Chapter 120: Suspicion

‘Francis

Age: Thirty-five years old

Status: Coroner (Deals with corpses in a dank basement. A master in surgery and stitching corpses together), Poet (His poems do not rhyme, and the words have no sense of beauty, nor do they convey any meaning. Most people would think of his poems as nothing more than trash, though he finds it entertaining, at least to himself. Francis will keep making poems).

Hidden status: ??? (You realized something is wrong with him. Francis has a hidden identity).

HP: 80

Strength: 6

Dexterity: 10

Constitution: 8

Perception: 8

Will: 6

Charisma: 7

Spirit: 6

Skill:

Surgery Level 10

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***

Francis’ face fell. “A warning, boy. Staring is rude.”

Roy hid his surprise. “Sorry, I was thinking about the case. We’ll be leaving right away.” He took the dwarf and left the basement, pretending as if nothing had happened. Once they came back to the city, Roy felt the weight on his shoulders melt from the sun’s warmth. “Cranmer, how much do you know about Francis?” he asked.

Some of that guy’s stats are higher than your average Joe’s. It was a stark contrast to Francis’ weak looks. There were too many mysteries surrounding him, but Roy was more concerned about his hidden identity, for he had never seen Observe describe someone’s hidden identity that way. Roy wouldn’t expose him right away, though. It would alert him to Roy’s suspicions and anger him.

“Not exactly. It hasn’t been three months since I’ve met him,” Dennis said. “I was just a guard at the castle, so we didn’t talk much. He’s a quirky guy, but he takes his job seriously. He’s a pro. The order should know more, since they have to visit the morgue a lot. It’s part of their job. But why are you interested in him, anyway?”

Roy scratched his chin. “No reason.” He shifted the topic, “I might sound like a broken record, but are you sure the target’s a human? Not a humanoid monster? Did it exhibit any non-human trait?”

The mere thought of the encounter was enough to send chills down Dennis’ spine. “Mr. Letho specifically told us to only attack when he was in close range. I was trained as a crossbowman, so I saw our target clearly, since it wasn’t a dark night. It was a man. Around six feet three, muscular, long arms, but I couldn’t see his face. His cheeks were puffy, and his movements weren’t human.” He muttered, “Could it have been a monster?”

“It’s possible.” Roy stared up into the sky. “Can you tell me more about the victims? I want to know where they lived and where they were found.”

Dennis pinched his beard. “If I’m being honest, Roy, this is just a waste of time. The knights have looked into everything and double-checked everything. And they worked with the local triad to look into some of the darker news. I can tell you that the victims were unrelated to each other. Hell, they wouldn’t even have crossed each other’s paths. I think the killer is just a madman. This is all random.”

“Do you think he’ll keep this up, then?” Roy asked.

“Yes, but I think Mr. Letho managed to slow him down. He’s probably tending to his injuries, so we have some time to breathe.”

“All the more reason to apprehend him before he finds his bearings. The investigation must go on.” Roy finally got the information he needed.

They agreed to meet up some time later and went their own ways. Dennis went back to his post in the castle, while Roy went to the sundry shop to purchase a map of Ellander City. He marked all the crime scenes with a piece of charcoal and linked them together, just like how Letho did back in their hunt for the leshen.

A short while later, he realized the points formed a circle, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t figure out what the sign meant. It doesn’t mean anything. Did the killer really murder at random? Have I been doing this the wrong way?

He’d hit a dead end, but Roy didn’t give up. Instead of heading to the scene, he went back to the inn. The troupe had taken their leave a while earlier, and there weren’t many customers inside. The innkeeper was sitting behind the counter, smoking out of boredom.

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But that wasn’t the point. “A question, innkeeper.”

The innkeeper puffed some smoke at Roy’s face, shooting him a sordid look. “Would you like a room?”

“If you can answer my question.”

“Ask away. There’s nothing I don’t know around here.”

“Did a guy stay here a few days ago? Bald, burly, with eyes of amber?”

Tom sucked on his pipe, frowning, then he remembered the guest Roy was asking about. “You’re talking about the witcher with a steel sword, I presume? A man of few words, he was. He booked room number four right upstairs, but he checked out three days ago.”

I knew it. Roy wanted to know more. “Did he leave a message for anyone?”

Tom shook his head.

“Alright, then I’ll book the same room he stayed in.” When Roy arrived at the room, it had already been cleaned by the waitstaff. There were no traces of Letho in it, though Roy went around, sniffing the air for something. And he picked up a peculiar smell. “Dwarven liquor, and that sickly sweet stench. And what’s this?” He noticed some powder between the cracks of the floor. “Ghoul blood. Letho made a potion here with these ingredients.”

Roy couldn’t make any decoctions, but he knew the recipes for them. He combed through his memory and found out that Letho had made black blood, and high quality black blood, at that.

