From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 501 Ritual Murder

"I thought all nobles were those idle guys who only focused their energy on so-called social occasions," Nine-Fingered Keane said to his steward, Rotleaf, with a slight headache. "So there are some who are particularly good at ordering people around?

"Are we really going to allocate manpower to carry out those... orders... no, missions?" Although Fu Ye was wearing a mask, his hesitation could be heard from his tone. "We've only known each other for two days, and you already consider yourself the leader of the guild? In the end, we should protect our territory in our own way."

“This enemy is unlike any we’ve encountered before. If we were still clinging to the old methods, the guild would probably have perished from the Stone Lord’s attack long ago. Besides, didn’t we receive our reward?” Nine Fingers quickly scribbled some symbols on the parchment in front of him and placed it on the upper right corner of the desk, where many similar parchments were already piled up. “You heard what that mage said too. Two or more armies belonging to the Supreme Gods are advancing towards Baldur’s Gate. Didn’t our spies confirm this news? Flame Fist, Harpists, the Zantalin Order, and the Cultists. The war has begun. If we can’t win this war, we’ll perish along with Baldur’s Gate.”

"But..." Fu Ye wanted to say something more.

"Alright." Nine-Fingered Keane quickly finished the roll of parchment in front of him and casually tossed it to his treasurer. "Find someone to bring the Ghurs of Livington into the city."

"They're actually going to attack the mansion of a high-ranking official in the upper city... Do they really think they can succeed with that many men?" Fu Ye unfolded the parchment and glanced at it, then unconsciously grumbled a few words.

“Those people?” Nine-Fingered Keane laughed. “You mean the archmages, high-ranking harpists, heroes of Baldur’s Gate, all sorts of adventurers with exceptional skills, and the Flame Fist and Harpist soldiers they lead?”

"This isn't something we should be worrying about, Rotleaf." Unlike Rotleaf, who was still immersed in the atmosphere of the guild still controlling the bottom of Baldur's Gate, Ninefinger Keen had a clear understanding of the guild's current situation. "By the way, how's the investigation into the Zantalin Society going? Don't forget, our money is still in their hands."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Ivy, who had given the commission to Nine Fingers and the guild, had already led the adventurers, disguised once again, and left through the front door of the guild hall.

For an underground organization that always hides in the sewers, having a concealed entrance is extremely important.

However, for guilds that dominate the lower and central districts, there's no need to make such a grand spectacle.

The guild's ground entrance is located in a small alley in the East Road area. Due to the presence of bodyguards stationed throughout the area, almost no foolish passersby would want to enter.

Aside from guild members and business associates, there are almost no other casual acquaintances around here.

Even the Flame Fist and Gotash's Iron Guards rarely patrol this area.

The adventurers had several targets this time, but they were all located in the steep areas, or rather, the hillside areas, in the center of the city.

Due to the terrain, this block, located between the Upper City walls and the deepest part of the Grey Harbor, is very long and narrow. Coupled with the constantly undulating slopes, the urban planning had to make the roads narrow and steep, and full of all kinds of steps.

Apart from the two main roads near the port and the Upper Town's Baldur's Gate, there is almost no terrain suitable for horse-drawn carriages in this area.

Fortunately, the adventurers' various objectives were not far apart geographically, so even as a group, they had enough time to complete them before nightfall.

After ascending a flight of stairs, the adventurers arrived at their first destination – the Pearwood House.

This house, nestled in a small corner of the hillside, is unusually low, consisting of only one story, and is now boarded up.

“The Flame Fist warning signs.” Jasira snorted, unsurprised. “So they discovered the dead bodies here a long time ago. Apart from the wooden planks and warning signs, there were no other measures in place, not even a single person guarding the scene.”

To Flame Fist, Frank Rinmu, who had neither political nor social influence, was an insignificant downtown slum dweller. Even if he was considered part of the Supreme God's murder plot, he was still an insignificant link, and naturally, it wasn't worth diverting manpower to guard the scene or investigate the truth.

