During the daytime, the sky above Kankdar was covered with dark clouds, a restless sea breeze blew through the harbor, and surging waves crashed against the shore. The sea was rolling with waves, and the ships moored at the dock swayed and bobbed. Under the gloomy sky, the vitality of the entire Kankdar momentarily decreased significantly.
Facing the blowing sea breeze, a team of carriages was proceeding along the spacious road towards the harbor. In a short while, they arrived at the dock.
The carriage team stopped at the dock, and then the doors of the carriages opened one after another. Many guards wearing the uniforms of the City Guard stepped out. The Captain leading them, Hajeta, quickly walked to the largest carriage after getting off. After personally opening the door, Mr. Robert, dressed in formal attire, supported by a cane and assisted by a maid, stepped out of the carriage, looking as if he had not yet fully recovered from a serious illness.
Not far from Mr. Robert's carriage, the door of another luxuriously decorated carriage was also opened. Prince Ma'ad of the Baruch Royal Family, wearing a headscarf, a large beard, and a noble North Wu traditional robe, stepped down from the carriage. After tidying his clothes, he looked forward. What appeared before Prince Ma'ad was the hull of a giant black ship. This was the Church's Otherworld Tribunal's prison ship, the Fire Punishment.
After examining the massive black ship before him, which had a displacement of nearly twenty thousand tons, a length exceeding a hundred meters, and seemed to faintly emit a burnt smell, Prince Ma'ad couldn't help but feel a sense of oppression in his heart. Then he turned around and walked to Mr. Robert's side. Just then, a team of priests wearing the Tribunal's robes walked down the boarding ramp of the black ship ahead. After they arrived in front of Mr. Robert and Prince Ma'ad, the leading priest bowed to the two and said,
"You two have worked hard. Please board the ship. Lord Clifton is waiting for you on board."
"Oh, alright. Please lead the way." Facing the welcoming priests, Mr. Robert smiled and responded softly. Then, after leaving most of the guards behind, he took Captain Hajeta, Prince Ma'ad, and a few attendants, and followed several priests towards the Fire Punishment, stepping onto the boarding ramp.
After boarding the Fire Punishment, Mr. Robert and the others followed the welcoming priests down into the ship's cabin. After walking for a long time along the narrow, oppressive corridor filled with the smell of rust and other odors, they entered a spacious hall. At this time, the bald Inquisitor Clifton was sitting on the main seat of a raised platform in the center of the hall, with several priests wearing black and red robes and face masks standing beside him. On both sides of the hall were two rows of side seats. In one of these seats, Sister Vanya, dressed in a white nun's habit, was sitting there, looking around somewhat nervously.
"Heh heh... I didn't expect Sister Vanya to arrive before us. There's nothing to be done, it's just a bit inconvenient to move around when injured." Looking at Sister Vanya sitting in the hall, Mr. Robert said with a smile, while Clifton, sitting on the main seat, glanced at Mr. Robert and the others, and said,
"Mr. Robert, Prince Ma'ad, thank you for coming. Please sit over there." Saying so, Clifton looked at the seats on the other side of the hall opposite Sister Vanya. Seeing this, Mr. Robert and the others walked over and sat down in their seats.
Seeing that both parties were seated, Clifton cleared his throat slightly and then said,
"I have invited you all here today because Sister Vanya's side has provided a key piece of evidence for the investigation into the assassination of Prince Mazhaler. This evidence involves the Kankdar City Government led by Mr. Robert and the Baruch Royal Family represented by Prince Ma'ad. Therefore, I have invited you two here today to confirm this evidence."
"Oh? Important evidence? May I ask what evidence Sister Vanya has found? And what do you intend to prove with this evidence?" Listening to Clifton's words, Mr. Robert paused slightly, then said with interest, while looking at Sister Vanya opposite him. Hearing Mr. Robert's words, Sister Vanya took a deep breath and replied,
"What I hope to prove is that I... and the guard team protecting me, and my fellow Special Envoy companions who went to Adis with me and experienced life and death, have nothing to do with the otherworld, and nothing to do with the death of Prince Mazhaler. We are innocent..."
"You hope to prove that your entire envoy team is innocent? Heh... Sister Vanya, that might be a bit difficult. You know, one of your envoy's guards attempted an assassination but failed. And you were the one who personally restrained him. Are you not afraid of being implicated yourself by pleading for them now?" Listening to Sister Vanya's words, Mr. Robert said with a light laugh, while Sister Vanya responded quickly.
