Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
In a corner of the district of nobles, the blowing wind swept the evergreens.
Under the cover of the trees was a two-floored villa with a round dome. It had the characteristic style of the Schachran Empire, but the villa looked particularly creepy in the darkness for some reason, as if a monster was looming in the place.
Observing the villa from far away, Katrina could not tell whether it was a real premonition of her Host Star of Destiny, or it was merely her psychological effect. Her figure that seemed to have melted into the wind grew more and more vague until it completely disappeared.
Although a few months had passed and the defense should’ve been canceled after the villa was cleansed with holy light, Katrina dared not be careless. She still used spells such as ‘Advanced Stealth’ to sneak in instead using only the blood power. She trusted and loved magic more than blood power!
The silver moon, not covered by the clouds, illuminated the ground with watery light, leaving long shadows that looked like twisted monsters behind the trees. At such a bright knight, Katrina approached the villa without a sound. The effect of ‘Advanced Stealth’ prevented her from leaving any trace behind. Even though a wagon rode past her, nobody sensed that a lady was walking right next to them.
Katrina walked into the villa easily. Then, she vaporized her form to get into the hall, before she performed a thorough examination on the ‘crime scene’.
The hall had a floor of stone bricks which had smooth surfaces. They were enormous and consistent with the Schachran Empire’s style. One of them was as huge as five of the same bricks in Allyn.
Looking at the reflection of the ceiling on the bricks, Katrina had a feeling that mirrors had been embedded on the floor. She thought to herself, “Even the floor in Count Calcate’s residence wouldn’t be so smooth. This serves no purpose other than tripping over the guests and making it easy to see what is inside the ladies’ skirts. Did the owner of the villa design it for that? Or was it for something else?”
The nobles of the Schachran Empire were always more extravagant than their ‘peers’ in the south. Katrina would not rule out such a possibility just yet.
Under Advanced Stealth, her body was revealed every time she cast a spell, but she was invisible again after it was done. Therefore, Katrina’s appearance that had been changed blinked on the floor all the time. Her long blond hair and her green eyes were all clear.
“It’s been a few months since this place was cleansed by holy light. Even the most weird magical spell seems useless…” Katrina performed all the investigation magic she could think of but to little avail.
Of course, her efforts were not entirely in vain. At least, she could tell from the marks on the floor that nobody performed any extraordinary power back then, or the marks wouldn’t have been as shallow.
“No usage of extraordinary power suggests only two possibilities: the official sorcerer was completely controlled by demons, or his power was sealed in advance. If the former is true, he would have used the most destructive magic when he was grasped by the desire of slaughter. Therefore, his power must’ve been sealed whether or not he worshiped demons.” Katrina reached a conclusion.
If the sorcerer joined the killing festival for his own purpose and prevented himself from using magic, any purpose wouldn’t have been more important than his life at the critical moment. He would’ve used magic subconsciously.
“That is to say, I can understand how the sorcerer’s magic was sealed from his body…” Katrina thought of a clue but waved her hand regretfully. “However, the Church has blamed the demon worship on him and burnt his body. Bloody Church.”
She cursed despite her usual manners. The North Church certainly needed a scapegoat to appease the nobles and the people, and nobody suited it better than a wicked sorcerer who died on the spot.
The hall was empty because the furniture and altar had been cleansed. Katrina paced for a while and thought of something else. “Gulf mentioned that a knight was also killed there. His blood power was obviously sealed, too. While his body couldn’t be placed in his family graveyard, it should be in an advanced public graveyard. After all, nobles must not be disgraced…”
She was refreshed after seizing the clue. Examining the upper floor and the basement, she found nothing of value. When she was about to leave, she sensed that her alarm spell was triggered, so she looked at the window in the garden.
Then, Katrina noticed that the will of a familiar knight spread in through the window gap, investigating the situation inside coldly and carefully.
When the will reached Katrina, her ‘Advanced Stealth’ produced ripples and feigned her nonexistence perfectly.
Crack, crack, crack. The window was slowly opened by a piece of thin ice, and the ‘criminal’ who opened the window disappeared.
A shadow crawled in. He was tall and brawny, with snowflake patterns appearing on his hands.
“Yakov, he’s really here…” Standing at the center of the hall, Katrina watched the stranger walk around and check. It was easy for her to tell who he was from the familiar air.
However, she was not surprised at Yakov’s arrival. His reaction was weird when Anna mentioned the dead sorcerer.
Yakov was relieved after confirming that there were no items or suspicious traces, but he never noticed Katrina who stood behind him all the time so openly.
“I was considering how to interrogate him. Now that we’ve met, I should seize the opportunity…” Katrina made a decision.
Yakov stood straight and was going to check the upstairs, when he suddenly sensed uneasiness. Without any delay, his body began huge and was covered in frost, while he thought to himself, “Am I being ambushed?”
