Lord Of Puppets

Chapter 201 – Run away suspects.

"The golem Arthur guy said that he wants at all cost acquire the dungeon." – said dwarven adventurer Randolf.

"However, guild master decided to destroy the dungeon."

"That is basic."

"That guy, CAN create golem."

"He did shown it us when he was explaining weaknesses of golem and such."

"There is maybe a chance that the whole ’dungeon master messenger’ was a fake build by him."

"At the time, only Silver Talons were allowed to be inside of the forest, in order to make sure there wouldn’t be any form of slip up."

"So you are saying that the whole ’peace talk’ was a means of getting guild master go into the forest alone and have her then assassinated?" – asked the knight captain.

"This is very likely.... But why?"

"I mean, IF that bastard wanted the dungeon to survive, then why assassinate the guild master?"

"If anything, this whole assassination business would throw everything in chaos and possible make us even more willing to destroy the dungeon in some cases."

"So.... Let’s look at possibility B."

"They are not working with him."

"If that is the case, then what would be the goal?"

"Let’s say their goal was.... I don’t know..."

"They were really working for somebody who didn’t wanted the empire to gets their hands on the dungeon."

"But if that is the case, then why the fuck do the attack?"

"We would had destroyed the dungeon regardless."

"It... It does not make any fucking sense."

"..."

"The only sense it would make if the whole attack was to make us delay our invasion on the golem dungeon." – said giant adventurer named Arthur.

"But then again, this was worst possible move they could make... Maybe their goal was something else?"

"..."

*Sigh*

"We will be working in circles here no matter what."

"We can be stuck here for days, thinking about the answers."

"The best course of action will be going straight to that monster infested forest and get the information."

"..."

"This seems as the best course of action that would definitely give us some answers or at least hints." – said the knight captain.

"But those wyverns."

"Sky wyverns maybe one of the weaker kind of wyverns, but even single one possesses ability to destroy an unprepared village."

"They are just that destructive."

"We were able to keep casualties to minimum, since we had enough people to not get overwhelmed and instead overwhelm them... But what if the second attack were to come when you would try going to the forest again?"

"I’m sorry, but this isn’t request."

"This is order."

"I need you to be ready on standby, if the attack were to come here or other place nearby."

"..."

"You are straight up telling us to abandon the golem dungeon for whoever was behind it, so they could do whatever they want?" – asked pissed off Randolf.

"Well... Do you see any other way we can protect the freaking city?" – asked pissed off knight captain.

"We don’t know who we are dealing with nor what their goal is."

"We have no fucking clue whatsoever."

"It could be straight up anything!"

"Not only that, we still have no confirmation where these wyverns came form in the first place!"

"And that is the most worrying part!"

"If we at least knew, we could maybe think about sending you back there, but now?"

"I’M NOT WILLING TO FUCKING TAKE A RISK WHICH WOULD PUT THE CITY IN DANGER!"

"This is the end of discussion." – said the knight captain as he stood up.

"I will post the wanted posters everywhere regarding the Silver Talons and inform the adventurer’s guild network regarding the whole incident."

"But for now, stand down and forget about the dungeon."

"Instead, just look around for those fuckers." – said the knight captain as he then left the room.

"..."

"Dammit!" – said the dwarf as he clenched his fists.

"We are fucking playing into somebody fucking hands right now!"

"And you think we have any choice in this matter?" – asked the giant adventurer.

"He is right..."

"It is better if we focus on protecting the city."

"...’

"Still... I think we should speed up investigation and make sure we get ’okay’ for us to go back."

"..."

*Sigh*

"Fine." – said the dwarf.

"Still... I can’t said that I’m worried."

"Especially about those guys."

"Not only they had some powerful equipment... Hell! What was that thing they used back then!? A bomb?! The entire room was covered in magic barrier to make sure they wouldn’t escape."

"The blast would had need to be strong enough to shatter both the barrier and the wall at the same time!"

"These bastards having that kind of equipment while already being extremely slippery bunch is a worst combination... Who knows what they would do?!"

However, unbeknown to them, the Silver Talons party were quiet still nearby.

The entire area surrounding the Maw city was just a grass field... However, there was one place which they could use.

A forest.

