Mercenaries and Adventurers

After Zhao Ji finished his food at the Table Corner Tavern, he walked towards the place where the accident happened while it was still early.

Todd told him the news he had heard. The family of the victim was an ancestral business selling wigs. The whole family lived in an alley in a slum area in the city. There were seven members in the family. The deceased was the mainstay of the family, and was found dead in a corner of the street of their home this morning. The onlookers heard that the victim had gone out to do errands in the early hours of the morning, and was found dead there in the morning after being proved by family members. People believed that he was killed not far from his home at that time, and his death was miserable, with blood flowing everywhere.

In the morning, guards had already gone over to deal with the murder case, but the guards had no way to deal with the case. After all, it happened in the wee hours of the morning when everyone was still sleeping, and no one saw what happened at that time, and The place where the body was found was also a mess trampled by onlookers who watched the scene when it was first discovered during the day.

After investigators offered a reward to the onlookers to try to collect clues, the hostess of the family who lost her man said: "Whoever can avenge my husband, I will give the avenger a clue to the treasure."

Zhao Ji was very interested in the treasure, so he decided to check it out and try his luck.

The street where the incident happened is not far from the Table Corner Tavern, but it is a straight line distance. If you want to go to that street, you have to detour through several streets of different widths. At this time, every street is crowded with people because the Harvest Festival is approaching. It was turbulent, and there were idle farmers and small caravans or farmers coming from other places everywhere. Zhao Ji had to move slowly with the flow of people.

Although Zhao Ji is not familiar with the roads here and does not know how to get to the place where the murder occurred, as long as he asks passers-by where is the place where the dead person died today, all the people who are asked can point out the location and route to Zhao with great interest. lucky.

When Zhao Ji arrived at the street where the accident happened, he could see the place at a glance. Obviously it happened in the morning, but it's already afternoon, and there are still some people who have nothing to do to join in the fun.

The place where the victim's body was found was protected by two city militiamen armed with sticks. This kind of militiamen was different from the militiamen in the farms outside the city. Zhao Ji had lived in Kendall City for a while, and he rarely saw them. They are not the armed guards of the town, but the low-level security maintenance department in the city composed of well-performing people selected from the uniformly trained peasant militia living in the city. They generally obey orders from the government office in Kendall City or the armed guards patrolling the city. At this moment, it is their place to play - to maintain the scene of the murder case. After all, you can't let the gentlemen of the government affairs office or the guards whose swords are faster than their mouths do this.

The crowd of onlookers was squeezed away, maybe the onlookers had already seen the scene, Zhao Ji didn't take much effort when he squeezed in.

The murder scene was in a small corner on one side of the street, and the houses here were tucked inwards to avoid a big tree on the side of the road. Therefore, in this recessed place, it became a place to hide dirt and evil. . Fallen leaves, accumulated soil, urine, dead rats, they all piled up here, and the murdered people were found here too.

The deceased had been placed in a standard small wooden coffin at this time. The coffin was not closed, but it was left open on the side. The place where the deceased died was simply drawn with a black charcoal pen in the shape of his death. Zhao Ji took a closer look, but he didn't want to be stopped by the militiamen on duty with sticks.

The chest and abdomen of the deceased were covered with blood, and the blood soaked his clothes. It could be seen that he was stabbed many times with sharp knives and bled to death. There was also a large pool of blood at the place where he died. Fortunately, the weather in the past two days has turned cold after the autumn rain, and many mosquitoes and flies that love blood are no longer infested outdoors. things.

The deceased was probably less than thirty years old, just the age of young and strong.

Looking at the body shape of the deceased, he was also relatively strong. He must have a good standard of living. It is actually not easy to subdue such a strong young man. Besides, being stabbed to death not far from home, and no one heard the call for help in the early hours of the morning?

Zhao Ji rubbed his chin, feeling that something was obviously wrong. After all, normal people were stabbed, and they were stabbed many times. They would definitely call for help and resist desperately. However, the victim's throat and mouth were clean and intact, and he was obviously not injured. Why didn't he call for help when he was injured? Moreover, the clothes on his body were not messy, and it didn't look like he died after a fierce fight at that time.

With doubts, Zhao Ji once again squeezed through the idle crowd and walked to the victim's home.

The victim's home was at the end of this street, not far away, about thirty or forty meters away, and he could walk there in a few quick steps. This place was also surrounded by onlookers from a distance to watch the fun.

Zhao Ji took a look. The victim's house was a three-story wooden house. The house was a bit low and the wooden walls were relatively new. Compared with the dilapidated wooden house with one or two floors next to it, it looks very good. It seems that the ordinary income of the victim's family is not bad. I heard that their family makes wigs. Is it difficult for so many people to need this thing?

Zhao Ji squeezed the onlookers away, but this time it was not so easy. The onlookers obviously wanted to watch the fun, so it was not easy for Zhao Ji to squeeze away. There were also two militiamen standing at the door of the victim's house. Their sticks were not in their hands at this time, but were tied to their belts. It seemed that the two of them were just standing at the door, waiting for the people inside to come out.

Looking at it, Zhao Ji guessed that the investigators might not have left, and might still be questioning the victim at home. But he didn't want to wait outside needlessly. If the investigators found the murderer, he would find a way to help catch him, avenge the victim's family, and get the claimed 'treasure'. If the investigators did not find the murderer, He also wanted to help out, as long as he worked hard inside, he could also get a share of the so-called 'treasure'. Therefore, Zhao Ji walked directly in front of the militiamen and wanted to enter.

Contrary to Zhao Ji's expectations, the two militiamen just glanced at Zhao Ji and did not intend to stop him. In this way, Zhao Ji pushed open the thick wooden door of the victim's house and entered.