During this turbulent time, Flame Fist also believed that no one would deliberately go near a crime scene.

But adventurers are precisely that kind of restless and unruly people.

Karak removed the wooden boards used to block the doorway, and just a second before she stepped into the room, a strange feeling caught her attention.

"What's wrong?" Ivy asked, standing behind Karak.

“I just smelled a hint of hell.” Karak tilted her head and reached into the blue mailbox by the door. As a highly urbanized place, Baldur’s Gate not only had a place to print hair products, but also provided mailboxes for every household with a specific address.

"Haha! I knew today was my lucky day!" When Karak's hand reached out of the mailbox, there was a black, twisted coin, which was the true hard currency of the Nine Hells—the Soul Coin.

Things started to get weird. Frank Limu wasn't just a smuggler with a flexible moral compass; he was even a guy who made a deal with the devil.

Anyway, nobody would believe that a Soul Coin would be found lying in a mailbox outside a crime scene for no reason.

“…Let’s go in first.” Ivy and Jasira exchanged a glance and entered the crime scene first.

This dilapidated little house was unremarkable; apart from the fading emblem of the Supreme God on the wall, the only noteworthy thing was the handless corpse on the ground.

"Thinking about it now, the Order of the Supreme Gods hinted at the existence of the Three Gods of Death from the very beginning," Ivy said, staring at the emblem on the wall.

The emblem of the Supreme God consists of three parts: a triangle, a skull, and five fingers.

These three parts are each taken from a portion of the emblem of the three dead gods.

Bane's emblem is a black hand, with the five fingers of the black hand placed above the emblem of the Supreme God.

Baal's emblem is a skull surrounded by counter-clockwise drops of blood, the most prominent part of which was inherited by the Supreme God.

Melkor's emblem is a pale skull surrounded by a triangle. Since the element of the skull had already been used by Baal, the symbol representing Melkor on the emblem of the Supreme God became a triangle.

Besides his unremarkable, even shabby, little house, Frank Pearwood also had an even larger basement.

The adventurers easily found the entrance to the basement by using the letter left on him by the murderer.

Similar to the scene above, the basement was also filled with the emblem of the Supreme God smeared in blood. However, what no one expected was that there were two other corpses there, surrounding a brazier burning with green flames, and in the brazier was a heart that was still fresh.

"This guy is too tall! Is he a giant?" Karak looked at the male corpse. His size was twice that of a normal human, roughly the size of stacking Halsin and Minsk together.

With a wicked thought, she picked up a burlap sack from the ground and stuffed it into the clown's severed arm that was next to the giant's corpse. Trading corpses for gold was always a profitable business for her.

The corpse on the other side of the magic brazier was much more ordinary; it was just an elderly woman.

“There are many letters and documents scattered in the basement. Perhaps we can figure out what kind of person Frank Limu really is.” Ivy scanned the various corners and gave instructions to her companions.

In his view, the most eye-catching things in the room, the giant corpse and the magical brazier, were nothing more than dubious objects.

Aside from a tiny magical glow on the green flame, it was completely meaningless and nothing more than a gimmick pulled by an amateur.

“Frank Pearwood is indeed a smuggler, but what he smuggles is no ordinary thing.” Will picked up a letter from the desk. “He smuggles Hellfire weapons, which he obtains through Gotash channels and then distributes to other criminals in the city.”

“Gotash is in cahoots with the devil.” Karak spat on the ground. “I’m not surprised at all.”

“This is far more serious than colluding with the devil.” Will’s face was extremely grim, and the letter from Gotash was crumpled into many wrinkles. “Besides the Hell Engine in your chest, the devils also prefer to use Hell Iron to make weapons. Because those killed by such weapons will have their souls reborn directly in Hell as inferior demons.”

“Gotash not only wants to control the entire city, but also wants to hand over all its residents to the devil!” Will said gravely.

