In a corner of the district of nobles, the night wind was blowing the evergreen trees, making them shiver.
Under the cover of the trees, there was a two-story villa with a dome. The style was rough and bold, which was very typical of the Schachran Empire. However, for some reason, the villa looked particularly creepy in the darkness, like a monster that had occupied the place.
Looking at the villa far away, Katrina could not tell whether it was the feeling of her real Host Star of Destiny or just her imagination. Her shadow that seemed to have melted into the cold wind gradually faded away.
Although it had been several months since the incident, and the villa had been cleansed by the holy light, and the necessary precautions should have been removed, Katrina dared not be careless. She still used spells such as "Advanced Stealth" instead of simply sneaking in with her strength as a knight. Compared with her blood power, she trusted and loved magic more!
The dark clouds did not cover the Silver Moon. The vague light sprinkled on the ground, leaving long shadows on the trees that looked like twisted monsters. Katrina approached the villa without a sound in such a bright night. With the effect of Advanced Stealth, she did not leave any trace. Even when a carriage passed by her, it did not notice that a lady was walking right next to it.
Katrina entered the villa easily. Then, she vaporized and crawled into the hall, where she began to examine the 'crime scene' carefully.
The hall was full of dark bricks with smooth surfaces. They were enormous in the same style as those of the Schachran Empire. One of them was as big as five tiles in Allyn.
Looking at the reflection of the ceiling on the dark bricks, Katrina had the feeling that mirrors were embedded on the ground. She thought to herself, "Even in Count Carlcarter's house, the floor tiles would not be so smooth or dark. The only purpose of the tiles is to make the guests in pointy shoes fall down and peek under the ladies' skirts. Did the owner of the villa design it specifically for that purpose? Or did he have other plans? "
The nobles of the Schachran Empire had always been more extravagant and lascivious than their counterparts in the south. Katrina did not dare rule out the possibility.
Under the effect of Advanced Invisibility, Katrina would reveal herself every time she cast a spell, but she would return to invisibility after casting the spell. Therefore, Katrina's changed appearance kept flashing on the surface of the dark stone brick. Her long blond hair and green eyes were all clearly visible.
"It's been a few months since the cleansing by the Holy Light. Even the strangest and most miraculous magic seems to have lost its effect …" Katrina had cast all the prophecy and detection magic she could think of, but to no avail. She could only stand there and laugh bitterly at herself.
Of course, it was not as if she came out empty-handed. At the very least, she could tell from the marks left behind by swords and daggers that no one had used Extraordinary powers. Otherwise, the marks wouldn't have been so shallow, no different from the marks left by an ordinary person who casually threw a sword on the floor.
"There are only two possibilities if he didn't use his extraordinary power. Either the official sorcerer's mind was completely controlled by the devil, or his power was sealed in advance. If it's the former, it's impossible that he didn't use his most powerful magic when he lost his rationality and only had the desire to kill and destroy. Therefore, no matter whether he worships the devil or not, his power should have been sealed back then." Katrina made a simple deduction.
If the sorcerer participated in the slaughter feast because he wanted to fulfill a certain wish and restrained himself from using magic, no wish could be more important than his own safety at the most dangerous moment. Subconsciously, he would've used magic.
"That is to say, we can figure out how his magic was sealed from the body of the sorcerer …" Katrina thought of a clue, but then she waved her right hand in regret. "However, the sorcerer was determined by the Church to be the initiator of 'demon worship'. His body was burned on the stake. Damn the Church."
Despite her usual politeness, she couldn't help but swear. After such a thing happened, the North Church naturally had to find a culprit to appease the nobles and the people. As it happened, an evil sorcerer was killed on the spot.
Because the furniture and the altar had been purged by the Church, the hall was rather empty. Pacing back and forth, Katrina suddenly remembered something. "Gulf mentioned that a Knight was present at that time, and he died too. According to my previous deduction, his blood power was obviously sealed too … He was a noble. Although his body couldn't be buried in his family's graveyard because of demon worship, it should've been in a fancy public graveyard. After all, the nobles wouldn't allow a noble to be trampled on …"
After grasping the clue, she was more or less excited. She checked the upper floor and the basement, but she found nothing either. When she was about to leave, she suddenly sensed that the alarm spell was triggered. So, she turned around and looked at the window in the garden.
Then, Katrina discovered that the familiar will of the Knight blew in through the gap of the window like a cold wind and probed inside coldly and carefully.
After the will spread to Katrina, ripples were raised in her 'Advanced Stealth', perfectly faking the fact that nobody was here.
Crack, crack, crack. After a series of tiny noises even in the quiet night, the window was slowly opened, and a thin piece of ice quickly melted into water. Very soon, the 'culprit' who opened the window was gone.
A shadow crawled in. He was tall and strong, with snowflake-like patterns on his hands.
"Yakov, he's here too …" Standing at the center of the hall, Katrina watched the shadow walking around in silence. It was not difficult for her to identify him from the familiar air.
However, she was not too surprised to see Yakov here. He was already abnormal when Anna mentioned the dead sorcerer.
Yakov looked around. After confirming that there were no objects or suspicious traces, he finally took a long breath in relief. However, he did not notice Katrina who was standing behind him even though she was standing so openly.
"I was considering how to ask him, but now that I've run into him, I might as well not waste the opportunity …" Katrina made up her mind after her green eyes flashed.
