Gauss didn’t ask out of mere curiosity; his heart was indeed intrigued.
In this desolate wilderness, the other party hadn’t communicated with his companions yet; he simply reached into his clothes with a look of extreme satisfaction on his face.
Has anyone ever told him he is not very good at hiding emotions?
It’s as though he’s just shy of writing "I have a big secret" on his face.
Noticing Gauss’s gaze shifting towards his map, Felix’s heart skipped a beat even though it was obscured by a layer of clothing.
He immediately withdrew his hand.
He still comforted himself internally, thinking about how he and the man before him hadn’t had any conflict, not even having met until today.
The man might’ve simply come to scout the vicinity of the temporary camp, coincidentally encountering a few of them.
Although it was strange for the adventure group’s leader to conduct personal reconnaissance of the camp’s environment, it’s not entirely impossible.
Relax, relax...
As his mind raced, contemplating how to strike up a conversation with Gauss and subtly skirt around their purpose for being there,
Gauss spoke again.
As if by magic, a small familiar bottle appeared in his hand.
"Is this what you intend to use on Levin and his group next?"
Gauss seemed to be speaking to himself.
With his Identification Technique applied, the specific information of the item soon appeared in his mind.
"Oh wow, it’s still a poisonous toxin."
His eyebrows twitched, showing a meaningful expression.
These people genuinely wish to put Levin and his group to death; that’s quite the hatred, isn’t it?
Not long ago, they had just plotted to use Beastmen to kill Levin without success, and now they’ve come up with another scheme.
According to the information provided by Levin and Medvedeva, they’ve only had a small friction once before.
Even after things were stolen, the Night Owl Squad did not seek trouble, yet the Wanderer captain pursued the victim relentlessly, which is rather topsy-turvy, isn’t it?
If someone didn’t know better, they might think the Night Owl Squad’s members stole his things.
Gauss shook his head.
Completely unable to comprehend their way of thinking.
He often found himself out of place with villains due to his overly normal personality.
When did he take it?
Felix touched the pocket of his jacket and found that the bottle of poison was indeed gone.
Beads of sweat slowly seeped from the roots of his messy hair covering his forehead.
Is it sweat?
He looked at Gauss, who had put away the poison; his pupils quickly contracted.
For some reason, he felt as though he was being thoroughly seen through in front of this man.
This man seemed capable of doing whatever he wanted, with Felix powerless to resist.
"Sir, who is Levin you’re talking about?"
"I don’t know him."
"Is there some misunderstanding between us?"
"For wanderers like us who lack direct combat ability... carrying a few bottles of poison is quite normal, isn’t it?"
Gauss directly revealed his next plan, making Felix even more nervous inside.
Also, Gauss seems to know Levin and his group?
So, he was clear that under these circumstances, there’s no way he could think about confessing.
However, he might have overlooked an important point.
That is, the difference in strength between them was too significant, and even the highest level member Felix was only level 2.
Gauss wasn’t concerned upon hearing his outright denial.
As a strong wave of Magic Power emerged around him, everyone present felt swept by an invisible force.
The next moment... their consciousness plunged into darkness.
"Hypnosis Spell."
Gauss cast the Hypnosis Spell.
Normally, for the spell to take effect, the target must be in a willing state, but this prerequisite depends on similar power levels between the two parties.
Given the power gap between Gauss and these people, their resistance was negligible.
Thus, they were hypnotized in the blink of an eye.
Decisive, feeling there was no need to waste time.
Compared to these few, he naturally trusted his former squad members’ statements more.
Under the control of the Hypnosis Spell, they entered a state of question-and-answer readiness.
Gauss quickly confirmed the truth of the matter.
The first fact was that they were indeed here to harm Levin and his group, and even after Gauss saved them, they had further plans.
Then came...
Gauss held a pair of leather maps, one large, one small.
These maps were what Felix, head of the Wanderer squad, had been concealing in his clothes.
They were also why they had set their sights on Levin’s group.
For some reason, the more Gauss looked, the more familiar they seemed, until he remembered something and retrieved a similar leather map from his Storage Pouch.
He spread them out together.
He quickly discovered that the edges of these three maps seemed to match in certain places.
Clearly, they were part of a set.
Moreover, as he aligned them, a faint magic pulse flickered within.
"Unfortunately, it seems two pieces are still missing."
Gauss frowned.
The fragment in his possession was a trophy from last year, when he went to Coral Bay, accepting a task in Sen City to clear sea demons from a goblin.
At the time, he had shown brief interest in the fragment’s potential as a Treasure Map, but after failing to decode it with Fluent in Language, he temporarily set it aside.