Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Qiu Lin's corpse was placed in the living room, no external injuries found on his body, his facial expression calm and serene as if he was merely asleep.

The other nineteen unidentified bodies were dragged into the courtyard, almost filling the front hall of the small building.

Streaks of black marks like brush strokes appeared on the stone floors inside and outside the courtyard, which were bloodstains left by dragging the bodies.

Fat Fuller sat collapsed on the steps, his knees and shoulders trembling non-stop. Old Schmid, though keeping the calmness of an elder, still had a look of bewildered relief from surviving disaster.

By nightfall, the temperature had already dropped to freezing point, the wounds on the bodies and the dirty blood had frozen, less likely to emit any strange odors.

However, each breath Anna took was met with a thick, unresolvable smell of blood.

This was Lady Navarre's second direct encounter with a bloody massacre, not as brutal as the first time, but much closer.

The first time, it was at Green Hills.

Winters looked at Anna, did not speak, but communicated through his eyes: "You don't need to stay with me."

"I'm not afraid," Anna replied softly, firmly supporting Winters' arm.

Removing the masks and unveilings, the lifeless features of the attackers were exposed under the firelight.

Winters examined them one by one—all unfamiliar faces. He then let the accompanying guards take turns to identify them, but the guards also had no recollection of the attackers.

The search of their personal belongings also turned up nothing. Apart from personal weapons and a small amount of money, only a drum-shaped silver box and a small string of keys were found in the clothing of a man with green eyes.

The key was plain in style, made of bronze, with irregular serrated teeth at the front and the tail twisted into a symmetrical three-petal flower.

The silver box, however, was much more exquisite, with rhythmic mechanical sounds continuously emanating from inside. Opening the latch, a silver disk protected by crystal glass appeared.

The disk was evenly divided into twelve parts, each part further divided into four smaller sections. A gold pointer extended from the center of the disk, directly pointing to one of the notches on the disk.

With a glance, Winters recognized what the silver box was—a watch, a watch that could be carried along.

"Are they assassins of the Oath Breaker?" Winters asked Caman straightforwardly.

Father Caman sat desolate in the corner, silent. His eyes were lowered, his expression numb, as if he heard nothing. After acting fiercely against the enemy, Caman's movements were like a walking dead.

With Caman not answering, Winters took it as a tacit agreement.

Winters asked further: "Do you recognize them?"

Caman looked at Winters lifelessly and slowly shook his head. His dry lips seemed glued together as he struggled to respond: "I don't know them, that person... might be a 'messenger'..."

"What is a messenger?" Winters frowned.

Caman bowed his head, not intending to continue the conversation.

Winters fell silent for a moment, then put his hand on Caman's shoulder and said word by word: "I will protect you, and also Mrs. Mitchell and Scarlett."

Caman let out a deep snort, suddenly grabbed Winters' wrist with such strength, nearly crushing Winters' joint.

With his other hand, Caman also grabbed Winters' clothes and pulled Winters close to him.

He lifted his eyes, the sacred and kind demeanor of the cleric completely vanished, only a desperate look of a trapped beast left: "Stop boasting! Winters Montagne! You can't protect anyone!"

Winters looked back at Caman unflinchingly: "Trust me."

Caman and Winters locked gazes for a moment, then abruptly released his hands, slumping down against the stone wall.

The personal maid hurried out of the stone building with all the thick cloaks and blankets she could find as per Anna's request.

Anna took the blankets and cloaks, distributing them orderly to Fuller, old Schmid, and the hastily departing guards.

Anna personally took a thick blanket and draped it over Father Caman, holding his hand and speaking some comforting words, urging him to return to the warmth of the house.

But Caman just hung his head, remaining silent.

Anna looked at Winters with questioning eyes: "What's wrong?"

Winters pulled Anna aside: "Let him be alone for a while." After a few steps, Winters explained: "He's afraid of the Oath Breakers."

Anna nodded as if she understood.

"I will protect you too," Winters told Anna.

"I know." Anna quietly held Winters' hand and asked softly: "What about Mr. Fuller and Mr. Schmid?"

"We'll wait for Colonel Berny to arrive and let the colonel decide how to deal with them," Winters looked in the direction of Old Town— the Reconnaissance Cavalry he had sent out had not yet returned. He added, "Even if they want to leave, it's probably not safe on the roads."

"Then shall we ask Mr. Fuller and Mr. Schmid to rest in the side room for now?"

Winters thought for a moment, then summoned Koch to his side: "Please have Mr. Schmid and Mr. Fuller also go for identification, see if they recognize any faces."

Koch obeyed the order and, supporting himself with his saber, walked towards Fuller and Schmid. Old Schmid cooperatively stood up with support from his knees, while Fuller showed a face of panic and resistance, repeatedly waving his hands.

The part-time coroner of the Steel Castle Courthouse lives in Old Town, unavailable tonight.

The kitchen has turned into a temporary autopsy room, with Winters personally conducting the examination based on the autopsy reports from Sea Blue Customs in his memory.

As requested by Winters, the first to be brought into the kitchen were four masked men.

The fatal wounds of the masked men were all on their necks, each man's Adam's apple crushed inward—Caman had first deprived them of their ability to speak, then neatly finished them off.

The muscles of the masked men were not well-developed, their pampered physiques indicating they did not make a living through physical labor. Their palms were soft, with no traces of weapon training or combat.

Combining the few words from "green eyes" and the reaction to the Divine Arts, Winters was almost certain these masked men were court magicians bred by the Oath Breakers.

But that was all.

With their iron masks, they could be court magicians. Once the masks were removed, they were either complete or incomplete corpses. Whatever secrets they knew, could no longer be extracted.

Yet Winters could not blame Caman, because any hesitation from Caman at that moment could have meant he himself would be lying on the cold stone slab.

Apprehending the Spellcasters?

It was an unsolvable dilemma.

After a quick examination of the four masked men's bodies, "green eyes" was brought into the kitchen.

After cutting open the frozen outerwear of green eyes, Winters wrinkled his nose and asked Berlion: "Do you smell anything?"

The temporary autopsy assistant, Berlion, sniffed the air: "The smell of perfume?"

Winters said nothing, leaned close to the clothes of green eyes, and gently fanned them. Moments later, he slowly straightened up, his expression cold and stern.

"It's not perfume," Winters stated with certainty: "it's incense... go find Lady Navarre."

Anna was invited into the kitchen.

Winters pulled a makeshift curtain in advance, preventing Anna from seeing the bodies on the table. He handed Anna a piece of cloth cut from the undershirt of green eyes: "Do you remember this scent?"

Anna took a light sniff: "Ambergris? The last time I smelled it being used was at..."

Winters played with his meat cleaver, revealing a vague smile: "The White Eagle estate."