Crunch, splash.
"REINES!! That was the last drop!!" Asura's cries and the rapid thud of footsteps came from the far side of the crystal.
"What happened there?" A bad feeling started to grow in me.
"Well, that's Reines...," the crystal showed Grain, "basically... she ripped his heart out and examined it while it was still dangling... I'm sorry, I need to leave too."
The swift footsteps carried away the last witness from the room, and I mentally thanked myself for not making a larger overview of the crystal.
"Hmph, they're so weak-nerved," Reines returned again, wiping her hands off the blood. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"
"Oh, nothing. Did you find anything?"
"The heart is intact, no external injuries, and in general, I didn't find any damages that could have led to death... Ripping out the soul would be the most logical assumption, but I only know one way to do that. I don't know what else to suggest."
Reines sat down at the table and rested her head on folded palms.
"If you have any other ideas on how it could have been done, I'm listening."
Poisons, injuries, and magic had nothing to do with it; we missed something else...
"Ancient magic?" Katrina looked at me. "Krito, is it possible to perform such a spell?"
"To kill someone without a trace... it is possible by tapping into the power of the blue god. You can set the conditions for death and the time. But to do that, you need someone well-versed in ancient magic, someone who knows the language of the ancient gods and has an impressive amount of mana. I would hardly be able to do it directly. But if you use a magic catalyst and enchant some object, you could transfer the spell to all the killers."
"Hmm... you know, I found similar markings on their hands, but I didn't pay much attention to them," Reines brought the crystal to one of the bodies and raised its hand. A thin scar like a burn or a cut from a jagged knife ran along the finger. "I thought maybe it was part of their bloodletting ritual. Others also have these marks on the front and back of their hands."
"Hmm, those could very well be remnants of ancient magic at work. So, they all touched the enchanted object. I wonder if they knew what they were touching. Did they have anything in common among their belongings?"
"All their weapons and clothing were bought in nearby towns, we already checked that," Serzen shrugged, shaking a pouch of coins, and a few coins spilled out. "By the way, they all had money with them, or they wouldn't have been able to buy their gear. Moreover, their coins were different."
I started sorting through the coins. The only thing that all the killers touched without exception was the money they were given as an advance. There had to be traces of the spell on them somewhere.
"Um, Krito?" Werner addressed me from the crystal. "Isn't this what you're looking for?"
He held a coin of the Empire in his hands, the same as those scattered before me on the table, but there was a thin black streak along its rim. The coins found in the assassin guild did not have this mark, and their edges were smooth without any irregularities.
"Can you remove what's under this streak?"
"Sorry, it's fused all around the rim."
"If this inscription is in the ancient language, I can at least read it. Just highlight it a bit."
"I have an idea," Aileen winked at Katrina. "Remember that trick with the metal rod?"
"I don't want to go blind again!"
"Then close your eyes; gold shouldn't shine too brightly, so it should be fine, I guess."
"Again with your 'I guess.' Do all your experiments pose risks to one's health?" Katrina protested but still took the coin with her fingertips. "Try not to look at the coin."
The princess began to send lightning through the small piece of gold. At first, the metal resisted, but the more the sorceress strained, the brighter the electric discharges ran across the metal's surface. Finally, the charges heated the metal, and a golden glow spread across the room, piercing the streaks in the blackened edge of the coin. Before it melted away, the light passed through the remnants of the inscription hidden under the soot. They were familiar symbols, although not quite the same as those used in the ancient language.
"Did it look like this, or was it just my imagination?" Werner slightly drew his blade from its sheath.
"Yes, the coins were enchanted with runes used by the Nords."
"So, whoever ordered the killings must have good connections with Nordic blacksmiths. Not every master could manage such delicate work, and without initiation into the details, they wouldn't be able to cast the spell," Serzen summed up. "It brought us a bit closer to the solution, but we still don't have any suspects."
"We can always investigate everyone who had a motive... though we don't have that much time."
"Oh, by the way," Reines emerged from the room with the corpses, nonchalantly joining the rest of the guild members. "Look at this interesting thing I found."
