Charlotte had watched Viève prepare the "Arbiter" potion with her own eyes, and the "Crowned Falcon" had left a deep impression on her. There was no way she had misheard that name.
The member in the corner, who had remained silent ever since the gathering began, was seeking a main ingredient for the "Arbiter" potion.
Of course, different potions might share the same ingredients. That name alone was not enough to establish that the other person was after the "Arbiter" potion, but Charlotte was more inclined to trust her intuition.
She had just bought the essential oils needed for "Sheriff" from the middle-aged woman when that person immediately spoke up to request an ingredient for "Arbiter."
If he was already a Sequence 8 Sheriff, or possessed the formulas for the first few Sequences of this pathway, everything would make sense.
Just as Charlotte could immediately recognize the Crowned Falcon as an ingredient in the "Arbiter" potion, he might have identified monkeyflower essential oil as the truly valuable ingredient among the three essential oils and hydrosols, then deduced that someone at the gathering was preparing to advance to "Sheriff."
In that case, the "Crowned Falcon" was most likely just a probe, meant to see whether I would react in any unusual way-
How underhanded-good thing I didn't respond, but that glance just now might already have given me away- Charlotte made no large movements, as though she had merely straightened up to look over in curiosity like the other members. Then she shifted her gaze away, sweeping it across the rest of the room.
Most of the gathering's members were also looking around at one another, seemingly waiting for someone to offer a lead, but no one responded.
After waiting a while, the person slowly leaned back in his chair, seemingly