058 – Train Guard
As a result of unpacking the instructors and mercenaries, it was determined that there were no more forest keepers inside the forest of training.
However, the students decided to come back after finishing the rank-and-file battle.
It was not in the mood for a rank-and-file battle, and a careful investigation was necessary as to why the forest keeper entered the forest of water lilies.
When Irene and Rakan were also separating their personal luggage and items purchased with points, an instructor came to visit.
It was the instructor in charge of calculating points.
“Irene, Rakan.”
“Yes. Instructor.”
“If you have monster ears or life coins, submit them immediately.”
“ah.”
Rakan unpacked the coin pocket from his waist and handed it over.
“Is this all Life Coins?”
“yes. you’re right. Instructor.”
The coin pocket that Rakan gave was very heavy.
As I was running with this on my waist, I got hit by a loose coin pocket, and my thighs and back were bruised blue.
“Instructor. How will this matchup go?”
“Are you talking about the rankings?”
“yes.”
“The ranking will be based on the points earned so far.”
In the past, there have been several occasions where rank battles have been interrupted.
There were cases where dangerous monsters like now invaded, and there were cases where the double barrier magic enchanted on the buckle did not work and the student died.
However, it was not resumed because there was a financial problem and the educational curriculum was twisted to hold a date and hold a rank match.
So, if more than half of the sequence match progressed, the points were calculated and ended.
Of course, there was also a balance problem between the participants in the sequence match.
It was safe to say that this rank-and-file battle was a battle for the first place between Irene and Charlotte.
In a nutshell, the participants complained to the instructors that they did not know whether they were fighting a rank battle or whether they were trying to survive from Charlotte and Irene.
So, there was talk of making Irene the first place in the ranking match this time, and preventing Charlotte and Irene from appearing in the ranking match next year according to the new ranking match rules.
Irene asked the instructor.
“Did Charlotte say that you found Life Coin?”
“No, I couldn’t find it. Instructors and mercenaries are now searching the forest of training, and they say that Charlotte’s coin pouch has not been found. Perhaps the forest keeper overturned the ground and went deep into the ground.”
“······is that so.”
“Why?”
“no. it’s nothing.”
The instructor wrote the names of Rakan and Irene with a pen in his pocket and said.
“Then get organized and get on the wagon. The earlier you clean up, the sooner you can go home and rest.”
“yes. Instructor.”
Rakan glanced at Irene’s expression.
Irene’s expression didn’t look very good.
“Irene, why are you like this?”
“I think I would have lost if Charlotte had not lost the coin pocket. I don’t feel like I’ve won anything.”
Irene thought that winning was important, but the process of winning was also important.
I didn’t want to win like this.
Rakan patted Irene on the back.
“Well, how did you win if you won? And by the fifth day, we’d probably win. Isn’t our duo a joke?”
At Rakan’s bright smile, Irene laughed involuntarily.
“······okay. By the way.”
Irene looked at Rakan’s chin.
“When the hell are you going to wear your clothes?”
“······ah.”
* * *
The carriage of the students went to Victorie, but Tigris decided to stay in the water lily forest.
It was because I thought it would be more comfortable to check with my own eyes whether this was a natural disaster or a man-made disaster.
Tigris climbed north along the dark green path made by the forest keeper.
‘What’s north of the water lily forest? in Victoria? No, Victory is in the northwest. If you follow this path, nothing will come out.’
After driving for almost three hours, the trail of the forest keeper was cut off.
Rather than being cut off suddenly, the traces seemed to disappear naturally over time.
Tigris stopped still and looked around.
There was nothing special to say about it.
‘Are you really just out of luck?’
Due to martial law, the rank-and-file battle started late.
Apparently, it coincided with the late spring season when the forest keeper is in full swing.
It may have been raining the night before and the forest keeper had moved.
‘You may have thought too sensitively.’
If Rota and Arphem were the targets, there would be no way that only the forest keeper would have been sent to the rank-and-file battle.
Chimeras, trolls, and ogres must have been sent in units.
Suddenly, twilight was illuminating the forest.
Tigris decided to stop the investigation and return.
Doo-gu- Doo-goo-
At that moment, a strange sound was heard in Tigris’ ears.
It was an artificial sound that did not fit the forest at all.
Tigris pursued the source of the sound.
it was a train
The train was glide along the railroad, emitting white smoke.
‘There was a railroad nearby.’
Tigris thought as he watched the train moving away.
Forest keepers only travel through forests.
And destroy anything that harms trees or grass.
The train is not subject to attack by the forest keeper as it moves along a fixed railroad and does not damage trees and grass.
Even some ferocious monsters like trolls and orcs did not attack the train.
A tens of tons of steel was sprinting at a speed of 70 to 80 km/h, but there was no one to jump on.
However, if medium and large monsters such as trolls and orcs were lying on the railroad or passing by anyway, a train overturning accident could occur.
So, train guards were placed every 30 to 40 km to protect railways and trains.
‘I know there is a guard point around here.’
Tigris took out a map and compass and checked the guard point.
