The story of the black silk female knight

After carefully avoiding the wooden stakes piercing the corpses, Valensa finally entered the village.

She first roughly observed the street and found that Himika's judgment should be correct... The villagers were poisoned and lost the ability to resist before being slaughtered. There were no signs of battle in the village, only some splattered bloodstains that were probably from the initial killing scene.

With no useful clues outside, Valensa casually went into the nearest house to examine the details inside.

"Ok?"

As soon as Valencia entered the house, she noticed something was amiss.

She quickly left the house, observed its exterior from the outside, and compared it with other houses in the village.

"It doesn't look like the village chief's house, so..."

Valensa suddenly quickened her pace, quickly browsing through several houses in the vicinity before returning to the path outside the village entrance, her brow furrowed.

"?"

Chiba, who had been silently following Valensa, finally couldn't hold back any longer:

"Have you discovered something, my dear sister?"

"Hmm...the people in this village have such good living conditions!"

Valensa hesitated for a moment, but then directly voiced her doubts:

"The decorations in almost every house here are on par with those of a minor noble family in France. The clothes in those wardrobes are all made of pure cotton or silk, and you can even find luxury items made of high-grade monster fur... Isn't that strange?"

"So this is it."

Thousand-leaf Grass, however, showed no surprise and shook her head with a smile:

"This is quite normal here... well, to be precise, on Mirror Island."

"normal?"

Valensa raised an eyebrow in confusion:

"Could it be that on Mirror Island, only the rich live in the countryside and the poor live in the city?"

This was clearly a bit of a joke, but Chiba Grass actually hesitated for a moment:

"Well... in a sense, that's not wrong."

"?"

Valensa was completely taken aback:

"What do you mean?"

"Um...it's just..."

Chiba first glanced furtively in Himiko's direction before very cautiously whispering in Valensa's ear:

"Her Majesty the Queen dislikes the powerful and wealthy bullying ordinary people. I think you, my sister, have noticed this as well. That's why some of the rules Her Majesty has set for the powerful and wealthy are unacceptable to some people."

It's a case of "out of sight, out of mind"... or perhaps it's to avoid conflict. Many wealthy people here genuinely dislike living in big cities, preferring to live in secluded areas in groups... which is why many villages here are quite wealthy, with every household being quite well-off.

"...That makes it even stranger."

Valensa frowned even more deeply, turned around and walked back to the village entrance to check on the bodies impaled on the stakes:

"Rich people live far from big cities, so they must bring guards to prevent monster attacks, and maids to serve them in their daily lives... Hmm, I knew it."

The corpses of cultivators are very different from those of ordinary people. Valensa easily discovered that there were quite a few cultivators among the corpses, including several Lighthouse-level warriors, who were all killed with a single, swift strike.

The fact that the murderer was helpless against the Sailian Clan members who witnessed the entire process from the water suggests that there were no Radiant-rank experts among the murderers.

But the killer was able to easily kill a Lighthouse-level warrior with a single blow... This cannot be explained simply by poisoning.

Even if a Lighthouse-level warrior's life form hasn't fully evolved, their physique is still far superior to that of an ordinary person.

Even if they were equally powerless to resist the effects of the poison, the onset would inevitably be slower than that of ordinary people, and they would not be completely unprepared when they realized that the villagers had been poisoned.

But the truth is that they were all killed without any warning... This can only mean that the murderer had a special status in the village, so that even if the guards encountered a mishap, they would not suspect them, and would even rely on them, resulting in their easy deaths.

This was also a new question that arose in Valensa after hearing what Thousand Leaf Grass had to say.

According to Chiba, the wealthy people who live away from big cities and build their own villages are all people who are more or less dissatisfied with Himiko's policies.

The people who committed the violence in the village last night were, on the surface, members of the ninja squad... The ninjas were Himika's direct forces.

Would someone dissatisfied with Himika's policies trust Himika's ninjas so much?

Therefore, those fake ninjas must have had other connections with the village, which is the most important reason why they would wipe out the village overnight.

We must search the village thoroughly and find as many clues as possible!

With that in mind, Valensa went back into the village and began to inspect each house herself, with Thousand Leaf Grass helping her along.

At first, nothing was discovered... Apart from the suspected primary murder scene with splattered blood, there was nothing unusual.

Until Valensa walked into someone's kitchen.

