116 – Ominous Premonition #2
Schwarzheim, which was originally planned to be used as a military hub to monitor the border, was unexpectedly visited by adventurers who smelled money and became the ‘City of Adventurers’. Came to be called by the nickname
Of course, not everyone in the city is made up of adventurers.
But there are restaurants that sell food for adventurers, blacksmiths who make weapons for adventurers, and merchants who buy items brought by adventurers at high prices… Since there were so many adventurers, a commercial district naturally developed around them.
And where there are many people, of course there are also poor people.
Those who can no longer act as adventurers due to injuries, children born irresponsibly as a result of one night’s play with fire, families who have followed their adventurer husbands to death and are left alone, or beggars and prostitutes.
The southern part of Schwarzheim, where the lower classes lived, was what is often called the slums.
Most of the kidnapped victims were concentrated in the slums. So, even if his family was kidnapped, a proper investigation could not be conducted. City guards are reluctant to approach the slums, and they probably don’t have enough money to commission adventurers.
Based on the information I heard from Lewis, I went to the house of the most recently abducted woman. It was because she judged that that side would have the highest chance of survival.
“Thank you, thank you! Adventurer, please find my little brother… !”
“… Yes. I do my best.”
When I pretended that she was an adventurer and had come to investigate, the victim’s older sister accepted me into her house without any doubt. No, maybe she was that desperate.
I said, looking around the victim’s room lightly.
“Have you ever touched a room?”
“No. She hasn’t touched him since he disappeared. The guards took a quick look, but she never really touched anything….”
As Lewis said, there were no traces left in the room.
If you were kidnapped, you should have seen signs of resistance or forced entry, but I couldn’t find anything like that. As if it evaporated and disappeared.
“A woman said that a monster had appeared. Did she ever see a monster?”
“Oh, that… Beryl must have met her aunt. You saw her daughter being kidnapped firsthand.”
The woman shook her head and said.
“But that lady doesn’t say that because she sees something right. Something whitish had appeared in the house, and she was afraid, and while hiding, her daughter disappeared, but she said… My brother also suddenly disappeared in the morning. But the guards concluded that they just ran away to meet the man… Emma was never like that… !”
I held her face and stared at the woman as she burst into tears.
She had red hives on her hands and arms, which she concealed with makeup. That meant she had an STD. She probably got infected when she worked as a prostitute.
It was a bit rude question, but I couldn’t help but ask it nonetheless.
“Did your brother do the same thing as you?”
“No, absolutely not! Even though I’m doing this, as much as Emma… Because I wanted to somehow meet the right man and live a good life.”
“… ….”
Since her older sister is so diligent, there is a high probability that her younger sister has no experience with men.
He kidnapped an innocent virgin… I had only an ominous feeling.
No physical traces could be found in the victim’s room, but there was one invisible trace.
It was the reverberation of black magic.
A very faint and subtle reverberation that even I, who are particularly sensitive to dark magic, can miss if I’m not paying attention. If you follow this, you will surely find clues.
I left the victim’s house and went out into the street. He used his five senses, not his sense of smell, to detect black magic and followed the trail that led to the city’s basement.
‘The sewer.’
I was able to be sure while chasing the traces.
All the victims, including this woman named Emma, made their way here on their own. Perhaps he removed the reason of the victims and made them come here on their own. Of course, there wouldn’t have been any traces of being kidnapped.
The fact that there is no trace of going out of the house is probably because the victims ordered themselves to erase the traces. It’s not that difficult if you know how to erase footprints.
Contrary to the general perception that the sewage system is dirty and unclean, it is actually one of the city’s key facilities and is not accessible to anyone.
It was natural for the city to place a manager to manage the facility and restrict access to a place that was in good use, as if it were a place that was not used anymore, such as the underworld of the system.
It was the same in Schwarzheim. As I headed towards the entrance to the sewers, a town guard stopped me with a stern attitude.
“Stop moving. You are not allowed to enter this place without a viewing permit.”
I could also feel the reverberation of dark magic from this guard.
It was easy to go back to City Hall and get permission from Elizabeth. If it was an order from the imperial family, hiring a city hall official would be no big deal.
However, it was a waste of time, and it was questionable whether this presumably brainwashed guard would let me in.
So the method I used was simple.
“Ibo show. If there’s no work, go off right away!”
As I stood there in silence, the guard’s demeanor became more stern.
Instead of answering, I grabbed the guard’s head and smashed it against the wall.
Boom!!
“Keep it!”
A loud noise rang out, and the guard immediately fell unconscious.
The helmet was a bit dented, but not dead. Instead, I should have passed out for a few hours.
There were also a few guards inside, but they made them the same as their colleagues outside. After putting all the guards to sleep, I entered the sewer.
The sewers were dark and very dirty. Ventilation was poor, and the smell of rotten water and human filth filled the air.
This alone was poisonous to the average person, but it was no problem for me. I just had to put up with the smell, and I could see as bright as day even in the dark.
But the real problem was the other, very familiar smell that mingled with this filthy smell. It was a terribly thick smell of blood.
Speaking of results.
None of the kidnapped victims were alive.
“Damn….”
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It was good that he did not bring anyone and came alone.
If you look at the blood on the walls and the bizarre artifacts made of human bodies, no one would have endured it without vomiting.
Even for me, who has seen all kinds of terrible things while lying on the battlefield for decades, this scene was quite a shock.
I carefully checked the bodies of the victims.
‘In the state of being alive… You made a scream.’
On the floor was a magic circle painted with blood, and the victims lived on it for quite a long time. Of course, it must have been a very terrible time for the victims.
That’s probably why they chose this underground sewer. No matter how much I screamed, there was nothing to leak out.
‘It’s crude, but it’s a well-made workshop.’
I checked the experimental equipment placed here and there. Most of them were cheap, but even in a poor environment, they seemed to have prepared something like a workshop as much as possible.
To be able to create such a battle while avoiding the eyes of others must mean that he has considerable knowledge in black magic.
There was a book on the desk. It wasn’t anything like a magic book made of human skin, so I immediately checked the contents.
There was a man’s diary written there.
To briefly summarize, the owner of the diary was an adventurer in this city.
He was an A-rank adventurer and a ranger active in a fairly high-level party. Their party was able to explore quite deep even in the land of the ruined Ionian Kingdom.
That was poison. According to the party leader at the time, they decided to go much deeper than usual. The king also decided to explore Caria.
While exploring the capital of Caria, they were chased by the upper undead and found an unusual place and evacuated there….
There, all party members were wiped out, and only the Ranger was able to return to the city alive.
With only the red jewels he found there, of unknown use.
‘Red jewel?’
I thought I might remember something from those words. However, nothing was certain yet.
There were more details written in the diary.
The very moment you want to turn the next page.
“Hmm?”
Turb, tumble.
I heard footsteps in the distance.
Someone is coming this way.
Since there was such a commotion at the entrance, it could be that someone noticed the change and came to check the situation inside.
But there was no light there, as it should have been.
The intruder, like me, was walking in a straight line in this dark place without a torch.
“… ….”
I held my breath and slowly raised my alertness.