After much hesitation, the man agreed to the request and briefly told Ebner what had happened.
His name was Sean Skade. He was originally the manager of a certain sea trade company, but over the past year, due to a series of unfortunate events and the strange illness that suddenly struck his son, this gentleman had lost his job, nearly exhausted his savings, and even sold off his ancestral property.
This trip to Backlund was also to find a better doctor to treat their son, Allen. Who knew that not long after they set off, Allen's condition would suddenly worsen?
While Mr. and Mrs. Skade was at a loss on what to do, the man who had shouted earlier took the initiative to say that he was a very capable apothecary. As long as he was willing to pay 10 pounds, he would concoct a potion to help Allen recover.
Mr. Skade thought at first that the man was a liar, but seeing that his son seemed unable to bear the pain any longer, he eventually took out the last of his savings and asked the man to concoct a potion.
The medicine was very effective at first, but Allen didn't feel any pain after drinking it. He even fell into a rare deep sleep.
However, not long after, when Mrs. Skade, who had been staying in the cabin to take care of Allen, went to the bathroom, Allen's face turned purple and he found it difficult to breathe. Before Mrs. Skade, who had rushed back in a hurry, could call her husband, he had completely stopped breathing.
When Ebner heard this, he shot a glance at the chubby Apothecary who was still shouting about being wronged. He thought to himself, "Just from Mr. Skade's description, this person really looks like a swindler who sold fake medicine and overturned a car… However, from my observation and analysis, the grievance on this person's face doesn't seem to be fake. And although he's causing a huge ruckus, he's not afraid. It's obvious that he has a clear conscience or is confident of escaping."
"May I visit the scene of Allen's death?" Ebner asked Mr. Skade after a moment's thought.
"I'm afraid that will require the captain's consent…" Mr. Skade said, looking troubled.
"It doesn't matter. I'm very good at 'convincing' people to agree with my views." Ebner smiled.
Having traveled with Xio for so long, her authority as an Arbiter had naturally been successfully analyzed and imitated by the White Eye. Although it wasn't as effective as Xio using it herself, it was enough to deal with ordinary people.
Sure enough, under the influence of Ebner's convincing charm and sufficient majesty, CaptainMatt very "happily" agreed to his request and took them to the cabin where little Allen was.
After entering the cabin, Ebner observed the ten-year-old boy on the bed who was holding his neck with both hands. His face was bruised and swollen, and there was blood in his mouth and nose. He did not miss any clues.
Compared to being poisoned by drugs, it looked more like she was suffocated to death. However, some drugs could also cause suffocation, so he couldn't be sure if it was the case.
With this in mind, Ebner secretly used his aura extraction as though he was investigating the room to obtain evidence. He extracted a copy of the auras in the room and analyzed them separately to see if any Beyonder powers were involved.
The boy's own scent… the scent of Skade and his wife… the scent of some seaman… the scent of some kind of nutcracker… this is medicine… eh?
Soon, he discovered that the bowl containing the medicine concocted by the apothecary had traces of Beyonder corrosion.
Is there really such a thing? Ebner was somewhat surprised. He never expected that a murder he had suddenly decided to intervene in would involve Beyonders. He glanced at the chubby Apothecary who was being guarded by the security guards outside the door and analyzed the remnant Beyonder aura.
This medicine… did indeed have the effect of suppressing pain and eliminating mutations in the human body. It looked like that chubby Apothecary was really an "Apothecary"! However, this child's death should really have nothing to do with him…
With that thought in mind, Ebner activated his "Scene Retrack" ability at the same time. Immediately after, he saw that after the boy named Aaron took the medicine, his painful expression clearly faded. Then, perhaps because he had consumed too much energy, he quickly fell asleep.
After that, another scene appeared. Mrs. Skade, who was watching over her son, went to the bathroom. The little boy, Allen, opened his eyes and took out an acorn from his pocket that he seemed to have treasured for a long time. Unfortunately, the liner shook violently at that moment. Caught off guard, Allen was stuck in his trachea by the acorn. He coughed hard and hit his throat with his hand, wanting to cough out the acorn. Unfortunately, it didn't work and he eventually suffocated to death…
At the end of the retrace, Ebner was speechless. So after all the fuss, Allen was killed by such a small acorn? Heh, he didn't know if it was because he was too unlucky, or if the chubby Apothecary was even more unlucky.
But then a new thought occurred to him. 'Isn't it too much of a coincidence? And I have a feeling there's something else here I've overlooked.'
Ebner examined the clues listed by Law again, but still found nothing new.
He thought for a moment. To be safe, he opened the Eye of Pure White again.
This time, Ebner vaguely found a wisp of faint aura at the tip of the boy Allen's right hand. It was something he did not extract when he extracted the aura.
This aura doesn't give me a high level of feeling, but its existence is so weak… Is this a remnant of a Beyonder pathway that naturally restricts detection or divination abilities?
Ebner frowned and analyzed the tiny auras under the state of the White Eye. Then, he used Scene Retrack again.
The picture slowly unfolded. The little boy, Allen, was playing with an ancient-looking gold coin in his hand, but the pain quickly dispelled his interest. He subconsciously rubbed the surface of the gold coin with his fingers and wiped away a black-red stain.
