Hand above the cool and smooth oval crystal, he heard the man explain, "If you lie, this artifact will light up." His voice turned even more chilly as he threatened, "If it lights up, it will signify the end of your life."
Hearing that, Melvin couldn't help but gulp. One thing became certain to him at that moment, he would never dare to lie.
A silence too uncomfortable, unsettling, and physically painful followed for a minute or two. Then, finally came the question, "Have you killed my daughter?"
Melvin's mind quickly operated, trying to think of the best way to answer this question that he knew he wasn't responsible for, and so finally with his gaze locked in the direction of his left hand he said with a low voice, "I have only killed two women. One of them is an adventurer who worked under the Deep Sea guild, and the other one was an assassin."
When he finally said the last word, he awaited any response from the oval crystal with bated breath. Fortunately, after a few seconds nothing happened, and he sighed in relief.
It was then that his eyes finally moved, and he glanced at the man. His eyes looked bloodshot and unfocused as they stared beyond Melvin, seemingly processing something shocking.
When his eyes finally regained focus, he asked with brows furrowed, "Do you know their names?"
Melvin furiously shook his head with a simple meek, "No."
The man reached into his back pocket and opened a piece of paper that had a sketch drawing of a shoulder length hair woman with sharp defined features. Melvin could immediately tell that it was Amelia Parker, just from the resemblance between the two.
True enough, the man continued to ask, "Did you kill her?"
Hearing such a question, Melvin swiftly shook his head once again, "No, I swear. This is the first time I've ever saw her."
Registering the piece of news, the man's face contorted into a menacing scowl before his eyes were glued to the ground. He removed his stretched-out hand that held the crystal, and became unresponsive.
Witnessing all of this, Melvin froze in his place, and he didn't dare to move an inch. He even tried to quieten down his fast rugged breathing for fear of further aggravating this man who held his life at the center of his palm.
Another grueling silence ensued, however, just as suddenly as it began, it ceased to be. "You're still a scum." The man snarled, both his hands gripping Melvin's collars in a tight hold that breathing became difficult for the poor victim. With a strong force, he pushed him against the wall and stared at him with cold emotionless eyes.
Melvin's face was suffocated and it flushed red as he attempted his best to speak, "Ppl.. please." He then held his breath preparing for a final shout and said, "I was framed, please."
Fortunately, Jonathan's expression showed a slight shift at that. With a snort, he let go of Melvin and asked slightly intrigued, but still yet suspicious, "By who?"
Finally getting the opportunity he had been dying for, Melvin quickly jumped to the explanation. However, in order to increase his chances, he decided to clarify his position in a story format, to trigger the bonus of his Story Teller's Charm title.
Deeply understanding the fact that his life depended on how well of a story he could weave, his mind seemed to explode with potential as he began describing his situation to the crazed man before him. He paid attention to grip his attention by a good balance of both intrigue in the slow build-up so that he could incorporate as many details as he possibly could, whilst not being too slow that he would lose his attention.
He spoke about his involvement with the Ghoul which resulted in his wanted poster, and then he changed some details like his henchmen coming to kill him instead of it just being a beating, and then his need to protect himself. Then, about how he didn't kill 28 people but it was done by a group who were aiming to increase his bounty and claim it for themselves. Finally, the big part about rape being a lie, he had just killed those people because they tried to kill him in the middle of the plaza.
"You can go and ask around," Melvin said when he noticed his disbelief at the final part, "I swear, in the middle of the Royal Plaza, they tried to kill me." He then gestured for the man's pocket and offered, "You can give me that artifact that detects lies and I will say the same thing."
Johnathan Parker deeply looked at the boy in front of him, and as much as he wanted to believe otherwise, he knew that he was innocent. With a sigh, he looked at him and said, "It's fine, I believe you."
"You do?" Melvin asked, his eyes beaming with joy. Seeing the man, nod, a ridiculous idea popped into his head. He gently approached the man, looked at him with most sincerity, and pleaded, "Sir, would you please, take me to the guards and let them question me with that Lie Detection artifact of yours, please?" He asked, his eyes clearly conveying the depth that this would mean for him.
If he could fix just this one thing, he was certain that his chances of survival would explode exponentially. The thing he needed the most right now was to get out of the city and raise his rank.
The man snorted softly, and replied, "There is no such thing as a lie detection artifact. It's just something people above a certain Tier use to intimidate others."
