Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 1432 Murder!
“After his sermon, Archbishop Utravsky would usually return to his private room at the back of the church and brew himself a cup of highland coffee from Fenneport, the kind with milk and sugar.”

“At such times, we will answer the questions of the believers. If it is mealtime, we will also distribute Holy Communion. No one will disturb the archbishop for half an hour.”

"But just now, right after the last sermon, Archbishop Utravsky went through the side door leading to the church's annex. A few seconds later, the priest near the door heard a dull thud, like something heavy falling to the ground... We thought a painting had fallen from the wall and rushed over to check..."

"The archbishop lay there in a pool of blood, already... already stopped breathing."

Beside the altar at the deepest part of the prayer hall, several young priests were telling Bishop Townsend, who had retired due to age, what had happened.

A pastor led his servants to seal off the front and back doors of the church, humbly but firmly keeping all the believers who had participated in the previous sermon inside, turning the crime scene into a one-way street.

The implication was clear: everyone present was suspected of plotting to murder the archbishop!

This naturally included Christina and Dorothy, who had slipped into the church right after the sermon. They were planning to place the "Wishing Lamp" on the unattended altar while the believers were talking with the priests or leaving the prayer hall, thus ending their short trip to Yharnam. However, the sudden death of the archbishop made the scene even more chaotic and disorderly.

Tina glanced at the altar surrounded by the white-haired bishop in a black robe and several priests, and knew that it was unlikely that she could fulfill the genie's "wish" in the short term. She could only wait quietly for everything to end and then look for another opportunity.

She had noticed that some servants had left through the side door to go to the police station to report the incident, and given the size of this small city, the police would arrive in no time.

Since all she could do was wait, she naturally became very interested in the death of Archbishop Utravsky. It was the first time someone had actually died beside her, which made this girl, who had never traveled far from home before, both panicked and excited, though the latter was more prominent.

She crept closer to the side door where the crime occurred, wanting to see the scene of the archbishop's death, but was stopped by a dutiful servant. She could only smell a strong stench of blood through the corridor door.

It seems the priest who discovered the dead was not exaggerating; the archbishop might really be lying in a pool of blood, which means he didn't die from a sudden illness, but from external injuries... Tina analyzed the situation using the thought process of the protagonist in the novel "Sherlock Holmes," and returned to the bustling prayer hall.

The believers in the other prayer halls had different reactions. Most of them had come to listen to the sermon in their spare time and had work or personal matters to attend to afterwards. They were somewhat upset about being blocked here and unable to leave, but they did not dare to confront the clergy in His church under the watchful eyes of "The Fool". They could only discuss the incident in hushed tones to express their dissatisfaction.

"...Could it be a sudden illness? I heard that His Excellency the Archbishop is from Fussac, and before believing in the Great Fool, he was a pirate who roamed the seas. It wasn't until he met a follower of the Fool that he regretted his past actions, took an oath before the emblem, and began to spread the Fool's faith...That period of experience left him with many hidden ailments..."

“I peeked over and saw a lot of blood! Archbishop Utravsky had a wound on the back of his neck, and the blood was coming from there… so the priests believed it was murder.”

"So, the murderer is inside the church? Right among us?"

"Not necessarily. What if he kills someone and then runs away? Leaving us here would be a waste of time. Besides, none of us have any grudge against him. Who would kill an archbishop in a church?"

"Could it be those outsiders... or those who settled here after the Archbishop came to Yharnam, like that Dantes..."

"I think you're just jealous of his beautiful wife! Mr. Dantes donated a hospital to Yanan, sponsored many charitable projects, and even has people to feed the pigeons in front of the church. How could he possibly do such a thing?"

"Who knows, which bad guy would write 'I'm a bad guy' on his face? He might have other identities and other families in other cities, and what he's doing in Yharnam is just a disguise, just some kind of fun..."

"The police will be here soon, and everything will come to light!"