Read at noblemtl.com
Just 2km further east along this railroad, there was a base where the train guards stayed, so-called ‘Guard Point’.Train guards are obliged to regularly report the results of safety inspections to higher authorities, the Railroad Administration, and nearby lords.
It is to report what kind of monsters appeared around the 40km railway that he manages and how he took action.
Could there be any information related to the forest keeper in their safety inspection result report?
Tigris decided to head to the guard point quickly because the sun was slowly setting.
But not long after running, Tigris stopped.
‘Smell of blood.’
A bell rang in my head.
There was a strong smell of blood in the wind.
Obviously, it smelled like human blood, not the blood of normal monsters.
Tigris decided to start by understanding the situation.
After all, the communication distance that the crystal ball can reach is only 10 km.
Even if you report the situation through the communication channel now, the mastery will not come out, so the mercenaries and other instructors will not be able to hear it.
Tigris drew his sword and ran towards the guard point.
I could hear people murmuring from the guard point side.
Tigris decided to hide himself in the forest and listen to what they were talking about.
-shit······. How many people died?
-All 31 people died.
– You’re awful… What kind of monster did this shit?
– Whoa, whoa!
-X feet! Somebody get that bastard out!
General soldiers, knights, and wizards were investigating the guard point.
A white eagle pattern was drawn on the armor worn by the soldiers and knights and the cloaks of the wizards.
The white eagle was a symbol of the House of Count Heiden, who guarded the east side of Victory.
‘At least they don’t look like those who killed the train guards.’
Tigris put in his sword and appeared.
“Who are you?”
A soldier who was on the lookout for the outside pointed a spear at Tigris.
And looking at Tigris’ face, he froze.
It seems he never dreamed that he would see Tigris here.
“Uh…are you… Lord Tigris?”
Tigris took out the pocket watch he always wore.
The pocket watch then turned into a silver thread, the symbol of the Inquisitor.
“Yes. Tigris di Norverd.”
The soldier immediately raised the spear and saluted.
“It is an honor to have met Sir Tigris. By the way, what’s the matter here… have you already moved from the Empire?”
“not. I didn’t come here as an investigator, but as a security officer in the ranks of the Imperial University. I have a question for you, are you in charge?”
“Oh, yes. I’ll call you Sir Granz right away. Please wait a moment.”
The soldier entered the guard point.
The soldier, who was watching the guard from the side, was the first to see Tigris so close, so he forgot to stand on his guard and continued to glance at Tigris.
Tigris looked around for a moment.
‘A lot of the nearby sites have been damaged.’
Dozens of men must have scoured this neighborhood, so of course, you won’t be able to find anything like the criminal’s footprints.
‘Did you mean to bring Rakan?’
Rakan might have been able to find something around here.
However, at present, Rakan is a student who participated in the rank-and-file battle. It was not a good look to have a student research the area near the water lily forest.
And he must have been very tired from the three-day rank-and-file battle.
It might be better to let Rakan rest for now, if you bring him back after a few days of rest.
Then, a knight with a brown beard came out from Guard Point.
“It is an honor to meet Sir Tigris. My name is Granz di Heiden, the commander of the Knights of the White Eagle.”
“This is Tigris di Norverd, the instructor of the Imperial University.”
“To meet the hero of the emperor at a place like this. I’m really sorry. If we had met on High Road, we would have been able to treat you properly.”
“It’s a pity that I met you through this as well.”
Once the ceremonial words came and went, Granz went straight to the point.
“By the way, I just heard from Lennon that you came as a security officer for the Imperial University Rankings. Did something happen in the water lily forest?”
“There was an incident where three forest keepers broke into the water lily forest. Fortunately, there were no casualties, but I came here while the forest keeper was walking around investigating how he got to the water lily forest.”
“ah······. I’m happy though. no casualties Here…”
Granz was silent for a moment.
It seemed that something terrible had happened inside the guard point.
“I thought I had seen a lot of things in my 21 years of life as a knight, but I think I have never experienced anything as terrible as this.”
“What’s wrong with the train guards?”
Granz nodded.
“All the train guards working at the B-13 Guard Point were killed. And even with horrific torture.”
“You mean torture?”
“Yes. It was clear that he had been tortured alive. I don’t know who did this, but… Oh, would you like to take a look inside?”
“Can I enter the scene?”
“Please come in as long as the site is not damaged. But . . . it will be a little terrifying.”
Tigris nodded and said.
“Let’s see.”
“Then follow me.”
Tigris went inside the guard point.
The inside of the guard point was like an underground bunker.
Using concrete, it was built so strong that it could not withstand the magic of the Explosion.
hard-
The floor inside the bunker was filled with blood about the depth of a little finger.
It was because of this that there was blood on Sir Granz’s boots.
The stench of blood and stench pierced his nostrils.
The magic lights were also broken, so the blue magic spheres temporarily floated by the wizards were floating everywhere.
Tigris passed through a narrow hallway and arrived in a room.
Although the light source was blue, the whole room was bloody.
“·······You have a good stomach. When I first saw this, I was nauseous.”
