Agur Suhi was sitting at the table very much like Jusha Lale one room over. When he heard the sound of the door, he looked up, observing the man in front of him. "I assume you are zhireng Susha?" He got up, his expression serious.
Susha Unhuor nodded and motioned back to the table. "Let’s sit down. I am not a man for many words so I would like to cut straight to the chase."
"Of course."
The two of them sat down together and Susha Unhuor gave the other man a quick once-over out of the corner of his eye. The first thing he noticed was that Agur Suhi looked younger than expected. In fact, he might only be a few years older than him. But come to think of it, the dan had mentioned that his mother was older than his uncle. He hadn’t said by how many years exactly but it wasn’t strange that his uncle and possibly also his uncle’s best friend would be closer to them in age.
Save for his age, Agur Suhi was pretty much what he had expected: He wore a robe that was slightly understated but of high-quality when looking more closely, his hair was tied up neatly and he sported a short, well-groomed beard. Other than that, his face was a little nondescript and his hands didn’t give any indication that they had ever been used for hard work.
To describe him in a few words: This man looked like he was one for words, not for the sword. Somebody that valued his ability to utter his thoughts in a well-thought-out manner and did not want to impress with anything but his ideas.
Susha Unhuor retracted his gaze when he came to that conclusion and got to the topic they had met for. "You know about what has transpired at the royal palace so I guess I will not have to explain anything. I happen to have a few questions that will allow me to gauge the overall situation better and better the chances of me defeating the demon."
Agur Suhi nodded. "Please, go ahead. I will naturally do whatever I can to help"
Susha Unhuor gave a nod as well but slightly furrowed his brows as if in deep thought. "From what the dan told me, the demon’s first victim happened to be his uncle. Usually, there will be a reason as to why a person is chosen first. I was wondering if you had some insight into that seeing that you seem to have been his friend for a long time."
"I am indeed his friend. Unfortunately, I can not imagine why the demon would choose to kill him. Reng was … a very good man. Very caring toward his family and friends, very successful in his work …"
"What was his work?" The dan hadn’t really said much about his uncle past his basic personality and even that had been quite concise. Well, who would like to talk about a person that wanted to kill you?
"Oh, he was part of the army. He usually stayed in the capital though so his name isn’t that widespread. I guess you wouldn’t have heard of him."
Susha Unhuor narrowed his eyes. This was quite interesting. It was actually a possible reason for summoning a demon. Maybe Shaun Reng had felt stifled under the reign of his brother-in-law and now his nephew. Maybe he thought that if these two were gone and somebody else — no matter whether it was him or somebody else — acceded to the throne, he would have a chance to go out and make his name known. After all, while his family might want to take extra measures to make sure that nothing happened to him, others wouldn’t have such scruples.
It could also be that his aspirations had been much grander than that. Sometimes, there were some idiots that believed they could vanquish a demon themselves and wouldn’t need a zhireng for that. If somebody longed to be known for their achievements, they might cause a situation where they could facilitate those themselves. It wasn’t impossible.
No matter which one it was, it would at least provide an explanation as to why this person that had seemingly never threatened his nephew’s reign before would suddenly go to such lengths. Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but question it. "Could it be that he was unsatisfied with only being in the capital instead of making his name known outside?"
Agur Suhi shook his head though. He didn’t hesitate for even a moment. "No, I don’t think so. Reng was a very family-oriented person and his family was here in the capital city. While he would not have minded going out to fight, he was satisfied with being able to stay here and spend more time with them. Fame would have been nothing to him in comparison."
Susha Unhuor closely watched his expression but he couldn’t see any obvious signs of a lie. Whether that was because this man was telling the truth or what he believed to be the truth or just because he was a splendid liar … it remained to be seen. "Then was there anything else he was unsatisfied with?"
"Nothing that I knew of, no."
"Hm." Susha Unhuor continued to look at him but Agur Suhi did not even flinch. He really seemed to believe what he said. "This is a difficult situation. I cannot vanquish the demon without sufficient information."
Agur Suhi’s expression turned subtle. "Zhireng, if I knew … I would certainly tell you. But I cannot possibly imagine what Reng could have done to deserve such an end. He really was a good person. Committed to his family, attentive toward his friends, loyal to his king, devoted to his cause … I cannot see anything he was lacking."
Susha Unhuor’s gaze roamed through the room. This man had mentioned Shaun Reng’s family more than once. Could this be a hint? "How committed was he to his family? Committed enough to want the throne for them?"
Agur Suhi’s brows drew together. While nobody had said it explicitly and Jusha Lale had even had it announced that his uncle tried to save him, he had been working close enough with both Shaun Reng and Jusha Lale to know that this was likely not the case. He didn’t want to believe it no matter what the circumstances pointed to though. "There would be no need for that, would there? The king is half his blood."
