Chapter 2505: Historical Imprint

The next day.

In the Arcane Plaza, which had long been under martial law, the twelve investigators finally shed the low spirits of the past two days; the Dwarf Master of investigation from the Underdark rarely relaxed his brow and smiled:

"We've finally found a key clue!"

"Master Kandaer is indeed more skilled; no matter how cunning this assassin is, they cannot escape Master Kandaer's True Sight!"

"We must have Master Kandaer, otherwise we would truly have lost face this time."

Several Elf investigators surrounded Kandaer, offering endless flattery, which made the smile on the face of this Dwarf from the Underdark even more genuine.

"Alright, enough of that. I am not as good as you in the subtleties of Spellcasting. The most important thing now is to secure the evidence, and then ask Netheril and Yierlan to agree to let us continue the investigation."

"That is the logical path."

Soon, just as the investigation team began to secure the evidence, Huo En and Badijiaer, having received notice from Bulundesi, hurried to the Arcane Plaza, accompanied by Yinfuyalisi, the Yierlan Ambassador, who was also extremely concerned about this matter.

Upon arriving, Badijiaer could not wait to ask the investigation team, "Have you gentlemen found any useful clues? Can you determine the identity of the assassin?"

"Previously, we noticed that this assassin seemed to appear out of thin air in this plaza, but this was clearly unreasonable. Today, under the focus of Master Kandaer, we indeed discovered an anomaly."

Ximo, an investigator from Yinerfalan who was an old acquaintance of Badijiaer, took the initiative to take on the task of explaining the progress, "Lord Badijiaer, and Ambassador Yinfuyalisi, please come this way!"

"Which way?"

"Here."

Ximo led the way, walking south from the north side of the plaza where Yierlan had previously held an exhibition, stopping only when they reached the entrance of the Arcane Union; at this moment, an Elf investigator was casting a Spell there, with two others watching.

By the time Badijiaer arrived, they could already see a blurred, trailing figure being frozen out of the air. At the same time, Ximo introduced:

"This is a Historical Imprint. It requires a highly sophisticated Scrying Spell targeting the past to detect it. Master Kandaer noticed the anomaly just by the aura; one must say he is gifted."

"The Historical Imprint you see now is a trace from the past that shares the same source as the assassin. Judging from the direction of movement, they seem to have just come out of the Arcane Union."

"If you two agree, we will continue to trace it until we find the initial source or find clues that can determine their identity."

"Of course we must continue to investigate. Assassinating a Netheril Lord in Seventon is not only a provocation to Netheril, but also a provocation to the Northland Alliance."

After Badijiaer finished speaking, Yinfuyalisi also immediately stated his position, "Using the name of Taiweimansa is likewise a provocation to Yierlan. Mage Ximo, please be sure to investigate to the end!"

"We will. As fellow members of the Northland Alliance, even without the high reward you provide, for the sake of the stability of the Northland, we do not want to let the mastermind behind this matter go."

With the consent of both Netheril and Yierlan, Ximo signaled the other investigators, and the remaining ten Elf investigators began to act accordingly.

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Although Kandaer was indeed experienced, he was not skilled in extracting and securing evidence; just finding the right direction for the investigation team was enough to be worthy of this reward.

Now that Ximo was accompanying Badijiaer and the others to inspect the scene, Kandaer became idle, so he began to stroll around the Arcane Plaza.

When the Arcane Plaza was built, Netheril had already established diplomatic relations with Dan Zuo, but because most Dwarves were active in the Underdark and had always had relatively little interaction with humans, there were not many statues related to Dwarves around the plaza.

Kandaer walked around and only found two: one was a Dwarf craftsman who had been ordered to come to Netheril to prospect for minerals, and because he taught humans more advanced Dwarf forging techniques during the prospecting process, he was remembered by human history.

The other was a Dwarf craftsman who had proposed building the Underground Passage connecting Zhenisi and Asikeer. Whether in the past or present, Zhenisi was one of the most important towns in the western border of Netheril, and that Dwarf deserved such a statue for that connection.

Besides these, the statues in the Arcane Plaza were mostly of Spellcasters, humans and Elves, and a portion were Priests who had sacrificed themselves to save the people in the past.

And apart from the surrounding statues, there was nothing else worth visiting in this Arcane Plaza; it was just an open space like other plazas. If it were normal times, perhaps there would be some merchants or performers to liven things up.

But now it was completely under martial law and deserted. Kandaer walked a circle and, lacking interest, sat down on the steps at the entrance of the Seventon Council and took out a wine flask to start drinking.

Through the statues around the plaza and the text descriptions on the bases of the statues, he had a rough understanding of the history of Netheril. He had to admit that although human life was short, its brilliance was no less than that of the Dwarves.

On the other side, Badijiaer followed Ximo past one Historical Imprint after another. At first, the traces pointed toward the Arcane Union, but soon they bypassed the Arcane Union and pointed back to the north—the direction of the Seventon Council, but also the direction of the Elf Embassy!

Seeing this, Yinfuyalisi, who was also following behind Ximo, suddenly became nervous. If the clues were to extend into the Yierlan Embassy, it would be impossible to explain clearly.

Yet, he could not object at this moment. He had clearly just agreed to continue the investigation; if he suddenly objected now, wouldn't he be bringing suspicion upon himself for no reason?

He had already received a clear reply from Taiweimansa that this matter was not done by Yierlan, so there was no need to worry about the investigation. The clearer and more detailed the investigation, the more favorable it would be for Yierlan.

"I hope you truly have the ability to find some genuinely useful clues!"

Soon, the footsteps of Ximo's group reached the entrance of the Seventon Council. The investigators also found a Historical Imprint here. Regarding this, Ximo explained:

"The assassin is very shrewd and has almost blocked all possibilities of Scrying, but as long as one makes contact with anything, one is bound to leave a trace. Even if they just accidentally glanced at someone else during their progress, they would leave a trace because of it."

"The trace here is what was left when they lowered their head to look at something at that time."

Huo En, who had come with Badijiaer but had been silent until now, suddenly asked: "Then why didn't the traces discovered just now connect in a straight line? Could it be that the assassin was using a Teleportation Spell to advance the whole time?"

"After all, these are traces from the past, and they are constantly dissipating. Only those heavier traces can be preserved for a longer time. If it were a few more days, perhaps nothing would be found here," Ximo answered naturally.

Huo En returned to silence after hearing this. He understood that he had asked an overly amateurish question. Fortunately, historical Scrying was not his main field of research, otherwise, it would have been too embarrassing.