Chapter 118: The Serpent Man

“Too bad there’s no magic resembling Time Reversal. That would make things much easier.”

Even with Arcane Sight, he could not see clearly. It was not merely because too much time had passed; more importantly, countless people had used detection magic here since the incident. The moment Arcane Sight was activated, the entire area was filled with a chaotic mess of magical traces.

Bohn felt a headache coming on. Seventon had no specialized organization responsible for securing crime scenes, and this one had become even more chaotic. More than forty hours had passed, during which who knew how many people had come and gone. Even if the murderer had left behind any clues, they were almost impossible to find now.

Of course, Bohn had not discovered nothing at all. It was simply that most of what he had found seemed unrelated.

“What happened to Kelly’s body? Where is it?” Bohn asked.

“Her body? Why are you looking for it? The court mages already transported it to the Mausoleum Temple,” Lissipell replied.

“Oh. Judging by that, it seems they didn’t recall her soul.” Bohn’s tone held a hint of amusement.

“Huh? How did you know? We only just received word that Kelly’s soul has vanished!” Jennifer asked curiously.

“You idiot. If they had recalled it, wouldn’t they already know who the murderer was? Why would they still need to investigate?” Daliena said helplessly from the side.

“Did the priest say where Kelly’s soul went?” Bohn asked.

“No. He only said that her soul was gone,” Lissipell replied.

“Gone?”

The corners of Bohn’s mouth lifted slightly. This was interesting. Did “gone” mean that her soul was no longer in the world of Toril, or did it mean exactly what the word suggested—that it had been destroyed? The possibilities were certainly intriguing.

“Come on! Let’s go take a look at the Mausoleum Temple!”

With that, Bohn turned and walked outside. The others exchanged glances before following behind him.

“Heh. They’re out already. Just look at their expressions—they clearly didn’t discover anything. Hmph… I thought they were supposed to be capable.”

The two court mages stationed at the courtyard entrance quickly noticed the members of the Arcane Association.

As Bohn walked out, he casually glanced at the small garden beside him.

“Hm?”

Looking somewhat surprised, Bohn walked over to an oak tree.

“What is this? Blood?”

The effect of Arcane Sight had not yet faded. As he came outside, Bohn noticed a patch of black soil beneath the oak that seemed to be stained with blood. A faint trace of magical energy lingered within it.

Bohn extended his hand. A pale radiance flowed across his palm before he gently pressed it against the soil.

“System, begin analysis!”

Through his sensory perception of qi, the chip quickly determined that the blood had been left by a magical creature—and that it was more than a month old.

In an instant, Bohn seemed to understand something. If the chip had possessed a music-playback function, he would have loved to play the Detective Conan theme music.

“Well? Did you find a clue?” Lissipell asked nervously. The others hurried over as well.

“I have a few ideas now, though there’s still one thing I can’t figure out.”

Bohn folded his arms and smiled at the president.

For some reason, whenever he saw the president, he always felt like teasing her.

“We’re not going to the Mausoleum Temple for now.”

“Then where are we going?”

“The Mage Tower!”

After saying this, Bohn cast Flight and flew straight toward the Mage Tower.

Lissipell secretly clenched her fists, then turned around and said, “We’re going to the Mage Tower too. Cast Flight.”

She finished speaking and flew away with Flight.

The members of the Arcane Association froze for a moment, then erupted in delight.

“The president is leading us in breaking the rules!”

“I’ve wanted to try flying around the academy for ages!”

“…”

The two court mages standing at the entrance watched with grim expressions as the entire group from the Arcane Association flew directly over their heads.

“Looks like they found a clue. That direction leads to the Mage Tower, doesn’t it? Should we inform His Highness the prince?” the tall mage asked.

“Inform His Highness,” Joe replied.

“Understood!”

The tall mage took a peculiar copper ring from inside his robes. The faint magical radiance flowing across it made it clear that it was a magic item.

Bohn and the others flying through the academy naturally caused quite a commotion.

Thanks to Flight, they soon arrived at the Mage Tower.

