Struggle in the Steam Age

When Lawrence followed Mr. Lambert to the living room of the main building of the Earl's Mansion, he found two judges in pure black robes and warhammers hanging from their waists. After exchanging greetings and introducing himself, Lawrence was left behind to make tea for the servants who had been evicted.

After taking a sip from the teacup, the two judges looked at each other, and then the older judge looked at Mr. Lambert and said, How much do you know about your two nephews?

I don't know anything except name and age. Mr. Lambert shrugged helplessly after hearing the judge's question. As a clergyman, I have a certain understanding of you. At the same time, I believe that you will definitely put me on the side before you come. So you should know that I have very little contact with my family since I left this house, so naturally I don't know about me. What happened to my nephew?

I even learned about my nephew's appearance from the sketches I received in my brother's letter every year before the winter solstice. Until now, I have never seen what they look like in real life. Mr. Lambert said He pulled his priest robe to reveal the holy emblem on his chest.

So that's the case. After seeing the holy emblem on Mr. Lambert's chest, the two judges immediately became a lot more friendly, Of course we know this, and we also believe what you said, the things you just asked The questions are just routine inquiries, please don't take this to heart.

Of course not, I know what your business process is all about. Mr. Lambert nodded slightly and said, But since you asked me this question, can you tell me about my two Where did a nephew who has been missing for several days go? I believe that since you can ask me this question, it means that you must have found my nephews, at least accurate information about the whereabouts of my two nephews.

After listening to Mr. Lambert's question, the expressions on the faces of the two judges returned to their previous seriousness, and after they exchanged glances, the younger-looking judge said in a very heavy tone arrive. We did find your two nephews from a valley near that hunting ground early this morning, but they have all passed away.

Have you tried resurrection? Mr. Lambert asked. Although the resurrection service is unattainable for ordinary people, it is not an unaffordable service for hereditary nobles with sufficient background.

Especially after calculating the time, he found that theoretically speaking, his two nephews were still in the resurrection time even when they were found dead from the beginning. That's why he asked the two judges such a question. However, the judge's expression darkened a lot after hearing this question.

We failed to try to revive your two nephews, that's because— Speaking of which, the judge took a deep breath and said. That's because your two nephews didn't find the head when they found it, so we—

I see. Mr. Lambert shook his hand holding the teacup and splashed a few drops of clear tea. Then he took a deep breath and calmed down, put the teacup on the saucer on the table, then lowered his head and said that an important prerequisite for resurrection is that the corpse remains intact. Obviously, a corpse without a head cannot be resurrected.

My condolences. The two judges also bowed their heads at the same time to express their condolences to the family of the deceased. The whole living room was so quiet that a needle could be heard. Until Lawrence who was beside him interrupted the awkward silence.

May I ask how my two cousins ​​died? Lawrence asked the two judges. Or were their bodies found in the same place?

After hearing Lawrence's question, Mr. Lambert also raised his head and stared at the two judges opposite. Obviously, he also hoped to get more information from the mouths of these two judges.

Yes, your two cousins ​​were found in the same place. We even used the internal mages to release prophecy spells with the help of some magic props, but we couldn't find them. In the end, the rangers were patrolling. I found that the dog I brought had a strange reaction, so I found it by accident when I was chasing it. The obviously younger judge said.

And we found not only the corpses of your two cousins ​​in that pit. We found five or six hundred corpses without heads in that covered cave. Some of them were very fresh, but some had been completely destroyed. bones. According to our inspection, the dates of death of the deceased ranged from a few days ago to twenty or thirty years ago.

Why does this sound so similar to some cult priests? Lawrence frowned. Such an unreasonable death would often involve a series of follow-up questions related to the lower planes.

Yes, at the scene we did detect traces of sacrifices related to a powerful existence in the lower plane. Obviously, all the dead present at the scene became sacrifices to a powerful existence in the lower plane. Year said the longer judge. Doing so also puts our investigation in a bind.

Because in such a sacrifice, the soul of the deceased will be directly dedicated to the powerful beings of the lower planes. In this way, it is naturally impossible for necromantic psychic magic and evocative magic to summon the soul of the dead. On the other hand, the power of the lower plane itself also prevented those prophecy-type magics from taking effect.

This is indeed very troublesome. Lawrence shook his head. Because of the world itself, when investigating cases, he will rely on those extraordinary powers to some extent. And if the help of extraordinary power is removed, it will be difficult to find enough clues just by relying on investigative methods similar to those in the middle of the 19th century in Lawrence's previous life.

However, according to the inspection of the corpse dumping site, we believe that your two cousins ​​were not killed by cultists as sacrifices as they appeared on the surface. After a lot of depressing information, The older judge told Lawrence and Mr. Lambert some of the results of their previous investigations.

Didn't he accidentally encounter a cultist while hunting and was killed by the cultist? Mr. Lambert asked with some doubts, because all the evidence now seems to point to this possibility. Even from a rational point of view, the timing of their death is too coincidental, so that it feels like it was specially arranged.

Of course it's not that simple. The elder judge said very seriously, Many excessive coincidences are not real coincidences, but the result of some kind of deliberate arrangement. Guided by this line of thinking, we examined In the cave where a large number of corpses were piled up, it turned out that your two cousins ​​were thrown here after being killed by priests in other places.

We tracked down the altar of the evil god where your cousins ​​were killed, and thoroughly cleaned up the members of that group of cult organizations. However, we accidentally discovered that the few cultists who killed your cousins ​​before were all mysterious disappeared.

Missing? Mr. Lambert frowned, because such a situation could not help but remind people of the word murder. Especially after asking the judges, they learned that it was just a weak cult dedicated to a demigod-level Balor from the bottomless abyss. In theory, they would not look for cousins ​​like Lawrence. Lots of troublesome people as sacrifices.

Yes, we believe that the mastermind has cleared them up. The elder judge said, So I'm sorry that we can't find the whereabouts of the real murderers for the time being.