What witch? The Deadly Pharmacist!

She finally saw Leon, and for a moment when their eyes met, they were both at a loss for words.

Then Leon saw Lena's eyes flicker, as if she was trying to convey some message to him, but before he could respond, Lena looked away.

After the three suspects were taken inside, Leon heard Bishop Beckett begin to report to Aaron: "We've done the initial questioning, and the woodcutter and the hunter have basically confessed. The only problem is the last girl; she's the most suspicious. She claims she went up the mountain to gather herbs, but when asked for her name and address, she kept giving evasive answers."

"You think she's the witch who produces magic essence?" Aaron asked.

“The possibility is quite high, but our people didn’t find Moirai’s altar in the labyrinth. The location for producing magic essence shouldn’t be outside Hamel Town. I’ve already sent people to inquire in the surrounding villages, and I believe we’ll have results soon. Once we know where she’s from, we’ll immediately begin a search. As long as we find the key evidence at locations connected to her, her lack of cooperation will be useless,” Bishop Beckett replied.

Upon hearing this, Leon snapped out of his daze and understood the meaning behind Lena's earlier gaze.

Lena hasn't revealed any crucial information yet. The Inquisition has been searching everywhere to find her address, which is why they had the opportunity to search the cellar where the altar was hidden. He still has time.

"Sir, how's the situation on your end?" Bishop Beckett and Aaron were still discussing the case.

“Henry Potter is dead. A killer with the blessing of the Mystic God wiped out everyone in the manor and then committed suicide when he was arrested. Fortunately, we still found evidence that Potter made the potion,” Aaron said.

"A killer with a blessing?" Bishop Beckett's brows furrowed immediately.

In a corner unnoticed by the two, Leon silently backed away, quickly disappearing into the corridor and heading towards the side door of the courtroom.

Chapter 65 The Investigation That Met a Setback

In the morgue of the Inquisition, Aaron and Bishop Beckett, wearing poison-proof bird-beak masks, stood side by side in front of the killer's corpse.

"Do you recognize this face?" Aaron asked Bishop Beckett for confirmation.

“As far as I know, there is no such person in the church, including registered apostates.” Bishop Beckett shook his head. “I’m afraid he’s an assassin secretly trained by someone.”

"Are there any similar suspects, starting with Henry Porter's enemies or rivals?" Aaron continued to ask.

It's unlikely that Porter's clients and collaborators would send an assassin to eliminate him without destroying the evidence, but it would be more plausible if it were one of Porter's enemies.

Bishop Beckett pondered for a moment before replying, "Your Highness, perhaps we can consider this from a different perspective; the assassin may not necessarily be after him."

"You mean..." Aaron turned his head and found Bishop Beckett staring straight at him. He immediately understood what the other meant, "Me? You think this is an assassin sent to me by my sister or someone from her faction?"

"We cannot rule out this concern."

"Then why did he kill Potter? And if he wanted to kill me, he should have sent someone more capable," Aaron questioned.

“Killing others could also be a way to muddy the waters and interfere with the investigation, especially when it comes to killing such an important target as you. And even if you can’t be killed, it can still prevent you from gaining merit in the Church,” Bishop Beckett said.

They are unable to bring Potter to trial because of the killer. Although Potter can be convicted, the killer has become a major point of contention in the case, which will make the case somewhat difficult to close.

Bishop Beckett's suggestion was pragmatic. If the killer was suspected of being an assassination attempt against His Highness the Prince, it would highlight Aaron's hard work in handling the case and make those in the church who were willing to support the Prince more certain of his achievements.

“Furthermore, it’s good that you’re confident in your abilities, but you shouldn’t be careless in any way. Even if you were ambushed from the shadows, you could still be in danger. I also heard that you initially planned to carry out the infiltration mission yourself? You shouldn’t have taken such a risk,” Bishop Beckett continued.

“I just felt that I was the most suitable, but Judge Seth insisted on taking the task, and he was injured as a result, but fortunately the injury is not serious,” Aaron said.

“God bless the hero, then I truly thank him from the bottom of my heart. We should offer our condolences later.” Bishop Beckett slightly changed the subject.

"There's something that bothers me. The autopsy report says the assassin had ulcers in his eyes and severe congestion, like they'd been sprinkled with lime," Aaron suddenly said, pointing to the assassin's eyes.

"Perhaps he was accidentally splashed with some medicine while committing murder in the pharmacy. No wonder he failed to kill Judge Set. Well then, Your Highness, let the coroner examine this place more carefully. Or shall I take you to see the maze first?"

Bishop Beckett suggested that he try to divert Aaron's attention away from the assassin.

“Okay, let’s go now.” Aaron agreed and turned to leave the morgue.

Before leaving, Bishop Beckett covered the assassin with the white cloth again. When he saw the assassin's face for the last time, his brows furrowed and a hint of barely perceptible annoyance flashed in his eyes.

……

Before long, Aaron and Bishop Beckett appeared in the labyrinth, and several apprentice knights were collecting evidence in the labyrinth's workshop.

"So they really were raising monsters in the labyrinth and then producing magic essence. No wonder we couldn't find the smuggling route for this shipment." Aaron looked around and sighed, "It's amazing that Earl Foley could think of that."

