Isolde's expression gradually darkened.
She had only just realized how troublesome the identity of 【Guide】 was, yet Milo had already seized upon her brief hesitation.
And this time, the others were actually listening.
“Just because she didn't mention the wooden badges doesn't mean she's lying,” Damon suddenly spoke up.
Milo snapped his gaze to him.
Damon tied the 【Guard Captain】 wooden badge to the inside of his shield, his tone very calm.
“At least the dangers she warned us about indeed existed as we made our way here.”
Milo's lips twitched, but he forced himself not to raise his voice.
“But she definitely said she had been to the treant's territory before.”
“The Mist-Dwelling Forest is huge. Just because she's been to the treant's territory doesn't mean she must have taken this exact path.”
Damon frowned at him. “It's bad enough that you were the first to run away. She was lucky just to escape. Do you expect her to remember where every single branch grows?”
Milo choked up. That was obviously not what he meant.
But Damon's words were far easier for the others to accept than Milo's suspicions.
After all, they had seen the dangers Rena warned them about with their own eyes, as well as the existence of the treant.
“Something is off about these wooden badges,” Reece suddenly said. “Acting Caravan Master, Guide, Guard Captain, Cargo Escort, Caravan Physician, Porter, and Witness.”
“These aren't just any random identity badges; they're a complete set of role badges for a caravan.”
Zhou Yi didn't understand. “So?”
“A normal caravan must assemble all the necessary personnel before they can officially register and depart.”
Reece counted the wooden badges on the ground.
“There are exactly ten of us, and there are exactly ten wooden badges.”
He looked up at the half-collapsed road marker in the distance.
“If this trade route requires a complete caravan to open, then since they only had five people last time, she couldn't possibly have seen these things.”
Damon nodded. “That makes sense. Last time they had too few people, so they only encountered roots and black mud on the periphery. This time we have a full party, so the wooden badges and the trade route appeared.”
Their words caused the suspicions of the other two mercenaries to fade significantly.
Severn murmured, “That's indeed possible.”
Isolde didn't immediately join the conversation.
She had been frantically calculating how to explain the relationship between the party size and the trade route, but she hadn't expected Damon and Reece to patch up the loopholes for her one after another.
Especially Reece.
He had even come up with the reason that a complete group was needed to activate the treant's domain.
The tight string in Isolde's heart slowly relaxed.
As expected, a lie didn't have to be seamlessly crafted.
As long as her identity was firmly established and she acted the part well enough, others would naturally search for answers on her behalf based on their own experiences.
To put it bluntly—
As long as she put on a good act, someone would always step up to defend her logic.
Milo remained silent for a moment before saying in a low voice:
“That explains why she hadn't seen the trade route, but it's only a possibility. It doesn't prove that what she said is definitely true.”
“He has a point,” Kolo suddenly spoke up.
Milo was stunned for a moment, and Rena also turned to look at her.
Kolo's hand remained on the hilt of her weapon, her mask concealing her face.
“The possibility you mentioned is plausible, but the questions Milo raised aren't without merit either.”
After saying that, she shut her mouth.
She had accepted Milo's money. Since Milo had indeed spotted an issue, she should speak up for him.
But she wouldn't continue questioning on his behalf; Milo would have to find the evidence himself.
Isolde glanced at Kolo.
Damon and Reece had patched up the most difficult part of the explanation for her, yet this rabbit still insisted on making her say it herself.
She certainly keeps her rules clear.
“Fine.”
Rena raised a hand to brush back her damp-clinging hair, her tone already carrying clear impatience.
“Since you all want to hear it, I'll say it one more time.”
She pointed at the dense tangle of roots around them.
“Last time, including me, there were five of us in total. Setting aside Milo's confused memory for a moment.”
“As soon as we approached the treant's territory, we stepped into the black mud. Vines burst out from the ground, and in less than half a quarter of an hour, the party was scattered.”
“There were no wooden badges, no road markers, and none of this path you see now.”
She spoke quickly and sharply, as if her patience had been completely worn away by the continuous questioning.
“I didn't even make it this far. How could I have told you in advance what was further inside?”
Milo instinctively tensed his shoulders.
He wanted to press further, but a voice cut in before he could.
“Enough.”
Xu Zhiheng slowly walked between the two, his tone noticeably more impatient.
“We don't know what happened between you two in the past, nor do we have any interest in playing judge.”
Milo's face fell. “But she—”
“Whether she knows or not is a completely separate matter from whether we can leave this place right now.”
Xu Zhiheng interrupted him, his gaze sweeping over the constantly writhing roots around them.
“The wooden badges have already appeared. Standing here arguing will only put everyone in danger.”
Zhou Yi had long wanted to scold these ignorant "natives," so he immediately chimed in:
“Exactly. We came in here for the treant and the rewards, not to listen to you settle old scores. We even lost a teammate, so what's the point of arguing over this?”
Su Xiaoman took a half-step closer to Xu Zhiheng's side, speaking as if in passing:
“I thought local mercenaries would at least try to find a way out of here first.”
She glanced at Milo, her voice not loud, but just enough for everyone to hear.
“I didn't expect that even at a time like this, you'd still be arguing over who lied.”
The faces of the mercenaries instantly turned somewhat unsightly.
Damon and Reece had already given a plausible explanation.
Since Rena only had five people last time, failing to trigger the trade route wasn't an inexplicable loophole.
Rather than an unverified suspicion, they cared more about what this set of wooden badges would bring.
Milo did not argue further.
Reece's explanation was plausible, but there was no proof.
Rena's explanation was also plausible, and also lacked proof.
If it were before, he would have desperately forced everyone to pick a side.
But now, he suddenly understood that shouting louder wouldn't turn a guess into a fact.
Milo looked down at the 【Witness】 in his hand.
This wooden badge would allow him to preserve what had truly happened.
In that case, he would keep watching.
He would definitely find a loophole that even "Rena" couldn't refute, proving that he hadn't lied.
Isolde paid him no more mind.
She bent down and picked up the 【Guide】 wooden badge.
The moment her fingertips touched the cold surface of the badge, the half-collapsed road marker in the distance lit up with a faint dark-red glow.
Immediately after, the other wooden badges began to vibrate one after another.
The roots tangled in front of the ancient tree slowly retreated to both sides, revealing an old road paved with greyish-white stone slabs.
The path did not lead directly to the ancient tree.
It curved to the left along the edge of the circular clearing, quickly disappearing into the depths of the thick fog.
Low stone pillars stretched all along the road, faintly forming an even larger ring around the central ancient tree.
Isolde looked up at the ancient tree.
It was clearly right in the center of the clearing, seemingly only a few hundred paces away from them, yet in the thick fog at the end of the road, blurry road markers loomed one after another.
This domain had clearly simulated an abandoned trade route.
If they wanted to actually reach the ancient tree, they had to follow this path, spiraling inward ring by ring.
Above the stone path, two lines of dark-red text emerged.
【Identities confirmed.】
【Everyone, please hold your badges and enter the path.】
Rate on N.U.
