The Death Mage That Doesnt Want A Fourth Time 108 (1/2)

The Scylla guards, who could see in the dark, guided Vandalieu to theup Orbia’s corpse

“O wandering spirits,” Vandalieu said, reciting a fake incantation

But it was actually Mud Golems created from the mud of theup the corpse

“It’s as if the mud of the marsh is alive!”

“So, Spiritualists can do these kinds of things as well”

The Scylla guards held their breaths as the mud crawled and a mud-stained corpse surfaced When they had been asked, they had explained that Spiritualists were rare here as well; there had been a few in the past, but there hadn’t been a Scylla Spiritualist in the last thousand years or so That hy they never pointed out that this wasn’t the work of a Spiritualist And fortunately, this allowed Vandalieu to use unknown skills while fooling them

Vandalieu began the autopsy on Orbia’s corpse But several days had passed since the Scylla funeral of burying her in thememories had faded and Vandalieu wasn’t able to learn y to detect and co evidence like this to begin with

However, Orbia’s corpse itself was in good condition Decomposition had been suppressed; the state that it had been in when it was buried see that there had been cases on Earth where corpses buried in mud were discovered ashere

But as Vandalieu removed the cloth wrapped around the corpse, he saw that it was in a state that could only be described as dreadful

“This is quite terrible,” he said

There were deep cuts all over the body, and the dae to the chest and lower body was particularly severe Both breasts were in pieces, bearing no seinal shape, and all of the tentacles of the lower half of the body had been severed

And the holy symbol of Alda had been branded onto the body

“Apparently, she was found tied to the trunk of a tree growing near the uards “Most of the parts that were cut off were likely taken away by beasts; we couldn’t find them Fortunately, other than that, they seemed to have only nibbled at her a little, but…”

Apparently, the breasts were a symbol of life for women who believed in Vida, and the tentacles on the lower half of the body were a symbol of Merrebeveil, the Scylla who becae of the Gods

In other words, the cri the bodies of the Scylla in a way that would strip thenity

The symbol of Alda that had been branded into the body and the arrows that were still protruding from the corpse were apparently those used by the Amid Empire’s extermination forces

If I was a detective on Earth, I would think it suspicious because there’s too athered here, but…

This was clearly a murder that had been carried out to set an example and to provoke the Scylla If the cri their identities, there was no need to worry about there being too much evidence

“So, do you think you can figure souards asked

“Well, I’ll try,” said Vandalieu

He touched the corpse and extended his spirit form to scan the inside of the body

No fatal wounds on the skull The arrows didn’t hit the ians… is it one of the cuts that caused her death?

To Vandalieu’s surprise, he found that the cause of death wasn’t clear If there had been any vital reactions… if only he could figure out whether the wounds had been inflicted before death or afterwards

“Have youout?”

“When you let us see Orbia again, honestly, ere quite relieved to see her looking like that We’d thought that she h this horrible treatood to see Orbia looking as lively as she hen she was alive…”

Vandalieu reuards talked to hi hi

“Now that youabout the moment she died…”

At first, Vandalieu had siht that Orbia’s memories had faded from the shock, but she remembered too little for this to be the case Even when spirits lost their ical shock, their spirit forms would be distorted or they would display unnatural behaviors, such as being afraid of so like this

Vandalieu only had a few years’ worth of experience of observing living hu the time from his second life, he had around thirty years of experience of observing the dead There was no doubt about it

So then, this ical shock, but really did not re about the moment of her death

With that being the case, the first scenario that came to mind was that she had received a blow to her head that had knocked her unconscious instantly, but Vandalieu already knew that there were no deep wounds to the skull or brain

Her head, undaans are quite wounded, but they’re organs that wouldn’t cause instantaneous death The lower half of the body contains nerves and ans other than what appears to be sub-brains at the roots of the tentacles Hmm, it is possible that I can’t find it because I don’t know y?

“Excuse uards “Please touch my head and stay still for a while”

The two Scylla guards seemed confused, but they placed their hands on Vandalieu’s head as they were told

“Your head? Like this?”

