Mercenaries and Adventurers

Keir and the village stewards eliminated his suspicion, and at the same time took the initiative to find the murderer of the mill caretaker Martin.

Some people in the village felt something was wrong, but it turned out that their previous inference that Keir was the murderer was obviously wrong. Besides, they couldn't think of anyone who would kill a lonely caretaker whose family members were all dead long ago?

Entering the village, Kil explained to the village chief Corydon that he would take some people from the village to bring back the remaining giant wild boar body early tomorrow morning. Today, he had to ask the village chief to prepare enough manpower and supplies for the round trip.

There is something to be done to find the murderer, but this is just a small matter, and the plan to deal with the sunken fish cannot be stopped.

In this regard, Coryden finally put aside his last suspicion of Keel. After arranging for people who were interested in Keel's search for the murderer to follow him, he took the people to the village dock to look for the person.

-

The left front leg of the huge wild boar had been taken away. Kil first returned to the hotel and put down his belongings. He simply changed into a clean wolf fur cloak, but he did not dare to take off the armor at all.

Even if the armor is stained with some wild boar blood, it doesn't smell very good.

After all, the death of the caretaker Martin reminded him that Wolf, the 'wolfman', really dared to kill someone who threatened him in the village.

Before setting out to retrieve the wild boar carcass tomorrow morning, during this period, some of the worst situations for Kiel might really happen.

When changing his cloak, Kil took off his helmet irritably and scratched his head. The situation was not good now. He was really afraid of a fight with the werewolf inside the village. Although he would definitely win with the help of the villagers and militiamen, the casualties would still be high. It might be serious.

This was not the result that Lanissa Knight, who entrusted him with the task, expected to see.

If this is the result, then Knight Lanisa can just send someone here and mobilize all the power in the village, and he will be able to surely take down the werewolf Wolf.

But in this way, not only would she be indebted to the priests of the Lord of Rivers and Lakes, but she might also be able to reveal the relationship between the Wolf King and her father.

Kil put down the extra things on his body, sorted out his equipment, then locked the door and went downstairs.

In the hotel lobby, there were some village stewards who were going to follow Keir to investigate the murder of the caretaker Martin again. After a quick glance, Ruf Wolf, who was responsible for dealing with foreign caravans, was also among them.

Not daring to look at each other too much, Kil called everyone and asked people to lead the way.

On the way, Kil followed the person leading the way, thinking about things in his mind.

To avenge Martin who was innocently killed, there must be no fight with the werewolf in the village, and the battle to capture the werewolf cannot involve outsiders, so it is best to get rid of the other party secretly.

Kil cracked his fingers and relaxed his palms.

He felt that it was best to find out something about today's matter, but the clues could not point to Wolf himself. It would be fine if the people in the village knew that there was a killer lurking in the dark, but as to why and who killed the people, it would be best to wait until he quietly kills the werewolf Wolf before revealing the matter.

In fact, Keel knew that directly throwing out the matter of the dozen corpses on the top of the mill would immediately perfectly explain the reason why Martin was killed, but this would definitely directly anger Wolf, the werewolf who wanted to hide his identity.

And judging from the fact that the other party was so bold that he directly killed people in the village, the other party had no choice but to kill the mill keeper Martin in order to hide his identity.

In this way, the current werewolf Wolf should be in a stage where he is worried about his identity being exposed at any time.

Thinking of this, Kil once again felt that he could not throw out the identity of werewolf Wolf now, or even allow things to move towards a fight.

Sorry Martin, I will avenge you, but not now.

After planning today's events, Kil was mentally prepared. Then there was the question of how to take advantage of the current situation to sneak the werewolf Wolf out of the village and fight him somewhere outside the village?

Not long after, Martin, the mill keeper, arrived at the house of relatives where he was temporarily staying.

-

Martin's relative's home is at the west end of the village, near the west gate.

A very ordinary house, no different from the wooden houses in which other villagers live next to it.

There were village militiamen standing guard at the door of the house, and as they walked over, the doorways of the surrounding houses opened, and the curious villagers hid in the doorways and looked at them.

Some of the bold ones walked out of their homes and came over, and the village stewards had no intention of driving them away and greeted each other one after another.

Keir clicked his mouth. Looking at the situation, he felt that whatever he might want to find out, it would probably be difficult.

