To shift the blame entirely, the second-in-command emphatically exaggerated the Barbarians' combat strength and threat, claiming that his desperate escape was to summon reinforcements.
"I suppose those Barbarians must be the murderers. They must have been hiding here, planning to continue eliminating other bandits at night. It was fortuitous that we found them; otherwise, more people would have died by their hands tonight."
Seeing the captain remain silent, the second-in-command could only steel himself and continue trying to take some credit. However, the captain wasn't paying attention to this; his focus was elsewhere.
If all the information matched and they could dispose of the bodies so quickly, didn't that mean the Extraordinary item truly existed? He had been worried about not having an excuse to attack the Barbarians, but now there was a ready-made reason!
With this thought, the loss of several elite fighters didn't seem so painful after all.
