A Dragon’s Curiosity

 

 

Under the torch like stares of the agitated nobles, Father Harald neither hurried or let himself be influenced by their impatience.

His eyes had always been on the king while he gave his account, at most allowing some minor personal feelings dying his expression, yet always the picture of professionalism.

After a short pause to let the gravity of the situation sink in, he continued with the rest of his explanation.

“When I mentioned that there were signs of outside interference and that there‘s no methods left to try, Viscount Whitfield and Baron Stratherd agreed to stop the healing attempts and preserve the remaining clues, before the bodies will be returned to their family tombs in their respective estates eventually.

While the two families reached out to his Majesty through the court, my humble self and several other seniors from the Hall of Life and Death compiled a rather complete report on the physical condition of the two bodies, as well as possible scenarios of how their injuries came to be.“

In this regard, there were few authorities on the same level as the seniors of the church.

Due to the messy structure and complicated rules governing life, it was generally frowned upon to open a body and study the interior, as it was accredited as the realm of gods by their believers.

Similarly, various diseases and other complications generally arose near dead bodies, further dissuading any curious individuals to pry into this domain on their own.

It was the church that offered to show the miracle of god's creation in special sessions where they opened bodies that had no relatives capable of paying for a burial or coming to claim the deceased.

On top of that they sometimes experienced the extraordinary experience of acting as a vessel for god to heal the inner organs and other internals in their function as healers, making them the greatest experts on human anatomy.

Only the various universitas in the Mount Terus empire came close in regards to speaking rights, but they took a different approach to study the living and dead organs of the human body, often with less than ideal outcomes for their specimens, making the relations between the church and them quite difficult.

 

“Due to the extended healing attempts, the original wounds have minor signs of healing, but that can get easily calculated to get their previous state, which is partly thanks to the fact that the bodies no longer had a source of vitality to draw on.

After consulting with each other, our preliminary investigation suggests that the first victim, Max Stratherd, suffered a blow to his back and the back of his legs.

Strictly speaking, this limited his mobility and damaged the spine, which makes it hard to estimate the full extent of the injuries.

From our experience, he shows no signs of defensive wounds, so the two blows should have come from outside of his view, catching the victim by surprise.“

At the mention of the two youths, the Viscount started sobbing, unable to take the blow against his feelings once he heard how miserable his descendants ended up.

Many of the audience members similarly shifted uncomfortably, resisting the urge to see if a blade was coming for their backs as well.

In this manner, a rather minor affair from the Royal Academy actually managed to influence the entire court.

“The wounds have distinct clues as well, the attack on the spine used a double edged sword with great force, shattering the bone around the site of impact.

On the other end, the area around the back of the knees resembles the thin blade of a fencing weapon, a single edged razor that cuts deep and fast.

Of course this is not a definite description, at most a solid guess based on the current state of the body after several powerful healing spells.

Nevertheless, at least two distinct attackers should have taken part in the assault.“

At the same time as the priest reported, Henry took the initiative to inform the elf that the city guard also relied on the temple to investigate when it came to murder and similar crimes.

With the accumulated experience through the gods of the different Halls, more than one mystery had been solved in the past once the priests explained the cause and effects of the process that got the victims killed.

It was not difficult to make the location where a body was found in its bed with a slit throat like a failed break in turned murder, but when it was revealed that the kitchen knife in the house matched the wound on the throat, the wife broke down and explained that she struck down her partner in a fierce argument.

Scenes like that were not unusual for the guard, so they often asked the temple for a second opinion.

 

“The cause of death was neither of the aforementioned injuries, though they should have contributed greatly.

It was the claws and mandibles of an insect type monster that tore the neck apart, as well as large swathes of wounds on the upper chest and the arms, leading to excessive blood loss.

As for Jens Whitfield, the outcome of our investigation is not quite as unambiguous.

Similar to his cousin, we found a puncture wound on his lower left side, a sharp thin blade that pierced the liver, injured the intestines and exited through the belly on the right side of the body.

We‘re optimistic, but not certain, that it should be the same weapon that injured Max Stratherd, thanks to the changes from the healing attempts.

This wound led to inner bleeding and perhaps other complications, it‘s hard to say if the young man struggled prior to the attack, as the hints are lost to the cause of death.

Large parts of the body have been damaged when the unknown monster feasted on the body, quite likely destroying evidence of other attacks, only the stab wound was preserved enough to indicate a prior attack.