This was possible the worst hiding spot, since it was beyond obvious that they would be hiding inside of it... However, at the same time, they really had no choice.

Because the group was desperate to make contact with the person they are working for.

"So let me get this straight." – asked the distorted voice that came out from the device in the suitcase.

"You are telling me, that Arthur is dead."

"His communication device was stolen and you couldn’t retrieve it."

"So, I’ve told you improvise and tell something which would buy you some time."

"But as soon as you came back, you were attacked and they are accusing you of murdering the guild master?"

"..."

"Yes.... Yes sir..." – replied the leader of the Silver Talons as his party members were cleaning up the corpse of the soldiers which were originally searching the forest for them.

"If we were to be captured and they would go to the forest; they would had that our original story was made up."

"Hm.... You really screwed up big time." – said the distorted voice.

(You gave us order which we would fail no matter what! There was no way we could had survived long with the lie we just made on the spot!) – thought the furious masked leader as he was holding back his voice not only out of self-control... But also, out of fear.

"!"

"Who’s there!?" – shouted the masked leader as he and other members instantly took out their weapons and began rushing at somebody.

"Calm down." – said the gentle voice, which instantly caused the entire group to stop in their tracks out of fear.

"!"

"Y-you?!" – said the masked leader as the man in a suit walked out of the shadows of a tree, dragging something.

"Yeb. Me." – said the man in black suit who had blond hair and brown eyes.

"Honestly speaking, the entire situation is quiet advantageous to us right now." – said the man in the suit with a big bright smile.

"You have to take the blame for everything." – said the man in the suit as the entire Silver Talons party got scared.

"And no, I don’t mean punishment for failing your job."

"What I meant is assassination conspiracy."

"Become the main suspects in the whole incident.

"..."

"Oh... I see." – said the distorted voice.

"You want them to act like a bait, is it not?"

"Yeb. We will turn this shitty situation into opportunity." – said the man in the suit.

"Obviously these people will become wanted criminals, but it will make sure that these people out there will just run around, missing the main point and what not."

"You will become the real story hidden behind the fake story and everybody will chase you around, trying to undercover the truth, while not knowing you are just another fake story."

"Simple, isn’t it?"

"..."

"..."

"Nice." – said the distorted voice.

"It will definitely work out."

"..."

"..."

"Hm? Not going to ask me what I’m doing here?" – asked the man in the suit as he could feel the nervous gazes of the members of the Silver Talons.

"Welp, I was just doing some business around... Until I’ve gotten call from that person suddenly to go and help you out."

"So, I come here.... And found freaking this." – said the man as he effortlessly thrown something to the masked adventurers.

"?!"

"A golem!?" – said the leader as he stared at the beaten-up hound golem.

"Yeb... A golem." – said the man in the suit.

"And it was carrying these two things." – said the man in the suit as he took out a wooden reinforced box.... And a staff, which instantly put the entire Silver Talons party on high alert.

"Oh? So, you do recognize this thing." – said the man in the suit as he thrown both objects to the masked leader who caught them both.

"Y-yes... They belonged to the guild master... Who-"

"Who you had killed." – said the man in the suit as he approached the masked leader.

"Quick question."

"Why the fuck golem had it?"

"..."

"The golems.... They took the body as soon as the guild master died.... We couldn’t-"

"Okay. Fuck the body." – said the man in the suit.

"How about you instead look what was inside that box instead?" – asked the man in the suit, which terrified the masked leader as he carefully opened the box.

Inside of the box was a rolled-up scroll.

The leader took out the scroll and opened it, before then starting to read it.

"!?"

"T-this is?!"

"A fucking confession." – said the man in the suit.

"A fucking well written in details story about what had happened in the forest."

"Starting from the meeting."

"To the fucking you running away."

"This bastard written in details every single thing."

"If somebody from the city were to get their things on this thing AND the staff, then forget exposing you."

"We all would had been in big trouble."

"...."

"I’m.... I’m sorry." – said the terrified masked leader.

"..."

"Meh... Don’t be." – said the man in the suit.

"By the looks of things, all of us underestimated these golems."

"..."

"So... In order to be there no more fucked ups or surprises, I will be taking command over you all."

"I hope you all will be more than happy to be working under me once again."