At first, Claire expected that these thieves' original aim is Arvid because of all the stolen cattle and pigs, half of them belongs to him.
She thought someone had a grudge against him. So, that person stole the others in order to hide the purpose of harming Arvid and his family.
But, after hearing the story from the biggest victim, she changed her way of thinking and put more concentration on the missing case. Maybe, the thieves will also relax and attempt once again after they pretend to leave without any leads?
This is why she didn't go to any other victim's house and returned to the village chief's house to ask for a person who can take them to the spot where the dead body was found.
It took them three hours of trekking for everyone to reach the spot. They would have been able to reach faster but the villager who is showing the way isn't an Arcana Master like them and neither had great memory power. So, it is bound to consume time.
Upon finding the place, Claire sent him away and both of them get to the work while Neal silently watched them.
"Rael, you go this side, and I will go the left. We'll see if there's anything strange in 1-2 kilometer surroundings." Claire said to Azzy.
They split up. Since this is Claire's mission, Neal followed her in reluctance.
Azzy was roaming here and there while watching the ground in the hope of finding the clues. After 30 minutes of search, he returned to the same spot, empty hand but saw Claire was holding something in her hand. Meanwhile, Neal's facial expression doesn't look good.
"Rael, I found something." She took out a severed head of a wolf from the cover.
She pointed at the head with her other free arm and started making deductions just like what she was taught during the training. "The bottom of the head was flat and the blood wasn't dripping as it was clotted. This states that an expert cleanly sliced its neck and considering how it's…"
"Wait for a second, Claire." Azzy hurriedly interrupted her. "That's not a wolf's head."
"Hmm, what do you mean by that?" Claire observed the severed head for another time. "It's clear that this is a wolf."
"Just look at the neck." Azzy pointed the neck below its head. "It's vertical."
"Hmm? What do you mean?" She fell confused.
Azzy immediately summoned Vajra. The celestial grade beast didn't feel a thing when it saw the head of its kin. It just looked at its master and barked as if it was asking for the orders.
He kneeled to its height and pointed the head, "if you severe it, it will be slanted. I don't know why its head looks like a wolf but this beast is clearly a bipedal one and I have never heard of a wolf that walks on two legs."
It was then Claire finally realized. She put back the head into the cover and asked, "Then, what is this?"
"A werewolf," Neal finally opened his mouth with a serious look on his face. "The situation has now become above your ranks. It's best if you focus on the missing cattle and leave this issue to the professionals. I'll inform the HQ and they will send a team. If both of the cases are linked, then, the HQ will assign you another mission."
"No, I don't think this isn't something we can't handle," Claire refused to heed his advice. "I and Rael, each of us can go toe to toe against even rank-6 experts."
"You don't understand the seriousness of the situation, Cadet Claire." Neal furrowed his brows in displeasure. He explained in a stern tone, "Werewolves don't exist naturally. They are created in a laboratory by experimenting on human beings. If that's the case, then, there will be a possibility of having rank-7 in the enemy camp. If there is more than one rank-7 expert, even I wouldn't be able to save you two.
You aren't true members of the organization. I'm only here as your supervisor and not obligated to save you. So, think twice before performing reckless actions."
"Then, don't. I'm there to protect her." Azzy replied in place of Claire. He was already annoyed with Neal but the latter's behavior towards Claire irked him further.
Even the dumbest of the dumbest could recognize the difference, when Neal was talking to Claire and when he was conversing with Azzy.
Once again, Azzy went against Neal while supporting his girlfriend, "If there's an enemy whom I can't protect Claire from, then, your presence will not make any difference.
You can continue to play as the supervisor like before and leave the investigation and its results to us."
Neal was also human. He can tolerate disrespectful behavior from Azzy only for so long.
He snapped at the both of them, "the two of you aren't obligated to listen to my orders. You can do whatever you want. Like the warned before, the consequences will have been suffered by Claire if this goes wrong. Meanwhile, it's my duty to inform the higher-ups. Whatever they do, and whatever you kids do, I will have nothing to do with it."
Azzy felt like he had probably pushed Neal for too far that the latter decided to bounce back. However, he doesn't care about it because he was confident that he did the right thing.
"Claire, let's go to the place where you found the head," said Azzy.
Claire nodded and walked forward. Neal silently followed from behind.
Azzy and Claire walked for a few minutes before reaching the spot.
He activated Aura Sense and looked around to check the signs of life. Except for their three, a few land animals and birds, there were other auras in five kilometers of radius.
Azzy became clueless. There's the severed head of a werewolf but its body is missing. A whole body was dumped in the middle of nowhere, and there's a skull surfaced beside it? He doesn't feel like he is missing something.
All of a sudden, something clicked in his mind. He looked at his girlfriend, "Claire, how did you find the head?"
"Eh? What do you mean?" She asked. Neal also looked at him.
Azzy asked, "I mean at what position it was when you find it. Was it lying on the ground or placed vertically on the ground?"
"How could it be placed vertically on the ground? Obviously, it was on the side with the back of its head on the ground." Claire answered him right away, not understanding why he was asking such questions right now.
"That means the blood will be spilled nearby, right? Even if it no longer stays fresh, there should be bloodstains around." Azzy looked around once again. It was pretty much barren land with little grass here and there. "No, there's nothing here."
"That means it was brought here and dumped?" Claire's eyes were widened in realization, "come to think of it, when we found the severed head, there was minimum soil on it. This area is full of red soil. If there's a fight and if the head was sliced away and rolled on the ground, its face and the other parts must have soil, right? Is this a trap?"
"Not for us," Azzy shook his head. "Remember what the village chief said? There was a skull nearby the dead body of the villager. Perhaps, there's some kind of technique they were using to lure in the villagers. Maybe, someone from the village will drag them there in the name of finding a severed head, one by one, and abduct them?"
"What kind of bullsh*t analysis is that…" Neal thought in his mind. And he felt like spitting the blood when he saw how Claire agreed with his analysis.
Thankfully, for him, there's someone else who thinks the same way.
"That means the culprit must have been a villager living there." As Claire was contemplating on the theory, Azzy finally heard a voice in his head, giving him crucial guidance, "Azrael, if you two lovebirds stop playing detective, use your god's eyes and search everything one more time, this time, even the underground too…"
"Underground? Is there something there?" Azzy wondered as the Reaper stressed on that word. Nevertheless, he followed the suggestion and unleashed the soul skill.
"Soul skill: Eyes of God."
As his eyes turned pitch black with no visible pupils, a trace of surprise appeared on Neal and Claire for they wondered what he is doing.
Meanwhile, Azzy concentrated on the ground. He took a step back in shock.
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