--------------------------

There were still conversations and vague sobs in the room, but as Zhao Ji pushed the door and entered, the sounds inside stopped temporarily.

Zhao Ji walked into the living room of the house and looked around. The room was not as cramped as he had imagined. Although the living room was not high, it was still spacious and fully furnished.

Three elderly people sat on wooden chairs against the wall, holding two young children in their arms. The hostess was a tall and strong woman, who was sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, facing the two men with a tired face. Zhao Ji guessed that these two men should be the people who came to investigate.

Among the two of them, one was in his forties, wearing a delicate short robe, with a dagger and a pen and ink belt hanging around his waist, and was holding a notebook and pen in his hand. The other is a clergyman in his fifties, wearing a black clergy robe with the name of the god he believes in and the logo of the church embroidered on it.

Zhao Ji recognized this as the symbol of the Church of the God of the Dead. After all, the temple of this church is not in the upper city of Kendall City, but next to the park opposite the Foxtail Chamber of Commerce. There is the cemetery in the city, and the family graves of many wealthy and powerful people in the city are there. Zhao Ji passed by there often, and he already knew the various symbols and clothing of the church staff.

It's just that people are afraid of death and always want to avoid it, so Zhao Ji didn't have any in-depth understanding of this church, nor did he know the church staff.

After Zhao Ji entered the room, everyone in the room was also looking at him.

It should be the person in charge of the murder investigation of the government office who stood up from the chair and asked Zhao Ji, "Hello, what are you doing here?"

Zhao Ji looked at him, pointed to the hostess of the house and said: "I heard that this lady just released the news before, as long as someone can avenge her husband, she will provide a news of a 'treasure'?"

The people from the government affairs office turned to look at the lady sitting in the center of the room and said, "Hey, Ms. Milian, things have been exhausted. I didn't expect you to bring us more trouble. If this continues, I want to find The murderer will be far away."

The muscular Ms. Milian who was sitting on the chair said in a hoarse voice: "I'm sorry Mr. Fulun, I had no choice but to tell everyone like that. After all, you said it was difficult to find someone who killed my husband. The murderer. I can only hope that everyone watching can help us."

"Well, I'm sure it's just hard, but not impossible. We'll find clues."

Zhao Ji glanced at Mr. Fu Lun: "So, is there nothing you can do now? Maybe I can bring about some improvement."

Everyone in the room looked at Zhao Ji, not knowing why the young man said that.

"Do you have any clues? Cough cough, hello again, I am Konis Furren, who is in charge of cases in the city from the Government Affairs Office. If you have any clues, you can tell us the Government Affairs Office or contact me directly, and we will provide it to you A high reward of fifty copper coins for each useful clue." Mr. Fu Lun said to Zhao Ji.

The victim's family also looked at Zhao Ji with hope. Only the shepherd, the god of the dead, just put his hands in the sleeves of his robe. The old god bowed his head slightly, as if he was listening to something. .

"I suppose I have some, but I'm not here to give you the kind of leads you're thinking of. I've heard people say that Madame Miriam is willing to offer a reward for her husband's murder, if she can avenge her." It will provide a clue to the 'treasure'." Zhao Ji repeated his previous words.

Mr. Fullen frowned: "Treasure?" He turned his head to look at Ms. Milian and asked, "I heard what he said just now. I want to ask your lady, is this treasure related to the murder of your husband?"

"No, it doesn't matter. This treasure is just a legend near my hometown. It's just that I found a little clue of this treasure when I was young. At that time, I really had no choice. Speak up, hope someone can help us."

"It seems that it has nothing to do with your husband's death, right? Are you sure?" Mr. Fu Lun turned to look at Zhao Ji: "Then who are you? How do you want to avenge this family? In the early morning, there was no one at the scene I witnessed the murder of the victim, Mr. Cardo, but no one saw the murderer. If the murderer is not found, how can we talk about revenge."

Zhao Ji smiled, put his hands on his stomach to everyone present, bowed slightly, and introduced himself: "I am Joe Keel, the warrior who hunted slime monsters recently advertised by the Saturnalia Church. I came here for the so-called treasure, and I also helped solve this murder case with a heart of justice."

"I've heard of you. I've heard people from the next door say that you are very brave to destroy those harmful monsters. Could it be that? Was my husband killed by monsters?" Ms. Milian asked urgently, almost The old man also looked at Zhao Ji, thinking that the warriors that the Saturnalia Church is promoting must be very powerful.

"It's not a monster. Monsters don't stab people with daggers, let alone leave fresh flesh and blood alone." The shepherd in black robes said without speaking.

"That's right, I've heard of your name, but I don't think there's anything strange about this case." Mr. Fu Lun looked into Zhao Ji's eyes and said word by word.

Zhao Ji also looked into Mr. Fulun's eyes, and said in a serious tone: "I didn't say it was done by monsters, but I came here to help this family in trouble. I believe that I should be able to help them find it." Murderer, avenge the dead."

"Really? So how do you help? What do you find?"

Zhao Ji asked back: "I feel that things have reached a deadlock at this time? So what do you find?"

Mr. Fullen raised his head slightly: "I shouldn't have told you these things, but since you are famous and want to get involved, I will give you a chance. But if you can't help me at all Don't say that our government office doesn't give face to the Saturnalia Church, and I will let you enter Kendall's prison for half a month to reflect on the crime of obstructing the kingdom's justice."

"Really? I agree, but Ms. Milian, you have to ensure that your 'treasure' clues are true and effective. Otherwise." Otherwise, Zhao Ji didn't say anything, but Ms. Milian must understand. He didn't want to work in vain.

"It's true, it's true. As long as you can avenge my husband, I'll tell you. I promise it's true."