Chapter 38

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The scene was so shocking to them that they couldn’t help but stand there frozen for a moment. But there was no time to lose.

The unconscious soldier could wake up at any moment, and that could cause trouble. Adelia might also be called for a work-related matter.

 

She was only allowed to play detective if it didn’t interfere with her responsibilities.

That was the rule Qudels had laid down.

 

“The suspicious nature of the scene aside, we must do an inspection.”

Adelia said as she returned to herself. And while it revolted her, she slowly approached the magistrate’s corpse.

When she took a step forward, the part of the flooring that wasn’t covered in carpet started to creak loudly under her foot.

 

“Well…they are certainly bones.”

Adelia muttered as she looked down at it.

They were perfectly white.

However, there was not a single scrap of flesh on any part of it. It was hard to believe the magistrate had died just yesterday.

 

–It was too strange. I don’t even know where to start.

She could not even find the words to describe what she was seeing. But everything felt wrong.

 

“Hey, Adelia. What do you think the cause of death is?”

Before she knew it, Darten was next to her and staring at the bones as well. His eyebrows were narrowed as he muttered.

Indeed. That was the biggest problem.

 

“Wouldn’t it be like, totally hard to melt away the flesh and leave just the bones like this?”

“Yes, that’s quite true.”

 

–What could have caused this to happen?

Adelia put a hand to her chin and thought about it.

 

“If he was burned by fire, then there should be traces of it around him. And if it was acid, then the floor would have eroded as well.”

There were other methods that were similar, but nothing matched it perfectly, even when she took into consideration special chemicals and magic.

At least, out of what Adelia was aware of.

 

“The closest thing I can think of is a water-based rotting curse?”

“Yes, but from I understand, it is a highly advanced curse. Besides, it is supposed to result in the most terrible smell of rotting flesh. And while there is an odor drifting in the air here, I would say that it is more similar to what one might expect from a plant.”

 

As Adelia pointed out, there was a smell that lingered here, but there was something sweet about it that reminded her of tobacco.

In other words, this was definitely not a curse that rotted flesh.

 

“Ah, if you’re talking about the smell…”

Darten started to talk as if he just remembered something.

 

“This room. It doesn’t smell like blood at all.”

Now that she thought about it, he was right.

While there were what looked like bloodstains, she couldn’t smell that distinct odor.

 

“Then what is this?”

Adelia furrowed her brows and pointed at the dark red substance that had stained the floor.

Indeed, it was identical to blood in color. But it did not have that sharp smell of iron.

If anything, it smelled like almost nothing at all.

 

“It’s similar, but it isn’t blood then? Still, I don’t have the kind of knowledge to be able to tell what it is. I guess we’ll just have to take it back with us and make someone else figure it out.”

“…I will leave that to you.”

 

Adelia pulled out a glass tube from her bag and pushed it into Darten’s hand.

In other words, she wanted to play detective, but the dark red liquid on the ground was gross, and she didn’t want to touch it.

This was one area where Adelia was still a young, refined lady.

 

“Woah. That’s not fair! Hey, I don’t want to do this either! Damn it!”

Darten scowled but accepted it none the less. And then he looked at the liquid that was splattered all over the floor.

While he didn’t want to do it either, it did not feel very gentlemanly to force the job onto a lady either.

And he didn’t bother to point out that there wasn’t even anyone they could send the sample in to.

While he often made dreadful mistakes, he was sometimes capable of reading the room.

 

“Woah, what the hell is this! It’s all sticky and stringy! So gross!!”

Darten shrieked as he collected the sample. In the meantime, Adelia inspected the broken window.

It was the size of the hole that made her tilt her head to the side.

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