Pale Emblem

Chapter 109 Trapped
In the elegantly decorated room, Middleton lay quietly on the bed.He was wearing a loose white robe, ready to go to an open-air party. He had a handsome face and a carefully trimmed mustache on his upper lip, which showed that he paid great attention to appearance and was used to showing a mature and stable side.Unlike those wealthy children, in order to imitate the nobles of Highland City, they always shaved their beards clean.

Middleton has a good reputation in Water Snake Town. He protects the interests of the residents of the town and often treats the townspeople for free. Naturally, he is generally loved by the townspeople.

Victor came to the town for a few days and heard of the mayor's reputation for fairness and kindness.Who would have thought that the first time he met the mayor, the mayor was already dead.

Middleton's skin exposed outside the robe still maintains a normal color, but the neck to the cheeks are covered with terrible bluish-purple bloodstains, his lips are also black-purple, and his half-closed eyes are covered with a layer of mud-like It's gray and looks like it's been dead for a long time.This feature formed a strong contrast with the fairly normal skin color, making it impossible to determine whether he had just lost his life or had been dead for a while.

Only one cause of death fits Middleton's current circumstances.

— poisoning.

Branch President Eckert put on deerskin gloves, carefully opened Middleton's mouth, checked his mouth and tongue, and said with a face full of disbelief: "It's the black sunflower that sleeps..."

Dead sleep black anemone is a highly poisonous plant.Just one drop of the medicated oil extracted from the dead sleep black sunflower can instantly make an adult half-elf unconscious, paralyzed, and suffocated to death in the next 10 minutes.However, the toxicity of the dead sleeping black sunflower should be discounted for professionals.

The higher the level of life, the higher the poison resistance, which is a relatively common law of life.

What's more, Middleton is a third-level physician who is proficient in occult medicine and pharmacy. How could he die of poisoning?

It should be said that no one can surreptitiously poison a professional physician without being noticed.If someone poisoned the third-level doctor with the dead sleep black anemone, the dose of poison must be very large, and it is impossible for the mayor of Middleton to know.

Unless, he was forcibly drugged, or died of suicide.

Everyone present thought of these two possibilities, but no one opened their mouths to discuss them.When Middleton was alive, he maintained a good cooperative relationship with the merchants who came and went, but the personal friendship between the caravan, the adventure group and the local mayor stemmed from common interests.Now that the mayor of Middleton is dead, these "old friends" of him will be shocked, regretful, and sad, but they will not stand up for Middleton.

Their friendship has not reached this point.Moreover, the death of the mayor of Water Snake Town can be big or small, involving the interests of many parties.No one is sure what will happen next, it's best not to wade into the muddy waters here.

The branch president of Eckert was both puzzled and aggrieved, and all he could see were faces that "had nothing to do with me". In the end, he could only stare at the private guard who tipped him off and asked him to come to the scene.

It is certainly true that the head of the Adventurer's Guild is a powerful figure in Water Snake Town, but Eckert is not an administrative or military official.The mayor of Middleton died strangely, why let him stand out?
If you do something you shouldn't do yourself, you will commit the mistake of exceeding your authority.

"Where's Mrs. Christine?"

"Where are the Yisenniers?"

Victor and the white-haired Rhine asked almost at the same time.

Everyone squinted at Victor, contemptuously, thinking that just after Middleton died, you missed his beautiful wife, it's outrageous.

But a light flashed in Eckert's heart. He finally understood the reason for his panic, and he shouted: "Where's the mayor's wife? Where's the mayor's housekeeper? Are all the members of the Middleton family dead? "

Middleton died inexplicably. With such a big incident, important members of the mayor's family should have rushed to the scene immediately instead of notifying the person in charge of the Adventurer's Union to come and check.Eckert didn't know that he was being used.No matter what conspiracy the other party has, he must disassociate himself from it.

Seeing that Eckert was angry, the guard of the mayor's house quickly explained: "The butler Yisenniel went to the plantation outside the town to find his wife. He said that the lady might be in danger. Let us inform you and a few guests..."

"Isenil?!"

Eckert gritted his teeth and ordered: "You protect the scene, and then send someone to notify Captain Husserl of the Town Guard. The others retreat to the door with me first, and don't stay here."

Suicide is the worst result of inner struggle and needs to go through a process.No one can improvise and hastily end their own life.Middleton was still wearing a white robe and was planning to attend an open-air party, which shows that the possibility of his suicide is almost zero, which proves that he has just been murdered.But this is only a conjecture that conforms to the logic of general behavior, and there is no evidence to prove that Mayor Middleton died of murder.

Eckert has no plans to solve the case because the death scene has been damaged.The spoilers were none other than him and the party guests.

The room where the mayor was murdered was quite spacious, but when a dozen or so people entered the room together, it seemed small, and each of them left their own marks on the scene.This may be the murderer deliberately confusing the line of sight.

Fortunately, the guests at the party are all famous people, and everyone can prove each other's innocence.

Although he was very angry, Eckert had to come forward to clean up the mess first.The stewards of the caravans and the heads of the adventure groups were also willing to cooperate with him, and they mobilized their armed guards to surround the whole mansion and prohibit the people inside from entering or leaving.

Of course, not everyone buys Eckert's face, such as Rhine and Victor.The other guests returned to the small garden, pretending to discuss the cause of Mayor Middleton's death, while the white-haired and red-eyed bounty hunter wandered alone near the mayor's mansion.

