"Fortunately, I quickly found other clues, so I didn't need to take that risk."
"What clues?"
"The pitiful speed at which you were moving the 'Blackfyre treasure.'"
"Hm?"
"You only had one 'caravan.' With so few men, you couldn't even move the 'treasure' properly? Then how did you transport the goods you plundered?"
"We could only pile them temporarily in the village of an insider," Aris answered in a muffled voice. He knew that was the only possibility.
"By then, I had formed a guess: the so-called Blackfyre treasure did not exist. What you were transporting to the Abandoned Fishing Village was simply the valuable goods you had plundered. That guess made everything suddenly clear."
"I don't understand."
"I've said enough already. Think about it—how many questions have you asked during our conversation?" Ian stopped at that point. "If you want to know what came next, you'll have to answer my questions first."
"You bastard—"
"You moved the goods to this Abandoned Fishing Village because a ship was coming to pick you up, right? Where were you planning to go?"
At those words, Aris immediately lost his relaxed manner and became alert in an instant.
"You really dislike that question. You don't want to answer it. That won't do, my friend. We're playing by the rules you set. That is my respect for you. But if you don't respect me, then