Episode 52

'Merha is asking Marco a lot of related business with the help of her temple.'

Elisha gave her a small nod to indicate that she was listening.

'In the end, what the family head values ​​most is business ability.'

The Cartiers were a family of merchants who started out in finance and spread money throughout the country. After all, to prove your ability as a family head, you have to show your business skills.

Marco had a stigma that he had no business skills and would fail no matter what he did.

'My father's back badge.'

Thanks to his father Merha, Marco lived a splendid life without skin and went around with great vigor.

In fact, it was no different from openly colluding and committing corruption, and Elisha in her previous life thought that brazenness was great.

“Can I go inside and take a look?”

“You'd better not go.”

“Why?”

“It's better not to look closely.”

Elisha tilted her head. From her Elisha position, only the face and upper body of her corpse were visible. She had a brief look at Ian.

“The inside was full of bonds, paper bankbooks, jewels, holy relics, and 'Bloody Pigeons,' which are called top-notch mana stones.”

“In whose name are the bonds and bankbooks?”

Elisha asked quickly.

“That……. All in the name of Listralpo himself.”

Elisha looked at her Nora.

“Then the owner of that warehouse?”

“You mean this secret warehouse belongs to Listralfo himself?”

Nora said in a puzzled voice. Listralpo had imprisoned himself in his vault, and died perfectly preserved.

“So you're saying you committed suicide in there?”

“No. There was a stab wound to the stomach. You were murdered.”

“Ristralfo's body was auctioned about eight years ago. If he was here now……. It makes no sense. It can't be.”

It was the first time Elisha had seen Nora lengthen her words like this. As expected, Nora, who was from a monastery, was very interested in her temple work, so she gave Elisha the information she wanted.

“Yeah, that's really strange.”

“…….”

“What do you think, Elisha?”

Lucerne stared at the faintly spinning body in her eyes as if inhaling.

“What is the correct answer? This riddle.”

“That's something I don't know.”

Elisha turned away from Lucerne's gaze and answered quietly.

“But if this is the real Lystralfo's corpse, then you have information that could fatally wound Marco. Congratulations.”

At Elisha's words, Lucerne raised her lips.

“Thanks to you accidentally finding this place.”

“…… Yes. I was lucky.”

“Okay. Thank you so much.”

“…….”

“It's a night full of thoughts. The sweetest thing I've ever learned has always been a trap.”

Lucerne wrapped her arms around Elisha's shoulder. Elisha's back bristled with tension. Elisha read Lucerne's gaze. There was satisfaction, doubt, and a feeling that Elisha couldn't figure out.

A very strange gaze. A look like a beast that wants to devour anything. With such a complex gaze, she was looking at Elisha.

“It is cold. Because her wife shouldn't catch a cold. Maybe she should go back.”

Lucerne muttered. Only then did Elisha become conscious of her stiff shoulders.

*​ *​ *​

Elisha didn't exactly know everything about her.

But one thing she was certain of was that she knew. The secret hidden in that land. Listralfo's corpse was information that could destroy Marco.

'I see, there is a secret vault under the ground, and Listralfo's body is there.'

It was Carola who discovered this secret in her previous life. Carola notices the existence of the land coveted by Arien, and she takes it away. And for four years, the secret of the land is left undisclosed.

'The cellar where the corpse is located is a secret vault sealed with the divine power of Listralpo. In the first place, only high-ranking mages can find and open it.'

Four years later, Carola recalls the vacant land and she decides to build a new villa there. In the process, she discovers the secrets of the land that the sorceress accompanying Carola finds out.

Other than that, Elisha didn't know much either. All he knew was that Listralfo had been murdered, and that Jacob had caught the Marcos' weakness because of that weakness.

'That was the beginning of Marco's ruin.'

Elisha recalled memories from her past life. The banquet where Marco molested Elisha. It was about then. Carola found out the secret of the land.

*​ *​ *​

'Prophet Listralpo was from a lowly class.'

He was an adult whose abilities manifested as he got older.

'I mean, he had a family. He knows what will happen if he has a horribly poor family to support.'

Listralpo was greedy for money and was a snobbish man. After hearing Marco swear, Jacob had told Carola about it several times. He often hid the goods stolen from the temple and sent them to his family.

'The biggest problem is that he refused to donate the body.'