“That doesn’t make sense.” Ivy frowned. “He’s one of Bane’s chosen ones, so why would he help the devil collect souls? Although they both belong to the forces of evil, devils and evil gods don’t obediently abide by a non-aggression pact. Didn’t Orin, also a chosen one of the three gods of death, send someone to kill Gortash’s partner, Frank?”

“Dogs fighting is a good thing for us,” Minsara commented simply. “Why they fight is not important; what matters is how we can profit from it.”

Ivy shook her head, no longer paying attention to the crime scene. From the existing details, it could be deduced that the mastermind behind the Supreme God Cult, the remaining two chosen ones, had begun killing each other.

Although Orin's excuse was that Frank Limu had transported a large number of flamethrowers into the city, creating chaos in the city in this way was an insult to the god of murder.

But Ivy still prefers to believe that the alliance of the Three Death Gods has essentially broken down.

Since entering Baldur's Gate, Ivy has been carefully avoiding enemy surveillance, seeking opportunities to defeat the voters one by one and thus gain control of the three Netherstones alone.

However, the current situation left Ivy with some regret. Before he could even exert his full strength, his opponent had already begun to lose his composure.

It's good to be able to relax a bit, though, as Baldur's Gate has too many things that require time and effort to deal with.

The pearwood basement is divided into two parts: an external space that resembles an altar and an internal space for storing weapons.

Aside from Frank Pearwood's ledger for selling Hellfire weapons for Gotash, there was nothing else noteworthy in the room.

Since Orin's cult had already visited, the remaining weapons and equipment here were all made of ordinary iron. The things that were truly forged from hell iron had certainly been used by Orin to arm his own men.

Leaving the Pearwood House, the adventurers continued their journey along the winding road.

The next target is Rainforest Cheese Shop, located next to Hive Grocery Store.

If smuggler Frank Limu was assassinated by the Baal Cult because of his collaboration with Gotash, then the murder of a cheese shop owner is a completely unpredictable reason.

The cheese shop has a good location; it's easy to see the port below thanks to its geographical advantage, and it's a well-lit and easily accessible location.

It seems that Rainforest's cheese is a best-selling item in Baldur's Gate. At least his house is much better than the smuggler Pearwood's one-bedroom, two-basement house; it's a two-story building, and the area of ​​each floor is comparable to the total usable area of ​​Pearwood's house.

Unlike the Pearwood House, which has a sign and wooden boards at the entrance, the Rain Forest Cheese Shop is locked from the inside.

Evil used the prosthetic arm's all-purpose tool to unlock the door, while Karak, as usual, reached into the mailbox by the door and pulled out two letters.

One letter was a note from a city sanitation worker, while the other was a blatant threat.

"A cheese maker investigating the Baal Order? No wonder he was murdered," Gale commented, peering at the letter in Karak's hand.

"So, he did find out something, right?" Yingxin guessed. "If he really posed no threat to the Baal Order, then Orin wouldn't have bothered putting his name on the murder list."

Just as Yingxin guessed, cheese master Alexander Yusen is indeed very close to the truth.

His body was on the second floor, next to his own bed. Apart from missing his left hand, his internal organs had been completely gnawed away by the rats in the house.

The adventurers found the entrance to the basement below the stairs, and besides the cheese master's research notes and reference materials on the Baal Order, there were also two dragonborn corpses placed in front of a broken statue.

One was a blue dragon descendant, and the other was a green dragon descendant.

“Kandharlo Tombstone Shop, that’s the place the cheese maker found suspicious.” Ivy inspected Alexander’s workshop, where one wall was covered with various briefings and observation notes, all concerning an unremarkable tombstone shop on the crowded side. “He even hired the Zentalin Society to monitor the place.”

“Ivy, evil thoughts.” It was Jashira who spoke. This high-ranking harpist had not uttered a sound since leaving the Pearwood House, and had been in a state of deep thought.

Now she finally broke the silence: "You two come with me, there are some important things you need to know."

(End of this chapter)