"You said Baron Grey who left Turbidity last night was fake?" asked Lothar with a look of incredulity. He hadn't known Baron Gray for a day or two, and although he didn't have much of a liking for this odd-tempered apothecary Lothar, he didn't need to know too much about that person to judge the authenticity of a person by his words and mannerisms.

"I'm afraid so. Lord Earl, and even I suspect that Baron Gray, who came to Turbidity Town, was not himself in the first place. Cheese naturally saw the huge corpse of the giant rat man on the way here, and it was not difficult to hear from the nearby soldiers that the Count of Montenegro had defeated the giant enemy one-on-one. So for the mage, Lothar let them go during the daytime trial, which was enough to prove that this man could be won, and his record showed that the count was not as pompous as he seemed, and that his courage and force were worthy of recognition, so the cheese unconsciously used honorifics in his conversation with him.

"Not me? you mean...... Gray had been dead since he arrived in Turbidity?But I've met him no less than ten times in the past few days, including two dinners, and if someone pretended to be him, I couldn't see it?" And Lothar has always given people the impression that people tend to think of this count as a simple martial artist, so there are many people who despise him and are found out by the earl. So all the while, Lothar trusted her own judgment.

Cheese was not surprised by the Count of Montenegro's reaction, and if it was an ordinary person who killed and pretended to be Baron Gray, even if he was a spy who had been planning for a long time and had been imitating Baron's behavior and language for years, the mage believed that he would not be able to get away with it in front of Lothar. So Cheese can understand Lothar's incredibleness, but at the same time, the mage also knows that there are far more things in this world that are better at imitating humans than ordinary people think.

"Soul Eaters, or something like that, I don't know what they're called in the Glasion Kingdom, or if there's nothing like that here. Cheese said.

"The body of this thing itself is just a dark shadow with no shape, but because they were originally created by the devil to infiltrate mortals, they have abilities that those things with physical bodies do not have. Anyway, these creatures are like leeches on a spiritual level, and they cling to humans or other living creatures in forms that are difficult to detect, such as shadows that are darker than other people's colors or continuous nightmares. They will then continue to suck into the victim's memories and sanity. But in this process, the victim will not behave abnormally, because the parts they lack, and the things attached to his body will help him temporarily make up for them. When the leech eats away the victim's memory, the unlucky guy dies of brain failure. Then the dark shadow changed from his shadow to a regular body, with exactly the same memories and feelings as the regular body. Next, it only needs to dispose of the corpse of the main body, such as using a fire, and can take over the victim's life without any gaps. ”

Leon and Lothar looked at each other, they had never heard of such a thing as Cheese was talking about. But this did not prevent them from understanding the horror of this alien as described by the mage. After a moment's thought, Leon understood what the topic that Cheese had suddenly brought up was pointing to.

"You mean, Baron Gray has died from the monster you spoke of. And the person Lothar saw last night was the monster itself?" asked the chief knight. This is the only way to explain why the mage suddenly mentions this Eater of Souls to them.

"I didn't see the body, but I'm afraid I was. While this is only information I have deduced from Baron Gray's research, based on the information provided by the Earl of Montenegro, it seems that this is the only way to explain why Baron Gray, who was supposed to have died at the station, left Turbidity in plain sight. As he spoke, Cheese pulled out a notebook made of cowhide as a book jacket from his bosom.

"This is what I found in the basement of Baron Gray's makeshift residence, where I found Heather and the Hammer Knight who had returned with her...... Body. The location where this notebook is placed is absolutely impossible for ordinary humans to obtain, which also shows that the baron has some unusual abilities at the end of his infection. This is quite common among people who are possessed by evil spirits. But the main thing is that this note mentions many times that he himself feels that his consciousness is becoming blurred, and many times he is completely unconscious when doing things. Like when I dissected the knights. ”

Cheese himself threw the notebook, which he had found in the basement of the second-story building, to the Count of Montenegro, and the contents of the notebook were extremely sloppy, showing the confused state of mind of the recorder, but most of the handwriting was still legible. What is described in these contents looks like a horror novel written in the first person, and Baron Gray, as the recorder, gradually loses his mind in this continuous episode of intermittent amnesia, and the last few pages of the note are filled with the repetitive question "Who am I?" The last few pages of the note are filled with the last few pages of the note, which shows that Baron Gray has lost himself by the monster devouring him at that time.

