This strange scene carried on for a few more minutes, until finally…all five fainted, as one, on top of one another while Daneel, the Head and the four members of the investigative team who were present watched on with bewildered expressions on their faces.
The Head hastily hurried forward at this point and checked on them before saying, "They"re fine. They"ve just been knocked out."
There were no sighs of relief in the area when this was heard, but the Head did slightly relax, as it looked like he had been fearing the worst case- that the five precious seeds might be hurt in some way.
Instantly conjuring a small tent where he stood and placing the five on stretchers, the Head lay down a few Hero-level formations using trinkets that he already had and then proceeded to walk in Daneel"s direction.
Right after reaching beside him and deploying some more formations to make sure that they wouldn"t be heard, he said in a low voice, "What do you make of this?"
How the h.e.l.l am I supposed to know?!
Daneel felt like saying this, as even the system had come up blank, just like it hadn"t detected anything special in the ashes of the dead seed.
Well, it would have been too easy if the system had been able to do everything, and it seemed as if Daneel would have to bring forward the entirety of the Sherlock Holmes inside him.
Or at least, the entirety of Watson, because he was currently in that role now, and he was reminded of this when Luther spoke to him through a communication trinket.
"My King, they were either drugged, or they are being Mind Controlled. Those are the most obvious conclusions, and in the absence of other factors, the obvious ones almost always prove themselves to be right."
That almost seemed like a dialogue straight out of the English gentleman"s work, but Daneel focused on the content of his words, which stated the same conclusions he had arrived at.
They had definitely not been faking it, so something, or someone foreign was making them see what they had seen.
Without responding, Daneel walked into that tent and p.r.i.c.ked the fingertips of each of the five so that the system could scan their blood.
This revealed nothing, and although Daneel was tempted to check for the other possibility right away, too, he controlled himself and turned to the Head who had arrived at his heels.
"They might have been Mind Controlled. Is there any way to check if their minds have been tampered with?"
"I"ve already thought about that. I will personally check their consciousnesses after they awake. Do you have anything else you wish to ask of me?"
After thinking for a bit, Daneel asked, "They told me that the five of them had formed a group from their childhood, and that Let.i.tia came recently. Is there any reason behind that?"
Shrugging, the Head said, "Not really. New members are often introduced into these groups to give the seeds people whom they can compete against. We have an administrative wing which checks the power levels and powers of each group before a candidate is chosen to join said group, and Let.i.tia was chosen through this method."
Daneel held his chin and nodded as he heard the answer, striking a pose of someone pondering upon something very important.
After a few moments, looking as if he had come to a conclusion, he declared, "I wish to speak to others who know Let.i.tia."
Raising one eyebrow, the Head asked, "Hmm? May I ask why?"
"I"m curious to know your reasoning behind this, too, My King. True, even I wish to find this out, so I was surprised to hear you state it."
This was from Luther, whom Daneel had not consulted before stating the request.
With a smile, he replied to both of them.
"She is the anomaly. Think about it. A group which has been normal for all their lives suddenly have so many strange things happening to them? In such cases, it is best to see what has changed, and here, she came into the equation a month before all of these incidents. Well, now, she"s dead, too, but that doesn"t mean that we should honor her memory and not investigate about her. Who knows? What if there is a culprit who was targeting her, who might be revealed if we find out more about her? So, I wish to find out as much as possible."
It was a simple reasoning, but it still felt good to say it.
Baby steps.
Saying this to himself, he watched as the Head closed his eyes, as if he was speaking to someone.
Meanwhile, Luther spoke in an impressed tone.
"You seem to have a mind for this, My Lord. We will still have to wait and see before we can declare that, though. Yes, your last statement was actually the most accurate, in my eyes, at least. As for the first part, although it is interesting, I don"t know if we can make that conclusion yet."
Daneel knew this, too, but before he could respond, he was handed a dossier by the Head.
It was basically a sheaf of parchments, and on the top, the words "Let.i.tia Hogorden" were written, below which a symbol of a strange flower blooming could be seen.
Clearly, it was the logo of the sect which Daneel disliked mainly because of his bad experiences there, although he was also quite interested in just what methods they had at their disposal.
Even now, just remembering that Empire Spirit made him feel slightly irritated.
Putting that aside, he acted as if he was going through the dossier while the system scanned it and displayed the important information in front of him.
[Let.i.tia Hogorden
-Adopted when she was found to be the sole survivor of a village which had been targeted by a horde of beasts from a nearby forest.
-Aloof personality, but was pursued by men and women alike for her charm.
