Chapter 656 - 655: Guilty by Association

Chapter 656: Chapter 655: Guilty by Association

There was no longer any argument over whether they should go. Whatever disagreements remained between them could wait until Bailey was standing among them again.

For some, that was the only thing occupying their thoughts as they left the city behind. They wanted to find Bailey before whatever fate Amara’s ability decided could come to pass, regardless of what they had to do to reach her.

For others, their concern stretched farther ahead.

Following Bailey meant following the expedition, and following the expedition meant eventually facing the very person everyone had set out to kill.

Even those who believed Noah wasn’t evil were concerned about what would happen when they met.

Although they weren’t going there to help the others defeat him, they weren’t going there to defend him either.

And for those who knew Noah well enough... or at least the Noah they thought they knew, that distinction might not matter to him.

Noah might already consider them enemies.

If they arrived alongside the people trying to kill him and simply stood there while it happened, would Noah really see them any differently from everyone else?

Not helping while he was trying to be killed was no different than aiding his death.

That uncertainty followed them as they hurried after the expedition.

—

Nearly two hours had passed since the expedition left Ashenveil.

By now, the forest that had remained in the distance for most of their journey stood directly ahead of them.

The expedition had made a temporary stop before entering.

After traveling for so long, everyone needed a chance to recover whatever stamina they had expended along the way. Some sat wherever they could find space while others ate, drank, or checked their equipment.

Once they entered the forest, there was no telling how soon they would encounter the demon, nor did they know what other creatures the demon would have at his disposal.

That made this their final opportunity to ensure everyone was in the best condition possible before the fighting began.

It also gave the people leading the expedition one last opportunity to confirm exactly what they intended to do.

A small gathering had formed away from the others, mostly made up of representatives from the different groups involved in the expedition.

The Church, Guild, Nobles, and Ashenveil’s soldiers had all come here for the same reason, but that didn’t mean they agreed on how that reason should be handled.

And somehow, for the third time since he came back from that forest, a certain tiger beastkin found himself at the center of their questioning.

Varkesh wasn’t enjoying it any more than he had the first time.

"I already told you everything I know. What else do you want me to say?"

Varkesh responded almost immediately, the edge in his voice making it clear that whatever patience he had for being questioned was already wearing thin. His attention shifted between the people gathered around him with an intensity that bordered on hostility, as though he was waiting for one of them to finally reveal why they had brought him into the middle of another discussion.

Those gathered around him noticed the change, but his behavior wasn’t hard to explain. Varkesh had already been questioned several times since returning from the forest, with the Church showing considerably more interest in what happened than anyone else.

Considering everything surrounding his return, there was little reason to expect him to remain comfortable while being placed at the center of their attention yet again.

None of them realized that being questioned repeatedly was only a small part of what had Varkesh so anxious.

Ever since joining the expedition, Varkesh had been waiting for the possibility that someone would discover his betrayal. For most of the journey, there hadn’t been much he could do about that fear besides remain alert.

The forest had still been too far away for Varkesh to realistically reach if the people around him suddenly turned against him. Now that they were standing directly outside it, however, every instinct told him that he should run the moment he believed something was wrong.

Varkesh wasn’t foolish enough to immediately listen to those instincts.

Running might give him a chance to escape, but it would also make his betrayal obvious to everyone watching him. They would know that he had sided with the demon, and it wouldn’t take much for them to realize that Noah might already know they were coming.

Varkesh had no idea what Noah intended to do once the expedition entered the forest. He only knew that the demon had allowed him to leave after they made their agreement, and since then, Varkesh had done everything he could to make sure no one discovered what happened between them.

Running before he was certain they knew would risk ruining all of that.

The people leading the expedition could change their plans, become more cautious, or even decide against entering the forest until they understood how much information Varkesh had given away. Any of those possibilities could interfere with whatever Noah was preparing for them, and Varkesh had no idea how the demon would react if his mistake was the reason those preparations failed.

