Chapter 50: Murder Incident in Caravan Accompanying the Army (3)

Everyone in Kiel waited outside the knight's mansion for a while, and the nephew of the knight named Pavey changed into a new set of clothes and shoes, and walked out with five quite strong local soldiers.

These soldiers were equipped with swords and shields, and they also carried several short javelins in the quivers on their backs. They looked not to be trifled with. They wear leather jackets made of several layers of flexible cowhide, and their feet are simple local straw sandals made of long green grass, which are light and cheap. A round iron piece is hung on the chest of the upper body as an enhanced defense for the torso.

But the soldier only wore a fur hat on his head, so he didn't know what to think.

Kil was a little curious about the soldiers' armor in the Western Province, but it was not the time at this time. After taking a glance, he asked Pavey to take the people with him.

"Where are you going to investigate now?" Pawei asked.

"Burning Prairie. Do you know this tavern? It should be quite famous in your town." Kil glanced at Mr. Ouluobi, who nodded to confirm that Kilian was right.

Pawei shrugged: "Then you asked the right person. I am a regular customer of several pubs in the town. I even went to the Burning Grassland for a drink two days ago."

After saying that, he walked at the front of the team. As a local, he naturally had to lead the way.

"Does this name mean anything? Most pub names seem to have some meaning."

"Of course, one of their spirits is really like fire. Drink it and you will understand what the grassland looks like when it burns. It feels like it is burning in your stomach." Pawei stretched out his hand and made a flame on his stomach. The explosive gesture shows that he obviously likes this thing very much.

Several local soldiers nearby also looked proud after reminiscing. It seemed that they also liked this kind of strong drink.

Keir shrugged. After listening to what they said, the alcohol bug in his stomach was about to start.

Although he felt a little sorry for the victim, he felt that maybe he could have a small drink at noon to see how it tasted. After all, the victim last night must have drank this signature drink. He, Kiel, did this specifically to understand the feelings of the victim last night, not just because of greed.

real.

-

The knight's mansion is in a corner of the town, and the tavern where the murder occurred last night is in the center of the town.

It's very lively here during the day, with people coming and going. But be careful with your money bag, because more than once Kiel saw some young people wandering around the street, their eyes not staring at the goods in the shops on the roadside, but looking at the money bags hanging around people's waists. .

However, those people were very discerning. They saw that everyone on Kiel's side was armed and followed by soldiers, and they were not bold enough to ask for trouble.

Several pubs in the town are clustered on several streets in the central area of ​​the town.

The Burning Prairie tavern where a man died last night was still open at this time, and there were many people drinking and talking in the large drinking and dining area on the first floor.

Pawei was obviously familiar with all parts of the town. After entering the tavern first, he told the waitress who served the wine to ask the owner of the tavern to come out.

Keir and others then entered, but the soldiers did not come in. They just stood at the door of the tavern, reaching out to block those who wanted to go in.

"Come back later, Master Pawei is taking care of things." A soldier said to the drinker who wanted to drink.

The drinker craned his neck to look into the tavern, but couldn't see anything, so he had to leave with regret.

"Everyone, everyone. What happened? Ah, Master Pawei, what do you want to drink today? There is the freshest mutton in the kitchen. Do you want some lamb chops? Pair it with wine from the east?"

The owner of the tavern quickly walked out of the cellar where the wine was produced. He welcomed Pavey with open arms, but Pavey just waved his hand, then stepped aside, pointed at Kiel and others behind him and said, "I don't If you dare to drink the wine here, who knows if the blood of the murdered person is mixed in it."

"Just kidding, just kidding. Haha."

The owner of the tavern has a very strong figure, and there are many old knife wounds on his intentionally exposed arms. It seems that he was not easy to mess with when he was young. He did not dare to talk back to Pawei, whose uncle was a local knight lord, and turned to look at Kiel and his party.

He didn't know Kiel or the others, but he knew they were not locals just by how they dressed. But the businessman Mr. Ouluobi in the group was recognized by him, and he immediately understood what was going on.