Earl Fulei, the most powerful newly appointed lord in the eastern part of the empire, has connections with the family of Prince Aaron's mother and is also Aaron's strongest supporter as the heir to the throne.

Bishop Beckett studied at the church in his youth and was sponsored by Count Frey. On the surface, he was Count Frey's close friend and was entrusted by Count Frey to help the prince enter the church and seek support.

It was on the suggestion of Earl Frey that Aaron temporarily took over the task of investigating local cases at the Heresy Tribunal in Hamel, Southportshire.

Count Fry was very concerned about the progress of the case and often contacted Bishop Beckett. This time, he proposed that the high-purity magic element might be produced locally, and that the hypothesis related to the labyrinth from thirty years ago was also his.

He even used his connections to temporarily allocate a knightly order from the church to be under the command of Bishop Beckett, in order to cooperate with Aaron in raiding Potter's manor while searching the sealed-off labyrinth near Hamel.

If it weren't for Earl Frey, Aaron knew they would have continued wasting time investigating smuggling routes without any results.

The magic essence within the empire is mostly smuggled in from abroad. Within the empire, the main methods are either hunting monsters in unsealed labyrinths or raising monsters on a small scale near labyrinths before refining them. There are very few cases like this, where monsters are secretly raised inside sealed labyrinths.

“Because not many people have the means to do so,” Bishop Beckett echoed.

The active labyrinth is dangerous. Monsters multiply and form groups and ecosystems within it. Wild monsters can appear anywhere, and there is a predator-prey relationship between them. Even witches find it difficult to control them, let alone cultivate a place to raise them. Moreover, the church may break in at any time to carry out a seal.

The sealed labyrinth will not generate monsters, but it still retains magical power, making it very suitable for raising monsters.

However, after the church seals the maze, it will destroy the maze's passages, leaving only a hidden entrance for the Inquisition to patrol. Only the Inquisition knows the location of the entrance.

If it wasn't someone with information about the Inquisition, then someone must have just discovered the entrance and had the means and the guts to do something like this.

"I remember there was a similar case in Foley a long time ago?" Aaron asked casually, his back to Bishop Beckett.

Bishop Beckett's face flashed with a strange expression for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure: "Yes, twenty years ago, a witch was raising monsters in the labyrinth of Foley. After being arrested, she committed suicide by poisoning herself in prison."

"Then how did the person who raised the monsters find out the location of the maze's entrance this time?" Aaron pondered.

“I personally believe that the possibility of an internal intelligence leak is very high,” Bishop Beckett said.

"You mean Caron Esso was involved?" Aaron asked.

They had investigated Caron's situation before taking office and quickly obtained evidence that he was interfering in illegal transactions for profit in Hamel town.

Therefore, the establishment of this maze-like breeding farm may be directly related to Karon.

“This possibility cannot be ruled out. If it is indeed the case, then it is a very serious apostasy,” Bishop Beckett said.

"Can't we rule out the possibility that Karon has fled to avoid punishment?" Aaron said.

“That’s not necessarily true.” Bishop Beckett shook his head. Count Frye had once told him about the speculation that the purity of magic essence had increased.

Just then, a trainee knight called out to them: "Sirs, we've found this at the scene!"

The two turned around and saw two knights carrying several wooden barrels, which at first glance appeared to contain a pile of rubble.

"What is this?" Aaron couldn't recognize it at first.

Bishop Beckett sniffed, catching a peculiar, fleshy smell. He looked down and examined it closely before saying, "These are fragments of a corpse petrified by a monster's poison. I think we've found Caron Esso's body."

Petrified corpses can be preserved for a long time, and feeding them to monsters in batches can produce as much high-purity magic essence as possible, which once again confirmed Count Foley's guess.

"Take it away and examine it carefully," Aaron immediately ordered, then looked at Bishop Beckett, "If this place was built by Esso, and he died here, then was he betrayed? Was there internal strife?"

“Well, we don’t have enough clues right now. Esso and Potter are both dead, and we can’t get anything out of them. What we need most right now is to find evidence of the witch’s crimes. With evidence, we will have the right to use all means of interrogation, and then we will have the opportunity to get all the truth out of her,” Bishop Beckett said.

"A girl who looks only sixteen years old, could she really be Fenrir? She supplied Henry Porter and killed Caron Esso?" Aaron thought back to the petite and seemingly naive girl, and felt that there were many suspicious points.

Ultimately, whether she is a witch or not remains to be seen.

"Sir, you can't judge a book by its cover when dealing with heretics. Even the most innocent-looking witch is extremely dangerous. Charon was poisoned, so as long as the right opportunity is chosen, it can be done. Almost all the key figures in this case are dead. We must find the witch who made the magic essence to close the case!" Bishop Beckett emphasized.

Only by successfully closing the case can Aaron receive a merit fully recognized by the church.

“I know,” Aaron breathed a sigh of relief.

At that moment, a trainee knight rushed in and saluted the two men: "Reporting to you, sirs, we have learned the identity of the suspect. She is a villager from River Mouth Village at the foot of the south mountain. Her name is Rena Lothark, she is sixteen years old, and she lives alone in a house in the woods at the foot of the mountain."

