Muddled waters of the imperial family

Now I understood why Anise's expression looked so bad. It was not the first time I had to deal with the Grand Duke. After pondering for a moment, I pointed towards the masked man and the one with an eye patch and asked the assassin: "And who are these guys?"

The assassin shook his head and said: "I don't know. They somehow managed to track me down and tortured me until I confessed about my past. After that, they promised to let me go once I tell the story to one of the survivors of the Aranna family as well but it appears they planned to hand me over from the very start."

I turned towards Anise and said: "Did you question the masked man as well?"

She shook her head and said: "I didn't have the time. You came back so quick that I barely had time to heal this guy and find out what happened to Iris's family."

I nodded and walked towards the masked man. He was already awake and kept trashing to free himself from his bindings. As I removed his mask I was surprised that behind it was not really a man, but a woman. She didn't look like she belonged in with this group of assassins as well. She gave me a death stare as soon as I removed her mask. but didn't say anything.

Frowning, I asked: "So, who are you guys? Are you part of the rebellion?"

Her expression didn't change and kept staring at me with the same look. Sighing, I let her be and turned towards the guy with the eye patch. He seemed a lot more chatty. After making sure he was bound well, I woke him up.

He was a little confused at first, but appeared to have remembered what happened pretty fast as he immediately started struggling. Seeing that it was futile, he said in an angry tone: "Who are you people? Let me go. Do you know who I am?"

I shrugged and replied: "I have no idea. That's exactly why I woke you up. Who are you?"

He seemed even more enraged as he opened his mouth to introduce himself but stopped before letting out a single sound. Looking around the room and seeing the masked man and the assassin, his expression changed and he closed his mouth. It looked like he wasn't going to say anything either. Sighing, I said: "I guess I can only surrender you to the Emperor's guards and let him do with you whatever he wants with you."

As my words ended, I started gagging him as well. There was a look of unwillingness in his eyes as I did, but I just ignored his protests. Anise came up to me and said: "Want me to make them speak as well?"

I turned towards her with a weird look and said: "No. It's not that important. We already know what happened to Iris and Oliver's family and that's what I originally set out to find out. You did good.". I was honestly curious about who these other people were, but I didn't like the idea of torturing people. Maybe it was some kind of leftover trauma from what happened inside the trials.

We kept asking the assassin some more questions, who appeared more than happy to answer each and every one of them, until we heard a knock on the door. I nodded towards Anise and went on to open it.

Behind the door, Iris followed by Oliver appeared. Oliver had a curious look, so I figured Iris didn't tell him anything and just brought him here. This proved true as he asked right away: "Hey, Ethan. Why did you want to see me?"

Replying to his greeting, I didn't answer right away and invited them both inside first. Once they entered the room, I locked the door behind and Oliver finally noticed the three people tied up inside.

"Who are these people?" he asked right away giving me a weird look.

I pointed towards Iris and said: "I think it's better if your sister explained what happened.". Hearing my words, Oliver turned towards Iris with a questioning look.

Iris looked down with an ashamed expression as she started telling him everything that happened. At the start, Oliver was just curious, but he got angrier and angrier as the story went on.

By the end of the story, he looked completely furious. He closed his eyes for a moment to calm down and said: "How can you be so stupid? If not for Ethan, they might have even assassinated uncle. You had no idea what they were planning. How can you lead these wolves right into the house of the one that took us in and took care of us since we were young?"

Iris lifted her head, her eyes completely red but she didn't back down as she said: "It's easy for you to say. Did you forget that we promised to find out what happened to our parents and take revenge one day? What happened to that promise? As soon as you joined the army, you forgot about it and didn't care at all anymore. I was left alone at home, with no friends and no talent in either magic or fighting, but I never forgot our promise and tried to find out what happened on my own with what little power I had. I finally got a chance to find out the truth, so I was not going to just throw it away."

"But getting assassins inside uncle's house? Are you our of your mind?"

"What uncle this and uncle that? Did you already forget they are not our real family? He took care of us and fed us, but he only really cared about how useful both of us could be. Since you were a good fighter, he got you into the army and made sure you had anything you needed to grow stronger, but since I was not good at anything he forgot about me and I had to get a job inside the city. No one in that family even asked me how I was doing in the last ten years. Even you were always gone while I was left here alone."

