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Throughout the history of mankind - nay, perhaps the history of all living things in Rigal. In the event of a bloody conflict, one party kills the other, and there are countless ways to deal with it in terms of methods and afterlife. But in contrast, the reasons for taking other lives have been simple throughout the ages.

Starting with a small arthropod with a simple intelligence, killing other creatures to feed on their own survival, to a large predator vying for territory killing their competitors, or the wars waged by humans who claim to be higher animals of civilization -- killing other life for profit and survival are the most primitive wild instincts that have been passed down throughout history.

In addition to the interest of their own survival, another reason is more in the presence of beings with higher intelligence - they have moved away from simply following instinct to survive, and have begun to have desires, they have begun to have emotions.

Hatred, jealousy, and even love whether you believe it or not. Emotions are so complex that even the greatest sages have not been able to explain clearly that the existence has been accompanied by all kinds of bloody conflicts since the birth of civilization, whether it is the great national liberation, the rise of indomitable heroes, when we sweep away these golden slogans that decorate the surface with incomparably luxurious decorations, all that remains is countless dead souls and mountains of corpses and a sea of blood.

-- Unlike interests, the process of death that is driven by emotions is often more magnificent. Whether its existence is good or bad has not been able to come to a conclusion until now. It is true that rational and calm thinking is far more reliable than impulsive emotions in many key decisions, but without emotion. Whether civilization itself will be born is a big question.

...... Words go back to square one. As we said above, everything that is associated with death can be attributed to two causes, which leads to homicide as "motives" in human society. Often, if you can find the "motive" for one thing, then figuring out the ins and outs of the rest of the whole thing is just a matter of trying to figure it out.

It was already mid-March.

Herman, who had wanted to get information from the Duke's merchant in charge of transporting goods, had hit a bottleneck after suffering a setback, and the Duke Monroe's family had been keeping a low profile for a while, and even if they were probably planning something somewhere, it was obvious that they had completely hidden the eyes of the royal guards.

The failed arrest alarmed the other side. Although it still seemed to be very peaceful on the surface, both the Duke's Palace and the royal palace guards silently raised their vigilance.

Unable - to go further.

The method of temptation has been tried many times in half a month, and Herman even personally visited the Grand Duke of Monroe, and as an earl, he came to the door, and the Duke and Lady of Oscar naturally came out to receive them together. The Grand Master of the Wang Family's personal guard asked a lot of sharp questions, but he couldn't catch any clues from the other party's words and deeds.

When Herman went to the police post to get any possible help, Herman learned from Franco, the clerk, that Henry had previously judged the existence of two magicians based on the wounds on their corpses. After thinking about it, he found the two mercenaries who had been left out in the cold, and then the dead horse opened his mouth as a live horse doctor to explain everything clearly.

"If the temptation is inconclusive, how about taking a step back and starting with the direction of the behind-the-scenes investigation? Find out the other party's motives first, although I have always thought that the 'magician' kills people only out of playful display, but maybe it is not just that. ”

The sage, whose way of thinking is different from that of ordinary people, pointed out the way with a sharp point. As if he had been initiated, Herman immediately urgently applied for more support from the royal capital.

Like Henry, the resolute Grand Master of Crant believed that everything happened for a reason. Even if the royal guards and his party did not want to capture the real magician and give justice to the residents of Monroe from the beginning, even if it was to find a reason to force the Duke's family to show their feet and confirm their suspicions, it must be solid evidence.

Trace back to the source. Even if the murder may be just for fun, why the heart is lost is a question that is ignored by people as if it were black under the lamp.

Vega, who first discovered this a year ago, is said to have investigated, but if it weren't for the dragon lizard digging out the corpse, the people wouldn't even know about the loss of the heart—in fact. Even if it was dug out by the dragon lizard, many people still thought that it was actually eaten by it, if it weren't for Vega's suspicion, the body was dug up for investigation. They don't necessarily know about it yet.

There was no wound on the outside, but the heart was lost, and the sheriff and others who knew only a few rudimentary things about the wizard's spells blamed it on the result of interfering with the spells. But those who know a little more about it do. Interference spells, while seemingly miraculous, have not reached the point where they can make organs disappear out of thin air.

In short, after establishing a new direction of investigation, Herman asked for support from the direction of Xilin, and two or three days later, the higher-ranking court mages came to Monroe's place with a group of more than a dozen people, including scholars enshrined by the royal family of Crant as a reference for knowledge, and mage apprentices who followed them.

The reason they came here from Xilin was that they didn't have corpses to study.

