Chapter 22

Loren squatted next to the ghoul's nest, carefully picking back and forth among the pile of rotten meat and broken bones, and his dark eyes carefully examined each part.

Ghouls are really scavengers, but they also know how to store food. Their powerful chewing function and King Kong's unbreakable stomach enable this monster to digest anything that can poison a cow. Even if the bones have already rotted and weathered into dry corpses, they are still a supreme delicacy in the eyes of these monsters.

For a quarter of an hour, completely numb in the thick smell, Loren still couldn't find what he wanted to find, but his face showed a clear expression - there were still no heads among these corpses, even some bones and some rotten meat!

If only one or two are missing the head and trunk, or even the vast majority are missing, it may be understandable, but now the situation is that these parts of the bones are missing, not even a trace.

Loren now has two conclusions before him - these ghouls particularly love the human head and upper torso; The other is that some people deliberately hide their heads, and ghouls are only used to cover up the real cause of death of these people.

Emotional and romantic poets may choose the first, but people with reason and brain will choose the second, but lorenzu puts himself in the second group.

But that's not enough. At least it's not enough for me to determine who and why I did these things - I still need more clues.

"It seems that this task will be much more troublesome than expected."

... after the investigation of the abandoned tomb, Loren did not go directly to the church, but went to the tavern in Gumu Town, where the mercenaries were killed for the first time.

After spending a few silver coins to kill the tavern owner, Loren was able to enter the bloodstained guest room - the owner didn't clean it up. Obviously, no one would want to live in a room once broken into by a monster.

The walls were covered with blood. It could be seen from the messy room and the blood splashed everywhere that the mercenary had resisted before being killed, but in the end he was still not the opponent of a group of ghouls, and then he was mutilated.

The chairs, tables and the only bed were all in a mess, and it was impossible to see how many ghouls there were, or whether there was really only a mercenary in the room.

Loren also found an iron sword once used by mercenaries in the corner. It has been completely rusted and only half is left. The other half may still be in this room, but I'm afraid it doesn't make any sense even if it is found.

It's just that the cross section of the blade fracture is too smooth... The dark eyes slide over the blade. Such a gap doesn't seem to be broken or smashed at all, but more likely to be corroded by some alchemical substance.

"Did you find anything valuable, wizard master?" the strange tavern owner directly pushed the door and came in, holding his arm and looking at Lauren greedily, as if expecting something.

"Nothing else, only some small problems." he inserted the broken sword into the boot barrel, and Lauren looked up curiously: "the night the mercenary had an accident, the room must have been very noisy, didn't you really find anything?"

"You know this guy is a mercenary. There are many enemies of mercenaries." the boss naturally waved his hand: "such things happen everywhere. Although there are not many here, it's no wonder."

That's why it hasn't been found... Lauren guessed.

"But this guy was really killed by a monster?" the tavern owner didn't look scared at all: "he deserved it!"

"Why?"

"Nothing, it's just a rumor that these monsters are cursed by the Holy Cross to punish those impious believers." the tavern owner said, "the priest of the church said so, and he also said that these monsters are because..."

It's all because of us wizards... Although the boss shut up, Loren can guess from his expression.

"You just said that these monsters were cursed by the Holy Cross." Loren suddenly asked, "did the eldest son of the local rich businessman who died once have any 'less pious' actions?"

"The Holy Cross is on, how did you guess?!" the owner of the tavern was surprised, but shook his head in surprise. "In fact, it doesn't count. The rich young master just contradicted the priest and said he was extravagant and didn't look like a priest - but it was a priest. How could such a big man have no style?"

"Well, please." Lauren nodded, motioned a little and was ready to leave. The tavern owner grabbed his wrist as if he hadn't remembered it until now.

"Oh, by the way, there is a little priest downstairs waiting for you. He said there was something urgent."

When Loren went outside the tavern, a little priest in a holy cross robe was waiting anxiously. After seeing Loren's figure, he immediately came forward: "are you Mr. Loren? You are really alive, which is really the blessing of the Holy Cross!"

"Priest Draco asked me to wait for you in the church, but I heard you came to the tavern, so I took the liberty to follow." the little priest still looked excited and talked all the way.

"You really defeated so many monsters by yourself. It must be the Holy Cross blessing you. Sure enough, the Holy Cross is kind. You can't bear to continue watching the poor people suffer, so you can solve them by your hand!"

"Where's Reverend Draco?"

"Lord Draco has other things to do. Since... The accident, father Anthony has entrusted the work of" that "to him." the little priest said it vaguely, but Loren can probably guess that "that" should refer to the father's nephew.

"I hear father Anthony likes his nephew very much." Loren, who noticed something, continued to seduce the other party.

"Yes, but 'that' doesn't listen to father Anthony very much. He often makes trouble and likes gambling, which gives the priest a headache." the little priest's expression doesn't seem to like this guy: "fortunately, father Anthony didn't choose him as his successor."

Loren kept chatting with the little priest all the way, until they came to the door of the church. Priest Draco, with an apologetic expression on his face, came straight from the church door: "I'm sorry I didn't go directly to you. The Holy Cross is on... I, I didn't think you really did it! Have those ghouls been completely eliminated?"

"Yes, but I found something else," Loren observed Draco's expression carefully.

"What did you find?" the priest's face did not change at all, and he could not see what he was thinking.

"Some bad signs... I'm afraid these ghouls didn't attack on their own initiative, but artificial."

"The Holy Cross is on, who on earth will..." the little priest exclaimed, but Draco immediately stopped him.

"This matter must not be disclosed, otherwise it will cause more panic!" the calm Draco waved to the little priest: "you go down first. Remember not to mention it to anyone. You'd better forget it completely, otherwise all this will only scare the snake and let the real murderer behind the scenes go unpunished."

"Yes, yes!" the little priest was completely frightened. He rushed into the church like running for his life and disappeared into the sight of the two people.

After looking around at the passing crowd and not noticing this side, Draco resumed the conversation: "how much did you find?"

"It's rare. It can hardly be used as evidence." Loren shook his head. "But the people behind the scenes seem to have been using ghouls as a cover to create an atmosphere to punish those who don't believe in God or have been unfriendly to the church. I can see that he probably hates Wizards."

"You, you don't mean..." Draco's eyes widened, and it was obvious that the answer was about to come out.

"It's too arbitrary to judge now. It's not the last moment." Loren shook his head. "Tomorrow I have to go to the place where the last event happened and see if there are any other clues."