Chapter 205: The Thief Among the Shapeshifters

"Quiet! Everyone, quiet down!"

Klade led Ron and the others into the hall and bellowed. The noisy room instantly fell silent.

Ron stepped over a bedroll laid out at the entrance and glanced around. There were nearly thirty people in the hall—some standing, some sitting, some lying down. They shot Klade disdainful looks, but couldn't help but show curiosity as they observed Ron and his companions.

These people didn't look like typical "refugees." Their clothes and appearance were quite decent, clean, and tidy. It was hard to imagine any of them being involved in theft.

Among them, Quest, dressed in a simple black shirt, was particularly eye-catching. It wasn't just because he was a Tiffling, but also because his attire seemed overly plain compared to his compatriots.

"Lord, you've returned!" Quest shook Ron's hand enthusiastically, smiling a little sheepishly. "I'm sure Lord Klade has already told you about the situation here. I apologize for my carelessness in choosing my companions..."

"You really know how to cause trouble for Ron," Aive snorted. "I'm a little curious. Aren't you a Shapeshifter yourself? Can't you tell which one of them is the thief?"

"I..."

"None of us are thieves! This is blatant slander!" Before Quest could even speak, a Shapeshifter wearing the guise of a Dwarf shouted out. "I was a craftsman in Cloud Port for thirty years! If you don't believe me, go ask around. Everyone knows I'm an honest and trustworthy person!"

"Our kind who are used to petty theft... Quest wouldn't accept them, and neither would we let them come!" a man who looked like a middle-aged citizen added immediately. He looked at Ron with anticipation in his eyes. "You must be the Lord here, right? Quest has praised your character and virtue to us many times. You can surely give us a satisfactory resolution, right?"

"That's right," a Turtle Man nodded slowly and said in a low voice, "Perhaps in your mind, we are all old hands at stealing, robbing, and cheating. But in reality, not every doppelganger is like that. We've lived most of our lives as ordinary people. We just want a settlement for our own kind, a place where we don't have to live such tiring lives."

"Think about it. What if we weren't the Shapeshifters you think we are? Isn't it possible that those merchants pulled an inside job and then tried to pin the blame on someone else?"

Ron looked at them without speaking. He knew that every stranger present could read his surface thoughts. It was a racial trait of Shapeshifters.

"Let's go back to Aive's question," Ron said, turning to Quest. "Can't you read each other's minds? You could just rule out your own people that way, and then read the memories of the travelers who were robbed. Wouldn't that solve it?"

"That might not be easy for other races, but for you, it should be a piece of cake, right?"

"We've tried that method, of course," Quest said, glancing at the Turtle Man. "But it's not actually that easy."

"The merchants didn't pull an inside job, I can confirm that. But doppelgangers are very sensitive about having their minds read by each other. Everyone is resistant to it."

"Just because of that?" Aive found it hard to believe. "So you'd rather all be put under house arrest than expose the real culprit?"

"Miss Half-Elf, please watch your words," the Turtle Man said slowly. "In our culture, there's no such thing as a 'real culprit.' We all live under false identities. We all have our own secrets and private thoughts. If we used the Lord's method to find the memory of the theft, the thief could just as easily use it to expose everyone else's issues."

"You can't just go digging through everything, can you? There's no telling what you might find, right?"

As soon as he said this, the Shapeshifters present all nodded in agreement. It was obvious that none of them wanted their secrets known to their own kind.

'This "tradition" seemed completely absurd to Ron. Shapeshifters, Quest included, could casually rifle through the thoughts of others on the street, yet found the same practice utterly unacceptable when applied to themselves.'

"I don't mind, personally," Quest said with a bitter smile. "But there's no point in reading my mind. If I knew who did it, I wouldn't be in this difficult position."

"Alright, what about physical evidence?" Ron found a chair and sat down, looking at Quest and Klade. "Were the stolen items found?"

"They were found, yes," Klade said helplessly. "Under an empty bed on the second floor. The thief must have changed their appearance, so it's impossible to track them down with fingerprints, footprints, or anything like that."

"Fortunately, since the items were recovered, the guests didn't press the matter. I've arranged for them to stay in Andre's village. Now we just need to find the black sheep."

"...Even so, you still rounded everyone up?" Ron scratched his head. "Why not just let go of the ones who haven't changed form recently? Keeping everyone penned up here just makes the search more chaotic, doesn't it?"

"Quest, among the people you brought, who changed their appearance around the time of the theft? You should remember that, right?"

"I understand!" It clicked for Quest, who immediately started calling out names. "Tom, Tebon, Vit... all of you who don't like to stick to one form, come over here! The rest of you, go to the other side! Stand still and don't move around!"

The Shapeshifters on the floor immediately sprang into action. Ron noticed that the Dwarf who claimed to have been a craftsman in Cloud Port for thirty years wasn't called. It seemed there was some credibility to his story.

The Turtle Man wasn't called either. The middle-aged man, however, looked nervous. But after a moment's hesitation, he still went to stand by Quest's side.

'Quest might not be a perfect judge of character, but he wasn't completely blind, either. There had to be some among them who truly wanted to live an honest life. It wouldn't be right if they were wrongly accused.'

"Okay, let me see..." Quest began to count. "Right, right... The number of people and their forms all match. It's the same group. Lord Ron, everyone who has changed their appearance is here with me."

Ron's suggestion was indeed useful, immediately cutting the group in half. Logically, the next step would be to question each of these Shapeshifters who had recently changed form, confirm their reasons, and narrow down the search even further.

However, just as Ron was wondering how to phrase his questions, a Halfling standing next to Quest suddenly shouted:

"Lord, there's something wrong with that Turtle Man! I was a Turtle Man before this, and if my memory serves me right, his shell might also have a lightning-shaped crack on the back!"