Chapter 268: Now the Case Could Be Closed

Two days later, near the trade road outside Morin Town in River Valley County.

“Damn, this batch of ‘goods’ looks like it’s been rotting for quite a while.” the corpse collector wearing a protective robe and a beaked mask sighed repeatedly to his colleague as he looked at the corpse lying in the wilderness, “It’s even missing a few pieces……”

“Stop complaining and hurry up so we can get back.” the other corpse collector had already started preparing the bag for the corpse.

Cleaning up unclaimed corpses in and around towns was their job. In this era, too many people died for all sorts of reasons, plague, wild beasts, starvation, even elderly people and children who were simply abandoned. If no one specifically reported it, the Security Office or the Church generally could not be bothered to investigate.

At times like this, people like them were needed to collect and dispose of these corpses to prevent plagues from breeding. Usually, the bodies were buried in a mass grave, and for every corpse they recovered, they could receive a meager subsidy from the town.

This time, the corpse had appeared near the trade road on the outskirts of town. It looked as though it had been attacked by a wild beast and even partially eaten.

Normally, in a place like this, a corpse should have been discovered easily before it began rotting.

But for some unknown reason, when someone reported that there was a corpse here near the town, it already looked as though it had been rotting for several days. Its entire body was iron-blue and ulcerated, while the stench of death permeated the area, forcing everyone passing along the trade road to cover their noses.

The corpse collector picked up a long hooked pole and prepared to drag the mutilated corpse over from nearby. Then, at the instant his hook touched the corpse, something bizarre happened——the corpse suddenly jerked violently, then rolled over and tried to stand, only to immediately fall back to the ground because it was missing one leg, yet it still struggled desperately to crawl toward the two men.

“Ahhhhhhh!!” both corpse collectors screamed.

……

Very soon, the case of the moving corpse reached the local Inquisition, and there were two incidents in succession.

“Sigh, why has something like this happened again?”

Director Randall of the local Inquisition looked at the corpses in the morgue and felt his head aching.

He had originally been preparing to report the previous three Corpse-Rot Poison cases involving a noble, a wealthy merchant, and a plantation owner as Magic Potion poisoning incidents.

The investigation into the Magic Potions had made no progress. Fortunately, they had arrested two low-level peddlers who sold the Magic Potions, and he had intended to deal with those two peddlers, give the families of the deceased an explanation, and close the case. Unexpectedly, two more dead bodies appeared.

The abnormal degree of decomposition and the reanimation were obviously also caused by Corpse-Rot Poison, except this time the corpses had been discovered directly rather than the victims dying from poisoning.

And the corpses were also mutilated, as though they had been gnawed by wild beasts.

But corpses like these were unlikely to have been eaten by ordinary wild beasts. The reanimation response would usually frighten ordinary scavenging beasts away on the spot.

Then they could only have been eaten by Magical Beasts capable of injecting Corpse-Rot Poison.

At this moment, the words of Inquisitor Leon Set, who had visited him earlier, surfaced in Director Randall’s mind: “Could there be another possibility, that Magical Beasts with Corpse-Rot Poison attacked them?”

At the time, he had not thought Leon’s speculation fit the case very well. For one thing, there were no known Labyrinths near Morin Town.

Of course, it was not impossible for Magical Beasts to appear outside Labyrinth areas. Usually, it happened because criminals accidentally allowed live Magical Beasts to escape while smuggling and relocating them, or deliberately released them to avoid investigation after encountering an unexpected situation.

Without a supply of Magic Essence, Magical Beasts would gradually weaken and die, but this process required some time. During that period of survival, Magical Beasts would still actively hunt and would also take the initiative to attack humans.

But the corpses that had been discovered did not show any particularly obvious wounds from Magical Beast attacks. However, because the bodies decayed too quickly and inevitably suffered some accidental damage during the reanimation process, examination of the corpses might not necessarily have been that reliable.

The victims had indeed basically suffered sudden poisoning after being left alone, but normally, Magical Beasts would continue attacking their victims. When other people nearby rushed over, they should have had a chance to witness the Magical Beasts.

Although it could also be said that the Magical Beasts had been frightened away by the people who arrived. Even though Magical Beasts held strong hostility toward humans, some cautious Magical Beasts would still choose to retreat when alone and facing multiple people.

However, compared with the common point that all these victims had purchased Magic Potions, the idea that they had been attacked and poisoned by Magical Beasts remained merely a speculation. Forget evidence, there had not even been any related clues.

But the corpses that appeared this time fit the characteristics of Magical Beast attacks very well.

“Have you confirmed the identities of the deceased?” Randall asked.

“No. Since the corpses were discovered, no one has come forward to claim them, nor has anyone reported a missing person case. Their clothing was all very worn, and there was nothing that could prove their identities. Near one corpse, only a small amount of dry rations was found, while near the other corpse, a small amount of money was discovered. They may simply have been vagrants and travelers active outside the city.” a Junior Inquisitor reported.

