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Rohr pushed the mouse he had just caught outside the wall onto the ground, grabbed his hair, and turned his face towards Jon Snow.
"Can you tell me your reason for coming, Mr. Guard?" Jon Snow placed the torch just a few centimeters away from the mouse's face. He had already seen the man's appearance clearly. This was the guard who had just gone in to report.
"Misunderstanding, Mr. Snow! Misunderstanding! I just came to see if you needed anything else. Hiss! Please take that thing away! Please, take it away quickly!" As Jon Snow moved the torch closer, the guard began to wail in panic.
"What were Sir Harrison's orders?"
"Sir Harrison? No, no, he didn't... Ah! No! W-wait!" This time, Jon Snow pointed the torch directly at the guard's face. Just as the guard was about to scream, he was silenced by Rohr, who stood behind him.
"What were Sir Harrison's orders to you? I won't ask a third time."
"He told me to keep an eye on you and report to him if there's anything unusual," the guard trembled as he spoke.
"Did you leave immediately?"
"No, Sir. Sir Harrison seemed anxious. He told me this and hurried me to leave. I didn't see anything else. I didn't even see Uncle Carey who went in before me. Sir Harrison came to see me in person on the first floor."
"Thank you for your honesty. May the Seven Gods forgive you."
"You're very kind, Mr. Snow."
"Send him to the Seven Gods."
"No!"
As soon as Jon Snow spoke, Rohr swiftly broke the guard's neck.
"Let's go." Jon Snow gave a simple order to his 'adopted son,' Dorian.
"Follow me." Dorian didn't hesitate and immediately led the way to the backyard gate.
The group rode their horses toward the northwest of the manor, where Dorian's trusted team was stationed.
"So, what exactly did you find?" Dorian and Jon Snow rode side by side.
"Harrison killed Lame and then the old guard who first went in to report."
"What? Harrison killed Lame to take over the leadership? That's impossible! He can't just win over my adoptive father's power like that! Everyone will avenge Lame!"
"Can't he?"
"Of course not. If Lame dies, everyone under my adoptive father will turn to my side!" Dorian spoke with certainty, showing his confidence in the situation.
"That makes sense."
"What?"
"There was no reason for Harrison to stay in the castle, and there was no reason for him to take the next step. Harrison probably killed Lame by accident. We don't know the cause, but he wasn't prepared for it. After killing Lame, he realized a civil war would follow, so he hid in the castle to think of a solution. That's when the old guard broke in to inform him."
"Then why didn't he try to kill me just now? That would have scattered our group. Without a leader, these mercenaries might abandon their revenge and flee."
"Do you think he hasn't thought of that? The reason he didn't try to kill us earlier was because of my presence. Harrison is a wealthy knight with a fiefdom here. He would never risk attacking someone like me, someone with power and influence, unlike the Nesters."
"That's why he tried to put me in the guest room in the backyard first, wanting to wait until tonight to solve the problem, then meet with me tomorrow."
"So, he's not worried I'll use this chance to gather everyone and expose his crimes?"
"How could he know we've discovered his secret?"
Dorian paused, shocked.
"We're fighting an information gap. Before he realizes we know his secret, we'll gather your supporters and then call upon your adoptive father's mercenaries to expose Harrison's crimes."
"But Sir Harrison is a wealthy knight, directly granted his title by the Iron Throne," Dorian said, his voice filled with disbelief. "You must be mad."
"This is bad. If he's the type of knight loyal to his local lord, it'll be difficult to handle. As for the Iron Throne?" Jon Snow muttered. "I'm worried Robert will be gored to death by a wild boar before he even realizes what's missing at the border of his kingdom. A wealthy knight..."
Harrison paced back and forth in the narrow hall, sighing at times, hiding his face at others.
The situation had completely exceeded his expectations. Though this was his manor, most of the nearly one hundred mercenaries here at this moment were former members of Black Falcon Morgan's group.
Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be an issue. Despite their differences, Harrison and Morgan had a fair relationship. They didn't agree on everything, but they had always worked well together.
But now, everything had changed. Boss Morgan had left just yesterday, and today Lame returned with the news of Morgan's death.
Harrison couldn't easily accept this. After all, Morgan had taken ten men with him, and now Lame claimed that everyone was fine except for Morgan. How could he believe that? How could everything be fine except for the boss?
Naturally, Harrison confronted Lame about it. In the argument, Harrison had brought up the mole that Morgan had mentioned before. What he didn't expect was that this revelation angered Lame.
In the heat of the moment, Lame asked if Harrison was implying that he was the mole, and then drew his sword, stabbing Harrison.
The attack came so suddenly that Harrison barely dodged it. Almost instinctively, he grabbed the fork from the table and stabbed Lame. The metal spikes of the fork drove deep into Lame's neck.
By the time Harrison processed what had happened, Lame had already breathed his last.
Harrison couldn't explain the scene. How could he tell anyone that Lame had attacked him first, and that he had killed him in self-defense? No one would believe that.
Anyone who thought about it would assume that Lame, drunk and out of control, attacked Harrison with a fork and died in the process, right?
First, Boss Morgan had died mysteriously. Then, Lame—Morgan's best friend and the second-in-command—was dead in his castle. Harrison couldn't think of any reason that would prevent the mercenaries from mutinying.
Harrison walked to the window and let out a deep breath when he saw that everything outside seemed normal.
Since the "crooked hat" hadn't returned to report, it meant that Dorian, who had come back with Sir Lannister, hadn't found anything suspicious or caused any trouble.
This was critical for Harrison, who needed time to think of a solution to the current dilemma. Though he had been thinking about it for a while, he still didn't have a clear answer.
Harrison was a capable fighter, but he had never been someone good at using his mind. If he had been, he wouldn't have served under Morgan as his deputy commander in the first place.
What do I do now? Harrison asked himself.
Fighting was impossible. His influence in the mercenary group was already weaker than Morgan's. And now, he was suspected of murdering Lame. Even worse...
"Will they accuse me of killing Boss Morgan too?" Harrison suddenly thought, his mind racing with absurdity.
If they did, the mercenary captains who had once supported him might reconsider their positions.
"Avenge Boss Morgan!"
"Murderer!"
"Harrison the Murderer!"
Suddenly, Harrison heard shouting from outside the window.
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