Second World

”That is indeed troubling.”

”So, do you want to just forfeit the quest? Considering the high risk,” Peniel asked when Jack was silent for a while.

Jack pondered on the question for a bit, and said, ʼno, letʼs continue.ʼ He still had the Immortal Soul inherent skill, even if he was killed, he would only lose half the experience to the next level. He sighed, not only did he not get any experience during the progress of this quest, but there was a potential in him losing experience as well. He would really consider twice the next time he was thinking about tackling a mysterious quest.

He knelt beside Joselynʼs body. There didnʼt seem to be any traceable wound, but his eyes soon picked up a small burned hole at the underneath of her jaw.

”So you notice?” Captain Salem said from beside him, ”it was likely from a lightning type of skill or spell, judging from the burnt mark. It was a high penetration and high-speed attack, she was killed instantly after her brain was punctured.”

Jack touched the top of her skull and moved her hair aside, there was a hole at the top of the skull. The attack went in from under and came out on top. Jack looked above, he found a small burnt hole on the ceiling. He then turned to the dead guard. In his case, there were two burnt holes. One on his chest, the attack completely punched through his chest armor and damaged his heart. The other one was on his forehead. It took two attacks to kill the guard, but still, from the absence of mess, those two attacks went pretty quick.

”What do you think?” Captain Salem asked.

Jack shook his head. ”I still need to check this room further,” he said.

”All right, I will leave you to it,” captain Salem said. He then went out and asked the others to disperse. The duke asked the captain to stay with Jack considering the murderer had managed to kill a castle guard easily. The captain acknowledged, he stood outside the room waiting for Jack.

”You found out about something, right?” He asked.

”Have the others left?” Jack asked back.

”Yes,” the captain answered.

”I think she recognized the attacker,” Jack answered.

”How so?”

Jack stood under the burnt hole on the ceiling. ”She must have stood here when she was killed. The attack went from under and hit the ceiling after passing through her. In order to attack from that angle, the attacker must be standing extremely close to her. Thatʼs mean it is someone she knew. Judging from the guard staying still at the corner, the attacker was someone that had been frequently in converse with her. If not, the guard would not have allowed the attacker to get close to her. The attacker must have killed her first in a surprise attack, then turned to the guard and killed him before he could react.”

”You mean the killer is one of the occupants of this mansion?” Captain Salem asked.

”There is a high probability it is,” Jack answered.

”Impossible! All of them are commoners, none of them are capable of this. Or are you insinuating itʼs the Duke himself that have done this? It is even more impossible. I know the Duke personally. He is not someone that will do this kind of murder.”

That was true, Jack had scanned all the occupants when he interviewed them the day before. They were indeed all level 1. For the Duke himself, he did not know the man that well, but he doubted he would do such blatant murders.

”Iʼm not sure,” Jack said. ”Iʼm still looking for more clues. I might still be missing something, but I think the murderer and the thief were the same person.”

”I thought Joselyn was the thief?”

Jack shook his head, ”she was working with someone. Maybe that someone had decided to shut her up.”

”She has a partner? Who?!”

”Thatʼs what we are trying to find out.”

Captain Salem watched Jack with a solemn gaze as he took a piece of cloth to cover Joselynʼs corpse, then he laid the guardʼs corpse down carefully and started to check on it. The captain said, ”at first I was skeptical about your kind, the Gods had left behind prophecies about your kind, about your limitless potential. But the ones I have seen are all weak yet greedy and rude adventurers, I doubted how strong any of you can get. And even if you become strong, how useful you are to us, perhaps you might instead become our disaster. However, seeing you now, I can see now what the Gods meant.”

”Donʼt get your hopes up yet,” Jack chuckled. ”Not all of us are the same. Some are indeed greedy and also selfish. They will have no problem sacrificing others for their own gain. You should still be careful when you are dealing with our kind.”

”But you are not like that, no?”

”I try not to.”

Jack finished checking the guardʼs corpse, he could find no further clue. He used another piece of white cloth to cover the corpse as well. He then stood up and looked around the room. At first glance, the room appeared to be tidy without disturbance, but he saw one of the drawers of a cabinet nearby was ajar with some clothes sticking out. He went and opened the drawer. It was disheveled inside, it looked nothing like a girlʼs drawer. He opened the other drawers, it was also messy. Somebody had been ruffling the inside, probably in search of something?

He turned to the captain, ”tell me again how the corpses were found?”

”The Butler found them, the Marquess passed by not long after. The Marquess then stood guard here while Winston went around calling everybody.”

Jack proceeded to look at the other part of the rooms, especially the cupboards and cabinets. Only the one that he had first checked had been ruffled, the other was still tidy. When he reached the last cupboard and opened its doors, he was surprised to find it was devoid of clothing as was typical of a womanʼs cupboard. Inside were some wooden display stands that were similar to the one at the Dukeʼs workroom.

The assailant had only searched through one cabinet, why? Because he was interrupted and did not have the time to search the others? Or he had found what he was looking for? And why were there display stands inside the maidʼs cupboard?

He took the display stands out. Some had its top parts broken apart, no, it was disassembled. Jack looked at the one in pieces, and then looked at the one that was still in one piece. He touched the panel that sat on the top of the display stand. It shifted. He applied some pressure and tried moving it in a direction. After some tried, it detached. Jack looked at the panel and turned it around. It was just a thin wood panel, nothing special, and nothing was hidden behind the removable panel.

After pondering for a bit, he put all the pieces back into the cupboard. He continued to search the room a bit more but found no other unusual thing. He came out and said to the captain, ”I want to ask the duke something, do you know where he is at the moment?”

”He should be in his chamber checking on the duchess. Come, Iʼll take you there.”

Jack followed the captain. He was grateful for it, if he went by himself just based on an indicated direction, he would quickly lose his way. They arrived in a large bedroom that was beautifully decorated. Several antique pieces of furniture decorated the spacious room. At one side of the wall was a wide and luxurious bed, the duchess was lying on the bed while the duke accompanied beside her. The head maid Jimena was also there, tending to the duchess.

”Is something the matter?” The duke asked when he saw the two.

”Yes,” Jack answered. ”Is there somewhere we can talk in private?”

”Here will be fine,” the duke answered, then he turned to Jimena and said, ”can you excuse us?”

”Yes, Your Grace,” the head maid responded and headed to the door.

”Before that, I would like to ask some questions first, head maid Jimena,” Jack said.

The head maid glared at him as if wanted to say, ainʼt we done this already yesterday? But considering the duke was there, she replied obediently, ”what do you need to know, sir?”

”Joselyn, was she meeting anyone often this lately?”

😉