Terra Nova Online: Rise of The Strongest Player

Chapter 220: Absolved Of All Suspicion

“You say there was audible Chaos outside your hall correct? Then did you try to enquire with the royal maid as to what was going on outside?” The Virex Squad Captain asked, as Leo frowned under his mask listening to his question.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand the context behind your question-” Leo replied, trying to buy more time, as he urged the Virex Squad Captain to present him with more details.

“It’s a really simple question, contestant…. I’m asking you, whether or not, once your surroundings started to get chaotic, did you at any point, walk up to this door and ask the Royal Maid as to what was going on outside?” The Squad Captain reiterated, as he left no room for doubt in his question.

“No, I did not walk up to the door to enquire what was going on-” Leo replied honestly, as should he have said that he had indeed walked up to the maid and asked her what was going on, his lie would be caught instantly.

“That’s odd…. Every other contestant I’ve interrogated before you, seemed to urge their maids to either let them out of their rooms or press them for information on what was going on.

But not you…

It seems to me, you already know the reason behind the chaos ongoing outside-” The Virex Squad Captain said, his gaze zeroing in on Leo’s.

“Am I right? Contestant? Or am I right?” He said, sounding sure of himself that he had got Leo down by the balls.

The tension in the room automatically went up a notch when the Captain made this question, as Dom pulled out his weapon and was ready to take down Leo at the first sign of problem.

“Come on Captain, your question is basically framed in such a way that nobody matter what I say, I’m gonna get in trouble….” Leo said, shrugging his shoulders.

“I’m not a nosy person by nature. In case you couldn’t figure it out already, the reason behind why I wear a mask is because I value my hidden identity a lot.

I want to be able to roam the streets of StrongHaven City without having to fear being swarmed by my fans.

And It’s not just myself that I apply those virtues too, I also apply them to my surroundings” Leo said, trying to sound as convincing as possible as instead of a speaking his words as if they were facts, he decided to spin a believable story.

“Each person is unique, and my philosophy has always been to live and let live. Unless something impacts me directly, I tend not to meddle. Thus, I felt no compulsion to inquire with the Royal Maid about the events unfolding outside. However, prioritizing my own safety, I armed myself. This way, if a threat were to enter my room, I would be ready to defend myself.” Leo said, as he gave a very compelling defense of his behavior.

For a moment, the room was enveloped in nothing but an awkward silence as the tension reached its climax.

Although Dom harbored a strong dislike for Leo and was inclined to treat him like a criminal, he found Leo’s explanation to be sincere and without fault.

The Captain had claimed that everyone they had questioned so far had exhibited some curiosity about the events outside. However, this statement wasn’t entirely accurate.

In reality, not everyone had shown an interest in the external commotion. The Captain’s intense interrogation of Leo was primarily due to the suspicious location of his room—since the invader had vanished from this very hall just moments earlier, but it was a consequential coincidence at best, as without it, the two of them would have long accepted Leo’s explanation.

Even the Captain shook his head after listening to Leo’s words.

To him Leo’s explanation seemed genuine and there seemed to be no further need to interrogate him, however, somehow his instincts could not let him just move on, as he felt there was something off about this whole situation, although he could not grasp what.

“Well, do you have any idea who a certain Ben Faulkner is?” The Captain asked, as he looked straight into Leo’s eyes when he asked this question.

The Virex Corps were no fools. Anyone who studied Leo’s style of fighting could figure out that he was trained by some assassin with links to a proper assassin organization and although that did not necessarily make him a criminal, it was impossible for anyone within the assassin circle to not know about the legend of Ben Faulkner.

This was the captain’s final test for Leo, to determine whether he was telling the truth as if Leo claimed not to know who Ben Faulkner was, then the captain had already decided to arrest him, since he was on strict orders to arrest anyone that he suspected even slightly.

However, if Leo provided a genuine answer to this question, he would be allowed to go free.

Leo also realized that this was a trick question, where he needed to tread a fine line on what he said and how much he revealed.

