Chapter IX: Accusations, Plots, And Investigations...

"Your Imperial Majesty, it is obvious that the ones who had brutally murdered our friends were none other than those demons!" The ambassador of the Akaneian Kingdom shouted as he pointed his index finger at Lady Nyx and her party. "I demand that their heads be taken at once! They have killed in this city, and the punishment for that is death!"

"You're an idiot if you truly believe that we killed your colleagues, Mister Redfield." Lady Nyx said as she crossed her arms. "We gain nothing from these murders, and it'd be nearly impossible for one of my own to slip past all of the guards, and enter the East Wing."

"Nearly impossible, doesn't mean that it's impossible!" The man declared in a rage like tone which had caused Donovan to frown. "And for all we know you could have blundered and entered the wrong room! After all, the Hero's room was only one room away, so it is possible he could have been your target."

"Your accusations are too far fetched, and anyone who believes them is a complete and utter fool." Lady Nyx said with a sigh as she rubbed her temple.

"Now hold on Lady Nyx, while I do think his accusations are a bit too unlikely, I do have to point out that one of your attendants isn't present here." Emperor Havel pointed out. "I'm not saying you had orchestrated this, but do you think it's possible she had acted alone in this?"

"You think a mere servant girl was able to slip past your guards, kill three of them, and then murder six men?" Lady Nyx questioned with a bit of bewilderment in her voice as well as some anger. When they had been brought to the throne room, she had noticed that her maid was missing, but had assumed that they went out to view the city.

"You say that, but for all we know she could be an assassin posing as a maid." Angel stated in a slightly low tone that was still loud enough for everyone to hear.

"She isn't, and if she is, then I was unaware of this." Lady Nyx said vehemently as she glared at the Hero.

"Your lying, and are just simply trying to cover for yourself, demon." The envoy of the Palum Kingdom declared in a hate-filled voice.

The Dark Knights upon hearing this let loose a small growl. They had so far remained silent, and were starting to get sick of how the humans were talking to Lady Nyx, but before they could say anything, Donovan held up his hand signaling them to hold their tongues.

Emperor Havel released a sigh of frustration as Lady Nyx, and the Hero began trading words with one another. While he didn't think his friend, Lady Nyx, was the one who had plotted this. He had to keep in mind that one of her people was no longer in the palace.

This sigh that Havel let out hadn't gone unnoticed, for the dwarf who was standing next to the throne had heard it.

"Your Imperial Majesty?" He started in a voice filled with concern. He was the Emperor's most trusted advisor, and would have been present at the meeting yesterday had he not been preoccupied with other things such as paperwork.

"This is getting out of hand." The Dwarf Emperor muttered in an irritated tone as he watched Lady Nyx deny the ambassador's and the Hero's Party's claims.

"I agree, Your Imperial Majesty." The white-haired dwarf stated with a nod of his head. "In all honesty, I think it'd be wise if we just confined them all to their rooms, while we investigate this matter."

"Hmph, I think that'd be for the best." Emperor Havel said as he scratched his chin with his thumbs. "They may not be happy with it, but it would surely be for the best."

With his decision made, the Dwarf Emperor opened his mouth to speak, but held his tongue due to the Black Knight breaking his silence.

Donovan, who had been listening to everyone who had put their two cents in had grown tired of it all and tried to be the voice of reason. "If our plan was to kill the Hero and his party, then don't you think we would have waited for you all to leave this city? And do you really think we would have sent one assassin to kill him, when some of our best fighters have failed? I don't know if you're using your brain or not, but he is not worth getting the Dwarven Empire involved in this war between us."

"I, unfortunately, have to agree with the Black Knight." Jacob said breaking his silence and shocking not only Donovan, but the people standing right next to him as well. "While Angel may be strong, I don't think the Demon King would risk their relationship with the dwarves. Not to mention, I just can't see one person being able to do all of this."

"I'm glad at least some of you have a brain." Lady Nyx said in a satisfied voice.

"God, you're such a bitch." Marianna declared in an annoyed tone after hearing Lady Nyx's comment.

