661 Bird of Death (2/2)
”Don't stare at it. Something is wrong with this magic circle.” Heidi patted Buck's shoulder.
Buck trembled hard and moved his eyes away. He thought in fear, ”Magic is really terrifying…”
He was even more determined to let his son study magic, because those who did not know magic would certainly suffer setbacks in a magic society!
The two of them searched every room in the building carefully and found a middle-aged man in a black robe inside a secret chamber. His body was intact, but his bulging eyes were utterly lifeless, as if even his soul had been completely annihilated by Heidi's magic attack just now.
Heidi examined the body with magic. She suddenly exclaimed in astonishment and opened the black robe of the leader of murderers, before she cut the abdomen of the body.
Inside the abdomen was utterly empty. There were no entrails at all!
”This is…?” Buck stepped back in shock. The man was alive without guts and could even perform magic? Was he one of the liches in the tales? Or maybe, was he a victim himself?
Heidi frowned and searched for all experiment records. However, the black-robed, middle-aged man was very prudent. Few clues were left behind.
”It seems that he was a fifth-circle sorcerer who couldn't keep up with the development of arcana. Due to the fear of being abandoned by the age and the hate for being surpassed by his peers, he embarked on the path of improving his strength through foul magic rituals under the enchantment of a mysterious person named 'Bird of Death'. The beginning of the ritual seems to be transforming himself into a living corpse that does not have guts, after which he will be able to extend his life by depriving others of their internal organs…”
”Since then, his magic strength had advanced into the senior rank, and he was capable of the talented quasi-spell abilities such as devils and other magic creatures, like 'Finger of Death'…”
Examining the clues she had found comprehensively, Heidi restored the black-robed, middle-aged man's experience.
Buck's forehead was soaked with cold sweat as he listened on. When Heidi looked at him and asked for his opinion, he blurted out, ”The Bird of Death must be a night watcher. They corrupt the few undetermined sorcerers in order to undermine the Congress' image among the people. We have to strike their crime and clarify the misunderstanding!”
If such a case of evil magic rituals spread out, the ordinary people would inevitably associate sorcerers with gore and ferocity. Although it was only a bias, nobody would be able to consider carefully now that such a terrible thing had happened. Therefore, they had to find a scapegoat to shoulder the criticism!
”It is possible…” Heidi did not say anything, because that was indeed a possible answer. Then, she comforted Buck, trying to relieve his concerns. ”Don't be scared. Those sorcerers are the minority. Most of the sorcerers are normal. It's like there are murderers and thieves among the citizens of Rentato, but you cannot consider the citizens of Rentato to be murderers and thieves. It is not mathematically correct.”
Buck nodded his head quickly, not having any objection at all.
”I'm going to bring the files and items in this place back to the Congress and ask the senior-rank astrologers to deal with them. I'll try to find more clues and find out who the Bird of Death is.” Heidi pointed at the crime spot and said.
”Thank you for your trouble, my lady. Even if you hadn't mentioned it, we would still send the files and items to the Congress. Nobody is better than dealing with such problems than the sorcerers of the school of astrology are.” Buck rubbed his hands and said eagerly.
After collecting the files and items, Heidi and Buck left the two-floored building. When they passed the hall, she looked back at the second floor and frowned, before she said in a low voice, ”Is it the Church?”