Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 948: Section 622: Question (1)

Chapter 948: Section 622: Question (1)

If the eleven members of the Council of Eleven were to be categorized, then the Great Craftsman Antoine and academy instructor Eric Wood belong to one group. They believe that knowledge is the beautiful existence that can change the fate of the countless peasant serfs under heaven, and they focus on developing members among those peasant serfs, freemen, and students. Given their identities, whether in the Council or in the eyes of the Nobles, they are considered the least likely to offend anyone.

From the Mage Tower, Raglof Dendel and Wizard Todd Svenson, like Antoine and Eric, believe knowledge is power. Only they believe it’s better to recruit more and superior Transcendents rather than arm Mortals; hence, they are responsible for developing members within the community of Mages and Wizards. To be honest, Malin feels their results are limited—however, in fact, Wizards of common origin resonate more with the duo’s philosophy than Mages do.

Pinto Olsson and old Francis prefer helping farmers, and if the latter’s reasons seem self-evident, Malin is somewhat puzzled by Pinto’s fondness for this. The elderly man has never mentioned why he does this, but knowing his friendship with old Francis spans at least fifty years, Malin mostly believes the old man probably doesn’t want his old friend to die inexplicably.

After all, although Mr. Pinto is an Astrologer, he is also a Wizard.

The Svenson brothers, Stein Mansenheim, and Carter Robinson are considered the hardliners of the Council. In Malin’s view, they are the unstable elements of the Council and also a necessary condition for the Council’s survival under the eyes of the Nobles—with certain military power, except for Carter, who is a child of villagers, the other three are Nobles.

Although Carter is a child of villagers, he grew up in the Church of Justice and is a Paladin. Later, he joined the army, thus separating from the Church, but the Church of Justice always considers him one of their own.

It could be said that if it comes to a fight, Carter would be the one in the Council who can call upon others the most.

Mendel Ericson is an Assistant Priest at the Church of the War God. He is the only Council member who develops members within the church. Aside from church personnel, he also works to convert believers. So Malin feels that if Mendel gets shot in the back, it might truly be impossible to figure out who did it.

After all, the things he does often offend people on many levels.

Considering Mr. Eric’s lack of physical strength, Malin took it upon himself to escort Eric to the Benevolent Hospital—he was curious to see if anyone would dare to strike Eric, but no assassin emerged as he had imagined while they entered the Benevolent Hospital.

Perhaps Malin’s presence convinced the assassins that earning a fortune is painful if there’s no life left to spend it, or maybe no assassin would think to take out a comrade visiting for treatment—after all, this took place at the entrance of the Benevolent Hospital, reputed to keep people alive as long as a breath remains.

Following the route map drawn by Eric for himself, Malin arrived at the scene of the assassination attempt.

This is the exit of an alleyway, very close to the Church of the War God, seen as a shortcut between the military camp and the church. Recently, Assistant Priest Mendel has been active in the military camp—there are many soldiers among the believers of the War God, and during Malin’s time in the camp, Mendel often used the pretense of preaching and comforting soldiers to enter the camp. Aside from actually doing so, he was more about developing non-believers as believers and persuading soldiers to join the Northerners.

Upon reaching the scene, Malin identified himself and entered the cordoned area, and his first sights were of City Guard Gold and Halil Duboa.

Mr. Halil’s nose had healed quite a bit, and his overall demeanor no longer emitted the headache-inducing alcohol smell. What pleased Malin the most was that he was finally standing up straight, no longer the pathetic, inebriated figure from before.

"Lord Malin, what wind brings you here?" Officer Gold extended his hand to shake Malin’s.

"Hello, Officer Gold. I’m here to find out how Mr. Mendel was assassinated." Having said that, Malin turned his head and glanced at Officer Halil, who was investigating the scene.

"We’ve just arrived too. The officer responsible for this area, Harold Sheringham, was here before us," Officer Gold finished and introduced Officer Harold to Malin. This officer was a stereotypical Northerner, a burly fellow who began briefing Malin about the situation as soon as they shook hands.

Mendel left for the military camp out of the city this morning—this is corroborated by the City Guards and the peddlers at the city gate. When he returned, it was also through the city gate, which a platoon of helmeted soldiers, having come into the city for drinks with Mendel on their day off, can verify.

They parted ways at the other end of the alley, and Mendel entered the alley, clearly intending to return to the church.

Then, at the exit of the alley, he was ambushed and shot by an assassin lying in wait.