We managed to restore his appearance on a surface level at least, so the family can bury the two unfortunate souls in peace, even if it was insufficient to restore their vitality.“

Nisha was completely immersed in the narration of the priest, eager to ask questions and finding new ways that aroused her curiosity with every new clue, but it was not the right venue to give room for her inquisitiveness.

Most likely, the dragon could only remember her doubts and voice them the next time she met Miss Thana for tea.

This reminded her that the elderly priest might be one of the seniors that participated in the investigation, hence she probably knew much more than the shortened report Father Harald gave everyone in the royal court.

Satisfied at the prospect of delving deeper into the mysteries of the body and different ways to investigate it, Nisha smiled subtly while everyone else was troubled by the report.

Even the king, who had held back for a long time, spoke up again.

 

“It is Our understanding that there are at least two distinct attackers involved from the report you gave, Father Harald.

Can We inquire if there are other hints that you discovered, or other insights the church wants to share with Our court?“

Two separate weapons were used to injure the victims, even the way they were wielded differed from each other, one fast and efficient, the other strong and overbearing.

It was quite unlikely that a single warrior wielded two distinct styles at the same time, hence it was a group that ignored the face of the royal family and attacked the people under its protection.

This meant it was no longer a simple incident, but a targeted attack against two potential noble successors.

The last hopes that the incident that shook the court this time was a simple misunderstanding and would be cleared up soon dissipated in thin air and more than one black face appeared among the spectators.

No matter how fiercely they fought against each other as nobles, the bottom line was still that the life of the other party was not to be threatened.

It was fine to lose resources and gold, as it could always be won back in the future, but without life, there was no hope.

Even the other major factions besides the Whitehall Dukedom now paid close attention to the incident and were sure to start their own investigations soon.

“You are correct, of course, Your Majesty.

Unfortunately, your poor subjects are incapable and cannot shed more light on the source of these troubles and have let you down.

Please excuse our incompetency.“

As of now, the girl was completely convinced that this was theatrics of the highest level, members of the clergy with the title of Father or Mother were the equivalent of knights at the fourth rank of cultivation at least.

Furthermore, someone picked to represent the [Seven Star Church] in court could not have a low position, so their cultivation was most likely more profound as well.

Putting themselves down to praise the standing of the ruler of the country looked fine on the surface, yet the church had a margin of separation from mundane affairs, hence a priest did not have to participate in the social niceties.

Cooperating with the crown to increase its prestige and position in the heart of the nobles was an important assignment, if Nisha had not known about the topics being arranged prior to court sessions and the subtle ways to influence the audience, perhaps she would have been charmed as well.

Most likely, Father Harald would get certain benefits soon for cooperating so well.

 

“We certainly won‘t blame an expert sent by the church, you are too humble in Our presence.

Without the quick witted response from you, Father Harald, and efforts to preserve the truth, perhaps two of Our subjects would have passed away without being able to see justice brought to the perpetrators of their murder.

As such, We only have praise for you and your Hall, priest.“

Because the script was arranged beforehand, it was natural to reciprocate the gesture and compliment the other party as well, mutually benefiting each other.

Nevertheless, there was a grain of truth in King Cederic‘s words too, the observation of the wounds and finding their cause was a big step forward in the investigation of the murder.

If they were overlooked, it would be much harder to make a case out of it in the royal court.

With limited clues gathered from the victims, Father Harald did not have more to add at this point.

Even if he had theories about the process of how the two boys got wounded, it was not appropriate to discuss them before coordinating with the palace, hence he left the stage and returned to the waiting seats together with Administrator Salas.

As expected, the crowd engaged in hushed discussions again, with occasional bursts of shouts, surprised expressions and anger.

Neither the guards nor the factions from the lounges reacted to this unrest, it was a necessary process to let the spectators communicate and digest the new information before progress could happen.

While the lounges left and right of the throne platform looked rather calm and abstained from participating, it was unknown how much effort they would pour into the investigation once they returned behind the closed doors of their estates.

Viscounts and Barons were far from the level of Dukedoms, yet it was an unknown danger that lurked out there, putting its claws on nobles of the kingdom.

They were sure to participate in a bid to stop the events from reaching the members of their Houses.

Seeing that this was about the limit for the time being, the ceremonial master to the side of the king used his staff to tap the ground twice heavily.

The noise and discussions died down all of the sudden, leaving a broad silence behind.