“We just need to stay still in this position?”

“Yes, just like that,” said Vandalieu “This ht feel unpleasant, but please bear with me”

“Eh? Hah, guuuh?”

“S-so inside?!”

Vandalieu had his spirit foruards’ bodies fro him

Since Scylla biology was even in than Ghouls and Beast-people, he was having these two cooperate in helping him understand it

Their upper bodies are funda with their organ function… I suppose everything is the sas? Uh shape I’ll fix that

Vandalieu gained a rough understanding of Scylla biology while perforuards in return, but he still hadn’t discovered any clues on the cause of Orbia’s death

He investigated Orbia’s corpse one more time and found that there was one unnatural wound

“Her finger?”

There was a ser, as if it had been pricked by a needle

It was a small, shalloound, but… before Orbia’s death, she had received a ring from her secret lover

“Just in case…”

Vandalieu read the ered on the corpse Orbia must have been incredibly happy; her body hadn’t been preserved by cursed ice or e had still remained

It was the vivid ier

The secret lover was blurred and Vandalieu couldn’t see his

“I can’t say for sure without seeing the ring as evidence, but… I have a feeling that a sickening truth is waiting for us,” said Vandalieu

The lover who had given Orbia the ring was suspicious It was highly possible that he had placed poison in the ring and poisoned Orbia

However, perhaps because too much time had passed, Vandalieu couldn’t find the poison in Orbia’s corpse Vandalieu couldn’t tell if the ring in question did indeed contain such a trick fro memory alone

It was possible that Orbia’s lover was innocent and the wound on her finger was there by coincidence fro that day It was also entirely possible that the murderers, who had concealed Orbia’s cause of death, had si poison

Vandalieu didn’t knohether he should tell Orbia about this at this point in tihed

“Ugh, what did… you do? I have a war in my stomach…”

“A-are you finished already? You’re finished… right?”

Vandalieu finally took notice of the two Scylla guards, who had lost their balance and collapsed onto the ground because of him

Kurt Legston, ashi+eld-nation as the commandant of this fort at the boundary of the Scylla territory, had been listening to Captain Mardock Zet’s report for a while with a glooston (though Earl Legston’s eldest son was the current head of the fa as a member of the branch family)

“So, you are currently continuing the plan of deliberately allowing the resistance to escape and then finding their base?” he asked

“That is correct” Mardock’s words were courteous, but he was looking at Kurt with a disagreeable expression

He was a shrewd man In fact, it was likely that he would complete his work flawlessly

“The resistanceare unskilled; once we locate their base, ill likely exterminate them within a few days,” Mardock continued

He was the co officer of the anti-resistance extermination squad, appointed by the headquarters of the ar in this fort in order to exterion that the army couldn’t handle

The social position of Kurt’s faher, but Mardock looked down on hih Kurt found this unpleasant, he had accepted it, knowing that it couldn’t be helped

Mardock was someone whom the upper brass of the army expected results from; he was the captain of an exceptional unit that had already exteranizations

On the other hand, though Kurt was the third son of the Legston fa shi+eld-nation, he was a commander who had been demoted

The expedition into the Boundary Mountain Range had ended in complete failure The fact that his older brother Chezare had died was – considering that over half of the expedition ar about it, but Kurt himself hadn’t been involved in the expedition

So officially, he had received no punish hi the discipline of the other men, Kurt had been sent away from his homeland and stationed at this unimportant fort

This fort was one that had been constructed before the founding of the Orbaudoed that the Scylla had the right to govern themselves, but they had decided to build a barrier and this fort just in case

But as long as the Scylla race didn’t decide to start some reckless rebellion, the military value of this fort was essentially nil

The An affairs were conducting negotiations, so such a rebellion was unlikely to happen

In other words, Kurt was essentially a couards who had only been stationed here just in case

He had received a letter from Marshal Palpapek back at home that read, “I want you to think of this as a vacation and endure this until things blow over” So he believed that he would one day return to his original position and continued serving day after day without feeling dispirited, but…

Marshal-dono, I do not need any vacation that I must spend in the company of such an unpleasant man

