The Ascendant Wizard

It didn't take long for Morena's orders to spread and be executed. Before sunrise, the entire city was already covered in a net created by the Ravenscroft Household, even tighter than the previous patrols.

Soldiers on foot took the walls and streets, searching up and down for anything that stood out. Men at the gates questioned people; Morena made sure to emphasize safety and to not threaten or harm any citizen.

She wanted to avoid doing what the church had done, making herself the bad guy; she had seen how that had turned out for them, and she didn't have the power they had to ignore it.

Instead, she purposefully encouraged and spread news that the fire at the warehouse was started by criminals, and even the missing guards were most likely captured by them.

The guards were commoners, just like the people of the city; many were related to them, and many more admired the actions of the house in their attempt to rescue these men.

While there were some that caused a fuss, the great brunt of it wasn't an issue because of the people she weaved into the crowds to spread her message.

Morena herself stayed informed of everything that was going on throughout the city thanks to reports every hour, on the hour; some reports came even more frequently thanks to folks sending in tips and trying to help.

Most of them were nothing, nonsense that did little to help the investigation. But every so often there were reports that proved to be useful, such as people noticing hooded figures moving near the area prior to the fire.

Or blood stains found near the northern side of the city.

Thanks to these tips from citizens, she was able to narrow the search to the northern section, tightening the edges and focusing manpower to comb the area better.

"My Lady, we have received reports from the northern gate guards of a wagon passing through earlier today. They didn't pay it any mind because it didn't stand out much, but given the situation it stood out."

Adolf read a report he had just received to Morena who sat behind her desk.

"Have our men searched for the wagon tracks to figure out where it went?"

"Yes, my lady, with the help of some hunters we were able to follow the horse hoof marks, it was heading to a clearing outside the city. Following the marks they found what looked like a field burial."

'Too late.'

Morena couldn't help but shake her head. If it was a field burial, then the men were already dead and dumped. The wagon most likely moved the bodies and buried them outside the city to avoid suspicion, but it was sloppy.

It was almost as if they didn't care if the bodies were found.

"Have they found the bodies?"

"Yes, my lady, they found what seems like remains, but they were badly damaged."

"I'll see the rest for myself. Prepare the horses."

They left instantly. She took eight riders with her. Alina had already heard the news at this time and wanted to join her as well, but she denied the request.

The girl tried to argue, but Morena made it clear that it wasn't a matter she would allow her to get involved with no matter how much she argued. She had the girl remain and look after the house, using Lorian as an excuse for her to stay.

While Alina didn't like it, she didn't protest any further when the boy was brought up, she simply stood at the stairway and watched her sister's back fade as she rode off.

The ride to the outskirts of the city wasn't a long one, the buildings slowly growing fewer and fewer, until eventually the only thing around them were tall grass and trees. Ahead of them she could see the clearing, a group of people already blocking off the area.

They were her men, the ones that found the bodies, behind them a patch of dirt had been dug out and dumped to the side.

But the second she got close, the first thing she noticed wasn't the sight, but the scent. Having an enhanced sense of smell from being a warrior, she could smell it almost instantly, the disgusting rotting scent that was mixed with smoke.

Her face couldn't help but twist in disgust as she covered her nose to avoid inhaling too much of the scent.

"Have any of you touched the bodies yet?"

She spoke as she jumped off the horse, Adolf standing beside her with a cloth over his face. He was used to the scent much more than she was, having spent his years on the battlefield, but even then no one could get used to such a smell.

It was disgusting, gut-wrenchingly so. Morena couldn't understand how they smelt so bad, they couldn't have been dead more than a few hours, so how could they have rotted this much?

"No, my lady!"

The men saluted when they heard her, stepping aside to allow her to pass them.

The pit wasn't deep, it was clear that whoever had done it was in a hurry, or simply did not care to do better. Inside the hole the five bodies lay, but it was hard to tell where one body started and another ended; they were mangled, broken and burnt.

The soil in the pit was streaked with a glossy black, indicating they had been exposed to heat.

'Burning the bodies. Smart, but not good enough to hide evidence from me.'

It was clear they had burnt the bodies to avoid them being investigated, to avoid clues being taken from them. They probably didn't want people to know what they had done to the men when they were alive, but Morena had the AI.

Thanks to it, even when burnt and mangled, she would be able to pick up on details with a much finer view than any normal person could.

'AI, analyze the bodies and report findings.'

[Understood.]

Morena crouched and looked at the corpses in the pit, the AI using her senses to pick up on any details it could. The scent was nauseating, but she tried her best to ignore it.

[Analysis complete.]

The AI didn't take long, and the second it completed she stepped away from the pit to take a breath, having it fill her mind with the details it found.

Broken fingers, some outright missing. Some had knuckles split down the middle and broken kneecaps; others had fractures in the bones seemingly caused from blunt force, or puncture wounds.

Beyond that, the AI was also able to confirm that the bodies were almost perfectly identical to those of the missing men, at least based on the limited remains it had.

This proved that they were in fact the guards; and that those guards had been tortured beyond human limits before being killed, burnt, and buried.

'Disgusting. It's purely inhumane.'

Morena couldn't help but grind her teeth at the thought. She wasn't some beacon of morals, or someone that could be called a hero, but to torture innocent men to such a degree was beyond human.

Whoever did such a thing couldn't be considered a human anymore, they were just wearing the flesh of one.

Moving to the side, she spoke to Adolf privately, keeping the conversation low.

"These are almost certainly the guards from the warehouse, and from the looks of the corpses, they were tortured before death."

"Are you certain, my lady?"

Adolf was shocked, he had seen the bodies, even he had a hard time telling what remained due to how badly mangled and burnt they were; yet Morena was able to confirm such things?

He wasn't doubting her, just uncertain.

"Yes, I'm over 80% certain. While it's not 100%, we can at least adjust our plans a bit to accommodate. But, the one thing I can't seem to figure out is why they would torture them? Information? What information could guards have?"

Morena furrowed her brows slightly as she just couldn't figure out why they would torture the men before killing them. She didn't believe it was just some sick pleasure, they wouldn't have gone through the trouble of burning them and burying them outside the city if they didn't have something to hide.

They wanted to hide the fact that they were tortured, they wanted to hide that they got information out of them. But she just couldn't piece together what the information could be.

"I'm not certain, my lady. Would you like me to look into anything they might have known, and anything they might be connected to?"

"Yes, run a background check on each of them and an internal investigation. I want to know what they knew, and, keep an eye on their families. Tell them the news, and compensate them for their loss, it's truly a terrible thing."

"As you command."

Adolf bowed and then ordered the men to drag the bodies out of the pit so that they could be buried properly, so that the house could hold a proper funeral for the men that died serving them.

Morena on the other hand left; she wanted to check something out in the city.