"..."
Medea lied without even batting an eye, going as far as to sound apologetic, compassionate, and even worried himself, while Ava clenched her hands on the box with the charm pellets and stared down at her feet, too shaken to utter a single word.
"...Medea, just to be sure... You're boss isn't someone named Oliver, is it?"
"..."
Unexpectedly, when the pixie-cut girl spoke, she left the black-haired boy speechless.
...how in the world I'm supposed to answer that...? She might be dumb in some aspects, but if I'm not careful, I will be the one played for a fool...|
Medea's serious face didn't budge, but on the inside, he was feeling the fire being lit under his feet.
"He is not. Oliver left a bit over a year ago, and the current boss stepped in to collect what the idiot left in shambles. But Oliver came back saying that he has backing from the capital, and the boss is hesitant to take action against him. Oliver was also the one to allow Tee to take on the more dangerous mission of kidnapping Zorivia."
The black-haired boy answered while carefully weighing his words and observing the girl's reaction.
"It sound's like you haven't played Theo's route... just kill him..."
"Ava?"
The girl murmured, clenching her fists without raising her head, managing to actually surprise the black-haired boy.
"Oliver is a greedy scumbag who spends his time trying to succ up to actually influential people while using others and treating them like shit. In Theodore's route, he is a relatively useful character at the beginning, but when Theo starts to climb the ranks, he feels threatened and starts making things difficult for himself but can't do anything because he doesn't have the connections he always spoke of. So tell your boss it's okay to dispose of him."
Ava began to speak, slowly raising her head until she made very contact with Medea.
"Wait, no. I'll make it even more compelling."
"..."
The girl bit her lips and hurriedly turned around, walking towards her bed, pushing it slightly to the side, and uncovering a loose wooden tile in the floor while Medea watched her in silence.
*cha-ching*
From the exposed hiding spot, she took out a dusty pouch and threw it at the black-haired boy without checking its content.
"There should be at least two big gold coins and some silver and copper spare. All of my private funds. You said it yourself – we're the same; you know that what I said is the truth."
The girl declared with a hateful glare.
"...we don't know for sure whether Tee is..."
"Oliver isn't a necessary character. Not with those. If anything, he is an obstacle for me and for you – you want your villainess, don't you?"
Medea weighed the pouch in his hand, confirming that the weight matched the number of coins that Ava spoke of and began to say, but the pixie-cut girl interrupted him with barely held-back anger while shaking the box with the charm pellets.
Oh. She's not balancing between being dumb and smart. She's somewhat mentally unstable...|
After hearing words like necessary character and villainess, the black-haired boy leaned back in realization that certainly wasn't encouraging to him.
"You met my real boss. As much as I want to influence him, he isn't the sort of person that would trust others so easily. We need at least another proof or witness that's not related to you or me to get him going."
"Tsk!"
Medea didn't want to part with the money, but he was attempting to back off from the request, especially after Ava clicked her tongue in annoyance.
"Keep the money for now. I will get the proof within a week... During that time, could you try to learn what happened to Teo? Originally he should have succeeded and returned to Startinton with others... What if Zorivia lured him to her side...? Urgh...! Why is everything going so badly for me...?!"
The pixie-cut girl declared while pointing her finger at the black-haired boy while holding her stomach with her other hand.
Her behavior was only affirming Medea in his earlier assessment – she was greeting her teeth so much her words were barely recognizable.
"I will see what I can do. I will start with the Crownhorn farm employees, but that might get us nowhere. Still, depending on the level of injury that the brown-haired servant suffered, the Rotteloss family might need another servant. If asking the workers will not work out, I might try infiltrating it that way – killing two birds with one stone."
"Right! That's right! You want Zorivia, so you don't want her getting close to my Theo!"
Medea breathed out and announced, making Ava flinch and gasp with an oddly ecstatic gasp.
"Then we have a plan. I will do everything I can on my part, and you will do the same on yours. For now, let's hope that Tee will show up on his own with, at most, some minor injury that would allow you to treat him and score some good points."
"That's right! I knew that you would understand...!"
The black-haired boy nodded in confirmation and didn't show even a bit of concern when the pixie-cut girl clasped her hands together with a smile that could be generously described as unhinged.
----------
"I'm amazed. The people from Crownhorn farm are either one of the tightest-lipped humans we know of, or they really don't know a thing about little Tee's fate."
A few days later, Medea was leaning back on a tilted chair while watching the written report about the investigation burn down into ash in the fireplace at Gerard's house.
"As for Oliver, we managed to confirm the information that young Miss Ava gave us. Things seem to be simpler than we expected."
The copper-haired man standing by Medea's side nodded and moved to the next topic.
"He was in the capital – that much was true – but it turns out that the only connection with any crimelords is that he pissed off one of the goons working directly under Left Hand and fled the city in fear of retribution. There is no news about the reward, so it didn't seem to be anything special...?!"
"...~"
Gerard explained and gasped, tensing up, catching a glimpse of a friendly smile cracked by the silent Medea.