69novels Chapter 462 The Blade of the One-Horned Ox Appears
Chapter 462 The Blade of the One-Horned Ox Appears
Chapter 464 The Blade That Gains the Ox with One Horn
After a simple exchange of information, the travelers learned the following facts—
1. Based on fingerprints found in the palace, the deceased can be tentatively identified as King Hugo XVI. The body was decapitated with an axe, the tool suspected to be the one lost by the court gardener, Sande. However, the king appears to have lost the ability to move before the decapitation. Based on unusual bloodstains on the body and the murder weapon found in the junkyard, the victim's head was struck heavily with the king's scepter before being laid flat on a flat surface and decapitated. However, the count's men searched the entire palace but found no similar location with such a large amount of bloodstains.
2. Before the body was discovered, the travelers had seen the living king in the palace gardens. Sande and the guards who were originally with the king withdrew, leaving the king alone deep within the gardens after the travelers left. Later, Sande, noticing something amiss, discovered the headless body under a fruit tree in the garden. The Count immediately implemented an intelligence blackout, taking control of five people who were present at the scene: Sande, two royal guards, a guard on duty near the gardens, and the elderly maid who happened to be at the scene.
3. Based on the traces at the crime scene, it is inferred that the bloodstains and axe marks on the tree trunk against which the body was leaning when it died were fabricated beforehand, but the traveler did not see those marks when he arrived in the garden. This suggests that someone carried blood and an axe to the tree to create a disguise after the traveler left, hoping to mislead the investigators.
4. Before and after the incident, the main entrance to the garden was always guarded. The only secret passage connecting to the outside world was monitored by Count Leclerc of the Black Moon. Moreover, there were only five footprints leading into the garden, which corresponded one by one with the actions of Lian Wu, Yueju, Cattleya, waitress Emily, and gardener/secret agent Luna, and there was no overlap between them. It was almost impossible for outsiders to sneak in.
The king's footprints at the crime scene eventually led to the location of his death. Although his head had been removed, the footprints left under the tree were only one line long. However, the footprints in the garden did not resemble those in a secret passage. Due to the separation caused by the paths and vegetation in the garden, the discontinuous footprints on the soil could have been forged.
5. A month before the incident, a bearded man spread rumors of a "possessed evil dragon" at the Black Crocodile Tavern, leading the traveler to the palace. Strangely, on the day of the incident, the Black Crocodile Tavern was suddenly sealed off by guards due to the rumors, allowing the traveler to enter the palace a second time. However, according to the king's testimony at the time, Hugo XVI himself had not issued an order to close the tavern, and Leclerc had no authority to assign guards without his permission. After the traveler left the tavern, the guards inexplicably withdrew. The waitress confirmed that the guards surrounding the tavern were genuine and not disguised.
6. Just as the king was discovered murdered in the garden, the bearded man who spread the rumors reappeared. This time, he rented a cart, disguised himself as a toy vendor, and used candy to lure children in the capital to spread the rumor that "the axe falls, the crown is lost." After spreading the rumor, he disguised himself as a garbage collector and abandoned his belongings, including the scepter, in the garbage dump outside the city.
7. Due to the actions of the Bearded Man, although the Earl of Black Moon immediately sealed off the palace with his men after the incident, news of the king's beheading still leaked out. Meanwhile, the Earl's secret agent, Luna Silvia, went missing after the incident. Leclerc arrested three travelers on the night of the incident, but released them after only intimidating them, and did not pursue charges against the waitress Emily for murder. This may mean that the Earl did not consider them, who had entered the garden through the secret passage, as the true suspects in the king's murder.
8. It's unclear whether this is related to the king's murder, but after the incident, a barrel of three-year-old cider went missing from the Black Crocodile Tavern's cellar. This might be related to Luna, as Hugo XVI instructed the travelers to "bring some more cider when you have time" when they left the garden; perhaps this contained some kind of coded message.
.
"Analyzing it point by point, the most suspicious person in this incident, besides the bearded man who is suspected of being the murderer, is Luna Silvia—didn't the Earl send anyone to look for that guy?"
As Yueju spoke, her gaze kept drifting towards Lopa, the bodyguard behind her, clearly hoping that this confidant of the count could reveal some inside information.
The guard sighed and shook his head, saying, "This shouldn't be revealed to outsiders, but I haven't heard of the Earl issuing any such order. Besides, Luna, as the Earl's subordinate, has served the King faithfully for four years until she was transferred to the garden a little over a month ago. I don't think Luna could possibly be a threat to the King."
"It's precisely because she was transferred that it's more likely," Yueju countered. "Wouldn't Luna, as a close courtier, feel resentful at being ostracized for no reason?"
"Aren't you Luna's friends?" Lopa rolled his eyes. "If you know Luna, you should know that with that free-spirited and capricious nature, how could she possibly hold a grudge against His Majesty for something like this?"
Countless memories flashed through their minds like a revolving lantern, and the three travelers fell silent for a moment.
Regardless of her identity in another world, judging solely from Luna Silvia's actions and words along the way, she does indeed seem to be a character with somewhat insufficient intelligence.
