Chapter 49: Murder Incident in the Caravan Accompanying the Army (2)

The body of the murdered businessman was placed in the middle surrounded by seven carriages of the Red-haired Chamber of Commerce.

Several guys from the Chamber of Commerce seemed to be familiar with the deceased. They were kneeling on the grass and licking their tears. Kil raised his chin at the crying guys, and Mr. Oluobi who followed beside him explained in a low voice: "They are related to the dead Shillong."

"Oh." Kil nodded.

So he led people to the body and squatted down to check on the businessman who died last night.

The businessman's name is Neil Shillong, a steward of the Red-haired Chamber of Commerce. He is about the same age as Mr. Ouluobi, both around thirty years old. He is considered a relatively accomplished man at this age.

However, his body was not so elegant at this time. Most of his body was unclothed, only a sheet stained with a lot of blood was wrapped around his waist, barely covering his lower body.

Next to Keir, the two town guards also squatted down to check together. The others who accompanied him stood around and watched. The clerk called by Knight Rumi took out a record book and began to record something with the pen and ink on his waist.

The baron's personal guards stood aside doing nothing, so they told Keir and went to call the group of militia assigned to them.

Kil waved his hand in agreement, and then discussed with the two guards beside him.

"There were no clothes on his body, but the blood on the sheet around his waist was bright red. It was fresh blood from the wound before death."

"The wounds are on the chest, two places, both fatal wounds that penetrated through the gap between the ribs."

Keir touched the wound: "A finger and a half wide, the wound is very thin."

Then he inserted his finger along the wound: "Just one finger deep, straight to the chest and heart. Hey, both times."

The young guard next to him squinted his eyes: "Both wounds were fatal, and they were so clean and neat. It doesn't look like a novice. Premeditated murder?"

The sturdy guard shook his head: "It's hard to say, but for such a narrow wound, the murderer did not use a common dagger. It was too narrow."

Kil nodded. Indeed, the blade of this dagger is very narrow, not a common one. Generally speaking, most ordinary people will have a dagger for self-defense. Most of them are iron daggers made by ordinary blacksmiths. In order to have sufficient strength and usefulness, the daggers are wider, longer, and somewhat thicker.

Kil turned the deceased's body over and checked the back of the body. There were no other wounds. Apparently, it was the two blows on the front of the chest that killed the caravan steward.

I opened my mouth and took a look inside, only to find a strong smell of alcohol coming out. After waving his hand and fanning away the bad breath and the smell of alcohol, Kil looked at the other person's mouth. There was no injury or anything strange inside.

He clapped his hands and stood up, walking towards Mr. Ouluobi who was talking to other caravan stewards who had come back to talk: "I saw your friend and he was stabbed to death with a dagger. So, where did you find him?" body?"

"It's in the biggest tavern in Grass Rat Town next to it. The tavern is called Burning Prairie. Last night, several of us went there to drink some wine, but Shillong was a bit drunk. A few of us came back after drinking appropriately, but he didn't He was willing to leave, and said he wanted to drink some more, and if he didn't come back at night because he was drunk, he would ask us to carry him back in the morning and put him on the carriage to sober up."

Another person added: "We are all used to it. He is usually like this, but fortunately, he will just fall asleep when he is drunk and will not look for trouble, so we are all used to it. We all went back that night, so how could we think about it again? I didn’t see him back the next morning, so I went over early to carry him back drunk.”

"How many people came here this morning?" Kil asked, squinting his eyes.

"Three people? Yes, three people." Mr. Ouluobi nodded, as well as the two Chamber of Commerce stewards next to him.

Keir nodded and continued to ask: "So, after you guys finished drinking last night, how many people were together all the way from the Grass Rat Town tavern to the caravan camp outside the town? Someone was left behind, or Do you want to go aside for convenience during the journey and then come back one step behind?"

"What? No, no!" When they heard what Keir said, they felt something was wrong. Everyone shook their heads: "You suspect that one of our own killed him? It's impossible. A caravan going out is a family. People, only if we trust each other and unite together can we face many people with malicious intentions."

