Chapter 95: Chapter 91: Capture (Vote for Monthly Tickets!)

The sky was covered with thick dark clouds, and the rumbling of thunder came from among them. The rain poured down like a deluge, as if a lake were being emptied from the heavens onto the ground.

“The patriarch of the Fischer family has arrived!”

Upon hearing that Lord Baron Byrne had come, the workers got up one after another and headed over, with the leading few workers excitedly crowding around him.

The family guards quickly blocked off the people from Byrne’s proximity, but the leaders of the workers kept talking loudly, following Byrne’s footsteps.

Vanessa and Captain Theo were by his side, with Theo holding an umbrella over Byrne.

Byrne could see the Guards Captain, with his hair graying at the temples, remaining silent, while Vanessa’s face was covered with rain, quickly recounting the situation amidst the sound of the rain.

“The deceased is an old man named Abutte. Upon counting the number of people, they discovered Old Abutte was missing, and it’s very possible that the remains of the body belong to him.”

Byrne stepped over the puddles with an expressionless face, listening to what Vanessa was saying in his ear.

The impact of a mangled corpse was far greater than that of a simple death. People at the construction factory were now panicking, hesitant to continue the construction for a while.

Some said the existence of the factory had provoked some mysterious entity, filling the whole affair with bad omens, and if it continued, more people would die.

Finally, Byrne and his party arrived at the spot where the dismembered body was found. He personally went forward to inspect the remains that had been covered and not washed away by the rain.

Activating his Extraordinary ability “Deconstructive Perspective,” Byrne’s eyes revealed faint blue circles, allowing him to easily determine that the flesh indeed belonged to a human body.

“…”

He was silent for a long moment. The matter could be the work of a serial killer in Nasir Town, or it could be retaliation by the Sea God Cult, or perhaps a warning from the Kesse family.

If the latter was the case, then in time the Kesse family would let them know who the murderer was; otherwise, the killing would be meaningless.

A warning had to be made known to the parties concerned.

“Vanessa, go call Chris.”

No matter who the murderer was, Byrne felt that the Fischer family needed to take the initiative.

If they allowed someone to kill indiscriminately on their own turf, that would spell trouble. Not only would the Fischer family be put into a passive situation, their reputation would also be severely damaged, and everyone would feel insecure.

The connections among the lower levels were still very important.

He had already thought through Zayne’s words.

Originally, it was almost impossible for ordinary people without the right bloodline and gifts to become Extraordinary Exponents. Having seen Exponents capable of destroying armies on their own, Zayne naturally adopted an indifferent attitude towards the connections among commoners.

In fact, most Extraordinary Exponents felt the same way and from their point of view, it was entirely correct.

But the situation for the Fischer family was completely different.

The Fischer family possessed the formula for the Magic Potion of the Power of Consecution. This enormous potential lay in the fact that theoretically, as long as they had enough resources, they could turn everyone into Extraordinary Exponents.

Thus, they needed to pay attention to the elite among the common people, much like Vanessa, Erik, and Archibald.

Vanessa nodded and then went to call Chris.

On their way from Fischer Manor to the site of the incident, Vanessa told Chris everything that had happened, narrating logically even amidst the torrential rain.

The silver-haired youth simply listened in silence, not saying a word from beginning to end.

“Chris.”

Suddenly, Vanessa’s tone changed a bit, not saying “young master” but calling him directly by his name.

He looked at the girl.

She stopped as well.

Chris gazed at the short-haired, beautiful girl and noticed a pure anger in her expression—an emotion seldom seen in the core members of the Fischer family for outsiders anymore.

She was angry for the innocent, sad for the weak, and pained and resolute for the stifled hopes.

“Find that damned bastard, Chris, I’m begging you, please,” the girl’s body trembled slightly as she earnestly requested in the pouring rain.

He did not speak, merely nodding.

Of course.

Chris felt a surge of joy, realizing that the deepest part of Vanessa’s heart hadn’t changed; she was still the girl from back then.

He smiled faintly.

Upon their arrival at the scene, the family guards cleared the way for them.

Byrne patted Chris on the shoulder and said calmly, “Vanessa must have told you everything. From now on, it’s up to you, Chris.”

Chris’s hair was sodden by the rain, and he calmly lowered his gaze to look at the remains, finally nodding.

He activated his Extraordinary trait “Tracking Senses,” and myriad hues of auras emerged before him.

Although they were diluted by the rain, Chris still identified the particular trail he needed to lock onto.

“Found it,” Chris said calmly.

——

“They’ll never find us.”

Inside an inn in Nasir Town, a man and a woman sat silently drinking tea.

The man was a black-haired half-orc with wolf ears and a tail, a wild look about him, dressed in civilian clothes.

The woman, with brown hair, wore a choker around her neck and bracelets on her wrists and ankles, looking like a young woman Spellcaster in her twenties.

Both were Extraordinary Exponents affiliated with the Kesse family, coming from two different knight clans, each at a high-level Beginning.

A few days ago, they had received orders from the Kesse family to cause some trouble for the Fischer family.

They had done similar things when the Kesse family and the Leander family were in conflict, so they picked out an old worker to kill, shattered his body, and then tossed it somewhere it would be easily found.

The Wolf Knight exhaled as if he was still somewhat nervous about such tasks and continued speaking:

“`

“We’ve already investigated in advance, and there is no Spellcaster among the Fischer family and their vassals capable of manipulating corpses, nor is there anyone from the prophecy-type.”

