Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“A demon worship case?” Anna was very curious when she asked the question. Other than killers and perverts who craved blood all the time, only the real lunatics would worship the chaotic demons!
If they had any wish, they might as well worship the Demon Dukes, who were at least much more ‘trustworthy’. Therefore, while it was not strange that several individuals might worship demons, it was rather creepy that so many people died in the incident at the same time.
Katrina had the same opinion. The Congress of Magic issued the mandatory mission exactly because of ‘demon worship’, too. If the victims had died in an accident during their ritual to worship devils, the Congress wouldn’t have paid as much attention to the case.
Few powerful demons had ever attempted to develop religions that worshiped themselves. They might have considered it, but they soon dropped the ideas because of their natural chaos and lust for slaughter and blood. Therefore, such a massive demon worship case was itself weird and inexplicable.
Gulf, the boss of the tavern, wiped the cups before him carefully with a piece of clean cloth, not leaving any dirt out. He smiled, “It’s indeed a demon worship case, or it’s at least what the Church says after thorough investigation.”
“But the Church might’ve covered the truth to avoid panic. It happened before, didn’t it?” Anna was rather dissatisfied with Gulf’s answer. It had been a couple years since she became a mercenary, and she had seen and been through a lot. She knew better than to accept the conclusion of the Church’s investigation without any suspicion.
As a ten-year mercenary and eight-year tavern manager, Gulf was willing to believe the conclusion only because his own secret sources could confirm it.
Seeing that the two girls were looking at him with their eyes that were as green as lake water, Gulf knocked the table softly. “This piece of intelligence has a price, but…”
He paused and looked at the mercenaries who were flooding in his tavern. “But you two ladies seem to have boosted the business of my tavern. So, this is on the house.”
Anna looked back and smiled. “You have to thank Sister Katrina. I’ve been a regular customer at your place, but I never saw so many ‘wild wolves’.”
“So, your name is Katrina. That’s a common female name in Calcate City. Are you also a local?” Asked Gulf with a smile.
Before Katrina replied, Anna said in advance, “No, she is not. Sister Katrina is from a noble family in another province.”
“From a noble family? That explains your rare elegance among mercenaries.” Gulf was in deep thought. “As a matter of fact, I do feel that you look familiar, Katrina. I think I saw you somewhere before…”
Katrina looked more or less gloomy. Her family had been passed on for three hundred years. As their bloodline, she must’ve inherited part of the looks of her ancestors. She thought to herself, “After the Congress controls the Schachran Empire, and when remote communication and discuss are easier, I will establish my magic tower in this place…”
“Uncle Gulf, every beautiful lady is familiar to you. Tell me the intelligence!” Anna pointed out the truth straightforwardly.
Gulf put down the cloth and rubbed his forehead, before he said in a low voice. “The incident was first discovered by one Ivan, who was the servant of the villa. He saw a hall of blood and bodies when he went for cleaning. There were nobles, knights, ordinary people, artists, and even… a sorcerer…”
In honor of Saint Ivan, the most common name in the Schachran Empire was Ivan.
“A sorcerer?” Anna exclaimed. Official sorcerers were hard to come by in the Schachran Empire.
Katrina moved her eyes back and focused her attention.
“Yes. According to Ivan, the sorcerer was wearing a level-one arcana badge and a second-circle magic badge. I’ve asked other people about him with his appearance. It hadn’t been long since he came to Calcate City, and he had been searching for and purchasing the materials that sorcerers needed.” Gulf described the look of the sorcerer, mentioning that he had a black mole next to his left eye.
Katrina nodded in her heart. It was indeed the sorcerer who died.
Gulf continued. “It’s already weird enough that dozens of people of different identities died in the same hall, but what was even more weird was that there was an altar at the center of the hall. Although nothing was left on the altar, the vibe of slaughter and destruction could be sensed.”
“How did those people die? Was it suicide or homicide?” Katrina carefully asked a question that befitted her current identity, one which a curious and experienced female mercenary should ask. She could tell that Anna meant to ask the question, too.
In an even lower voice, Gulf said, “That’s the third weird part. Those people brutalized each other to death. Also, it was not a one-versus-one battle but a chaotic gang slaughter. Many victims had fatal wounds on every side of their body.”
“A sorcerer was killed by ordinary people and artists?” Even Anna found it unacceptable. “Did you mention knights?”