Then, in the temple, nothing can be done through the death of Lystralpho.

Merha was a man with great ambition.

'Besides, a prophet who died young and beautiful makes much more money.'

For those of the Cartier family, such as Merha, the lowly people were not people. How dare Cheonmin reject my words. There was no way Merha would leave Listralfo alone. In the end, Listralpo is killed.

None other than Yurif. On land that is no different than his own.

*​ *​ *​

The truth behind it was only learned by Elisha after a while.

Ristralpo, who had been stabbed, runs away into the woods. Merha and Marco, who chased after Ristralpo into the forest, only found that Ristralfo had disappeared.

Merha and Marco were confused. They wandered through the woods like catching mice, wandering around Yurif, but in the end they couldn't find Listralfo.

'In the last moments of his death, Ralphpo hid himself in his own secret safe.'

But the wound to his stomach was so mortal that he couldn't live. He dies like that, locked in a safe. That was already 8 years ago.

*​ *​ *​

The dawn adventure ended with Lucerne using the shadows to cast a series of lockdown spells so no one could find Listralfo's corpse.

He said.

“I can hold out for about three months. Leave some of the shadows behind. No one will be able to open this device anymore.”

In the morning, Elisha and Lucerne were able to obtain papers from which they had investigated every detail of Listralfo and the owner of the land. Elisha was surprised inside.

She said, 'Even a VIP from the information guild couldn't get the documents this fast.'

This was much faster than Jacob's spies.

Elisha was sitting on a chair in the hotel room. Lucerne moved slowly around the room looking at her papers.

Lucerne was holding a piece of paper in her hand. Elisha was impressed by that. Perhaps, at the same time Lucerne took the real estate papers, she asked Ian to get the papers from the Information Guild.

He looked through the papers and thought, but then he opened his mouth.

“The owner of that land is currently missing, and they say he has been in arrears in taxes for several years.”

“The price of land in Yurif is very high, so it must not be a normal tax.”

Elisha answered.

“Okay. And since the owner has been missing for 8 years, it will be put up for auction soon. The landlord has no family.”

“Who owns the land?”

“He was the secretary of Listralfo. It is known that he was the brother that Lystralpo brought to the temple.”

At last, Elisha felt the final puzzle in her head complete. The corpse sold in place of Listralpo……. It was the brother he brought.

'That's why the owner of the land went missing. Besides, since he was a brother, they must have looked alike.'

It was an outrageous crime.

“Elisha, what do you think of this information?”

“I do not know. I heard there was a wound on the stomach. Besides, it was found in his own safe, so maybe he escaped into it?”

Elisha just gave a hint to Lucerne, pretending it was her own idea. Indeed, Lucerne is an outstanding person, and he immediately began to guess the truth that took Jacob and Carola four years to find, just with hints.

“It is certain that Ristralfo's corpse was sold as a fake.”

Upon hearing Lucerne's words, Ian and Nora's faces also turned pale.

“You are so crazy. How could you commit such a crime?”

“That's right. Also, a temple person…….”

Nora, who was too innocent for her age, had a frightened expression on her face. Only Elisha was touching her forehead.

“But that's really Listralpo……. Is that right? I saw a picture of him hanging in a temple not too long ago. No matter how young a person is, after 8 years, the traces of the years will be buried on their faces……. In the picture I saw, it was the same face as Listralfo right before he died. What the hell happened? When the hell did he die?”

“He must have died eight years ago.”

Lucerne said.

“The reason why that corpse remains is because the time magic field was created.”

“What is that?”

“Because the treasure house where the corpse was located was full of top-notch mana stones. And Listralfo's corpse is a lump of divine power.”

It was something that Elisha couldn't understand. Ian and Nora nodded and scrambled to kindly explain to Elisha.

“Magic power and holy power have conflicting properties, so when the two meet, they sometimes create a tremendous barrier that stops time. This is a phenomena that only comes around once every few hundred years.”

“So, magic power is the highest level magic crystal, and holy power is……. Are you talking about Listralpo?”

“Yes. Moreover, it is said that adults exude tremendous divine power the moment they die, so when that divine power was released and the mana stone offset that power, a time barrier was created.”

Elisha nodded her head.

“That means time has stopped completely. I think I know.”

At Elisha's word 'perfect', Ian put on an embarrassed expression.

“Why?”