Hearing Rogge's request to see the body of the dead maid, Fort St. Peter's magistrate Alexei readily agreed, and he invited Rogge to take his carriage to the cemetery outside the city, accompanied by several vigilante soldiers.

Rogge asked Antonio, Tully, and Locke to stay with the Marquis de St. Peter's mansion to accompany the Marquis, and he took Catherine, Lilith, Monica, and the grey owl Gray to the cemetery in the sheriff's carriage.

On the way, Rogge said to the sheriff sitting opposite: "Why was the maid's body buried so quickly, shouldn't it be reasonable to wait for the case to be settled before burying the body?"

"That's right," Alexei rubbed his hands helplessly and said, "You and Lord Antonio came from Itali, and you must have heard about the border town, and the priests of the Holy Congregation said that it was a witch, and the corpse is a very easy thing to be used by witches, so it is usually buried as soon as possible after death." ”

"That sounds like a very valid reason. Rogge smiled at the sheriff.

The sheriff looked at him and Catherine with a smile, and explained: "Actually, there is another reason, although it is autumn now, the temperature is still very high, and the body is easy to decay if it is not buried, and it is not easy to store it, so it is better to bury it early Everyone is relieved." ”

"I can see that you are a very responsible sheriff, and it is a blessing for the people of Fort St. Peter to have a sheriff like you. Rog and Catherine smiled at each other and praised each other, Alexei smiled and waved his hand, but he had a good impression of Rogge in his heart.

The carriage had not gone far from the city gate and came to a cemetery, the gate and walls of the cemetery were made of white marble, which looked solemn and solemn, and there was silence inside the gate, and the three men got out of the carriage at the gate, and Alexei asked the coachman to wait here, and brought four soldiers to accompany the two of them.

After the group entered the gate, they came to a small stone house, the sheriff knocked on the door, and an old grave keeper came out of it, Alexei greeted him, and walked into the cemetery with Rogge and the others.

There were no people in the cemetery who came to mourn the tomb sweepers at this time, and the group walked silently among the tombstones, as if there was an inexplicable sense of solemnity choking their throats, and even the little furballs and Gray who were playing all the way were lying quietly on both sides of Rogge's shoulders, occasionally looking up at the crows flying overhead.

The sheriff stopped in front of a plainly decorated tombstone, pointed to the tombstone and said to Rogge, "This is the maid's tomb." ”

Rog glanced at the maid's name "Anna" engraved on the tombstone, his eyes swept around the tombstone, and suddenly raised his hand to the soldiers who were about to come forward to dig up the tomb and said, "Wait a minute!"

"What's wrong?" the sheriff looked at him in amazement, and Rog walked over to the side of the tombstone and crouched down, picked up a handful of dirt from the ground and looked at it, got up and said to the sheriff, "Has it rained in the last few days?"

"No, the weather has been fine. The sheriff looked at him quizzically.

"If that's the case, I'm afraid the tomb has been dug up. Rog put the handful of earth in his palm and held it up to the sheriff and said, "The color of this soil is very fresh, and it is very different from the other tombs in the vicinity, the soil is relatively moist, and the surface soil of the grave that has been buried for several days will not be so damp in dry weather." ”

"Then what's the matter, do you want me to send someone to call the grave keeper to ask?" the sheriff also realized that something was wrong, and looked at Rogge with concern.

"No, let's dig first, maybe after we dig up, a lot of things will be understood. Rog threw the handful of dirt in his hand to the ground and nodded to the soldiers.

As the soldiers dig the grave, Rog again talks to the sheriff about the autopsy, who tells him that the body of the maid Anna had fallen from the third floor of the castle, which had caused a large number of broken bones, and that in addition to the abrasions on the epidermis mentioned earlier, there were extensive bruises on the hands and feet.

Hearing the sheriff's words, Rogge couldn't help frowning, he knew that the part where a person touched the ground when he fell might bleed due to the collision, resulting in a small area of bruises, but the bruises on his hands and feet were obviously not caused by the fall.

He did not express his suspicions, and continued to talk to the sheriff about the maid, and the sheriff told him that Anna had a younger brother who had a clinic in the city of Fort St. Peter, and that she had always lived alone because she had lost her wife and had no children in middle age, and that Anna would sometimes go to her brother's house for the night.

"It seems that the relationship between the two siblings is very good. Catherine asked sympathetically, "Did her brother know about Anna's death?"

"We already knew that we informed Anna on the day of her death, and he was very sad about the sudden death of his sister, and repeatedly asked us to find out who caused his sister's death. The sheriff sighed helplessly and said, "It's a pity that we don't have any clues, and we haven't been able to give him an answer." ”

"I think the answer will soon be solved. Catherine smiled confidently at Rogge, and the sheriff looked at the trust in her smile and gave his expectant gaze to Rogge's calm face.