Letho made a dose of black blood here. The discovery finally gave Roy another lead he needed. Not many humanoid monsters were strong enough to dodge crossbow bolts and hurt a witcher. “Ekimmara, bruxa, katakan, doppler, and higher vampire.” A dose of high quality black blood could turn Letho’s blood lethal, making him a perfect weapon against ghouls and vampires.

“Perhaps the killer is a vampire.” And a higher vampire, at that. The other variants don’t possess the intelligence needed to blend in among a large populace. Higher vampires can make themselves look like humans, and they aren’t afraid of the sun. Garlic, fire, and stakes won’t work against them, either.

The possibility of facing off against a higher vampire scared him. If he were to make a list of the most powerful beings in the witcher world, Gaunter O’Dimm would have been the strongest, if Roy hadn’t come across the golden eyes in the temple of Melitele. Those eyes could have belonged to a god.

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In that case, Gaunter O’Dimm would be second on the list, while the king of the vampires — The Unseen Elder — would be third. Higher vampires would rank right after that. They were indistinguishable from humans, and they didn’t differ in bodily functions. They didn’t need blood to sustain themselves, either.

Higher vampires were far superior than normal vampires, and their regenerative abilities were off the charts. Not even decapitation or having their heart crushed could kill them. They weren’t afraid of holy water or any religious symbol either. On top of that, they could go off the magical grid. Not even a witcher could see through them, even with their senses activated.

Geralt’s friend, Regis, was a higher vampire. Even when he was almost nothing but ash after getting killed by Vilgefortz, he came back to life with the help of another vampire, though it took him years for that. A small group of higher vampires could massacre a town with a thousand people if they worked together. A regular witcher couldn’t kill a higher vampire easily either, unlike what the games had shown.

Letho could’ve been killed. He wasn’t sure if Letho could win against a higher vampire in a battle. Calm down. It’s just an assumption. Let’s go through this again. Roy rubbed his cheeks, forcing himself to calm.

He sat cross-legged on the wooden bed, calming himself through meditation. Roy went through everything he had found and sorted them all out. Higher vampires were rare creatures. They had emotions and free will, just like humans did. In a sense, they were more sensitive than humans. Of course, there were good and bad higher vampires, at least in the eyes of humans.

For example, Regis, who was a ‘vegetarian,’ and Dettlaff, who fell for Sylvia Anna, were the moderates. The higher vampires of that faction were willing to coexist with humans. They wouldn’t destroy human society if humans didn’t cross the line.

On the other hand, the rest of the higher vampires were hunters, or in other words, evil. They saw humans as nothing but cattle, as food for their palate. There were three factions among the hunters, distinguished by their way of raising humans. One let them do as they pleased until they were ripe for the taking; one raised them in a ranch; and the other took care of them until the day of their slaughter.

They don’t communicate with humans. We don’t talk with our food, do we? If Letho did fight a higher vampire three days ago, which faction is that vampire from, then? Is it possible to establish communication? Let’s go through the details. First, he lives in Ellander City. Two, he was powerful enough to have killed every soldier back then, including Dennis. But he didn’t do that. Instead, he escaped to an alley to fight Letho. Could he be trying to hide his identity in case anyone was hurt? This one could be from the moderate faction. “I hope so. That means Letho could survive, even if he lost.”

Aside from the six deaths, Roy never did receive any report of another victim. Even the knights who were on the case weren’t hurt. “The killer didn’t kill as he pleased. If the vampire were a hunter, everyone in his path would have been butchered. But if he were from the moderate faction, he wouldn’t kill at random, much less lay a finger on the innocent.” Roy shook his head. “There must be something special about the victims.” The knights missed something.

“And that something is the motive for the murders.”

Then he shifted his attention toward the killer’s identity, and Francis was his prime suspect. He’s a coroner. It’s easy for him to fiddle with the bodies and hide the evidence. Cranmer said he didn’t see the killer clearly, though it’s obvious that he was taller than me and Francis. And the killer wasn’t hurt either. That means it’s stronger than a higher vampire, which is impossible. Black blood is potent enough to harm a higher vampire.

Francis was suspicious, but Roy wouldn’t confront him without any definitive evidence. Besides, he didn’t know the killer’s motive. Facing him off at that point would be suicide. Roy didn’t think he could ‘kill’ a fake vampire either, since he was just a rookie witcher.

Higher vampires didn’t die easily. Piercing their hearts with a silver sword, decapitation, and burning them with Igni only served to put them in a deep slumber. Only a higher vampire could vanquish a higher vampire. Fighting them is a last resort. He wanted to save Letho, but he wouldn’t approach the suspect if he wasn’t sure he could take him down.

That’d anger him. I need to find out the reason for the murders and what he’s afraid of.

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