The Count of Montenegro and the Knight Captain flipped through the notebook at great speed, most of which were just pointless questions, but the notes mentioned Heather in captivity and the Knight of the Hammer who had been dissected by "unknown people". Even after reading these short dozens of pages hastily, Lothar and Leon's backs were already covered with cold sweat.

"Wait a minute, if Heather was imprisoned from the beginning of her return, then why did we hear from her on the way to Turbidity? The Knight Captain quickly remembered what had happened before and questioned it.

"It's simple, and I think Heather's handwritten letter to us, in addition to mentioning the state of Turbidity at the time, must have hinted to you that I might be the mastermind of this plague, right?" Cheese said to Leon.

The chief knight scratched his head in embarrassment, indeed, Heather's handwritten letter at that time mentioned that the identity of Cheese was suspicious, so he could not be fully trusted. It's just that Leon didn't mention this to anyone else at the time in order to reduce misunderstandings. And the handwritten letter was actually only seen by the chief knight alone, and the reason why the content of the letter was relayed by Leon was also to stabilize the relationship with the mage.

"Well, that's what it does, but what does that mean?" asked the Blood Lion.

Cheese smiled slightly bitterly and said.

"That was the other party's first attempt, and it hoped to divide the relationship between me and you through Heather's letter, but you didn't believe it, otherwise we wouldn't have had a chance to infiltrate Turbidity Town, and we wouldn't have been able to find Baron Gray's body. I should have realized it at the time, but at that time, I was bent on finding a cure for the plague from the Dragon's Throat Trail, and I missed this opportunity. ”

"But even so, how are you going to interpret Lothar's words? You know, not only him, but many of the soldiers in the town have seen Heather's return. The chief knight said.

"It's even simpler, look at the Earl's current appearance. The mage said, gesturing to Lothar, who had not spoken a word.

The Blood Lion looked at Cheese's fingers, and the Count of Montenegro frowned at this time, as if he was trying to remember something.

"Are you thinking about what it was like when you came into contact with Heather?" asked Cheese.

Lothar didn't answer, but nodded suspiciously, and looked at the mage at the same time, hoping that the other party would give an explanation.

Cheese smiled bitterly twice more and said.

"Actually, I'm ashamed to say it, although I'd love to say that it's some kind of magic that can tamper with people's memories, and then use it as a clue to find the mastermind behind it. But I don't see a shadow of a spell cast in you. So either the other party's level is far beyond mine, or you haven't been cast a spell at all. ”

"But if I hadn't been tampered with, why didn't I have a memory of meeting Heather?" asked the Earl.

"It's not just magic that can give illusions in this world, in fact a clever trickster or anyone else who is proficient in this art only needs a few props, a few herbs that give people a slight illusion, and clever conversation skills. They can affect people's memory to a certain extent. But I guess this isn't what the Eater of Souls is capable of, so there must have been someone else who had made you and even those soldiers delusional at the time. Cheese said.

"Besides, I think that man also left Turbidity last night with the fake Baron Gray, and now even if you turn the town upside down, I'm afraid you won't be able to find that man's tail. ”

Lothar frowned and said.

"According to you, we have been completely tricked this time, and everything in the past few days has been expected by the false baron or the person behind it?"

"I'm afraid so, Lord Count. In this period, we lost very completely. But fortunately, we still have the money to turn the tables, and they probably didn't expect me to rush back to the basement in the first place, so Heather, who was originally left there to die, was successfully rescued by me. In this way, we still have a chance. The mage said.