And whatever is discovered here today, it is estimated that everyone in the entire village will know it before the next day.

Martin's relatives were still living at home after the incident, but they were just not allowed to go out. Firstly, they were worried that someone in the family might have killed Martin, and secondly, it was a measure to protect them.

The small cellar where Martin lives temporarily is in the backyard of every villager's house. It is a place to store things that the family only dug for a short time.

After passing through this house, Keer did not ask Martin's relatives first, but went directly through the house, entered through the front door, then walked through the narrow walkway inside the house, opened the wooden door leading to the backyard, and entered the backyard.

There was a militiaman guarding the door in the backyard. When he saw the village stewards arriving, he immediately puffed up his chest.

The backyard of this family is not big, and like other neighbors, they are divided into different houses by simple wooden fences. Keir first checked around the entire backyard and confirmed that these simple wooden fences had no new damage other than damage caused by daily use.

If ordinary people climbed over the simple wooden fence that was nearly a person tall, it would be impossible without causing damage to these tattered things. After Kiel's inspection, although these things were somewhat worn, there were no signs of recent damage.

The person who could obviously kill Martin would have either walked straight in through the family's front door, then somehow managed to walk through the house, open the back door and enter the backyard to kill without alerting the entire house. Or, the other party can directly jump into the backyard from the outside, from the fields inside the village that are adjacent to the backyard.

Only Martin's relatives can do the former. It is basically impossible for outsiders to quietly walk through the narrow corridors of the house with creaky floors.

As for the latter, only werewolves whose height and ability exceed ordinary people can do it.

Kil crossed his arms and looked at the village fields separated by a simple wooden fence, thinking that this is where Wolf probably transformed and then jumped in to kill people. In order not to make Wolf suspicious, he quickly lowered his head and wandered in the yard.

Since the incident, too many outsiders have come here. There are footprints everywhere on the ground. The snow in the backyard has been trampled solid by people coming and going.

It is probably impossible to find it from the footprints.

Then Gere came to the middle of the backyard, where the small cellar dug by the family was located.

The entrance to the cellar is quite open. It is built with a wooden frame and has wooden boards as the doorway. At this time, the wooden board had been opened, and candlelight was dimly illuminated under the simple earth stairs.

Kil carefully put away the wolf fur cloak he was wearing, gathered the cloak in his hands, and walked straight up little by little.

When going downstairs, Keel realized that due to the difficulty of going up and down this small cellar, it would be impossible for Wolf to go down to the cellar if he were still a werewolf.

Thinking of this, Wolf first turned into a werewolf outside, then jumped over the wooden fence into the backyard, and then turned back into a human again, so that he could go down to the cellar.

Considering the risk of killing people, it is impossible for the other party to transform slowly. In this way, when Wolf changes from a human to a werewolf, not only will the movement be small, but the speed should also be very fast.

Keir felt more and more that the other party was difficult to deal with.

The stairs dug out of the soil are only two meters long, and the entire cellar is two meters underground.

As soon as he entered, Keir could feel that it was warmer in this cellar than outside.

There is a row of wooden shelves on one side of the cellar, with some scattered root plants and sealed grain in wooden barrels placed on them. On the other side of the cellar, a wooden simple bed was arranged. Next to the bed was a wooden bucket for toileting, and on the earth wall on one side, there was a burning oil lamp.

Some scattered luggage was still haphazardly on the wooden bed, and there were dots of red blood traces on the surface of the wooden bed and Martin's luggage.

Keir could tell at a glance that the blood stains came from the mouth and nose and dripped on the bed after the person was beaten.

It's not like the large amount of blood splattered after the body was torn apart by a weapon.

What does this mean? It means that Martin must have been beaten by Wolf before his death.

Maybe forced interrogation?

What does he want to know?

Kil made room for the others who continued down behind him and leaned against the dirt wall, thinking silently.

He viewed the incident as if he were Wolf who committed the crime.

Why did Martin need to be beaten and questioned?

If you're not here to kill people, why don't you just kill them instead of doing this?

"By the way, look at the bloodstains. Was Martin beaten before his death?" Kil asked about the son of the village chief of Coryden who had been following him.

The other party looked at Keir with slight surprise: "Yes, his face was smashed, and many of his teeth fell out of his mouth."

Keir narrowed his eyes: "If I guess correctly, Martin was strangled to death, or his neck was broken?"