At this time, a soldier stepped forward to report that the tomb had been dug up, and the sheriff asked them to open the coffin, and he walked to the side of the tomb with Rogge and Catherine, and saw the soldier slowly open the coffin, and a foul smell suddenly gushed out of the coffin.

"Wow, it stinks!" the little furball shouted in panic, and turned to hide behind Catherine's neck, the girl could not bear the stench despite the mask, and quickly covered her nose with her hand and stepped back, and the gray owl Gray also fluttered her wings and flew on top of her.

"Please take a look. Alexei couldn't help but cover his nose, glanced at the tomb with disgust, and whispered to Rog.

Rogge calmly looked down at the people in the coffin, his eyes showing great surprise, he beckoned to the sheriff who was retreating from the stench and said, "Sheriff, what's going on?"

Hearing Rogge's words, the sheriff looked down and saw that the corpse in the coffin was charred all over, and the body that had been severely decomposed was crawling with maggots, and the stench was mixed with a scorching smell, which was disgusting.

"How can this be, it wasn't like this when I was buried!" the sheriff looked at the body in amazement, then looked back at Rogge, who nodded to him and said, "At least, we can now know what someone dug up this tomb for." ”

Ignoring the stench of maggots and wriggling maggots in the grave, he jumped into the coffin and leaned over to examine the body, and after a moment he looked up and asked the sheriff, "Have you dissected the body?"

"No, we just did an examination of the appearance of the corpse. The sheriff covered his nose and tried not to let his eyes touch the disgusting maggots in the coffin, and said angrily.

"Then you don't mind if I do that, do you?" Rog looked at the sheriff with an inquiring gaze, Alexei nodded briskly, Rog raised his left hand and showed his winged blade, cut a slit in the corpse's chest and throat, and reached into the decomposing corpse to examine the corpse's chest cavity and respiratory tract.

Standing by the tomb, Catherine knew that Rog must have found something on the corpse, and she forced herself to stare at his movements, hoping to learn something from it, but after only a few seconds of watching, she couldn't help but cover her mouth and turn away, retching breathlessly.

"What's wrong with you, stupid girl?" asked the little furball, standing on Catherine's shoulder, concerned.

Catherine shook her head with nausea, and the little flower spirit flying in the air hurriedly cast a spell to summon a circle of flying mint leaves around Catherine, and the cool breath of mint surrounded her to dispel the stench, making her breathe a little relieved.

"I'm sorry, baby, maybe I shouldn't have brought you here, this kind of thing can't even be tolerated by men, it's too unbearable for girls. Rogge, who jumped up from the coffin, said apologetically looking at Catherine's back.

The girl turned back to him and shook her head and said, "No, I'm too weak, I should be stronger, so that I can learn more from you!"

"Don't push yourself too hard. Rog smiled comfortingly, took off his gloves and threw them on the ground, untied a flask full of spirits from his belt with his right hand, and rinsed the Fallen Angel Gauntlet and right hand in his left hand with the wine inside.

"Lilith, help me burn it. He put away the flask and pointed to the glove on the ground to the little furball, and the little furball's little head tilted, and a flame suddenly ignited on the glove of the chanting spell, and it instantly disappeared into nothing.

"Mr. Sheriff," Rogge turned to the sheriff, pointed to the tomb and said to him, "I have checked, our luck is not bad, I have found quite a few useful things, we had better let the dead rest in peace now, and then get out of here." ”

"Okay, restore the tomb to its original state!" said the sheriff, as if he had been granted amnesty, and hurriedly turned back and ordered the soldiers loudly.

"Is this man infected with the plague?" asked Catherine quietly as the soldiers filled in the earth.

"Why do you ask?" Rogge looked back at her curiously, as if her question was very strange.

Catherine replied unhurriedly: "Because after you examined the body just now, you took off the gloves from the autopsy, disinfected the gauntlets and right hands with spirits, and asked Lilith to burn the gloves, these ......"

"These are all ways to avoid the spread of the plague, right?" Rogge interrupted Catherine's words with a knowing smile, Catherine smiled when she saw this, and Rogge leaned his face to her side and whispered, "Actually, I was suspicious when I heard the sheriff say that the deceased's hands and feet were bruised, and it seems that we are not in small trouble." ”

"Shall we go back and inform the others?" asked Catherine, a little worried.

"Of course, tell the Marquis of St. Peter that Fort St. Peter is in danger of a plague spreading, and hopefully it is not too late for us to act. There was a hint of concern in Rogge's voice, and Catherine saw it in her eyes and nodded slightly.

After restoring Anna's tomb to its original state, the group left the cemetery after praying at the grave of the deceased, and when they came to the grave keeper's hut, Rog suddenly stopped and said to the sheriff, "I have a few words to talk to the grave keeper, please wait for me at the door." ”

"I just asked the soldiers to call him out. The sheriff turned around and was about to order the soldiers to summon the grave keeper, but Rogge waved his hand to stop him: "No need, I'd better go by myself, some things are better to talk about one-on-one." ”