Volume 2 Chapter 31 Quest： Obsidian To Roses (Revisit) I
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
After that, Kian underwent a brief questioning by the returning guard captain.
Oswald and Aisha merely watched it from the side.
It seems that the investigation of this assassination incident has been entrusted entirely to the guard captain, and the two of them are only offering help as the situation unfolds.
When one thinks about it, although Oswald is a knight of Maribel, he is actually a lord from another region called Ramsey.
He could not freely wield police power in East End, one of the direct territories of Margrave Maribel.
Once the questioning was over, they were to head out with the guard team to the water moat outside the eastern gate.
This was to re-examine the location where the corpse of the female assassin, believed to be the most important, had been found.
This time, they would be searching with military dogs used by the guard.
Stepping out into the blinding morning sun, they emerged onto the eastern gate’s drawbridge. From there, they descended the sloping path, making their way down to the water moat that sprawled beneath the structure, its still surface glinting faintly in the sunlight.
Adventurers, seemingly on their way to hunt, turned curious eyes toward them, wondering what the commotion was about.
”Ah, damn. I’m going to get all muddy. Well, I was originally planning to go on a picnic to ‘Labyrinth of Roses’ today, so I guess I can think of it as borrowing some dirt.”
Oswald grumbled while following the guard captain down the slope of the water moat with the dog.
”Shall I freeze the moat?”
”Please don’t, Lady Aisha. We can go around from there. Hey, pup, don’t be afraid of the water. Good boy, that’s it,”
”This is the raft that the Guild staff left behind yesterday.”
Kian said this while looking ahead from the back of the line.
Several stakes have been driven into the slope of the moat, and a simple raft about 5 meters square has been tied to it.
There are about 3 in total.
At the entrance to the sewers on the opposite bank – a large cavern with water flowing out – there were several rafts moored, and it seemed that several guards were already waiting there.
The guards were hanging out on the scaffolding at the sewer entrance, chatting away with their comrades.
They seem really unmotivated.
Upon closer inspection, they were the same guys who always play card games at the Adventurers’ Guild training ground.
Today, however, they seemed to be playing a mini-game that involved using their fingers (likely because they thought the cards would get wet).
Whether there was a winner or loser in the game, a loud burst of laughter rang out, echoing all the way to this shore, “Huhahahaha!”
”Wouldn’t it have been better to send the military dogs after them?”
As he drew in the raft, Oswald voiced his obvious question.
The guard captain scratched his head, looking troubled about how to respond.
”Well, yes… I suppose so.”
”I don’t really want to say this, but… is the guard in this town okay? The other day, my colleague Owl was also furious with you.”
”I apologize. I’ve been telling those idiots to do their jobs properly.”
”It seems the orders aren’t being followed very well.”
”Ha… it’s quite embarrassing.”
The guard captain said this, bowing his head in shame.
Aisha boarded the guard captain’s raft.
Kian leaped onto the raft controlled by Oswald.
”Alright, I’ll paddle the raft.”
”No, I’ll do it.”
”Then I’ll leave it to you, guard captain. And, Kian, it wouldn’t make sense to just keep yielding back and forth here.”
”Yes. …By the way, Sir Oswald did not receive direct orders from Her Excellency regarding the investigation of this attack, did he?”
”That’s right. I’m only here because I happened to be there while on a picnic today. The police power is with the guard captain. To be precise, it’s Her Excellency Maribel’s steward or female magician who is ordering him to investigate.”
”──That’s right. I’m the one in charge of the investigation.”
The captain of the guard shouted as he rowed the raft.
He turns his tired eyes to Kian.
”Actually, I wanted to hear from you yesterday, but various things delayed the guard team. By the time we joined up, Lord Friedrich’s subordinates had already retrieved the body of the female assassin, and they were searching the immigrant camp outside the street market. Thanks to that, I ended up in a big mess.”
”──Given that you’re leading those guards, it’s understandable that the response time is so quick.”
The guard captain’s face turned bright red at Aisha’s sharp comment.
He seemed frustrated, but it looked like he had no way to argue since it was the truth.
”Aisha, don’t say that. …So, before I went to meet you this morning, I peeked into the guard’s post as Her Excellency’s knight, and there I heard from you that you was having trouble finding out where it is. That’s why I took it upon myself to talk directly to Friedrich.”
”Thank you for your cooperation, Sir Oswald. …Damn, that pink-haired receptionist. She’s really doing her job poorly.”
”There’s no way a rookie receptionist would know the sleeping quarters of adventurers she just started handling. It was a busy morning, so cut her some slack.”
”Still, that awful attitude is inexcusable. What was her name? Miruru? Damn! She treated me poorly, but the moment you showed up, Sir Oswald, she was all over you like a puppy.”
While listening to captain guard’s complaints about the new receptionist, the party docked their raft on the shore where the guards were playing on the opposite bank.
The guards, who had been engrossed in their games, turned back to the guard captain with half-smiles lingering on their faces from the fun.
”Good morning, Captain.”
”Morning, Captain Abel. We’re about to make our move, right?”
”I’m so bored. Let’s go quickly.”
”If you guys had the time, you could have brought a dog for me… But never mind. Let’s go, guys.”
”Okay, okay.” “Yes, yes.” “Even though it’s a nice day today, we’re in the sewer in the morning.”
Aisha, who was standing next to Kian, stared at the backs of the guards as they started to walk away, her eyes twisted.
