Don't move, it's a robbery!

A detective skilled in investigation once said, "As long as you can identify the target, finding evidence is not difficult."

I sneaked into the inn and began collecting shoes from each room. It wasn't easy to do this because many people only had one pair of shoes, but fortunately, the caravan guards were quite well-off, and almost everyone had spare clothes in their luggage.

"Not these pairs, not these pairs, not these pairs, not... Oh! These are the pairs!"

I pinched my nose and began searching for the shoes I found in the hotel. I quickly found my target and also confirmed that the murderer of Lady Mary was a guard from the caravan.

Judging from the timeline, he must have stayed at the hotel for a while after entering Linde City before heading to the orphanage; otherwise, he would definitely have run into me during the infiltration process.

Similarly, this also shows that killing Mrs. Mary was not his purpose in coming to Linde City. Something must have happened during his short stay at the hotel for him to sneak into the orphanage and search through drawers and cabinets.

Whether the killing of Mrs. Mary was a spur-of-the-moment decision or premeditated will only be clear after the perpetrators are apprehended.

"Thump!"

Okay, the person has been caught.

"What? You've already caught the murderer?"

Eve stared at me in shock, dropping the fruit she was holding in fright.

Before the fruit fell to the ground, I quickly caught it, because wasting food is a shameful thing.

"You're the best! I knew you could do it!"

The little one seemed unfazed by my inefficiency. Without a word, she rushed over, hugged me, and kissed me. Then, to my astonishment, she nonchalantly began interrogating the prisoner.

"Tell me, why did you kill Mrs. Mary?"

The captured guard was also a bit dazed. He probably didn't expect to be captured like this. Also, the force of the stick I hit him with was a bit strong, and he probably hasn't recovered yet.

"Damn it! What are you talking about? I don't understand. I'm warning you, don't mess around!"

He gave a very standard denial, so I gave him a very standard punishment.

After breaking three of his ribs, he became much more obedient and confessed to the murder, but he refused to reveal his reason for killing him.

At this point, I stopped using torture.

Revealing all the secrets wouldn't actually do Little One any good. After all, she just wanted to clear the orphanage children's names; she wasn't particularly concerned about the truth behind the matter.

After Eve summoned the guards, the prisoner was taken away by them. The council quickly intervened and used the incident to extract considerable profits from the caravan.

Then the incident was treated as an individual crime, that the criminal killed Mrs. Mary out of greed, and that it had nothing to do with the caravan.

Everyone was satisfied, but Leos was an exception.

"What's going on? I just went to repair some equipment, why is Mr. Santosun terminating my caravan escort contract? What happened this afternoon?"

"Well, Leos, don't be sad. At least Mr. Santos paid us the penalty for breach of contract. Although it wasn't as much as the original pay, and we lost the job opportunity afterward, it's still pretty good overall because he bought all the armor that March was trying to sell!"

"Armor? The kind the thieves got before? Will I get a cut?"

"Nope."

"Then why are you telling me about it? It's not my turn! I finally managed to negotiate this long-term contract!"

Leos looked utterly helpless as he carried his luggage, resembling a lost dog.

Oh, I forgot to mention, because of the capture of the murderer, the people from the Bell of the Pure Wind moved out of the inn. After all, the inn had been booked by the caravan, and no one other than the caravan members was allowed to stay there.

Of course, they didn't need to find a new place to stay; instead, they moved directly to the city lord's mansion.

Anyway, no one lives here for the time being, and Eve has been granted the right to borrow from the library and stay temporarily. In addition, Leos has a good relationship with the council, so moving into the city lord's mansion is not a big problem.

"This is the first time I've ever lived in such a big house."

Leos was quite satisfied with where he would be staying for the next period of time. March and Little One were also very happy. They even reserved a room for me, saying that I could stay there too.

"Speaking of which, where's Galio? Isn't he still bedridden?"

"Oh, Galio went to the clinic. He just got out of bed and suddenly couldn't find his shoes. He tripped and fell while looking for them, and his injury got worse."

"Why can't I find my shoes?"

"I don't know. It seemed like everyone's shoes were missing at the hotel. Later, we found that the missing shoes had been thrown into the warehouse, and many people said it was haunted."

Watching Leos and his group frolicking around, I felt a little envious and uncomfortable, so I made an excuse to leave and head to the no-man's-land to deliver dinner to Tina.

However, I hadn't walked far when I realized someone was following me.

And it seems like they've been following me ever since I left the city lord's mansion.

The other person seemed to be quite skilled, and spoke very softly, but he clearly underestimated me, thinking that as long as I was far away, I wouldn't be noticed.

I'm also quite curious about this guy's identity. Why would he follow me at a time like this? Is he from a caravan?

I chose a secluded spot, led my follower around a short distance, and then suddenly sped into an alley, easily shaking him off. Then I slowed my pace, circled around to the follower's back via another route, and began chasing him from behind.

Seeing that I had suddenly disappeared, the stalker was a little annoyed, but he quickly realized something and instead of continuing to run deeper into the alley, he turned around and returned to the downtown area.