"Kiel, you are not a businessman. You don't understand that if we people had evil intentions, we would not have gone so far. Let alone build everything we have now!"

Kiel crossed his arms and shrugged: "Maybe. I apologize for my words, but I reserve my opinion on the specifics."

Several businessmen stared at Keir, but did not dare to say anything. After all, it would be terrible if the young man in front of them really angered the young man in front of them and identified them as murderers.

There was no way their journey would end in a very bad situation. And it is also a very dishonorable method in the circle.

The Red Hair Chamber of Commerce might be disbanded because of this.

Thinking of this, several people looked at each other, and everyone had some thoughts, 'I am not the murderer myself, but I can't guarantee that someone else didn't sneak away at night and go to the town to kill Shillong. ’

When he couldn't ask anything from the businessman, Kil called the others and prepared to go to the place where the deceased was found and killed. There are still some permits that need to be obtained.

After all, this is not a place in Kendall County, and this is not something that Baron Kendall can investigate at will with just a word.

Grass Rat Town has its own ruler, and Keir met him yesterday when he came to the front station in advance. At this time, when he went to investigate the town, the first step was to visit the lord of the town. He was a tall man, but An exceptionally fat knight.

By chance, Baron's personal guard Lubis was walking over with a ten-man Nightingale militia squad. They also brought several horses with them, including Kiel's horse.

At this time, the other caravans had already packed up. For the red-haired caravan, although the stewards did not participate in the work, the other caravan guys still consciously prepared the caravan's carriage and were ready to set off at any time.

"Boss, are you leaving?" A guy sat in the carriage driver's seat and asked loudly. Obviously, this guy was not familiar with the dead Chamber of Commerce steward. After all, doing business is not a safe thing, and there is no chance that you will die. personal. Either they died of illness, they were attacked by wild beasts, they caused trouble in other places and were beaten to death, or, worst of all, they encountered large groups of bandits who wanted to rob people and goods.

These guys have already made all kinds of psychological preparations. As long as things don't fall on them, no one will take it seriously. In other words, the stewards have known each other for many years, and their companions were killed, so they were very concerned about it.

Several caravan stewards discussed it and decided to follow the previous decision and let Mr. Ouluobi stay to help with the investigation. The others followed the baron's army and tried to travel as much as possible on the trade routes of the Western Province. Familiarize yourself with unfamiliar trade routes and look for money-making opportunities.

As for the body of the deceased, Keir asked the Nightingale militia team to guard the place and set up a tent here. This situation would not be solved in one day. As for the way to dispose of the corpse, they would first put it into a large sack. After Kiel and the others went to the town, they would ask the priests from the Church of the God of the Dead in the town to handle it.

The body will not be burned before the murderer is found. He will just let the priest simply dispose of the body to prevent something bad from happening to the dead body. Finally, before leaving, the body will be burned, leaving only the ashes for Ouluo. Mr. must bring it.

After all the arrangements were completed, it actually didn't take much time. The spring sun had just appeared on the horizon, and the moon on the other side of the sky had not even officially set.

-

Keir and his group walked towards Grass Rat Town.

Next to them was Kendall's army walking away from the town, followed by a large number of caravans accompanying the army.

A large number of caravans and carriages joined in, making the army much larger than it actually looked. If he hadn't known that there were less than 600 people capable of fighting, Kiel would have thought it was an army of thousands. , and even if there are thousands of people, the scale of this carriage is too big.

Near the northwest gate of Grass Rat Town, the merchants and people coming in and out, and even all the people who were guarding the tax collection at the gate, were talking about this army and the caravans accompanying it.

After all, even though the people of Caoshu Town, which is located on the trade road, are used to seeing merchants, they rarely see an elite army of this size, or a caravan of many strange people accompanying the army.

Outsiders who enter and leave the town only need to pay a copper coin to enter and exit the town at will, but locals do not.

Because several people came on foot and did not bring any large luggage, the soldiers guarding the town gate just stared at the weapons and equipment on Kiel and others, and asked Kiel and others about their purpose.