As Lady Nyx was about to respond, Emperor Havel said in a loud and clear voice. "Enough, there are already enough problems as it is, and I do not need more, so, for the time being, I am restricting you all to your wings. If any of you are found outside of them, I will deem you as the murderer, and have you executed is that understood?"

"Yes, Your Imperial Majesty." Came the responses from the majority, but there were a few who had remained silent and disagreed with this.

Unfortunately for them, Emperor Havel didn't care for their complaints, and said in a slightly satisfied voice. "Guards, see them to their wings!"

After being escorted to the West Wing, Donovan let loose a sigh. He had expected assassinations to be carried out, but he didn't expect them to happen so soon. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours since he had spoken to the princess, and there were already things that needed his investigation.

During their trip to the West Wing, Donovan had asked the guards escorting them if there was anything he could do to help, but all they told him to do along with the Dark Knights who wanted to help was to stay put in their quarters and not do anything.

This had infuriated him a little, and he had tried to convince them that he could be helpful, but the dwarves were pretty adamant on this, so he had no choice, but to give up on the matter.

"Is everything okay, Lord Fane?" Sir Azath question in a concerned tone after hearing the sigh escape his lips.

"No, we've technically been imprisoned, and until this matter is solved, we are unable to go anywhere." Donovan answered in a slightly peeved manner.

"I mean, it could be worse, My Lord." Sir Azath said in response.

"How so?" Donovan asked with curiosity in his voice. He was curious as to how their situation could be any worse than this.

"Well, we could literally be imprisoned or even worse had our heads chopped off on false accusations." Sir Azath explained. The Dark Knight's lips had curved upwards as he said this, but Donovan wasn't able to see this due to the helmet.

At first, Donovan didn't react, but it wasn't long before he let out a laugh, and said, "You're not wrong, when you throw that out there, it literally could be worse."

Hearing Donovan laugh had prompted Sir Azath to chuckle as well. "Yeah, so why don't we just relax and let the Emperor's men do their jobs, okay My Lord?"

"Okay." Donovan answered before breaking off from the group and entering his room. He had exchanged a few more words with Sir Azath and a few other Dark Knights who had joined in on the conversation, but because he had nothing of importance to say, and Lady Nyx had gone straight to her room, he decided to return to his room and relax.

The thought of following after her and making sure she was alright had crossed his mind, but he thought it might be better if he left her alone, at least for now, since she didn't look to be in a very talkative mood.

After he had entered his room and closed the door behind him, Donovan idled for hours on end, for there wasn't much he could do inside his room.

Upon returning to the East Wing, Jacob was slammed against the wall by Angel.

"Is there a reason why you sided with that piece of shit?" Angel demanded as he stared up at Jacob, who at first was surprised by this, but had quickly recovered his composure.

"Angel!" Noelle, Gabrielle, and Xenovia yelled out of shock due to the sudden violence he directed to their comrade.

Angel paid them no heed, and simply gazed into the taller male's eyes, while saying, "Well, is there?"

"Besides his reasoning? No, there isn't." Jacob stated in a calm tone. He could easily get out of this situation if he wanted too, but he was curious to see how this would turn out.

"Angel, let go of Jacob right now." Shannon ordered after watching the two men stare intensely at one another.

"No, I'm wondering if Jacob here has a change of heart now." Angel proclaimed as he continued to gaze into Jacob's eyes.

"Are you for real?" Jacob asked in a serious tone. "Are you actually for real?"

Seeing him not say anything made Jacob laugh. "Oh my God, you're not kidding. You actually think because I agree with the Black Knight's logic I'm turning on you guys."

"Jacob stop it, and Angel let go of him now." Shannon said with traces of irritation in her voice. She didn't say anything unlike Jacob, but she did think that the Black Knight was right. Even if she was afraid of him, she could understand what he was saying, and also couldn't see why they'd risk their relationship with the Dwarven Empire when they could have done waited for them outside of the city.

