The story of the black silk female knight

As Valensa was enjoying a delicious meal of fish head and crab claw, she noticed that quite a few ninjas were already landing on Jade Island... It must be that Himika's order had been issued to summon these ninjas to Jade Island for covert identity verification.

Out of politeness and to save Himiko's face, Valensa didn't ask any further questions and went to her room to sleep after dinner.

Valensa had assumed that Chiba would launch a night raid, so she specifically entrusted Yi Qiuya to Nana to sleep in another room, and also informed the Phantom Thief Sister.

Unexpectedly, nothing happened that night. Valensa waited in her room for a long time with her blanket, but Chiba Grass did not come to raid her.

...Perhaps it's because it's on Jade Island.

After all, all the direct descendants of the Chiba family were Queen Himika's private favorites, with Chiba Grass being the only exception in the past 700 years.

Even if Himika herself doesn't care, Chiba would most likely not dare to act too recklessly on Himika's territory.

Why don't you try to completely turn the Phantom Thief Sister gay?

Valensa, who was slightly unsatisfied, had this idea, but ultimately did not carry it out.

She was quite certain that even if she went to her senior thief's room to make advances, her senior thief probably wouldn't refuse her... but that would only be a senior thief's affection for his junior sister, and it would still be a little lacking.

When it comes to choosing a partner for nighttime pleasure, Valensa generally only chooses two types... one is naturally a deep and spontaneous love like Tia's, and the other is pure play that doesn't consider feelings at all and only pursues pleasure... Valensa has no problem with either of these.

Physical pleasure that involves some affection but hasn't reached that threshold is something Valensa would carefully consider when she encounters, like the Phantom Thief Sister.

Because of this kind of physical intimacy, unexpected reactions are very likely to occur... The worst thing could be that it completely destroys the relationship between the two people, which would be a real shame.

So let's wait and see about the Phantom Thief Sister.

As for using Nana to serve her and play the game of self-pleasure, it's too late now... Yi Qiuya is currently sleeping soundly in Nana's arms like a mother, and she really can't bear to disturb her.

Ultimately, Valensa tossed and turned in unsatisfied desires and eventually slept alone.

I went to bed late, so naturally I wanted to sleep a little longer, but unfortunately I couldn't even do that.

Just as dawn was breaking, Thousand Leaf Grass, whom she had been waiting for all night, rushed into Valensa's room to wake her up.

"Why are you only arriving now, Cao Cao?"

Half-asleep, Valensa thought that Thousand Leaf Grass had finally come to raid her at night, so she quickly made room in the blankets and tried to grab Thousand Leaf Grass to hug and sleep with her.

Chiba was clearly tempted, but she immediately resisted the allure of the sleeping beauty in black stockings, refused Valensa's invitation, and woke Valensa up again:

"Wake up, my dear sister! Something's happened! Her Majesty the Queen has gone to the scene... Before she left, she specifically sent a maid to inform us, probably wanting you to go and see for yourself too."

"Something happened?"

This word finally made Valensa crawl out of bed and forcefully fight off her sleepiness:

"What happened? Did they discover something during last night's investigation of the ninjas' identities? Has His Majesty found the hideout of the Central Continent Empire's vanguard fleet and is he in a hurry to eliminate them?"

"...If only that were true."

Thousand-leaf grass gave a wry smile and shook her head:

"I'm not entirely clear about the results of last night's examination. It was something else, but it's very likely related to the vanguard fleet of the Central Continent Empire... Last night, a village south of Mirror Island was attacked, and all 2000 villagers were killed without a single survivor."

According to witnesses, the perpetrators of this tragedy were a squad of elite ninjas… members of our Chiba clan's ninja unit.”

"what?"

Valensa froze, then sensed something was amiss:

"Wait... wait a minute... what do you mean by 'no survivors and according to eyewitnesses'? If there were no survivors, where would the eyewitnesses come from?"

“It’s very simple, because the witnesses were from the Seren tribe… They were originally going to that village to trade with humans.”

Valensa shrugged:

"As a result, they witnessed the massacre... Since both sides in the battle were humans, the Serenians didn't know what to do and could only watch from the sidelines."

Chapter 3: The Deduction Begins with a Pot of Stir-fried Green Peppers and Pork

"So it's the Seren tribe..."

Valensa frowned slightly:

"Are they just going to let them watch the murderer?"

"Otherwise what? Those are the Seren race. They are the true masters of water combat. At the same level, neither human water-type cultivators nor mist demons can match them."