All the dead bodies were sitting in old chairs, drawing a semicircle.
The dead bodies seemed to welcome Tigris.
Their bodies were all fastened with strong ropes, and their eyes were dug out.
Then he cut all the arteries to let out all the blood.
Some bodies were still bleeding.
“Are the other rooms like this now?”
“yes. That’s right.”
“What was the level of the train guards?”
“It consisted of 20 single-ringed mercenaries, 10 two-ringed knights, and one three-ringed knight. Among them, Boris, a three-star knight, was a veteran with 15 years of train guard experience alone.”
Tigris briefly checked the condition of the corpses.
All the tendons in the limbs were cut, and some men had broken bones.
He seemed to have been seriously injured while resisting.
I asked how the men could be tied to this old chair, but it seems that they were forced to sit and tortured with their tendons cut off.
“Are they aware of important military secrets?”
“Except for the specialized communication network algorithms used to manage railways, there is none. I don’t think I’m going to torture and kill so many people just to figure out one thing.”
“Hmm······. Then it must be a sign of witchcraft.”
“yes? Witchcraft?”
The more savage and anti-humanistic processes such as human sacrifice or human blood draw go through, the more effective the magic will be and the higher the chance of success.
It’s more likely that a mysterious shaman did this than the dozens of mad killers suddenly swarming the B-13 guard point and torturing the train guards.
Of course, he couldn’t have subdued these many people alone, so it looked like he was attacked with skilled knights or wizards.
“What the hell kind of magic did you use…?”
“I don’t know that either. I am not a shaman.”
“I think so.”
The first thing that comes to mind when talking about magic is Lota’s Mouth Levis.
However, Levis is not the only shaman in the world.
The shamans in Fogwood are also shamans, the priests who conduct rain rites in the Black Lands are shamans, and the pilgrims in the Godiva Desert are also shamans.
There could have been at least one vicious shaman who performed magic by sacrificing human lives.
And crucially, Levis doesn’t use magic in such a complicated way.
I liked the method of planting a curse through a ‘one-sided promise’ with a specific individual, but I did not like the method of getting blood on my hands.
This is obviously the work of another shaman.
Tigris thought.
Did something like this happen before the return?
Tigris couldn’t remember no matter how much he thought about it.
Tigris did not trust his memory 100%.
The development of swordsmanship was the most important to Tigris at this time before the return.
You may have stumbled across the news about this by chance, but you probably didn’t even care.
So, let’s change our perspective.
Who would be the vicious shaman to do such a thing?
Why did they aim for the train guards at the B-13 guard point?
Why did this kind of incident happen when the rank-and-file battle was in full swing?
Could the forest keeper’s intrusion have something to do with the killer of the train guards?
If you sacrificed the lives of 31 people and succeeded in the magic, what type of magic is in action?
‘work?’
If the spell was successful, it means that it is currently in progress.
It is a sorcery that sacrificed as many as 31 adult males.
I don’t know what it is, but once the spell was activated, it was highly likely to be a very terrible type of magic.
But why is it so quiet?
I didn’t think that the magic would have failed.
Obviously, the spell must have been activated.
That means that a terrible spell is already being cast, but it’s a type we don’t know about, or it doesn’t work until certain conditions are met.
‘There are three things you need to know. What spell was activated? Who activated the spell? Lastly, what is the target of the magic?’
“Can I look around the site more?”
“yes. You can.”
Tigris looked around the other rooms as well.
The knights were tortured and killed in equally terrible forms.
But I couldn’t find anything special about it.
Given the different ways of tying ropes to secure people to their chairs, it seemed obvious that many were attacking the train guards.
‘And there’s too much blood.’
The average blood volume of an adult male is about 5 to 8 liters.
Even if the blood of all 31 people was drained, it would not be enough to wet the floor with blood.
Because the inside of the guard point was wider than I thought.
It seemed to have a lot to do with this spell and blood.
However, this was not the main evidence.
Tigris entered the communication room.
The communication room had a professional printer and a typewriter capable of sending messages.
Tigris checked the texts drawn on the printer.
All were regular reports.
The last telegram sent two days ago had nothing to do with it.
I couldn’t find anything related to the forest keeper at all, even if I looked at the entire week’s worth.
‘······Well?’
There was a little bit of blood on one piece.
Knights and wizards investigating the case could not have touched it with bloody hands.
‘One of the 100% culprits accidentally touched it.’
Tigris confirmed the full text.
It was a general message sent by the Railroad Administration three days ago to all Guard Points located in the Eastern Region.
[····································Teho, the chief of the Suin Autonomous District, and the second prince of the Gilion Kingdom, ‘Morgot’, visits the Empire… expected]
‘This is it.’
If this was the work of Rota and one of Arphem’s clan, there was no reason not to aim for Teho and Morgoth.
If Teho dies in the Imperial Land, the relationship between the Empire and the Suin Autonomous Region will become irreversibly estranged.
Whatever it was, if only one of them died or was seriously injured, it was a great loss to the Empire.
‘We must inform Princess Rain Rover about this.’