Chuan Wenwu took out the Crystal Ball he had snatched from the king earlier and poured magic into it to activate it.
In the already dark underground cavern, the projected images were exceptionally clear. The villagers stared with wide, disbelieving eyes, vehemently denying what they saw. "No, it couldn't have been you, Lord Hero! Someone must be trying to frame you! Lord Hero, please tell us where you got this Crystal Ball. That person must be deeply connected to what happened to Rude Village! They might even be the culprit!"
"The king."
Chuan Wenwu answered calmly, "After I left Rude Village for the Royal City, not long after I arrived at the Castle, someone came to deliver this to the king and tried to pin the massacre at Rude Village on me."
"The... the king...?"
At Chuan Wenwu's answer, the villagers fell silent. They looked around helplessly, exchanging glances, at a complete loss for words.
An elderly man, still strong despite his age, coughed and asked, "Lord Hero... could there be some misunderstanding here? Why would His Majesty do something like this to the people of Rude Village? Could someone be trying to frame him...?"
Chuan Wenwu shook his head. "Even if it wasn't the king, he must have been heavily involved. After all, this wasn't their first time slaughtering a village..."
Chuan Wenwu brought Raphtalia over and briefly told the surviving villagers about her experiences, which were much like their own. The soldiers who had pillaged Raphtalia's village had acted without restraint, making no effort to hide their identities; the black-clad attackers who had struck Rude Village, however, might have concealed theirs out of wariness of Chuan Wenwu's status.
"B-but Melromarc is a kingdom built on human supremacism..." The villagers gave Raphtalia looks of sympathy for their shared suffering,