……

Using her harmless and likable appearance, Tina strolled around the noisy prayer hall and quickly gathered a lot of information.

It seems the poor archbishop was indeed murdered. Surely he couldn't have cut himself on the back of his neck… Witnesses immediately heard Utravsky fall and quickly sealed off the church. The murderer is most likely still alive, right next to us… The locals of Yharnam seem to have a hostility towards “outsiders,” and Dorothy and I are outsiders too… But even outsiders shouldn't kill an archbishop who believes in a true God in a church. Won't this incur divine punishment? Unless the murderer harbored blasphemous intentions, like another church that conflicts with the “Church of Fools”… Was it the “Church of the End Times”? Did a skilled assassin, a “witch,” do it?
Thoughts kept flashing through Tina's mind as her gaze swept over the simply dressed, "local" believers, lingering on a few individuals who stood out from the crowd.

A man, about 1.8 meters tall and over 50 years old with a lot of gray hair, sat on a bench in the corner, slightly turned to the side, protecting the dark-haired woman sitting next to him. She wasn't petite, but she always gave off a very young, almost childlike, air. The age difference between them seemed like that of a father and daughter, but according to what Tina had just heard, they were actually husband and wife, the Dantes, who had bought property in Yharnam more than ten years ago, married in this church, and vacationed here every year.

A man dressed in a black robe, with a few feathers tied to his ancient ceremonial hat, and wearing magic items such as pendulums and card bags, was whispering something to a beautiful woman with long reddish-brown hair, wearing a knee-length tight skirt and a women's shirt jacket. A mocking smile occasionally appeared on his lips, as if he was laughing at everyone.

There was also a mute painter ignoring the chaos in the church, hunched over in a corner repairing a mural with his paintbrush; and a thin writer with strangely white hair, constantly writing something in his notebook… Tina noticed that the painter looked exactly like Archbishop Anderson, whom she had met earlier in Kukva City on the Southern Continent, and indeed hadn’t said a word, so he was probably mute.

Just as she was engrossed in observing everyone's actions and reactions, as if she had entered a "spectator" state, Dorothy, who had been missing since earlier, returned to Tina's side.

Seeing this, Tina asked with some suspicion:
"Did you go to Arodes to question him and find the real culprit who killed the archbishop?"

Dorothy shook her head:
"Of course not, I don't have many more 'free questions' left, I'll save them for the rest of the trip."

“I overheard the conversation between Bishop Townsend and other priests. They suspected that there were supernatural elements involved in this matter, because Archbishop Utravsky himself was an extraordinary being of a high rank, and also a ‘warrior’ with very strong frontal defense and close combat ability.”

"Then how did he get killed from behind so easily?" Tina asked, puzzled.

"Perhaps the back isn't as strong as the front..." Dorothy commented with a strange expression, then glanced at Tina's handbag clutched tightly to her waist, "Why don't you ask the wishing lamp?"

“Once inside the church, the genie didn’t dare speak. Maybe this Mr. Fool sealed him away,” Tina muttered, patting her bag with dissatisfaction, making the hollow lamp clatter loudly. “Once the police arrive, it should all be over.” Even so, Tina herself wasn’t very confident. After all, this murder case likely involved supernatural factors; both parties were extraordinary individuals. Could ordinary police really find the killer quickly?

A few minutes later, the main door of the prayer hall was pushed open from the outside, and several policemen in black and white checkered uniforms and soft caps entered the church under the guidance of servants.

They skillfully controlled the main gate, side gates, and other entrances and exits, and began to investigate the crime scene, question the first witness, and compile a list of people present.

Although this place is far from the Northern Continent, the police uniforms are the same as those in the Kingdom of Rune, and they speak the Rune language. The architectural style is also mostly the same... Could the city's designer be a Rune? Tina watched the police officers bustling around and noticed that the chief sheriff with the three Vs on his shoulder, who had a round face and narrow eyes, looked somewhat familiar.

