The truth

Saul's pupils contracted sharply, and he spoke a word in Hermes without hesitation:

"Sunfire!"

In an instant, blazing white light streamed from the left pocket of his jacket, as though it had become a miniature sun, dispelling the darkness nearby.

No shadow had anywhere to hide!

The corners of Lorry's mouth lifted slightly as he stood calmly in place.

He took a white handkerchief from his pocket, gently wiped the fine beads of sweat from his forehead, and said in a relaxed tone:

"Come to think of it, I should thank you for your lesson last time, Mr. Saul.

"You were the one who told me...

"Never casually step onto a Hunter's home turf."

Lorry's lips moved, his low voice continuing to ring out beneath a night sky as bright as day, but Saul no longer had the slightest inclination to listen.

His eyes widened in astonishment, his entire attention drawn to something else.

As Sunfire activated, the shadows beside Lorry melted away like ice and snow, slowly revealing the figure of a man in a black trench coat.

-A black ring rested on his middle finger.

It was the Shadow Ring!

"Who are you?!" Saul quickly composed himself and demanded in a low voice.

His Hunter's intuition told him that he was no match for this man!

As his words fell, the man in the black trench coat parted his lips to speak. Saul abruptly turned and sprinted back the way he had come.

Run! Get back and tell the baron!

That was his only thought.

The man in the black trench coat sneered at the sight and swiftly uttered a word:

"Imprisonment!"

An invisible force erupted.

Saul's figure abruptly halted, as though someone had suddenly pressed pause on a film. His entire body froze in place.

An Arbiter!

He looked back at the man in the black trench coat in terror.

Lorry gave a quiet chuckle and said:

"So, I hired a vagrant to deliver a letter to you. My real purpose wasn't to threaten you with the documents, but to lure you away from your 'home turf.'

"And while I was at it...

"To undermine your vigilance even further.

"A rather inadequate Hunter tends to overlook other things when he's wholly focused on pursuing his prey.

"And clearly, you're one of those."

An intense blaze flared in Saul's eyes as he glared furiously at Lorry. His face flushed unnaturally, his features gradually twisting.

Suddenly, he raised his right hand to his mouth.

His spiritual intuition warned him. Lorry's heart tightened as a sense of danger instantly arose. Just as he was about to dodge, he heard the man in the black trench coat beside him speak again:

"Attacking others is prohibited here!"

Saul's movements immediately froze, a look of struggle appearing on his face.

He took the blowpipe away from his mouth, only to put it back a few seconds later. After repeating this several times, he tucked it back into his sleeve.

Fuck! Are an Arbiter's powers really this broken...? They didn't seem that way when I was reading... A nearly imperceptible flash of fear crossed Lorry's eyes.

He took a deep breath and said something that sent cold sweat pouring down Saul's body:

"Actually, I visited Duke Negan's study last night. I met His Grace and told him all about Baron Percival's plans."

Saul, whose expression had been dejected, almost went mad upon hearing this:

"What did you say?!"

Lorry chuckled and continued without paying him any heed:

"Duke Negan promised me that if this was true, he would forgive my wrongdoing and find someone to deal with the poison in my body.

"The Beyonder beside me is one of the duke's secret bodyguards. He's also responsible for supervising me and verifying this matter.

"After today's banquet ended, I slipped away from everyone else and secretly found him. I asked him to use the Shadow Ring to witness all this firsthand.

"The conversation just now was enough to prove that it was true."

Word after word left his mouth. With every sentence Saul heard, his face grew paler, until it was almost entirely drained of color.

He raised his head in utter despair, his gaze filled with venom as he looked at Lorry.

At that moment, the man in the black trench coat spoke:

"I've seen you at the duke's residence.

"You were one of Baron Percival's two attendants then.

"From everything I've just seen and heard firsthand, I can confirm that Baron Percival did indeed authorize this.

"However, you still need to come back with me for the necessary interrogation."

"Interrogation?"

Saul repeated the word, then suddenly gave a low, cold laugh.

Seeing this, Lorry hurriedly warned the man in the black trench coat:

"This is bad!"

"He might be trying to kill himself!"

The man in the black trench coat shook his head slightly. A look that might have been contempt or pity flashed through his eyes, and he declared in Ancient Hermes:

"Suicide is prohibited here!"

Saul held the Serrated Dagger in his right hand, across his collarbone. Its sharp, curved blade gleamed a spectral green, less than half a centimeter from his throat.

Yet that remaining half centimeter had become an impassable gulf. No matter how hard he tried, the Serrated Dagger would not budge.

Half a minute later.

Utterly despondent, Saul dropped the Serrated Dagger to the ground.

It's finally over... Looking at the Hunter who had completely abandoned resistance, Lorry finally felt the weight that had long hung over his heart lift, and let out a deep breath.

He turned toward the man in the black trench coat and asked tentatively, "This Beyonder weapon is the one he took from me last time..."

The man in the black trench coat nodded slightly without saying anything more.

Having received permission, Lorry darted forward and pocketed the recovered Serrated Dagger, then turned back toward the man in the black trench coat:

"What do we do now?"

"Wait," the man in the black trench coat said succinctly.

He removed the Shadow Ring and returned it to Lorry, explaining casually, "We're not far from the city. The disturbance just now will bring the police here soon."

"We'll have them help take this Hunter back to MI9."

"You'll come with me."

"Of course, if you don't want to wait, you can leave."

Easy for you to say... If I leave, who's going to cure the poison...? There are less than three days left before it takes effect.

Lorry silently grumbled to himself.

Suddenly, he noticed something was wrong:

"Wait, did you say MI9? Aren't we going back to the duke's residence?"

The man in the black trench coat turned his head slightly and gave him a puzzled look. "Just because I secretly protect Duke Negan doesn't mean I work for him."

"Besides, the duke's residence isn't a place for interrogations."

At this point, a teasing look appeared in the man's eyes. "Oh, right. I just remembered something. I'm afraid you can't simply leave after all."

"What do you mean?" Lorry instinctively took a step back.

The man in the black trench coat smiled without explaining, then lifted his chin toward several dark figures racing toward them from a distance. "You'll find out when the time comes."