Melvin's eyes widened at the answer because to him it seemed entirely conceivable for such a thing to be. However, he also understood how good of a lie that was because you weaponize people's ignorance against them, and with enough strength you render them unable to utter a single lie, just like what had happened to him previously.
"But, but..." He said, "What do you think I should do?"
Jonathan shook his head, and said, "I can't help you... Now that this is another dead-end, I need to go look elsewhere.."
'That's it?!' Melvin thought stupefied, his eyes following the gradually leaving man's back. A wry smile suddenly made its way into his face, 'It seems like I got too greedy?' He thought, slightly amused by the whole situation.
Just the fact that he had indeed managed to prove his innocence in the face of certain death was good enough. Fortunately, the man seemed to have some other thoughts on his mind prompting him to make sure that he was indeed the man responsible for his daughter's death. Otherwise, he would have killed Melvin right then and there.
Melvin guessed that the man was afraid of being manipulated by some other malicious third party, but then he suddenly realized something very important, both Jacob's and Amelia's deaths seemed to coincide.
'Could there be some connection between the two?' He deeply pondered. However, straining his mind as he could, he wasn't able to come up with anything else. But he was sure of one thing, although it seemed very improbable, this was a clue worth investigating.
He had already decided that he would no longer be running away from the city, not that he could. The powers of the runes dazzled him, and he was even more intrigued, and more captivated by the concept of a "Life Rune," Just from the name he knew that it would be something amazing, and so he needed to finish the quest given to him. There was also another clue that he had gathered from one of his passing conversations with Henry, Jacob had also spent most of his final days on the port, doing something that the duo weren't privy to.
But before he could even reach any sort of position where investigation was remotely possible, he had to have enough capital to be able to protect himself through it. With that in mind, he walked back from that empty alley into the street where he left Firrol on his own.
Noticing his worried and nervous demeanor, Melvin chuckled in his mind, 'It seems like this cat has grown fond of me.'
In a beeline, Firrol gracefully approached, and he was confident that no one would be able to hear, he whispered, "What happened to you?!"
Firrol could be considered now his friend although their relationship is still in its infancy, and so he recounted what happened to him in details.
Registering the story, Firrol was shocked, "And he believed you in the end?" he said, his voice dripping with disbelief, "You are quite lucky."
"But," Melvin interjected, confusion evident on his face, "How do they always manage to catch me?"
"I don't know," Firrol humanely shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe an extensive network, or strong skills, something like that..."
Hearing that, a deep sigh escaped Melvin. With such a strong uncertainty weighing on his shoulders his future seemed elusive, and that it could be taken away from him at any moment.
'Should I really seek protection under that family?' He questioned himself, heart riddled with doubt. 'Or maybe I will do my best to escape the city and just live in the wilderness? But I heard the monsters are very strong, and how could I even live in the wild?'
With a complicated expression and a mind abuzz with questions, Melvin continued sitting in those front steps. After a while, he stood up, and he was about to go make his way and knock at Karl's home when that same door retreated back revealing a man clad in fiery red armor with a broadsword to the side.
Because of where Melvin was sitting, the first thing that greeted Karl's eyes was that familiar, and not so unfamiliar face, but he instantly recognized him.
Melvin noticed the shock in the man's eyes as his mind raced to think of something, and after a while Karl swiftly looked left and red, quietly walked back inside, and gestured for him to follow.
Finally letting out the breath he was holding, Melvin tried to compose himself with a deep breath, his right hand touching the sides of his pants. Feeling the strength coursing through his body after he made contact with the dagger hidden beneath, he was slightly assured. Step by step, he advanced toward the man's house, with a black beautiful cat whose tail swayed from one side to the side following behind.
Stepping foot inside, he closed the door behind him, and the two made eye contact once again. In an attempt to lighten the mood, Melvin joked with a smile, "And here I thought my disguise was perfect."
Karl shook his head as he snorted with a chuckle, "You're pretty famous now. If you want to disguise yourself you'll need much more than a different colored cloak and a hat."
"Well," Melvin replied shrugging his shoulders, "Things have been pretty hectic, so I could only make do with this."
"Better than nothing," Karl said, his expression hard to discern.
Firrol's eyes darted from one side to the side as the awkwardness of the situation was so palpable that he could feel it inside his bones, his face couldn't help but twist into a disgusted expression with his tongue sticking out.
When Karl caught sight of that, he was shocked, "What's wrong with your cat?" He asked.
