Witch Hunter Rhapsody

"Is this truly harm caused by humans?"

Helena exclaimed, "Anyone who sees these horrific scenes would think the same thing."

Several mercenaries stationed outside Viya's laboratory were torn to pieces; the larger pieces were the size of a palm, while the smaller ones were only the size of a finger.

"Ideally, it should be human; if it's not human, we'll be in for a lot of trouble."

Vitas was also there.

Last night, he passed by here when he was taking Ether home. After a brief chat, he took Ether home first, and then came back to try to find out some information.

Unexpectedly, Helena also came.

The Flying Eagle Knights' recent impressive performance has caught the attention of the local lord, who, upon learning of this, immediately decided to invite them to participate in maintaining city order.

This is also why Helena and Leon are here.

Vitas and the others who were there for the first time entered the laboratory.

The laboratory was quite clean. The experimental equipment and materials had been removed, leaving only some furniture that was of little use. There was a faint smell of bitter almonds in the air, but the concentration was no longer harmful to the human body.

Vitasker suppressed the inexplicable excitement in his heart. He had once carried out an excellent assassination here without being discovered.

Then, the person in charge here opened the hidden door.

There's actually a hidden door here?

Vitas was slightly shocked. Elizabeth, who was already dead, had never mentioned such a thing, and there was no trace of it during his prior investigation. He hadn't even noticed it when he entered the laboratory.

Do wizards all have such secret spaces? Then the wizards I killed before probably did too. If that's the case, haven't I lost a lot of wealth?

He followed the crowd down to a secret operating room. Around it were large jars, some taller than a person, some broken, some intact. The intact jars were filled with water and contained several humanoid creatures.

Vitas looked closely and saw that these were all humans, humans created by humans, their bodies stitched together from different parts, their eyes tightly closed.

The creature inside the broken jar was the same, unconscious and lifeless.

Those around were somewhat taken aback. Didn't this confirm the legend that Viya was conducting illegal experiments?

Vitas wasn't particularly surprised. In the legends of Ortham, Viya had a lot to say about her, and adhering to the principle that there's no smoke without fire, Viya certainly didn't have clean hands.

It was actually more unsettling to discover, after killing Viya, that her experiments were more normal than he had imagined.

As for now, Vitas feels much better.

"So are there any other clues?"

"No, if you consider these things clues."

Vitas looked up and saw claw marks on the ceiling, the floor, and the surrounding walls.

"So if it were a human, then this mark would be terrifying."

Vitas nodded, agreeing with Leon's statement.

"Personally, I think this is some kind of experimental creation that escaped. No one has discovered this dark room for a long time, so this thing must have been starving for a long time."

"Huh? Vitas, does that mean this thing eats people?"

"People will eat each other when they're starving, let alone these things. The lord had better issue an order to enforce the curfew."

Vitas then asked Helena another question.

"So you went to see the lord this morning?"

"How could that be? The lord's castle is quite far from here. He extended an olive branch to us using magic. We went to explain the situation to Declan this morning. After all, we all need to be on guard now, and we need to relax our defenses on his side a little."

Declan had recently told Helena that he wanted to hire the Flying Eagle Knights as guards for his mansion, and Helena had indeed agreed. But now that he was going to break his promise, he really needed to talk to her about it.

How did he respond?

He said he was glad we hadn't started working yet, because now he had time to look for other people.

"Declan is still an honest man."

Helena nodded in agreement.

"I never expected to meet a boss like this."

"Being a lord is not bad either. Although it's only a viscount, it's a family legacy. If things continue like this, in ten or fifteen years, you or Leon will be able to compete for a title. As mercenaries, that kind of honor is enough."

Helena raised her head.

"That's not enough! I want our names to resound throughout the entire world!"

Leon spoke up from the side.

"Alright, you two, stop daydreaming and come over here to conduct an investigation. There's no reason why something capable of leaving such traces wouldn't leave even more traces when it escaped."

……

Ether walked alone on the street.

She only realized how absurd the thing she had done the day before after she had taken a nap.

And this absurd thing even received an absurd response.

After waking up, she stared at herself in the mirror for a long time. Ether, who was not particularly confident about her appearance to begin with, became even more frightened.

What if Vitas was merely acting out of politeness and knightly compassion?

However, these worries disappeared after I started working.

While repairing the armor, she heard strange things from the guests.

Just last night, something happened again in Viya's lab. When Vitas and I were passing by, Vitas went over to ask about it and then took me home with a serious expression.

dead?

Viya didn't mean to eavesdrop on the guests' conversation, but then again, if it were something that couldn't be heard by others, she certainly wouldn't say it in such a situation at a volume that could be heard by people dozens of meters away.

Something escaped from Viya's lab, and it had been starving for days. It sounded like some old and strange story that scared children.

Viya found it strange, but after hearing that the Flying Eagle Knights had been invited to participate in this event, she also felt that it was a good topic to talk about with Vitas.

"Viya! There's something I need you to deliver."

Customers who get the shop owner's daughter to personally deliver goods are usually regular customers or good friends of the shop owner. Some have even watched Viya grow up; this one is the latter.

Viya took the package, which contained some exquisite little items, enough for one person.

Before leaving, she inexplicably remembered what she had just heard.

But in broad daylight, would a monster appear on the street?

Viya thought to herself and walked out of the store.

She hummed a song, pondering where she should go with Vitas next. They weren't officially lovers yet, maybe just one step away, so every meeting from now on would be crucial...

Viya suddenly stopped thinking and noticed a little girl sitting in a small alley.

Logically speaking, this city is not a wealthy place, and this area is indeed a slum, so it's not particularly strange to see a little girl in tattered clothes sitting there.

But isn't it a bit too strange to have a little girl covered in blood sitting there?

There weren't many pedestrians around, and she wasn't particularly noticeable.

Ether hesitated for a moment, then walked over.

"kid?"

The girl looked up at Ether, then quickly retreated, making some indistinct cries.

It took Ether a few seconds to realize that the sound wasn't coming from her mouth, but from her stomach.

Ether suddenly felt like she was a small animal, so she patiently squatted down and asked, "Are you hungry?"