"I am the knight squire of a knight in the army just now. This is the personal guard of Baron Kendall, the leader of our army. I came here this time to find something to do with your lord. Take me there."

Kiel said this, and the soldiers guarding the gate even confiscated their city entry tax, and did not dare to neglect to guide them towards a tall building on the side of the town.

Kil knew that that tall building was the residence of the town's lord knight.

It's said to be a mansion, but it's actually more like a localized small 'castle'. One-tenth of the town's area was taken up by that building. The solid wall of the adobe log building, which is much taller than the town's wooden wall, surrounds the building. The main entrance is not big, and can only accommodate a carriage to enter and exit carefully.

There are multiple arrow towers on the walls of this building. Not only are there many shooting stomps and perforations fired by archers and crossbowmen, there are even stone-throwing ballista cannons standing on the arrow towers.

Unlike other places, the closer you get to this tall building, the more tall houses you see around it where the rich and powerful people in the town live. It seems that people here use their small 'castle' close to the knight as their ranking of status and power.

Entering the tightly guarded gate, there are many soldiers guarding and stationed here, just like a small military camp.

However, as the main body of the building, it is different. After all, this is still the home of the knight lord, so some servants and attendants still come in and out here.

Kiel came here yesterday, so he was not surprised by the people around him. Others who had never been here were curious about what the local owner meant by arranging so many soldiers near his home.

Kil was also curious, but he would not ask rashly.

After all, it has nothing to do with him.

If he settled here, he would definitely know these things clearly, but he is just a passerby, so he is not curious.

Stopping outside a gate outside the knight's mansion, the soldier who led the way explained the situation to the attendant. Soon, the attendant who entered reflexively came back: "My lord, let them in. Oh, I have seen you, young man."

Keir smiled at the middle-aged attendant: "Yes, I was here yesterday."

The attendant didn't say anything, it wasn't his place to ask.

Kil called the baron's bodyguard, the clerk, and Mr. Ouluobi, and the four of them walked in together under the guidance of the attendants.

Different from the rough and simple local style on the outside of the building, the decoration inside the building is much more delicate. And perhaps because the town was built on a commercial road, the owner here was quite wealthy. From the outside to the restaurant where they met, there were a variety of decorative things in different styles, but they all showed the owner's financial resources and power.

Even Baron Kendall's personal guard Lubis had to admit that although the knight lord's family background was far inferior to that of Baron Kendall, at least in terms of superficial wealth, the two were comparable.

-

In the restaurant, the local knight lord Ruth Weiss-Anwena was dining with his family.

However, all his family members had already eaten and had finished their breakfast. They were now drinking tea made from dew and fragrant flowers that the maids picked from outside the town in the morning.

As the master of the family, the Knight of Anvina cannot finish the meal, and others cannot leave the table to do their own things.

So I had to sit aside and talk about some new and interesting things.

Coincidentally, a northern army supporting the border war in the southern province of the kingdom passed by yesterday. This was a rare and new thing.

Knight Anvina is tall, at least about 2.2 meters tall. Sitting, he is as tall as an average person standing. His weight is even more astonishing. Even if he is not wearing knight-specific armor, he can bear the weight of five or six ordinary people. .

This is especially true in terms of food intake.

The rest of the family had already finished breakfast and were resting. At this time, he was still cutting a juicy steak with his usual dagger instead of a table knife.

Then put it into your mouth in big mouthfuls, chew it carefully and thoroughly, and then swallow it.

He somewhat missed the taste of the monsters in the Caohai in the Western Province. What he missed even more was the fact that eating only a small amount of monster meat could provide his huge and powerful body with energy for many days of activity.

He had long been tired of these tender meats that seemed to taste quite delicious, but he was born so strong and had to eat so much food, otherwise he would be hungry.

"Master, the knight attendant from yesterday is here again. He said he had something to meet."

The attendant walked up to the tall knight and whispered.

As servants who serve knights, they all know that as long as they are in a room, no matter how quiet they speak, their master as a knight can hear them. When saying something that only the knight wants to hear, just lower your voice. , will pass the words to the knight without anyone else in the room noticing.

