A day's walk north from Vimpal College is a small place called Gumu Town. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

That being said, the village looks far stronger than Wild Dog Village. Whether it's the low stone walls, the gravel paths underfoot, or the smoke wafting over the villages, everything seems so vibrant, peaceful and harmonious.

Loren, who led the old horse, surveyed his surroundings as he passed through the gates of the towns and villages—vendors pushing wheelbarrows or carrying bags, farmers in short shirts and straw hats...... The bustling crowd mixed with the sound of chickens flying and dogs jumping, but it made Loren feel an extra comfort.

This is the breath of life, and compared to the quiet and silent Wimpal Academy, it is more like a huge prison, making it difficult to even breathe. It even reminded Loren of the days when he wandered with the old knight Leonardo.

But now he is no longer his original self, the blood-stained robe has been replaced by a hooded wizard's robe, but under the robe is not a light regular clothes, but a studded leather armor. There is also a knight's sword hanging from the side of the saddle, so it looks the same as the original.

Although the town looks quite sophisticated, it is actually not as spacious as it seems. Just as he was approaching the middle of the village, Loren found his destination, led the old horse towards the church gate, and took off his hood and smiled kindly at the bewildered eyes of the priest outside the door.

"Excuse me, is Father Anthony here?"

.................. "Damn, why didn't you shitty academy think of sending someone until now?!"

In the delicate small living room, Father Anthony, dressed in a golden and red clerical uniform and wearing a Holy Cross necklace around his neck, shouted loudly, looking at Loren as if he was looking at a certain bedbug: "It's been almost a week, are you planning to wait until we are all eaten by ghouls before taking care of the aftermath?!"

"I'm sorry. Loren still had a formulaic smile on his face: "We also just got the news, so ......"

"I'm sorry, except I'm sorry, you wizards will only shirk your responsibilities!" Father Anthony still shouted loudly, the gilded necklace around his neck swaying back and forth, "It's all your fault, these ghouls were all recruited by your broken academy!"

"Now that damn monsters have bitten six people to death, and one is a priest of the Holy Cross, this blasphemous monster should never be here!

"You don't have to worry about that. Loren casually wiped the spittle off his face, smiled and looked directly into the other party's eyes: "Since the academy sent me, then I will definitely solve this problem." It is unnecessary to report such a minor problem to the Bishop, or even to disturb the Duke. ”

"So, can we start investigating now?"

"Madness, arrogance!" Father Anthony, who snorted coldly, was frightened by the dark eyes that looked directly at him, took a half step back, turned around and waved his hand impatiently: "Draco, take this damn madman out there, don't let him appear in such a holy place!"

"Yes, Father Anthony. The priest who had just come in with Loren bowed respectfully, opened the door and glanced at Loren beside him, and the two of them left the priest's small living room together.

"I'm so sorry. Almost as soon as he left the door, the priest named Draco immediately said apologetically to Loren: "I hope you don't mind too much, Father Anthony is not usually like this, but this time the matter is too tricky, and he is helpless." ”

"It's nothing. Loren smiled absently—he had known from before he had come that these church people were unlikely to give a wizard apprentice a good look, so it was to be expected.

"But, then again, are you really an apprentice at the Wimpal Academy?" Priest Draco frowned a little, but quickly explained, "Don't get me wrong, I just don't remember hearing your name. ”

"It's nothing, I've just been an apprentice for a short time, so it's normal for you to be suspicious. Waving his hand, Loren returned to the topic: "Where are the dead?"

“...... In the morgue of the church, they will be buried after the purification is completed. The priest sighed, "Please come with me, or the church guards won't let you in." ”

"That's so thankful. ”

Following Priest Draco, after the other had dismissed the two guards guarding the door, the two men walked into the cold room, where the narrow morgue contained six unclosed coffins, all covered with a layer of white linen.

Loren stepped forward and opened one of them at random, and the dark pupils immediately contracted suddenly—all that was in the coffin was the severed arm and calf that smelled of corpses, and the cross-section was completely decomposed.

Obviously, he didn't need to ask where the rest of the corpses were. Loren looked up at the priest, "Are all the corpses like this?"

Priest Draco nodded with difficulty, his blue face clearly curbing the urge to spit out, "Some are hands and feet, and some are ...... Other parts. ”

So when these corpses were found, they had already been "eaten" by the ghouls. This is not surprising, this scavenging monster certainly doesn't waste any food that is delivered to his mouth.

But here's the problem, normal ghouls won't attack living creatures unless they attack them. But how many fools will have nothing to provoke these monsters?

Of course, there is more to the doubt - according to what Loren knows about ghouls, such monsters are basically only found in places with piles of rotting corpses, usually mass graves in the middle of nowhere, or areas that have just broken out in plague wars, and in any case densely populated villages and towns are unlikely to be their targets.

So either the ghouls mutated and were affected to attack the living, or someone deliberately attracted them here to kill their intended targets.

Either way, the evidence in front of me is so scarce, almost infinitely close to zero - if the bodies were still intact, or if there were any witnesses, it might have been better. But now all the clues have been completely wiped out by the ghouls.

"They didn't even find all the bodies, and their families didn't come to protest?"

"Of course...... So we just tell them that these corpses have been defiled by the forces of evil. Priest Draco smiled wryly, a little reluctantly, "Then we'll cremate the bodies and bury them in the village cemetery behind the church - I know it's cruel, but maybe it's better not to let them know the truth." ”

Loren nodded in understanding. He casually covered the white linen cloth with his hand: "At least don't cremate the bodies now, maybe there is some remaining evidence that can help us find those ghouls." ”

"Also, I need information about the identities of the six victims and when they were killed – the more clues there are, the easier it will be to find out. ”

"Well, I'll help you as much as I can. Priest Draco nodded solemnly, "In any case, please find those ghouls as soon as possible, and then exterminate them, so that no more innocent villagers will live in the shadow of these monsters." ”

"I'll do my best. Loren nodded, and left the foul-smelling morgue behind Priest Draco, his dark eyes flickering back and forth, remembering what Dalton Candle had said before he arrived.

“............ Father Anthony of Gumu Town is one of the most resistant and disgusted priests of the Holy Cross to wizards, so he must not be left with any authority of the academy to solve this matter as soon as possible.

In addition, I suspect that this incident was not an accident, but someone deliberately. Maybe to hit the prestige of the academy, maybe not. Anyway, find out the truth. ”