"Since we are all innocent, why should we be afraid of being implicated? As the leader of the envoy team, I have an obligation to help others clear their suspicions, and the evidence I have brought can achieve this."
"So, what exactly is your evidence, Sister Vanya?"
"It's this..." Speaking on behalf of Sister Vanya was Clifton, who was sitting on the main seat. After waving his hand to signal, several priests carried a board into the hall. The board was covered with a white cloth. From the outline, it looked like a person was lying under the white cloth.
"This is..." Looking at the object being carried into the hall, a hint of curiosity appeared in Mr. Robert's eyes as he spoke. At this moment, Clifton on the side spoke directly.
"This is the body of Prince Mazhaler. It was brought by Sister Vanya's side."
"Oh... So it is the remains of Prince Mazhaler. I was wondering where the Prince's body, which was placed at the residence the day before yesterday, had been stolen. It turns out Sister Vanya took it..." Hearing Clifton's explanation, Mr. Robert replied with a trace of surprise in his eyes, while Prince Ma'ad on the other side slammed the armrest of his seat and said loudly with an angry tone.
"Stealing the Prince's remains is utterly outrageous! Sister Vanya, such despicable and shameless acts are not something you saint church clergy should do! If you don't give us Baruch an explanation today, I'm afraid it won't be acceptable!"
Prince Ma'ad angrily accused Sister Vanya, his words directly startling Sister Vanya. Just as Sister Vanya was about to say something more, a phantom slowly appeared on the seat beside her.
"Stealing the remains of a member of a kingdom's Royal Family... This indeed violates the Lord's teachings and is not something that we, the Lord's servants, should do. But if such an action can uncover some hidden secrets and clear the innocent of false accusations, then surely the Lord can forgive such actions."
Accompanied by a gentle female voice, the translucent phantom Sister Awei slowly appeared beside Sister Vanya. Prince Ma'ad, seeing Sister Awei appear, couldn't help but be slightly stunned, momentarily not knowing how to respond. Meanwhile, Mr. Robert on the other side continued to speak with a smile.
"Ah... So it is Sister Awei. I heard long ago that for the sake of Sister Vanya's safety, Saint Amanda sent you here. I apologize, as I was injured during the assassination attempt myself, I haven't had a chance to properly visit you."
"It's not too late to visit now. Let's get back to the main topic. We brought Prince Mazhaler's body out because we discovered significant clues on it. If these clues are useless, we will naturally compensate the Baruch Royal Family. You don't need to be so anxious."
Sitting beside Sister Vanya, Sister Awei slowly said to Prince Ma'ad. Being looked at by Sister Awei in this manner, Prince Ma'ad paused directly, then continued to speak.
"Then... Sister Awei, you said there are clues on the Prince's body. What exactly does that refer to...?"
"There is poison in Prince Mazhaler's blood, a large amount of poison sufficient to cause death. However, Mr. Robert's City Guard claimed that Prince Mazhaler died from the assassin's gunshot. Generally speaking, a gunshot wouldn't leave a large amount of poison in the body, would it? Could it be that the assassin's bullet was specially made and could hide poison? If so, then why wasn't the factor of poison clearly written in the death report submitted by the Guard?"
Facing the people before her, Sister Awei spoke directly. Listening to Sister Awei's words, Prince Ma'ad looked around uneasily, Clifton remained silent, and Mr. Robert responded with a smile.
"There is poison on Prince Mazhaler's body... Sister Awei, do you mean... that the Prince didn't die from a gunshot, but from poisoning?" Mr. Robert said this to Sister Awei. Seeing that Sister Awei remained silent and did not respond, seemingly tacitly agreeing with his words, Mr. Robert continued to speak.
"After Prince Mazhaler was assassinated, my people were always in charge of his treatment. If someone wanted to poison him, they could only do so at that time. This means, Sister Awei, is your further meaning that I ordered the killing of Prince Mazhaler? You... surely aren't trying to use the poison detected on Prince Mazhaler's remains to accuse us, are you..."
With a meaningful expression, Mr. Robert said to Sister Awei and Sister Vanya, seemingly tempting them to accuse him based on the poison. However, Sister Awei did not directly respond to Mr. Robert's words, but spoke differently.
"If the poison on Prince Mazhaler's remains was not injected during the subsequent treatment process, then where did it come from?"
Listening to Sister Awei's words, Mr. Robert's expression deepened. He stared at the two Sisters before him and continued to ask.
"Heh heh, although I don't know why, the two Sisters suddenly harbor such great malice towards me. But don't forget, the remains of Prince Mazhaler lying here now have been in contact not only with my people but also with yours, Sisters. So, is there a possibility... that the poison within the Prince's body came from your people, Sisters?"