"It turns out that that incident alarmed Master Pawei. It's really unjust. I'm an honest person who runs a serious store and I never do anything nonsense. Everyone here knows this kind of thing, right?"

The owner of the tavern first apologized to Pavey, and then aroused the emotions of the regular customers in the tavern who also came to drink during the day.

"Of course, although occasionally someone drinks to death at the drinking table, it has nothing to do with our Pari!"

"If you can't drink, then don't drink. What's the point of complaining about a tavern if something goes wrong? Humph."

"That's right, they're all men running around, drinking and drinking."

Several drinkers said angrily, not afraid of anything, and opened their mouths to support the owner of the tavern.

Keir chuckled, walked up and asked, "What do you call it?"

"'Scar' Parry. Everyone calls me that, who are you?" Parry, the owner of the tavern, looked at Kil who walked out of a group of people dressed in different clothes, and asked in confusion.

As far as he could see, one of these people, a middle-aged man (Baron's personal guard Lubis) who was dressed similar to Kiel, seemed to be the leader of the group. Unexpectedly, it was Kiel, a tender-faced man who was somewhere between a boy and a young man. between guys.

"My name is Joe Keel. I am from Kendal County in the northwest province of the kingdom. I am a knight squire of Knight Dodel Crow. This time I came to seek permission from the local lord, Knight Anvina, and was ordered by Baron Kendal. Lead people to investigate the incident where a steward of the red-haired chamber of commerce in our army's caravan was murdered in the guest room on the second floor of your tavern last night."

Kil squinted his eyes and looked at Scar Pari across from him, paying special attention to the changes in his eyes and face.

"I hope that as the owner of the tavern, you can cooperate with the investigation. Otherwise, I think Mr. Pavey will ask the soldiers to remind him who is the most trustworthy in this land."

But what made Keir regretful was that he couldn't see panic in the other party's eyes, only an expression of trouble.

The other party may have nothing to do with this matter.

"Yes, yes, haha, I will definitely cooperate with the investigation. Everyone, everyone, it's okay, just drink, Weiss! Give all the friends here a free glass of good wine!"

The bartender responded and immediately got busy.

Although they heard words like murder, second floor, guest room, etc., these drunkards who came to drink early in the morning did not feel scared. Instead, they raised their glasses, feeling smug about their advantage and celebrating together.

Keir glanced at the tavern owners Parry and Pavey: "You two, let's go up and take a look. I hope the situation when what happened last night was not destroyed."

Scar Parry took over: "No. There was a big pool of blood in the house. I asked people in the store to come up and clean it, but no one was willing. They had to pay me more money before they would do the work. Really, they don't usually eat me. They drink from me, and if something goes wrong, they even ask me for money for even half a job. What a bunch of damn things."

"Hmph, it's a good thing they didn't clean it up. Otherwise, the murder scene would have been destroyed, and my first suspicion would be that you did it!"

Kil's words were very rude and he directly attacked Scar Pari.

The tavern owner was not afraid. He stared back at Keir and muttered something in a low voice.

-

This tavern called Burning Prairie is quite large. Including the underground wine cellar where the wine is stored, it has four floors.

The bottom is the wine cellar, and the first floor facing the street is where the drinkers eat and drink. The second floor is divided into rooms of different sizes by Scar Parry, the owner of the tavern, roughly forming a winding corridor based on the corridors. There are rooms all around, and the rooms with windows facing the street are not big. Only the two rooms in the middle are the largest.

Kir asked about it on the third floor. It was where the guys in the store lived. The waitresses in the store were all locals and basically didn't live here. Instead, they went home to rest.

Walking along the wide and sturdy stairs to the second floor of the tavern, Keir noticed a small table and chairs on the opposite side of the second-floor walkway facing the stairs. But there was no one up there at the moment.

The stairs to the third floor were right behind where he was standing. If he wanted to go up to the next floor, he had to walk around the winding corridor.

Keir pushed Mr. Oluobi and said, "Lead the way."

