Night of the Soulless Heathens – 34



#34. Black Magic Disaster 5

“Oh you guys?”

Chief Inspector Maya grabbed her mace in confusion. Azadin shook his head.

“We are just a group of merchants and adventurer pilgrims.”

“Oh yes. I see. What about this?”

“It seems like the villagers have fallen victim to evil magic. When we arrived they were all undead and attacked us.”

“Huh? You mean the people from the Sawmill Village? Oh my goodness. And you repelled them all?”

“Oh it wasn’t just us. There were other merchants and mercenaries but they turned away and said they would not even enter the village.”

“I see. If you hadn’t come I would have stayed stuck there.”

“Are you feeling okay? How long have you been locked up?”

“I don’t know for sure. I could survive because there was food and water in the warehouse but…”

“Can I take a look inside for a moment?”

“Oh no!”

Maya objected when Azadin said he would search inside.

“Isn’t there a clue to this case inside?”

“There’s no such thing!”

“Why do you say so so confidently?”

“That that….”

But then the medium said

“The knight must have been holding out inside taking care of his physiological needs in the corner of the warehouse. He must have taken care of the big things just now but he takes care of the small things more often…”

“Whaaaaaah!”

Maya slumped down on the spot. That means she was locked in the warehouse and didn’t want anyone to get caught urinating inside so she blocked Azadin and the others from entering.

“It’s nothing special. Can I look into it?”

“No before that excuse me but who are you? Investigating such matters is something our Knights are experts at. Rather than making unnecessary assumptions I think it would be better to have a trained person take control of this case.”

What Maya said was completely correct. For a person who does not want to show evidence of having urinated that is. Of course Azadin is also the Emperor’s messenger so he is trained as an investigator.

The Emperor’s messenger was to be trained not only in martial arts but also to read and memorize various accident cases murders and crimes. However if the opponent was a knight of the King’s Church how could Azadin reveal that he was the messenger?

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At that time Medium stepped forward to replace Azadin.

“That trained person was locked in the warehouse and would have stayed inside if we hadn’t come. Can you take charge of the case? This time we’ll take responsibility for the investigation so please follow our lead.”

“….”

When I subtly brought up the fact that I was locked up the chief officer kept his mouth shut. He couldn’t help but be speechless when it brought up embarrassing memories.

“That’s right.”

Maya gave up and allowed the group to look around.

When Azadin looked inside the warehouse also served as a food storage facility and there was a large bathtub filled with water. It seemed that they had been drinking water and eating food from the storage facility to survive but judging from the mess around them it seemed like they had been locked up for about a day.

Looking at the door entrance there was a mark where the door had been struck with a knife and a short sword was broken and left nearby.

‘This officer didn’t just have that decorative mace.’

He came in armed with a sword and shield and was locked in a warehouse. It seemed that he tried to break the door with his sword but the sword broke.

“Was it only a day or so that you were locked up?”

“yes.”

“Before that the villagers were alive? The moment you were locked up there was an attack on the village. Is that okay?”

“is it so.”

Maya who answered like that seemed to be searching for something while looking at the undead corpses around her.

“Oh by the way have you seen any other knights besides me?”

“Other knights?”

“So I was ordered by the bishop to subdue the wyverns here. Of course we need hunters to deal with the demons.”

The Knights Templar had many apprentice knights who had achieved great success and had to be formally appointed.

“My father happened to be in charge of guiding the knights so I came here with them to fight the wyverns.”

“Father?”

“Oh yes. My father is also a knight of the church. We father and daughter have been protecting the laws of the King’s Church for generations!”

She puffed out her chest proudly.

‘That’s not something to be proud of at all?’

Azadin laughed inwardly at her words. According to the original rules the knights of the King’s Church cannot have children. Otherwise there would be no point in sending the loser of the inheritance battle to the King’s Church instead of killing him. After all one day he might have children and grow worldly power to regain power.

In order to prevent such situations in advance it is said that in the past castration was performed at the same time as becoming a monk. However as the discipline of the Knights Templar became loose castration was the first thing to disappear. So the debauched knights often had children while enjoying pleasure and the children born in such a way became illegitimate children and were incorporated into the church.

In other words this knight named Maya was born out of wedlock.

‘If she had a child before she became a nun her father would have been a priest not a knight.’

The fact that a father and daughter are both knights is not something to brag about to others. Just in case Azadin asked her father and the apprentice knights about their appearances. And he was soon able to come to a conclusion.