The scene changed, and the little boy boarded the ship. Soon, his illness acted up. Just when he felt that he could not hold on any longer, a fat apothecary came to him himself and prescribed him with an auxiliary medicine. The medicine was very effective, and the pain that had never stopped for almost a year miraculously disappeared. Aaron, who had not slept well for a long time, immediately fell into a relaxed sleep.
The scene changed again. After Allen died from eating the nuts, a drop of blood from his mouth and nose dripped onto the gold coin that had slipped out of the boy's pocket at some point in time, forming blood stains again.
At the end of the retrospective, Ebner had a general idea of what had happened. He could not help but sigh inwardly. The 'VIP' version of the scene was indeed worlds apart from my own 'civilian experience' version.
But how did Allen get the gold coin?
Ebner first simulated a diversionary tactic. When he pretended to examine the traces on Allen's body, he placed the unadorned gold coin that had rolled to the edge of the bed into his pocket without anyone noticing.
Since he had already analyzed the function with the Eye of Pure White and knew that gold coins did not have any negative effects under normal circumstances, Ebner dared to use it directly.
Then he walked back to Mr. Skade and said in a measured tone, "Sir, I have something to ask you."
Mr. Skade, who had been staring at Ebner, quickly replied, "If you have any questions, feel free to ask! Did you find any clues?"
"I did find something…" Ebner nodded and activated the Eye of Pure White to simulate Xio's "might." He asked, "I hope you can tell me if your family has been suffering from any misfortune lately? What happened? When did it begin?"
"How did you know?!" Mr. Skade's reaction was extremely intense. He himself immediately realized this. He took a few deep breaths and asked, "What does this have to do with Allen's death?"
I don't want to say it from the bottom of my heart… And this will that I don't want to say actually resist my simulation skill…
Ebner secretly frowned and changed his strategy. He said, "Don't be agitated, Mr. Skade. I have indeed made a discovery, but I need Mr. Captain and the other gentlemen on board to be witnesses."
With that said, he asked Captain Matt, who was also in the cabin, if he could find one or two authoritative gentlemen. The latter immediately understood and personally went to the first-class cabin to invite Mr. Mike Joseph, the Daily Observer, as well as the shareholder of Backlund's Coim Company, Mr. Caron.
As the "Matt" was not a luxurious liner, even the first-class cabin did not have any gentlemen of the upper class. These two could already be considered to be very dignified gentlemen.
Mike Joseph from the Daily Observer? Isn't this the reporter that Sherlock will meet at the Quelaag Club in the future? He actually met him here.
I also knew the other Caron. He was the one who bought the abandoned manor on the outskirts of North Borough. Xio and I had hidden in the storage room and eavesdropped on the entire process of him buying the house.
Ebner silently seized up the two gentlemen who had come to listen. The former was close to thirty years old, with sparse eyebrows, rather rough skin, and abnormally obvious pores. However, his facial features were not bad, and his blue eyes were especially charming. Coupled with his beautiful mustache, he had a mature charm.
As for the latter, he was in his fifties. He was rather tall and slightly plump. His shoulders were wide and tall, making him look like he was about to bow. He wore a typical Loen-style formal suit and a tie, looking like an elite businessman.
After the two of them introduced themselves to Ebner, Ebner then returned to the main topic. He first told everyone about the differences between drug poisoning and suffocation, and then, under everyone's watchful eyes, he took out the crumbs of the nuts from Allen's pocket. Then, he helped the little boy's corpse up, adjusted his strength, and suddenly slapped the spot on his back. The nuts that had stuck Allen to death finally fell out of his trachea and flew out of his mouth, landing in front of everyone.
Because the nuts had fallen off, the little boy Allen's bruised and swollen face seemed to have recovered a little, but he had been dead for too long. Even if his trachea was cleared, it could not save his life.
"This is… we bought it for Allen the day before we boarded the ship! He actually hid one and didn't eat it…" Mr. Skade blurted out.
At that moment Ebner turned back to Mrs. Skade, whose eyes were glazed over. "Do you remember when you went to the bathroom?"
"I remember… ten in the morning. I was only in the bathroom for five minutes," Mrs. Scard replied woodenly, regaining her composure.
Captain Matt clapped his hands and said, "There was a huge wave at ten o'clock. I remember it was shaking badly…"
Everyone present was enlightened upon hearing this, and then they glanced at A' Lun who was lying on the bed with pity, and they deeply felt that his luck was truly bad.
At this moment, a scoffing voice suddenly sounded. "I knew it had nothing to do with me. You guys have been too unlucky all this while. Now it seems like I was right!"
Everyone in the room frowned when they heard the voice. They felt that it was too much and disrespectful to the deceased, so they looked towards the source of the voice and realized that it was the pharmacist suspected to be the suspect. Only then did they feel relieved.
They were almost wronged, so they were naturally unhappy, but their self-restraint was too low. This was what most people thought.
Only Ebner looked thoughtfully at the apothecary, thinking:
Rather than mocking them, it was more like reminding the Skade couple… This way of speaking was even an Apothecary…
Could he be Darkwill from the Life School of Thought?