Knight Anvina waved his hand: "Let me in."

His family was startled by the knight who suddenly spoke, but then they saw four outsiders walking in from the door of the restaurant.

They were all dressed very differently from the people in their western province. Those who saw Kiel yesterday immediately guessed that the remaining three people were also from Kendall County in the northwest province.

Kil and others saluted Knight Anvina one after another. Kil had communicated with this tall, fat knight yesterday who seemed intimidating but was actually very easy to talk to, so he was not rude.

The other three couldn't. Lubis simply relied on years of habit to show a courtesy, but he was still surprised by the size of the Anvina Knight.

Clerk Yimol was a little panicked. His legs became weak and he almost spilled the ink on his waist. Fortunately, he quickly stabilized himself with a quick hand.

Businessman Ouluo Bize had a surprised expression on his face. He even unconsciously drew a coin circle on his chest with his hand and recited a warning prayer from the Church of the God of Wealth.

Knight Anvina rolled his eyes. He knew that people who had never seen him would be startled, so he was used to it.

"You are Keir, right? What do you want from me?"

The tall and fat knight Anvina spoke with a very majestic and imposing voice, which calmed the three people accompanying Kil.

Kil smiled. He had chatted with this knight for a long time yesterday, and they had a good relationship. The knight liked Kil's stories about dealing with monsters very much. He kept lamenting that he had only used two axes to kill all kinds of monsters for half his life. Japanese monsters and alien races, but I have never seen what real World of Warcraft looks like.

"Lord Anwena, it is like this. Such and such, such and such."

Kil simply told what happened in the morning. There was nothing he couldn't say. Although it was a bit unpleasant for a foreign businessman to be killed in his territory, the incident itself had not determined who the murderer was.

Kiel bluntly stated that his opinion and support needed to be sought before the matter was investigated, which made the Anvina family members in the restaurant feel respected.

To be honest, there are too many people in this world who do things badly, especially outsiders. Because they have no connection with the local area, most outsiders act without scruples. They often make a big fuss when they arrive, and end up patting themselves on the back. If you leave, even if you do good things, the local nobles and lords often feel very unhappy.

My territory! Can you give me some face?

What? Your territory? Never mind my business! Your face? If you can catch me, I will give you face!

Although it was not a good look to investigate the murder of a businessman, the fact that these people knew to come in advance to ask for permission and support for the investigation already made Knight Anwena feel comfortable.

"It's a small matter! So, Pawei? Pawei, come here." The tall and fat knight Anvil waved his palm, which was more than twice the size of an ordinary person, and called a young man who was drinking tea in the distance over.

Pointing at this smartly dressed young man, Knight Anver said: "This is my nephew, Pawei Anver. Ask him to follow you and help find out why the businessman was killed. People in the town watch When he follows, you will know what is going on and they will provide convenience."

"Thank you, sir, for the arrangement." Kil saluted again.

"Take a few people with you and take care of these polite northerners. Don't let the smoky things in the town hurt them. Do you know?" Even if Knight Anvil spoke softly, his voice was still loud.

The knight's nephew, Mr. Pavey, immediately said that he had no problem with me: "Uncle, please trust me. They will find out the matter and will not let them be harmed."

"Well, then you can go down. After I finish this steak, I have to go exercise."

After saying that, Knight Anvina ignored Kil and the others and concentrated on eating the food.

After walking out of the restaurant, Mr. Pavey asked Kil and the others to wait at the door of the house. He had to change clothes first. The clothes he wore at home were not easy to get dirty when he went out.

Kil knew that, especially for shoes, the dirt roads on the streets outside were not easy to walk on. The streets near the knight's mansion were fine. The ground was paved with smashed pebbles, but the same could not be said for the rest of the town.

The sewage flowing across the river is the basis. You have to be careful with the silt that is half a palm thick, and don't take it to heart when you see feces and urine.

To walk in an ordinary village or town, you have to have a big heart.

Fortunately, Kil has no heart, so he never puts these in his 'heart'.