CH 588

"Have all the corpses been recovered?"

"Yes, they are currently being transported to the Holy Knights' headquarters."

Ellen silently surveyed the interior of the burnt church.

There were no bodies to be found at the scene. It was clear that recovering the corpses quickly was crucial, as parts of the church had already collapsed.

Ludwig looked around the interior of the church with a stern expression.

Ellen also examined the burnt sanctuary of the church.

'The possibility of a bandit attack is high.'

The church was small enough that it could easily be raided by civilians, and the priests could be killed.

Capturing the culprits would be difficult, but the likelihood of something else being hidden behind this incident had increased.

"How was the fire situation?"

"It is presumed that arson occurred after all the priests were killed. And it seems that those who came to watch the fire entered the church and stole things."

"So they looted after seeing the fire?"

"Yes. There were multiple witnesses. They tried to enter as soon as they saw the fire."

"I see..."

At that, both Ludwig and Ellen furrowed their brows.

As Louise had said, there was an order to the events.

However, arson wasn't the last. Looting could have been the final act.

"So, they didn't set the fire and then loot, but looted after seeing the fire?"

"Yes..."

It wouldn't normally happen, but every penny and meal were crucial in this situation.

The church was on fire.

Those who were watching the fire attempted to loot, hoping to get their hands on something valuable or even food from inside.

Their assumption that arson was the last act was wrong. It was a thought that didn't take into account the desperation of the people.

Looting was the last act.

And the looters were not the murderers but mere onlookers.

They rushed into the fire scene to steal.

Of course, there was also a possibility that the killers had looted and set the fire, and then the onlookers stole what was left.

'If arson was first, the priests would have escaped the church before being engulfed by the flames. Arson happened after the killings. Looting was committed by the onlookers.'

'The order was: killing the priests, arson, and then looting.'

'Then, it's likely that the murderers killed the priests and set the fire. We still don't know their motive, though.'

'At least the looters Ludwig saw are not the murderers. They are petty thieves.'

'But I know one thing now.'

After organizing her thoughts, Ellen looked at the restless knight.

"Is there any chance of catching the culprits in this case?"

"...I cannot give you a definite answer yet."

At Ellen's question, the knight hesitated and only gave that response.

If this was really an act of a crowd turned bandits, regardless of whether Rowan was an actual priestess or not, there would be no corner for Ludwig and Ellen to uncover more information even if they got more involved.

Even if they searched, they would only catch a few petty thieves, and they might not be the ones who killed the priests.

'Although there's a possibility of civilian massacres by the Holy Knights being used as an excuse, the likelihood of the Holy Knights committing such an act in a situation where they are already not looked upon favorably is low...'

Ellen pondered.

It was by no means a good thing, but if she said that the incident was as it seemed on the surface, Ludwig would back down.

The thugs attacked the church and set it on fire.

The culprit was a civilian, and Rowan, with her subpar combat abilities, was mercilessly killed in the face of the slashing blade, unable to save herself through the power of recovery alone.

Whether Rowan's true role was that of a spy or something else, there was no reason for Ludwig to find out.

"Hero, please leave this matter to us..."

However, Ellen was conscious of the presence of the knight beside her, who was constantly trying to send her away.

Like a thief with a guilty conscience, the knight seemed very uneasy about Ellen being in this place.

The knight's unease was preventing Ellen from leaving.

'They've recovered all the bodies...'

It was not unreasonable to remove the corpses quickly, as they might be buried under collapsing buildings if left at the scene.

But the entire building had not been burned, nor had it completely collapsed.

Ellen examined the wall of the unburned building.

'Bloodstains...'

She confirmed the presence of bloodstains in an area where she presumed the body had been.

Ellen imagined what the murder scene might have been like.

The victim was killed while leaning against the wall.

'Blood splattered on the wall, and a large amount of blood on the floor... They must have died instantly here.'

'The weapon used was a blade, probably a sword...'

'The direction of the blood splatter is upwards to the right, which means the attack came from left to right in an upward motion...'

'Not cutting downward but upward, which isn't the most effective way to put force into it.'

'Judging by the amount of blood, it's not a simple cut, but a severed wound. The bone was cut along with it. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so much blood.'

'A civilian who doesn't even know how to handle a weapon properly couldn't possibly sever someone's bone in one go...'

'Absolutely not.'

Ellen closely examined the bloodstained wall.

'Among the attackers, there must have been someone capable of Magic Body Strengthening.'

Looking at the evidence, Ellen deduced the circumstances of the slaughter, which would have been impossible with the ordinary strength of a normal human.

She didn't know if the knights had failed to find any clues, or if they knew but chose not to say anything.

It was unclear whether Ellen was being kept in the dark simply because she was an outsider, because revealing the information would be detrimental, or because they were genuinely unaware of the evidence right in front of them.

"Do you... know anything?"

As Ellen pondered deeply, Ludwig asked softly.

"No, not really."

Due to the watchful eyes beside her, Ellen chose not to share what she had discovered.

Ellen also inspected other areas beyond the chapel.

The church was not intact; some places were in ruins.

The area behind the church, beyond the chapel, had collapsed completely, including the rooms where the priests lived and the kitchen. Cold winds blew through the open roof, and snow had already piled up in a pristine white layer.

"Hero, there might be more collapses."

"It's fine."

It was impossible to tell what lay beneath the rubble that had fallen from the roof.

"Could there be more bodies of others buried in there? What's the search situation?"

"Ah... We've already recovered all the bodies. The collapse on this side happened in the morning."

"I see."

Looking at the twisted frame of the collapsed roof, Ellen could tell that the knight's warning about potential further collapses was true. With the snow continuing to pile up, the church might give way under the weight.

