Novel Full chapter 73.2
On a dark night after sunset, several men wearing a turban and a protective mask to guard against the sand got off their camels and looked around. They looked nervous as they lit up the surrounding area with torches.
“Found it! It’s here!”
Hearing a cry from a little distance away, the men quickly headed in its direction. There were nine corpses carrying weapons and a wrecked wagon buried a little in the sand.
“Captain Malecia! Welcome!” The man who cried out said.
When the people who found the bodies saw the incoming men, they stopped searching and saluted.
“It’s fine. Keep going.”
When the oldest-looking middle-aged man called Captain Malecia spoke, the men resumed their search without even a glance needed.
“You guys help, too.”
Malecia habitually massaged an old scar that took one eye and ordered. The men wearing turbans split up immediately and went to help with the search.
“What happened?” Malecia asked as he lowered the protective mask.
The highest-ranking young man in the search answered with a stiff posture, “Yes! He was already dead when we found him!”
“I see that. What I asked is how they died and who did it.”
The young man responded to Malecia’s point with a stiff look. “I apologize!”
Malecia gazed indifferently at the young man. Anyone could tell that the man was very nervous. There was no way he could do his job properly like that.
Malecia, feeling helpless inside, turned his eyes to the bodies and continued, “It’s fine. I’ll find out how he died myself. So where’s the luggage they were transporting?”
The young man broke into a cold sweat. “That, That’s… We can’t find it.”
“What!”
When Malecia suddenly went from speaking quietly to yelling, the young man was terrified and apologized, “Sorry, I’m sorry!”
“Damn it!”
Malecia checked the bodies while ignoring the frightened young man. The chance that the killers took the luggage that these bodies were carrying was high.
Malecia examined the bodies for as much information on the killers as possible. There were no sword injuries on the body. No, let alone sword wounds, the bodies were too clean. There was not a single sign of external damage.
It was fortunate that the bodies were not decomposing yet and that there was no sign of a desert monster having dug up and eaten the bodies.
Malecia stripped the bodies of their clothes. Perhaps because of the sweltering climate of the desert, the post-mortem rigidity was not in full effect yet, so it was not too difficult to strip the bodies.
After Malecia stripped the bodies, he noticed one common factor with the bodies. Each had a big black, red bruise in the middle of their chests.
Malecia gently pressed the body’s chest. The fingers that pressed the chest sunk in; he couldn’t feel the ribs protecting the heart. Malecia picked up the dagger and slowly split open the chest.
After opening each body, Malecia found that each body’s heart and ribs were cleanly destroyed in one blow. This was the skill of an expert.
Malecia was certain. It was such a clean murder that it made those who kill with a single stab to a vital point look like amateurs.
Was it an assassin?
No, there’s no sign of poison being used on the body. He never heard of an assassin that didn’t use poison. If there were one, as an assassin, he would be nothing more than a third-rate fool, regardless of his skills were good or not. In addition, it seemed more appropriate to call it hunting rather than assassination, as it was such a clean kill.
So was the killer a hunting expert? It wasn’t possible to find out that much information.
Malecia stood as his thoughts arrived at a dead-end.
“You guys retrieve the bodies and continue searching the surrounding area,” Malecia ordered.
“Yes, sir!”
Leaving behind the rigid young man saluting, he called over the subordinates who had arrived with him.
“We’re going back,” Malecia said.
“Yes!”
Malecia and the masked men climbed on their camels and began riding quickly. Their destination was Zaharam, the holy place that the desert was named after.
* * *
“Haaa~ That was a nice sleep.” Lancelot yawned and stretched as he laid in bed.
Not only were they able to get rooms at the inn last night with Hillis’s care, she even paid for all the accommodation fees as an apology.
As Lancelot was getting out of bed, Mac came into the room. “Oh, you’re awake?”
Judging from Mac’s damp hair, he seemed to have woken up early, exercised, and taken a quick bath.
“Yes. Did you sleep well?” Lancelot asked.
After greeting Mac, Lancelot smiled as he and Mac went down to the first floor of the inn for breakfast.
“Oh! Crow Tribe friends! Did you sleep well?”
On the first floor of the inn, the paladins were already sitting and eating breakfast.
Lancelot greeted them brightly before asking the paladins carefully, “Yes, um. Did you even sleep last night?”
At Lancelot’s question, the paladins laughed wildly.
“Ahahaha! Of course, we slept well!”
“Yes, yes. Miss Saintess mercifully stopped the punishment at only one o’clock in the morning.”
“Yes, so merciful!”
It was just past 9 pm when the paladins were punished with their heads on the ground. Lancelot calculated that the paladins had their heads on the ground for four hours.
Nevertheless, the paladins’ words didn’t contain any trace of lies.
While Lancelot was stuck dumbfounded, Mac naturally squeezed into the group of paladins and stole a piece of bread before saying slyly, “Wow! The saintess is so merciful. Don’t you think so, Sir Diplomat?”
Mac’s cunningness made Lancelot speechless. The paladins nodded heavily at Mac’s words. “Ahahaha! So, this guy also knows!”