They were both yelling so loud at each other that I had to make sure to create a sound barrier around the room so we don't disturb the other people staying inside the inn. Seeing that the situation was getting out of control, I placed my hand on Oliver's shoulder and said: "That's enough. What's done is done."

Oliver took another deep breath and nodded towards me before saying to Iris: "We'll speak about this later.", after which he turned towards the three captives and asked me: "Did you find out anything from them?"

I nodded and motioned for the assassin to tell them the story as well. As the story went on, Oliver and Iris's expressions took a turn for the worse. Oliver even had to take a seat on the bed to deal with what he heard. As the story ended, he turned towards the assassin with bloodshot eyes and asked: "Why would the Grand Duke want to kill our family? You must be lying."

The assassin intimidated by Oliver's eyes, made himself as small as possible as he kept shaking his head: "I'm not lying. I'm sure he's the one who ordered the assassination."

I silently observed the situation and noticed a small smile appearing on the man with the eye patch's face. Frowning, I used magic to undo his gag and asked: "Why are you smiling?"

"Hehe.. If this surprises you, you should hear everything else the imperial family had done in the shadows."

"Explain." I asked right away. I already knew the Grand Duke was involved in some shady stuff, but I wanted to know if the Emperor was as well. If he was, I might have to rethink my plan.

The man shook his head as she asked: "And what do I get? If you let us go I'll tell you everything you want to know."

I started pondering. Throwing these guys outside the city and letting them go wouldn't hurt me at all, and was just about to agree when Oliver said: "Don't trust him. He's with the rebellion and he will probably just create some lie to get away."

"Doesn't matter. If I find anything suspicious about his words I'll just kill them both."

Oliver looked like he wanted to say something more, but I gave him a look and he shut up right away. Turning towards the man with the eye patch, I said: "All right. We have a deal. If you give me some useful information I'll let you guys go."

"How do I know you won't kill us either way after finding out what you want?"

"The same way I'll know you are telling the truth. Now start talking or I'll just let Oliver here take you to the city guards."

The man looked troubled for a moment before he looked towards the masked woman and said: "How about this. You let her go first and I'll tell you everything. If you think I lied you can kill me right after."

I looked at the masked woman and then asked: "Who is she?"

"Why does that matter? Do we have a deal or not?" said the man with the eye patch with a frustrated expression.

Something felt weird with how quick he was with setting a deal to just let the woman go. Figuring she might be someone more important than this guy, I decided to not agree to his terms.

"No deal. I'll judge if I let you go only after you tell me what you know. I am the one holding all the cards so you either take the deal as it is or you can negotiate with the guards. Now tell me what you choose."

The man looked troubled for a moment before sighing and saying: "Fine, but remember, I'll not tell you anything about our identities. What do you want to know?"

A smile appeared on my lips when my gamble proved successful as I said: "You said that the imperial family already did worse things than the assassination of the Aranna family. What did it do?"

The man nodded and said: "What we know for sure is the assassination of two more families. One was the Destol family. They were also a big family like the Arannas and had the biggest dukedom in the empire, which came into the Grand Duke's possession immediately after the assassination. The other was the Atari family, a small family in the capital who specialized in the study of souls. They were not a big family like the Destols but were one of the best when it came to studying souls. There were also more assassinations and disappearances that we believe the imperial family was responsible for but we found no way of proving it. Also, in the recent war we found out that the imperial family was capturing the souls of the people who died in the war. We didn't manage to find out what they planned to do with those souls but it's for sure not something good."

Mine and Anise's expression changed as soon as we heard the last piece of information the man with the eye patch gave us. This also served to convince me that what he told us was most probably the truth. What intrigued me was that everything appears to have been organized by that Grand Duke himself so the Emperor might not even be aware of it.

Oliver seemed enraged by all the accusations as he said: "He's lying for sure. There's no way the imperial family would be responsible for all that."

I thought for a moment and said: "I don't think he's lying. I know for sure that the Grand Duke was capturing the souls of the ones that died on the battlefield."

"What?" asked Oliver with an incredulous expression.

I ignored Oliver's question and said to the man with the eye patch: "Okay, since I personally know that one of the things you said is true for sure I'll choose to trust that the other are as well."

