i agree about his cartoon villainy, but it’s implied that the part about him taking bribes was made up. when martina mentions it, he says, “huh…?” and seems genuinely confused. then, when yomi says that must be why he was so desperate to clean up the nail man killings, seth says, “i only did this because you ordered me to.” he still plays at being a cartoon villain. he’s just not that good at it.
I don't think so!
Alright, since I've finally been presented an opportunity to do so, let me pull out the Seth crypts;
While Seth not knowing anything about anybody at any time wouldn't be a completely unfounded statement -- we never do get concrete proof that he was in fact taking money from the church after all, and Halara themself said that "If director Yomi said so, it would be considered the truth even if it isn't". Buuut, there's far more evidence pointing to the contrary, actually.
First, going from the very beginning, let's take a look at what happened PRIOR to Seth's intervention at Yakou's doorstep -- mainly, Jiei Colan. This section's the shortest, I believe.
I. Jiei Colan's terrible, terrible day (As Seth once said: I didn't become the head of the investigations team by being a good person. You can tell your son he won't be having a christmas this year)
Jiei Colan was called the day (or night?) before his arrest to the Clocktower -- he got an urgent request to fix it, as the clock allegedly wasn't keeping time. We don't know who sent the request. He stayed the night at the Clocktower.
As mentioned earlier, who sent the request is a mystery, but it is pretty odd in just how convenient it is for everyone, and by that I mean the Nail Man and the peacekeepers. I believe it was pretty much apparent to most people that this was an attempt at framing Jiei; coincidences generally don't tend to exist in most of Kodaka's universes.
There's two most likely suspects for the urgent call directed to Jiei, if we're going along with the theory it was a plot: the Nail Man, the Worshipper/Copycat Nail Man, or the peacekeepers.
(Kei (aka, the boy), if I'm remembering correctly, said that his father left last night. The body Yuma investigated is as far as we know, pretty recent. I felt like I should put it out there, but I forgor the reason. whoopsie silly me heheh!!!)
Worshipper knows a lot about how the NM operates; usually his plan to "catch" him involves him following a person with their name written in the woods. Could he have tried to use the peacekeepers to remove a random poor guy so that the true NM continues to operate? Not impossible, but, I don't know. That doesn't sound... very likely to me.
The NM, aka the Priest, could potentially have a good reason to frame somebody, BUT isn't his whole thing that he kills people who Kanai Ward's citizens feel have somehow wronged them, you know, enacting justice and shit and all that. He intends to help people in that way. I don't think he'd throw an innocent man under the bus -- I watched the scene where he's informed it was the watchmaker that was arrested, and I still can't tell whether he was legitimately shocked to that information but attempting to keep his cool, or just pretending (which implies he did hear of the plan; that doesn't mean he necessarily approved).
And lastly, peacekeepers, the most likely candidate; they arrived very quickly at the scene, and have a personal interest in closing the NM case as quickly as possible by any means, and is just... come on, it's the peacekeepers, it's always the damn peacekeepers I swear. What supports this more than the claim Worshipper or the NM himself sent the request, is the fact that the peacekeeper's report on Jiei said that his occupation was unknown (he was a watchmaker. this isn't some classified information.), very likely to frame him even more easily. Shinigami herself points it out just how suspicious that is. And it's, as far as I'm aware by my own rc playthrough, what the game was pointing us towards.
If it's the peacekeepers, then that means at least one of them knew a murder was going to happen at the Clocktower. That would require [some guy] to know of the NM's plans -- aka, [that guy] was somehow affiliated with the church. Which would have been pretty easy, if they were, say, regularly taking bribes from it.
now, moving on to the flower scene...
II. Seth's first and second trip to the submarine (YAKOU GET YOUR FUCKING GOONS ASSEMBLED HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT)
Seth and his peacekeeper squad approached (that is very polite wording) Yakou by his sub and inquired him about his detective agency's involvement in the NM case. He sounds pretty nervous about them sticking their nose into the case (and potentially finding something out), and even sets a time limit for Yakou to get his goons in there by that time OR ELSE. The time limit could be there not only just to scare Yakou into cooperating, but also because he needs those detectives taken into custody ASAP, as, as mentioned earlier, every second they walk around deducing shit, they could stumble upon something he does not want them to know.
