The tension in the room had grown so thick that one wouldn’t even need the Dagger of Truth to cut it. Any ordinary blade would do it.

The paladins stood next to Ning with their swords drawn, ready to swing down on him for the transgression he had shown to their lord’s treasure.

The Cardinal of Life stared at Ning with wide eyes of anger for a solid few seconds before taking a deep breath. He wiped the blood on a napkin and placed the dagger back on the box before closing the box and placing it away.

“What is your real name?” the man asked.

“Ning Ruogong,” Ning answered.

“Where are you from?” the man then asked.

“Far away,” Ning answered.

The man frowned slightly. “Answer more clearly. Tell me where you’re exactly from,” he asked.

“You don’t need to know that,” Ning said. “What? Just because you could only get truths from me, you thought you could ask and get all the answers? You’ll only get what I am willing to give you.”

The paladins behind Ning looked to the Cardinal for any sort of order.

“Don’t worry though,” Ning said. “I intend to be mostly free with my words. I won’t hide most things, so ask away.”

“Alright then, I’ll be forthright as well then,” the Cardinal said. “What is your intention in coming to Airan?”

“To meet the pope,” Ning said. “Just to be clear, that was my intention before coming here.”

“Before? What changed?” the Cardinal asked.

“I realized there was more than just the pope in the country. Now I intend to meet with the Pope and the Cardinals as well. 1 down, 3 to go.”

“What do you intend to do when you’ve met the pope?” the Cardinal asked.

“Shake his hands,” Ning said.

“What?” the older man was somewhat confused. “Shake his hands?”

“Yes,” Ning said.

“Why?” the Cardinal asked. There were many religious fanatics who wanted to get close to the pope to meet him, but Ning didn’t look like a fanatic at all.

“I wish to shake his hands to figure out if he’s the one I’m looking for or not,” Ning answered.

“You’re looking for someone?” the Cardinal asked. “What for?”

“So I could… how should I put it? Rid the world of evil,” Ning said with a massive grin on his face. “You would call that god’s work, wouldn’t you?”

“So you intend to kill the Pope when you meet him?” the Cardinal asked.

“I never said that,” Ning said. “I only said that I would kill the thing I’m looking for. If that happens to be the Pope, that’s not on me.”

Jasmine slowly moved away from Ning as she saw several of the paladins creep toward Ning with their hands on their sword hilts.

“So you confirm that you do indeed wish to kill the pope if he happens to be the one that you’re looking for,” the Cardinal asked.

“Indeed,” Ning said. “Also, just to be clear, it doesn’t have to be the pope. It could be the Cardinals as well. Maybe even the archbishops, but I’m not thinking about them just yet.”

“You seem to hold a grudge with the entire upper echelon of the church,” the man said.

“Nope, just one,” Ning said. “You can continue trying to make it seem like I’m planning on something horrendous, and maybe you’ll be able to succeed in making me appear that way. However, just know that deep in your heart, whatever I’m doing, I’m doing it with the best of intentions. And that you will know is true because I spoke it and I believe it.”

The Cardinal looked down at the wooden box in his hands, wondering if it had somehow been tampered with. But of course, that was impossible. Wasn’t it?

“I won’t play word games with you. I will ask the question simply, so answer it simply. Are you in Airan to kill the Pope?” he asked again.

“Maybe,” Ning said.

“Give me a yes or no answer,” the man demanded.

“There is no yes or no,” Ning said. “There is just a maybe.”

“Of course, there is always a yes or no,” the man said.

“Alright, let me ask you a question then,” Ning said. “If you ate 22 grapes from your bowl, are there 15 grapes left in the bowl?”

The Cardinal’s scar twitched slightly when he heard the question. “What?” he asked.

Ning repeated the question. “Answer me in yes or no. Are there 15 grapes left in the bowl?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” the Cardinal said. “I don’t know how many there were supposed to be at the start before I started eating. I’ll need more information.”

“EXACTLY!” Ning said. “Will I kill the pope? Maybe, maybe not. I can’t really tell you right now since I don’t have enough information to give you everything you need.”

The Cardinal frowned. “Alright then,” he said. “You also mentioned that you wanted to kill the three Cardinals as well, including me.”

“Just one,” Ning clarified. “And again, I do not have enough information to tell you everything at all. I require more information.”

Cardinal Marcus rubbed his beard with a thoughtful look on his face as he tried to make sense of the situation. “Alright, since you keep giving me a ‘maybe’ as an answer, maybe you could tell me what would make it definite.”

“That handshake,” Ning said, reminding the Cardinal. “I just need a handshake.”

“Do you need mine as well?” he asked.

“Actually, no,” Ning said. “I only need to touch the other person, and I’ve already touched you.” Ning grinned, giving a terrifying smile. “You’re not it, so you get to live to see another day.”

The man frowned. “When did you touch me?” he asked.

“When you took back the dagger,” Ning smiled. “You were so distracted with my spit that you didn’t notice what I had done.”

The Cardinal’s face paled slightly when he realized what a mistake he had made. Had Ning wanted to kill him with a touch, he would’ve been dead.

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