"You really couldn’t find it?" Bruzuryano looked disappointed.
"I cannot find it. Maybe I am not good enough." Anfey shook his head. He looked at Bruzuryano in sympathy. There was a whole system of teaching how to practice Samadhi and reach the unity of man and heaven in his family’s martial art. What Bruzuryano taught him was way too simple. It was just a sample of his family’s martial art system. No wonder Bruzuryano wanted to give the Heart of Nature away. He had never communicated with the Heart of Nature before; otherwise Bruzuryano instead of Anfey would be the one communicating with the Heart of Nature.
Bruzuryano turned to look at Slanbrea. Slanbrea sighed. "We had better let the temple know about it. With their help, it should be better." After the talk, Slanbrea turned sideways and saw a headless dry body. He was shocked for a second before he hurried over.
Bruzuryano calmed himself down a little and released a Nature magic. A vine appeared in Bruzuryano’s hand. The vine crawled against the floor to the window. It passed through the window and crawled onto the floor again. It looked like a snake scrawling away.
"Did you kill him?" Slanbrea asked as he turned around, pointing to the headless body on the floor. He sounded very surprised.
"Yes, I did," Anfey said.
"How did you kill him?" Slanbrea asked.
"He was too careless." Anfey shrugged.
"Is he that nut?" Bruzuryano noticed the white bone staff as well.
"You are right." Slanbrea smiled with his head shaking. He chanted in a low pitch. Holy flame showed up again. It hovered over the top of the white bone staff. Under the Holy Flame, the white bone staff shook a little bit and turned into powder.
Bruzuryano gave a bitter smile as well. The nut he was talking about was far less powerful than Slanbrea and him, but he was much better than Anfey and his group. With common sense, Anfey and his group should have not killed the guy without any damage. He thought to himself that if Anfey could turn around the basic principles of the Goddess of Nature, Anfey could definitely brush aside common sense as well.
"Masters, I do not know if I should tell you this," Anfey said quietly.
Slanbrea and Bruzuryano looked at each other. "Anfey, it’s fine. Go ahead."
"If this was to find the spy and kill Nana, you would not have to do so much. If this is to remove more bad guys from the world quicker, we should let them run away," Anfey said.
Slanbrea was shocked for a while and sighed, "I was too angry and did not think it through. Thanks for reminding me about that. You really can think through the details. Amazing."
"Did you say his name was Nana?" Bruzuryano asked as he pointed at the body which had been chopped into pieces.
"Yes, he is the city master of Punk City." Anfey said with a nod. "I think we should go and walk around the garrison residence. Maybe we could get some useful information."
"Yes. Let’s go." Slanbrea suddenly got excited. It looked like he was not too happy with what had happened.
"Master, right now there is no city master for Punk City," Anfey said. "I am worried that someone would make rumors in the dark. The city could possibly have a lot of troubles later on. Bruzuryano was an arch-druid with high reputation and fame. There are many temples of the Goddess of Nature and her followers. If Bruzuryano can be in charge of the government of the city for the time being, those people could not make any trouble."
"I am getting old. I have to be reminded of this by a kid." Bruzuryano smiled. "Ok, you guys go with Slanbrea. I will take care of this mess."
It was already late at night, but there were still patrols on the streets. They randomly picked a patrol team. Without saying much, Slanbrea’s priest gown with holy spirit had proved his identity. Patrol officers carefully and obediently escorted Anfey and his group to the garrison residence.
The few guards on watch on both sides of the gate walked up to them. They first carefully checked Slanbrea’s priest gown in holy light. After they were convinced it was a real one, they respectful said, "Master, how can I help you?"
"Bulls*^t," Anfey said coldly as he waved the pass Black Eleven had left him.
In fact, those soldiers had no idea what that pass meant, but they felt Anfey and his group were important people. One guard could not stop pleasing them with smiles and said, "Master, wait for a second. Let me report to the city master that you are here."
"No need. We can just walk in," Anfey said.
"But…" one of the soldiers said.
"Move!" Anfey said impatiently.