"How do you know?" Wolf walked down and looked up at Keir and asked.

Waving his hand, Kil explained: "On the bed there was only blood dripping from the beating, and there was no other blood. It was obvious that he was killed with bare hands."

Then he continued: "Martin is a middle-aged man. He can be subdued, beaten and killed by the opponent with his bare hands. Obviously the opponent is very strong and not something ordinary people can do. If it is a murderer of a similar level, Martin can at least try to kill him during the scuffle." He ran out of the cellar and asked for help."

Kil didn't speak to Wolf when he spoke, but he still caught a glimpse of Wolf swallowing and spitting out of the corner of his eye.

Huh, you didn’t think that much when you killed, right?

You may think of passing the suspicion on me, and maybe you will find an opportunity to kill me quietly in the wild, so that the blame will be placed on my head.

Kil thought of the caravan stranded in the village. It was probably because the caravan was stranded, so Wolf, who was responsible for contacting the caravan, couldn't spare the time to go out and kill him.

In this way, it is roughly clear what happened after Martin was killed.

As for why Martin was killed, Kiel looked at a container that once held wine next to the wooden bed in the cellar and sighed deeply.

Hey, didn’t you say you shouldn’t drink alcohol these days? Why do you still drink? Was it because he couldn't control his mouth after being drunk and leaked what he found on the roof of the mill that day?

That's right, it's all my fault. Why didn't you take away the bad wine before you left?

Secretly clenching his fists, Kil closed his eyes for a moment.

"Phew. Everyone," he said.

At this time, everyone else who went down to the cellar looked at Keir to see what he was going to say.

"Have you ever considered a question? The caretaker Martin Puss, whose family has been dead for several years, has no grudges or grudges against anyone. What exactly led to him being killed like this?"

Others looked at each other. Someone wanted to say something, but Keir waved his hand and interrupted the other person: "First of all, although the wooden fence in the backyard is old and can be knocked down with one kick, why is that old thing intact? ?”

He pointed to his feet: "Martin is in the backyard, how did the other party get in? And if he wanted to kill someone, why didn't he kick open the wooden fence in the backyard that was blocking the road, force his way in, kill the person, and then escape? "

"Secondly, Martin was beaten and then killed, and with bare hands! Note, with bare hands!"

Seeing everyone's confused looks, Kil explained: "If you wanted to kill someone, how would you choose between a dagger and your bare hands?"

"Does this mean that the other party didn't come here to kill people in the first place?" Someone reacted and shouted loudly.

Kil thought to himself: Or maybe for Wolf, there is no difference between using bare hands and holding a weapon like a dagger? Too.

"Maybe, it's possible." Kil responded vaguely.

You can't do nothing, but you can't just force Wolfman out right now.

Keir considered the extent of this and said selectively: "Martin was actually the one I asked him to return to the village from the mill."

"What?"

"Are you the Kiel Warrior?"

"Have you met each other? Yes, you left the village and Martin returned to the village on the same day. It seems that there has been an intersection between you!"

Kil nodded generously and glanced at everyone present, but did not focus on Wolf: "Yes, I heard about Martin in the village and found it interesting. When I went out to hunt in the village, first of all Went to the mill to find him."

"Martin told me about his fears and distress. I thought it was quite challenging, so I agreed to solve the matter for him. You may not know that when I was in Kendall City, I relied on hunting monsters. Only then did I get the reward of the sixth-level protection badge of the Church of Saturn from the Church of Saturn." After saying that, Kil pulled out a gap between the helmet and the breastplate, took it out with his hands, and removed the green-lighting Saturn. The badge was taken out for a moment and illuminated.

Before, he was talking nonsense and had no basis for it, but when Keir showed this thing, he won everyone's approval.

"I accepted his commission at the cost of his guard salary for the next year. For his own safety, I let him return to stay with relatives in the village. After all, the mill outside the village is not safe. I can't say for sure. I’ll fight the monsters that haunt there.”

"Of course, I also have the important task of cleaning up the sunken fish, so I put it aside for now. I will go to the wilderness to hunt prey first. Who would have thought that Martin would be killed like this after not coming back for a few days? In the cellar of a relative’s house.”

Keir noticed Wolf's emotional ups and downs, but deliberately pretended not to notice. Then he clapped his hands and led everyone out of the cellar.

