Back in Moliken Forest, as Alaric was stressed watching everyone walk into the forest, he received a message.

It came from Ryu.

According to Ryu, the inspection of the territory conducted by the separate royal officials was proceeding without any major problem. Most of the things had been recorded positively by the promotion inspectors.

Alaric stared at the message for a few seconds.

Some good news.

Alaric put away the communication device and followed the others toward the battlefield.

The Divine Inspector stepped onto the old site of battle before slowly looking around.

Slowly, the flow of mana around him changed. Alaric immediately knew that those special eyes were about to be used.

Then, the middle aged man’s eyes changed colors.

Sensing the increasing use of mana, Alaric confirmed that those special eyes had been activated.

He immediately felt his heartbeat begin accelerating.

He knew what the Inspector should be capable of seeing.

Connections remained between people, objects and places they had interacted with in the past.

The older those connections became, the weaker they grew until eventually they became too faint to follow reliably.

The entire reason Alaric had desperately stalled the investigation for so long was because he needed exactly that deterioration.

The Divine Inspector remained completely silent.

He slowly turned his head from one side of the battlefield to another before walking toward a patch of disturbed earth.

Alaric watched every movement.

Come on, don’t be so good at your job. At your age, you should be retiring and resting in some bar. Why are you working so hard?

Alaric kept cursing in his heart but said nothing as the investigation began.

The Inspector crouched down, examined something for several seconds, then stood and moved elsewhere.

Minutes passed.

Alaric could feel sweat beginning to gather beneath his clothes despite the cool night air.

Finally, the Divine Inspector spoke.

"A violent event definitely occurred here."

Alaric said nothing.

"I can perceive the connections of two powerful beasts. There were also multiple armed humans involved in the incident."

Alaric’s heartbeat grew heavier. No matter what, this was his first time doing something of this scale.

It was easy to say that one should control their emotions, but difficult to put it into practice when it was your first time.

All this time he had been pretending to be calm because he knew that as a leader, he couldn’t afford to show weakness.

He had to make it seem like everything was under his control, else the people following him would panic as well, and that was disastrous.

The Inspector’s gaze shifted toward him.

"You were also present."

Obviously.

Alaric simply shrugged. That specific connection had never worried Alaric.

This was his own goddamn territory. He could eat, shit, sing, or sleep anywhere he liked.

The Inspector looked across the battlefield once more and spoke with regret heavy in his voice.

"Many of the remaining connections have deteriorated considerably. I can establish that a large battle occurred here and that several bodies were removed afterward, but I cannot reliably identify every participant anymore."

Alaric remained silent for several seconds.

Fuckkk yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Truly, it was difficult to control emotions when it was your first time. This was the first time he felt so close to death.

This incident could almost be considered as a matter of life and death since if he was caught, the whole situation might rapidly spiral out of his control.

Only after making sure his expression hadn’t changed did he breathe normally again.

They’re gone.

They’ve disappeared.

They’ve vanished.

HAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

The connections which might’ve exposed him had vanished!!!

If one looked inside Alaric’s thoughts, they would only see a mini Alaric cackling madly like a demon.

The battlefield still proved that something had happened, but it no longer clearly revealed who every participant had been or where their bodies had eventually gone.

For the first time since the entire inspection began, Alaric felt the tension in his body loosen slightly.

The most difficult hurdle had been passed.

The investigation continued for several more hours.

The Divine Inspector examined the areas where the beasts had fallen, followed old blood traces, studied damaged terrain and repeatedly activated his eyes at different locations.

The conclusion never meaningfully changed.

A battle had happened. Two beasts were definitely involved.

Several armed humans also had active involvement in the battlefield.

Alaric had been present. Bodies had been removed afterward.

But the battlefield could no longer tell them exactly who those bodies belonged to or where they had gone.

By the time the investigation finally came to an end, the darkness above Moliken Forest had begun fading.

The first traces of sunlight appeared beyond the trees.

One of the two suns slowly rose above the horizon, its golden light slipping through the canopy and scattering across the forest floor.

Alaric watched the light spread.

A few hours ago, he had been standing beneath the darkness wondering whether everything he had prepared would collapse the moment the Divine Inspector stepped onto the battlefield.

Now the sun was rising.

The timing almost felt appropriate.

The battlefield had belonged to the darkness.

It was the part of his plan where he could only stall, prepare, and pray that time had erased enough of the truth.

But that part was over now.

The Divine Inspector straightened after finishing one final examination before turning toward Alaric.

"The investigation of the battlefield is complete."

He paused for a moment.

"Now it is time to examine the corpses."

Alaric’s gaze shifted toward the rising sun once again.

This time, there was no need to suppress the tension in his chest because there was barely any left.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

Yes. Now it’s my turn.

"Do you not want to rest? You’ve been using your special eyes for a long time. It will take time for your mana to recover, right?"

The Divine Inspector’s eye twitched. The bastard’s tone was so genuine that for a moment he really thought he was looking after his well being.

He simply snorted. "I have means to recover my lost mana. What about you? Does House Orlen have another string of excuses ready to prevent us from immediately investigating the corpses?"

Alaric smiled. "You’re misunderstanding our good intentions. We only prevented everyone from entering the battlefield because we had the Flenn Kingdom’s best interest in mind.

"Now that everyone has proven to be trustworthy, House Orlen has no more reason to prevent you from doing your job."

Sure sure, keep talking.

The Divine Inspector sneered and walked out of the forest.

As Alaric followed them out, only one thought remained in his mind.

Why would I stop you all from jumping into a trap I created?

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