"So, will you let us go?" he asked with hope.

I let out a sigh and nodded: "Yes, but I'll teleport you our of the Capital. I can't let you roam around the Capital as you see fit.". As my words ended, I cut his and the masked woman's bindings and ignoring Oliver's protests I teleported together with them near the forest outside the Capital. Once there, I said to them:

"I believe you, but I don't think you should blame the whole imperial family for everything that happened."

"What do you mean?" asked the man with the eye patch.

"From what you told me and what I saw with my own eyes, the only one tied to all these events is the Grand Duke. The Emperor might not be responsible."

"Do you really think the Emperor will not notice anything if the Grand Duke went around assassinating people left and right?"

I nodded and said: "That is exactly what I'm thinking. Aren't we usually blind to the deeds of the ones closest to us? Maybe he just trusts his brother too much to even suspect him."

Seeing the man with the eye patch fall in deep thought, I turned around and prepared to teleport back to the inn when the masked woman removed her mask and asked: "Are you Ethan Knott?"

Surprised that the woman actually identified me, I stopped channeling my mana and turned towards her as I said: "I am indeed. And how come you know my name?"

She nodded towards me and said: "We heard whispers about a young wizard who almost single handedly ended the fighting at Bastion City. When we investigated further we found out that wizard's name is Ethan Knott. Considering your age and capabilities, I figured it was a good chance you might be him. Are you interested in joining our cause?"

"And what that cause might be?" I asked, curious of finding out more about them.

"Miss, you can't tell him about our identity." The man with the eye patch protested but she ignored him and said: "We are indeed part of what you call the rebellion and we plan on taking down the current Emperor and let each Kingdom rule itself. The imperial family has too much power in the southern continent. That's all I can tell you before you agree to join us."

I shook my head and said: "I'm sorry, but I have no interest in politics and I'll soon leave the Capital after I deal with some personal business."

The girl nodded and threw me a small ring before she said: "That's a transmission ring. It allows you to communicate with the person holding it's pair from anywhere in the world." She then proceeded to show me an identical ring on one of her fingers before continuing: "If you ever change your mind of joining us, just insert you mana inside the ring and let me know. We would be very happy if a young wizard such as yourself joins our ranks."

I nodded and channeled my mana to teleport once again without saying anything else. I didn't plan on joining their rebellion but there was no harm on holding unto that ring.

As I reappeared inside the inn room, Oliver and Iris were sitting on opposite side of the room while Anise was sitting on the bed with an awkward expression. Seeing me return, Oliver immediately said: "Why did you let them go? They were part of the rebellion."

"I know, but they were my prisoners and I already made a deal to let them go if they gave me useful information. I'm quite sure that he told me the truth. Even if I don't know about the Emperor, but the Grand Duke is involved for sure in some shady business. In Bastion City, I destroyed an underground magic circle whose purpose was to absorb the souls of the people who died on the battlefield and turn them into soul crystals. When I investigated who was the one responsible for it, Lysa and Velor confirmed it was the Grand Duke."

Oliver frowned and said: "But, that's impossible. The Grand Duke is not that kind of person."

I shrugged and said: "You can choose to believe it or not, but I know for sure that he's the one responsible. What do you choose to do with that information is up to you. What do you plan on doing with this guy?" I asked as I pointed towards the tied up assassin.

Oliver looked at the assassin and asked: "Can I take him with me to the army house? I want to question him myself."

"You can do whatever you want with him. I only joined this whole mess because Iris asked me too and I have no further interest in it."

Oliver nodded and said: "Thank you for taking care of my sister and stopping her from doing something stupid. The Imperial Wizard already agreed to meet you as soon as she saw that book and tomorrow I organized a meeting with the Emperor. I'm sure he'll also agree."

"Are Lysa and Velor his children?" I already suspected this to be the case but asked just to confirm it anyway.

Oliver nodded and said: "Yes. Velor is the third prince and Lysa is the second princess. I'm sorry for not telling you before but they asked me not to." Said Oliver with an apologetic look.

I nodded and we spoke a little more about tomorrow's meeting before he picked the assassin up and left together with Iris. Once they were gone, I threw myself on the bed and let out a sigh. I felt so spent after everything that happened today that I just couldn't wait to go to sleep.