”Are these people okay?..”
”Hey Aisha. Can you hear them?”
”Yes. However… not only is their training level too low compared to the Knights of the Sun, but even against our own Ramsey’s knights, it falls short. That steward is a fool. This is the result of removing ‘Knights of the Sun’ from military advisory roles.”
”The steward and the female magician are toxins in this Margrave territory. However, while the guards’ training is lacking, the adventurers’ levels are extremely high.”
Oswald cast a lingering gaze over at Kian and winked.
”I’m not really one of the better adventurers…”
”It’s best not to say that in front of other adventurers, Kian. You’d lose your place… No, but… Heh, in that case, it would mean I’d be able to enjoy you without any reservations.”
”──Sir Oswald, Mr. Kian, let’s go. The cooperation for the investigation is temporary. We should wrap it up quickly and return above the moat before our clothes absorb the smell of sewage.”
Following Aisha’s pragmatic words, Kian and Oswald trailed behind the guards into the depths of the sewer.
Ahead of them, the sounds of guards starting to drive away the undead and aquatic monsters living on the land of the sewer began to echo.
* * *
Driving away the undead with little effort, they finally arrived at the scene.
This was the spot where last night, Guild Master Friedrich’s subordinates pulled up the corpse of a female assassin.
The military dog brought by the guard captain sniffed the ground about 50 meters into the land and let out a loud bark that echoed strongly in the cave.
It seemed they had caught wind of the chemical smell.
Kian explores the area and finds a place on land with traces of a human body, so he investigates the area with the guards.
In the darkness, by the light of a torch, Oswald raised his voice above the sound of the rushing water.
”The one who crushed her face seems to have taken the female assassin away from here. Look, there’s blood on the ground. They must have acted too quickly to destroy the evidence satisfactorily that it was found by Friedrich.”
”Hmm. There are quite a few bloodstains on the stone scaffolding of the passageway.”
Under the guards’ torches, Kian crouches in the bloodstain.
The captain of the guard shook his moustache around Kian’s shoulder.
”Still, there’s quite a distance from where you struck her down, Kian. Did she really have this much blood left in her body?”
”Probably, after she fell into the dirty water, she used the ‘Wall’ technique, which has self-healing effects.”
”‘Wall’? What’s ‘Wall’?”
”──It’s one of the 4 basic techniques in Azrael’s Dance Swordsmanship.”
Just as Kian was about to explain, Oswald interrupted him.
It was an unexpected interjection.
He continued with the explanation smoothly, as if he were quite accustomed to it.
”‘Impact’, ‘Leap’, ‘Shot’, and ‘Wall’ are the names. While the others are mostly attack-oriented techniques, ‘Wall’ is a healing and defense technique. It’s somewhat different from the healing magic of the Western Church, but essentially, it’s a type of healing magic. ──Isn’t that right, Kian?”
”Yes. Did you know about it?”
”To some extent. When you have many jobs like I do, you end up getting to know a variety of people.”
”I see.”
”Given the amount of blood, it’s likely the female assassin was still alive when she reached the shore. She used the application technique ‘Stop’ to halt her blood loss. But…”
Oswald crouched beside Kian and placed his finger on a bloodstain that was over a meter in diameter.
”She exhausted her power here and released ‘Stop.’ Of course, her blood vessels remained broken, so blood spurted out.”
”With those wounds, being washed away in the water, and still alive… what a monster!”
The guard captain muttered in a trembling voice.
Oswald continues.
”The person who was there for her last moments may be even more of a monster. I’m not in charge so I can’t just resort to force… but, Captain Guard, you should arm yourself properly before continuing the investigation. If you neglect, all of your important subordinates may be killed.”
”Yes, sir…”
”This is where they crushed the female assassin’s face with chemicals.”
Kian sniffed the air, which still had a peculiar smell.
”I figured as much. After crushing it, they must have floated the body to the bank where the Guild staff found it ──damn, there’s more than one person involved. It’s too far from the entrance of the sewers.”
”Huh…? What do you mean, Sir Oswald?”
”Hey, Captain Guard. The fact that they obscured their faces here means they brought in a high concentration of formaldehyde. There are also monsters, making this way too dangerous in multiple ways. They couldn’t have done this without an accomplice. There are probably a considerable number of enemies mixed in, including whoever crushed the faces of the dismembered bodies above ground.”
”The sewer entrance ── it’s not necessarily from the water moat, Sir Oswald.”
Kian stood up and looked up at the waterway above.
Damp vines and moss hung sporadically from the dark ceiling.
”What does this mean, Kian?”
”This sewer connects not only to the brōtḥel Guild’s public bathhouse but also to the drainage systems of other major water sources. The ones who brought in the chemicals might not have needed to come from the water moat at all.”
”I see. I heard this East End was famous as a hot spring town before thriving as an adventurer’s district. So, the ‘accomplice’ who crushed the face of the female assassin might have connections with those associated with the hot water facilities above?”
”That’s just a possibility…”
”No, I can agree with what you said, Mr. Kian. Indeed, coming from the water moat, there’s a high chance of running into the guards or Guild staff at the training grounds.”
Aisha narrowed her eyes and stared intently into the dark depths of the sewer at Kian’s words.
”It’s highly likely that some establishment in town with an entrance too far away to hide a body is accomplice to the assassin. In addition, a place that handles chemicals that can disfigure faces, such as formaldehyde, may be a good candidate.”
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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