“Vagrants?” Director Randall rubbed his forehead.

How could people like that possibly afford Magic Potions?

More importantly, during the investigation into the Magic Potions, according to intelligence recently provided by their informants, after the incidents occurred, Fenrir’s organization seemed to have suspended its Magic Potion supply.

The facts seemed to be starting to verify the possibility Inquisitor Set had mentioned to him earlier. Perhaps that elite Inquisitor truly possessed an intuition that made it easier for him to see through the essence of a case?

But the problem was, even if they knew the matter had been caused by Magical Beasts, setting aside the smugglers who had already disappeared to who knew where, if they could not capture those roaming Magical Beasts, they still could not close the case. And before those Magical Beasts weakened and died on their own, they would continue attacking people and creating new cases!

That actually made the case even more troublesome in a sense. Once he reported the condition of these two dead bodies, the Church Tribunal would certainly be able to see that the previous speculation about problematic Magic Potions had been wrong, and they would also order him to capture the Magical Beasts.

Judging from the locations where the previous three victims had been found, the Magical Beasts should have scattered across quite a wide area.

No clues, no eyewitness reports, and only around thirty people available for deployment from the Inquisition. Where was he supposed to search for the Magical Beasts?

Director Randall returned to his office. While nursing a headache over the matter, he considered how he should have his subordinates write the report.

At that moment, an Inquisitor knocked on the door and reported to him: “Director, someone has come to the Inquisition claiming to have witnessed a Magical Beast.”

Director Randall sat frozen in his chair for a moment, then suddenly stood up: “Where!?”

……

One hour later, Director Randall rode on horseback with a team of Inquisitors, surrounding and pursuing a fleeing Magical Beast like hunters.

The Magical Beast possessed a body structure that seemed human yet not human. It crawled along the ground on all fours, completely hairless, with sickly pale skin, sharp claws, and pointed fangs.

A Ghoul, a Level Three Magical Beast that occasionally appeared in Labyrinths transformed from underground tombs or caves filled with poisonous gas, and was famous for its scavenging habits.

Its most dangerous trait was that it could inject Corpse-Rot Poison into prey through its claws and teeth, causing symptoms of rapid decay before devouring them.

“Over there! Don’t let it escape!!” under Director Randall’s loud command, the Inquisitors opened fire one after another, and one shot struck the Ghoul’s leg.

The running Ghoul suddenly lost its balance and tumbled to the ground. Director Randall seized the opportunity to stop, dismount, and take the hunting spear from his back.

When they discovered this Ghoul, it had already appeared unusually weakened, and its movements were somewhat sluggish. Surrounded by so many people, it had begun fleeing, but he did not dare lower his guard. Corpse-Rot Poison was extremely difficult to treat.

Randall poured prepared Holy Water over the silver-plated spear, activated his Shadow Crossing Blessing, erased his presence, and quickly approached the Ghoul.

Just as the Ghoul struggled to rise without any awareness of him, Randall suddenly thrust out the spear, piercing through the Ghoul’s chest from the side of its ribs and destroying its heart.

“Gah!” the Ghoul shrieked strangely and began struggling in agony, then soon stopped moving.

Excellent, at least they had caught one. That was barely enough to give an explanation.

Director Randall wiped the sweat from his forehead, pulled out the spear, and handed it to his subordinate for cleaning.

“You few, clean up the Magical Beast’s corpse, then search the surrounding area as well.” Director Randall ordered.

They might as well search the surroundings. It would be even better if they could find other Ghouls, although considering how far Ghouls could roam, he could not hold out too much hope.

But after roughly two hours of searching, Director Randall, who was resting beneath the shade of a tree, received a report:

“Director, we found a suspicious site! There’s also a Magical Beast corpse nearby!”

Director Randall quickly rushed to the scene and saw a collapsed tent, scattered remains of a campfire, the stench of decay permeating the air, scraps of cloth and shattered bones scattered across the ground, and a huge beast cage lying overturned on the ground, its door already open.

Not far away, the corpse of a Ghoul that appeared to have died from Magic Essence depletion lay sprawled on the ground with its tongue hanging out.

It looked as though a tragedy had occurred here. Magical Beasts that had accidentally escaped during smuggling attacked the smugglers, tore them apart, and ate them until only fragments of bone remained, then began roaming everywhere.

One Ghoul that had remained active nearby had already died from Magic Essence depletion, which meant the other Ghouls would not survive much longer either.

For an instant, Director Randall felt some doubt at how the clues had continuously delivered themselves to his doorstep, but he quickly discarded the unnecessary thoughts and revealed a heartfelt smile: “Excellent, now we can finally close the case!”