Bohn went to the tower’s control level. This was where the academy instructors rotated shifts. The personnel stationed there not only replaced the tower spirit and controlled access restrictions within the Mage Tower, but could also monitor the entire academy.

“Teacher Evans?”

After requesting teleportation to the control level, Bohn was extremely surprised to discover that the instructor on duty was Evans.

Still, it was only natural. Bohn had flown toward the Mage Tower using Flight, so Evans would have had to be blind not to notice him.

If anyone else had requested access to the control level, they would probably have needed to go through countless procedures. But the moment Bohn submitted his request, Evans sent him directly inside.

“What brings you to the control room?” Evans asked.

“It’s like this, Teacher. A student died in the academy’s advanced dormitory district. You’ve heard about it, haven’t you?”

“The student was named Kelly, right? How could I not know about something so serious? She was the first person in the academy to die from a non-accidental cause. The consequences have been extremely damaging. Even the headmaster, who is stationed at the front lines, has heard about it.”

Evans sighed with emotion.

“Exactly. I’m investigating the case, and I need your help, Teacher,” Bohn said solemnly.

“You’re investigating it? Isn’t His Highness the prince handling the investigation?” Evans asked in confusion.

Bohn smiled bitterly and briefly explained the situation involving the court mages and the Arcane Association.

After hearing him out, Evans nodded thoughtfully. “How do you need me to help?”

Bohn was overjoyed and hurriedly said, “Teacher, I need the Mage Tower’s records of students entering and leaving during this period, as well as their records of point usage.”

“The entry and exit records and point records can only be viewed for the past three months,” Evans said.

“That’s enough, that’s enough. I only need the records from the past two months—or rather, I only need to find Kelly’s records!”

Bohn spoke quickly.

Evans was silent for a moment before nodding. “Come with me.”

…

“What? Who did you say?”

Inside the royal palace of Seventon, a handsome man dressed in royal attire, his face sharply sculpted, asked in disbelief, “Are you certain it was that Bohn Eolum?”

“Absolutely, Your Highness. The court mage guarding the academy sent the message,” the guard replied nervously.

“Very well. I understand. You may leave.”

The prince resumed his former cold and aloof expression.

After the guard departed, the prince seized a precious crystal ornament from beside him and hurled it to the floor.

Crash—

Brilliant crystal fragments scattered everywhere.

The handsome features of the prince’s face twisted into something almost feral. Gritting his teeth, he snarled, “You again, Bohn Eolum. It’s you again. Why are you everywhere I go…?”

…

“Found it!”

Even with the chip’s assistance, Bohn still spent more than an hour locating Kelly’s records.

“VII514?”

“I know what room that is. It’s the smallest laboratory in the experimental district,” Evans said after one glance.

“I think I understand what happened.”

The corners of Bohn’s mouth curled upward as he pushed the middle finger of one hand against his nonexistent glasses.

“Thank you, Teacher Evans!”

With that, Bohn activated the Mage Tower’s teleportation array and transported himself directly to the experimental district on the third floor.

“You’re—no need to thank me…”

Only then did Evans react. Looking at the disarray covering the floor of the control room, he was instantly thrown into confusion.

Bohn arrived at the laboratory where Kelly had spent more than a month. The room was tiny, barely ten square meters.

Kelly had left only three days earlier, and no one had visited the room since. Through the chip’s analysis, Bohn could make a preliminary judgment: the laboratory had not been used for experiments in a long time, but someone had lived there for a while.

Bohn walked to the alchemy table and circled around to the other side. From a narrow gap, he felt around and pulled out a black scale.

“A scale?”

Bohn frowned. A faint radiance flashed across his fingertips, and the chip soon produced its analysis.

Eighty-six percent serpentfolk, ten percent serpent lizard, four percent other…

“Serpentfolk?”

Bohn narrowed his eyes. He took out a bottle of holy water and dropped a single bead onto the scale. Like sulfuric acid, it immediately corroded a hole through the surface.

“Fallen serpentfolk!”

…

(It’s so late, and there are still so many people reading. I’m honestly speechless. Since you’re already here, recommendation votes cost nothing, so why not cast one?)

(End of chapter)