This raises another question—why would Count Leclerc bring Luna under his command? And why would he plant her as a spy next to the king? Wasn't he afraid of leaking secrets?
In any case, the trail went completely cold here.
Time was running out, and the three travelers were all nearing their physical limits. There was only one thing left to do.
"If Hugo were here, perhaps the clues we've summarized above would be enough to completely reconstruct the whole incident—"
Lian Wu, who had recently experienced the detective's reasoning skills firsthand at the hospital, couldn't help but make a sarcastic remark.
"But I don't think all our efforts today were in vain," Yueju patted her partner on the shoulder.
"Just like Pokémon battles, being able to predict your opponent's actions in advance is certainly a tremendous advantage, but even if you can foresee everything, you may not necessarily become the best Pokémon trainer. Adapting to the situation and fully enjoying the excitement and fun brought by the unknown may also allow you to reach the same level."
The monk, Gadriya, raised an eyebrow, sensing that her words were subtly directed at someone.
Before she could protest, the magician took the scepter directly from Lian Wu's hand.
Since she had run out of action points, Lanju no longer cared about leaving fingerprints and had no plans to investigate anyway.
As the cold metal touched his fingertips, the magician immediately noticed the exquisite weight distribution of the scepter. The curves and carvings on the scepter also demonstrated the ingenuity of the court artist. No wonder Hugo would carry it around and play with it all day long.
Only the striking indentation on the staff's head, like the single eye of a wandering night spirit, silently reveals its difference from ordinary works of art.
Lopa frowned slightly as he watched this scene.
The scepter, after all, is royal property, and according to custom, it should be confiscated immediately upon discovery. But he remained silent at this moment—
Disturbing a mage who is about to cast a spell is not a wise move.
"Stand back a bit," Yueju said to the others. "The success rate of casting this spell isn't very high. If it's accidentally pointed to the ground or the sky due to human interference, then our last chance will be wasted."
He closed his eyes, gripped the scepter with one hand, and held it horizontally in front of his chest—
"Calling upon lost things with lost things, seeking broken connections with broken connections, what binds you is the knot of cause and effect—show me where your broken body lies!"
As the last syllable fell, the magician suddenly opened his eyes, his blue irises now completely covered in silver-white.
He loosened his grip on the scepter—but the king's authority did not fall; instead, it hovered in mid-air, slowly rotating as if guided by invisible threads, ultimately pointing firmly—
The Black-Eyed Crocodile Tavern behind the group!
All eyes were focused on the slightly trembling scepter. Yueju, however, had no scruples and decisively increased the power of her magic, following the floating scepter toward the tavern.
The workers stopped what they were doing, staring in disbelief at this extraordinary scene. The tavern owner and his daughter exchanged horrified glances, shielded behind Lian Wu and the others—even without anyone blocking their way, they dared not step forward to stop it.
The scepter led the magician through the cluttered front hall, spiraling up the narrow staircase, and finally hovering before a low wooden door—the entrance to the tavern's attic.
"That attic used to be our storage room," Emily whispered urgently behind Cattleya. "Because wild Pokémon would always sneak in, we emptied it out and locked it up a long time ago, and we moved everything to the basement."
"6
As Lingju pushed open the door, the dust kicked up danced in the sunlight streaming through the window.
The attic contained the old signboard used by the Black-Eyed Crocodile Tavern, yellowed flyers, discarded wooden tables and chairs, and a few broken brewing tools. Because the items had been organized, it wasn't cluttered.
But it is precisely because of this orderliness that the thing in the middle of all the clutter stands out so much.
It's an oak barrel that looks quite old.
"It's the barrel of cider that went missing from the cellar!" the tavern owner exclaimed as he squeezed through the doorway.
Seeing that the scepter was no longer moving, Lingju dispelled the spell and quietly approached the barrel.
The lid had already been pried open, and loose nails hung askew on the edge. He took a deep breath and ripped off the final seal—
Sure enough, not a drop of wine remained in the barrel; only the rich aroma of cider wafted out.
But at this moment, no one noticed the aroma of the wine, because the more pungent smell of blood had overwhelmed everything else.
Inside the bucket was exactly what they had been searching for: a bloodied head.
The king's eyes were wide open, his frozen gaze a mixture of shock and resentment. Beside his head lay a gardening axe, its blade still stained with dark red blood.
Seeing this scene, Yueju smiled and turned to look at Lianwu—
The lid had already been pried open, and loose nails hung askew on the edge. He took a deep breath and ripped off the final seal—
Sure enough, not a drop of wine remained in the barrel; only the rich aroma of cider wafted out.
But at this moment, no one noticed the aroma of the wine, because the more pungent smell of blood had overwhelmed everything else.
Inside the bucket was exactly what they had been searching for: a bloodied head.
The king's eyes were wide open, his frozen gaze a mixture of shock and resentment. Beside his head lay a gardening axe, its blade still stained with dark red blood.
Seeing this scene, Yueju smiled and turned to look at Lianwu—
"Hey, you know what, Hugo really is here."
It just seems he can no longer reconstruct the original case.