"Everyone, I'm going to take a look at Martin's body next. I hope that during this process, you can find a way to find out where Martin has been and who he talked to after returning to the village from the mill. I believe that the murderer must have killed him. There is a reason. This is obviously a murder for which we do not know the reason. If we find the reason why Martin was killed, we will naturally find the murderer."

Kil was also a little confused, how did Wolf find the caretaker Martin, and how did he know what happened in the mill from Martin, who was drunk again.

There is a missing link.

Is it accidental? Wolf accidentally heard from so-and-so that Martin had returned to the village, and then went to eavesdrop and observe Martin. Only then did Martin beat and kill him after he was drunk and said Kil's name?

Or, it's not an accident. The werewolf Wolf may have maintained a relaxed appearance since Kil came to Umihu Village, but in fact he was secretly nervous. Perhaps Keel had been monitored by Wolf in the dark since he came to the village, and then he discovered Martin who had spoken to Keel in the mill.

Both scenarios were possible, Keel considered. However, he is not Wolf himself, so naturally he has no way of knowing what the other person thinks or what he does.

Originally, Keir planned to ask Martin's relatives about when Martin got drunk after he came back. But it is naturally impossible to ask this kind of question in front of so many people. Once asked, the progress of 'solving the case' that was deliberately entangled by Kiel will immediately speed up.

Although the answer to this question is important to Kiel, it is impossible to ask now, so I might as well give up.

Immediately afterwards, some of the idle village stewards went to find out who Martin had been in contact with since he returned to the village, based on Kiel's previous questions.

But two or three others stayed with Kiel.

Among them is the werewolf Wolf.

Turning his back to Wolf, Kil sneered.

He knew it was surveillance.

Kil knew that Wolf was a werewolf, but Wolf didn't know that Kil knew that he was a werewolf, and Kil pretended that he didn't know the fact that Wolf was a werewolf.

Keir didn't like this kind of game of hiding attitudes, but he felt that he was still relatively good at it, as long as he had a good grasp of it.

He couldn't do nothing, but he couldn't work too hard so that the werewolf Wolf couldn't hide. Mastering a certain degree of control, he wanted to make Wolf feel that Kiel was a threat, but not a threat that required action on the spot.

We can’t just leave it alone, but we can’t let Kir do what he does either.

To what extent?

Kil thought, it would be best if he had to kill me, but he had to do it outside the village, so that Wolf could still hide himself in the village without being exposed.

However, Wolf did not go directly to the wilderness to kill Kiel after killing Martin before. Even considering that the other party did not have to kill Kiel in a cautious and non-nervous manner, maybe Wolf could not even kill the mill. There was no time to go there.

If the other party really went there, Wolfman, the werewolf, would definitely find that someone had recently visited his 'secret eating base'.

His little secret was exposed.

Martin knew what Keel found on the mill that day. Although he didn't say it clearly, any normal person could guess it.

Thinking of this, Kil finally understood why Martin was killed. Wolf came to the cellar to beat and question Martin. Maybe he hid his identity, but he didn't ask anything from Martin. Maybe that was the reason why Martin was killed?

"Hey." Kil sighed, feeling that he was still not cautious enough in these places.

Several people walked out of Martin's relatives' house, and then asked Corydon's son to lead the way to the place where Martin's body was stored. This is close to the center of the village, but it is a slightly dilapidated wooden house that has been uninhabited for a long time. Judging from the shape of the house, it is obviously a small village church that was converted from an ordinary house.

Keir saw the emblem of the gods hanging on the door of the old church and knew that it was a small church of the Church of Saturn that had not been used for a long time.

"Where are the Saturn Shepherds here?" Kil looked at the empty chapel. There were no common tables, chairs and altar tapestries. There was only an empty room and a stone coffin blackened by flames in the corner of the room.

Corydon's son, who had been following Keel, explained: "Since the village was unable to cultivate fields outside and could only work around this small area in the village, the original Saturn priest in the village returned to Kendall City. .”

He shrugged: "But he promised to come back after solving the wolf problem between the village and the northern wolf. He also said that farmers and fields in other parts of the county also need his care. Phew, how can we share the joys and sorrows with everyone in difficult times? Isn’t that what it should be?”

Kil said nonchalantly: "The shepherd can't say for sure about this kind of thing, and he can't make a decision."

"It's okay, since spring is coming, the other party will definitely come back."