"So to summarize it, you all purposely tried to drag the dungeon exploration to wait for the dungeon flush. When that happen, you thought the contract would be nulled and you can use your own forces to enter the dungeon despite not having authority given from either the adventurer's guild or the baron. Is that right?"
Alfen nodded his head shakily, still confused about the beatdown his unconscious companions had suffered from. "But! I swear I didn't want to partake in it! They just..." Alfen tried to excuse himself, but his guild must have grasped his conscience.
"So in the end, since you didn't want to partake in it, Lester forced you by stranding you in the dungeon. That way, they can use the excuse of trying to save a fellow adventurer if they get caught," Anna summed it up. Her foot, stepping on the unconscious Lester as if he was a rock.
"Are Brandon and the others part of this?" I kept my gaze locked on Alfen. "N-no. It was only Lester and the adventurers," His answer sounded weak. If a third party saw a teenager looking this fearful in front of an 8-years old child without context, I'd bet they wouldn't be able to hold their laughter.
I calmed myself down, putting away the calm smile facade I wore earlier, I cleared my thoughts. Letting out a deep sigh, I began analyzing our current situation.
It's good that we were able to stop this little scheme of theirs, but what now. We have the advantage as long as Alfen talks as a witness, but then he would be condemned as an associate of this incident. If we say that he isn't, then that would just null his statements as a witness.
What's more, I'm in a body of a child, so I doubt anyone would believe something like this without an adult. If I was these adventurers, I'd put the blame on Anna being the one who beat them up and me being her associate, that way, we would both be punished and they would be excused, maybe even reimbursed for their injuries.
I could probably use Anna's status as somewhat of an adult, but even she doesn't have a reason to be here. The same goes for me.
In short, the problems are that we can't use Alfen with the way things are and that my words would be taken for granted as children's blabber. Although I doubt Sean and Sitri would think of that, I can't say the same for those who don't know me. Besides, I don't want to stand out either.
Closing my eyes, I thought of a plan to end the situation without me having to take the spotlight. From the study materials and from my own knowledge. We need to tend to Alfen's injury, catch these people without drawing attention to ourselves, and possibly end this dungeon quickly so we can continue our journey.
My brain felt like the intricate inside of a clock tower where everything, be it a small or large piece, functioned just to achieve the desired result. Opening my eyes, the dim-lit dungeon felt anew as I prepared myself to take my plan into action.
I walked up to Anna and asked her to stop playing with Lester's unconscious head. "What's up?" Anna asks curiously, but I could also feel Alfen's curious eyes from my back.
"Anna, how long can you last?" I asked. "I can still go for about an hour or two. More than that, then I'll probably need to have some rest. You have something in mind?" Her words felt pleasant as only one factor remained. "Just in case."
I lowered myself and took Lester's ring out of his finger. I activated the ring by pressing the gem on top of it. Unlike an awakened's storage ring which activates with mana alone, those who do not have mana need to manually activate it using their imagination and physical touch.
After taking out what I needed, I used imaginary potential on the ring before putting it back on Lester's finger. "Anna, what time is it?" I asked. "...I-I don't know, but we're probably around five hours before sunrise. Wait, why am I acting like I'm your assistant or something?!"
There was a short delay before she answered. Imaginary potential doesn't have any visible effects so I doubt he saw me doing something. To the naked eye, it will simply look as if I'm touching anything like normal.
"Ah, sorry about that. Anyways, let's wake this guy up then. By the way, trust me on this okay?" I gave Anna an innocent smile, to which she responded with a confused, almost disgusted, expression before kicking up the unconscious man on the ground.
"Ngh! What? Where am-!" Lester woke up confused, hand on his head, but as soon as he caught sight of me, he froze up. His head had a lump on it and it looks like it's getting darker, but I ignored it as I opened my lips.
"Attempted murder, Dungeon trespassing, Forced coercion, and fraud. Aren't you a bold one?" I listed the things he'll be charged with, in a calm manner. It doesn't matter if I don't have the power to actually condemn him of these charges, but what I need to see is a sense of dilemma.
Fortunately, my gamble paid off as his expression turned pale. Before he could refute, I followed up my statement. "However, I have an even better idea. How about we join you in this little scheme of yours?"
