The Melancholy of the Holy Maiden

dark night.

The pale silver moon was covered by dark clouds, and the red gold moon hung far away in the sky. In the sky tonight, even the stars became dim.

It was late at night, and there were not many pedestrians on the quiet streets of Lapuyard South District.

Aya hurried past with a bamboo basket.

This plainly dressed girl lives in the civilian area of ​​the imperial capital.

There are no slums in Lapuyard, the imperial capital of Itenna. Thanks to His Majesty's rule, at least everyone in Lapuyard can live a good life and live a good life with hard work.

Except for the wealthy district occupying the west district, the royal family of Drant and the Temple of Radiance occupying the central district, and the Imperial Royal Academy occupying the eastern district, the rest of the southern district and the northern district belong to the common people.

Just walk two more blocks to get home.

Thinking of this, Aya's pace became faster again.

Today she lost some time, and her family should be in a hurry if she doesn't go back.

The young girl's heart was high, her eyebrows and eyes were full of joy, and even her footsteps, which became heavy after a hard day's work, became lighter and lighter.

Today, all the baubles she wove are sold out, and after buying medicines for her mother to take care of her body, there is still a lot left, so she can buy some candies for her younger sister.And Mr. Pastor, after a few more days, when the mother's body recovers better, she can ask Mr. Pastor to treat her mother.

"Ah!" Too immersed in her own thoughts, Aya bumped into someone, she fell to the ground, and the basket almost flew out.She hurriedly picked up the candies that rolled down from the basket, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you're fine...Huh? Where's the person?"

On the street, where did someone bump into her?Aya was very confused, she patted the corner of her skirt and stood up to look around.

There was no one around, only a wild cat suddenly looked at her, its fur all over its body exploded, and it fled away as if flying.

Not far away, in a room with specially kept lamps, because she had already passed by, the lights went out all of a sudden.

Aya smiled slightly, turned around——

"--Varied!"

The scene reflected in the girl's eyes made her lose her voice instantly, and she could only let out a meaningless "uah" from her throat.

Then, the withered corpse stretched out its hand toward Aya's ankle.

There was an incomparably coldness in that dead hand, which made Aya tremble her lips and scream.

"Death, death, undead——!!!"

※※※

Looking at the documents on the table, Lucy Ni smiled slightly.

Thirteen civilian girls have gone missing in Lapuyard, the imperial capital of Eterna.

In the past, the disappearance of these people did not attract much attention from the royal family. There were many people in Itenna, and there were more civilians in the imperial capital Lapuad.

The disappearance of one or two people is like a drop of water falling into the sea, without many ripples.Even if thirteen girls disappeared within three days, it would be difficult to be associated with them.

It's just that they disappeared for a few days and didn't return. Often these disappearances will soon be confirmed to have just left La Puyard, perhaps running away from home, or staying with a lover.

However, if the disappearance of these girls is accompanied by the sudden death of men in the civilian area for no reason, the royal family of Durrant cannot help but ignore it.

The discovery of this matter and the connection between these missing cases and sudden death cases are also due to His Royal Highness Prince Ernest, who has diligently studied and handled official documents.

His Royal Highness, who is very concerned about his own people and has a wrong intuition, and the little sage Abner conducted a verification. The two even checked the relevant information of the civilians who asked for help from the imperial guards and the priests of the Temple of Radiance. The civilians involved in the incident were investigated.

In this document, every girl whose relatives asked for help, went missing, every male civilian who died suddenly, and their names are all recorded.

"In three days, [-] men died suddenly and [-] girls disappeared in the civilian area of ​​South Lapuad."

Lucini whispered the words on the dossier.

These are just the number of people who were found out by the two of His Royal Highnesses together. As for the part that no one knows, there may be more people.

"A security guard claimed to have heard the screaming of the girl before she disappeared, but when he rushed over, the girl had disappeared and there was no one else there."

The girl who disappeared out of thin air seemed to be transported away instantly by some powerful magician using magic. Unfortunately, the soldier who discovered the incident was not a spellcaster and could not sense magic elements.As for the fluctuations of those magic elements, they have long dissipated after a while.

"The dead male was dehydrated to a mummified appearance within 3 minutes after death. The flesh was cut and there was no blood. Some witnesses said that they saw a black shadow running away from the corpse. The black shadow was small and could fly."

Such symptoms make people wonder whether there are some blood-sucking monsters that have entered Lapuyard to hunt wildly!However, even the monsters that live on blood can only absorb the blood of a small amount of cattle and sheep, and cannot kill them.Attacking humans has never been seen before.What's more, it's still a young and middle-aged labor force with a strong body?

