[Silver Ash] - Become The Strongest In Another World
CHAPTER 247: The Prosecution of Evil

...****************...

Noelle arrived at the location Dolf mentioned.

This place is really right in the middle of a large university building.

As Dolf put it, the CTF has not yet been cleared. There was a line of policemen stretching out in a vast aura, and there were several guards standing outside of it.

Noelle walked over, and the guards around started to be wary. They stopped Noelle by pointing the tip of the spear at her neck.

"Who are you? "

Noelle calmly closed her eyes, and took out a pin that was the emblem of the Church of Goddess Zelica.

Upon seeing the emblem, the guards around started to calm down, and instead saluted Noelle.

"I'm sorry for stopping you. Did you come to investigate this place? "

"Yes," Noelle replied briefly as she nodded her head.

"Then, this way." The guard turned around and guided Noelle through the dividing line.

"The blood has dried up enough, and there's not much left here. Are you sure you can find something? "

Noelle did not answer the guard's doubts, and instead came forward near the puddle of dried up blood.

(True blood. And the number is also quite a lot .. )

『Hehe, do you wish it was fake blood? 』

(Of course not. I just wanted to make sure. The perpetrator could have used fake blood to manipulate the scene.)

『You seem to have experience. Have you faced this often in the past? 』

(. .. Think of your own business.)

Noelle sighed, and did not answer Noir again.

He then crouches down and touches Mona's trail of blood.

Nothing is strange. Just ordinary blood.

Noelle then turned to look at the floor around her.

It is not very visible, but there are still traces of shoes there. The presence of Mona's blood makes the shoes look natural.

At that moment, Noelle was trying to remember him. Although she rarely met Mona, and her interactions were limited to the time of applying for a loan, Noelle had already seen various details from the woman.

One of them was the shoes that the woman was wearing.

Clearly, Mona uses shoes with strong fabric to keep her tracks from being left behind. Meanwhile, the traces that were on the floor, clearly came from rubber shoes with thick soles.

The size is different too. It was too big to be equated with Mona's leg size.

However, even though Noelle had already found the footprints of the perpetrator, it did not mean that she could deduce anything.

At this time, it was very difficult to conduct an investigation just by utilizing footprints.

As if aware of the matter, Noir casually gave a suggestion.

『You know? The footprints of a person's shoes are real and visible physical evidence. You can use 'Domination' to clarify its shape. After that, you can use 'Theft' to take all his traits.』

(Then, what should I do after that? )

『Use 'Domination' and command yourself to find the owner of that trail. The rest, you just have to wait. Your body will move on its own even without you controlling it. I won't tell you the mechanism because it's troublesome, but in essence it's like I said.』

Isn't that too horrible? Noelle naturally thought so. It's like having an auto-pilot feature that will lead him wherever he wants.

To be honest, Noelle thought it was good, but at the same time she was scared too.

If his body were to enter that state, would he still be able to regain control over his body? So far, he still can't trust Noir.

In the end, Noelle decided not to use the method that Noir suggested. It was too risky, and Noelle didn't want to take such a big risk.

Despite that, Noelle would still use 'Domination' to strengthen the trail, and use 'Theft' to pick up on its traits.

After the 'Domination' was done, the footprints that had previously only been a dust point on the floor, now turned even clearer, as if the owner of the trail was already standing on the thick sand.

The guards who saw this instantly widened their eyes. They really had no idea what Noelle had just done.

Of all the members of the police force, only a small percentage know about 'contracts'. Those who knew about the contract naturally thought the power Noelle was using was the power of the contract.

That's not wrong, because Noelle did make a contract with a so-called creature named Noir.

Regardless of their reaction, Noelle used 'Theft' on the trail, and 'stealed' all of its features.

Instantly, all the details of the information regarding this trace appeared in Noelle's head.

(The culprit is a male, about thirty-seven, or thirty-eight years old. The size of a forty-eight foot, the height of about one hundred and eighty centimeters, weighed seventy-four kilograms, with the possibility of additional weight from the equipment he was carrying. He wears rubber boots commonly used by hunters in the woods. Incredibly, I've obtained all the information about the culprit just by stealing these trail traits? )

It's too amazing to be true. Noelle didn't even need to do any further investigation to find the culprit's traits.

All he needed to do now, was to do an elemination towards everyone around the university area, and find people with similar traits.

Of course, there would be plenty of people who possessed those traits, but Noelle could easily tell the difference as long as she looked at all of those people directly.

Noelle heaved a sigh of relief and stood up. He's done the investigation.

"I'm done. You can do anything at this place later" he told the guards as he walked out of the police line.

"Good! "

Every guard that was around him instantly countered and saluted. The basic thing that must be understood by the police, is that investigators from the church must get priority at the CTF.

