Solam glanced sideways at Serilef but said nothing, because he knew she was telling the truth. Paladins could not lie. They could choose not to speak, but they could not tell lies.
Solam had originally planned to ignore her, but seeing her pitiful expression, his heart softened again. Solam could absolutely be considered cold and ruthless toward outsiders. He had never felt any responsibility toward a bunch of people he did not know. What did their lives and deaths have to do with him?
They did not pay him taxes, so why should he worry about them?
But Solam had always been generous toward his own people. Take Silverymoon, for example—if Mevis and the others had not been in Silverymoon, did they think Solam would have gone there to fight for them? When it came down to it, Solam's bloodline was actually closer to that of the Black Orcs, while he had no connection to humans whatsoever.
In any case, this was not particularly important. Since Serilef wanted to ask, Solam did not hide anything from her. Though she was ultimately not the kind of companion Solam had envisioned, she was still one of his own. That would not change.
"You want to know?"
"Yes. I want to know. This city has already suffered enough disasters. I don't want it to endure any more hardship. I know it was wrong to drive you away, but for the people here, we... in any case, although it was despicable, we had no choice but to do it. So please tell me what other crisis this city will face!"
Serilef sincerely bowed to Solam, hoping that he would tell her what danger the city would encounter.
"Ha ha ha ha! You drove me away to protect this city, and now you want to