More importantly, he didn’t know whether Noah would still acknowledge their agreement afterward.

That was enough to keep Varkesh where he was.

Regardless of how badly his instincts urged him toward the forest, he couldn’t afford to act until he was certain his betrayal had been discovered.

However, if his betrayal had been discovered, Varkesh had already decided that he wouldn’t waste time trying to explain himself. He didn’t expect anyone here to care about his reasons, and attempting to convince them that they had misunderstood his actions would only give them more time to surround him. The moment he became certain they knew, he intended to run and take whatever chance he had of reaching the demon before they could stop him.

Fortunately for Varkesh, the instincts preparing him to flee were also doing more to conceal his betrayal than anything he could’ve accomplished by deliberately pretending to be innocent.

His fear and agitation were genuine, and those gathered around him could see both, yet no one there thought anything of it.

They simply had plenty of reasons to explain his behavior without ever considering that Varkesh might’ve betrayed them. To everyone else, the beastkin was surrounded by people he had little reason to trust, forced to discuss the same demon who had recently killed his squad.

Even the occasional glances he sent toward the forest could easily be mistaken for apprehension over having to return to the place he had barely escaped from before.

Varkesh had no idea they were interpreting his behavior that way. As far as he was concerned, the attention being directed toward him could only mean that someone had discovered something, and every second that passed without an explanation made it increasingly difficult to keep himself from assuming the worst.

"Varkesh," Thalric finally spoke. "We’re not questioning whether what you told us was true."

Varkesh’s attention immediately settled on him, although the reassurance did little to ease his tension.

"Then what is this?"

"Things have changed since the last time we spoke to you." Thalric allowed his gaze to shift toward one of the newer faces among those gathered, his expression hardening more than ever. "There are... other things we need to consider now."

Varkesh followed his gaze until his attention settled on Bailey, and it didn’t take long for him to understand why Thalric believed her presence changed anything.

It wasn’t as though Varkesh had only just noticed her. He had recognized Bailey around the same time Thalric did, but with his own betrayal constantly hanging over him, he had been far more concerned with watching those around him than questioning why she was here.

Now that Thalric was deliberately drawing his attention toward her, Varkesh found himself reconsidering that.

His eyes narrowed as he remembered the group of young adventurers who had approached him shortly after he returned from the forest. They had claimed to be Noah’s friends, using their relationship with him as a reason for Varkesh to tell them what happened, but even then, something about their questions hadn’t sat right with him.

Varkesh had never fully believed them.

They clearly knew Noah, which was enough to give some credibility to what they claimed, but knowing someone and being their friend were two very different things. Varkesh sensed there was more to their interest than they were telling him, and because of that, he had made sure to reveal as little as possible while still giving them enough to satisfy their questions.

Seeing Bailey here only made him more certain that he had been right to do so.

She hadn’t merely joined an expedition whose entire purpose was to march into Noah’s territory and kill him. Of all the groups she could’ve associated herself with after coming along, Varkesh had seen enough during the journey to know that she had placed herself alongside the Church.

Whatever uncertainty remained about the group that had approached him disappeared with that realization.

As far as he was concerned, they had lied to him.

Whether they had worked with the Church from the beginning or Bailey had only chosen to cooperate with them afterward, Varkesh couldn’t know. What he did know was that they had approached him claiming to be Noah’s friends, questioned him about everything that happened inside the forest, and now one of them was traveling alongside the very people preparing to kill him.

Varkesh couldn’t see it as a coincidence.

His thoughts immediately returned to everything he had told them during their conversation. He had been careful at the time, but that didn’t stop him from trying to remember exactly how much information he had revealed and how useful any of it might’ve been if Bailey had passed it along to the Church.

Only after those thoughts passed through his mind did Varkesh begin to recognize what Thalric’s explanation meant for his more immediate concern. It’s not that they suspected him of anything; Bailey’s presence had introduced something they hadn’t needed to consider during his previous questioning, and whatever they wanted from him now was connected to her.