Ellen was certain that the knight's claim of a bandit attack was either a lie or spoken in complete ignorance of the true facts.

The assumption that they couldn't resist armed civilians was wrong. The attackers must not have been civilians.

The sequence of events was murder, arson, and looting.

Ellen's conjecture was that the perpetrators at the murder stage were not bandits.

Then why?

What was the attackers' motive for assaulting this place?

Obviously, there had to be some significance to this location.

But what meaning and value could this not-so-large church hold? Though burned down, Ellen couldn't find anything of great value in the church.

If the attack wasn't simply the work of bandits consumed by rage, there had to be a reason.

A reasonable cause and basis.

However, the knights seemed to be deliberately withholding information.

All the corpses had been recovered, so any meaningful clues Ellen could find, aside from the bloodstains on the walls, had likely already been destroyed.

Ellen recalled what Louise had said.

Three stages of the incident.

Murder, arson, and looting.

Murder was the first, and it was certain that they were not civilians. The original goal was probably not looting, but killing the priests.

Looting was the last, and the onlookers at the fire scene were merely transformed into looters. Then, the looters were unrelated to the true core of the incident.

Louise had suggested that the three events could have been committed by different individuals.

This was not a simple case of enraged people causing chaos.

Looting was a natural occurrence as some valuable items might be too precious to burn in the fire. So, the looting was incidental, and the core of the incident was murder.

Why was the church attacked?

There must have been a valid reason.

There had to be something more than met the eye.

The second stage was arson.

Why was arson necessary?

It must have been necessary as well.

Why was arson necessary?

The result of the arson.

Ellen looked at the collapsing church.

Did they need to burn something?

Or, did they need to cause a collapse?

It was hard to tell.

Ellen was sure of one thing.

This church was definitely not an ordinary one.

"What was this church for?" Ellen asked.

The knight cocked his head as if he didn't understand her question.

"Excuse me? This was the church of Tu'an, dedicated to the Goddess of Purity, Tu'an."

"…"

It was impossible to tell whether the knight truly didn't know or was just pretending not to know.

Ellen looked around.

"Ellen."

And then, the previously silent Ludwig called out to Ellen.

"Yeah?"

"Doesn't it…smell?"

At Ludwig's words, Ellen fell silent for a moment.

There was undoubtedly a suspicious scent.

She couldn't tell whether the knights were hiding the truth even though they knew it or whether they were trying to send Ellen away because it was truly dangerous.

Ellen knew Ludwig wasn't confident in using his head, but even Ludwig found it suspicious.

Anyone could see that the scene was suspicious.

No.

A smell?

Ellen looked at Ludwig.

The sight of Ludwig twitching his nose.

He wasn't sensing a suspicious scent; he was actually smelling something.

"…"

As expected, this fool had taken the phrase "smelling something fishy" quite literally.

Indeed, there was an actual smell. The scent of burning was unbearable at the scene of the fire, and Ellen was doing her best to breathe as little as possible.

"What smell?"

"It's... a foul smell..."

A foul smell.

The burning scent was noticeable, but the foul smell seemed out of place.

The overwhelming scent of burning permeated the surroundings.

But mixed within it, there was something else.

Subtle yet undeniably present.

A foul smell invading their nostrils.

To be precise,

"It smells like excrement."

"Really...?"

The smell of feces and urine, in other words, the smell of waste.

"There's also the scent of blood mixed in."

A pungent blood scent could be detected from somewhere.

It could be a smell emanating from the remains of the dead, but the scent detected by Ludwig and Ellen was not that of a typical scene.

It was a very strong scent.

It hadn't been swept away by the flames or buried; it was definitely a smell that was seeping out from somewhere.

Ludwig couldn't help but focus on that scent.

The smell of waste and blood.

It was a smell they had experienced far too many times throughout countless battlefields.

A scent all too familiar to Ellen and Ludwig.

And the source of that smell.

Ellen rolled up her sleeves.

"Ludwig."

"Yeah?"

"Help me clear away the debris."

"Ah, sure! Got it!"

"Um, Hero...!"

A knight, who seemed determined not to help, blocked Ellen's path.

"One more useless comment, and..."

Ellen lifted her robe, tapping the sword hanging on her waist with her fingertips.

She pointed at the Sword of Moonlight the Void Sword Lament.

"You're in for quite a sight."

Ellen's patience was wearing thin.

------

The knights, who had been guarding their surroundings, grew increasingly anxious as Ellen and Ludwig unexpectedly began clearing the debris of the collapsed building.

Fortunately, the building's outer walls remained intact, preventing anyone outside from seeing Ellen and Ludwig as they cleared the debris.

Clearing the piled-up snow and the mound of stones as large as a house was a simple task for Ludwig and Ellen.

After lifting only a few stones, both Ellen and Ludwig were certain.

The pungent smell of blood and waste was becoming stronger from within.

There was something under the debris.

Others watched Ellen and Ludwig's actions, but no daring knights tried to stop them.

Unable to dissuade them or offer help, the knights could only watch as Ellen cleared the debris.

After some time spent clearing the debris,

"There was an underground area."

"...Indeed."

The space that had been hidden beneath the collapsed building's debris.

Within it, Ellen and Ludwig could see stairs leading down to the underground.

And unmistakably, the smell of waste and blood was flowing from the underground stairs.

Ellen stared at the pale-faced knights.

"Don't follow us, don't go anywhere, just wait here."

It was a stern warning for those who had tried to deceive her, implying they should be prepared for whatever she might discover.

"Let's go."

"Right."

Ellen led the way, with Ludwig following close behind.