Yakov stood straight and was about to check the room upstairs, when he suddenly had an uneasy feeling. His years of experience as a mercenary made him lunge forward without thinking. His body was enlarged and covered in frost. In the meantime, he thought to himself in shock, "An ambush?"
Hardly had he thought of that when his head hummed, and his eyes became blurred, as if he were caught in a hazy mist.
"I have a question for you." Then, he heard an unpredictable voice that he could not tell whether it was a man or a woman.
Although the voice was weird, Yakov felt that it was so familiar and lofty that it sounded both like the Lord that he worshipped and the girl that he secretly loved. Therefore, he did not resist at all and asked ingratiatingly, "What's the question?"
"What's your relationship with the sorcerer who died here? Why are you here for investigation? "The voice continued.
The question touched the fear in Yakov's heart. He subconsciously wanted to refuse the answer, but the uncanny admiration made it impossible for him to resist. So, he replied frankly, "At the beginning of May, I ran into an official sorcerer by accident and cooperated with him for a while."
"I provided intelligence for him and led him to search for resources below the plateau, and he gave me files on blood power activation. With the files, I corrected part of my mistakes in the past and found the path to become an official Knight. Then, I led a mercenary squad to accept another mission and went to the ice field. It was not until I returned that I was told that the sorcerer was involved in the case of demon worship."
"Fearing that I might be involved in his case, and that I was at the critical moment of my knighthood, I was worried and came to investigate, planning to destroy all the remaining clues."
Katrina was taken aback. "Why are you involved in his affairs? Was he alone when he cooperated with you? "
The official sorcerer was already dead, and he certainly did not have Yakov's keepsake or other items. Otherwise, he would've been "interrogated" by the Church the moment he returned to Calcate City. Then, what was there for him to worry about? Such a temporary cooperation couldn't have yielded any clues.
"Yes, he was alone." Yakov replied dutifully, as if he were talking to the lord that he swore allegiance to.
Alone? He came to Calcate City with a few companions, but he abandoned them and cooperated with Yakov … Katrina crossed her arms and mimicked the pose that Heidi and Layria liked. "What's the other question?"
"Because … Because our cooperation was introduced by Sir Duda. Before I went to the ice field, the sorcerer was delighted to tell me that Sir Duda was going to invite him to a private party. It was a great opportunity for him to join their circle." Yakov hesitated for a moment but eventually told her the truth. "I don't know what circle it is, but Sir Duda has always been powerful and mysterious. He dominates the underground order of Calcate City. There must be a big shot behind him. I'm worried that the sorcerer's case is related to him …"
"If the Church finds out that it's him, the mercenaries who got in touch with the sorcerer will certainly be killed. Also, I happen to know that the sorcerer likes to mark with passwords, and I was lucky enough to meet him several times. So, I planned to look for him and destroy all the passwords."
Katrina pondered for a moment. "Is Sir Duda still alive?"
"Of course. He's alive and well. I met him in the city hall this morning." Yakov shivered and said, as if he were scared of Sir Duda.
Katrina did not get any more information after repeated inquiries. So, she asked Yakov to tell her the features of the sorcerer's passwords. Then, she vaporized and left the hall, returning to the hotel.
Inside the hall, Yakov 'accepted' Katrina's order and stood there in a daze. It was not until the cold wind blew in through the open window and made him shiver that he was back to himself. He felt that it was just a dream, and he told his secret to somebody else in his dizziness.
"It's … It's too terrifying … The fifth-circle spell, 'Dominate Human Being'?" Yakov speculated based on what he knew. "Did the Congress of Magic send someone to investigate?"
"Thankfully, the powerful sorcerer only needed clues and did not intend to kill anyone. Otherwise …" Yakov thought in fear. Under such circumstances, his life would've been at the enemy's mercy.
"I thought that after activating my blood power and turning into a Knight, I could finally be called an expert and get rid of my involuntary and dangerous life. But now, I truly understand that knights are just the beginning. There are still many dangerous people above them. The fifth-circle sorcerer just now was already much stronger than me, not to mention the sorcerers of higher ranks and the heavenly Knights …"
Yakov held back his thoughts and left as soon as possible. It was not until the cold wind blew that he realized that his clothes were wet with the cold sweat on his back.
… …
The next day, Yakov went to the Guild of Adventurers to deal with his business as usual, and Katrina continued asking Anna about the dead Knight's identity and the cemetery where he was buried.
At night, Katrina, having received the intelligence, entered the neat but gloomy cemetery and found the dead Knight's grave.
Right when she opened the grave with magic, magnetic male laughter suddenly came from the tree behind her. "An investigator of the Congress of Magic?"
"Who is it? Katrina turned around warily. She did not find anything when she examined the environment just now, which suggested that the man was very good at stealth.
A blonde, handsome man in a black shirt and a red coat was standing on the tree. He held a glass of wine in an inappropriate time. "Good evening, beautiful lady. You may call me Viscount Carendia."
"Viscount Carendia? Mr. Rhein's grandson? "Katrina connected the man before her with the vampire viscount that her teacher described.
"Huh?" Viscount Carendia rubbed his face and said with a toothache, "I'm so famous now? Who's your teacher? "
"My teacher is Mr. Atom Controller." Katrina was more or less relieved to see that it was an acquaintance.
"That monster … Well, no …" Viscount Carendia blurted out and then said with a smile, "Your teacher is a real genius. I admire him very much. Right, I'm here to investigate the uncanny death of my descendant. My purpose should be the same as yours."
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