Ch.7979. The Price of Volta’s Life

“How truly unfortunate.”

“How could a human do such a thing.”

The Magic Judges expressed their regret as we exited Hernu’s house. Two of them had accompanied me as guards, and both were frowning as if they had never seen such a corpse before.

“……”

Their gazes subtly shifted toward me, seemingly hoping I might have noticed something.

After a moment’s consideration, I turned the question back to the two of them.

“The body parts are preserved in different states.”

Both of them had their own knowledge in this field. They would have to, given their position as executioners.

The judge named Tema, with his long chin, answered.

“That’s correct. Judging by the condition of the corpse and the twisted insects, it started with the torso, then the left hand, right hand, left leg, and right leg.”

Judge Doben, who had a mole at the corner of his mouth, nodded in agreement with Tema’s opinion.

Tema and Doben’s opinions aligned, and I shared the same thought.

“I could sense… Black Magic from the corpse. Someone deliberately used magic to preserve it in that manner.”

This wasn’t an incident caused by an evil spirit.

I realized this myself after examining the corpse.

‘I thought it was clearly the work of an evil spirit. In this case, it’s more accurate to say someone deliberately made it look like the work of an evil spirit.’

The reason I initially came here was because of concerns about a possible evil spirit encompassing the entire kingdom.

But now that I was here, that wasn’t the case.

Someone had staged these bizarre phenomena to make it appear as if an evil spirit had caused the incident.

‘Why?’

I was about to delve deeper into my thoughts, but had to stop because of the two men watching me, a Black Mage, cautiously.

They seemed unsure how to react, probably because at this time, such incidents could never benefit me.

If word got out, it would naturally lead to the worst possible position for Black Mages.

I had used holy power to establish that I was different from ordinary Black Mages, but that didn’t completely free me from scrutiny.

“For now, it would be best to investigate Volta among the citizens of Fernan.”

When I suggested meeting back here in an hour, the two immediately saluted and began moving briskly.

Perhaps because I had defeated Magic Judge Chief Tairn, the judges seemed to feel a strange fear toward me.

I went back inside the house.

The mother, Hernu, was eating what looked like millet without having had a proper meal, just barely sustaining herself.

Thinking I should give her something to eat later, I checked Volta’s corpse again, placed in the front yard that was little more than a garbage dump, without her noticing.

The decomposition states of the body parts differed, and they were preserved.

While thinking how grotesque this act was, the most important thing was:

‘There’s no face.’

Where had the face, severed from the torso, gone?

And another thing:

‘There’s no soul either.’

Even when I checked through Lemegeton for any sleeping souls, nothing appeared.

Even if it had awakened as an evil spirit, since it hadn’t been dead long, it should have been wandering near the body.

In this case, it was one of two possibilities.

Either Volta’s soul had been completely annihilated.

Or:

‘He’s still alive.’

There were too many disturbing elements in this case.

Why had the perpetrator placed such complex magic on the corpse?

Why had the perpetrator cut up Volta’s body and placed the parts at the four corners of the Griffin Kingdom?

I had come thinking it was a simple evil spirit incident, but it turned out to be the work of a Black Mage.

I felt uneasy.

It was as if I were standing on someone’s shadow, a chill gently brushing the nape of my neck.

“What are you doing?”

Just then, Volta’s mother Hernu suddenly poked her head out right beside me.

She had been chewing millet until just now, and was staring at me intently with something smeared all over her mouth.

The atmosphere was subtly different from before.

Without showing any particular reaction, I asked:

“What kind of son was Volta?”

At my question, Hernu slightly bowed her head and answered.

“I can’t say he was a good child, even as a white lie. He hung around with neighborhood thugs, extorted money, beat up kids, and stole ships.”

“……”

“So truthfully, the villagers weren’t very saddened by Volta’s death. They were actually glad when the delinquents fled after Volta died so cruelly.”

Hernu grabbed my hand and tears welled up in her eyes.

“My son may have been no good, but he didn’t do anything bad enough to deserve such a death. The goddess is truly heartless!”

The trembling voice, the teardrops, the old woman’s grip that seemed about to break at any moment.

“Please catch whoever did this to my son.”

“…I understand.”

With those words, I went outside again. There seemed no need to stay any longer.