-Was designated as a seed and trained secretly after she showed her prowess in the core teachings of the sect.
-No close companions during her stay in the sect. Was sent to the seed program partly so that this could be rectified, as it was recognized that it was because she found no one who had anywhere near as much talent as her.
-Hardworking. Seems to have a goal, but doesn"t speak much to anyone. No confidants to speak to to gain additional information.]
Well…that was a dead end.
"This was just sent over, and it"s authenticity does not need to be doubted. Oh, they are awakening. Please wait outside while I scan their minds."
Daneel suspected that this might be because the Head didn"t want to expose the Mind Control spell, which was actually very precious, and although Daneel promptly walked out, he had been tempted to display his own which was a refined version that had been modified by the Emperor, himself.
He also had an extensive list of all types of Mind Control spells, and if the Head found this out, he would definitely feel pretty dumb for asking Daneel to leave.
After reaching the same spot he had been in before he had entered the tent, Daneel went through the parchments again, as he couldn"t believe that there was so little information about this person.
Could someone really not have anyone close to talk to even though they had spent more than a decade in the sect?
Right as Daneel got this question, though, he heard a commotion from the tent, and the next moment, a loud sound reverberated throughout the open area.
It was the sound of something being punched with full force, and as the tell-tale sound akin to gla.s.s breaking that was always accompanied by barriers being broken reached Daneel"s ears, he heard a triumphant shout from the Head.
"It"s him! I"ve got him!"
With his eyebrows furrowed, the Head walked out with one hand raised.
It was pointing at a floating person in the air who looked as if he was in the motion of punching something, and that person was…Dave.
The easily angered man whom Daneel had interviewed before now had an extreme expression of fury on his face, and there was even a vein pulsing on his forehead.
In his hand was a dagger, whose tip was coated with a golden liquid.
His eyes were fixed on the Head, and he looked as if he was still trying in vain to plunge that knife into his throat.
After reaching Daneel while being stared at by all those present, the Head said, "He started acting evasively right when I said that I would be scanning his consciousness. I acted to constrain him, but he tried to attack me. Pshaw, he needs to train a few centuries more if he hopes to even lay on hand on me. That is the murder weapon. The substance coated on it matches what was found in the ash. It looks like your services can end prematurely, King."
Daneel simply stood where he was, and after a second, he said, "Let"s hear it. Why did he do it? And how?"
For the answer, he had to wait 10 minutes during which the Head dunked Dave in the cold water of the waterfall ten times so that he could cool down.
After he finally did, the tale came out.
"She had no right to come into our group and take away the attention of Jessica. I decided right when I was 15 that I would marry her after we became Heroes. How can I sit still when a compet.i.tor acts so brazenly?! The two were even about to enter a relations.h.i.+p! I couldn"t take it anymore. I made the plan when we were about to swear the oath. At that time, I drugged all five of the others so that they could have lower faculties of thinking. After that, I snuck in some stuff along with the oath that would trigger at certain circ.u.mstances so that I could cover my tracks. For example, if the others see the dagger, because they swore it and because they also swore that they would forget those memories, they would see it being wielded by a black-robed a.s.sa.s.sin. If someone from the Central Continent comes and gets injured, it will seem as the a.s.sa.s.sin was back. It was all to confuse the investigation, and send it nowhere. I am ready for whatever punishment you wish to gave."
With a sigh and a shake of his head, the Head said, "Ah, a cla.s.sic revenge story. It seems that we should probably make changes in this seed program. Anyway, you can leave if you wish, Ki-"
"Not so fast."
As Daneel said this, the Head looked at him with a puzzled expression on his face.
The culprit had been found along with the used weapon. What else was there?
Daneel simply continued with a single sentence.
"Confirm the story first by going through his memories anyway. Now that he has told it, he should have nothing to hide, right? Do it."
Setting a cold gaze on Dave, Daneel said this, and although the Head had already entered the state where he was about to wrap up the whole thing, he calmed himself and proceeded to heed Daneel"s words.
Yet…this was when something very bizarre happened, and for a long time after it, the Head would scold himself for being too eager to reach a conclusion that he had taken the first one and become happy with it.
Right as the Head began to approach, Dave, who had been placed in a small room, shouted, "Jessica will never love me now, anyway. Why should I live? Goodbye, my love!"
Saying so, in an action that was so swift that almost no one would have been able to stop him, Dave p.r.i.c.ked the tip of the dangerous knife with his finger, and as both he and the dagger started to turn to ash, the Head and Daneel could only watch on.