Rivers of the Night - Chapter 359

Chapter 359: Lost to History
Theron looked at the man calmly.

He was under no delusions that he was suddenly invincible in Gold Mancy. Elder Black had been old, and she was a Water Mancer, giving him distinct advantages. But this man was unlikely to be a Water Mancer.

By the same token, though, he was also unlikely to be a Runebound Resonance wielder either. There was a reason Theron had been walking around without fear.

Though, of course… this was a risk assessment on his part as well. He had come here to find out the truth of certain things, and there would only be so much he could do if he was constantly in fear of being exposed.

So, he had chosen not to hide himself at all, instead boldly walking around in regions he had never been in before.

However, there was an elephant in the room…

Were the likes of Mesmeralda and the old assassin truly the only ones that knew the secrets of Daggers of the Night? And if that was the case, who had told them? And what about the person who told them?

How far back did this go? Were some of the Gold Mancers privy to things that Theron was trying to figure out?

This was the second reason Theron hadn’t bothered to hide himself. He felt that whoever stepped out to stop him…

Just might know what he was trying to understand here. And even if they didn’t have the full picture, they might still have slivers of information he needed nonetheless.

“Do you know about this platform?” Theron asked gently.

He could almost feel the man tense. It was so subtle that even Theron almost missed it. If not for the fourth evolution of his Third Eye, he would have.

The man almost seemed to… fear the platform in a way that Theron hadn’t ever seen before.

He had felt intrigue about this slab, caution, but never fear.

That was new. Most definitely.

“I wonder, if you thought that I was lying, why go along with it?” Theron asked, as though he hadn’t already posed a question, his tone composed and controlled.

The man’s composure returned, seemingly accepting that Theron was just asking casually. It was normal for someone to be curious about this platform that could compel you to tell the truth.

It was even more ironic that such a thing would be in the middle of an assassin’s organization, where their jobs were to be the best of liars. It was almost like someone had put it here as some sort of practical joke, a dig at all the rest of them…

Almost like the sneering maw of a jailer poking fun at their captives.

“A silly question to ask,” the man replied.

“Then my reply to you is just the same,” Theron replied. As if he would ever confirm or deny. “You’re free to believe what you will. The consequences will be your own to face.”

“Your actions alone are answer enough. What do you think you’re doing lumbering around here while we’ve supposedly been exposed according to your words?”

A thud, followed by a squelching sound echoed. The head of a certain Elder Black rolled along the ground.

“The threat is gone. Why would I care to hide myself anymore?”

The man’s eyes widened. It was so obvious that his irises flashed from beneath his hood.

“You…”

They had all seen her. An Eighth Resonance powerhouse that had been trapped in the spatial field. How was that possible? How was her head here? What had Theron done?

“Oh. You think I’m the one that killed her? Amusing,” Theron said blandly.

The man looked at the head for a long while.

There was no one in this Empire capable of killing that woman.

No, there was one person… but he didn’t dare. He wouldn’t even dare to think about it. In fact, Ancestor Sangun was probably locked away in an underground cave somewhere, refusing to partake in the chaos on the surface above.

There were only two explanations.

Either it was Theron… or Mesmeralda.

No matter what the truth was, didn’t that mean he was cornered? Was he wrong all along?

“… Why did you… bring this head here?”

“Ah, finally a smart question. Tell me about this platform here. You know about it, don’t you?”

“… Mesmeralda asked this…?”

Theron looked at him and didn’t reply. The more of the story the man made up on his own, the better.

A bitter chuckle came from the man’s lips.

“Of course she would… of course… knowing her, she would never take such risks herself… that bitch…”

Theron’s gaze flickered, but his expression remained the same. It seemed that there was quite a price to pay for divulging this information.

Theron had thought that the Soul Brand was far weaker on Gold Assassins than everyone else, but it seemed that there were other chains binding them that he wasn’t aware of. That was the only reason this man would have such fear.

It seemed that he had accidentally stumbled into something quite good.

He thought that the shakiest part of his cover story was this part. Why would Mesmeralda ask someone else to tell him when she could do it herself? He had just hoped that Elder Black would stun-lock him enough that he wouldn’t think too deeply about it.

But it seemed he had gotten lucky this time.

It was about time. He rarely got this sort of luck. It was exactly what he needed right now.

“Skipping over me in the end…” the man began to laugh darkly. “… She must think they’re stupid. As if they don’t know all the loopholes. Even if she isn’t the one to tell you, she’ll suffer eventually, and when she does, it’ll be ten times worse than anything I experience.

“Unfortunately for you, because of her selfishness, you’ll only end up with part of the story, and eventually this branch will become like so many others—completely lost to the tides of history.”