Kurt wanted a change of occupations right this instant, even if itsoldier on the frontlines, but he couldn’t let this show in his behavior so he endured it firmly However, he finally let some unnecessary words slip from his mouth

“But no matter how less if you do not capture those of the Reborn Sauron army and the Sauron Liberation Front?” he said

But Mardock’s disagreeable s

“Indeed, the leader of the Reborn Sauron Arer brother who is the vice-captain, Rick The ‘Princess Knight’ of the Sauron Liberation Front Capturing these people would be a most spectacular victory,” he said “However, the i meion”

This would cause the people’s hopes in the resistance to fade and decrease their desire to start rebellions

The people needed to be taught that a re quiet and sub part in short-lived rebellions

“And there has been infor in this area,” Mardock continued “It is likely that they do not want the Scylla to accept the terotiations It is only a itiiven the honor of executing them,” he declared, the narcissism audible in his tone

Kurt thought about how much he wanted Mardock to be beaten into silence as he spoke again “That is quite fine But this is an iotiations will either be accepted or refused Even if it is to exterminate the resistance, I request that you be very mindful of the Scylla territory”

Naturally, as a noble shi+eld-nation, which was a vassal nation of the Amid Empire, Kurt was a believer of Alda However, he was a military man before he was an Alda worshi+pper The orders of his superiors were absolute

Since those superiors had decided that the Scylla would be negotiated with rather than battled, he had no objections to obeying those orders Interfering with them was out of the question

That hy he feared that Mardock’s unit ht make conspicuous moves too close to the Scylla territory and this would be interpreted by the Scylla as a threat, causing disagreeotiations

Of course, Mardock was ato the saotiations with the Scylla, but Kurt was re him just in case

“Oh? Could it be that the powerfulshi+eld-nation is ti with these octopus-women?” This was Mardock’s response ‘Octopus-wo to the Scylla race

These were not words that a otiation, much less on duty

“Mardock-dono, I request that you show some earnest caution,” said Kurt

He didn’t knohat kind of personal values Mardock held or what he thought of the Scylla, but if he were to do so, it would be Kurt ould receive punishment for his subordinate’s actions He tried to ask Mardock one ot in response completely failed to reassure him

After Mardock left the rooer than Mardock, had a bitter expression on his face and suddenly looked very old

“If negotiations break down and the Scylla leave their territory to attack us, our arer theher-ups in the ar but raising their own achievements?” he cursed

The Scylla race had been living in thebefore the foundation of the Sauron Kingdom that preceded the Sauron Duchy They had turned the inconvenient, steep slopes into terraced rice fields andThey had made no attempts to expand their territory into the pleasant, flat land on the outside

That was because this was the strategy that the Scylla had adopted in order to survive

Nations had started holy wars led by the Church of Alda, invaded because they wanted more land and even started wars to try and capture the beautiful Scylla women as slaves

Each tiht in the e, and when they could not hold out even by fighting like this, the families had separated and fled into the mountains

And then they would wait years or decades, and as the enemy failed to make use of the Scylla’s land, they would attack and take them back

The first King Sauron had acknowledged the right for Scylla to rule thehter at the tie

“The great-grandchild of the king’s youngest son is –”

“Periveil-san?!”

“No My newest husband, and Orbia over there”

“Her?!”

While Vandalieu was conducting the autopsy on Orbia’s corpse, Pauvina and the others were listening to the story of the Scylla race’s history, told by Periveil, the village’s chief

“In other words, I’randchild of the princess, and Orbia-san is my aunt,” said Privel

“Wait a minute, your father isn’t my brother! We’re cousins! I’m not your aunt!” said Orbia

Scylla were a race with long lifespans of four hundred years, so stories froo were stories of their ancestors of a not-so-distant past for them

And since they were a unisexual race of women, they married men of other races, but apparently half of their children were born as members of the father’s race Girls were born as Scylla while boys were born as members of the father’s race; it was easy to understand There were exceptions, but these wereonly once every few thousand years

“Then Orbia-san and Privel-san, if these were norht be princesses,” said Princess Levia