To understand what the purpose of collecting the heart was, they had to know how the heart was taken, but the last corpse had been produced more than twenty days ago, and even if it was buried in the soil to slow down the rate of decay, it was obviously impossible to use it as a basis for investigation.

From this, we can see how the country of Krant differed from the West Coast kingdoms such as the White Church, such as the West Valier, where the doctrine of asceticism and prayer was strictly regulated for the human body and various funeral rites. They believed in the theory that they would ascend to heaven after death, so even knights who died in battle would replace their lost limbs with prostheses if they could afford to bury them. In order to "be able to transform into the image of truth, goodness, and beauty when they arrive in the kingdom of God."

In contrast, West Coast countries with traditional polytheistic beliefs such as Crane choose burials and the like just to prevent wild beasts from turning out their corpses and spreading diseases. After all, in such a tropical region, the rate of decomposition of corpses is much higher than elsewhere.

And so it goes. In summary, in any case, it is generally not permissible to dissect corpses and the like in places where the White Church is more influential, even if ironically many medical advances have been made through the dissection of corpses - then again, it is not forbidden in a region like Crant, so there are naturally people among scholars who specialize in this field, and these people, along with the mid-level second-stage mages who are the top magic advisors, come to Monroe, just waiting for another victim of the magician to appear and start studying it as soon as possible.

But a long time has passed, and at such a critical juncture, no one thinks that the magician will come out and kill again.

Once there will be a second time, and again it will be stuck where it should be. Herman then called Henry and Mira and asked the Sage for advice.

This time, Henry arrived without armor or even with his iconic broadsword. The weather in late March was even hotter and hotter, and during this time he and Mira had been training more and more, and the resulting wear and tear on the equipment had naturally become more severe.

Fortunately, mercenary missions have gradually increased recently, and some small tasks such as guarding have been accepted, and they are not too much to make ends meet. The armor of the two was custom-made when they set out from Vawasika at the end of last year, and although it was a little worn out along the way, it was not completely broken. However, Mira, who was in the growth stage, had shrunk more and more of the leather armor that had been reserved for size, and because of the trimming she had previously trimmed in Abbite, she was now about to expose her lower abdomen.

Naturally, such armor cannot be used any longer. Considering that there will probably be some higher demand as the mercenary mission progresses in the future. Henry sold his unwanted weapons and armor to a blacksmith and spent a considerable amount of money to create a lightweight, typical plate armor-style armor for the two.

Unlike the two older armors, which cover the leather with metal, the armor consists of a thin layer of leather armor covered with multiple pieces of metal riveted together with rivets.

The size of the metal block is not small, so it is very resistant to punctures and chops. With the leather cover on the periphery, it doesn't reflect light like plate armor, or because of the unbearable heat caused by the direct sunlight. Aside from the high price that comes with the higher demands of blacksmith craftsmanship, the plate armor is indeed a pretty good thing, at least for mercenaries like them.

To get back to the point, it's just that the lightly armed sage wears a simple light adventurer-style outfit. The loose neckline was open to the collarbone, revealing some tattoos on the neck and shoulders - until then they had been blocked by the edges of the leather armor. So Herman, who saw this for the first time, also frowned.

But even worse than him was the white-haired chief court mage of Krant who had just arrived, about sixty years old.

"Ancient Ancient ...... Ancient ......," said the old man, who trembled and pointed to the corner of his neck with the pattern exposed. Herman and Mira both looked at him, and Henry was silent.

"Lord Donald?" Herman said, and the old mage he called Donald on the other side put his hands together in a dignified manner, and bowed to Henry in the midst of everyone's astonished eyes.

The old mage then slowly straightened up, then nodded to Henry.

"......" The sage was silent for a moment, then responded with the same courtesy.

"Thou art the one who knows the secret language of the druids?" asked Henry in words that no one else could understand, and Donald's body trembled even more, and he nodded his head again and again, not like a steady chief mage, but like a child.

"Thou, thou," he asked rhetorically in somewhat stiff words, and Henry pondered for a moment, then whispered.

"Traveler. ”

"......" Donald seemed to understand that he was reluctant to say more. He folded his hands and bowed again with great respect.

"Your Excellency, Mercenary Mel. What is this?" Herman looked at the two of them with a frown, and the others present were also puzzled. But no one seems to be intending to explain.

"Let's focus on the problem at hand. Donald directly changed the subject, the status of the chief mage of the palace was high, so once he spoke, no one else dared to say anything more.