Of course, on condition that the investigator is genuine, and not an undercover con artist.

Noelle left the university building while waving her hand.

Now, he only needed to submit reports regarding this matter to Dolf and Tian.

Noelle had no intention of investigating this on her own, as her priority right now was the case Felice was currently facing.

He's still waiting for information on Gild from the police agents.

...****************...

Tian House.

The house is located not far from the bar, but the location is really quiet, unlike the area around the bar.

Right on the terrace of the house, there was a rocking chair that Tian used to relax.

Now, Tian was sitting on the rocking chair, with a black cat lying in his seat.

Tian gently and carefully stroked the cat's black hair, but a moment later, the cat woke up, jumped into the empty air, and disappeared.

The cat then returned to Tian's lap, carrying a neatly folded piece of paper right in his mouth.

Tian took the paper, and read the contents. Instantly, his eyes opened wide.

(He is really good at finding information. A little too expert. It would be dangerous if he was so hasty in doing his job .. )

The comment was aimed at someone who wasn't there—Noah Ashrain.

Tian was really worried about Noah right now. Because, he felt that Noah was an unstable time bomb, so it could explode at any time.

If there was something that provoked his emotions or desires, then he would probably do whatever it took to achieve the results he wanted. That was Tian's view of Noah.

"You need to be careful, Noah. I've seen a lot of young people like you, and most of them don't live long."

A smile then formed on his face.

"Do I have to tell everyone about this? "

Louen and Rita may not be a problem, but if Dexter finds out about this, then it will be the real problem.

Dexter would not hesitate to gather everyone with similar traits in this city, then select them one by one based on the traits Noah mentioned.

Next up is Dolf. Actually, Tian had no doubts about that. He's gonna tell Dolf about this.

"You really gave me a troublesome problem" he said with a chuckle.

The black cat on his lap was simply yawning and wagging its tail while enjoying the soothing night breeze.

...****************...

In one of the inns belonging to the Church of the Goddess Zelica.

Noelle calmly entered one of the rooms, and saw a figure lying on the bed.

It was Mona.

Her head was covered in bandages, but Noelle could clearly see how severe the wound was.

"Blooding in part of the brain stem, yes .. No wonder he was in a coma. Fortunately, it was not too severe, so his chance of recovery was still quite high. But … "

With the current level of medical sophistication, it is very difficult to save a person who has already entered into a coma.

People still rely too much on magic, even for illness.

There is indeed magic to cure illness, or severe injury, but there is no magic that can heal wounds, or internal illness.

"I think I should do it."

Noelle let out a sigh of resignation, and raised her right hand.

His hand touched Mona's forehead covered in bandages, then black smoke began to come out enveloping the two touching body parts.

Noelle plans to use 'Domination' to forcibly recover Mona's critical brain condition.

Normally, it would be impossible for Noelle to 'dominate' another person's body, but this time she got help directly from Noir, so she could do it without any problems.

Of course, he would have to pay an appropriate fee for this assistance. Noir wasn't good enough to give him help for free.

There was no change in Mona's expression, but Noelle was convinced that she had recovered the damaged parts.

Noelle raised her hand again, and looked at Mona's condition.

Mona should be fine by now. Once he wakes up, he'll be back to normal. There might be a tremendous headache when she wakes up, but Mona should still be able to tolerate the pain.

"Well, time to rest."

Saying that, Noelle finally comes out of Mona's room, leaving Mona still unconscious alone.

...****************...

The next day, in a slum area incorporated in an industrial area.

The team that Tian led had been conducting a thorough investigation since the past three days, but still had not found anything related to Feran Cerces.

But they found one interesting thing.

There are cases, which state how many homeless people and orphans in this slum are disappearing all of a sudden.

The case is similar to the one Dexter and Mona faced before. Naturally, this made Team Tian become even more vigilant.

The other church members had also heard about what had happened to Dexter and Mona's team, so they were a bit tense now.

"Tian, what do you think we should do? "

Rita asked to ascertain her goal. If possible, he would like to suggest investigating the disappearance of these bums. However, the case is similar to that faced by Dexter and Mona, so there may be a link between the two.

Louen agreed with Rita, and perhaps the majority of the aid members from other churches also had the same opinion as them.

Faced with all this, Tian only used a little of his time to ponder, before finally answering with certainty.

"We're going to investigate this case. You're right, there may be a connection between the case we're in, and the case Dexter and Mona faced yesterday."

Louen and Rita simultaneously nodded.

Tian turned away from the two of them, and looked at the two members of the aid one by one.

"But remember to be careful. Go in pairs, and never act alone. Don't let what happened to Dester and Mona's team befall us."