Victor and his party followed Rhine not too far away.Chairman Eckert did not restrict their freedom of movement, but he also resolutely did not allow them to leave the scope of the mayor's mansion.The private guards of the mayor's house were instructed by Eckert to keep a close eye on them and follow them wherever they went.

Even under close surveillance, Rhine was calm enough.Like a keen hound, he uses his own way to detect unknown clues.

Victor is now more interested in Rhine than in Christine.If Rhine doesn't leave, he certainly won't leave in a hurry.It's a pity that with the mayor's personal guards watching, Victor still couldn't find a chance to communicate with Rhine alone.

Just like that, Husserl, the captain of the Water Snake Town Guard, arrived late after it got dark.

He is about 50 years old, with common brown hair and brown eyes, a clean shaved beard, good facial features, and a strong build, but with deep bags under his eyes and a bloated face.As a professional, this must be a physical feature of long-term addiction to drinking and sex and neglect of exercise.

Eckert made no secret of his contempt for Husserl, and mocked: "Master Captain, you came in time."

The guards of Water Snake Town belong to the Fallen Leaf City Council, which rotates every two years and is responsible for the security of the town.Husserl bears the title of military chief and receives the salary from the city-state council. The distribution of benefits in Water Snake Town has nothing to do with him.

However, the mayor died unexpectedly, and the captain of the guard in charge of public security must have been involved.On the other hand, according to the regulations of the Fallen Leaf City Council, Captain Husserl will act as the mayor of Water Snake Town until the city-state council appoints a new mayor.

Hussle was shocked to hear of Middleton's death.He has no choice but to be punished by the city-state council, or to succeed Middleton as the new mayor of Water Snake Town.The more critical it is, the less he can be in a hurry. It is necessary to spend more time inquiring about the situation.

Now that Husserl appeared in front of Eckert, he had already thought of a countermeasure and would never be a scapegoat.

"Master Eckert, I personally went to the plantation outside the town. The mayor's housekeeper Yisenniel, the mayor's wife Christine and three guards disappeared together. My people also detected signs of bandit gang activity." Hussel paused, and said sincerely: "I believe that the mayor's death is related to the gang of bandits outside the town, and there may be spies of bandits in the town. I have ordered all the people outside the town to come back and close the gate of the town. , to prevent bandits from taking advantage of the chaos to attack Water Snake Town. As you know, the guards are understaffed. I hope that Master Eckert and the caravans and adventure groups will help me protect Water Snake Town."

The person in charge of the Adventurer's Union showed a strange expression, and looked at the captain of the guard, who usually behaved dullly, in surprise, as if he knew each other for the first time.

It has only been a few hours since Middleton's death, and those trash under Husserl's hands can find traces of the bandit gang?
... What about fooling fools?
However, Husserl said this as the captain of the Water Snake Town Guard, and Eckert had to support him in order to clear his suspicion.

After deliberating for a moment, Eckert asked, "We should assist the town guard to resist the bandits, then what? Captain Husserl, what are you going to do?"

Husserl raised the torch, turned to look at every guest present, and said solemnly: "My lords, the gang of bandits assassinated the mayor of Middleton and kidnapped Mrs. Christine. We must blockade the town of Water Snake and strictly investigate the gangsters. Bandit spies entering the town. During this period, no one is allowed to leave the town until Fallen Leaf City sends city defense troops over. I have ordered my men to go to Fallen Leaf City to report the situation here, and reinforcements will arrive in Water Snake Town in at most 20 days .”

Eckert and several caravan stewards knew very well that if Husserl was not the mastermind of this incident, then he was trying to save himself.

This guy also has his own backstage in Fallen Leaf City, so it might not be impossible to promote him to the position of mayor.

The so-called prevention of bandit gangs from looting Water Snake Town is just an excuse for Husserl to delay time.He blocked the whole town to block the news, so that his backstage boss could make arrangements in the city-state council first.If someone insisted on leaving the town at this time, Captain Husserl would inevitably be accused of colluding with bandits and murdering the mayor of Middleton.

Although Captain Husserl did not look at Victor from the beginning to the end, everyone knew that these people who were suspected of defecting from the famous Golden Nightingale family were also a political bargaining chip planned by Husserl.

He reported the news of Victor in Water Snake Town to his boss, and he could sell the famous family of Golden Nightingale a favor; or the famous family of Fallen Leaf City who secretly supported Victor was willing to buy the news with a favor.

Didn't Husserl just want to block this most valuable piece of news?
In 20 days, it was enough for the big shots in Fallen Leaf City to complete a political deal around the defector from the famous Golden Nightingale family.

"Leave the matter here to me. I suggest that everyone go back to their residences now, and try not to talk to others about the murder of the mayor and the disappearance of the mayor's wife. If the bandit spies use this matter to create chaos in the town, I promise to catch them." Captain Husserl made the last request with a serious expression.

Victor didn't seem to realize that Captain Husserl was playing with him. He went straight to the white-haired Rhine and asked, "Where do you live?"

Rhine replied with a smile: "The hotel opened by Mr. Eckert, the room at the corner on the second floor."

Victor nodded and said, "You are interested in my two female companions, we can talk about them in detail."

"Okay, but it will take some time. I guess we will run into trouble, so why not make an appointment to talk at the right time." The bounty hunter leaned slightly and said politely.

Victor shook his head and said, "You're perfunctory, but I'll come to you."

(End of this chapter)