Hardly had the idea occurred to him when his head hummed and everything became blurry.
“I have a question for you.” Then, he heard an unpredictable, genderless voice.
Although the voice sounded weird, Yakov felt that the voice was so familiar and soft that it sounded both from the Lord he worshiped and the girl he secretly loved. Therefore, without any resistance, he replied in adulation, “What question?”
“What’s your relationship with the sorcerer who died here? Why did you investigate this place?” The voice came again.
Yakov subconsciously wanted to refuse to answer, but the uncanny state of submission and admiration made him admit frankly, “In may, I happened upon an official sorcerer and cooperated with him for a while.”
“I provided intelligence for him and led him to search for resources, and he offered me files about blood power in return. Thanks to those files, I corrected my mistakes and found the way to become a knight. Then, I went to the frozen land on another mission. When I returned, I was told that the sorcerer was involved in demon worship.”
“Fearing that I might be involved, and since this is a critical moment of my knighthood, I came here to search, hoping to destroy all the clues that may still exist.”
Katrina was stunned. “Why would you be involved? Was he alone when he worked with you?”
The sorcerer was already dead, and he certainly did not have Yakov’s items, or Yakov would be interrogated the moment he was back. What was he concerned about?
“Yes, he was alone.” Yakov replied honestly as if she were his liege whom he pledged loyalty to.
Alone? He came to Calcate City with a few partners, but he left them and worked with Yakov… Katrina crossed her arms and asked, “What about the other question?”
“Because… Because our cooperation was facilitated by Duke Duda. Before I went to the frozen land, that sorcerer gladly told me that Duke Duda invited him for a private party, and that it was a great chance for him to join their circle.” After a brief hesitation, Yakov admitted honestly, “I don’t know what circle it is exactly, but Duke Duda has always been strong and mysterious as the master of Calcate City’s underworld. I fear that the sorcerer’s death was related to him…”
“If the Church found out about him, the mercenaries who were in touch with the sorcerer like me would certainly be killed. I happen to know that the sorcerer had the habit of leaving secret marks. So, I came and planned to destroy the marks.”
Pondering for a moment, Katrina asked, “Is Duke Duda still alive?”
“Yes, as alive as ever. I saw him in the city hall this morning.” Yakov said, his body trembling, as if he was very scared of this Duke Duda.
Katrina inquired again but didn’t get any other valuable information. Therefore, she asked Yakov to tell her the secret marks of the sorcerer. Then, she vaporized her body and left the hall, returning to the hotel.
In the hall, Yakov ‘accepted’ Katrina’s order and stood there in a daze, until a chilly wind from the wind shivered him and woke him up. He felt that he just had a dream in which he told someone else his deepest secrets.
“This… This is terrifying… Was it the fifth-circle spell, ‘Dominate Humans’?” Yakov speculated what happened to him. “Has the Congress of Magic sent investigators?”
“Thankfully, the powerful sorcerer only needed clues and did not want to kill anyone. Otherwise…” Yakov thought in fear. His life could’ve been taken away easily.
“I thought that I was finally an expert after I activated my blood power and became a knight. I didn’t know until right now that knighthood is just the beginning. There are too many dangerous people above me. The fifth-circle sorcerer just now was already way stronger than me, not to mention those sorcerers and radiant knights…”
Calming himself time, Yakov hurried to leave. Under the freezing wind, he realized that his clothes had been wet by the cold sweat on his back.
……
On the second day, Yakov, pretending to be normal, went to the guild of adventurers for his business, and Katrina asked about the dead knight and the place where he was buried with Anna.
When the night fell, Katrina entered the clean but creepy graveyard according to her intelligence and found the tomb of the dead knight.
Right when she was about to open the tomb with magic, a magnetic male laughed from the crown of the tree on her back. “An investigator from the Congress of Magic?”
“Who is it?” Katrina turned around warily. She didn’t notice anything wrong when she checked the surroundings just now, which suggested that the man was better at hiding than she was.
A gold-haired handsome man, wearing a black shirt and a red coat, stood on the top of the tree. Holding a cup of wine that did not quite agree with the atmosphere, he greeted, “Good evening, beautiful lady. You may call me Viscount Carendia.”
“Viscount Carendia? You’re Mr. Rhine’s grandson?” Katrina associated the male before him with the vampire viscount that her teacher described before.
“Huh?” Viscount Carendia rubbed his face and appeared rather surprised. “Am I a celebrity now? Who’s your teacher?”
“My teacher is Mr. Atom Controller.” Katrina was more or less relieved since it was someone she knew.
“That monster… No, I mean…” Viscount Carendia blurted out. Chuckling to cover himself, he said, “Your teacher is a real genius that I admire very much. Right, I’m here to investigate the unusual death of my descendants. I believe that we share the same purpose.”
