Stelly

At night, outside the Enchanting Night Bar on Pleasure Street in Border Town.

Duen came here again. But unlike last time, he was not alone—Nami was by his side.

Looking at the scantily clad women on the street, Nami teased with a smile, "Oh~ so this is Pleasure Street. You must've had quite a good time here last time, huh?"

Duen pushed open the bar's doors and replied nonchalantly, "Do I look like such a casual guy?"

"Who knows if you're even human when you really let loose?" Nami said with narrowed eyes as she followed beside him.

"You've definitely misunderstood me. Just look into my honest eyes, and you'll see what a dependable man I am."

Amid the bar's chaotic music and noisy chatter, Duen traded jokes with Nami as they made their way through the twisting underground passage.

At the end of the dim corridor, a solitary door stood shut as though it had been closed for ages. Unlike last time, no one was standing beside it, though a sign reading "lse" hung from the doorknob.

Not bothering with that, Duen told Nami, "Wait here," then shoved the door open and strolled inside.

The mysterious information broker, Jordan, was still seated at the table. But the instant Duen entered, his movements stiffened slightly. He lifted his face from his lunchbox and looked toward the blurry figure in the darkness.

Their eyes met, and time seemed to freeze.

Negative Emotion Value from Jordan +86...

Jordan awkwardly closed his lunchbox and put it into the drawer beneath the table. He adjusted the sunglasses on his nose, quickly regaining his composure as his expression turned cold. "Guest, I believe there was a sign hanging outside. Barging in at a time like this... wasn't that rather rude of you?"

"What did it matter?" Duen casually sat across from Jordan. "Information brokers had to eat and take dumps too. I understood that. Did you really think you were some kind of NP?"

That voice... that tone...

The indifferent look on Jordan's face instantly crumbled, and all his mystery vanished. The corner of his mouth twitched. "It's you again..."

Negative Emotion Value from Jordan +99...

"A guest was a guest. I was only here to trade information with you." Duen took out a stack of banknotes—roughly one hundred thousand Beli—and pushed it across the table.

"Let me make this clear first. Don't ask me any more weird questions. I won't answer them this time..."

"Don't be so absolute. Wasn't that what information brokers were for?"

"Absolutely not."

"Fine." Duen grew a little more serious and said leisurely, "I want to know what's happened in this country recently."

"You mean Buggy the Clown?" Jordan lowered his head slightly.

"Buggy the Clown..." A faint smile rose on Duen's face. "What happened?"

"That's right. The worst incidents in the Goa Kingdom in recent years—the Alleyway Murder Incident and the High Town Political Murder Case."

Jordan got up and walked to the file cabinet behind him. He took out a dossier, sat back down, and placed it on the table. "That pirate broke into the home of the noble Bernal at night and brutally murdered him... Everything about the case is in here."

"So, you saw the whole thing happen with your own eyes?" Duen casually skimmed the documents in the dossier.

"We're only information brokers... not gods."

Jordan was slightly displeased by Duen's questioning. "And it wasn't just the upper ranks of the Goa Kingdom. Even the Marines have conclusively identified the culprit."

Duen tossed the stack of documents aside. "Too long. I'd rather hear you tell it."

"Seven days ago, six corpses were discovered in the southeastern district of Border Town. That same night, the noble Bernal Joshua was murdered in his home. However, a sole witness was left behind—the prospective royal, Outlook Stelly."

Jordan slowly continued, "Though someone reported that a commoner named Reese Simon was involved, Reese Simon cleared himself of suspicion through Outlook Stelly's firm testimony..."

As Jordan described the events with such vivid detail, Duen felt as though he had traveled back to the royal palace five days ago.

The aged old king sat wearily upon his throne, while Stelly stood below him.

The old king slowly raised his eyes. "Stelly, the murderer in Bernal's case has been identified as the pirate Buggy. But who was the mastermind behind it? The information I received points to a sailor named Reese Simon."

Stelly adjusted his expression and said in an extremely fawning tone, "Your Majesty, you are so wise that you must have already realized it. How could a commoner possibly collude with pirates? And that pirate is Buggy the Clown, with a bounty of one thousand Beli... Just think about it—why would such a great pirate listen to a commoner?

"Whether it was wealth or power, neither was something that commoner could offer him. Why would Buggy take such a huge risk to work for him? It simply made no sense."

"Indeed..." The old king nodded. "If any commoner could casually collude with such great pirates, our country would have collapsed long ago. How else could my people be living here so happily now..."

Stelly said, "I personally witnessed Buggy murder Bernal. There can be no mistake about that. So, following this lead, the only people I can think of are those who bore a grudge against Bernal—or rather, those who wished to harm me. The Alleyway Murder Incident was merely part of a scheme. However... I've already seen through it."

Interest flashed through the old king's eyes. "Tell me your thoughts."

"Why did the Alleyway Murder Incident happen before Joshua was killed? Because the mastermind wanted to convey two messages. The first was that Buggy the Clown had appeared in the Goa Kingdom. The second was that Buggy the Clown helped the commoner Reese Simon kill those six thugs."

Stelly paused, unable to suppress the smugness on his face. "The second message then became the lead that established Buggy the Clown's motive for killing Bernal. If we followed that line of reasoning, Reese Simon would indeed be a major suspect. But!

"Though that explanation seems reasonable, it cannot stand. Returning to the starting point, Buggy the Clown helping a mere commoner like Reese Simon remains a paradox."

The old king found Stelly's words deeply reasonable and slowly asked, "Then what do you think?"

"Once that possibility is ruled out, only one remains. The only ones capable of commanding Buggy the Clown and possessing a motive to kill Bernal were probably those few..."

At that, Stelly cautiously raised his eyes to observe the old king's expression. Seeing not a ripple on the latter's face, he nervously swallowed and continued,

"They used Reese Simon, this 'enemy,' to reveal Buggy the Clown's existence, then gave Reese Simon a motive for revenge. That way, Reese Simon naturally surfaced as the obvious murderer, turning this into a simple case of revenge killing...

"Otherwise, I should have been killed by Buggy the Clown along with the others that day. But he didn't kill me. I believe it was because those masterminds didn't dare make the matter too big. They feared that, through the smallest clues, the truth hidden beneath the surface would be completely exposed..."

The old king nodded faintly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

"There may have been some deviations, but that was basically what happened."

Hearing Jordan's lifelike account, Duen seriously suspected that this guy had eaten an invisibility fruit and hidden in a corner to eavesdrop on the whole thing.

"What happened after that?"

"The king believed Outlook Stelly's words. Several royals qualified to compete for the throne were placed under complete house arrest, and some nobles were implicated as well, sent to prison in droves."

Jordan said, "After the king reported the matter to the Marines, Buggy the Clown's bounty rose by five million Beli... Of course, the public reason given for the increase was the Alleyway Murder Incident, not the High Town Political Murder Case. The murder of a noble was too significant a matter to be made public—and could not be made public."

Having heard everything, Duen stood up with a relaxed expression. "That was some good information..."

He turned and left, his thoughtful murmur growing quieter and quieter. "What was truth?"

Those who held the power of speech could lock countless prisoners in a cage, yet release only one. Whoever they chose to release gained the right to leave that prison, becoming the truth and standing beneath the sunlight...

That was the course of history.