Thousand-leaf clover shrugs:

"As long as those Sailian tribesmen stay in the water and don't come ashore, those murderers shouldn't be able to silence them even if they wanted to."

"This means that there should be no Yao-rank among the perpetrators."

Valensa immediately made a judgment:

"Although the Seren race is a humanoid race, their social structure is closer to that of a demon race. Individuals of the Radiant Rank have a very high status. It is unlikely that a Radiant Rank Seren would personally handle a small matter like trading with human villagers... This means that the murderers could not silence them, and it is highly probable that there are no Radiant Rank members among them and that their numbers are small."

"Ah."

Thousand-leaf grass nodded:

"The Sairen clan also mentioned this... There were only 12 murderers, which is exactly the size of an ordinary ninja squad of our Chiba clan."

"Only 12 people killed more than 2000 villagers? Not a single survivor, and the massacre went unnoticed by anyone? This..."

Valensa hesitated for a moment, then shook her head and jumped out of bed to start getting dressed.

“This is indeed a bit strange… Let’s go to the scene. Her Majesty the Queen should have given you the exact location, right?”

"Yes, it's a village on the south side of Mirror Island."

Chiba grass pondered and roughly calculated:

"It would take most of the day to get there by ninja ship, but if you, my dear sister, carry me and run on the sea... well, it should only take less than an hour."

"Isn't there a teleportation array or something?"

Valensa frowned slightly when she heard that she would have to travel at sea by herself.

"Even if we can't teleport directly to that small village, teleporting to Chuyun City first and then rushing there would save a lot of trouble... How did Her Majesty the Queen get there?"

"Spatial teleportation cannot be used on Jade Island."

Thousand-leaf grass shrugs with a wry smile:

"This is also for safety reasons... The island protection formation will completely disrupt the spatial coordinates here. Forcibly using spatial teleportation will only result in being thrown to an unknown place, and the enemy will not be able to teleport in... Even His Majesty just flew to the scene himself."

"...Okay, then I'll carry you there."

Valensa didn't say anything more. She took out a map and asked Chiba to point out the destination. She then greeted the Phantom Thief Sister and the Doll Girl, asking them to wait for her on Jade Island. She then headed with Chiba to the small village where the incident had occurred the previous night.

Using Radiant Power to run at supersonic speed on the sea surface is actually quite dangerous. It's easy for powerful marine creatures to take it as a provocation and come over from hundreds of kilometers away to beat you up.

In the past, Valensa would not have done this so easily.

But now there's no problem. The existence of the new Noble Phantasm, Nana, has almost doubled her combat power. The two giant shrimp and the strange fish blocking her way were all beaten away by Nana's punches and kicks.

They then successfully arrived at the small village that had been attacked the previous night.

The area was now surrounded by elite black-armored warriors. Valensa was no stranger to these warriors; she had seen them many times during her last visit to Chuyun City. They were the armed forces of the Ditang family and must have come from Chuyun City after receiving the news.

When Valensa sped towards the village from the sea at about twice the speed of sound, the black-armored warriors tensed up, thinking they had encountered a powerful sea monster attack.

Fortunately, someone must have recognized Valensa in time, and the black-armored warriors quickly changed formation, from a defensive formation to a welcoming formation.

When Valensa got ashore with Thousand Leaf Grass in her arms, she saw two familiar faces.

"Young Master Bu, Mr. Sakura, it's been a long time."

It was the same person who had received Valencia when she last visited Chuyun City, and the same person who had fought alongside her against the Radiant Ocean Monster on the merchant ship... It seemed that the two of them were in charge of the black-armored warriors who were sealing off the scene.

"It's been a long time, Your Excellency."

The two exchanged pleasantries with Valensa, but their attitude was much more respectful than last time.

Because Valencia is now not only a savior who banished the consciousness of the evil god, but also a distinguished guest of their Queen.

"Where is His Majesty? How is he?"

The two weeks they spent together in Chuyun City gave Valensa and Ditangbu a general understanding of each other's personalities, so they only exchanged a few simple pleasantries before getting straight to the point.

"His Majesty is inside inspecting the scene. The situation... the situation is very bad."

Di Tangbu's face was extremely pale, as if he had just witnessed some horrific scene:

"His Majesty had instructed us to protect the scene, so after we arrived here, we did not touch anything except to try to search for survivors... Everything in the village is still the same as it was after the attack last night."

"Come on, let me see too."

