BXBX NOVEL Chapter 193 Preliminary Investigation
After coaxing Eli, Leon immediately went with Kayden to receive the instruction from the Emperor about the course of the investigation.
As the matter had already caught the attention of the Temple, Emperor Valentin instructed that the interrogation could only start after the Winter Banquet.
This was due to the fact that the Temple wanted to also participate in the case involving the curse.
Initially, the Temple insisted on taking over the case because the curse magic was no longer a concern limited to the Empire but of the entire Prasinos. Since the Temple's jurisdiction not only covers the Seriende Empire, they could exercise their authority based on the gravity of the matter.
However, Emperor Valentin convinced the High Priest not to let this case be known to many people, even on the other branches of the Temple. Atleast until they were done with the investigations.
He told the High Priest that there was likely a traitor within the Empire and the connection of the captives with the aristocratic Vesala Family.
Because of these reasons, the Emperor believed that it would be best that the matter would be handled by Leon, who also was the one who exerted the efforts to capture the two men.
As such the two parties agreed to a compromise, the interrogation and investigation would be led by Leon's party under two conditions.
First, the captives must be under the Temple's custody.
At first, the Emperor strongly objected to this request. It was mainly because he knew that Empress Carolina stayed in the Temple for a year. This would mean that she may have established some connections within the temple during that time.
However, the High Priest assured that the matter would only remain inside the Higher Courts - a place that Empress Carolina could not even step into during her volunteer years.
Upon receiving the assurance from the High Priest, the Emperor relented. He knew that the Temple would never allow these captives to go.
Besides, it would also be easier for Leon if the investigation would be within the Capital, especially because of the second condition.
The second condition was that the Temple would send someone on his side to join Leon's investigation team. This would ensure that whatever information they receive about the curse would be recorded by the Temple entirely.
Although Leon wanted to start the investigation right away, he still had to abide by these arrangements. Thus, he had to prepare for the transfer of the two captives to the Temple.
Due to this, he had to think of ways to smoothly transfer all the paraphernalias and the captives themselves. He had to think of a way to ensure that the captives would never create trouble during the transfer.
The best way to do this was to make them unconscious again for a period of time. However, Leon was already helpless with this matter because he had already knocked the men too many times already.
What if he really knocked them for good? Then they would die without Leon extracting information from them!
Too dangerous! Too dangerous!
With this, he could only rely on Kayden's medical prowess to achieve the goal.
Arriving at the secret base, the two immediately proceeded in the dungeons to check the situation with the captives.
They arrived at the dungeons with Igor and Hasta still unconscious because they were again hit by Leon's men an hour ago.
Upon hearing this, Kayden looked at Leon angrily, "Are you serious?! What if they lose memories because of being hit too much in the head!"
"Eherm.. It's not that I have many choices, my sleeping spell could only last for a few hours, and we came in late. At most, they have only been hit three times." Leon guiltily replied.
"Sigh, whatever.. Let me check their conditions first." Kayden let his friend go and proceeded to examine Igor and Hasta's condition.
He closed his eyes and directed his focus on examining their bodies through a magic spell. This was also the same spell that Leon did when he examined the Hell Wolves captured by Olivier's team.
However, Leon could not perform the spell on complicated beings such as humans. He could only do so with beasts and animals. Because of Kayden's high affinity with healing magic, he was able to do this easily.
The dungeon was silent throughout the course of the inspection. Leon waited for Kayden to finish his examination before asking him of the results.
"Peculiar, very peculiar." Kayden had a look of interest on his eyes.
"The first captive, named Igor, was entirely normal. His body contained the receptors meant for a tracking knight which proves that he has devourer abilities. He didn't seem to have anything suspicious in his body that could be identified as something related to curses. Finally, aside from the damage you dealt with the blows on his head and chest, this person seemed to be healthy."
Kayden started to explain his discoveries to Leon in a slow yet serious phase.
"However, the peculiarities were found on this second captive, named Hasta. His body also contained receptors of a tracking knight which proves that he was a devourer. But according to your recount, he was able to display abilities akin to puppet control."
"Yes, he was able to control multiple blades at once. This ability could only be performed by a summoner." Leon replied.
"Well apparently, there was really no trace of summoner mana receptors in his body. He only had devourer receptors, no more no less. I can also confirm that he was not an open path since there were no signs of the receptor being shapeshifted nor modified."
Kayden affirmed his findings with great interest. "That makes me think that what you and the Blades had witnessed was the manifestation of the cursed magic."
"That's what I thought too. However, have we identified something in his body that could be a trace of sinister curse?" Leon frowned with uneasiness.
"There was none. He completely looked like a normal person, a normal devourer, nothing more."
"How could this be? So you mean there was no way for us to determine if a person could use curses or not?" Leon couldn't help but feel dejected upon hearing this information.
Kayden shook his head and patted Leon's shoulder, "It's too early to say that. Perhaps, this method would not allow us to do so. But maybe in the future, we would be able to think of a way to detect them."
"Besides there is another mystery that I discovered in his body."
Leon looked at Kayden, waiting for his findings.
"As you have recorded on their initial condition, this guy only sustained average physical injuries due to crashing against Biggie and you hitting his head. But why did this guy show signs that his organs were failing and that he basically only had a month to live?"
Leon was taken aback by Kayden's words, "I swear that the first captive was even more injured than this second one. Could it be that the second captive was already terminally ill?"
Kayden vigorously shook his head and said,
"No, there were no signs of heavy medications in his bloodstream. That would mean that this man doesn't have this grievous condition prior to encountering you guys. Besides, if he was able to cross swords with you for a long time, then that would be impossible to do if he had this wretched condition in the first place…"
"It was like… his condition only happened just now.. Out of nowhere.." He looked at Hasta's body with a puzzled look on his face. "Could this be connected with the curse?"
"That would be highly possible, after listening to your words." Leon was also convinced that this was possible.
The two men could only pray that they would find the answer by interrogating them.
"Alright, enough of this. I'll have to borrow your laboratory for a while to prepare the knockout potions. Also, since we didn't know whether you would be able to extract information on the second captive within a month, I highly suggest that you request the higher ups the permission to treat his condition at least at the bare minimum. I can only create a medicine for now to stabilize his condition."
"I'll entrust them to you then, I'll inform Father Emperor of these matters." Leon nodded and took Kayden to the laboratory room of the secret base.
The laboratory area was clean and sterile which was absolutely according to Kayden's standards.
After ensuring that his friend had everything he needed for the task, Leon finally went to his office and took a look at the reports written by himself, his men and Kayden.
He immediately started to work through the narratives to consolidate all the information. After an hour, he could already feel the fatigue and sleepiness from staying awake since the start of the operations.
Seeing that his body was already screaming for rest, he decided to speed up in finishing this task. As soon as he finished the last sentence, his body gave away and immediately shut down to sleep.
While he was in deep sleep, the door to his office slowly opened.
Kayden and Olivier slowly tiptoed and checked the sleeping Leon. The two lifted his body on the resting couch to let him sleep more soundly.
After ensuring that he had a good sleeping condition, the two noiselessly stepped out of his room.
Kayden took his communication stone immediately and reported, "Little Sister! Yes.. Yess.. I used my special incense to safely induce his sleep but his will is so stubborn!!! But it's ok now… He is finally asleep, you can be rest assured!"