I could feel the looks of disbelief coming from Anna's direction, but I ignored it for now. "I didn't say I wanted to stop you before, did I?" I asked. Lester just stared at me as if recalling, before nodding slightly. Then, his expression turned vigilant as if he caught on a ploy.
"What's in it for you?" He asks with a tone of vigilance. Giving out a small chuckle, putting on an innocent demeanor, I opened my lips. "Don't you remember? We all here are fellow commoners. I just want some share. You also attacked me despite not hearing me out, so I'll need some compensation for that, you know?" That was totally unreasonable, but I told him so anyways.
Lester still kept his vigilance as he eyed tried to pry beneath my playful facade but my facade, honed for two decades, wouldn't break under such petty eyes. "By the way, we wouldn't help in the subjugation okay?" I added.
"Huh?! But you said you wanted to help us?" Playing villainous, I kept my expression calm with a thin smile and sharp eyes. "I don't remember saying I'd help. All I said is that I want to join in. Well if you decline, then I'm sure you know what's going to happen, right?"
Lester gruntled at my answer, but he is in no position to decline, so all he can do now is follow up. Besides, they were originally planning to beat the boss with only the four of them so it doesn't really matter if I join in or not.
Lester stood up, covering his eyes with his hand as if thinking heavily, but as I said, he didn't have a choice either way. He could have refuted earlier that my power is insufficient to convict them, but I didn't give them the window to do so.
What's more, I offered a more positive option. So even if they have second thoughts later on, it would be clouded by false hope and vigilance. After all, the more they don't trust me, the more I win in this bet.
"Fine. So we basically do all the work while you just claim some loot, right?" Lester sighed before asking. "That's right. By the way, I doubt you can win against the two of us together, so it's best not to get funny ideas either right?"
With only the faint sounds of fire flickering from the torches, Lester's gulping down on his throat sounded so audible. After nodding his head, I then turned my attention to the other three. "So that's Ryan, what about the other two?"
Lester still looked reluctant, but as it seems like a harmless question, he answered me. Pointing at the person Anna punched, the same person who's currently upside down from the impact, Lester opened his lips," That's Lark, and the other one you incapacitated is Kenny."
"I see. Well, let's wake them up now, shall we?" Procrastination isn't good, after all." After saying that, I made my way to Anna who's looking a bit doubtful. I could have told her the reason, but for now, telling her to just play it off with me is good enough.
After everyone's consciousness returned, Lester explained to them the current situation. I didn't give them time to all talk privately to make things easier for me.
If I was in their perspective, I'll probably think that I'm just being arrogant at this point as I held their weakness. The thought of betraying me by sneakily attacking from behind after killing the boss may even cross their minds. Then again, once they escape the dungeon after me, they're done for anyway.
All I need to do now is act like a perpetrator of blackmailing. After their small talk, I urged them to lead the way to the dungeon floor. It didn't take long before the wide dome-like arena caught our sights with the gigantic lumoine protruding at its center.
However, now that the giant hounds are flushed to the other floors, the new dungeon boss looked even more sinister than its predecessor. Four pure yellow eyes shine brightly in the dimly purple-lit room.
Bulging muscles covered in wolven fur, teeth as long and sharp as daggers, and two tentacle-like tails that felt disgustingly alive. Walking in all fours, it definitely looks like an apex predator. Furthermore, its size of around 3 meters in length and 2 meters in height felt like it could eat a human whole.
"Looks tough. Good luck!" I cheered everyone in a playful manner, but Lester and his companions just looked at me with disgust before jumping down the boss room. Now that it's only me, Anna, and the pale-looking Alfen.
Removing that awfully disgusting facade I put on, I let out a heavy sigh. "Didn't know you had thick skin," Anna mused. "It was necessary. You can release your attribute for a while since we'll need to escape full speed after this. By the way, Alfen, does your face not hurt?"
"Ahh-, Well, not as much anymore," he responded stutteringly, his face still having a weak complexion. The guy from earlier, Lark, seems to have applied some medicine to stop the bleeding, but we hadn't taken any other first aid other than that, so I was a bit worried. Well, it won't be only him that will look sickly after this night.
"You're probably feeling a bit light-headed, so you can sleep here for a while." After saying that, I went back to the halls, making sure nobody can see me before activating both imaginary potential and my magic.