Another reason for stealing Oster's combat potion belt was the fear that if he was hanging on to his last breath, with a chance to drink a potion, it would be more troublesome.
Gaven's caution wasn't misplaced, as one of them indeed had a final breath left, but it wasn't the professional, Oster, it was Rogan.
It wasn't that Rogan had hidden depths, but that he was luckier than Oster.
Both of them were inside the carriage, sitting face to face, with Oster on the side where the Fireball Technique hit, bearing the brunt of the explosive fiery blast.
"Save me... Save me... my belt... in the belt there is... healing..." Hearing someone approaching, Rogan struggled to call for help.
One of his arms was nowhere to be seen, and the other, along with half his torso, was pinned under Oster. Although he had a healing potion, he couldn't drink it.
Using Oster as a human shield had helped him block most of the damage, exhausting all his luck for the day.
When he saw the face of the person approaching, Rogan's newly kindled hope for survival turned into utter despair, followed by a gaze filled with resentment, "It's you, it's actually you... I... I knew it... it would be you, why... why... would you do this? I'm your own brother... You're committing a great crime..."
At that moment, Rogan was convinced that Gaven was behind everything.
Thud!
Gaven had no intention of wasting words with Rogan. With one stroke, he chopped off his head, and with another backhanded swing, he cut off Oster's as well.
People could come to investigate the noise at any moment; he had no time to banter with Rogan, and moreover, there was no way to explain, because their greatest harm to Gaven lay in the future, in another future.
In Felen, death was not the end.
Because of the existence of gods and Divine Arts, death had many more possibilities.
Resurrection was not very common, but it wasn't rare either.
Nort Castle did not have such a priest, but Darama City very likely did.
However, if the body was destroyed, especially through decapitation, a severe form of destruction, simple resurrection wouldn't work. One would need to use the Complete Resurrection Spell or Wish Spell, which required extremely high-end priests or magicians. The probability that Darama City had such individuals dropped drastically, to less than half.
Beyond this, there was another prerequisite: someone had to be willing to pay a huge sum of money—no spell, including the priest's Divine Arts, came without a cost.
Gaven believed that given the character of Rogan and Oster, there probably wouldn't be anyone from the Nort Castle willing to pay such a price.
But he wasn't willing to gamble; he manually reduced the possibility to the lowest.
Doing so would leave behind more evidence, but Gaven couldn't care less. This plan was never perfect; it was merely an attempt to cover one's ears while stealing a bell, hoping the person whose ears were covered would believe it.
He nonchalantly threw both heads into a bag he had prepared earlier and didn't overlook the equipment on the two men.
He stripped off Rogan's combat potion belt, Oster's battle boots, and the sword carried by both of them, which Gaven remembered to be magic items.
After that, Gaven didn't linger any longer; he quickly ran to the battle horse he had readied earlier and started pursuing in the direction the Goblin Sorcerer had left. He needed to ensure the Goblin Sorcerer wasn't captured alive by the two heavily armored guards.
By this time, many people who heard the commotion began to react, grabbing their weapons and running in this direction.
When they arrived, all they found were two partially charred, headless bodies and the unconscious heavily armored guards, each of them looking at one another in confusion, not understanding what had just happened.
It seems that being a squad leader of the Nort Militia provided one with more decisiveness. He directed a few of the militia in the crowd, "You go inform Captain Zalanda and report the situation here to her. You two stay here to guard this place and make sure no one approaches. Also, organize some people to wake our two brothers up. The rest of you come with me to catch the assassin."
Soon, a makeshift unit of Nort Militia cavalry set out in pursuit.
By the time Captain Zalanda rushed back, half a day had already passed.
Young Master Gaven had chosen his moment with precision, exactly when Zalanda was leading her troops to relieve Kami Village. She was busy chasing down Goblin Rout Soldiers with the Nort Knight Cavalry, and the delay in receiving the message cost her precious time.
At the murder scene, Captain Zalanda stayed for less than half a minute, her face grim as she turned on her heel and strode off towards Gaven's carriage.
As clever as she was, having heard the report, she had guessed most of the incident already. Now was just about further confirmation.
Seeing Zalanda, Darren's admiration for Gaven reached a new height. Indeed, his prediction was akin to the foresight of a god. He hurriedly jumped down from the carriage to greet her, running up to her, "Captain, Captain, this is something Young Master Gaven asked me to give to you."
"Gaven asked you to give this to me?" Zalanda frowned yet again, taking the voluminous item from Darren's hands, and asked, "Did he tell you anything else?"
Slapping his head, Darren said, "I almost forgot. Young Master Gaven said that you must read this book, and here is a letter for you as well. He told me to give both to you."
"Understood," replied Zalanda, still unable to grasp what Gaven was up to. She said, "Wait here for me. I'll have some questions for you in a moment."
"Yes, ma'am," Darren responded dutifully.
Carrying the book, Zalanda entered Gaven's carriage and looked around. Everything was neat and tidy, hardly looking like anyone lived there, let alone searching for any useful information.
Speaking to the empty space, she finally let her guard down, her face a mix of frustration and confusion, "You little rascal, what exactly are you up to? At this point, I almost hope you are under the control of some monster, so it would be easier for me to save you!"
Logically, she knew all this was Gaven's doing.
Emotionally, she was unwilling to believe that someone she had raised and nurtured with her own hands could become such a deranged person, one who would murder his own brother, even if he was not a good man.
Ultimately, Zalanda focused on the letter and book left by Gaven.
Opening the letter first, she scanned it briefly before tossing it aside. It was nothing more than instructions that the young man outside was a talent worth nurturing, that he deserved special training, suggesting to arrange for someone to teach him to read, or better yet, to start a special class so that in the future, all the young people of Nort Castle would be literate.
That matter being unrelated to the current situation, Zalanda was in no mood to deal with it for now.
She then untied the leather string around the book and opened the first page to find another letter tucked inside, which she instinctively began to read.
Dear beloved sister,
By the time you read this letter, I expect I will be far away, very far.
Do not send anyone after me. I know what I am doing, and when you need me, I will return on my own.
After so many years of your care, I am unable to repay you, so I leave you this book. I don't know if it will be of any help to you.
From now on, you are no longer just a knight of the Nort Family but a knight for all the Tesser People. The people here have suffered for too long; they need a knight to rescue, awaken, and lead them. Do what you wish to do, and I will always support you from behind.
And, please do not marry anyone until I return.