Pill Hunt (2)

"Wait Brother, I'm suspicious of whether he's truly acting or not. Why don't you let one of my people look at his memories?"

The well-built man looked at the tall scholar who just tapped his shoulder. After a few seconds of contemplation, he released the middle-aged man and stepped back. The middle-aged man seemed to have been rescued, but he had listened to their conversation so he knew that he wasn't saved yet.

"Wait! No, don't this. Please!"

Ignoring his pleas, a few men came up and held him face down to the ground while a cloaked man approached and rested a hand on his head. Generally, soul searching was a risky technique for both parties, but when an expert performed it, he could look at the victim's complete memories with little risk to himself. However, it was up to his whim and the victim's resistance whether the damage they suffered would be light or heavy.

It didn't take more than a few minutes for the cloaked man to locate the memories he was looking for and lift his hand from the middle-aged man's head. The middle-aged man didn't have the ability to resist, and the cloaked man wasn't needlessly cruel so the damage to his soul was light, but he still lost consciousness.

"What did you find out?"

In response to the tall scholar, the cloaked man provided the answer to their suspicions.

"He's not lying. He truly has no memories about the auctioning of the pill or receiving it."

"Impossible! All of our sources say that he was the VIP in room 30."

The well-built man rejected this answer, but he didn't dismiss it as much as he said he did.

"Calm down, Brother. I believe he still has more to say."

The cloaked man nodded at the tall scholar before continuing, "It's true that he has no recent memories regarding the pill, but I noticed something odd about his memories of tonight. Although there was no one in his memories, he was acting as if there was someone next to him during the auction."

"Hmm, could someone have been in the room with him and then wiped his memory after getting the pill?"

"It's possible."

As he listened to the conversation between the tall scholar and the cloaked man, the well-built man also pondered the situation. He soon came up with a frightening idea that made him act urgently.

'Someone else must have bought the pill, so they've probably already left the vicinity. We can't allow them an opportunity to escape!'

"Quick! Send this message to those we have stationed outside the city. Don't let anyone leave without checking their luggage."

One of his subordinates was about to run off, but while everyone else was just realizing that they had been tricked, a group of men blocked the subordinate's path.

"Not so fast. You've done a good job at acting Daniel, but you haven't fooled me."

Once he saw who was at the lead of the group, a young master in a luxurious white robe with a hand fan blocking his mouth, the well-built man, Daniel, grimaced.

"What do you want Hanser?"

Much to his distaste, the two were well acquainted since they were both potential heirs of rival clans based in the royal capital. It was nothing strange for Hanser to confront Daniel, but he wished he would choose a more trivial time to do so.

"I'm here to expose your plan. You probably thought that it wouldn't be revealed, but since we know that someone else was in room 30 and bid for the pill, our assumption that everyone would work together to get it is no longer realistic. After all, it's perfectly possible that one of our forces already has the pill."

Along with the rest of the crowd, Daniel realized what Hanser was implying and narrowed his eyes at him.

"Are you suspecting me?"

"Of course, shouldn't you be doing the same? Can you really say that you wouldn't consider this scheme?"

Before he knew it, Daniel had been backed into a corner. If he said yes then he was acknowledging Hanser's suspicion, but no one would believe him if he said no. As he struggled to come up with a response, he stayed silence, but that was taken as admission to guilt. With a vile smirk, Hanser continued.

"Now that I think about it, you were awfully active during the auction and in questioning that guy, was that all part of your plan?"

"What?! Do you really believe something so ridiculous?"

"I don't know, do we people?"

Even though his appearance was hidden, everyone knew from his voice that Daniel had been the one who responded to the young man with a supposedly dying grandma, and threatened the VIP of room 30. It seemed like he couldn't be in league with the winner of the pill, but if it was an act then it wouldn't be as farfetched.

The others in the crowd didn't say anything, but Daniel could feel their suspicions hitting him. He needed a way to decrease their hostility, or else this volatile situation would explode into violence, but he wasn't as eloquent as Hanser.

"What? Nothing to say, Daniel, or are you confident that the pill won't be found?"

As hostility converged on him and members of his clan, Daniel clenched his fist and resolved to fight fiercely if necessary. It seemed as if a single spark was all it would take for chaos to erupt, but the footsteps of a single man interrupted the tense atmosphere.

"Everyone, settle down. We have to remember our priorities."

He had patches of grey in his combed back hair and trimmed beard, but his straight back and sharp eagle eyes outdid any youth. He wore a pure black coat with gold trimmings, but it was the silver symbol on his back that caught everyone's attention. The symbol was of a four-legged beast with the head of a famous bird of prey and the bushy tip tail of the feline king. It was the legendary Griffin, the emblem of the Eclair Dukedom.

Based on his demeanour and the subtle yet oppressive aura he exuded, Daniel and Hanser assumed he was an elder of the noble Eclair clan, making him superior to them in both status and strength. Hanser was disappointed that he couldn't continue smearing Daniel, but he hid these feelings from the elder.

While most were still impressed by the elder, the tall scholar took a step forward and politely greeted him.

"Esteemed Senior, what advice do you have for us?"

"Firstly, we must accept that there's a chance that one of us bought the pill through a proxy and is planning on leaving the city after sowing discord among us. In fact, considering the price of the pill, it's more likely that the winner belongs to a major-level force here."

"Then what should we do, Senior? I doubt any of us would reveal the pill if it was in our possession."

"That's true. All of our objectives is to get the pill, so naturally there would be no reason for us to cooperate if one of us already had it. Therefore, I suggest forming an alliance of the major-level forces here where any matter related to this must be decided through majority vote. For example, the right of any force to leave the city."

Not everyone was glad about this arrangement, but they nodded along. However, one man asked a question.

"Excuse me Senior, but what if someone has already left with the pill?"

Many voiced their concern at this point, but the elder was ready for it.

"There's no need to worry. I have confirmed that no one has left the city since the end of the auction, so we can still find the one who bought it or their accomplices. Furthermore, according to one of my sources, a woman with red hair mostly hidden by a cloak was seen entering the auction house with this man," the elder said while pointing at the middle-aged man who was still unconscious.

With this influx of information, the crowd began to raise their hopes of finding the one who bought the pill, but the most influential ones narrowed their eyes at the elder.