In her hand, the necromancer held something black, oozing a nauseating liquid.
"Is that what I think it is?" Hilda fought back the urge to vomit.
"Yes, yes, it's the same substance that injured Siegfried."
"Necromancers are terrible," Asura and the Valkyrie moved away from the death sorceress, and even Grain recoiled from looking at her.
"Well, what's the fuss about? So what if I extracted it from the Jarl's wound? But I had never seen symptoms like this before. Apparently, the poison appeared while I was in a trance. Maybe the assassins knew something about it," the dragoness pushed the decaying piece of flesh closer to the crystal. It wasn't just black; it pulsated and almost seemed alive.
"Uh, get rid of that!" Katrina shouted at Reines before it got too bad for everyone present.
"Alright, alright," the necromancer tucked the piece of flesh into a leather pouch.
"You just put THAT in your pocket?"
"Well, yes, I want to study it in my free time," Reines' face was as nonchalant as ever.
"I don't need this filth in MY guild!!!" Katrina seemed less pleased with this decorative element compared to someone who enjoys bones and gloomy settings.
"Tsk, you're so greedy," Reines sighed sadly but didn't throw away the pouch.
"Hmm, I've seen something similar before," Serzen squinted his eyes. "But I've never seen anyone survive this stage. How did you cure him?"
"Well, I burned the area around the affected part and cut it out, preventing the spread. It seems this black mass was the source of the problem."
"An unusual healing method... And I doubt everyone could use it. Too bad; some of my acquaintances died precisely because this curse is challenging to treat."
"So, what is this poison?"
"It's not exactly poison," the assassin continued to respond. "It's cursed blood."
"Oh no, not that curse," Vivien's voice echoed from the crystal.
"Hm? You're familiar with it?" The assassin was a bit surprised. "I thought this poison was very rare and rarely used due to its harmful properties."
"Yes, it's almost always lethal, although it corrodes any weapon within a couple of weeks, so it's rarely employed," Miriam met the assassin's gaze. "But if you remember where it comes from, you'll understand everything."
"Cursed blood, the blood of animals that once tasted demon flesh and were disfigured by their power. After the demon invasion, there were many such predators, but now there are hardly any left. Only in places of major battles with demon armies in the north of Nordrune and..."
"...and in the central part, Verania, in the forests west of Belenor," Miriam continued. "There's a small forest guarded by the well-known school of martial arts. By the way, the heir to the head of that school must prove their strength by killing the largest of the cursed creatures, a wild bear."
"Oh," I looked at the archer and her twin's reflection in the crystal, "it seems I've heard about this before."
"Yes, we have dangerous places around here. But Father ensures that nobody enters that forest and that nobody attempts to smuggle the blood of local animals. We're strict about that."
"Yes, it's not easy to obtain it from your lands," the assassin sipped her tea calmly, "though I won't say it's entirely unavailable. But the primary source remains the north of Nordrune, especially the western forests. There are no major cities, and hunting wild animals is practically unhindered, although they become much more dangerous because of it. People often obtain this poison there, but no one has managed to establish large-scale production there."
"So why use such a rare poison?"
"I don't know. Discovering it in the later stages is relatively easy, so hiding its origin is futile. But it's certainly quite unpleasant in its effects."
"As I understand it, the healers managed to remove all its physical manifestations, but for some reason, it continued to kill Siegfried," Reines thoughtfully scratched her chin.
"That's because it corrodes the victim's soul, or so they say. The demonic blood conflicts with the human soul and slowly drains the body."
"So, if I hadn't discovered it, Yarl would eventually have succumbed to an unknown disease, and by then, it would have been incurable."
"And in a country where strength comes first," I mentally calculated the possible scenarios, "if Siegfried had become weak, the power would have passed to..."
"His wife," Rumy twirled a small dagger in her hands, "and if she were no longer there, then to their daughter until a new Yarl was chosen, or until he recovered."
"And if all members of the family perish?"
"Then the council of thanes would rule temporarily."