Paimon was taken aback. "Wow, Dehya! You were planning this back in the village?"
Dehya said, "What work gets done without preparation? I just happened to spot two suspicious people while you were out investigating."
Paimon asked, "But you didn't catch them—you let them go to deliver the message."
Dehya said, "Those two were just small fries, accessories to the crime. To flush out the main culprits, you need to give the line some slack."
[Paimon: These people really picked the wrong person to mess with.]
[Dehya: I wouldn't say I'm that tough, but I'm certainly not soft.]
[Cyno: The Akademiya must be running out of competent people if they left such a glaring hole.]
[Alhaitham: They've always been like this. Why would they take on dangerous work themselves?]
[Nahida: I'm wondering whether Sumeru should adopt a Qixing-style system too, with each person responsible for one direction.]
[Ningguang: That's a good idea. But I think the most critical factor isn't the system itself, but the people executing it. In other words, the ones sitting in those positions.]
[Paimon: What do you mean by that?]
[Ningguang: I believe that if you can only choose one between character and ability, I would choose character. A capable but wicked person only brings harm to all sides. For the Qixing, character comes first, ability second. Every generation of Qixing undergoes a character assessment. If they don't pass, no matter how capable they are, they won't become one of the Qixing.]
[Nahida: Dottore is perhaps an extreme example of that.]
Paimon said, "Were those the imposing names you dropped at the headman's house?"
Dehya laughed. "Those were just drunken ramblings I picked up at the tavern. Those guys always love to brag when they drink—calling themselves 'Round-Faced Butcher' and 'Pockmarked Bandit' and so on."
"Some people spill the truth when they're drunk. They're always going on about how King Deshret is better."
Paimon asked, "What about Zaki?"
Dehya glanced at Zaki lying on the ground. "Just a fool who delivered himself to us. He was the most well-hidden one. Originally, I planned to go after someone else first."
"I also deliberately mispronounced one name, so they'd think I was just guessing randomly."
Paimon said admiringly, "Dehya, you're really skilled at this. No wonder you're such a formidable mercenary."
Dehya said, "Just a few little tricks."
Paimon hesitated, then asked, "So was what you said earlier—that mercenaries only care about money, and anyone profitable is a friend—was that true?"
[Dehya: Paimon, if you knew me, you wouldn't ask that question.]
[Candace: Dehya is a person of principle. She's certainly not driven solely by profit.]
Dehya countered, "So what do you two think?"
Lumine said, "I don't think you're that kind of person."
Dehya asked, "What makes you say that?"
Lumine said, "Because even without a client, you're still taking action."
Dehya fell silent for a moment.
Paimon then asked, "Dehya, do you also dislike the Dendro Archon?"
Dehya scratched the back of her head. "You two are really perceptive. Yes, I'm not like the other desert people who hate the Dendro Archon."
"I've heard many good things about the Lesser Lord Kusanali from Dunyarzad. I've seen her devotion and gratitude with my own eyes."
"Dunyarzad is just an ordinary person. If the deity didn't truly love her people, there'd be no need to put on a show for someone so insignificant, time and time again."
"And recent events have made me realize even more clearly that it's the Sages of the Akademiya who are responsible for all this. The radicals who blindly believe in King Deshret and see the Dendro Archon as an enemy are merely being deceived."
"...I'm still clear-headed enough not to follow their lead in pointing fingers at someone who's done nothing wrong."
[Cyno: The Akademiya not only commits every evil deed but also lets the Dendro Archon take the blame. Very few people in Sumeru know about the Dendro Archon, yet the desert people are hostile toward her.]
[Alhaitham: The Sages disgust me.]