## Chapter 506 – Quasi-Priest Kim Kat

“Seriously, blackie’s cum… how am I supposed to wash this out… really…”

Winea said, looking at the mess of the bed and blankets caused by my massive wet dream. Her thighs, where she had been sleeping next to me, were also soaked with my semen.

“Haa. If I knew this would happen, I should have just taken care of it last night. Sorry, blackie. I didn’t know it would build up this much in just one day.”

Winea, who had been struck by lightning out of nowhere, apologized to me.
No, I should be the one apologizing.

“No, it’s not necessarily that… Sorry. Why am I like this all of a sudden today?”

That Hildegard bitch.

“Maybe it’s because you slept comfortably?”
“My sister is right. Blackie usually abstains when he has work.”

Anyway, washing up was a bit of a hassle, so we ended up finishing our preparations late in the morning and heading out to work. We wasted a bit of time in the morning due to the unexpected wet dream.

Damn it.

Before starting the forest search in earnest, I grabbed a few residents and warned them.

“We’re going out to search from now on, so I can’t protect the village while I’m gone, so be careful on your own. Even if it seems bright around, always be cautious, and don’t go around alone.”
“Ah, I understand. Priest. Do you have any idea when you’ll be back?”

For now, I plan to continue sleeping in the village while searching.

“I’ll be back around sunset. Then.”

And so, we entered the forest.

The first place we looked for was the scene of the incident. I had been guided all day yesterday, so finding the way wasn’t difficult. Since there were quite a few victims on the forest side, the culprit is likely hiding in this forest.

Due to the repeated murder cases, all the residents of the surrounding villages are lying low. If the guy is a pleasure killer, I think he’ll soon be unable to control his homicidal urges and go completely insane.

If he goes completely crazy, he might openly attack the village.

That would be troublesome.

Anyway, I used my killer’s senses to the fullest to track down the serial killer. It’s nothing special. I imagine myself as an indiscriminate serial killer and think about how I would move.

“Um… Blackie. Now that I think about it, there were adventurers who came here before, right? They probably tried to track down the culprit like we are now.”
“I guess so?”

According to the residents, the bodies of the adventurer party were not found. They are all missing. So, they might have tracked deep into the forest and been attacked there.

They came to work too, so they would have tracked diligently.

That’s natural for a D-rank party.

If we go a little deeper and find their bodies… is that the answer? But even if the guy is a crazy bastard addicted to killing, if he notices that there are people targeting him, he might change his base.

But then, someone died recently… I really don’t know. It doesn’t make sense logically.

“Then let’s look for that first. There were five of them, so if we look, we’ll find traces. Since they went missing in the forest, they might have been living there for a few days.”

As Winea said, after investing a few hours, we were able to find traces of a bonfire.

There are black charred wood fragments scattered around.

They probably gathered around before they went missing to eat and warm themselves. Because it’s getting cold.

After searching the surroundings, evidence of several people gathering was detected.

“But is this really the adventurers’ traces?”
“Hmm…”

In fact, there might have been several serial killers, not just one, and this could be their traces. Maybe they are remnants of Ejaz? If so, the indiscriminate murder case would be understandable. Of course, it’s just a possibility.

Let’s assume that this is the adventurers’ traces and resume the search.

What crazy residents would light a fire and play here when a killer is on the loose? If there were such idiots, dying would be divine judgment. It can be said that it is not the traces of the residents.

“Let’s go deeper.”

Even if we don’t find the killer today, it would be good to find the adventurers’ bodies. That’s what we came here for in the first place.

And so, we walked through the dense forest.

From here, it was much easier to track. Traces of a large number of people moving were left right next to us.

We followed that path and set our direction. I’ve been doing this all the time, so I’m getting better at it. I feel like my tracking skills, the technique of following traces, have improved.

Is it because my field of vision has widened?

“Smell… Kat. That way.”

Just as it was almost time to return, Claudia pointed to the other side. It seemed like a strange smell was coming from somewhere.

This familiar smell was the smell of rotting corpses.

“Adventurers?”

Winea said, putting on a mask.

“I think so.”

When we approached that way, sure enough, a corpse in a miserable state was lying face down. A stench was emanating from it.

But only one?

It was an adventurer party, but only one corpse was found… Maybe there are other corpses nearby.

“Claudia, Winea. Keep watch around and check if there are any other corpses nearby. I’ll search this one.”
“Okay. We will.”

I asked Claudia and Winea to do that, and I broke off a branch and turned the corpse over. The condition wasn’t good. I can’t take anything from this. Taking anything from a corpse decomposed in this way causes various diseases.

Anyway, I carefully examined the corpse, being careful not to get any fluids on me.

The corpse was wearing clothes very well. Above all, he was also equipped with gauntlets. He seemed to be armed to the extent of an ordinary D-rank adventurer.

The sword lying next to him is also a useful item… I can’t let my sword get a rotten smell, so I carefully tore off his clothes using that sword and searched his pockets.

In the first place, it was very easy to remove the clothes because he had been hacked to pieces. It is certain that he was attacked by a killer.

And so, I collected various items and laid them out on the floor. Looking at it, he had almost all of his belongings intact.

“…”

This is so strange.

He killed a person like this and didn’t take his pockets? Just taking the gauntlets and sword he was wearing would earn him several silvers for free.

Why didn’t the killer do any looting?

