Alchemists do not need self-cultivation

As he stated, the body had no other obvious external injuries. The abdominal wound did not appear to be an accidental injury sustained in the chaos. It was cut open with meticulous, straight precision, almost like a sacred ritual, and several internal organs had been removed and were nowhere to be found. The meticulous and thoughtful method only made the perpetrator seem more unusual.

"So... are the rumors about the school murder true?" Hugh pondered, head bowed. "But how did the perpetrator manage to get the body here so suddenly?"

“I remember you just mentioned… Benjamin Duvren, right?”

“Yes.” Hugh nodded in confirmation. “A murderer who was arrested two years ago, then escaped from prison and disappeared without a trace. There have been urban legends about him ever since.”

"Two years ago... I escaped from prison..."

Isaac quickly realized that the fake mayor of the small town next to Yorkshire had also escaped from prison two years ago.

The reason he was able to escape from prison was because the man who called himself 'Professor' provided him with the Phantom Book.

"It seems this prisoner also uses the illusion book."

"what?"

“Think about it carefully. It’s almost impossible to move such a large corpse to such a public place without anyone noticing. She wasn’t killed on the spot; she was already a corpse long ago,” Isaac said. “Besides, I’ve encountered similar things in previous towns, with guys using the Phantom Book to escape and commit crimes.”

"I see, this is troublesome." Hugh's expression also turned grim.

"The illusory book has fallen into the hands of a murderer, this is truly..."

"Phantom Book? What are you talking about?"

Jessica looked at Isaac and Hughie blankly.

"You said you were looking for a book... Could it be that book you were looking for...?"

"That's right, the Book of Illusions is what we're looking for."

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.

The light from the old lamps illuminated the interior of the stone building.

In the library late at night, at the bottom of towering bookshelves that almost reach the ceiling, Hughie sits cross-legged on an old wooden footstool.

A little further away, Dallian stretched out her body with all her might, seemingly searching for a book.

The blood-soaked body found in the courtyard was kept from the students and taken away by the arriving police.

Of course, Isaac was taken in for questioning by the police during this time, but he was released after a short while because he had an alibi.

"Hahaha, I didn't expect to be arrested and questioned by the police. Looks like you look like a thug who would attack girls."

"Shut up."

Fran and Isaac were sitting on a bench on campus, with Isaac holding a document about Benjamin that Hugh had mentioned.

It is said that this information was compiled by the female students at the school.

"They actually expect students to collect data; the police in remote areas of Britain are utterly useless."

As he said this, he looked at the contents of the document.

Benjamin Duvren is an alias; his real name is unknown. He came from a London slum.

Duvren's parents are unknown. His exact age is also unclear, but it is estimated to be between twenty-five and thirty years old. He committed his first murder eight years ago. In the six years between then and his arrest, he was confirmed to have killed eleven people. Highly intelligent and morally bankrupt, he is a typical serial killer.

The murders were brutal and inhumane; the content was extremely unpleasant to read. All the victims were young women, murdered by disembowelment. It left no room for sympathy.

Two years ago, he was sentenced to death, but he escaped from prison.

"Is it just like Jack the Ripper from the end of the last century? Is it a copycat crime?"

Chapter 1003: The Second Victim

“There’s a difference between him and ‘Jack the Ripper.’ He committed murders on the streets of London, unlike the guy who hides in a girls’ school.”

"The perpetrator's motive is still unknown. If it is just indiscriminate killing of women, then all the girls and teachers in this school are in danger."

Isaac closed the documents in his hand.

He himself had investigated cases during his time at the Eastern Command, and of course, Amestris was a place of simple and honest people where serial murders were rare.

"First, try to find commonalities among the victims."

Fran: "The deceased were all in good shape and had natural births."

"Your focus is always so strange."

Although the body was discovered, the local police treated it as a regular murder case.

The police search will not officially begin until tomorrow. The small town where the school is located has a small, permanent police force. It seems barely enough to have a few patrol officers on lookout duty tonight; the rest must wait for reinforcements from headquarters.

Of course, the police are also pursuing escaped convict Benjamin DeVron. However, no one witnessed Benjamin himself in this incident, and the circumstances surrounding the discovery of his body were far too unnatural. Perhaps because of this, there is also chaos within the police force.