The kitchen is large enough to accommodate three to five people cooking at the same time... This is not surprising, after all, the villagers are all rich.

But in the most conspicuous spot in this kitchen, there is a large iron pot with the lid off, inside which is a large pot of stir-fried green peppers and pork slices that has already cooled down... enough for at least 20 people.

Based on the number of bedrooms and beds in this house, it can be inferred that there are no more than 10 people in this household, including the master and servants... Why would they cook so much food in one meal? They don't run a restaurant.

This was just the amount of food in one large iron pot... Valensa opened the other pots one by one and found at least a hundred more large meat buns, all of which had been steamed last night.

Something's not right, something's definitely not right!

"Focus on inspecting the kitchens of every household!"

Valensa quickly called out to Chiba, who was searching for clues in the next house:

"Take a look at how many cooking utensils and food they have in their kitchen! And how many people can their houses normally accommodate... Keep a detailed count! Also, it would be best to keep a complete count of the types of food they serve!"

"Yes, my dear sister!"

Thousand-leaf grass quickly responded.

After that, they went door to door, focusing on inspecting the kitchens, and also carefully looked through all the houses they had already inspected.

By noon, Himiko, who was at the village entrance, had completed all the autopsies and entered the village to exchange information with Valensa.

Upon learning of the anomaly Valensa had discovered, Himiko summoned the black-armored warriors of the Imperial Household to the village to help, focusing their inspection on the kitchens of each household.

Even so, by the time all 300-plus houses in the village had been inspected, it was already evening.

"...Just as I thought."

Looking at the test results gathered in her hand, Valensa sighed and rubbed her forehead:

“They cooked way too much food last night in this village… They only have a little over 2000 people, but they made enough food for at least 10,000 people.”

"The doubts don't stop there."

Himika, who was also looking at the search for the exam applicants, added:

“I have examined all the victims’ bodies, and they all showed signs of poisoning, which came from the village well… This means that the villagers were murdered after they had dinner last night, but they were still cooking large amounts of food after dinner.”

“They are not eating for themselves, but providing food for someone…and it is very likely that they are from the Central Continent Empire.”

Valensa spoke frankly:

"This village must have been colluding with the Central Continent Empire long ago... They supplied the Vanguard Fleet with food and other supplies, and probably other aid... but last night they were all mercilessly wiped out by the Vanguard Fleet."

"...It might not necessarily be the vanguard fleet of the Central Continent Empire, right?"

Himiko's cautious analysis:

"Could it be some kind of emerging cult? The corpses impaled on wooden stakes at the village entrance have a very cult-like ritualistic feel to them."

"Hmm...their purpose in doing this might be to disguise it as cult activities, but they are definitely not a cult!"

Valensa stated firmly:

"Believe me... no one in this world is better able to distinguish between genuine and fake cults than I am!"

"...Yes, that makes sense, after all, you are a very powerful paladin."

Himiko hesitated for a moment before agreeing with Valensa's judgment that the possibility of a cult was ruled out, but she still did not conclude that the people who were provided with food by the village were definitely from the Central Continent Empire's vanguard fleet:

"But even if it's not a cult, there are still other possibilities, right?"

"That's true... but the possibility that the village is colluding with the Central Continent Empire is much greater!"

Valensa, however, maintained her own judgment:

"First of all, the timing is too coincidental... Your Majesty, you just summoned the ninjas outside back to Jade Island yesterday to check their identities, and they took action overnight."

Secondly, the food the village prepared for those people consisted almost entirely of local snacks that I had gradually learned about in Fran, and these snacks seemed to suit the tastes of people from the Eastern continent.

Of course, everyone loves delicious food... These snacks are also very popular in France, so it's not surprising that they've spread to the Four Islands Alliance.

However... these snacks are all popular delicacies among the common people, while the nobles still prefer to eat traditional foods made with high-end ingredients.

Perhaps some nobles enjoy experiencing the pleasures of the common people, but it's definitely not the rich people living in this village... Your Majesty, you must have known all along that the rich people who flock to build villages like this are those who are dissatisfied with your policies... They look down on the poor, and they would never make large quantities of commoner food in their own homes. They would only make it for others to eat, and they would demand that the people who eat this food have a higher status than them in the cooperation. Even if they hate commoner food, they cannot resist it.

