Chapter 104: The Church’s Method of Investigation
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
When Jeremy said those words, Benjamin was seated with his back facing him, staring at the food on the table, picking and hesitating at what to eat next.
It was also fortunate that his back was facing Jeremy, or else Jeremy would have seen the short moment when his expression quickly changed.
He stood there frozen for a while, and quickly returned to normal. He picked up a glass of milk, lifted his head, finished it in one go, then turned around and seemed to shrug helplessly.
"What can we do? Every time something happens, the merchants will start to hike up the prices of their stockpiles. It has always been like this, I’m used to it."
He idly bad mouthed the merchants in the capital, wearing an expression of nonchalance on his face, but in his mind, he had just pressed down on his unease, maintaining calm on the surface.
Stolen away a very important document...
You could guess who they were referring to with a toe.
The Church issued a warrant for him.
Benjamin almost stopped breathing the moment he realized this.
Things really got out of hand.
Actually, when he finished reading that letter addressed to King Carretas, he had already felt that things were not right. At that time, he regretted stealing this letter and getting himself involved in such a troublesome matter. But regrets were useless, so he destroyed the letter and pretended he knew nothing.
He had guessed beforehand that the Church would react this way but he did not expect the Church to put out a wanted poster, send out Holy Knights and begin vetting those who travelled in and out of the capital.
It seemed that the Church viewed this matter much more seriously than he imagined.
Luckily, luckily, he did not leave many traces while carrying out this act. The Church probably did not suspect him or he would not have faced Jeremy the moment he woke up, but the judgment of the Holy Light.
Thinking along these lines, he slowly relaxed and looked at Jeremy again, proceeding to nonchalantly ask, "But... surprisingly, there was an assassin of an enemy nation who infiltrated the capital. How does he look like? Was it written on the wanted sign?"
However, Jeremy’s words shocked him once again.
"Yeah, it was. It said that the assassin was skilled in changing their appearances and likes to disguise as a beggar, has a skinny and small build and has dirty brown-colored hair."
"...."
Benjamin turned around again and pretended as if he was choosing food. With his back facing Jeremy, he took a deep breath and then turned back around casually, with a piece of bread in his hand.
He could only slightly recover from the shock after doing all that.
What was the situation now?
This bitch...the Church actually found him?
Strictly speaking, the Church did not actually find him but... how did they do it? How did the Church know that the one who killed the pastor and took the letter was a beggar?
Benjamin was scared to the point he almost broke out in cold sweat.
The only one who knew that a beggar killed the pastor was probably that Chief Silverfox. Could it be...that that Chief Silverfox was caught and the Church read his memories so they could put out this warrant?
No way, then isn’t he in danger now?
"Only this bit of description?" Benjamin asked after some thought. "Who can recognize the assassin with just these?"
He had to know the amount of information the Church had. Through the amount of information they had, he had to deduce the probability of the Church connecting this beggar to Benjamin Lithur.
So, he really had to inquire more.
"Can’t help it, there was only this much on the warrant. If they knew better, they probably would have caught the person already." Jeremy shook his head and continued, "And because they don’t know how that beggar looks like, so many beggars on the streets have been taken away by the Church. Young master, you have no idea how much cleaner the streets of the outer area of the city are compared to yesterday!"
Hearing that, Benjamin was silently relieved.
The Church had begun randomly catching people, meaning that they have uncovered very little information.
With this information, it meant Chief Silverfox was probably not caught. Or else, since he spent so much time with that old man, the amount of information the Church could extract from reading his memories would not be this little. They would not have mislabeled his golden brown hair as dirty brown.
Of course, the hair color mistake was all thanks to his wallowing in a mud pit. At first glance, it was easy to mistake it for dirty brown.
At first glance...
Suddenly, Benjamin wondered, how did the Church receive the keyword of "beggar"?
When he walked into old man Silverfox’s hotel, there were many pedestrians on the street; and there were a lot of customers in the hotel too who were driven away later by Holy Knights. The Church must have begun their search at the hotel and found some pedestrians who were passing by and customers who were escaping in a hurry. And among these people, there might have been a few who accidentally spotted a Benjamin disguised as a beggar as they were leaving.
The Church took and read their memories and so could conclude – the beggar who walked into the hotel and squatted at the side with his head down was the culprit who killed the pastor.
Who would have thought that the Church was pretty good when it came to investigating a case.
As for the suspicion on Chief Silverfox... he was pretty famous outside the city so the Church probably found out that he could not be a magician. Therefore, they did not list Chief Silverfox as the murderer.
Like this, after thinking of the chronological order of this matter, Benjamin felt less uneasy.
The fact that the Church could find out so much was indeed surprising, but there was only so much they could find. As long as they cannot catch Chief Silverfox, Benjamin did not have much to worry about.
To try and recognize Benjamin from the few pedestrians’ hazy memories of him was basically impossible.
Of course, if the Church could work backwards through the memories of all the pedestrians, they might be able to draw out the route Benjamin took and maybe even find the pipe organ man who shared a few words with Benjamin at Bonnie’s Pub. But sadly, on the streets outside of the city, not all of them have pedestrians and not all pedestrians have the time to pay attention to beggars on the streets.
To use a method like this to uncover even a hair on Benjamin was the same as fishing for a needle in the sea.
He was completely at ease.
Phew....
Things have indeed gotten out of hand, but as long as he laid low for now, there should not be any problems. The Church was so busy dealing with noble clans on one hand, countering magicians on another, and trying to join forces with Carretas too. This serious situation of investigation shouldn’t be able to last very long.
Honestly speaking, he himself has begun feeling that ever since the Pope reappeared to the world again, the Church’s arms started reaching a little too far. Yes, power is power but no matter how powerful you are, rice still has to be eaten one bite at a time.
This boundless greed, are they not afraid of being full to the point of death?
Just like this, Benjamin thought while finishing his meal under Jeremy’s supervision. After offhandedly asking a few more questions about the situation outside, he dismissed Jeremy and personally closed his door once more.
Since Claude also said to not go out these days and there was that huge hoopla with the Church, he might as well stay in his room and continue honing magic.
So, he laid back on the bed and prepared to continue honing magic.
He had just woken up not long ago, ate some things and was back on his bed. To an outsider’s point of view, his life must seem decadent and wasted.
As Benjamin entered the space of consciousness, he could not help but think of that.
But, he could not care less what other people thought.
The third magic rune was about to take shape. In this crucial moment, should he not pay closer attention?