Halkias hurriedly stood up and looked around to see what his men were doing. Noting that they had yet to make any progress, the Commander heaved a long breath before drawing their attention.
"Sir Tarick, Sir Kretov, Sir Hower, Gratos, Iverto, come here at once. For the rest, as soon as you find something beneath the ashes, dig with caution. Make sure that you work in groups of at least three."
Once he was done, Halkias knelt on the ground once more and began burrowing through the ashes. The five people he called for shortly arrived and joined him.
The Commander could have used his Rahichna to hasten the process of digging. The main ability of Custos Venti, Halkias' Rahichna, was summoning a large volume of wind no matter the environment. Of course, the wind bent to Halkias' will.
Upon awakening his Rahichna, Halkias made it a point to develop techniques using the main principle of his ability. Troy Vikhr Vey was one of them. At present, there were more than thirty magical abilities related to his Rahichna in his arsenal.
Provided that he had complete control over his Rahichna, Halkias didn't see the necessity to use it at the moment. He was wary of disturbing the circulation of Manna within the area further. From that second on, every single clue that they would discover should not be altered. The mountains after mountains of ashes would serve as the main evidence if they happened to find nothing.
Also, he never dismissed the possibility that his Rahichna could go berserk. After all, he's at the stage where his power has reached a breaking point. If he allowed something like that to come about, he would be imprisoned on the charges of disrupting an investigation and disposal of evidence.
His testament would mean nothing in the Court of Justice, ruled by old nobles who were enemies of Halkias' father. For sure, they would exploit the fact that it was an incident involving the Prime Minister of the Empire, and it happened inside the capital to boot. It wouldn't be difficult for them to claim that the Knight Order had a hand in the incident.
As one of the Commanders of the knightage, Vatar Halkias was keen on preserving their honour and the trust of citizens. The last thing he desired was to be prosecuted, taking down the name of the knightage along with him.
It took them no longer than a minute to expose what's underneath the ashes. Halkias ceased moving his hands as he observed the face of the woman.
"Who is this?" Halkias asked, "Is this the eldest daughter of Duke Gertrude? I have seen her twice but she didn't look like this."
Covered in soot all over, the body of the woman didn't appear to be in the best condition to be moved. Thus, Halkias thought for a second on what to do.
"Commander!" Sir Tarick exclaimed all of a sudden, interrupting Halkias' contemplation.
"What is it?"
"Look at this."
The knight then pointed at the woman's chest that they just uncovered. Halkias' eyes widened at that instant. He couldn't believe what he was looking at.
"A hole? Isn't that where the heart is?"
Quickly, Halkias turned his head towards Reverend, who was still standing a meter behind him. He nodded his head at the young knight, a signal for him to approach. Once Reverend was beside the body of the woman, he began to inspect the gaping hole.
"From what I can see, the wound was inflicted rather recently. The heart was forcefully removed. Manna was not involved in this. It's a pure act of cruelty."
Halkias groaned, bothered and frustrated at the same time. He still had no clue as to the identity of the woman. He was familiar with the Duke's family, so he knew all of his children. That left the likelihood that the woman was a servant. However, for some reason, Halkias couldn't make that conclusion.
The woman was clothed in a discernibly expensive dress. Moreover, the sections of her skin that weren't dirtied by the ashes were smooth, almost as if they were porcelain. It's evident that she was thoroughly taken care of.
'If she isn't one of the Gertrudes, then is she a relative who is also a noble? If not a relative, then an acquaintance? I'll have to check with the others to see if they know this woman. If she managed to survive that fire, she must be a remarkable sorcerer.' Halkias deliberated, fairly unconfident with his deduction.
"Reverend, do you have any idea who this is?" The Commander asked without looking at the knight.
"Out of all the possibilities, you have to be most cautious of two, Commander Halkias."
"I'm aware of that."
What Reverend was pertaining to was the prospect of the woman being the Gertrudes' enemy or ally.
If the woman was an ally, then it would mean that she wasn't the perpetrator. As simple as that. Her body would be used to trace the identity of the real perpetrator, or perpetrators for that matter.
However, in the event that she was the enemy, that denoted that an altercation happened within the mansion before the explosion. The hole in her chest might have been inflicted by either the Duke or his heir-apparent.
Halkias favoured the possibility that the woman was an enemy. It's because they wouldn't have the need to search for a suspect anymore, thus lessening their burdens. For that wish to be granted, they ought to find the bodies of the members of the Gertrude Family. If they had yet to turn to ashes, so to say.
'It would be even better if one of the Gertrudes were not inside the estate during the incident. Though I highly doubt that. Reverend told me that there was a celebration and the Gertrude Family is known for being tight-knit.'
Halkias sighed heavily. He could feel the pain in his head growing. In all honesty, he would prefer to be fighting in a war rather than investigating a case as such. Politics was not his game, and he wasn't planning on making it one. He hired a personal secretary just for that reason.
"Everything about this case is bothersome." He muttered spitefully, returning his gaze on his men thereafter.
At that instant, he met the eyes of one of the knights nearby, prompting the commander to walk towards the said subordinate. Right then, Halkias saw the face of the youngest son of the Gertrude couple, in his lifeless hand was a beating heart.