"Angel, as much as I don't like that asshole, I do have to agree with his logic." Marianna stated in an apologetic voice, which had made him avert his eyes away from Jacob, and at her. "It just doesn't seem like something they'd do and not to mention, I'm sure that asshole would want to finish you off himself, so I don't know why he'd let an assassin do that work."

"Yeah, I don't think they were behind this one." Xenovia agreed with a nod of her head. "I think they're innocent on this."

After seeing more of his teammates agree with Shannon and Jacob, Angel released a sigh and let go of the taller warrior. "Alright, if the demons aren't the ones behind this attack, then who is?" He questioned with a frown.

"I don't know, but are we even sure that you or any one of us are the targets?" Jacob asked in a stern manner with a tiny trace of irritation in his voice. "What if this is just all a coincidence, and there is actually someone who has beef with the envoys?"

"I'd say it's possible, but very unlikely." Gabrielle said in a tired tone. "Unless they all had done something terrible, the assassin wouldn't gain much from killing a bunch of diplomats, no offense you guys." As she said the last part, she looked at the four envoys who had silently been watching all of this go down.

"Uh, none taken?" The envoy of the Palum Kingdom said in a slightly confused tone. He felt like he should have been offended by that statement, but he didn't feel like he had been insulted, which was why there was confusion in his voice.

After this was said, the Hero Party discussed the murder and who could be the one behind it. Unbeknownst to them, someone was listening in on their conversation and had a scowl written on their face.

After several hours of lazing about, Donovan loitering came to an end by clicking sound, which was immediately followed by the sound of wood moving.

With his interest piqued, he looked up from the book he had been reading and saw that the mahogany bookcase had moved, and that there was a hole in the wall. Standing inside said hole was a dwarven girl he had met not even twenty-four hours ago.

"Camillia?" He said in surprise as he got up from his seat while she entered the room. He had also put the book down on the table next to him. "What's with that getup?"

Had it not been for her greenish-blue black hair, and the black veil that concealed her facial features, Donovan would have assumed she was an assassin, for she was wearing black and dark green armor. Strapped to her waist were two blades that were more along the lines of short swords than daggers, and on her back was warhammer that had a large head.

"What do you mean?" She asked, not understanding or seeing why he was asking about her armor.

"Well, for one isn't it a little, I don't know, revealing?" Donovan stated with a small frown. While there was a decent amount of skin that was covered, Donovan couldn't help but notice that her chest piece only covered her chest really, and not her abdomen, which was a little toned, but not too toned. She also wasn't wearing anything to protect her shoulders, and her thighs were exposed as well.

"No, not really." She answered bluntly.

"I see." Donovan said as he looked away, his cheeks were just a smidgen red. "Well, it looks good on you."

"Oh, I, um, thank you." She had been completely taken back by his compliment, and had fumbled her words, but eventually, she managed to say her thanks. "Y-Your clothes, they, they look good, I mean, they look good on you."

Seeing her all flustered like this had made his cheeks even redder. "N-No problem, and thanks." He muttered into the hand he had placed over his mouth. He had already considered her to be a cute girl despite not seeing her face, but her reaction just now was way too cute in his eyes.

Unlike Lady Nyx, or the Demon King, who give off a mature and Mlif like vibe, the person before him gave him this innocent vibe that made him want to pamper and tease her to see how she'd react.

"A-Anyways, shall we begin our investigation?" She asked after a couple seconds of what felt like a little bit of awkward silence. "I believe I know who is responsible for Lady Nyx's missing attendant as well as the one who is behind the murder of ambassadors."

"Y-Yeah, we probably should." He had still not gotten over that reaction of hers, but he had realized that he needed to focus on the objective, and that was finding out who was responsible for today's events. "Just give me a few minutes to get ready."

"Sure, but be quick please, time is of the essence." She stated.

"Will do." He said as he already started to switch his clothing to what he wore underneath his armor only to stop due to him noticing that she was still in the room, and staring at him. "Um, you can wait in the like tunnel or whatever, you don't have to watch."

"Hm? Oh, um, yes I'll just wait in there for you." She said after realizing that she was staring intently at him.

With that said, she left the room, and gave him some privacy.