Putting all these clues together, I have a bold hypothesis… The villagers here, likely dissatisfied with Your Majesty, may have secretly colluded with the Central Plains Empire, helping the vanguard fleet to remain hidden and providing them with food and other necessities.”

"..."

Himika remained silent for a long while before finally nodding:

"So, you think the vanguard fleet of the Central Continent Empire would decisively massacre the village because this village had cooperated with them before, and it's very likely that their whereabouts will be exposed later?"

"This...this should be how it is, right?"

Valensa frowned and went through all the clues again, confirming her suspicions:

"Yes, I think so."

Chapter 4 Traitor?

The search of the scene of the massacre came to an end after Valensa and Himiko made their deductions based on the clues they found.

The more detailed follow-up investigation will be taken over by the black-armored warriors of the Imperial House, while Himika will use necromancy to summon a bone dragon and personally lead Valensa and Chiba to the next destination.

As a dragon knight, Valensa was quite concerned about the existence of bone dragons... If Himiko was really enslaving the soul of a giant dragon, she would definitely ask her in detail.

If it were a vicious dragon that wantonly harmed humans before the war and was killed, that would be fine... The agreement after the war clearly stipulated that all the materials from the bodies of dragons killed by humans in the war were spoils of war for humans, and the dragon race could not hold the users accountable.

But if Himiko continues to enslave the dragon's soul after the agreement is signed, then an explanation is needed.

However, after carefully examining the skeletal frame, which was over 20 meters long, Valensa realized that she had been worrying unnecessarily.

This thing does indeed look like a bone dragon, but none of its tens of thousands of bones are dragon bones; they are all made by rubbing together the bones of other monsters using necromancy.

Then it'll be fine.

With Himiko's necromancy buff, the bone dragon flew very fast, and soon it flew diagonally across most of Mirror Island, arriving at a coastal wilderness on the east side of Mirror Island.

Valensa, Himiko, and Chiba jumped off the bone dragon and began their search, primarily looking for human remains and signs of battle.

The identities of the ninja squad that massacred the village last night have been confirmed... However, Valensa and Himika do not believe that the ninja squad is the same as the original group; they have most likely been replaced.

After all, ninjas wear masks or use special ninjutsu to conceal their appearance year-round. As long as their physique and voice are not too different, and they also disguise their ninjutsu fluctuations, it is indeed difficult to distinguish between the real and the fake.

So Valensa, Himika, and Chiba's current task is to find the place where the ninja team was attacked and replaced.

Therefore, Himika had already reviewed the ninja team's activity records over the past month before going to the massacred village.

This was something that Queen Himiko wouldn't normally need to do personally, but now that someone close to her and whom she trusted might have run into trouble, she chose to act personally with Valensa to ensure that the information wouldn't be leaked again.

That ninja squad has carried out missions in quite a few places over the past month. Himika searched the first three places one by one in her Bone Dragon, but found nothing. It wasn't until the fourth time, when they came to a small island with an area of ​​less than 3 square kilometers in the sea east of Mirror Island, that they finally found a clue.

Although the scene had been washed away by water magic multiple times and the ground had been disturbed by earth magic, Himiko, being a specialist in necromancy, still managed to discover some corpse remains buried more than 20 meters underground.

Moreover, although the slain Chiba clan ninjas were unable to send out the news in time, they left behind some information at the scene in a special way that was not afraid of being washed away or buried. This information was found by Chiba Kusa, an excellent anti-demon ninja of the Chiba clan.

"This is a trap...they've encountered a premeditated ambush!"

By combining the two clues, Himika immediately drew a conclusion:

"If it were just a skirmish, even if the enemy was strong, my ninjas should have been able to get the message out in time... But the truth is, they couldn't even get the message out before they were left here forever."

Judging from the fact that the island's ecosystem wasn't severely damaged, the opposing side probably didn't possess any powerful individuals capable of ending the battle with a single blow. Therefore, there's only one explanation—they walked into a meticulously prepared trap, which explains their complete annihilation before they could even send a message.

After saying this, Himika looked at Chiba again, her eyes filled with sorrow and loss:

"To be able to set a trap on such an isolated island in the sea, the other party must have obtained the details of the ninja squad's mission plan... And in the entire Four Islands Alliance, besides me, there are only two other people who can know the details of the mission plans of every ninja squad."

"Are they... my sisters?"

Chiba realized why Himika was in such a bad mood today; her expression changed drastically, and her eyes were filled with disbelief.