When everyone finally returned to the basement without any differing suspicions, Oliver was only just entering, while Rook remained outside with Effie. The two beasts had grown even closer than they were a few hours ago.
However, what bothered Oliver was the look on the faces of the three before him. Kaden seemed indifferent, but for some unknown reason, he could not take his eyes off Teresa, and Marilyn was the same.
On the other hand, Oliver had already figured out the answers he needed...
"What’s going on?"
Marilyn’s eyes snapped away from Teresa, her expression instantly shifting from worry to a feigned delight.
She clapped her hands together and spoke gently:
"I managed to gather over twenty people I once treated and convinced them to come for a hidden meeting tomorrow. I didn’t tell them what it was about, though. But something’s weird..."
Oliver cut her off.
"The Settlement is only setting up ambushes instead of openly attacking us, right? That’s because the one called Glassy still knows nothing about the rebellion. But someone influential definitely does and is trying to wipe us out without alerting him. At this point, though, the death count is already getting too high."
Teresa nodded while calmly rubbing her left hand, replying blankly:
"Well, I got ambushed too."
The others instantly looked at her in shock.
"When? We were together most of the time." Kaden asked, stepping closer with visible curiosity.
That was when they noticed the blood on her clothes. It was not enough to stand out immediately unless someone looked closely.
She chuckled nonchalantly.
"There’s no need to go into too much detail. I already dealt with it as quietly as possible, and like Oliver said, the death count is rising. Dead bodies are probably scattered around the castle already. It won’t take long before the mastermind reveals themselves, right?"
Her eyes drifted toward Marilyn, and a smirk slowly formed on her lips as she continued:
"Especially now that the ambushes are failing. Also, I got new information. I managed to force answers out of the people who attacked me. Glassy truly knows nothing about this. And you said there are four lords, or Dogs, ruling the castle, right? One of them is involved."
Oliver scoffed quietly and ruffled his hair in hidden frustration.
’One of the Four Dogs is behind the ambushes? I hate dealing with new scenarios, but I guess there’s no avoiding it anymore.’
He clicked his tongue softly.
"We need to escape this castle no matter what. By tomorrow, we should already be gone. There’s no more time to waste. Also, Marilyn... have you seen your twin sister recently by any chance?"
***
Oliver walked toward Mara’s room. Upon entering, he discovered that her body was gone, and realistically, he had never bothered dealing with it afterward.
It was as though she had vanished into thin air, but that was impossible. A corpse could not simply get up and walk away on its own.
His eyes swept across the room, and beside the bed, he spotted the discarded top he had thrown away earlier, heavily stained with blood and dirt.
"Oh. That’s one stupid way to handle a crime scene, but thankfully, they’re cleaning up after us," Oliver muttered indifferently as he quickly picked up the cloth and shoved it beneath the bed.
When he killed Mara, her blood had drenched his black shirt, forcing him to change into another random black top he found in her room. It was hardly comfortable since it clung tightly to his skin, but black was his favourite colour.
Remembering that, Oliver immediately began searching every corner of the room, looking for the Tier Five, or so, Keepsake Mara possessed. The black cloak capable of concealing her even better than the current natural effect of his Shadow Hue.
However, he could not find it anywhere.
A wave of regret crashed into him. If only he had thought faster at that moment and possessed a sharper memory, he would have claimed the Keepsake before the unknown cleaners got to it...
Speaking of which...
"My Sword... ugh."
There were still countless battles ahead, yet Oliver remained without his own blade, and that was a serious problem. Although Teresa had technically won everything Elias possessed, she had no idea where any of it was hidden, and it was not as though someone would conveniently walk up to her and reveal it.
The only useful thing Elias had contributed was dying.
Then suddenly, Oliver’s thoughts clicked into place.
’...Shit. I hate myself. Why the hell couldn’t I remember this hours ago? What’s actually wrong with me? Is my memory getting eaten away or something?’ Oliver thought in utter frustration.
Finding his Imperial Sword had never actually been a problem. That was what he failed to remember. Since it had already been registered as a Keepsake, he could simply dismiss it into the System and summon it directly back into his hand.
But for the past few hours, he had genuinely become illiterate to that knowledge.
In the original novel, characters did not realise this was possible until the middle arcs, and before then, everyone carried their Keepsakes around physically.
Realising they could store and summon them at will was like humanity discovering fire and collectively wondering why everyone had been chewing raw meat in silence.
And his memory returned in exactly the same ridiculous way.
Perhaps because he truly had a lot to think about now that the plot was off course and becoming increasingly complicated, especially considering he was the lazy type.
Oliver outstretched his palm and focused on recalling the correct image of the Imperial Sword, closing his eyes as he spoke:
"Dismiss."
After a few moments, Oliver snapped his eyes open.
"Summon."
Instantly, the Imperial Sword appeared in his hand like a dream come true.
His eyes lit up with satisfaction, and he immediately tightened his grip on it.
A sharp grin formed on his face.
"Welcome back, my champion."
***
However, two days later, a new and unexpected variable emerged, with Marilyn at the center of it.
For Oliver and Teresa, it was not particularly devastating. They had seen it coming.
But Kaden struggled to keep himself together and ended up doing the worst thing that could happen...