In this regard, His Royal Highness thinks that there is some kind of spell caster—maybe it is a necromancer who practiced the method of driving necromancers and fell into evil ways, or some crazy alchemist did something good for his own research.

No matter what it was, that guy must have an extremely outstanding ability to disguise himself, disguised himself as a normal person, and even the priests of the Temple of Radiance couldn't detect the abnormality.

That damn guy is killing his people!

Ernest almost gritted his teeth in thought.No matter who or what that guy is, he must stab the sword into the opponent's chest and let the opponent experience Drant's anger.

As for the dead spirits of the Nibelungen coming out to cause trouble, His Royal Highness never thought about it.

You must know that ordinary undead have nothing to hide under the glow, and Lapuyard is the head of the Holy See of the Temple of Glory!What kind of dead spirits are brave enough to operate under the nose of the Temple of Light, and this activity is still harmful?That's ridiculous.

After His Highness the Prince presented it to His Majesty the King Aldrich together with his guess, Aldrich agreed to allow Ernest to conduct an in-depth investigation, and deployed some knights of the Royal Knights for him to use.

In addition, Aldrich also made a copy of this dossier and his own decision, and sent it to Lucini.

At this moment, this errand runner was still standing aside, waiting for Lucini's response with a gentle smile.

The lady knight standing beside the saintess lowered her head to watch out for this little sage who was from the same school as her.

His Majesty the King asked this little sage he liked to do errands, which made people puzzled.It's just such a trivial matter as sending a letter, it's too overkill for this young man he values.

Luxi Ni tapped the table with her fingers lightly, and her voice had a peculiar rhythm, which calmed down the restless heart.

In such a voice, Lucini thought.

The Pope fell into a deep sleep again, and he didn't know when he would wake up. Now the only person in the temple who can talk about things is the Holy Maiden.

"Please report to His Majesty the King." Finally, Lucini made a decision, "This matter is strange, and Lu and the Guardian Knight will intervene in the investigation. I hope that you can cooperate with His Royal Highness Ernest happily."

Generally, it is enough to send a few priests to show their attitude. Unless the priests can't solve the problem, there is no need for the bishop of the South District of La Puyade to intervene.

His Majesty the King just hoped that the Temple of Radiance could give him some help, after all, he didn't want his upright son to be irreparably damaged in this incident.

The best way to do this is to seek reinforcements from the temple. Those priests are all good healers, and they can heal at any time when they act together, even if they have broken limbs, they can continue immediately.It's just perfect, okay?

One or two, four or five priests are enough to come to him casually.

His Majesty the King is not picky at all.

Aldridge would never think of Lucini but decided: go directly to himself.

Abner's expression looked a little surprised—but in Bedwell's view, it was an act of faking. This guy definitely expected that the Holy Maiden would make such a decision—Bedwell understood him, and just Just like His Majesty the Great Sage understands the nature of His Majesty the King.

This guy doesn't believe in gods, and most of the time he acts clumsy on purpose just because it makes him more human.

But the saintess doesn't care - Bedwell definitely doesn't think it's because the saintess didn't discover Abner's disguise.Lucini looked up at Abner seriously.

The astonishment shown on Abner's face to Lucini flashed across, and immediately turned into a just right smile that seemed genuinely happy.

"Your kindness and generosity are admirable, and the Goddess of Radiance is with you." He saluted respectfully, "Then I will take my leave first."

"Naturally. May the Goddess bless you." Luxi Ni nodded at him with a gentle smile, but the solemnity in her expression was very eye-catching.

After Abner left, the serious expression on the lady's face disappeared immediately, and she let out a long breath: "My dear, I will trouble you to protect Lu again~"

"It is my duty to protect you, my lord." Miss Knight replied seriously.Then, she asked again, "My lord, do you need to go to find His Royal Highness Ernest now? I can go to make preparations right away. And your work needs to be handed over."

By the way, you can also call the little girls from the Guardian Knights out to exercise. They always train in the martial arts field and have never fought against enemies who won't hold back. They will never become qualified guardians. Knights, moreover, it should be the time for those girls to contact the Holy Maiden—in case she is unable to protect the Holy Maiden one day, there will be no one to stand on top of her.

Miss Knight always felt a little uneasy about Lucini's decision, perhaps because of the previous nightmare.

However, Bedwell didn't have any doubts about Lucini's decision to intervene in the investigation. Most of the time, the decision of the Holy Maiden is absolutely correct, and the dedicated lady knight just needs to implement it.Uh, um, the idea that the Holy Maiden used to tease her is absolutely correct, that is not included.

Lucini tilted her head and thought for a while: "No, the two of us will go to the South District first."

"As you wish."