Hand above the cool and smooth oval crystal, he heard the man explain, "If you lie, this artifact will light up." His voice turned even more chilly as he threatened, "If it lights up, it will signify the end of your life."
Hearing that, Melvin couldn't help but gulp. One thing became certain to him at that moment, he would never dare to lie.
A silence too uncomfortable, unsettling, and physically painful followed for a minute or two. Then, finally came the question, "Have you killed my daughter?"
Melvin's mind quickly operated, trying to think of the best way to answer this question that he knew he wasn't responsible for, and so finally with his gaze locked in the direction of his left hand he said with a low voice, "I have only killed two women. One of them is an adventurer who worked under the Deep Sea guild, and the other one was an assassin."
When he finally said the last word, he awaited any response from the oval crystal with bated breath. Fortunately, after a few seconds nothing happened, and he sighed in relief.
It was then that his eyes finally moved, and he glanced at the man. His eyes looked bloodshot and unfocused as they stared beyond Melvin, seemingly processing something shocking.
When his eyes finally regained focus, he asked with brows furrowed, "Do you know their names?"
Melvin furiously shook his head with a simple meek, "No."
The man reached into his back pocket and opened a piece of paper that had a sketch drawing of a shoulder length hair woman with sharp defined features. Melvin could immediately tell that it was Amelia Parker, just from the resemblance between the two.
True enough, the man continued to ask, "Did you kill her?"
Hearing such a question, Melvin swiftly shook his head once again, "No, I swear. This is the first time I've ever saw her."
Registering the piece of news, the man's face contorted into a menacing scowl before his eyes were glued to the ground. He removed his stretched-out hand that held the crystal, and became unresponsive.
Witnessing all of this, Melvin froze in his place, and he didn't dare to move an inch. He even tried to quieten down his fast rugged breathing for fear of further aggravating this man who held his life at the center of his palm.
Another grueling silence ensued, however, just as suddenly as it began, it ceased to be. "You're still a scum." The man snarled, both his hands gripping Melvin's collars in a tight hold that breathing became difficult for the poor victim. With a strong force, he pushed him against the wall and stared at him with cold emotionless eyes.
Melvin's face was suffocated and it flushed red as he attempted his best to speak, "Ppl.. please." He then held his breath preparing for a final shout and said, "I was framed, please."
Fortunately, Jonathan's expression showed a slight shift at that. With a snort, he let go of Melvin and asked slightly intrigued, but still yet suspicious, "By who?"
Finally getting the opportunity he had been dying for, Melvin quickly jumped to the explanation. However, in order to increase his chances, he decided to clarify his position in a story format, to trigger the bonus of his Story Teller's Charm title.
Deeply understanding the fact that his life depended on how well of a story he could weave, his mind seemed to explode with potential as he began describing his situation to the crazed man before him. He paid attention to grip his attention by a good balance of both intrigue in the slow build-up so that he could incorporate as many details as he possibly could, whilst not being too slow that he would lose his attention.
He spoke about his involvement with the Ghoul which resulted in his wanted poster, and then he changed some details like his henchmen coming to kill him instead of it just being a beating, and then his need to protect himself. Then, about how he didn't kill 28 people but it was done by a group who were aiming to increase his bounty and claim it for themselves. Finally, the big part about rape being a lie, he had just killed those people because they tried to kill him in the middle of the plaza.
"You can go and ask around," Melvin said when he noticed his disbelief at the final part, "I swear, in the middle of the Royal Plaza, they tried to kill me." He then gestured for the man's pocket and offered, "You can give me that artifact that detects lies and I will say the same thing."
Johnathan Parker deeply looked at the boy in front of him, and as much as he wanted to believe otherwise, he knew that he was innocent. With a sigh, he looked at him and said, "It's fine, I believe you."
"You do?" Melvin asked, his eyes beaming with joy. Seeing the man, nod, a ridiculous idea popped into his head. He gently approached the man, looked at him with most sincerity, and pleaded, "Sir, would you please, take me to the guards and let them question me with that Lie Detection artifact of yours, please?" He asked, his eyes clearly conveying the depth that this would mean for him.
If he could fix just this one thing, he was certain that his chances of survival would explode exponentially. The thing he needed the most right now was to get out of the city and raise his rank.
The man snorted softly, and replied, "There is no such thing as a lie detection artifact. It's just something people above a certain Tier use to intimidate others."