"Good! "

All the investigators on his team answered firmly.

Tian wanted to complete this investigation mission with as few casualties as possible. If he can, he doesn't want a single victim among all the investigators. But, obviously, it's a difficult thing to realize.

...****************...

Afternoon by night.

Team Tian had been conducting investigations all day, and they had also gathered quite a lot of evidence as well as traces.

The problem is, slums and industrial areas are one-third of the city. It was truly a vast place, so everyone had trouble finding a definite trail.

Investigating a homeless man who disappeared in a slum is almost the same as looking for a needle in a haystack. Their numbers were too many, and there were only a few who were registered as natives.

Basically, it was impossible to find the missing tramps, since it was already an everyday occurrence here.

Even so, somehow the team that Tian led managed to find the aftermath of the case after a day of investigation.

Thanks to the gangs and thugs who have a lot of information about the neighborhood. They were willing to provide all the information that Team Tian needed after being paid a little.

Now, the team that Tian led was on their way to the location that they had marked as the center of all these cases.

Each of them ran quickly, and jumped from one roof to another to speed up the journey.

Finally, they all arrived at the place in question.

It was a landfill area adjacent to an abandoned construction area.

It really stinks, but it's the perfect place to hide evidence of evil.

"Prepare to fight at any time." Tian gave everyone a warning, and led them into one of the old abandoned buildings in the area.

Nothing, of course. If it could be found this easy, the prison would already be full of horrible criminals.

Set in a location not far from Tian, the shards now led by Louen were investigating the warehouse filled with trash.

It was too smelly inside, so some members of the investigators began using a cloth moistened with decoction of herbal plants as a mask.

Louen broke down the door with her sheer power, then without hesitation went inside.

There's just trash, but Louen's intuition says there's something else here.

The group of shards led by Rita was also in the same place, and they instantly frowned when looking around.

At first glance, there was nothing strange, but anyone who was meticulous could definitely see it.

Piles of trash there, looking like they were made up, and stacked intentionally to cover something up.

The core team led by Tian came to the building, and felt the same way.

Tian nodded at Louen and Rita, then started to get closer to one of the trash piles.

"Try to burn this pile of trash. Make sure that the combustion can't be detected from the outside."

One of the members of the aid nodded, and walked over to Tian. He then pointed both of his hands forward, right at the pile of trash in question.

Instantly, a strange white blaze that did not feel any heat appeared.

Although it did not feel hot, the pile of trash devoured by the fire turned into a pile of ash, even though there was a lot of liquid trash there.

High level fire magic,《Flame of Purgatory》. If the holy knights saw this, then they would probably be very angry, since magic belonging to the category of holy magic was used to burn trash.

In fact, she did not use magic, but rather the power from her contract with the Goddess of Sainthood. A contract that allows him to use magic similar to holy magic.

After all the trash that was blocking caught fire, Tian and the others were finally able to see what was behind that pile of trash.

A large hole, which was only covered by an ordinary metal slab.

Louen came forward and threw away the metal slab. "Let's go in. Don't forget to be vigilant."

Right after he said that, his figure was already nowhere to be seen anymore. Louen has jumped into the hole.

Seeing that, one by one the members of the investigation team went into the hole to follow him.

...****************...

Arriving at the bottom of the hole, they were immediately startled by the sight that was there.

Bodies, corpses, and corpses.

There were only corpses everywhere, and it was piled up like trash.

All of the bodies were already in a state of decay, and it was difficult to recognize.

Investigators unfamiliar with the scene began to feel nauseous, and nearly vomited on the spot. More importantly, however, it is similar to the one faced by Dexter and Mona's teams.

" … We're late."

Tian's voice echoed, and made everyone aware. They looked at the center of the room, and found one body figure with the robes of the Gerben God of Knowledge Church still clinging to his body.

Just like Liu's condition after being discovered, this person had a body that had already dried up as if all the nutrients had been removed from his body.

"Cih–"

Louen clicked her tongue and approached the person's body.

He's already dead.

After confirming her condition, Louen began to look around, and tried to deduce the situation.

However, before he could do that, the sound of Tian's footsteps accompanied by a knock from the tip of his staff resounded throughout the room.

"The victims reported missing were members of the local homeless community. They were reported missing after getting a job offer from someone."

"The orphan who is rumored to have disappeared is also reported with similar details. They were offered money by someone, then suddenly disappeared."

"The last time they were seen was around a landfill area. The victims were of different sexes and ages, but most of them were people under fifty."

"Not many know who gave them the offer, but one of the alleys that gave us the previous information said that the person's name was Moldy."

Tian stopped walking, and turned to Rita.

"Create an emergency report. We're going after a guy named Moldy today."

...****************...