From the school's perspective, they might also want to avoid summoning too many police officers to the campus and causing a major disturbance. The fact that a murderer was lurking in a secondary school entrusted with the children of the upper class could be a fatal scandal.

"I doubt this will cause much of a stir. These students are really pitiful. The school is willing to risk their lives to cover up this scandal."

“It might not be a bad thing for me, it just means I can make a bigger scene to find out who the culprit is,” Isaac laughed. “Anyway, the school will help me cover it up.”

Sitting on the bench, Isaac stretched.

Hugh and Dallian also walked over from a distance.

"Isaac, any progress in the investigation?"

"Not much progress. The prisoner's motive is still unknown. Just knowing he's a death row inmate who escaped two years ago isn't enough," Isaac said. "How about you?"

"The police asked me a few questions, but they were all trivial. It seems the school and the police have agreed not to make a big deal out of it."

"Whether or not to make a big fuss is not up to the school, but up to me."

As Isaac spoke, he turned to Dallian and asked.

"The only book in the universe that can help people escape from prison and move corpses is probably the Book of Another Dimension that I got back then."

"No, there are countless magical books that can do this, and the Book of Another Dimension is a lost magical book, so it is almost impossible for a copy to appear."

"Other magical books? Well, that's the only place we can look for them now."

"Other places? Where are you going?" Hugh asked as he followed Isaac as he stood up.

"Of course it's the library. If someone is hiding using phantom books, they would definitely choose the place with the most books."

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.

It was late at night, and the library was completely quiet.

After the murder, the school ordered students to stay indoors at night for safety reasons, since the murderer is still hiding on campus.

Isaac didn't know why the school didn't just suspend classes and send all the students home after such an incident; he guessed it was for its own benefit.

"Speaking of the prison where Benjamin was imprisoned, it doesn't seem to be too far from this school. Could it be that he came to this school after escaping from prison?"

“He’s been at this school for almost two years. In two years, how many people could he make mysteriously disappear?” Isaac said. “And his target is young women, so hiding in a girls’ school suits his purposes.”

The group was walking through the quiet library when suddenly Isaac stopped and raised his hand to stop everyone.

"……What's wrong?"

Hugh asked in a low voice, his soldier's instincts prompting him to quickly place his hand on the pistol under his clothes.

"Someone."

Isaac whispered.

"There's probably only one, and their identity seems to be..."

Hiding behind the bookshelves, everyone looked in the direction Isaac pointed. They saw Jessica walking cautiously down the dark library corridor, holding a kerosene lamp in one hand and a baseball bat in the other.

"...Is that little girl courting death? The teacher clearly ordered that students not to go out." Dalian said speechlessly.

"I thought they were criminals." Hugh breathed a sigh of relief. "Should we go over there..."

"Do not."

Isaac interrupted Hughes before he could finish speaking.

"Besides this energy, there's another one... and its energy is extremely weak, probably from someone seriously injured."

"What!?"

"It seems the prisoner was here, and someone has already been murdered."

……

"Seriously...where did those four people go...?"

Jessica spoke uneasily in a low voice, her tone as if she regretted sneaking out of the dormitory.

As if in response to those murmuring words, a human voice came from the depths of the darkness.

A deep, resonant voice.

"what……"

Jessica stopped in her tracks, startled.

Who is it? Who's there?

She put down the lantern in her hand, and with her hands trembling, she cautiously looked around at the baseball bat.

Not daring to let her guard down, Jessica continued forward with her baseball bat in hand.

Then she saw a figure lying in the shadow of the pillar.

That was a female student wearing the same uniform as Jessica. She was plump and quite tall for a girl. Jessica knew her name. It was originally a small school, and recently her name had become somewhat well-known.

"Matilda!!"

Clang!

The baseball bat in her hand fell to the ground, and she hurriedly ran towards the girl who had fallen to the ground.

Matilda, like the deceased teacher Nicole, was one of the people who went missing a week ago.

"Matilda! Are you alright? Matilda? Cheer up!"

As if reacting to the footsteps, Matilda let out a soft breath.

Jessica noticed that she was still alive, and her eyes lit up again. Although she was seriously injured, at least she was still alive.

"Wait a minute, I'll call someone right away!"

Jessica stood up as she shouted this, and just then she ran towards the exit of the corridor.