Although they looked at Henry with some suspicion, there was a more important problem at the moment, and out of professionalism, everyone quickly forgot about it.

“...... That's pretty much the way we're going to have it. Herman told him that there were no fresh corpses to study, and looked at Henry.

"......" The sage pondered for a moment, but did not answer directly, but turned his head to look at Chief Mage Donald next to him: "The heart is this organ. Does it mean anything special, I mean the use of magic. ”

"Uh-huh......" Donald stroked his chin and long white beard, thinking for a moment, but before he gave the answer, it was a young male mage apprentice under his banner.

"Mana materials!" the man said in a tone very similar to what Mira would use when she figured it out, and Donald nodded slowly, "That's right, the mana pool of the human body is located near the heart, and even ordinary people who don't have enough talent to use magic will have a little bit of magic in their heart and blood. ”

I don't know if it's because of the profession, but the magicians seem to be super chattering. Donald analyzed it on his own and began to talk to himself. It's just that because of his high power and the fact that what he said has a real truth, no one interrupted him: "Blood is extremely inconvenient to preserve, and once exposed to the air, it will quickly begin to oxidize and harden, although the total amount is larger, but the magic of the same quality of blood is not as large as that of the heart, which is the organ that supplies blood." The hearts of all kinds of magical beasts have always been excellent spellcasting materials-"

"Uh-huh!" Donald's expression suddenly became serious. He said to the male mage apprentice just now, "Gary, take out the previous report. The chief court mage gave the order, and Gary, who was an errand runner, immediately began rummaging through his leather bag. He knew what the other party was referring to, so he quickly pulled out a medium-thick scroll.

"Get out of the way. Everyone stood at the bar that served as a large table in the makeshift conference hall. Bernard spoke, and everyone else took a step back. And the old mage just spread out the whole scroll like this, and then carefully looked at it with a speed that no one of his age should have.

"Here, is that really the case......" he sighed, then slowly raised his head.

"Your Excellency?" Herman asked, and everyone, including the mage's apprentice, looked at him.

"Lapis lazuli for storing demons, silver and brass for channeling magic, and lead rings for spell bodies. These things must constitute a self-functioning system by themselves, in other words, it is closed......" said the old mage, and several mage apprentices thought for a moment with a look on their faces that suddenly realized, while the royal guards were at a loss.

"Alas...... To put it simply, the lapis lazuli absorbs the magic from the holder's blood, and then derives it from the silver and copper buried in it, allowing the circle carved on the surface of the lead ring to work, which is how this thing works. Bernard said this in layman's terms, this time everyone nodded, and the old mage went on to explain.

"But I was only focusing on how it worked, and I forgot one thing. ”

"When forging this ring, if a certain amount of magic is not injected in advance, this self-contained structure will not only not become a magic guide after it is formed, but will become an 'anti-magic weapon' that refuses any magic interference because of the closed structure and lead as an important component. ”

"After all, they originally chose lead as the main body of the ring, presumably so that it could wrap around the internal structure and prevent the spell from being invalidated due to the interference of magic from the outside world. ”

"But in this case, whoever makes this thing must constantly add a precise amount of mana throughout the creation process, so that it has a weak flow of mana that can only be felt when it comes into contact with the skin, and it can't use ores or magic crystals, because they will have residues and it's very difficult to control the exact amount used. Bernard shook his head: "It has to be something that can be completely burned, like ......"

"Heart or blood. ”

"But blood is not easy to preserve, and the heart can maintain its activity for a considerable period of time as long as it is soaked in medicinal wine. ”

"So they killed people to make this magician?" Herman said, and Bernard nodded, while Henry, who was next to him, frowned, and then took a step forward.

"Is anyone missing from this nearby village?" said the sage, and the royal guards were not idle people, and they reacted quickly as soon as they were pointed out.

"Send cavalry to investigate, all the missing cases in the Monroe Territory and Xilin Territory must be known, by the way, it also includes Warcraft, all those who purchase Warcraft-related materials such as heart and magic glands must be investigated, and Shun Teng will confirm one by one whether there is any connection with the Monroe Duke's Palace!"

"Hurry up!"

"Stride, stomp, stomp!" the dense footsteps rang out one after another, and the swift envoys spread out quickly, and Herman glanced around with a serious expression.

"I have a hunch that this is going to be a pretty staggering number. ”

[It's about to be 515, I hope to continue to hit the 515 red envelope list, and the red envelope rain will be able to give back to readers and promotional works on May 15. A piece is also love, and it must be better!] (To be continued.) )