The businessman nodded, led everyone around half a circle, and then pushed open one of the two rooms in the middle.

The door was unlocked and opened when he pushed it.

As soon as the door opened, a clear smell of blood came out. When Kil pushed the businessman at the door and took a look, he could see a large puddle of scarlet blood on the floor in the middle of the large room.

There were also blood trails on the ground toward the door.

Keir asked first: "This drag mark?"

The businessman said awkwardly: "This was left behind when we came to look for it before dawn and dragged the body away."

Keir nodded and asked the businessman and others to wait at the door. He led two town guards into the house. The record clerk stood at the door, and the curious Mr. Pavey stood on the left and right at the door looking inside. .

Keir could see at a glance that the room was rather messy, and the tables and chairs provided by the tavern seemed to have moved and fallen over. He and the two guards squatted in the center of the room, carefully examining the pool of blood.

The sturdy guard rubbed the thick and hard dark red blood on the ground: "It is almost solidifying. Counting the time, he should have been killed late last night."

The other two nodded.

Then the young guard who had always had trouble dealing with Kiel raised his head: "I think there is something wrong with the injuries on the deceased."

Keir looked at the other party: "Say."

Curling his lips, the young guard said: "The deceased was stabbed to death by two daggers in the front of the chest. But the problem is, if you fight with daggers, don't you usually call here?"

He used the palm of his hand to simulate a dagger and wiped it on his neck.

Indeed, compared to the center of the chest, which is protected by the sternum and ribs, if you want to fight, wouldn't you always attack the person's neck or the unprotected abdomen?

Why did you choose this place? After all, the ribs near the sternum are quite strong. If the knife is not used accurately, it will get stuck on it and prevent it from moving forward.

"This shows that the guy who killed him was very confident in his attack."

"I said, this must have been done by professionals."

Keir shrugged, not judging.

The three stood up and began to search around the house.

The first thing Kiel noticed was that the murdered businessman didn't have enough clothing. The body of the murdered businessman was only wrapped in a sheet wrapped around his waist. There was blood on it connected to the wound. It was obvious that the victim was dressed like that when he was killed.

But the problem was that when Kil walked to a wooden bed in the house to sort out the merchant's clothes, he found that the merchant was missing some clothes.

"Mr. Ouluobi, come here."

Gere called the businessman over, pointed to the remaining clothes he had sorted out, and said, "Look, these are the clothes left in the house by the murdered Mr. Shillong. Something is missing."

Businessman Ouluo Bi saw the problem at a glance: "Kiel." He pointed to the coat, belt and shoes. "The coat is made of colorful fabrics, which is quite valuable. Shillong also decorated the cuffs with silver thread. In addition, we found a shop to order the shoes together, which are merchant boots made of deerskin. You see, the tavern owner He is also wearing merchant boots, but compared to mine, the material is a bit inferior."

Outside the door, the owner of the tavern, Scarpary, rubbed his boots uncomfortably and snorted in embarrassment.

"The most important thing is the belt. We have a lot of valuable things on our belts. Shillong likes to play around every time he settles down, so he can bring more money with him."

Keir patted his belt: "So the victim who brought a lot of money could have been killed for this reason? His belt and the money bag on his belt were missing."

Unexpectedly, Mr. Ouluobi shook his head instead: "I can't tell for sure. When I came here before, I found him killed. The situation was very chaotic. The waiter of the tavern and some people next door came to see. I couldn't tell if it was them." I picked it up during the chaos."

Kil nodded: "Indeed, this possibility is also possible. There is nothing valuable in the room of the hotel guest, and it is difficult to take it away. Maybe someone else will take advantage of the chaos and take away the victim's valuable clothes. gone."

Then Keir asked the other two guards to see what they had discovered.

"Kiel, look at this." Zambirus, the sturdy guard, summoned Kiel over.

In the corner of the room, behind a hanging curtain with simple flower patterns, the two guards stood here, seeming to have discovered something.

Kil asked Mr. Oluobi to go out and wait first, and then walked over.