“…Damn it.”

I felt a chill.

Even if you gather a truckload of killers, you will never find a guy who attacks an armed person and kills them without any compensation. Even the most brutal criminals take their pockets when they kill someone. It’s a natural thing. That’s basic common sense.

ㅡBut there is a guy who doesn’t have that common sense at all.

A human with a completely different common sense structure.

A born serial killer.

Is it just the purpose of killing people? Without any need for wealth or anything else. Just people.

The corpse with this wealth intact began to feel terrible… This is worse than Ejaz. Looking at it, the corpse even had cash properly kept. Let’s wash this money and use it.

“Kat, there doesn’t seem to be any corpses around. That’s the only one.”
“That’s strange. To be dead here alone… What’s the purpose?”

Claudia and Winea came back.

It seems that the killer had the skill to fight and win against a D-rank adventurer party. He cut one down, so the rest must have run away.

A born serial killer.

The probability of him being that skilled is high.

Even if not nearby, the bodies of other adventurers will also be somewhere.

Still, if they are D-rank, they are guys who use swords a little… He fought all of them alone and won, and even made them run away? The more I look at it, the more bizarre the incident is.

Even the renowned detective Kim Kat is really a mystery.

Anyway, today’s income was just one corpse. I only took 5 silver and 27 copper in cash and the adventurer’s pass from his pocket.

Because the contamination was too severe to take anything else.

It’s starting to get dark. On the way back, I presented my questions and guesses to them. Claudia and Winea also seemed to find it quite strange.

“It’s rare to kill people without taking anything. I think maybe it’s those heretics.”
“Sister. What’s the probability of it being a monster?”
“The corpse was killed with a sword, so if it’s not a monster that uses a sword, it must be a person, right?”

Is it more likely to be a heretic after all?

And so, we returned to the village around dusk.

“The priest is back!”
“I’m here. Was there anything special in the village?”
“There wasn’t. But the killer…?”

As if they were waiting for us, some residents were standing with lanterns and rushed over to ask such things. I shook my head and said.

“I couldn’t find him.”
“Ah…”
“But I found the corpse of the adventurer who came before. From the traces, it seemed like he was attacked by a killer. Just in case, I’m asking, but when the corpses of the village victims were found, were their belongings missing?”

To my question, the residents replied that nothing was missing. Listening to the story in detail, it seems that there were no corpses with missing belongings. It’s the same culprit. Anyway, I decided to do it again tomorrow and went in to rest.

* * *

And so, we spent about three days searching the area around the village thoroughly.

All the adventurers’ bodies were found. Everyone was not much different from the first corpse we found. They were all running away together and were killed in order, so we could find them like sausages. Adventurers who ate some sword rice just ran away and were killed one by one…

Anyway, if we bring all of their passes to the guild, they will recognize it as a performance. The guild will be in pain because they lost a D-rank, which is like a key member.

No victims appeared in the village for three days.

Could it be that the killer has left? Well, it doesn’t really matter. The request I received from the guild was just an investigation.

The residents will be disappointed, and we will have wasted some time, but there is no penalty. But there’s no way such a crazy guy would have left. He is obsessed with killing. Maybe he ran away to the next village.

He will never stop killing.

Damn, I searched the forest so much, but he didn’t attack us. No, I didn’t even feel any signs of him in the first place. Should I really go to the next village?

“Priest! Something terrible has happened!”
“What is it?”

A resident urgently called me, so I immediately ran out. I thought the killer had appeared, but when I went, it was a slightly different matter.

“Th, that!”
“An unbelievable thing!”
“Is that really reality!”

People were gathered and buzzing. Looking at it, a person from the next village was there. He was shouting as if spitting blood with a dying complexion.

“That was… an amazing swordsman! He killed his colleagues without any hesitation! I barely managed to escape!”
“Hmm…”

According to the explanation, he was attacked while going to Isbant with his colleagues to sell goods. A killer who suddenly appeared attacked and his colleagues were all massacred, and he barely escaped and found the village.

It seems he ran away to the next village after all. I should have moved sooner. Then let’s go there today.

“Tell me in detail. I am a quasi-priest of the Bronze Celestial Angel Society. I came to solve this situation.”
“P, Priest?”

I immediately grabbed his shoulder and asked. When I revealed that I was a priest, he soon burst into tears. I comforted him for a while and listened to the detailed circumstances.

“Hic… he was a terrible… swordsman! I can’t forget that black sword!”
“A black sword?”
“Yes! He mercilessly slaughtered my colleagues with that black sword! He was not like a human! He was like a knight!”

How would these rural farmers know the skills of a knight? Still, if he evaluates it like this, it means that he is a guy who is good at swordsmanship.

The village farmers also have muscles trained by farming. They also carry protective farming tools and weapons. But even if it’s such a group, if it’s a guy who destroyed a D-rank, he’s enough alone.

“I barely escaped out of five…! Hic!”
“Explain how you escaped.”
“That is…”

As soon as they were attacked, they noticed that it was the rumored killer and ran away in different directions. He saw two people die for sure, and he doesn’t know the whereabouts of the rest. He thinks that if he survived, the other colleagues must have died because the killer chased the person who ran in the opposite direction.

“Okay. Then let’s go there.”
“Ye, yes?!”
“It’s for the public good, so follow me even if you’re scared. Let’s leave right away.”