I briefly checked the souls floating around, but most were harmless to people and would naturally find peace with time.

An hour later.

Tema and Doben returned. They wore strange expressions, but their findings were similar.

All were negative opinions about Volta.

“He had quite bad habits, they say. Beyond simply stealing things, he was caught committing robbery.”

“Not only that, he routinely beat people while leading his gang. They say people wouldn’t dare go out into the village at night if they heard Volta’s voice.”

“There were many incidents, and he was handed over to the guards many times. Each time, Volta’s elderly mother would come, kneel, and apologize.”

“His father was of similar character. Volta’s father was an alcoholic who died late one night after falling and hitting his head on a stone.”

“We didn’t detect any Black Mage energy within the village. This seems like it will be a more difficult case than expected.”

The two, who specialized in dealing with Black Mages, explained the current situation quickly yet coldly.

While praising them for gathering such clean yet extensive information, I glanced up at the sky.

It had grown dark.

Clouds had gathered, and it looked like rain might fall soon.

The fishermen’s boats had already pulled in their nets and docked. Those who had left early seemed to be gathered at the village tavern, making a ruckus.

“What do you two think is the most important point in this case?”

At my question, the long-chinned Tema answered as if he had been waiting.

“I think it’s the preservation of the corpse. It wasn’t just a killing; they set up a unique mechanism.”

However, he didn’t seem to have reached the reason behind it.

This time, Doben, who had a mole at the corner of his mouth, offered a different opinion.

“The body parts were spread across the four cardinal directions. Personally, I suspect it might be some kind of magic circle meant to spread across the entire kingdom.”

According to Doben’s opinion, the scale would be quite large. Magic circles dealing with corpses were typically summoning circles.

Not the failed demonic Griffin, but a real demon could emerge.

Both were reasonable opinions in their own way. But if pressed, there were aspects that lacked persuasiveness.

I glanced slightly toward the Dark Spiritmaster. She had been silently examining various places, and when our eyes met, she opened her mouth with a faint groan.

[Hmm, I think the problem is that the situation is excessively unique.]

I nodded at her words.

“It’s excessively violent and flashy. But lacks substance.”

Different timeframes for the corpse parts?

It might seem impressive, but for a Black Mage rather than an evil spirit, it doesn’t seem particularly difficult.

Body parts spread across the four directions?

It wouldn’t be difficult to move them if you had people to do it.

As Doben suggested, it could be a magic circle for summoning a demon.

But thinking conversely:

If they created a magic circle encompassing the entire Griffin Kingdom, would they activate it with just one corpse?

To put it bluntly, the materials are insufficient.

So in my personal opinion, what the perpetrator of this incident wanted was one thing:

“They deliberately made the incident flashy to summon someone.”

A Black Mage.

In my opinion, someone who appears to be a necromancer is calling for me.

Considering the timing of the incident, right after I became a spiritmaster, it felt even more so.

“You mean you, Spiritmaster?”

“Mmm.”

Both of them looked unconvinced, but I was beginning to be fairly certain.

After all, I possessed game information that they didn’t.

As Retry progressed toward the latter half, the content of the game gradually became more profound.

The setting that souls of the dead accumulated across the continent wasn’t something I learned after becoming a spiritmaster.

There had been episodes in the game based on related content.

While the Griffin Kingdom was intensely hostile to Black Mages:

Conversely, it was the perfect place for capable Black Mages to hide themselves.

Since Griffin’s demon blocked Black Magic from its source, citizens remained ignorant.

I glanced at the Dark Spiritmaster.

She was a prime example.

A necromancer who hid in the Griffin Kingdom, solely focused on her research.

Anyway.

The Black Mage organization Dante, living in the sewers beneath the Griffin Kingdom, which appeared in the game.

‘Dante is involved.’

Self-proclaimed reasonable Black Mages. As such, they neither caught the eye of the Magic Judges nor caused significant harm to people.

Unlike selfish Black Mages, they held the position that all knowledge and learning must come at a price.

Therefore, they didn’t kill people recklessly. Even when they did, they paid the price themselves.

But if that’s the case:

I turned my head slightly to look at Hernu’s house.

I had a feeling I knew who had taken the price of Volta’s life.