Ed paced back and forth in the stone chamber, hovering between the lich and the old knight.
He subconsciously wanted some Aberration plants to grow on his body, to weave himself into a brown suit and beret, and preferably with a decorative cane or pipe.
But with the players not around, it would be difficult to explain his actions to the two natives of another world, so Ed abandoned the idea and simply adopted a standard detective-style pacing.
His steps were clear and even, like a precisely operating metronome.
After a moment's thought, the boy slowly spoke:
Logically speaking, there can only be two outcomes here: either the expedition wins but is wiped out, and Antos is sealed away, in which case the stone gate should remain closed.
"But we couldn't find any remains inside, nor did we see the Grand Duke, so this doesn't hold true."
He turned around and continued to summarize:
"Another possibility— Antos killed everyone and won the battle, but there were no corpses inside either. And although he could have done it, as a Grand Duke, I don't think Antos would have gone through those narrow gaps."
"While Silvis waited outside the door the entire time, she didn't see anyone come out."
Willow nodded and then shook her head, organizing her thoughts as she spoke:
"Is it possible that Antos the expedition was wiped out, Antos suffered a severe injury that would be difficult to recover from in the short term, perhaps even to the point that he was injured to the point that he could not be defeated by a Middle Tier knight?"
"Perhaps he was hiding behind the stone door, and only slipped away quietly after Silvis left."
"There seem to be some doubts as well."
Ed stroked his chin and retorted:
"The stone gate is closed. I don't think someone like Antos would just close it carelessly. Besides, there are roadblocks placed by Silvis at the entrance of this castle, and he hasn't moved them..."
"My impression of the Blood Corpse has always been that it's arrogant and conceited. If I were to say that it would do something so cautiously, it would feel like it's deviating from its original character."
"That makes sense, and then another point of doubt came to mind—"
Willow spoke methodically:
"If Antos manages to escape, even if he tries to hide, he'll eventually gather some Blood Corpse from his lineage to surround him, right?"
"After all, if you only look at their physical combat strength, the Grand Dukes are not actually that strong - a large part of their strength comes from the Corpse Tide surrounding them and the irreversible Corpse Poison once infected."
"But the Blood Corpse in the Wilderness of Chaos haven't made any unusual moves lately, which doesn't make sense either."
Let me think about it...
Ed looked at Silvis and Willow in front of him, and used his Psionic Energy to trace notes in the air, mimicking the lich's gesture of drawing a spell circle.
"The expedition found no remains. Is it possible they didn't die at all?"
" Antos also had no remains. Is it possible that he didn't die either?"
"Both sides have left the stone chamber. Is it possible that the expedition team successfully captured Antos alive?"
Ed looked at Silvis:
"Your lord possesses a longsword capable of maintaining the seal. Although the specific method of its use is unknown, it may be able to seal Antos and then take him away directly."
Do you think that's possible?
Silvis was stunned:
"You mean... the expedition wasn't completely wiped out, and they even captured Antos alive and left?"
Ed nodded:
"If we think about it this way, we can find that all the doubts are explained--"
The stone chamber was empty, because everyone had left.
" Antos hasn't summoned Blood Corpse recently because he's still sealed away, just in a different location."
"The most important point is..."
Ed looked at Silvis and said:
"Your expedition entered Klaf City in early autumn, and now it's spring of the following year. If the Eternal Domain had any sense, they would have realized that something was wrong here."
"Who can guarantee that sealing Antos will actually succeed even if the entire party is wiped out?"
"But they did nothing for months, there's only one possibility—"
"From the perspective of the Eternal Domain, the problem of Grand Duke Antos of Klaf City has been resolved."
Ed looked at Silvis with a regretful gaze:
"Old sir, you may already be on the list of the dead. After all, people always die in war, and there's a limit to how many you can be resurrected."
"No, this... this isn't right, this can't be!"
Silvis's facial expression was somewhat ferocious, and he seemed to be experiencing a throbbing pain in his head.
He pressed his temples with both hands, calming himself down a bit, but he also found evidence to refute Ed:
"That's right, your reasoning can explain almost everything, but there's one thing it can't explain."
"Why have I never seen anyone leave through the stone gate? Even if they left during my resurrection, they should have been able to see the light particle effect of my resurrection."
"Even if the situation was so dire that they couldn't wait for my resurrection, they should have opened this stone door, so that when I was resurrected, I would understand that they had already left."
This indeed stumped Ed, and was one of the reasons why he couldn't be entirely certain of his reasoning.
There will always be parts of evidence that don't completely match up; either the witness testimonies are flawed, or the physical evidence is problematic.
Faced with Silvis's questioning, Ed looked towards the entrance of the stone chamber:
"According to what you said before, this place should be piled high with the corpses of Blood Corpse, right?"
Silvis nodded:
"That's right, the corpses here were piled up like mountains. I cleared them away in batches to make it easier for the next attack."
Ed looked at the stone door, which was already noticeably tilted, and said thoughtfully:
"Piled up like mountains... so many Blood Corpse..."
He looked at the old knight:
"Did you really kill them all by yourself?"
"Certainly."
"Really? Can a Middle Tier really kill so many Blood Corpse?"
"I can be resurrected."
"I know, but your attack methods are very limited; most of the time it's just slashing and stabbing, isn't it?"
Silvis remained silent.
Ed continued to point out what he considered unreasonable:
" Blood Corpse aren't exactly easy prey; they won't just stand there and let you attack them. Besides, you'll get tired and exhausted. A life lost fighting for too long will wear you down. These are all problems."
"Old knight, no, old sir, please recall carefully what happened while you were guarding this stone gate?"
Ed looked at Silvis with an unprecedentedly sharp gaze—
"I suspect you have a memory problem."
He didn't think the old knight was lying, but that didn't mean what the other man said was the truth.
"I... I only remember..."
Silvis's eyes flickered, as if filled with some kind of fear...
Ed appears to be a wicked caregiver who abuses the elderly, awaiting the expected screams of agony...
"Ughh...