Susha Unhuor gave a faint smile. "Half his sister’s blood if what I was told is true. Or do you know something else?"
In the room next door, Shunche tightly gripped onto his sword’s handle, wanting to storm over and hack at this warrior for suggesting that something sordid had happened behind the scenes. One look at the dan and one would know that no such thing was there! How dare he make such assumptions!
Jusha Lale himself just faintly raised his brows. This was certainly a first for him. People had often insinuated or at least questioned whether he was fit to be king based on his looks but nobody had gone so far as to state that he might not be the previous king’s son. That was really … going too far.
Agur Suhi seemed to think the same. He actually leaped to his feet and stared at Susha Unhuor with blazing eyes. "What … what are you even saying?! His Majesty is clearly the late king’s son."
Susha Unhuor merely continued to look at him, not at all impressed by this man’s sudden display of a temper. In fact, he was a little intrigued, feeling that he must have come close to the truth somehow. "So nobody had an affair?"
"No!"
"Then why did you hesitate?"
"I …" Agur Suhi gnashed his teeth. "What kind of questions are you asking? I am merely surprised that a zhireng would go so far. You are completely wrong. There is no such thing at all. Reng loved his family."
Susha Unhuor gave another hum. There it was again. He loved his family, he was committed to his family and family-oriented, he wanted to stay with them and was very caring toward them … Why mention it so often if there was nothing more to it? Was there really a need to stress it this much? He didn’t believe it.
He pondered but couldn’t figure it out. Without having known the person, it was hard to say how much of this was the truth and how much was covering something up. Maybe this Shaun Reng had really just loved his family very much and been open about it. He felt that it was unlikely but there was still a possibility that it was true. He couldn’t neglect that. Otherwise, he would be the one to pay for it first if it made the demon more difficult to vanquish. And should he fail … No, he did not even want to think about it.
"If it is nothing of the like, then tell me what was wrong instead. He would not have been the demon’s first victim if there hadn’t been anything wrong with him. That isn’t how it works."
Agur Suhi still shook his head, refusing to admit it. "There was nothing of the like."
Susha Unhuor’s brows furrowed together. "You do realize that he is a dead man, don’t you? No matter what you say, it will not cause him any problems going forward. Not saying anything will not just cause problems for others but actually put everybody’s lives in jeopardy, do you want that?"
Agur Suhi closed his eyes but still shook his head. "There was nothing like that."
Susha Unhuor couldn’t help but feel frustrated. This guy! Did he not understand what the consequences of his actions would be? Seething inwardly, he took a deep breath to calm down.
Maybe it was that Agur Suhi had known all along but because they were friends or because he expected some windfall after the current dan died, he hadn’t done anything to prevent the demon from being summoned. Maybe now that Shaun Reng — the only one who knew about his involvement — was dead, he saw this as a chance to pretend it had never happened. After all, as long as nobody knew, there could at most be rumors. It was much better for him now that the current king was still alive and he needed to live under his rule. Who would want their lord to know that they hated him enough to want him to be killed?
Thinking of this possibility, Susha Unhuor tried another approach.
"Should telling me cause problems for you … Well, you do not have to worry. I will not tell anyone about what I hear in this room. Whether that is your family or the king, I will keep quiet about this. To me, my only task is to defeat the demon. I need to know some information for that. That is all that I want. I don’t care about any of the other things."
Agur Suhi kept quiet for a moment, still not looking at Susha Unhuor. In the end, he sighed. "You have it all wrong, zhireng. Reng was a good man. There was nothing like that."
Susha Unhuor leaned back and sighed as well. "Nothing like that …" This actually told him more than anything that Agur Suhi had said before. He had asked him whether there was anything wrong but he had still spoken about 'something like that'. Didn’t this mean that there was precisely something 'like that'?
It was just that because of whatever reason, he did not want to name this thing. Well, he could not force him. And maybe there were still other people around that would have more guts. He would just go and speak to them. "Very well, if you’re not privy to this information, then maybe somebody else is. I will go and speak to everyone else. I heard he had a wife?"
Agur Suhi slowly opened his eyes and nodded. "He had. She’s a lovely woman."
Susha Unhuor nodded slowly and then got up. "Very well, then I will start with her." He turned to go but stopped halfway out of the door. "Are you sure that there’s nothing else you want to tell me?" He waited but the other man did not speak up. In the end, Susha Unhuor could only leave and go over to the room where Jusha Lale and his guard were waiting. Well, this had not gone the way he hoped it would.
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