Chapter 136:…………………………………………..
Huh? What’s going on now?
I stared at him with wide eyes.
“You just tried to save her, and this happened, didn’t you? You saw it clearly yourself. But now you’re saying I’m the culprit?”
Investigator Fren narrowed his eyes and spoke.
“…Could you explain in detail?”
Then the young man with the sharp eyes began to speak fluently, as if he had rehearsed his story.
“I was just acquainted with these two people. But a trivial argument broke out, and then that woman suddenly came running and caused these two men to end up like this.”
“Ha, I didn’t even touch those zombies!”
At the man’s ridiculous claim, I couldn’t help but raise my voice.
But he just smirked wickedly, raising his eyebrows.
“Well… you never know. Perhaps the lady secretly used dark magic to kill them.”
“…!”
“You… you’re a former slave, right?”
At that moment, Ron spoke in a cold voice.
Then he gently lifted the hat he had been wearing.
The young man’s expression changed subtly upon seeing this.
“Ron, do you know him?”
“By chance, long ago.”
The man curled his lips into a smirk.
“So it really is him, huh? Heh, pretending to be a nobleman, I see.”
“……”
Dark energy began to emanate from Ron.
Being close by, I could feel even the slightest movement of his body.
“Ron…”
“Yeah, I’m fine. And I’ll deal with this guy.”
Ron gave a soft smile, completely different from when he had looked at the man face-to-face earlier.
“Deal with him? Really?”
At his mocking tone, Ron winked at me and turned my attention.
“Don’t look at the dirty stuff, Ann.”
Then, everything happened in an instant.
With the sounds of thuds and groans, a final death cry echoed.
Unable to contain my curiosity, I turned around and saw the man’s body flopping like a zombie.
“Ron!”
Ron, still gripping the man by the collar, released his hands lightly.
“Ron! He’s… dead?”
Fren said to me, calm despite my shock.
“Technically speaking, it seems the body was already dead.”
“What?”
“Just like with Shant Kerys.”
Fren approached the man Ron had been holding.
“You can see the spiral mark here. Do you notice it’s the opposite direction of the ones discovered before? This one seems to have been like Shant Kerys. And, like then, the body was left behind while the soul escaped.”
Ron clapped his hands and straightened his posture.
“The eyes were strange. They were full of black specks. Just like when we saw Shant Kerys.”
“So that’s why you killed him without hesitation?”
Ron nodded bitterly.
“Ron, are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
He adjusted his disheveled clothes, appearing completely unfazed.
Yet I was still worried.
The dead man reminded me of Ron’s past as a slave.
“He was one of the bad kids who abused young slaves.”
“This man?”
“Yes. That’s why his face was unforgettable.”
“……I see.”
I held Ron’s roughened hand tightly.
Fren revised his previous theory that the murders in the South were unrelated to Shant Kerys.
The suspicious deaths were clearly connected.
And so were the evil spirits.
“How many of these evil spirits exist, I wonder…”
I thought of the evil spirits scattered throughout the empire.
As time passed, they continued to wreak havoc.
Yet, then and now, there was still nothing we could do.
“These bodies will be handed over to the investigative authorities.”
We parted ways with Fren for now.
He said he would contact us later once the investigation progressed.
We headed toward the Olteren Forest, owned by the Alter family.
There, we were guided by a member of the D’ble organization.
This was something I had requested from their leader, Chenler, in advance.
The member named Gibson was responsible for transporting Seleron and Memur incense through the area.
“Be careful. Random inspections can happen at any time.”
“How?”
“We split the containers in half and put regular incense on top so they appear ordinary.”
“Wow… impressive.”
I realized why the D’ble organization was the empire’s most powerful secret faction.
“No need for praise. I’m honored to receive compliments from the Goddess herself.”
“….”
That blasted “Goddess.”
Whenever I met D’ble members, they always called me “Goddess.”
“Goddess?”
Ron looked at me suspiciously, then glared at Gibson, clearly annoyed.
It was as if he was saying: My goddess? Who are you to call her that?
I explained what had happened with D’ble to calm him.
Ron, though still slightly angry, reluctantly accepted the “Goddess” title.
“So, where exactly is this incense being taken within the Alter family?”
Gibson gestured.
“There, over there.”
“Olteren Forest?”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
Olteren was the forest of the Alter family.
Just as the Kerys family had Trensia Forest and the Fobua family had Fobua Forest, this was a centuries-old family forest.
“Doesn’t look that big.”
Kautz answered my question.
“It may look that way, but once you enter, it’s massive. I visited with the Alter family scholars back when I was a researcher.”
“What was it like?”
“Following the paths, there were dense trees in a large basin-like area.”
In other words, the forest was much larger than it appeared from the outside.
“Of course. A family with a long history.”
We split into two groups.
While Ron and I followed Gibson, Gulter and Kautz went to locate Chevert.
“Take care, Kautz.”
“Don’t worry. You and the young master mustn’t get hurt.”
After parting, we waited until nightfall.
I used magic to hide us in the darkness to erase our traces.
Soon, deep night had arrived, and we moved stealthily toward the location Gibson guided us to.
Unlike Trensia Forest, which only allowed Kerys bloodline members to enter due to a barrier, Olteren Forest had no such restrictions.
Few people ventured there anyway.
There were eerie rumors about the forest.
“Originally, the citizens of the empire could come and go freely, but nowadays, no one steps inside.”
Gibson stopped at the forest entrance.
“That’s because of rumors of mysterious moaning sounds coming from the forest.”
“Moaning?”
“Yes. From what our members investigated, the sounds came from injured people passing through.”
Ron, silent until now, spoke.
“The capital’s forest… are there wild animals or monsters that could harm people?”
“Possibly. From a certain point onward, almost no one entered the forest.”
Gibson led the way along a narrow path, followed closely by Ron and me.
Ron stayed close to me to ensure I wasn’t scared.
We walked silently for a while, feeling the terrain gradually slope downward.
It seemed we were heading toward a basin within Olteren Forest.
Then…
“…!”
Gibson suddenly stopped. Ron and I froze as well.
“Eep!”
Immediately, following Gibson’s hand signal, we covered our noses and mouths.
Before entering the forest, Gibson had given us specially-made masks.
As someone handling dangerous incense, he made them to prevent inhalation.
Thanks to our quick preparation, we weren’t affected by the incense.
Then, Gibson gestured again.
Following his gaze, Ron and I couldn’t help but be shocked.
“…Someone’s collapsed!”
And not just one—several.
Even in the pitch-black night, we could tell because faint lights shone between the fallen bodies.
As I moved forward, Ron held me back firmly.
At that moment, the lights grew brighter, and someone gradually revealed themselves.
“A woman…?”
She wandered among the fallen people holding a lantern.
She, too, covered her nose and mouth to avoid the incense, so her face wasn’t clear.
Then, her robe slipped off, revealing her long hair.
Her spindly arms and neck looked like dead branches.
She swayed as if she might collapse, moving constantly in a hunched posture, almost like a living corpse.
Why was she here, at this hour, and what was she doing?