Today, in the magical system, to recreate a crime scene, in most cases, the intact body of the victim is required.

Only a handful of people on the Monarch Level can recreate the initial scene without the body.

The Wolf Knight continued, “According to the plan, we’ll kill a few more people in the next ten days.”

“Then we’ll suggest to the Fischer family that if they do not give up control of that village, it will mean complete enmity with the Kesse family.”

“By that time, it won’t just be a few insignificant commoners dying.”

The Kesse family took some time to confirm that the sudden appearance of the Assistant Priest was an accident and finally decided to take action.

The brown-haired female Spellcaster nodded and said, “Actually, we should have taken action a long time ago. Now that the Fischer family has become a true baronial family, it’s not so easy to move against them.”

The Wolf Knight shook his head and said, “There’s no choice. Before, we didn’t know about Baron Hovern’s complete mental breakdown, nor were we clear about the specific situation of the Hovern family. How could Baron Kesse dare to meddle with the governor’s stuff?”

The situation of the Hovern family?

The brown-haired Spellcaster fell into thought. Indeed, according to reason, after Baron Hovern lost his mind, the Hovern family would not just abandon their estates; they should have sent someone to take care of it.

Why is it that the Hovern family has completely ignored this enclave on the East Coast?

She found it very strange, but when she asked, the Wolf Knight only chuckled and refused to say anything about the Hovern family, leaving the brown-haired Spellcaster utterly speechless.

Just then, the Wolf Knight’s nose twitched!

“Hmm, someone is approaching, and there are quite a few of them. We’ve been discovered, run!”

The brown-haired Spellcaster panicked and shouted, “How is that possible? They shouldn’t be able to find us!”

However, further hesitation would be life-threatening, and although the two of them didn’t understand the situation, they immediately slipped out through the back door of the inn.

Having run to another street, just as they were about to take a moment to rest, the Wolf Knight noticed several commoners with daggers watching them from a distance, who ran away as soon as their eyes met.

The Wolf Knight immediately said, “Wrong, there are Fischer family pawns here too!”

They moved again, planning to escape Nasir Town as quickly as possible and head into the wilderness outside.

But soon, both stood still in the pouring rain, looking in terror at the man not far away.

Byrne was dressed in black, standing expressionlessly in the torrential rain, while Guards Captain Theo held an umbrella over his head.

It was the Extraordinary exponent of the Fischer family, Baron Byrne, who had reached Level 2!

Damn!

The Wolf Knight’s sweat mingled with the rain as he trembled and said,

“According to the information given by that Lord, the head of the Fischer family is not good at fighting. Let’s fight him!”

The brown-haired Spellcaster shook her head vigorously, advising with eyes full of fear,

“Just the two of us can never beat him. We should surrender. He shouldn’t kill us — after all, we only killed a commoner.”

The Wolf Knight’s expression was torn and he struggled internally, still frantically debating whether to surrender or flee immediately.

He couldn’t surrender because his family was deeply tied to the Kesse family. If he surrendered, his entire clan would be implicated.

The Wolf Knight charged at them with a roar, getting closer.

In the raging storm, Byrne simply extended his hand calmly and snapped his fingers.

“Flame.”

In an instant, the Wolf Knight’s body burst into hellish orange flames, and the immense pain went straight to his soul, forcing him to roll in agony on the rain-soaked ground.

“Aaaaah!”

Luckily, the heavy rain had caused the streets to fill with water, which quickly extinguished the flames on his body.

Byrne didn’t look at him, just staring ahead emotionlessly, and although Flame Manipulation didn’t require him to speak incantations, he still decided to say the word “flame” in front of others.

Over time, many would come to believe that he had to chant in order to release fire, which might lead them to use a Silence Spell or other such magic against him.

Then, to their shock, they would find out that he didn’t need to utter a single word to unleash roaring fire.

“I surrender!”

Seeing this scene, the female Spellcaster kneeled on the ground in fright, not daring to resist. Soon, numerous guards from the Fischer family surrounded them.

The badly burnt Wolf Knight was powerless to resist, and the female Spellcaster was easily captured. While the family guards were initially fearful of the Extraordinary opponents, they gritted their teeth and moved in to tie them both up.

Captain Theo immediately asked, “Lord Baron, how should we handle them?”

Byrne considered, and before he could speak, Vanessa came forward holding an umbrella over Irene.

Irene’s gaze was icy as she said,

“Interrogate them first for any important information, then tie the pair up in the center of Nasir Town and let the townspeople watch and punish them.”

Byrne had no objections, but asked, “What is the purpose of this?”

He felt Irene wasn’t one to vent her emotions recklessly.

Irene explained, “This way the townspeople will be more grateful to us, and on the other hand, it will publicly humiliate whoever is behind these two.”

As for the mastermind, the female Spellcaster soon confessed.

Unsurprisingly, it was the Kesse family.

Their objective was simple and clear, to intimidate and warn, hoping to make the Fischer family “voluntarily” give up control over the territory of Ourde Village.

Now that the culprit behind the scenes had been identified and the evidence was complete, what to do next?

Because the victim was just a commoner, both the church and the East Coast Governor would find the event ultimately unimportant and not worthy of concern.

They wouldn’t punish an Extraordinary overlord over such a trivial matter, as there was still a fundamental social gap between Extraordinaries and commoners.

So having evidence of who ordered the two to kill the elderly worker didn’t fundamentally matter.

If the Fischer family wanted retaliation, they would have to figure it out for themselves.

“`