‘These are the ones I killed.’

This forest and the sawmill meet the farm that Azadin’s party left yesterday. Perhaps the knights who were sent to hunt wyverns shot arrows in the forest and unfortunately killed a farmer. In order to cover up the incident one of them ran away and massacred the entire farm before meeting Azadin’s party and being killed.

But that person is still alive here. Salasma’s chief officer Maya is the daughter of Lord Gazrek whom Azadin killed.

“I don’t know what happened but my father is a very good knight. He is skilled in martial arts and carries himself very well. I don’t think he would have been defeated by a few undead.”

“Is that so?”

Azadin laughed.

Certainly Lord Gazrek was a formidable foe. Although Azadin took him down by surprise he might have been quite a difficult opponent had they been engaged in a formal duel.

But is he a great knight?

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‘If he was a great knight he wouldn’t have a daughter.’

How can one be a great knight if one breaks the rules and has an illegitimate child?

Moreover the very same Sir Gazrek and his men that Azadin saw were the ones who killed civilians by shooting arrows wrongly and then massacred civilians in droves to cover up the incident.

They are blood relatives so their arms seem to bend inward but no matter what there is no way they would be great knights.

‘He may be a great father but I’ll have to keep my mouth shut about this. I don’t want to get involved with this woman and have her attack me calling me her father’s enemy.’

So I decided to take her away for a while.

“Are your weapons and equipment on your horse? I haven’t seen any horses that have become undead. If you don’t mind you and the merchant knights should scout the area for a while and look for horses. Maybe you can find your comrades.”

“Then what about you?”

“We’ll investigate this warehouse town further.”

Azadin said so and sent the paladin out to scout the surrounding area.

*********

Azadin searched the warehouse further but found nothing out of the ordinary.

“So what do we do now?”

Medium asked.

“Should we use this sawmill as a base and explore a little? Or should we retrace our steps like the other merchants?”

“We’ll use the Sawmill as a base. If what’s happening here is the work of a living human sorcerer we’ll need food and water supplies.”

“What if that’s not the case? Usually things involving black magic happen when someone with a grudge dies and becomes a ghost.”

While it takes a lot of training and talent for a living being to use black magic a ghost can immediately use their talent for black magic so disasters are usually caused by ghosts.

“So we have to keep pretending to be helpless children? That must be quite a burden to you.”

Medium had a female knight in mind.

Azadin forbade Midiam and Ismail to use bows. If a child were to handle such a powerful bow it would immediately reveal that they were part of the Herald clan.

It was a fact that had to be hidden even from the merchants so it would be even more so from the knights. And that’s not all.

“If the person who committed this incident here is human he or she would probably be….”

“I guess so?”

Midiam and Azadin had a rough idea of ​​who was responsible for what was happening here.

*********

Black magic disasters are usually caused by evil spirits. Those who suffered hardships while alive are murdered and buried without a proper funeral for some reason and then they rise again as evil spirits. Most of these evil spirits only cause curse-type spiritual phenomena.

However there were times when it would display such powerful power that it wouldn’t be strange to call it a real disaster. If this were a black magic disaster the most likely candidate would be a woman who was treated as a slave because she was a member of the messenger clan.

We must assume that she was murdered and became an evil spirit.

“I don’t know if he died and became a ghost or if he learned black magic while alive but it’s more likely the latter…”

“The latter is also somewhat possible.”

Azadin said this citing a past accident case.

The magic of black magic is more a talent than a study. If she really inherited the blood of the messenger clan and inherited the magic book of the flower bird wind and moon it wouldn’t be strange for her to suddenly awaken to black magic one day and become a magician.

“Then wouldn’t your personality make you want to persuade them?”

“Why do you think so?”

“You value aesthetics. But I would kill you. It is pitiful to have sad memories and a painful past but you can’t use a broken bucket because of pity. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to buy a new bucket?”

No matter how pitiful your past may be there is no need to use broken vessels out of pity. Once the human spirit is broken it is difficult to repair.

Occasionally people with strong mental power do not lose themselves in the face of terrible suffering but instead they re-forge themselves sharper and stronger. However most people who do not do so are broken and shattered. You can sympathize with their personal history but you should not trust them.

Medium smiled as he spoke in that tone.

“Nevertheless if you succeed in persuading her I will respect you.”