Those soldiers on watch looked at each other and gave each other a bitter smile. They dared not mess with Anfey’s group or the city master. They felt they were in such a dilemma. A smart soldier seemed to realize the key point of this issue. He ran over to the gate and pushed the gate open. If they gave trouble to Anfey’s group as it stood in front of them right now, they had no idea what troubles they would get themselves into. If their city master would punish them later, they could just switch their jobs. It was not like they would be killed.
Once someone made an example of what to do, in other words, when there was already a scapegoat, other soldiers just followed him and could later step aside and suggest that they had nothing to do with this.
The garrison residence looked simple and clean. It showed that Nana was not a person of luxury. At least half of his residence was empty. A housekeeper, maids, cooks, servants and other bodyguards lived in half of the residence. Anfey did not know how to tell whether any of them were necromancers. That would be the job of Slanbrea. Under the light of Holy Flames, only the necromancers who had the same level of powers as Slanbrea’s could pass Slanbrea’s eyes. There was a reason the Light magic was called the natural enemy of necromancers’ magic.
Once they had woken everyone up, the servants had to be tested by the Holy Flames before they could go anywhere else. Anfey had seen a few of the soldiers during the day. They hesitantly came over to ask Anfey what had happened. Anfey did not give them any explanation. He only signaled them to follow him.
Necromancers could lie to deceive others to work for them, but once they were found out, they started to ditch their friends and families. This was the weak point of the necromancers. Almost no one wanted to see the whole world being ruled by the dark power. Dislike of necromancers was beyond nationality and race. Everyone worked together to fight them, which was the reason that necromancers had never won any war. This was why Anfey did not worry about having those bodyguards follow him. They had been working for Nana, but once they knew the truth that Nana was a necromancer, they would not be on Nana’s side. They would tell Anfey anything suspicious about Nana.
They went from the first floor to the second floor. Slanbrea did not find any useful information. Anfey took out a spear from a weapon holder. He hit things with the spear everywhere, especially in Nana’s study and bedroom. He did not find anything either.
"Master, what on earth has happened? Where is our city master?" a bodyguard could not help asking. Other guards pricked up their ears to eavesdrop on the conversation. They wanted to know about it as well.
"Nana is a necromancer," Anfey said calmly.
"What?" the bodyguards yelled in surprise.
"This is the priest, Slanbrea. This is Palace Archmage Saul’s daughter. I am a student of Master Saul. With us as the witness, don’t you believe that your city master is a necromancer?" Anfey said.
"Is Master Nana really a necromancer?" a bodyguard said in disbelief. He raised his voice a little bit and a maid heard him. No one knew what she remembered at that moment, but she passed out on the floor.
"Would I joke something like this?" Anfey asked.
The bodyguards took a close look at Slanbrea and the serious look on Anfey’s face. They went quiet without asking more questions.
"Wait, I heard Nana has a wife. Why are we not seeing her?" Anfey suddenly remembered the hatred Nana had towards his wife.
"Madam went back to her hometown for a visit. Hmm…she has not come back for about half a year. She took her son with her," a bodyguard answered.
"Does Nana have a good relationship with his wife?" Anfey asked.
"Not too good. Master, I mean the necromancer hated his wife and his son," the bodyguard responded.
"I do not think his wife went back to her hometown," another guard said.
"Huh?" Anfey raised his eyebrows. He turned around and laid his eyes on the bodyguard.
"The brother of the necromancer’s wife came here two months ago. I eavesdropped on their conversation. He told the necromancer that he wanted to see his sister, so I don’t think the wife went back to her hometown," the bodyguard explained.
"What happened afterwards?" Anfey asked further.
"Later...later I never saw his wife’s brother again. He might have left," the bodyguard responded.
"Why would he leave if he never saw his sister?" another bodyguard asked.
"I do not know. I just never saw him again," the bodyguard said.
Anfey had planned to give up the matter. After hearing this, though, he felt something was unusual. He turned to look at Slanbrea. If there was anything hidden here by dark magic, only Slanbrea could find it.