Melvin's eyes widened at the answer because to him it seemed entirely conceivable for such a thing to be. However, he also understood how good of a lie that was because you weaponize people's ignorance against them, and with enough strength you render them unable to utter a single lie, just like what had happened to him previously.
"But, but..." He said, "What do you think I should do?"
Jonathan shook his head, and said, "I can't help you... Now that this is another dead-end, I need to go look elsewhere.."
'That's it?!' Melvin thought stupefied, his eyes following the gradually leaving man's back. A wry smile suddenly made its way into his face, 'It seems like I got too greedy?' He thought, slightly amused by the whole situation.
Just the fact that he had indeed managed to prove his innocence in the face of certain death was good enough. Fortunately, the man seemed to have some other thoughts on his mind prompting him to make sure that he was indeed the man responsible for his daughter's death. Otherwise, he would have killed Melvin right then and there.
Melvin guessed that the man was afraid of being manipulated by some other malicious third party, but then he suddenly realized something very important, both Jacob's and Amelia's deaths seemed to coincide.
'Could there be some connection between the two?' He deeply pondered. However, straining his mind as he could, he wasn't able to come up with anything else. But he was sure of one thing, although it seemed very improbable, this was a clue worth investigating.
He had already decided that he would no longer be running away from the city, not that he could. The powers of the runes dazzled him, and he was even more intrigued, and more captivated by the concept of a "Life Rune," Just from the name he knew that it would be something amazing, and so he needed to finish the quest given to him. There was also another clue that he had gathered from one of his passing conversations with Henry, Jacob had also spent most of his final days on the port, doing something that the duo weren't privy to.
But before he could even reach any sort of position where investigation was remotely possible, he had to have enough capital to be able to protect himself through it. With that in mind, he walked back from that empty alley into the street where he left Firrol on his own.
Noticing his worried and nervous demeanor, Melvin chuckled in his mind, 'It seems like this cat has grown fond of me.'
In a beeline, Firrol gracefully approached, and he was confident that no one would be able to hear, he whispered, "What happened to you?!"
Firrol could be considered now his friend although their relationship is still in its infancy, and so he recounted what happened to him in details.
Registering the story, Firrol was shocked, "And he believed you in the end?" he said, his voice dripping with disbelief, "You are quite lucky."
"But," Melvin interjected, confusion evident on his face, "How do they always manage to catch me?"
"I don't know," Firrol humanely shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe an extensive network, or strong skills, something like that..."
Hearing that, a deep sigh escaped Melvin. With such a strong uncertainty weighing on his shoulders his future seemed elusive, and that it could be taken away from him at any moment.
'Should I really seek protection under that family?' He questioned himself, heart riddled with doubt. 'Or maybe I will do my best to escape the city and just live in the wilderness? But I heard the monsters are very strong, and how could I even live in the wild?'
With a complicated expression and a mind abuzz with questions, Melvin continued sitting in those front steps. After a while, he stood up, and he was about to go make his way and knock at Karl's home when that same door retreated back revealing a man clad in fiery red armor with a broadsword to the side.
Because of where Melvin was sitting, the first thing that greeted Karl's eyes was that familiar, and not so unfamiliar face, but he instantly recognized him.
Melvin noticed the shock in the man's eyes as his mind raced to think of something, and after a while Karl swiftly looked left and red, quietly walked back inside, and gestured for him to follow.
Finally letting out the breath he was holding, Melvin tried to compose himself with a deep breath, his right hand touching the sides of his pants. Feeling the strength coursing through his body after he made contact with the dagger hidden beneath, he was slightly assured. Step by step, he advanced toward the man's house, with a black beautiful cat whose tail swayed from one side to the side following behind.
Stepping foot inside, he closed the door behind him, and the two made eye contact once again. In an attempt to lighten the mood, Melvin joked with a smile, "And here I thought my disguise was perfect."
Karl shook his head as he snorted with a chuckle, "You're pretty famous now. If you want to disguise yourself you'll need much more than a different colored cloak and a hat."
"Well," Melvin replied shrugging his shoulders, "Things have been pretty hectic, so I could only make do with this."
"Better than nothing," Karl said, his expression hard to discern.
Firrol's eyes darted from one side to the side as the awkwardness of the situation was so palpable that he could feel it inside his bones, his face couldn't help but twist into a disgusted expression with his tongue sticking out.
When Karl caught sight of that, he was shocked, "What's wrong with your cat?" He asked.