"Oh... That is indeed a bold guess. I wonder what basis Mr. Robert has for such a guess?" Listening to Mr. Robert's words, Sister Awei also asked back with curiosity, and Mr. Robert, hearing this counter-question, responded without hesitation.
"Haha... I'm just making a simple guess. The basis for the guess needs to be found after further verification of Prince Mazhaler's remains. I think this verification should be handled by professionals, don't you agree, Inquisitor Clifton?"
Saying this, Mr. Robert turned his gaze towards Clifton, who had been sitting in the main seat and hadn't said a word until now. Clifton slowly opened his mouth after feeling Mr. Robert's gaze.
"The testing of Mazhaler's blood started before we began our discussion here. The results should be out by now..."
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Clifton said this, and then a clergyman suddenly walked into the hall at this time, came to Clifton, bowed to him, and said respectfully.
"Sir, the blood test on Prince Mazhaler has been completed."
"Tell me the result..."
"Yes, according to the test, we detected a large amount of toxins in Prince Mazhaler's body. It has been determined that this is a snake venom, from the sand-scaled yellow-spotted snake, a specialty of North Wu." Holding the test report, the clergyman said respectfully to Clifton. After listening, Clifton turned his head towards Mr. Robert and said.
"Oh... is there really poison? Does this mean that Mazhaler didn't die from a gunshot, but from poisoning?"
"No, you can't say that either. During the examination, we also found a situation. The toxins in the blood of the test subject were too numerous and did not fully combine with the deceased's blood. Blood was blood, and poison was poison; they were just mixed together. This is completely different from the symptoms that should appear after a person poisoned by the sand-scaled yellow-spotted snake venom dies. Only injecting poison into the body after death could produce such a result."
Holding the report, the clergyman continued to report to Clifton. Listening to the clergyman's report, the entire hall fell silent for a moment. Everyone was silent, and the smile that had been on Mr. Robert's lips seemed even deeper at this moment.
"Heh, you all heard it, right? Although there was poison in the blood of the Prince's remains, he did not die from the poison, but was injected with poison after death. Two Sisters, you used the toxins in Prince Mazhaler's body as the basis to accuse me, and now this poison was injected after Prince Mazhaler's death. Isn't this a bit unreasonable..."
After listening to the report, Mr. Robert said directly, while Prince Ma'ad on the other side stood up from his chair, covered his eyes, and cried loudly.
"This, this is too much... The Sisters of the saint church not only stole the remains of our compatriots! They also committed such an insult to them! The Prince died from the murder by the otherworld, and now the people of the saint church are insulting the Prince's remains in this way! This is too disheartening... Sir Clifton, you must give us an explanation for this matter..."
Crying, Prince Ma'ad looked at Clifton on the main seat, then knelt down directly, prostrating and crying. Clifton looked at him, turned his head solemnly, looked at Awei and Sister Vanya beside him, and then said silently.
"Prince Mazhaler's body was injected with poison after death after passing through Sister Vanya's hands... Sister Vanya not only stole other people's bodies but also committed insults, attempting to frame someone. Sister Vanya... your actions are truly a stain on the saint church!"
Looking at Sister Vanya, Clifton sternly reprimanded her, his voice so loud that Sister Vanya couldn't help but shrink back slightly in her chair. After reprimanding Sister Vanya, Clifton immediately turned his head to look at Awei beside him.
"Sister Awei, in the face of such evidence, do you still want to protect Sister Vanya to the death!? If you continue to act arbitrarily, then I can only report today's situation to the Cardinal Council! By then, not only Sister Vanya, but also Sir Amanda may be implicated and become extremely passive! Sister Awei, I advise you to see the facts clearly and remain fair!"
Looking at Awei, Clifton questioned her severely, and facing Clifton's question, Awei said directly without changing her expression.
"Inquisitor Clifton, Mr. Robert, Prince Ma'ad, have you misunderstood something? Did I say that the evidence we have is the toxins in Mazhaler's body?"
Awei spoke calmly, and listening to Awei's words, everyone in the hall paused, a strange look appeared on their faces, and then Mr. Robert thought of Awei again and asked.
"You said that there were toxins in Prince Mazhaler's remains..."
"Yes, I said that, but I also didn't say that these toxins were the evidence I presented. You are just assuming and verifying it yourselves." Awei replied calmly, and listening to Awei's words, Clifton frowned and said.
"Then what exactly is the evidence you are talking about, Sister Awei? What else besides this poisoned blood can help you prove that Mazhaler's death has nothing to do with the special envoy team?"