Gulping a mouthful of dry saliva, Leo replied with honesty.

“Of course I know who Ben Faulkner is. He’s the only publicly acknowledged master assassin in the entire Empire. The undoubted strongest shadow fighter and a Kingslayer.

He is practically the sole reason behind why Julien D Evanus is the current Emperor, as without him assassinating the crown prince, we would have a very different Emperor today-” Leo said, as immediately Dom pointed his sword towards Leo, killing intent leaking from his body.

“Careful with your words boy…. You have no idea who you’re slandering….. the Virex Corps will not stand for anything said against the Emperor, or we will have your tongue” Dom threatened, as this time around he did not seem to be messing around at all.

For the first time ever, Leo saw even the Captain breaking his stoic expression as his eyes twitched in fury.

The murder of the crown prince was the greatest stain on the legacy of the Virex Corps who were supposed to protect the royal family.

The romantic way in which Leo described that event made him lose his calm, however, although he was angry, he also absolved Leo of all suspicion, as he could see that Leo knew that his words might trigger the two interrogators, however, he decided to speak the truth regardless.

“Very well, that’s it for today-” the Captain said, as he stormed out of the room with Dom reluctantly walking behind him.

The two of them had tried their very best to try to make Leo slip, however, Leo’s acting was air-tight.

Whether it was his voice modulation, his confidence, or his story, they could find no flaws with it, as it truly seemed as if he had no involvement with the outside events.

Once outside, The Virex Squad Captain regrouped with his two other team members, the two that had gone in the garden below to investigate, however, they seemed to return without any solid leads either.

“Status report-” The captain demanded, as one of the two replied.

“Captain, while we did find the Royal Guard Armor in the bushes below, we did not find any footprints or any indications that the intruder had jumped into the garden.

There are no trails to follow and nowhere to investigate-

He’s simply vanished into the wind” The Virex Corps member reported, as the Captain shook his head and sighed.

“Of course there are no footprints. Ben Fucking Faulkner doesn’t leave behind an obvious trail, he moves like the wind-” The Captain said, feeling disappointed, as the search proved to be inconclusive.

**********

( Meanwhile Julien D Evanus )

The Emperor was woken up from his luxury sleep by the sound of blaring alarms throughout the castle.

Within seconds, The Virex Corps Chief, The Royal Guard Commander and several other high level soldiers stormed his room, arms ready, as they seemed prepared to protect the life of the Emperor against any potential threat.

“What’s going on? Why are there alarms?” Julien inquired, sounding pissed, as for a few moments nobody had any answers regarding what was going on, as the situation was unclear for them too.

It was only after they got messages over their communication devices that they were informed of the full picture.

“It seems like the Royal Counselor has been assassinated your majesty. The killer is suspected to be Ben Faulkner, but we are not sure yet-” The Royal Guards chief said, as immediately Julien frowned.

‘What? That old fatty has been assassinated? What a waste of my most useful pawn….’ The Emperor thought, as although to the common masses it seemed like the Royal Counselor hold considerable sway over the Emperor, in reality he was only a puppet dancing in the palms of Julien, who made him commit all the wrong actions under his own responsibility.

Julien was long aware of his wrongdoings and lecherous activities, however, he ignored them all, in-case he needed a fall guy someday to appease public wrath.

Now that he was killed, that valuable defense layer was gone, however, Julien was assured that it wasn’t Ben Faulkner who killed him.

‘They are idiots if they think Ben Faulkner would bother himself with politics. That guy wants nothing to do with the Unity Empire. If he wanted to kill someone tonight, it would be undoubtedly me who would have been murdered and not the counselor.

This is a political assassination, most likely done by the West Duke’s faction.

But I can’t voice my suspicions here, because these idiots don’t know that the one who gave Ben Faulkner the order to kill my elder brother was none other than me’ Julien thought, as he let out a long sigh and started to think about the long term implications of the Royal Counselor’s death and the next move that he was supposed to make.