I turned the glowing slip of paper over in my hand, its faint mana trace tingling against my fingertips.

One little word could decide Olga's future here. And I had no idea yet what I was going to write.

It felt heavier than paper had any right to.

"Oh… Um, Cory…?" Hailie said softly, almost a whisper, breaking the silence, "we should write nothing. Olga didn't mean it. I believe her."

"I forgot to tell you this… But don't use my real name in the game, is that okay?" I turned my head slowly toward her, my brows knitting. "…Are you serious?"

"Okay, I'll stop saying Cory, but yes, I'm serious." Her voice didn't waver as she kept her eyes on the piece of paper given to me. "I think she was actually innocent, she seems nice and genuine, I don't think she's a liar."

I shook my head while clicking my tongue.

"Seven people said otherwise, Hailie, seven. And Olga admitted it herself, so 'self-defense' or not, she said she killed them."

"They didn't have to die." Hailie's fingers tightened while hugging her staff. "I saw ErikDop charge at me, and I don't think he meant that, either. So surely it means a hypnotist or something was in the area. And if… Um, someone tampered with our visions, I think Olga didn't really mean to harm anyone."

"There was no hypnotist, I don't think there could physically be one at this level, the soonest I can imagine is someone around level 80 learning from the spellbook." I cut in. My voice came sharper and louder than I meant, drawing a glance from the table next to us. I lowered it, leaning closer to her. "Think about it, if there was, why didn't they target you harder? Or me? Why waste mana on illusion tricks for both Olga and you? When it's very much enough to just mess with Olga and have her kill everything so that you blame her, too? And maybe, just maybe, I'll entertain the idea that she was hypnotized, even then, that doesn't erase what happened, people died."

She hesitated, her lips parting as if to respond, then closing again.

"It's just…," I sighed. "Perhaps Olga just lie, you know? She killed them, and just so happen you were the only fair witness in the scene, but you didn't see it because you were scared into looking away at the wrong moment, it happens."

Hailie finally lifted her head, her eyes locking onto mine.

"If you think there was no hypnotist, then that means Erik was actually trying to kill me. I saw him swing and charge at me, but he said he did not charge at me at all, does that mean he lied?"

I paused, chewing on the inside of my cheek. It wasn't a bad point. My mind flicked back to that moment in the dungeon, the weird stuttering when the seven swore the supposed "NPC" they met gave them a quest UI.

Hailie said no, Olga said no. But the seven said yes, too hastily and fixing back and forth, like they were adjusting their answer. It could have been a slip, or it could have been a lie.

"…Doesn't add up," I muttered. "Why risk death? A week or more of grinding gone, hours down the drain, who lies for that?"

"The risk is not the main focus because there could be greater incentives that outweights it… Um,"

Hailie countered, the most confrontational I have ever seen of her, she continued.

"Maybe there is something they'll get for staging it. Maybe political, or personal… And… a-and we don't know them well enough to judge their motives." She took a quiet breath, then smiled faintly, almost apologetic. "I just… I really don't want to think people lie, Cory. I want to believe there's good in everyone, they've been so kind to me. That's why I think Olga was manipulated or hypnotised, that's what makes the most sense to me."

Her words hung between us. I sighed, rubbing at my temple.

"Even if that's true," I said, "it doesn't change the result, as I mentioned. Someone died, regressing that it was Olga who lied, or the seven who lied, or maybe it really was some hypnotist messing with all of you. Whatever story we spin, it ends the same way: seven people dead, and someone's got to pay."

"But…"

"No, listen, I'll say it again." I leaned closer, my voice dropping to a whisper. "If there was a hypnotist, why waste power hypnotizing you too? Why not dump it all into Olga and let her carve through the raid group herself? Efficient, brutal, effective, but they didn't. Why?"

Hailie looked down, at a loss, her grip on the slip loosened. And for a moment, I felt guilty, but I genuinely think appealing to emotion was not, at all, a good idea here, so I had to be a bit hard on Hailie.

"…It would be cruel," she murmured after a moment, "to discipline her when she didn't mean it. When she couldn't help it and was defending herself."

I stared at her, my lips pulling into a flat line.

"And it would be crueler to let the victims rot without justice. Don't forget them just because they're not sitting at this table smiling at you. Imagine if I killed you, but then I get off scotfree"

"... In game, of course," I added just in case the government's listening.

Hailie's hand twitched, she opened her mouth, stuttered, then stopped.

"I… I don't understand her motive."

"Motive?" That caught me, I tilted my head. "What do you mean by that?"

"The seven said it was political. That Olga wanted to weaken the players that came from Destiny PC guild." Hailie's brow furrowed, her voice steadying as she thought it through, and once more I was surprised by the way she could form full coherent sentences. "But if that's true… why would she do it herself? She's second-in-command of the entire New Destiny guild, so everyone's watching her and expecting the best from her. From what I've read about classical warfare, the idea is that one crate of food from the opponent is worth ten crates for us… That means, um, it's not just plus one for our sake, but it is minus one for their sake, too."

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