“There was a knight, but he was also killed.” Gulf was apparently scared when he described it. “There was no sign that the knight used his blood power, or residue of any magic. It suggests… It suggests that they held a ‘festival of killing’ as ordinary people, and… and based on the position of bodies, none of them attempted to escape.”
That was much more detailed than the information the Congress of Magic gave to Katrina. Considering for a moment, she asked, “Could they have been affected by illusion? I’m told that the altars of certain cults may influence the mind and make the believers do the most unbelievable things.”
“You are truly a noble lady. You know cults rather well.” Gulf’s fear was gone and said with a smile, “That’s a possibility, which is why the case is described as demon worship. At least, devils wouldn’t let their believers attack each other. Even though they were to gather the pure power of faith through slaughter, they wouldn’t have chosen their followers as the targets. Of course, I don’t know how the Church ascertained that the victims were all demon believers. Perhaps, they were just ‘ordinary people’…”
“It sounds really weird and much more terrible than the bards’ stories.” Anna patted her chest. “Uncle Gulf, is there anything else that is strange?”
“Strange?” Gulf recalled carefully. “The victims all looked peaceful after their death, as if they were freed but not killed by each other. Right, Ivan felt cold when he entered the hall, but it was still warm in May.”
Anna’s curiosity was fully activated. She kept asking for more details, but that was as much as Gulf knew. He couldn’t help but sigh, “There may have been anomalies, but Ivan was too horrified to notice them. After the Church’s investigation, the villa was cleansed by holy light for fear that the demonic air would affect Calcate City. So, we’ll never know the anomalies even if there were any.”
“The Church cleansed the villa with holy light…” Katrina repeated it. That was a major setback for her investigation. It meant that few valuable traces could be found on the spot.
Then, pretending to be curious, she asked, “Did Ivan remember anything else later? It’s been several months.”
“That’s right. Did he?” Anna nodded. She was upset by the ‘broken’ story.
Gulf tried to put on a smile, but the smile only gave away his panic and fear. “Ivan had nightmares every day from witnessing the bloody scene. Also, the Church gave him a huge reward. So, he came to my place to drink every day, and he could only go to sleep when he was too drunk to remember anything. However, one week after the case, he accidentally fell into the river when he was drunk, and he drowned.”
“Well…” Anna felt coldness surging into her heart, and she did not dare ask any further.
Katrina felt more or less the same, but she was more wary and frustrated than scared. Although the mission would be considered accomplished if she brought back the files she collected so far now that all the leads were gone, she still wanted to investigate more as an excellent arcanist who had intense curiosity and desire of exploration. “Do I need to sneak into the inquisition in Calcate City and peep at their files of investigation?”
She was not very confident about that, because such a major city must’ve been under the watch of a red robe.
Having been scared by the demon worship case, Anna had a few cups of wine to suppress her shock, before she returned to the hotel with Katrina. At this moment, Yakov, who reported the activation of his blood power to the city hall, had come back.
He was sharing the news that he would be officially knighted one week later with other mercenaries in ecstasy, when he saw that Anna and Katrina walked in pale. His smile was gone, and he asked concernedly, “What’s wrong?”
Seeing no strangers around, Anna told him the intelligence they obtained from the tavern.
“An official sorcerer… What did he look like?” After hearing her introduction attentively, Yakov asked after a brief hesitation.
Anna pointed at her eye. “He had a black mole next to his left eye.”
“A black mole…” Yakov repeated and did not say anything more.
Katrina looked at him and went back to her room, claiming that she was tired.
When the night was dark and quiet, a shadow flashed out of Katrina’s room like a cold window and snuck towards the district of nobles.
Before her journey, she had exchanged for a bottle of potion that could activate her blood power, considering that it might be inconvenient to perform magic in the Schachran Empire. After the long-time modifications of the Congress of Magic, the power triggered by the potion was already as good as the power triggered by oneself. However, its effect was still limited, and the receiver could not reach the level of grand knights.
In the hustling wind, Katrina, who had activated the blood power of ‘Snowstorm’, seemed to have been melted into the environment. Although the Church had cleansed the villa with holy light, she was still going to investigate it in person. This was similar to experiments. One could only believe it after they confirmed it personally. Furthermore, it was highly unreasonable that an official sorcerer would worship a demon soon after he came to Calcate City.