Valensa immediately started walking towards the village, asking as she went:

"When did you receive the news and rush over? Did you encounter any of the Seren tribe members who claimed to be witnesses?"

"We only arrived this morning."

Di Tangbu quickly walked to Valensa's side and followed her, saying with a wry smile:

"This tragedy went unnoticed all night... It was the Seren clan members who witnessed it who reported it after returning home. Afterwards, the Seren clan's higher-ups seemed to have guessed something and told us about it... Some of our Ditang family members have quite good personal relationships with the Seren clan."

In short, our Teido family received the news just before dawn... My uncle immediately reported this to Her Majesty the Queen, and at the same time sent Mr. Sakura and me with samurai to seal off the scene and attempt a search and rescue operation.

"I understand... huh?"

Valensa suddenly stopped walking because the scenery around her had clearly changed, and the fresh sea breeze was suddenly filled with the stench of blood.

She then realized that the so-called sealing off of the site by the Di Tang family was not just about sending black-clad warriors to surround the village, but also about powerful spellcasters setting up a barrier to truly isolate the village.

The horrific scene inside the barrier made Valensa fully understand the purpose of her actions. At the same time, she stopped secretly laughing at the pale-faced Emperor Ambition, because even she herself felt a bit nauseous.

At the village entrance, in a relatively spacious open space, countless wooden stakes had been erected, each topped with a gruesome corpse—covered in blood, naked, and with its head smashed to pieces by a blunt object like a sledgehammer.

If Valensa hadn't sensed no trace of chaotic divine power, she would have thought this was a sacrificial ceremony of some large cult... It was too cruel.

In front of the corpses, a girl dressed in a black kimono was half-crouching. Her fingertips glowed with an eerie light as she continuously stroked the bodies that had been lowered from the wooden stakes on the ground in front of her, presumably conducting some kind of examination.

Valensa was not surprised by this.

The girl was none other than Himika, who arrived first. Himika was known as the Queen of Demons and was the strongest necromancy user on the entire continent of Frenoia.

Anyone who studies necromancy will inevitably have a lot of medical knowledge. Examining corpses and doing forensic work is just a piece of cake for them.

"...How is it, Your Majesty? Have you discovered anything?"

Valensa waited patiently behind Himiko for a while, and only asked after Himiko finished the inspection and stood up.

"The murderer and the villagers should have known each other... or rather, the murderer had a public persona that would never have aroused the villagers' suspicion."

Himika's face was tightly pressed together, her expression unreadable, but she was definitely in a terrible mood.

"The villagers all had residual toxins in their bodies... The piercings from being nailed to wooden stakes and the blunt force trauma that smashed their heads were not fatal injuries."

They must have been collectively poisoned and rendered unable to resist... It's very likely that the village's water supply was poisoned, and the massacre occurred after dinner.

The killers were highly professional, each fatally wounding the villagers with a single blow; their killing efficiency was extremely high… They only smashed the heads of the villagers and impaled them on wooden stakes after killing them all.”

Why would the murderer do this?

As Valensa spoke, she closed her eyes and carefully sensed it again, then said with certainty:

"There are no traces of evil god power here, so it can't be some kind of sacrificial ritual... Could it simply be a display of their ferocity to intimidate us?"

"...I can't think of any punctures right now, but the broken head must be because of me."

Himiko paused for a moment and then said:

"As you know, I am quite skilled in necromancy and have the ability to read some of the deceased's memories to track down the murderer... but this requires the deceased to have a relatively intact brain, and I can't do that in their current state."

"Stop Your Majesty from reading the memories of the dead..."

Valensa seemed thoughtful:

"It seems the villagers here must know some very important information, which is why the murderer was in such a hurry to silence them... By the way, I heard the murderer was a ninja squad?"

"...The current intelligence is indeed true, but those should not be my ninjas, but were replaced by the vanguard fleet of the Central Continent Empire long ago."

Himika's eyes grew even more somber:

"As expected, someone around me leaked the information... I just ordered the ninja squad to go to Jade Island yesterday under some pretext, and this happened immediately... Moreover, a ninja squad did ignore my orders yesterday, so it must have been them."

Having seemingly identified a definite suspect, Himika's expression grew even more unpleasant, her eyes filled with anger and disappointment.

Valensa, not wanting to add fuel to the fire, continued walking into the village:

"Then I'll go to the village first and see if I can find any other clues."

Himika didn't stop him and remained standing at the village entrance, seemingly still sulking.