It seems this guy has guessed my purpose.

The sun hadn't set yet, and there were still quite a few people in the downtown area. Getting there would be safer than being in these deserted alleys, whether it was to escape or to protect oneself.

It was a wise move, but as I said before, he underestimated me.

I quietly caught up with him, pulled out my Samsung short stick, and prepared to give this follower a little hypnotic treatment.

"Whoosh~"

To my surprise, the moment I swung the stick, the guy suddenly reacted, turning around at lightning speed to dodge while also drawing his rapier from his waist to counterattack me.

However, I was no pushover either, and I quickly dodged the sword while simultaneously creating distance between myself and my opponent.

Only then did I get a clear look at this guy. He was very young, almost the same age as me. Although he wasn't wearing armor for the sake of stealth, his gauntlets were of very high quality, indicating that he was definitely not from a low-class background.

"Hey kid, what are you up to, following me around with that lecherous look on your face? Planning to rob me or assault me?"

The tracker didn't answer, but just stared at me intently, with fine beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.

Just when I thought he was about to turn and run away, he suddenly charged at me, thrusting his rapier out. In the instant I tried to dodge, he quickly withdrew it and changed direction to continue thrusting at me. His relentless attacks were like rain falling in the forest, giving me no chance to breathe.

So fast!

I've encountered skilled opponents before, but this is the first time I've met one this fast.

Caught off guard, my clothes were torn, and I almost had my skin pierced several times. Fortunately, he couldn't maintain that pace of attack indefinitely. Taking advantage of a moment when he slowed down, I broke his wrist with a stick, knocked his weapon away, and then kicked the inside of his knee, successfully tripping him.

"Not bad, you're quite skilled. Where did you hang out before? I've never heard of you before."

I picked up the rapier that had fallen to the ground, examined the blade, and found that it was not poisoned, which put my mind at ease.

The rapier may look weak, but it is actually incredibly lethal, especially when the user is not wearing armor. It is often more deadly than ordinary swords. In addition, the way to use a rapier is more elegant than other weapons, so it is very popular among nobles.

Some nobles would use sword duels to resolve disputes among themselves. Some despicable people would coat their swords with poison, which would kill their opponent if it struck. However, many people despised this practice, feeling that such people disgraced the reputation of the nobility.

It seems this kid is the latter.

I glanced around to make sure there were no ambushes, then slowly approached the guy.

"I advise you to think of your next words quickly, after all, this concerns your life. Also, don't bother trying to escape. My kick just now has already twisted your knee. You can't run away in this condition, you can only provoke me to use more force."

"I can pay the ransom; I have plenty of money."

Sure, that's sensible.

I was satisfied, and then I hit him with a stick.

"Thump!"

He fell asleep, sleeping very soundly.

An interrogation was definitely necessary, but it couldn't be done in the street. So I carried him to my female neighbor's house, where there happened to be two succubi who could use charm abilities. With them there, the interrogation would definitely be much easier.

Tina was pleasantly surprised to see me, but her surprise quickly turned into astonishment, and then into anger and agitation.

"Flogo Cesar!"

"Who?"

"It's this guy on your back! Why did you grab him?"

"Oh, didn't you say you couldn't get used to eating rats? So we've brought someone here to improve your meals."

"Um?!"

Tina was a little confused, but she quickly realized I was joking. Before she could answer, her neighbor, Tulisa, came running over happily.

"Thank you! I didn't expect you to still remember me! I'm so tired of drinking rat blood, I can finally have a better meal today."

The guy grabbed Frog and lifted him up, then opened his mouth to bite him.

This won't do. Putting aside whether this kid deserves to die, I just can't accept having a monster eating people in front of me.

But before I could stop my female neighbor, she stopped on her own.

"No, I can't, I can't do that."

"Huh? What did you say?" *2

Tina and I were both stunned. Neither of us expected that Tulisa could resist her vampiric instincts.

This is no simple matter, because vampires do not possess the same moral values ​​as humans.

Once upon a time, there was a kind female lord who was transformed into a vampire by a powerful vampire. After the local mercenaries and church drove out the vampire, considering the female lord's power and status, as well as her excellent reputation, they did not purify her. They even naively believed that the female lord would retain her former kindness.

But they were all disappointed. Although the female lord's appearance had not changed, her inner self had become completely different. In the few months after she became a vampire, hundreds of girls disappeared in her territory. Without exception, these poor girls became the female lord's food.

This even included her own niece.

Looking at my female neighbor's reluctant expression, I felt a little lost for a moment.

Although I never killed her, I never treated her as a human being. I only treated her as a monster that I could communicate with and used her to do things for me.

But now it seems that Tulisa is not a complete monster. She does have a terrible heart and a terrible past, but she still sees herself as the original Tulisa and adheres to the bottom line of not killing.

Perhaps, the real monster is us humans...

"He's so handsome! Can I play around with him for a while before killing him?"

"..."

Damn, you're overthinking it.