"The murderer used a Revolver. By the time the church’s Paladins arrived at the sound of the gunshots, Mr. Mendel was already lying in a pool of blood. He was taken to the Benevolent Church, so there are a lot of footprints at the scene. It’s not possible to discern the assassin’s footprints immediately, and with so many people coming and going, backtracking is also impractical. The murderer is a professional... Still, we collected four bullet casings on the ground. It doesn’t seem like only four shots were fired. We estimate that the murderer used an old-fashioned Revolver, a four-chambered type. Judging by its age, this gun could be my grandfather’s," said Officer Harold, over fifty years old, shaking his head. "From the blood marks on the ground, it seems Mr. Mendel may not survive tonight."

"The amount of blood loss is significant. We suspect it may have hit the liver region. Although Mr. Mendel has slimmed down a bit, the bullet might have exited his body without tumbling, but if vital organs were hit, death is almost certain," added Officer Gold.

This made Malin frown—the assassin was well-trained and beyond the several bullet casings, no other conclusive evidence was left at the scene.

Malin examined the bullet casings and noticed something—the casings looked like they were reloaded.

This only complicates the search—reloaded bullets are all the rage these days. Whether it’s Nobles or helmeted soldiers, they all like making their own reloads, though it’s unclear why they enjoy it; the Nobles have a flair for such things, that’s for sure.

Why do the bigwigs like it? Malin truly doesn’t understand; perhaps it’s a cost issue?

But that shouldn’t be the case, for the bullets of the bigwigs are reimbursable.

So, in that case, could it be that they are using specially made bullets?

In Malin’s view, since the assassin came prepared, he would certainly tailor his approach to take advantage of Mendel’s characteristics. Therefore, he turned to the officers, "What about Sir Mendel’s spell formations and combat skills?"

"Sir Mendel’s spell formations aren’t great; he can manage to cast a Brightness Spell, but that’s about it. However, his combat skills are excellent. When he was young, he was a great swordsman. After injuring his leg, he switched to using a revolver and became one of the best shooters in Copenhagen," said Officer Harold, shaking his head. "The murderer definitely came prepared; Sir Mendel isn’t young anymore, and when he was ambushed, the first bullet likely hit his chest or abdomen, because there are bullet marks on the wall and traces where blood was sprayed."

With Officer Harold’s briefing, Malin and the two officers reconstructed the scene of the crime.

Sir Mendel was assassinated after stepping out of the alley, which is to say, he didn’t notice the assassin, but the assassin had already taken note of him. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been an ambush at the mouth of the alley.

In other words, there must have been an accomplice across the street, not only responsible for observing the alley but also for signaling the appearance of the target to the assassin, and finally, for keeping an eye on the situation near the church... There were also people at the city gates; I’m sure the observer and assassin wouldn’t have acted until Sir Mendel was spotted at the gates.

The murder weapon was an old-fashioned revolver, a gun so common it’s alarming. Before Malin’s workshop was established, countless of these had been made—by dwarves, humans, half-humans, and even some elven craftsmen. It’s utterly impossible to track down how many there are.

Therefore, it’s impossible to trace through the weapon.

As for the bullets, since they were reloaded, the casings and bullets didn’t necessarily match, cutting off the possibility of tracking from the bullets alone. For the time being, it’s possible to trace back through the bullet and the casing separately, but considering the caution of the opposition in using firearms, Malin figured the casings were likely mass-produced goods. As for the bullets... without having seen the actual item, Malin wouldn’t jump to conclusions, but given the murderer’s thoroughness, it’s unlikely there would be any oversight with the bullets.

Truly a difficult opponent to handle.

In any case, the assassin fired four shots at Sir Mendel. The first went through his body and hit the wall, the whereabouts of which are unknown.

After Sir Mendel fell, the killer fired three more times, like an executioner, finishing him off.

With the caliber of the revolver, after taking four shots, Sir Mendel had almost no chance of survival, even if the Benevolent Church had the medicines donated by Malin, and he also sent Eric to bring two World Tree fruit medicine vials, but if Sir Mendel had died before that... Malin couldn’t have saved him on the scene either.

Hopefully, Sir Mendel’s Transcendent sequence includes abilities to strengthen the physique, and let’s hope the murderer didn’t fire at Sir Mendel’s head.

However, considering that he was taken to the Benevolent Hospital, Sir Mendel’s head should still be functioning.

So now, the issue is finding even just one bullet.

While Malin was contemplating whether to divine the whereabouts of that bullet, he heard Officer Halil’s excited cry.

"I’ve found the bullet!"

Malin, Halil, and Harold all looked towards the man who was holding the bullet.

"It’s a long bullet produced by our Northern military factory, equipped with an anti-magic array."

It seemed like Halil had already recognized the origin of this bullet.

This filled Malin with despair—the long bullet is much like the four-chambered revolver, another relic that could be as old as Harold’s grandfather.

The investigation is falling into a deadlock, Malin.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.