Seth comes back sometime before the time limit runs out, probably to sit there with his bouquet and watch as Yakou's pacing in circles next to him using up all of his big boy strength to not drop on the ground and start scream crying in despair. Meanie. Yuma shows up, and tells Seth he was the one investigating the NM killings. Immediately, like, RIGHT AWAY, Seth says this:
Seth: Oh? I see... So... you're the one who interfered with our work at the clocktower. Well... I will honor your courage for confessing and turn a blind eye to that incident. You must drop this case. If you do... we will leave without pursuing any further action. That'd be the ideal solution for all of us... What do you say?
Seth didn't waste a second to offer the NDA complete exemption from consequences if they stop right now and shut up about the case forever. That is... very odd behavior from a man who just three hours ago threatened to kill Yakou (and, I believe, the other detectives by extension) for interfering earlier. It's almost as if something about that was sending him into an internal panic. I wonder what.
I think the fact that he was so quick to just... let everybody go upon meeting the guy who was investigating the killings if they just could please stop right now i'm begging you is what almost completely eradicates the possibility of Seth not knowing anything about the identity of the NM. That is not normal peacekeeper behavior, actually. He wanted to shut Yuma up as fast as possible by any means possible because if he did not stay silent, he could have uncovered something very, very incovenient and likely downright very dangerous for Seth.
Yuma, of course, doesn't want old man Jiei to go to a happy farm far away, and tells Seth he won't stop now. Seth now very quickly orders his guys to take Yakou away, deal's off. Then Yuma pulls out the "actually I investigated all the previous killings too did you know all (debatable) the victims died of strangulation", and Seth is visibly shitting himself right now and orders Yuma to ALSO get arrested good lord bowlcut makoto knows too much. Whatever. Then Halara happens. Then SHINIGAMI happens. And just a moment later...
III. Wake up babe the Nail Man just dropped (DEAD)
Priest & hot topic Darkiplier keel over and fucking die. Shinigami pilots the Priest's corpse like a mecha to make him confess; the scene is as follows -
"Priest": Ahem, sorry about that. You see, I'm actually the Nail Man.
Seth: Wh-What?
"Priest": [continues to explain; not that important to my point. she ends with telling them to check the church for evidence, then Shinigami leaves]
Seth: The priest... mumbled something, but I couldn't quite hear him. Anyway... (...)
When the Priest confesses, Seth is the only person in the group to respond, with his nervous sweating sprite, much less, which wouldn't mean much alone -- it's perfectly possible he was just shocked, is all. But considering EVERYTHING ELSE so far pointing towards him working with the Nail Man... it's looking very bad for you, mr. Seth.
Then Seth claims he couldn't hear him; which, bullshit, you literally responded. He clearly didn't want the priest's role as the NM to be known, and was about to leave without doing anything about it. Just before he can take the detectives to the headquarters, guess who shows up to save our asses last minute?
IV. Martina's testimony who I believe above all (ignore that fake ginger cunt behind her)
It's Martina, look at her! she shows up riding a fucking motorbike through the air like the coolest motherfucker in Kanai Ward right before Halara. Along with her passenger princess bf Yomi I guess. Well, she's the one that actually says Seth had taken bribes from the church. The convo is as follows:
Martina: We have discovered you've been receiving sizeable kickbacks from facilitating donations meant for the church.
Seth: Huh...?
Martina: We now know why you were so desperate to clean up all the Nail Man killings. After all, it would be troublesome to lose access to all that money if the priest was arrested as the Nail Man
Seth: W-Wait, please. Director Yomi, I did this under your orders... [...] I-I only did this because you ordered me to...
I don't think Seth's confusion here meant he didn't know what the hell was going on right then; but rather, because his boss just turned on him after (allegedly) giving him the thumbs up to take that bag.
In conclusion! Seth indeed, took that bag, and I am ruling him guilty guilty GUILTY and SENTENCING HIM TO... actually, I have no idea. Uh, sorry, I guess he can stay on home arrest until I think of something...
I hope that was coherent :3 croissant emoji🥐
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