The sturdy guard pointed to a wooden bathtub covered by a curtain in the corner of the room and said: "Look, there is water in it. Although it is cold, the water has a peculiar smell, so it has obviously been used."

Keir immediately said: "This is consistent with the fact that the body of Shillong was only wrapped in a circle of cloth. And his clothes were obviously taken off on the wooden bed before death. It seems that he did not drink last night. "More, obviously I plan to take a bath before going to bed to relieve drunkenness and fatigue."

"Yes, that's what I thought too. In this case, apart from the murderer, the last person who saw him must be the person who refilled the bathtub last night!"

Kil was about to ask someone to bring the man for questioning, but another guard named Kayan wagged his finger and had different opinions.

"Haha, it seems you didn't realize that there was a fourth person here last night?"

"The fourth person?"

"who?"

Kil and Zambirus asked at the same time.

The young guard proudly pointed to the cold bath water in the tub: "See what's in the water?"

Kil blinked, but still looked into the water.

Because it had been used, the water in the bathtub was a little turbid, and there were a few small flower petals commonly seen in the wild floating on it.

He didn't realize anything, but the sturdy guard saw it: "Very few people would add flower petals to the tub when taking a bath. You mean, there was another woman who was taking a bath with the drunk businessman. ?”

Kayan smiled proudly. He leaned against the wall and kicked the ground: "The evidence is conclusive."

What he gently kicked over with his foot was a metal headband adorning a woman's hair.

This kind of thing can not only be used to fix hair, but also some fresh flowers picked by women can be inserted into the gaps above. It is a common decoration among women in civilian homes.

The appearance of this thing immediately confirmed that there was indeed a woman in the same room as the murdered businessman last night. No need to think too much, everyone knows what this person is here to do.

But the question is, is this the murderer of businessman Shillong?

Or is the murderer someone else?

Kil was determined, and then said: "But the next morning, that is, when the sun had not risen yet, Ouluobi and the others came to look for someone, but they did not see anyone here. Apparently the other party was in Shillong, a merchant. After being killed, he disappears and leaves. She may or may not have killed the person."

He took a deep breath: "In this way, first find the waiter who added water to the bathtub last night and inquire about the situation carefully. In addition, we must also find information about the woman. If we find her, half of the matter will be solved. If the murderer is her, She had a conflict with the businessman Shillong for some reasons, and then killed someone with a dagger. If she was found, the incident would naturally be solved. If the murderer was not her, then she was not killed by the murderer, and she must have seen the murderer's appearance and the scene at that time. Case."

"In addition." Kil walked to the door and asked the businessman Ouluobi a question: "When you left yesterday, that is, when you finished drinking and dispersed with Shillong, were there any women around him who struck up a conversation?"

The businessman was a little embarrassed: "No, he was drinking happily alone when we left. But I have to say clearly that one of the reasons why Shillong does like to spend the night outside the caravan is that he likes to have fun. We often remove him from the caravan. The woman next to her called out and set off.”

The businessman's words confirmed the judgment of Kiln and the two guards. Last night should be the same as the businessman Shillong's previous experience. After drinking, he took a bath to relieve his hangover and fatigue, and also found a woman to spend the night with him.

Kil looked at Scar Parry, the tavern owner on the side: "Two things. First, find the waiter who is responsible for serving the rooms on the second floor of your tavern. He must be the one who worked last night. And the second thing, You also heard that the murdered businessman Shillong came up directly after drinking on the first floor. So where did the woman who took care of him take a bath come from? You have to explain to me what is going on here and where is the other person? ?”

The owner of the tavern, Scarparry, looked impatient: "The person responsible for providing hot water for washing in the guest rooms on the second floor is a young man named Geerrick. He is a distant relative of mine and is sleeping on the third floor. Besides, I don't I know how the dead guy found the woman to sleep with, maybe it was someone he met while drinking downstairs. I open the door for business, and I never care who the guests go with whom and what they do!"

Keir narrowed his eyes.