"Get to the point, you've searched, haven't you? What did you find?" Bishop Beckett urged, his eyes gleaming with anticipation for evidence.

“We thoroughly searched the suspect’s residence…” the trainee knight hesitated for a moment, but continued his report, “but so far we have not found any clues.”

Chapter 66 The Only Way to Identify a Witch

Lena's cabin was thoroughly searched by apprentice knights, who went in and out of the house, from the interior to the courtyard and then to the cellar.

Some people even carried shovels and patrolled the courtyard and surrounding area to check for any suspicious places that needed to be dug up.

Aaron and Bishop Beckett stood side by side in the cellar, each holding a lantern.

"Are you sure you haven't found anything suspicious?" Bishop Beckett asked the novice knight behind him.

"So far... nothing, except for some traces of burial found under the table." The apprentice knight carefully chose his words.

"You dug it up to take a look?" Bishop Beckett peered under the table and found that there was indeed a pit underneath.

“I’ve checked. There’s nothing inside, just a deep crack at the bottom,” the apprentice knight said.

“A crack?” Bishop Beckett fell into deep thought.

He looked at the wooden workbench in the cellar, wiped his finger on the surface to check, and found that his finger was clean and free of any dust.

"You've been here?" He turned to the apprentice knight to confirm.

“Aside from searching for evidence, we didn’t do anything extra,” the trainee knight denied.

"There really seems to be nothing here." Aaron looked around but didn't find any clues.

"The fact that there's nothing there is suspicious enough, sir. You see, both tables here are very clean, they've probably been used frequently."

"So what could she be doing on this table in a poorly lit cellar? Carpentry? Needlework? Or... alchemy?" Bishop Beckett questioned.

“But there are no tools here, maybe it was just a simple cleaning,” Aaron said after thinking for a moment.

"Yes, there's nothing there, it's like... it's been specially cleaned up."

Bishop Beckett stroked the table with suspicion, then suddenly frowned.

"What did you find?" Aaron asked.

Bishop Beckett shone his lantern on the table and found a circular indentation on it, a mark left by heavy objects pressing on the table over the years.

Within the circular indentation, several straight lines remain faintly visible, but it's impossible to discern what the pattern is.

"Sir, please take a look at this."

He called Aaron over to take a look, and then drew a pentagram in the circular indentation with his finger. The lines of the indentation seemed to correspond perfectly to the strokes of the pentagram.

Aaron glanced at it twice and understood what he meant: "You mean to say that there used to be an altar here?"

The altars of Moirai confiscated by the church are usually cylindrical, like a huge anvil, with both sides flattened. One side is engraved with magic circles and runes, while the other side is engraved with a pentagram.

“If this table is still in use, I’m wondering if the altar was set up here when the witch was captured! And all those alchemy tools are here too!” Bishop Beckett speculated.

“But you’ve already caught her, how is she going to move the evidence?” Aaron and Bishop Beckett exchanged glances.

As they looked at each other, their expressions became serious.

When the trainee knights sealed off the mountain for a search, this house was outside the cordon. The witch was surrounded in the mountains and didn't have time to go back to the house to move the evidence, so she was taken into custody.

That means someone got there before them and helped the witch move the evidence.

Only three or four hours had passed between their capture of Lena Lothark and their search of her address. If the other party could use those three or four hours to move evidence, it would mean that he was able to find out the direction of the investigation here.

Of course, this is only one possibility. In reality, the other party may have discovered the Knights' movements nearby and realized that Lena might be arrested, so they helped her move the evidence.

But in any case, this speculation points to one possibility—that the witch had accomplices!

This also explains why Lena refused to reveal her personal information after her arrest; she was buying time for her accomplices to transfer evidence.

“But these are all just guesses; they won’t be of any use in court,” Aaron shook his head.

A dent on the table is hardly crucial evidence; they can't even apply to the court for the power to use torture on the grounds of strong suspicion.

Bishop Beckett took out his pocket watch to check the time. Five hours had passed since Rena Lothark was arrested. They had found out her identity and address, and even located the workshop where she kept monsters, but they still hadn't found any decisive evidence to close the case.

He instinctively sensed that the hope of finding physical evidence was becoming increasingly slim.

“Sir, it seems we can only try to get information from her confession. Let’s go and meet that girl first.” Bishop Beckett put away his pocket watch.

……

In Lena's past imagination, the interrogation room was a dark, damp, and cold room, with only an oil lamp illuminating the cold mask of the inquisitor.

But it wasn't until Leon described it to her that she realized the interrogation room was actually very bright, with several campfires illuminating the room and mirrors reflecting the firelight onto her, who was handcuffed to a chair.

Every move the suspect makes can be clearly seen, and the bright light makes it difficult for the suspect to fall asleep. The heat makes each day feel like an eternity. Even without any interrogation, simply being left like this will continuously increase the psychological pressure on the suspect.

Not every suspect is treated this way, and this pressure tactic implies that she is highly suspicious in the Inquisition's judgment, which is an ominous sign.