“That’s right! I know some stuff! Hahahaha!” Mac said.
Lancelot took a step away from the group of paladins.
“Why are you moving further away?”
I just don’t want to be close to you sadistic perverts.
Swallowing these words, Lancelot laughed instead and said, “Haha, I wonder what’s for breakfast?”
Lancelot moved through the group of paladins while the innkeeper diligently carried beer and food to the table, seemingly fine after being treated by Hillis last night.
Somehow, Mac was already shoulder-to-shoulder with the paladins and looked like he was trying to throw a drinking party in the morning.
“Don’t drink to the point of being drunk!” Lancelot said.
Mac waved his hand as if telling Lancelot not to worry.
“Kyah! That’s the stuff!”
The paladins cheered in admiration at Mac one-shotting the beer.
“That’s manly!”
“That’s cool!”
Drinking beer that was cooled by the night breeze of the desert, the paladins and Mac danced and sang.
“Ohhh~! My friend! Don’t look over at that woman in the harbor! Don’t look over at her, for I’ve already been possessed by her red skirt!”
“Don’t look!”
“Drink!”
They sang songs that one would have never thought paladins would sing and cheered with their glasses of beer. Lancelot sighed as he saw Mac in the center of it all, one-shotting a glass of beer that looked bigger than his head.
“What’s all this about?” Leisha asked, having come down to the first floor at some point.
Lancelot was thinking about what to say but just answered instead with a sigh. At his answer, Leisha gave up asking any more questions and ordered breakfast.
After a long bout of drinking, they gradually calmed down when Hillis came down late, stopping entirely by the time she finished her breakfast.
“Oh my? Why did you stop? Continue shoving the beer down your throats. You bastards.”
At Hillis’s benevolent smile, the paladins began to sweat.
“Oh, no. It’s okay,” they said.
“Why? It was so nice to see you guys ruining our future plans. Shall I also have a drink?” Hillis asked.
“Sorry! Please, anything but alcohol!”
“You can’t! Anything but alcohol, please!”
When they knelt down, trying to dissuade Hillis from drinking, Leisha suddenly became very curious.
“I wonder what happens when she drinks that they are begging so much?”
“Who knows?” Lancelot said.
Lancelot was also slightly curious. Then he saw Mac opening a bottle of wine, and he approached Hillis.
“Eeya, don’t be so upset. You’ll feel better if you have a nice cold drink,” he said.
After speaking, he poured the wine into Hillis’s cup.
“Thank you.” Hillis thanked him and began to drink the wine.
“Isn’t that wine?”
Lancelot nodded at Leisha’s question.
Upon hearing that, the paladins began to shout.
“No!”
“Everyone run!”
Hillis’s face started to turn red, and she started hiccuping. “Divine, hiccup! Punishment!”
White lightning rose from Hillis’s hand and turned into the shape of a whip.
“How dare, hiccup! You, hiccup! Run!”
The whip swung at a paladin who was closest to the inn’s entrance.
Realizing that it was already too late, the paladin covered himself with mana for protection.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!”
Though he was protected with mana, it was not enough to block Hillis’s magic. He was electrocuted and pulled towards Hillis.
“Oh my! Hiccup! Poor thing. Hiccup!”
The paladin was unconscious from being electrocuted as Hillis stroked his head, healing him.
“God’s, hiccup! Mercy.”
Then hell began.
* * *
Malecia knelt on one knee in front of the altar to show his respect. Once finished, he got up and spoke to the man standing next to the altar.
“I’m sorry, but the carnelian crystal appears to have been stolen by unidentified criminals on its way here.”
An old man wearing a black hooded cloak was enraged at Malecia’s report. “What! You’re calling that a report?!”
“I’m sorry, I should have paid more attention to it. It was my incompetence that caused this.”
At Malecia’s apology, the old man let out a roar of anger. “You call that an excuse! Are you speaking like that because you don’t know just how important that crystal is?!”
The old man angrily tried to hit Malecia’s head with his staff but stopped when he saw Malecia’s fierce eyes.
“I request that you treat me with wisdom.”
Although Malecia was subordinate to the old man, his background prevented the old man from acting recklessly. The old man knew this well, so although he was angry, he could not express it anymore.
“You…! You!”
Malecia left his seat and the angry old man behind.
“Where are you going!”
At the old man’s cry, Malecia glanced back at him. The old man flinched at Malecia’s gaze.
“We have to find the criminals in order to retrieve the carnelian crystal.”
“Whew, do you know who the criminals are?”
Malecia replied with a grin at the old man’s trembling voice.
“The last report said there were three rich young men and women with black hair whose wealth would be of great assistance. They said they were going to rob them on the way, so it is likely that those three black-haired individuals are the culprits.”
After he finished speaking, Malecia swiftly left the room. The old man vented his anger long after Malecia had left the room. “You…! A petty powerless prosecutor!”
The old man wanted to break something, but there was nothing he could break in the altar room. Furthermore, he was not in a position to leave the room recklessly. He had no choice but to keep his anger inside and wait in the altar room until the ritual was over.