6-year-old Wise Man Wants to Walk in the Shade

Chapter 22 - Searching for the culprit (Part 2)

"By putting on a show, we'll trap the culprit. If we can get a confession that's close to a confession, we'll win. You can't trust just my words, Chief. You want clear evidence of who cast the suggestive spell." "Have you really pinpointed the culprit?" "I guess so." The situation so far has given him the answer. 

However, there are still pieces missing for the Chief to believe in the culprit. "How did you figure out who the culprit is?" "I just thought things through in an orderly way. Someone who wants war to break out between the dragon people and werewolves will inevitably emerge as a suspect." "I guess so." "See. It's easy to understand, right?" 

The Chief frowned and let out a heavy sigh. The Chief should be the one who knows the situation best, so perhaps he hasn't noticed? "Hey, explain it so I can understand. What do you mean?" "Eh? ``Didn't that narrow down the suspect?''

``You can!''

That's strange.

It should be easy to draw a conclusion based on the situation, the interests, and the history of each race.

``Okay, it'll be a bit long, but I'll explain it.''

``Please do so.''

I squatted on the ground and scratched a diagram with a tree branch.

``The reason why we want a war to break out between the dragon-men and werewolf tribes. The first thing that comes to mind is the benefits that can be gained from the war.''

``Yeah. War is for the sake of profit.''

``If we limit it to this battle, what benefits can be gained from fighting?''

The chief snorted.

``It's gunpowder.''

``Exactly.''

Fire is a weakness of both werewolves and dragon-men.

Gunpowder can be used to create powerful weapons using that fire.

If you get your hands on it, it will be powerful enough to upset the balance between the two great powers.

The benefits of gunpowder are immeasurable.

"It's the werewolves who want to fight and get the benefit of gunpowder! So it was the werewolf who taunted me!"

I shook my head.

"No, that's not it. In fact, the werewolves will be eliminated from the list of candidates."

I drew a line under the name of the werewolf written on the ground.

Naturally, the chief was not convinced and snorted.

"If they were going to frame me, wouldn't it be those guys fighting over the gunpowder?"

"But that would mean they started a war to get the gunpowder that would give them an advantage in the war. If you want gunpowder, you'd normally think of a way to do it other than fighting. After all, werewolves would want to fight after they get the gunpowder, right?"

"Those werewolves are just like us dragon people, and they pride themselves on their strength. They just wanted to get the gunpowder using their favorite method, right? 

It may seem like a reasonable opinion at first glance.

But it's not.

Even so, it's wrong to brainwash the chief and prepare him for battle. What would you gain from motivating your enemy? It's definitely better to suddenly attack an enemy that has no intention of fighting

Hmm...

The chief was quiet.

It seems he thought there was a point to it.

In that case, isn't your desire for gunpowder connected to your desire for gunpowder when you cast a suggestion spell on me?

You're right.

But other than gunpowder, I can't think of any other benefits to be gained from this battle...

What if your goal was profit and you didn't want to start a war?

What?

You even cast a suggestion spell to get me to ask for gunpowder because you wanted to start a war. Maybe starting a war was your goal in itself? Do you know anyone who wants to start a war between the werewolf tribe and the dragon tribe?

The chief spoke as if he had been startled.

"It's a vampire! They're always trying to take our interests from the sidelines. I think they were trying to do the same this time, trying to make us all fall apart!?"

"That's possible. They'll take the easy way out and take the best part when we're both defeated."

"Damn...! Those cowardly vampires!"

"--Well, that would be good."

"What?"

I crossed out the vampire's name as well.

"I thought he was a vampire at first, too. But there were a few things that bothered me."

Even when I met him for the first time, there was something clearly wrong with the chief.

When I checked with his subordinates, they noticed it too.

But they didn't do anything about it.

"Why didn't the chief's companions notice that he was brainwashing them?"

"That's..."

They should have been with the chief all this time.

He must have felt something was wrong many times.

But why didn't anyone point it out?

"Maybe I was scared. I know I'm an intimidating leader. That's how I've managed to get the subordinates together. So they were scared of what I might do, and couldn't speak up even if they thought something was wrong."

"The chief certainly does seem scary, but he's not the type of dictator who won't listen, is he? How was it up until now?"

The chief opens his eyes wide.

"My aides...there were times when they felt I was wrong, and they were prepared to be punched when they told me."

In that case, it's hard to imagine that the aides were scared and couldn't voice their opinions.

If all the dragon people were that useless, no matter how good their fighting skills are, I don't think the race would have flourished so much.

Werewolves in particular have a lot of sharp-witted people.

"If the dragon people were so stupid that they didn't notice the chief's suggestion magic, wouldn't they have been invaded right away?"

"I can't help but hear that. The elite troops do have their brains. The dragon people aren't a race that only fights.'

'I see.'

The new information I got from the chief made me happy.

'Then why didn't those people notice?'

'Ugh...'

'Or maybe they noticed but were just pretending not to?'

The chief was silent.

I added the names of werewolves and vampires to the ground where I had drawn diagonal lines.

The new suspect was...

'Profit isn't the only reason people want to fight. For example, the desire to wipe out a race you hate is also a perfectly reasonable motive.'

'...What are you trying to say?'

'Until now, no matter how much I wanted to destroy the werewolves, I couldn't do anything. But now I've found the perfect motive: a conflict over gunpowder.'

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

You already know what I want to say, Chief, right?

The chief's air was mixed with murderous intent.

His eyes were burning with anger as he stared at the name added to the ground.

The suspect that had not yet been crossed out was a member of the Dragon People.

Hey. Don't insult my race. I won't forgive you.

The chief spoke in a low voice, desperately reaching out his arm to grab the large sword that had fallen to the ground.

Even though his body was still in tatters, his anger was driving him on.

I understand his anger.

I continued speaking as if to admonish him.

I'm not insulting you, so calm down. As a chief, you need to think about what you should do to protect the entire race.

What if there really was a traitor who was instigating the war?

The problems that were ignored for reasons of trust and camaraderie would eventually lead to the destruction of the race.

"For the sake of the whole tribe..."

The chief fell silent as if struggling with conflict.

There must be a conflict between his desire for the future of the whole tribe and his desire not to doubt his comrades.

But he must overcome it.

He is the chief.

As I watched in silence, the chief looked up, his eyes shaking.

"...But those guys are my subordinates."

"Then I need you to cooperate with me even more. If you put on a show, I'll get the answer."

The chief sighed deeply, as if to release his anger.

"You're a brat with a good way of speaking. If you have some other plan and are trying to deceive me, I'll fall right into your trap."

"Well, I'm confident I can do that. But I won't."

What I want is peace.

The chief reluctantly said.

"Okay. I'll go along with your plan. What should I do?"

"Thank you. Thank you, Chief.'

I began to write new letters on the ground.

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