After Ember Killian suggested going back over the evidence and facts, Istana Gleriath and Astoria Braveheart compromised, taking a step back.
"The ones who handled the situation in the academy were Senior Elaine and Senior Gwena. One of them should have been the one to confirm Teacher Raphna's death," Astoria Braveheart replied.
"Then, let us head over to the academy to ask them," Ember Killian said with a nod before adding, "Since the events happened there, it will also be more convenient to investigate the scenes of the incidents."
"I will accompany the both of you. I don't want Headmaster Astoria feeding you with her biased opinions, Marquis Killian," Istana Gleriath stated.
Within moments, Istana Gleriath and Astoria Braveheart glared at each other again with strong dislike—not to the point of wanting to kill each other. Still, the smell of gunpowder was seemingly in the air.
"Fine," Ember Killian agreed.
…
Sometime later, the three witches arrived at Blackmoon Academy of Witchcraft with a few of Ember Killian's retinue. The rest of the retinue were left back at the castle to continue their designated tasks.
Astoria Braveheart and the others didn't expend much effort before they spotted Gwena Youngblood on the field with some witches-in-training.
"Senior Gwena, can I bother you for a second?" Astoria Braveheart kindly asked.
"Eh? Of course, Headmaster Astoria. What do you need from me?" Gwena Youngblood responded with surprise as she glanced briefly at Ember Killian and Istana Gleriath.
A tinge of dislike surfaced in her eyes when they moved to Istana Gleriath.
"I have questions regarding the incident between Isabelle Gleriath and Wise Scholar Eniwse's servants. Was it you or Senior Elaine that decided to dump Teacher Raphna's body in the wasteyard?" Astoria Braveheart asked.
However, Gwena Youngblood immediately froze when she heard Astoria Braveheart addressing Servant Vaan as Teacher Raphna. She quickly wondered if the headmaster was finding faults with the person who decided to dump the person's body in the wasteyard.
Nevertheless, Astoria Braveheart read Gwena Youngblood's thoughts and reassured her, "You don't have to worry, Senior Gwena. I'm not looking for someone to blame. I'm only hoping to understand the situation clearer."
"I see," Gwena Youngblood felt relief after hearing before she answered, "It was Senior Elaine who decided to dump Vaan Raphna's body into the wasteyard after confirming the person could not be saved."
"But before the body was taken away, I also had a quick look at the state of the person's body. My judgment was the same as Senior Elaine; the person couldn't be saved."
"Why couldn't he be saved?" Istana Gleriath asked with a firm tone before saying, "Even if he had a breath of life left, you should have been able to save him. Isn't Recovery Magic your specialty?"
"That is the thing. No matter how good my Recovery Magic is, it is only effective on living things," Gwena Youngblood replied unhappily.
"Vaan Rapha had a punctured chest and a ruptured heart. He lost too much blood, and his heart had already stopped beating. I can only heal living people; I can't bring back the dead. That is God's domain, Lord Istana."
"Even my Senior Gwena, someone with Recovery Magic specialty, confirmed Teacher Raphna died. Do you have anything else to add to that, Lord Istana?" Astoria Braveheart questioned.
"Impossible…! That' can't be true! It has to be a lie! How else can we explain his missing body?! If Vaan didn't murder my daughter, then who did?! Who?!" Istana Gleriath replied hysterically while grabbing her head in denial.
"Calm down, Lord Gleriath. I have something interesting to say," Ember Killian said coolly before continuing, "Vaan Raphna died, and Isabelle was killed shortly after. Lord Gleriath wasn't involved, and Vaan Raphna's body went missing."
"If we add to the fact that Vaan Raphna's wisdom was as incredible as Headmaster Astoria claimed—to the point that she was willing to recognize him as her teacher after reading his notes, then the answer is pretty clear."
"It was done by a third party," Ember Killian concluded.
"A third party? Of course, it has to be a third party if it wasn't Vaan Raphna. My daughter had her mana deprived. It can only be done by a demon," Istana Gleriath guessed.
"Oh? Mana was deprived?" Ember Killian raised an eyebrow with interest before saying, "However, you're wrong. A demon in the middle of Blackmoon Academy of Witchcraft? You're looking down on the academy too much."
"It doesn't necessarily have to be a demon. A demon's scent is too noticeable and easy to tract. However, it's a different story for humans with demon blessings. The third party could have also been a rogue witch."
"Either way, this third party must have known about Vaan Raphna's unparalleled wisdom and suspected something was special about his physique. It must have been a rare physique that allowed Vaan Raphna to possess unmatched learning capabilities."
"But before the third party could learn more about the Vaan Raphna, he was killed by Isabelle's servant. This angered the third party into taking revenge by murdering Isabelle. If we follow this train of thought, we can assume that the third party also took away Vaan Raphna's body to study and made it look like the wasteyard was cleaned up ahead of schedule."
"After all, this isn't exactly hard to do for Senior Witches with Spatial Magic or pretty much anyone with a spatial-type magic tool with a large storage space in their possession," Ember Killian stated.
"This doesn't give us much of a lead," Astoria Braveheart said with a frown.
"On the contrary, it actually does, Headmaster Astoria," Ember Killian smiled mysteriously before mentioning, "I heard the Assembly of Silent Night was active in Blackmoon Region and its surrounding territories."
"Though I can't say for certain that it was done by Assembly of Silent Night, they might know something."
Boom!
Shortly after Ember Killian mentioned the Assembly of Silent Night, Istana Gleriath and Astoria Braveheart exploded with powerful mana pressure.
The Assembly of Silent Night!
It was an unexpected conclusion, but it made so much sense to them!
"It must be the Assembly of Silent Night! No, it has to be them!" Istana Gleriath spat with absolute certainty as she directed all her hostility at them for her daughter's death.
"Their people are all skilled in the art of stealth, spying, and assassination!"
"I have to retrieve Teacher Raphna's body from them and give him the proper burial he deserves! How dare these desecrate his body for research!"
Astoria Braveheart swore to hunt down the Assembly of Silent Night.
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