When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#469 - The first murder in the Papal States

"How many dead?"

Sitting by the carved windowsill, Horn put down his copy of "The Witcher's Tales," sighed softly, and returned to his desk.

He had only rested for two hours, not even had lunch yet, and another task was already upon him.

Since the founding of Autumn's End, this was the first major homicide case.

Horn knew that with more people, such things were bound to happen sooner or later, but he didn't expect it to be so soon.

"Four sewage workers, two beastmen, two humans, all from out of town." Raphael pushed a briefing across to Horn, while behind him, Witt clutched his hat to his chest, anxiously awaiting something.

These four were among the second wave of residents to migrate after the gates opened in May 1445, or as Raphael called them, "out-of-towners."

Although the so-called "locals" had only arrived half a year earlier than the "out-of-towners," they were, after all, considered veterans.

In the most difficult times, they had stood with the Holy Son and considered themselves superior.

Internal security was supposed to be the job of the Night Watch and the constables, but seeing the Cheka's chief, René, standing nearby, Horn knew it couldn't be simple.

"Was the mysterious masked man caught?" Horn asked casually, without looking up from flipping through the pages. "Can it be confirmed that he's the killer?"

"Brigadier General Bruner and Brigadier General Rudilo happened to be on the scene at the time. They chased him for a while, but he got away. However, he was hit by lead in the arm and back and was seriously injured."

Raphael paused. "We believe that although the masked man attacked the witnesses, he may not be the real murderer."

"Why?"

"The witch doctor performed autopsies on all four victims, and they didn't die from cuts or external injuries, but from electric shock…"

"Electric shock?" Horn suddenly looked up. "You mean lightning? They were struck by lightning?"

"Their internal organs were almost half-cooked," René added from the side. "The witch doctors also said that one of them had a strange deformity in his internal organs. His heart was three to five times larger than normal."

"Organ deformity? Is he a wizard?" Horn frowned. Was there an unregistered wizard in the territory?

"No, a wizard's deformities rarely involve internal organs, but are concentrated in the senses and body control.

According to our Cheka instructor, former Witcher Gilo's analysis, the deceased may be a Witcher, and most likely from the Lion School."

"Are you saying that one of the four sewage workers was a Witcher, and a Witcher has infiltrated Autumn's End?" Mayor Witt's face turned white.

Unlike Horn and his group, who were veterans accustomed to bloody battlefields, Witt had grown up in a honey pot and had never seen such a situation.

That was a Witcher, a top-tier hunter and assassin who could even hunt witches and monsters.

Many of the Church's enemies had died at the hands of Witchers. During the Hundred Years' War, there were even cases of vampire princes being assassinated by Witchers.

The town on Autumn's End had a population of less than 11,000, with only 55 Night Watchmen and 25 constables responsible for basic security and justice.

Each block was only permanently stationed with two to three Night Watchmen, working day and night shifts and enforcing curfews. The official residence square and various important buildings were only assigned two to four constables to stand guard.

After all, the place was located in deep mountains and swamps, making it difficult to pass through.

To reach Autumn's End, one had to first have their identity verified at the checkpoints of Wild Spider Forest and Mayo Town.

In addition, there were many war monks on active duty leave or retired to farming on the island, and at least one legion of soldiers was stationed in the cities and countryside.

Junior officers were worthless, and marshals were everywhere. This was no exaggeration in Autumn's End.

Yet, with such security, this group of Witchers had managed to enter through layers of checks and even successfully killed four sewage workers!

It was only at this moment that he realized that the town's security force was too small.

Unlike Witt's panic, Horn was calm and collected.

Through Gilo and Grush, he had basically demystified the Witcher group.

It was originally a relatively underdeveloped world, so how could such a tight-knit organization, so far ahead of the level of civilization, be born?

If the Witchers had such organization and combat power, how could they still be in their current state of living like dogs?

Horn didn't want to underestimate them, because when it came to being bad, the Witchers were really among the less bad ones.

Pulling out a page from the briefing, Horn confirmed with René: "This dead Witcher entered Autumn's End in July, right? And he worked as a sewage worker for a month and a half?"

"That's right."

"Of the four sewage workers, one was a Witcher, all died from electric shock, and the mysterious person who appeared at the scene may also be a Witcher." Horn was silent for a moment. "Could it be the work of those few shaping wizards on the island?"

"We asked those wizards who knew lightning spells. They voluntarily drank truth serum and accepted hypnosis, and a mind wizard from the White Mountain Hermitage interrogated them.

So far, they have not committed any murders or had any intention to.

Moreover, they have no motive in this regard. If they accidentally killed ordinary people in order to kill the Witcher, they wouldn't need to hide it."

"Then where did this lightning come from?" Witt suddenly exclaimed. "Could it be Princess Jenna's doing?"

René, Raphael, and the others looked speechlessly at the flustered Witt. Jenna was basically a high-end version of a lightning shaping wizard. Couldn't the previous reason still apply?

"Maybe, maybe it really has something to do with Jenna…" After a long silence, Horn's first sentence startled René and Raphael.

"Your Majesty, what are you talking about? This can't be related to Sister Jenna." René quickly stepped forward and said in a low voice, "If you want to strip Sister Jenna of her military power, I have better ways…"

"What are you thinking?" Horn reached out and tapped René on the forehead. "Just because it's related to Jenna doesn't mean Jenna did it."

Seeing that everyone still didn't understand, Horn simply stated it clearly: "Either there is an external lightning shaping wizard, or there is a hidden… Jenna's new familiar in Autumn's End."

The few people in the room suddenly understood.

The witch disease had an incubation period. Although Jenna always wrapped herself up tightly outside, there were always slip-ups.

The problem was the motive? Why was the new familiar hiding their identity?

The Holy Son's tolerance for wizards was obvious to all. What were they afraid of?

The room fell silent again, with only the sound of Horn slowly sharpening his quill.

After sharpening a quill, Horn dipped it in ink and wrote a series of transfer orders on white paper.

"Well then, let's block the news first and not cause panic. Witt, can you handle this?"

"Raphael and René, take those wizards from the White Mountain Hermitage and conduct a secret investigation. Split into two groups, one to investigate the escaped Witcher and the other to investigate the murderer. I will grant you search warrants."

"Send this letter out and have Gilo come to Autumn's End with the newly enrolled Cush noble youth. Strengthen the checks during this time and don't let any other suspicious people run in."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Watching these groups of people leave the study, Horn picked up "The Witcher's Tales" and sat back down by the windowsill, but he couldn't bring himself to read it.

Looking at the construction sites and new buildings by the river outside the window, Horn couldn't help but shake his head and sigh. Since Autumn's End opened, many rats had sneaked in.

There was no way around it. When the window was opened, fresh air would come in, but rats would also sneak in.