"That is, of course, Mazhaler himself."
Awei continued to speak calmly. Listening to Awei's words, everyone present was stunned. Mr. Robert and Prince Ma'ad exchanged glances, and then Clifton, who was the first to react, asked again.
"Mazhaler himself? Mazhaler is already dead? How can you make a dead person speak?"
"It's very simple, isn't there soul summoning? Inquisitor Clifton, you can have your subordinates use Mazhaler's remains as a guide to summon Mazhaler's soul on the spot, and ask this Prince himself what happened before he was killed? On this huge Fire Punishment, there should be a'Silence' Extraordinary who can help you with soul summoning."
"Soul summoning? Hmph, stop joking, Sister Awei, Mazhaler has been dead for a week, and his soul has sunk into the realm of no return. He cannot be summoned back now!"
"How will you know if you don't try summoning? If Inquisitor Clifton, you are unwilling to send someone to summon the soul, I can also find someone here."
Facing Clifton, Awei responded resolutely. Hearing that Awei had spoken to this extent, Clifton had no room for refutation for a while, so he agreed.
"Okay, since Sister Awei wants to see a soul summoning, then I will summon one and see if anything comes out." Saying this, Clifton, with the idea of breaking Awei's last hope, began to order his subordinates to prepare for a soul summoning on the spot. Soon after, the soul summoner on the Fire Punishment rushed into the hall to set up the magic circle.
Looking at the busy soul summoner, Prince Ma'ad, who was wiping away tears, looked at Mr. Robert with a hint of worry, while Mr. Robert responded with a reassuring look and continued to calmly watch the busy scene in the hall. Soon after, the ritual site for the soul summoning ceremony was set up. After Mazhaler's body was placed in the magic circle, the ceremony officially began.
As the soul summoner began to chant the incantation, Spirituality fluctuations spread from the ritual site. During this process, everyone in the hall couldn't help but turn their gaze to the ritual site, focusing intently on the progress of the ceremony.
As time went on, in the ritual site, on the wooden board covered with a white cloth, a blurry transparent figure floating in mid-air began to gradually appear. He was wearing a robe, his body was very fat, and his fleshy face gradually became clear. If you looked closely, the face of the figure was indeed the last Prince of Baruk, Mazhaler.
"Ah! How is that possible!"
Seeing this situation, the scene immediately exploded. Hajeta was stunned in place, Prince Ma'ad was so scared that he screamed and jumped up, Clifton's eyebrows were tightly furrowed, and Mr. Robert's face suddenly sank, becoming gloomy and terrifying.
Mr. Robert, with a gloomy face, directly slapped Hajeta, who was almost stunned beside him. After being slapped like this, Hajeta immediately seemed to react. Looking at the gradually appearing spirits in the ritual site, he gritted his teeth and directly drew out two talismans and rushed forward.
"Be careful, gentlemen! This guy is an evil spirit! Quickly seal and expel him!"
Shouting loudly, Hajeta suddenly rushed towards Mazhaler's spirits. The clergyman beside Clifton saw this and wanted to go out to stop him, but was directly held back by Clifton. For a moment, none of the guards and clergymen in the entire hall went to stop Hajeta.
Facing Hajeta, who was running towards Mazhaler's spirits, Awei, who had been sitting on the chair, immediately stood up. Her eyes fixed on Hajeta, and a faint light emanated from her pupils.
At the same time, outside the Fire Punishment, on the surging waves of the dock, in the cloudy sky, a dazzling golden light pierced through the thick clouds from above and shot down.
Penetrating the sky and earth, the Blazing (radiant light) shot directly from the clouds onto the Fire Punishment docked at the pier. The Fire Punishment's emergency self-defense system immediately activated. Along with the appearance of scriptures on the side of the ship, an orange-red shield completely enveloped the ship, and then high-temperature flames ignited on the shield. The Fire Punishment was immediately placed under high-temperature protection.
However, when the Blazing (radiant light) descending from the sky touched the flame shield, the shield completely collapsed and shattered without resisting for even a second. The Blazing (radiant light) pierced through the Fire Punishment's defense system like poking through a piece of paper, and then penetrated layer after layer of decks, directly entering the hall, hitting Hajeta, who was rushing forward, from top to bottom. Before he could even react, he was enveloped in the Blazing (radiant light) and instantly vaporized without even having time to scream.
Then, the power of the Blazing (radiant light) continued downward, piercing through the remaining decks of the Fire Punishment, and after penetrating the bottom of the ship, it struck into the sea.