"I… I… I…" Evan started stuttering as soon as he was asked about the death of his friend.
His reaction made Azzy almost confirm that he did it. He was holding to the last bit of compassion left in his heart for the young man. Once he hears the confession, it will be gone too. In Azzy's view, the killers don't need to be pitied.
"Say it, properly." He spoke in a loud tone, making even Claire flinch in surprise.
Evan tightly closed his eyes, "I didn't do it but I know who did it."
"Ha, thank goodness." Claire sighed in relief that this suspect didn't commit the murder. Or else, she couldn't imagine what Azzy would do, judging by his earlier outburst. Unprovoked bullying and murder were two things Azzy wouldn't tolerate.
In the past couple of months, they have solved a few cases. In one of them, there's a female Arcana Master who killed her husband for money. After getting caught, Azzy didn't hesitate to destroy her soul orb before handing it over to the police.
That's why she was relieved to hear that this person is not a criminal.
Azzy was also calmed down a bit and asked, "Then, is it another werewolf?"
Evan nodded, "Yes. Her name is Loren. She's the one who usually hands me the corpses and makes the payments. And from my share, I used to make payments to my friends who are helping me. But, Lincoln turned greedy. He wasn't satisfied with the amount.
He tried to make a deal behind my back and got killed. I don't know what happened but Loren handed me his body with his head attached, citing the reason that he was my acquaintance.
She asked me to take his body back to the village for a proper burial but I was afraid of investigations and I was also afraid of her.
At the same time, I also wanted the people to know about his death, rather than fooling them. So, I dumped his body at a random place and hoped that someone would find him.
After that, I and others went into hiding. During the past three weeks, we worked as ordinary miners. We planned to go missing for a couple of months before returning to the village but didn't expect that you found six of them. We were worried that…"
"The others will also be found, right?" Claire finished the sentence for him.
As Evan nodded and further pleaded that they didn't actually harm anyone, Claire asked Azzy to free him.
Upon freeing from the chains, he took a seat in the living room. His three friends were forced to sit at a corner while Neal kept an eye on the unconscious suspects as well as the investigators.
Claire then said, "If you will help us catch those culprits, then, not only you will be pardoned of all the charges but we will also reward you with 10000 credits. We will wrap the case with this Loren behind the theft of the animals."
Azzy was inwardly surprised by Claire's offer. Meanwhile, Neal glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. He too didn't expect Claire to choose this path.
However, he didn't object to it because Loren is now charged with atleast murder. Adding theft to those charges will not impact her sentence much anyway. But, he also wondered whether the reward is needed. He believed that just canceling the thievery charges are good enough.
Claire, on the other hand, thought differently. She believed that if there's no reward, Evan's cooperation will be out of fear and he might make mistakes due to that. That's why she added a small reward and decided to pay it out of her pocket. She's rich anyway.
10000 credits might be only 1000 Krocs for the people of Northern Qudour, but for a person from Zuweth, it is 3500 Tolni. 5 tolni per day is considered a great salary for these villagers. So, this was like receiving two years of annual salary. It is not by means a small amount.
Evan looked like he was tempted by the amount. "When should we leave?" he asked after giving a brief thought.
Claire stood up from the seat and replied, "right away."
"Right now? But, it's midnight…" Evan was taken aback.
Azzy replied to him, in place of Claire, "we have night vision goggles and I know that you can see in darkness. So, there's no problem. Moreover, we can take them by surprise."
"What to do with these three?" Neal interrupted their conversation. After getting their attention, he further said, "Cadet Claire, you are the prime investigator of the case. You decide."
"Free them," Claire announced her decision regarding the fates of those three and then, turned to look at the village chief, "Mt. Albert, we'll leave them in your house. If they wake up before we return, tell them, not to stray off from the path of good for the sake of money. The next time, they will go to jail for sure."
"Sure, thank you for the mercy, young miss." The village chief thanked her for not indicting charges on his grandson and his friends. Of course, he was worried about Evan's safety but the fact that the villagers will not lose their livelihood anymore eased up his heart.
Soon, the party of four left for the mountain. With Evan acting as the guide, they reached the east entrance of the mine within two hours. A dark path leads to the underground. Even with night vision goggles, none of them had seen anything.
Stepping into the mine, Evan said in a low tone, "This way. "
They followed him. All of them walked at a slow pace to not make a sound. Azzy activated his Aura Sensing ability to check up on the area. He could sense at least a thousand life auras. As they are too big in number, he couldn't specifically point out who is a victim and who is a miner.
On their way, they took a lot of turns, changed several tunnels in these coal mines. At first, they found a lot of miners, some are on night duty and the remaining is resting. But then, as they go deeper into the underground, the temperature rose while the miners also became less.
Even in such a situation, Azzy could still see the auras of atleast dozens ahead.
Now, as Evan halted his footsteps, he pointed at the dark tunnel standing before them, "I think this is the place. Usually, I wait here and send a message to Loren. She would come with the corpses."
Azzy concentrated on the life auras he was looking at. As he observed, he found except for six of them, everyone else is in a sleeping position and that too, clustered at one spot.
It was then Neal spoke in a hushed tone, "Apart from us, I can sense the presence of a peak-rank-6, low-rank-6 of 2 in number, and peak-rank-5 of 3 in number, from there. If anyone else hasn't suppressed their strength, this is the enemies' strength. It's not difficult but not easy either."
"That depends on your participation, Captain," replied Claire as she looked ahead.
Azzy then said, "Nah, we can take care of this, ourselves. Leave those rank-6 experts to me and you finish off those rank-5, Claire."
Neal and Claire glanced at him but didn't say anything. One through direct reply and the other through spying, both of them knew that Azzy is a high-rank-6 Arcana Master.
With Claire's own soul power equals peak-rank-5, they didn't feel that it might be a challenge.
Claire agreed to it and looked at Neal, "Captain, how about you keep an eye on this fellow while we go inside. If we can't handle it, I'll call for help."
After a brief silence, Neal nodded, "alright but make sure to switch on your communication devices, all the time. If this mission is successful, Azrael might not have to take the test to get the promotion along with you."
Very soon, Azzy and Claire stepped inside the tunnel and disappeared from Neal's sight.
Staring at the dark tunnel, Evan said, "You shouldn't have sent those kids. It's too dangerous."
"And you don't know how dangerous those two are." Neal smirked in response before adding, "Those two couldn't even be categorized as some geniuses like me. They are a step above."
"No, I don't mean that." Evan shook his head. He clarified his statement, "They are still kids and too kind to show mercy on me. I'm not sure whether they have seen the world or not, but I wonder about their mental state upon witnessing the place."
Neal's facial expression hardened as he replied, "Plants and flowers can be grown in greenhouses but not a forest, Mr. Evan."
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