What does it mean that the Demon King was killed by a wheelchair?

"What...?"

The word stuck in everyone's throat. This shocking news caused hundreds of people to take a half step back at the same time. Everyone looked at each other, mouths agape, unable to utter a word.

The first to speak was Toby, who seemed to have completely forgotten about being slapped. He grabbed Neferi's trembling shoulders with both hands:

"Village chief... Village chief, you're joking, right...?"

He himself didn't believe what he said. No one had ever seen Neferi with her hair all over the place. This was completely different from the great, decisive, and powerful woman that everyone usually thought of. Now her eyes were bloodshot and she could barely speak.

Neferi did not answer Toby's question.

The answer is obvious: that crown of thorns is truly lost.

After a brief silence, the crowd exploded like a bomb with its fuse burned out.

The chaotic scene was comparable to a zombie outbreak. Screams, questions, and shouts were all mixed together, making it impossible to hear anything clearly!

The crowd began to push and shove, panicked, shouting in bewildered anger, and filled with unfounded sorrow, while House covered his ears and quickly backed away... He was afraid that these people would go crazy and cause a stampede.

But compared to all that, House's mind was actually completely blank right now... Before he could sort out the situation, a few young people stepped forward from the crowd to take charge.

Although they were visibly frightened, they still tried their best to shout to calm the crowd down. This tactic was somewhat effective, and the uproar subsided considerably. Then, a hunched figure darted out from the crowd and walked up to Neferi.

House had seen this man before... This was the old man who greeted him at the entrance of the Adventurers' Guild, except this time the man wasn't accompanied by a dog.

The old man tried his best to control his emotions and asked in a relatively calm tone:

"Village chief... please explain to everyone how the crown was lost? Where was it lost? I think... I think there must be some misunderstanding...!"

"Yeah, yeah, how could it just disappear like that?" Toby next to him also tried to think of something positive.

Neferi stared blankly at the ground, speaking like a machine:

"I...I don't know. I went to the chapel to pray and give my dedication as usual this morning, and as soon as I lifted the silk cloth...I saw that the royal artifacts that should have been on the sacred stone were gone...I searched high and low, I practically tore the chapel apart, but they weren't there...they weren't there...!"

"It's just lost—!"

......

At 11:00 AM on September 16th, two hours had passed since the artifact was lost.

Inside the pharmacy, House and Omia sat facing each other at the table, both with dark faces and saying nothing. The street was quieter than ever before; everyone had put down their work and no one went out.

Glug...glug...

The sound of pork bone soup bubbling in the big pot was mouthwatering. This was a lunch that Omia had carefully prepared, but the two of them were not in the mood to eat even a single bite.

"Mr. House..." Omia's reaction was calmer than the other villagers, but she was equally uneasy, her legs trembling ever since she heard the news.

"What do you think is the chance that this is a misunderstanding...?"

House told the truth: "Zero... According to what you just told me, Thornheart is guarded by someone every day, regardless of spring, summer, autumn, winter, wind, or rain, and Neferi will always go to the chapel to pray to it every morning, and Thornheart will not grow legs."

Omia looked up, a glint of light flashing in her deep purple eyes: "Then someone must have stolen the Royal Artifact..."

Seeing Omia state this deduction with a serious expression, House cursed inwardly, "Coinage...isn't this just stating the obvious?"

Was it stolen or did it somehow manage to fall into the back room through a bug?

But after calming down and thinking it over, House realized it wasn't quite like that at all...

He recalled the case analysis rules that Saul Goodman had taught him when he watched Better Call Saul in his previous life: the first thing to do, no matter how complicated the case, was to make assumptions first and then analyze the motive.

"..."

Let's assume someone stole the crown. Without considering how they did it, what would their motive be?

The joyful scene of yesterday's festival flashed before his eyes. He really couldn't see that any idiot would have the time to want to destroy such a united village.

Could it be that some villager has an antisocial personality and can't stand everyone living in peace and prosperity? There were no outsiders, no mole, and no one with a motive—

Click.

House's fingers, which were tapping on the table, suddenly stopped, and his brows slowly furrowed.

"Tsk..."

Although he was very reluctant to label the other person with that accusation, after thinking it over, there really was only one person who fit the description, and that was...

Rudik.

He showed up around the festival on time, he has been discriminated against, beaten and bullied for many years, and there was that fake smile he gave last night.

"Oh my god, this is practically spelling 'criminal suspect' all over his head..." House pinched his nose, looking exasperated.

Seeing House's struggling expression, Omia asked with concern, "Mr. House... what's wrong?"

"Omia, I have a question."

"hold head high...?"

"I'm curious about something: if the Royal Artifact is stolen, but the Royal Artifact itself isn't taken out of the Forest of Fallen Giants, will the forest's protective barrier disappear?"

Omia clenched her fists excitedly, nodding her head vigorously like a chick pecking at rice: "Yes! Of course! The barrier will disappear immediately once the Royal Artifact is removed from the Holy Stone Platform!"

This really touched on a blind spot in House's knowledge.

Why?

"This... um..." Omia scratched her hair and explained, "Originally, this secret shouldn't be told to outsiders... but never mind! Anyway, you'll be my dog ​​eventually... Actually, it's like this, the Royal Artifact itself is just a medium used to trigger the barrier switch. What truly creates the barrier that can prevent others from entering is the root of the Elf Mother Tree, which is buried deep in the forest."

House thought to himself, "Wait a minute, did you just say something outrageous?"

Seeing that House still didn't quite understand, Omia spread her arms in front of her chest and gestured:

"The sacred stone in the chapel is a trigger; only by placing the royal artifact on it can the roots be stimulated to grow thorns to block the enemy from entering."

House stared at the kerosene lamp on the ceiling: "Okay... I get it. So, in other words, the village is in a super crisis, right?"

Omia closed her eyes dejectedly and slumped onto the table like water. House had never seen her so listless before. She pouted and said:

"Ugh, I was so happy about winning the battle, but this lousy thing just happened shortly after I got to be happy... I hate it."

Her chin bobbed on the table: "I hope Ms. Neferi and the others can find the Royal Artifact soon—"

boom! !

"Ugh!" Omia was startled by the loud noise and jumped up from the table. Looking at House, whose eyes were narrowed as if facing a formidable enemy, the little girl was completely bewildered.

"Mr. House, what's wrong?"

House's brows furrowed deeply, his expression extremely grim: "Omia... what did you just say?"

"Uh... I hope Ms. Neferi can hurry..."

"No, no, no! Not that sentence! The previous one!"

Omia rolled her eyes: "Hmm... I was actually quite happy about winning the battle?"

Thump thump thump!

House felt as if struck by lightning; his blood ran cold, and every hair on his body stood on end. Trembling, he pulled out the newspaper...

"These monsters... these monsters didn't actually run away..."

That's right, even the timing matches!

House gritted his teeth: "They didn't run away; they heard the news and came back the way they came! They're heading towards Yelo Village!!"