The Power Remaining in the Room

The ground, paved with crushed stone, was still stained with spilled lamp oil.

The one who screamed was Hermel’s night watchman.

It started when he passed by the window and saw a silhouette, reflected by the lamplight on the curtain, hanging motionless with its arms down.

Curiosity drove him to push open the window.

The chaotic slash marks inside the room, along with the dried bloodstains, all indicated that an accident had befallen the owner of the house.

“Sir Korn! It was a demon! I swear only a demon could do such a thing.”

The night watchman’s expression was frantic, his voice trembling as he spoke.

He could barely stand steady, even with the support of a nearby knight.

“Alright, Omi, calm down. Tell us what you saw at the scene. Your panic has prevented us from seeing the scene as it was in the first place.”

However, the pedestrians didn’t get too close to the scene, which was surrounded by onlookers.

Because they were all young and beautiful women, appearing together in a group would make them too conspicuous.

Fortunately, Hermel’s landscaping was well-done, with trees planted alongside the crushed stone paths.

Through Philly’s witch ability, Su Ran and the others were able to eavesdrop on the conversation between the knight and the night watchman.

“Sir Korn, I swear I absolutely did not touch the scene. I pulled open the curtain…”

The night watchman, addressed by Knight Korn, trembled, his lips quivering as if still terrified, and he quickly waved his hands to show he had done nothing.

“The body was suspended by tentacles, and after its head was removed, it vanished into thin air.”

The night watchman, Omi, swore he would never forget the scene he had witnessed.

A deep black hole had torn open from the top of the corpse’s head, and tentacles emerged from it.

Like picking a watermelon, they had effortlessly twisted off the corpse’s head and taken it away.

“You’re saying an evil creature killed someone and then took their head?”

Faced with Omi’s testimony, Korn looked incredulous.

He found it hard to believe that what the man was saying was the truth.

He immediately rushed forward and grabbed the man by the collar.

“Stop joking! This is Hermel! This is the Theocracy! This is a land under the protection of the gods! And you’re telling me an evil creature has appeared here? If it weren’t for the fact that you’ve been scared out of your wits, I could convict you of blasphemy for that sentence alone!”

After calming down, Korn shoved Omi away and ordered the knights beside him.

“The murderer we caught yesterday might know something. Go back and bring him out for interrogation.”

“And this person, take him back as well.”

With that, Korn pointed at the night watchman, who was lying on the ground gasping for breath, and then dispersed the crowd of onlookers surrounding them.

Watching Korn leave, Su Ran caught a whiff of a faintly familiar scent from him.

However, the distance was too great at the moment, and she couldn’t accurately discern whether it was coming from Korn himself or from within the room.

“Your Highness?”

Seeing Su Ran lost in thought, Isa asked with some confusion.

“Isa, can you make a potion that can make people invisible right now?”

The scent that emanated made Su Ran feel an impulse to enter the house and investigate thoroughly, to carefully rule out any suspicions.

However, she hadn’t encountered any danger yet, so she still had the ten thousand yuan she had borrowed from Winnie.

If Isa could make an invisibility potion now, Su Ran could save a little more and use the money where it was most needed.

“Your Highness, a potion that can make someone completely invisible is not something I can create at my current level.”

Hearing Su Ran’s question, Isa thought carefully and shook her head.

“Are there any other ways then?”

Hearing Su Ran’s words, Isa understood.

‘Her Highness’s power is unfathomable. Even if she could think of the simplest method…’

‘Isn’t this just Her Highness trying to avoid embarrassing me by letting me come up with a solution?’

Isa pondered for a moment and said:

“I have a type of screening potion. After taking it, it can reduce one’s presence. If we are a little more careful, we should be able to avoid everyone and enter the room.”

“Let’s use that then.”

With that said, she had Isa concoct the required potion.

“Philly, take the others to the scene of the first murder.”

As she was about to leave, Su Ran called Philly over and whispered a few words in her ear.

“Just ask the nearby trees about this…”

Then, under the watchful eyes of the other three, Su Ran led Isa, evading the guards, and entered the crime scene.

Unlike the previous room where multiple people had been inside, the scene left in this room now only consisted of chaotic scratches.

“No traces of magic essence being used at all.”

Upon entering, the first thing Su Ran did was sense the residual traces in the room.

The Church’s knights had actually done this just a moment ago but had found no traces.

“Ugh…”

Isa let out an uncomfortable grunt.

Ever since she had entered the room, her expression had been one of barely suppressed discomfort.

“What’s wrong?”

“My abilities seem to be suppressed. It feels like I’ve been put in shackles.”

Su Ran checked Isa’s status on the system.

[Name: Isa]

[Status: Abnormal (Suppressed by the power of a Holy Stone)]

They had never touched a Holy Stone.

Why would Isa be suppressed by its power?

“Isa, when did you start feeling unwell?”

Su Ran had a faint answer in her mind.

She was only asking Isa to confirm if her thoughts were correct.

“I started feeling this way as I got closer to the room.”

In other words, the reason a witch would feel unwell when approaching this room was because the room was filled with the power of a Holy Stone.

This also explained two things: why there were no traces of magic essence in the room, and why the specially made Holy Stone couldn’t detect any traces of witch abilities.

Because no magic essence had been used in the room at all, and as a power of the same origin, the Holy Stone naturally couldn’t be detected by another Holy Stone.

Only a witch would be affected by the power of a Holy Stone and feel discomfort.

As for why Su Ran herself, also a witch, showed no symptoms…

She attributed it to her current body, which was purely composed of magic essence and not real flesh, making it immune to the corrosion of the Holy Stone.

The Holy Stone power that now filled the room indicated that the murderer was someone who had access to Holy Stones.

Within the Church, the ones who could most easily achieve this were the knights who fought on the front lines.

There was one question that puzzled Su Ran.

Where did the murderer learn the method to wield the power of a Holy Stone?

From her contact with so many people from the Church, apart from a very few who chose to ingest them, most of the time, the Church members only used Holy Stones based on their inherent properties.

They would fashion them into chains or place them in magic formations to make them controllable.

A method like the one used now, spreading the power of a Holy Stone throughout a space, was something Su Ran had never encountered before.

“Damn it!”

If the murderer had truly mastered the use of a Holy Stone’s power, then Philly, who was heading to the vicinity of the first crime scene, might also be affected by the residual Holy Stone energy.