Chapter 86: 085 ‘I am indeed not the protagonist.
Actually, the fact that Riley could guess about Shane and Laischa’s affairs wasn’t all that unbelievable.
After all, Shane was the only one who had had contact with Laischa, and since Laischa didn’t reject him and only met with him, there must have been a reason.
It could have been out of curiosity towards Shane, the so-called new Adventurer who could subdue Killian.
It might also have been that Laischa knew something secret about Shane and doubted his identity.
But if that were the case, Laischa would only have reason to meet Shane, not to stay in Lamijion all the time.
It wouldn’t make sense for such a notorious fugitive to ignore her own predicament for the sake of one person, dismiss the reality of being a fugitive, and stay here, waiting for trouble to find her, would it?
Therefore, Laischa definitely had some purpose.
If this purpose wasn’t aimed at Lamijion, as Shane claimed, then it was very likely targeted at the Old Demon Clan Faction.
If one considered this possibility, plus the fact that Shane himself subtly revealed his outstanding nature and had met alone with Laischa, it wasn’t impossible for Riley to guess that Laischa intended to join forces with Shane to trap the Old Demon Clan Faction.
The reason Shane was startled wasn’t that he was prone to overreacting, but that he thought someone high-ranking like Riley wouldn’t so easily believe his one-sided story, thinking that Laischa really had no designs on Lamijion.
In Shane’s view, even if he said that Laischa had no purpose in Lamijion, Riley would definitely not believe it right away.
That would mean Riley would have doubts about Laischa’s purpose, get caught up in thought and probing, and wouldn’t directly guess what he and Laischa were secretly planning to do.
Who would have thought, Riley actually completely believed Shane’s words and didn’t consider the possibility of Laischa intending harm towards Lamijion, and thus immediately locked onto the truth.
Shane just hadn’t expected Riley to trust his statement so much.
However, unbeknownst to Shane, what Riley believed wasn’t him, but Vivian.
Riley didn’t know about Shane’s identity, only that it was a secret not to be revealed, and with the guarantee of Vivian, her absolutely trustworthy childhood friend, she decisively chose to stand on Shane’s side and took his words at face value.
As for Vivian, she actually didn’t trust Shane’s character that much either.
Even though Vivian was innately kind and gentle, that didn’t mean she would fully trust someone after such a short period of time.
Vivian’s guarantee for Shane, and her swift choice to trust him, were somewhat related to her guesses about Shane’s identity.
In Vivian’s eyes, Shane’s identity was bound to be trustworthy and couldn’t possibly belong to a malevolent villain.
Therefore, Vivian vouched for Shane, and Riley trusted such a Vivian, which ultimately led to the chain of relationships that caused Riley not to doubt Shane’s words.
That is the kind of relationship that would emerge in reality.
Reality isn’t like a novel, where everyone besides the protagonist seems to lower their intelligence; there will be many fools, but there are just as many clever people, and it’s practically impossible for everything to revolve around one main character as it does in stories.
Reality is where each person has their own thoughts, each person has their own stance, and everyone has their own standards and judgments, and each outcome that seems so ordinary at first glance is actually the result of the interweaving of many thoughts and actions.
Although Shane had witnessed so many clichéd plots in his previous life and could dismantle them with a disdainful attitude, such triteness naturally wouldn’t have any deeply intertwined complex thoughts, so unless this world had abilities like mind-reading or foresight for him to learn, how could he possibly completely guess all the developments?
Reality is full of surprises.
Now, the unexpected had happened. It was not possible for everything to revolve around the protagonist, allowing him to effortlessly achieve his goals. The thoughts and judgments of others could have a significant impact on the current situation.
Of course, Shane’s mood at the moment could be summed up in a sentence.
“I knew I wasn’t the protagonist.”
It was indeed a sorrowful thing.
However, Shane was also unaware that Riley, though she had guessed something, didn’t plan to disclose it.
After all, she stood by Shane, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, by Vivian’s side.
Therefore, to Shane’s words, Riley responded as follows.
“While the person is a fugitive, the Kingdom, afraid to provoke and unwilling to act rashly against them due to concerns over the unknown dangerous item, has always been cautious and careful. Unless there’s absolute certainty, they can only watch for now to avoid angering the other party. Even if we let her escape, no one would have any objections.”
Riley explained this to Shane.
“As for the people from the Old Demon Clan Faction, they might indeed attack Lamijion in anger, but they are not fools. Even Killian was subdued here, and although they might claim publicly that it was you, a promising new Adventurer, who managed to subdue him with a powerful Magic Tool in an almost sneak attack, they wouldn’t want to take a meaningless, huge risk, would they?”
What if there was a Magic Tool capable of subduing even Killian in Lamijion?
People from the Old Demon Clan Faction would certainly be apprehensive.
So, if Killian was still in Lamijion, they might take the risk. But if Killian was no longer there, without any benefit in sight, they would definitely not choose to take the risk and face further losses.
“Well, if I had such a tool, I wouldn’t mind if they attacked directly. On the contrary, I’d hope they would, so that we could eliminate those pests.” Riley gave Shane a beautiful smile, charming and alluring, “If Mr. Shane happens to have any more of those powerful Magic Tools, please let me know. I’d be willing to pay a high price for them.”
These words and this manner made Shane feel nearly unsettled.
“That… that wasn’t mine… it was given to me by Senior Tielle for self-defense…”
Shane once again embarked on the career of blame-shifting, although his tone sounded hesitantly evasive.
This caused all the young girls present to roll their eyes, especially Tielle, who felt that maybe her previous lie to help Shane had been a mistake.
If even Tielle felt this way, not to mention Riley and Vivian.
Remember, Tielle had only helped Shane fabricate a lie within their small team. Riley and Vivian, on the other hand, had directly lied in public to cover for Shane, claiming the so-called Magic Tool was given to him by them.
Now, seeing Shane blame-shifting while increasingly acting frivolously in the Guild, both were beginning to wonder if helping this guy so many times was right or wrong.
“Anyway, that’s the situation.”
Riley sighed and spoke to everyone.
“This mission is a secret one, and apart from a few related parties, nobody should disclose it, to prevent the operation from being exposed. Not only would we fail to achieve our goal, but it could also draw the attention of the Old Demon Clan Faction towards you and result in an attack on you instead.”
“The Guild will not assign this task to only you. In addition to your team, there will be two other high-level teams tasked with this mission.”
“The time is in two days, so get yourselves well prepared.”