25 Not an Assassin or Accomplice

Aaron stopped his words at that and looked at the expressions of the handcuffed man and both his father's and Josef's.

Chuckling to himself he continues to explain further.

"That was the reason and now I'll explain how it was most likely done. Dad, let's say that this guy here was coming to kill you and the people you have been working with, what would be your first course of action?" Aaron asked Alan.

"Since I'll be aware of my enemy, I will take precautions against him. Also, try and set up a discrete trap to kill him instead." Alan said without delay.

"Basically, you would be on guard against him. As for the trap, you might leave the well-guarded area of the mansion, right? You would wait for him to strike!" Aaron said.

Alan nodded.

"This was also the same course of action that his colleagues or enemies took but they still all died, can you guess why?" Aaron asked again.

"He might have hired an assassin every now and then to throw them off? If the assassin succeeds in the assassination attempt that would be for the best but if it failed. With these, they would start to be more vigilant about any more attempts. Which would make it more difficult to get a chance to have them killed? All these murders have happened with a time gap of five to six days, this is enough time to get reinforcements. But I take it to not have happened like this right?" Alan revealed his thoughts.

"Yes, it didn't happen like this. When the first colleague was murdered it didn't ring any alarms for these people. Since they had been in this dark businesses it was likely to offend someone who couldn't be offended. So there was always a looming threat of getting killed by someone anytime. But this slowly changed when the people realized that they were all being targeted by someone. As they were not aware of the fact that he had escaped their scheme. No one expected it to be him in the beginning but soon as the numbers of deaths increased they started to cross of people who might not be behind these murders. That's when they realised who they were up against and took a similar approach as yours." Aaron said.

"Young Prince, why did it not work? They knew he was coming for them so how did he still accomplish it?" Jose asked.

"Uncle Josef, if he was to come and kill you, you would either strike first or wait for his strike with solid preparations against him. But the person who killed you didn't look like him, the person who you had your guard against. Wouldn't you be in a precarious situation?" Aaron said.

"Then he might have collaborated with someone else, is that what you want to say?" Josef added.

"No, he didn't trust anyone enough to collaborate with. He was someone who knew these people for years, so it was easier to predict their course of action. He knew the ins and outs of their hideouts or safehouse. So no matter where they tried to hide he could find them. Also, with each kill, he obtained more information about others. Just like how the Ancient families have kept a strict and constant vigilance on each other, they also did the same. Making him more advantageous against them." Aaron said.

The handcuffed-man had been expressionless until now looked at Aaron with a mystified and surprised expression on his face.

Aaron noticed his gazed as he walked behind him, he placed both his hands on the man's shoulder and patted them.

"He accomplished it because of his ability, based on my assumptions he should have one of the three abilities, disguise, camouflage or shapeshifting. What do you say Mr Murderer?" Aaron said,

The body of that man quivered slightly hearing Aarons words but he still remained silent. Aaron knew that he is a shapeshifter as the system had informed him just a few moments ago. Based on all the other information that he had at his disposal he made deductions about how things might have played out. And with the reaction the culprit it was quite obvious he was very close to the truth.

"It really is an amazing ability, if a trained assassin had this ability it would turn into a headache to figure things out. But how did you figure out that he has one of these abilities?" Josef asked.

"Well, look at his hair they are different in a few places. Which led to me believe that he used some spell to disguise himself or the shapeshifting skill, his skill, is not very high. These patches of hair are proof that he has changed his appearance multiple times, and these are the drawbacks or mistakes he made while casting the spell of disguise or while shapeshifting. If you ask me I don't think he has a camouflage technique nor a disguise spell. His ability is definitely shapeshifting. If that is the case he probably turns into anyone close to his target who is dependable and trustworthy. After that everything becomes pretty easy, look for a chance to strike, once the target was killed turn into someone like a servant or maid to leave the premises of the crime. You were able to capture him because you knew where and whom he was going to strike next, but it seems that after killing his last target he didn't have any ideas of escaping. That's what is the baffling part for me though." Aaron said.

The room became silent but Aaron, Alan and Josef starred at the man intently asking for the answer.

The man finally sighed and said.

"I have no reason to live, my parents, my wife, my children and even my trusted aides are dead. I knew that day itself that when I walk this path only death awaits me either at the hands of my enemies or the authorities. So when I killed the last man responsible for the massacre of my family I gave up the will to fight or live. You can do whatever you want to me." The man explained his reason briefly.

"Humph, ...So you think, killing a dozen scums like yourself is enough? My Dad would have executed you publicly but now that I know about your ability, you can forget about receiving a quick death like that. There are a lot more degenerates like you out there and from now on you will clear them out for us as a punishment. But before that, you are going to willingly sign a contract with us. Are you going to comply?" Aaron snorted displeasedly and said.

The man resumed his previous demeanour and stayed silent and expressionless. Aaron took the contract from his father and placed before the man. Pulling out his sword 'White' he made a cut on the man's index finger.

The man understood what this meant as he placed his finger on the contract then he moved his finger to sign his initials. Then he looked up again waiting for something. Josef went forward and unlocked his handcuffs. Then the man poured a significant amount of mana into the contract.

Josef passed the contract to Alan and he repeated the same procedure. In the end, a ray of light shot straight towards the man's forehead. Another shot towards Alan's forehead and the contract was complete.

Alan looked in Aaron's direction puzzled.

"Ask him whatever you want he won't lie about it anymore or stay silent as he did previously," Aaron said.

"What is your name and what crime did you commit?" Alan asked him.

Still kneeling on the ground the man replied.

"My name is Rupert Murdoch, 38 the owner of Greywood textiles, I have committed the crime of killing 23 people in cold blood to avenge my dead family," Rupert said.

Satisfied with the effects of the contract Alan nodded.

"Go with him and provide all the information you have collected about the people you killed and others who are involved in the business," Alan commanded.

"Wait, I'll be sending some books to read to let him understand his abilities better, so send someone to collect them later," Aaron said hurriedly.

His ability was really useful, but the guy lacked creativity. Aaron was planning on giving books related to shapeshifting ability users from earth to give him some insights.