Like King Edsak II on the new 1 Sule banknote... no, all the kings on the banknotes have similar faces... Tina almost wanted to pull out a banknote to compare, but then she remembered that she hadn't brought any money with her when she went out, and that she relied on her sister to buy food and tickets. Her face flushed.

With the arrival of the police, the foolish believers who dared not vent their anger on the priests and pastors immediately found an outlet for their frustrations. Their cries for the immediate lifting of the blockade and the release of the innocent echoed repeatedly in the closed prayer hall, one wave higher than the next.

"Quiet!"

The sheriff, whose appearance closely resembled a banknote design, shouted.

An aura of authority swept over everyone present, including Tina and Dorothy, who instinctively wanted to obey the sheriff's orders, and the noisy noise instantly fell silent.

The round-faced police chief nodded in satisfaction, signaling his officers to continue their work.

Strange, even though I didn't say anything, I had an unconscious urge to obey his orders and stay quiet. It would make sense if it were a two-meter-tall burly man making the threat, but this sheriff wasn't burly, nor did he have a fierce look... Could it be some kind of special ability? Is this sheriff an extraordinary being? Tina had some guesses and called on the "genie" in her heart again, but received no response.

"It doesn't feel as good as... Arodes..." she muttered, noticing that the priests and old bishops who had been gathered around the altar had been taken to a room by the police to be questioned about clues. She realized that this might be a good opportunity to put the "Wishing Lamp" on it to break the seal.

But before Tina could do anything, a woman wearing an old-fashioned dress and with her black hair simply tied back walked in from the direction of the half-open church door.

She looked to be in her early twenties, with a slightly round face, long and narrow eyes, and a gentle and sweet temperament. Individually, her features were not particularly outstanding, but together they created a breathtaking beauty.

The sheriff, who was about to question a few suspicious individuals, immediately noticed the other person and asked with a surprised expression:
Triss, what brings you here?

The black-haired woman smiled, looked around, and said:

"I heard there was a murder here, so I guessed you would come, and that's why I came to check it out."

"Do you need my help, Edsack?"

Edsack? The king of Rune?
Tina immediately perked up her ears and listened carefully to their conversation.

Although the Kingdom of Rune has been gradually implementing top-down political reforms, with the royal family handing over more power to the parliament and various government departments, retaining only a few key parts, the name of Edsak Augustus II, the king of the world's largest country, still frequently appears in newspapers and on the radio, so Tina is naturally familiar with him.

Could it be that, like Anderson Hood, there are two Edsacks in the world with the same name and identical appearance? Is it because of this strange city? Tina pondered, the conversation between the "king" and Triss continuing to echo in her ears:

"...The murderer might be an extraordinary being...Try to perform a divination, go to the confessional, there's no one there right now."

"But you need to find out some information first; divination is not a panacea."

Divination? Murder and investigation by extraordinary individuals? Tina became more and more excited as she listened, almost forgetting her main purpose for coming to this city and this church.

Having only just begun to understand divination today, she knew that whether it was magic mirror divination or other pendulum, tarot, coin, or wand divination methods, she needed to obtain enough information to succeed, rather than creating everything out of nothing, unless she used the help of certain high-ranking beings, such as Arodes.

Sheriff Edsack was clearly aware of this, so he did not complain about Triss's request. His gaze quickly swept over the believers, priests and pastors present, lingering for a moment on the Dantes, the man who looked like a magician and his assistant, and other suspicious people, before finally looking at Tina and Dorothy.

“I will question the most suspicious people one by one, and you will listen in and then perform the divination,” he whispered to Triss. “That includes the two foreign girls.”

"Is this any of our business?" Tina was startled and straightened up under the other person's authoritative gaze.

Just then, a man and a woman walked in through the church doors. Edsack was drawn to them and frowned as he looked over.

"Sherlock Moriarty?"

He read the other person's name in a slightly annoyed tone.

(End of this chapter)