Chapter 134: The Leshen and the Missing Miners

After leaving Triss's family estate, Wayne did not linger in Maribor; guided by Alan, he soon arrived at the mine where the murders had occurred.

It was about five or six kilometers from the city of Maribor, but because the mine had a long history and massive reserves, the Duke of Maribor had specifically built a road leading to it; the two rented a carriage and reached the mine without much delay.

This was a large-scale mine located inside a forest, covering a vast area; not only had several enormous mine shafts been excavated, but many houses for the workers to live in had also been built near the shafts.

Upon entering the mine, Wayne discovered that the number of workers inside was very small, and they were all merely transporting ore; no one was entering the mine shafts, and in such a large mine, there were hardly any people working.

According to Alan, half a month had passed since the first murder occurred; because the number of victims was so high, even though the Duke of Maribor had demanded that the miners continue working and even raised their wages, few were willing to risk their lives to return to the mine.

Thinking of the income from this mine, this was perhaps the reason why the Duke of Maribor was so anxious to resolve this matter.

The journey was smooth and unimpeded; perhaps the people in the mine had already received news that Wayne was the expert responsible for handling this matter, and as Alan led him around to observe, no one stepped forward to stop them.

"Take me to the scene of the murders first; without seeing the traces of the monster, I cannot easily judge what it is."

Alan looked somewhat timid at these words; he looked at Wayne and said, "Lord Wayne, the initial murder site is deep inside the mine shaft. It has been half a month, the bodies there have already been cleared away, and the environment inside is very dim; it might be difficult to find anything."

Wayne glanced at Alan, knowing that this young man was likely afraid of danger, afraid of evil spirits, ghosts, or similar entities; after all, in this world, places with too many dead people really could produce murderous ghosts.

This was understandable; Wayne thought for a moment and said, "How about this: you take me to the mine shaft where the incident occurred and point out the way for me; you don't have to go down with me."

Seeing Wayne so insistent, Alan could only agree and guided him into the mine shaft.

The environment in the mine shaft was indeed dim, and the paths were complex, with various pieces of rubble obstructing the way everywhere; however, as a Witcher, Wayne still used his keen sense of smell to follow the stench of blood, minced meat, and rot to find the primary scene of the case.

He downed a bottle of Cat potion, and after a thorough investigation, he returned to the surface with a strange expression.

As it turned out, at the crime scene, Wayne had not only discovered traces of a monster's struggle but also traces of humans killing each other.

Moreover, based on his knowledge and experience, the culprit who acted in the mine shaft should not be a Leshen that controls vines, but rather a large-bodied monster like a Troll that uses a giant wooden club.

Besides the fact that monsters like Leshens rarely enter narrow caves like mine shafts, it was also because he had discovered the special three-toed footprints of a Troll on the floor of the mine.

However, humans killing each other combined with a Troll attacking humans did indeed sound like the work of a Leshen.

Because a Leshen is different from other monsters; in addition to its own physical strength and various spell-like abilities, it also possesses a special ability that is enough to make ordinary people feel terror.

In the forest, a Leshen will use totems, incantations, and black magic rituals to create a territory that belongs to it.

Then it controls and marks a human; as long as this human remains within the scope of its territory, that Leshen can rely on the power of dark magic to resurrect infinitely.

To defeat a Leshen, one must kill this human or drive them out of the Leshen's territory; otherwise, it is impossible to kill the Leshen.

Furthermore, weak monsters like Nekkers, wild wolves, and crows are easily charmed by a Leshen, becoming its combat puppets to assist it in battle.

Therefore, wanting to kill a Leshen often means dealing not just with one monster, but with a group of monsters united together and accepting joint command.

Perhaps the Troll that appeared in the mine shaft was charmed by this Leshen and became its accomplice.

Although their individual strength is not considered strong, even for a Witcher who is a monster expert, a Leshen entrenched in a forest can definitely be called a formidable enemy.

But now there are two more problems: the first is, where is the Troll now? Has it returned to the side of the Leshen, or is it still hiding in the depths of these mine shafts?

And the second problem is, where is the human traitor who helped the Troll kill those miners? Was he abandoned by the Leshen and died here, or did he also return to the forest? After returning to the surface, Alan was pacing back and forth anxiously; seeing Wayne come out, he breathed a slight sigh of relief, leaned over, and asked:

"Lord Wayne, how did your investigation go down there? Are there any clues?"

Wayne waved his hand, not telling Alan the clues and deductions he had found, but instead asked:

"Alan, do you know if there were any survivors when the murders occurred in the mine shaft?"

Alan shook his head upon hearing this and said:

"No, after the guards in the mine entered the mine shaft, they did not find any traces of survivors."

"There was only a floor full of corpses, and they were all hacked into pieces; the commander of the City Watch found a professional coroner to barely piece their bodies together, and even then, many parts were still missing."

Hearing that the bodies had been hacked into many pieces and that many parts were missing, Wayne's eyes flickered, and he asked:

"Are there any heads that were not found, or is there anyone confirmed to be missing?"

Alan scratched his head upon hearing this and said:

"Sorry, Lord Wayne, I only heard rumors about the condition of the bodies; I don't know the specific situation."

"However, Mr. Plant, the coroner sent by the city, is still at the mine and hasn't left yet; do you need me to take you to see him?"

A coroner? Wayne touched his chin and nodded; that would be good, it is better to ask professional questions to a professional.

"Take me there; I happen to have things to ask him as well."

The coroner, Plant, was an old man over fifty; he originally had no interest in Wayne's arrival and did not want to pay him any mind, but after Alan introduced him as an expert invited by the sorceress Triss, this coroner reluctantly began to answer Wayne's questions.

"Missing people?"

"Hearing you say that, it actually matches my guess somewhat."

In the morgue, several corpses were still laid out on the wooden beds in the hall, and the smell of decay permeated the room; Alan, who had rarely experienced such a scene, was hanging his head, his face pale, not daring to look at the corpses that were already somewhat decomposed.

Plant stroked his beard, then took a list out of a worn-out box, thought for a moment, and said to Wayne: "Actually, I also discovered this problem. According to the list, thirteen people should have died in the mine shaft, but I only pieced together twelve of the body fragments they brought back." "It's a pity that the degree of damage to the body fragments they brought back was too high, and there was a lot of facial disfigurement, so I cannot be sure if I pieced them together incorrectly; of course, I also cannot be sure who the missing person is."

Speaking of this, the old man revealed a mocking smile on his face and then said: "I had originally reported this matter to Knight Rams, the deputy captain responsible for this case, and suggested that he investigate the potentially missing personnel one by one, but that knight lord thought this matter was too troublesome and ignored me entirely."

"Later on, they sent soldiers to search in the forest, but the entire squad was wiped out, and they brought back ten more corpses for me, so this matter was left unsettled."

As he spoke, the old man also scrutinized Wayne's young and handsome face; although he did not believe that a young man like Wayne could find anything, he still handed the list to Wayne and said: "Later, I also investigated and used characteristics like age, skin color, and scars to narrow these thirteen people down to three; if there really is a missing person, they should be among these three."

After handing over the list, the old man waved his hand, signaling for the two of them to leave his workplace, and did not forget to warn them: "Anyway, you two be careful; I have been dealing with corpses for so many years, and I can tell that there must be a powerful monster behind this matter."

"Don't lose your lives while investigating."

With the intelligence in hand, Wayne left Plant's morgue; he hadn't expected this old man to be not only quite professional but also quite kind.

After memorizing the three names on the list, he handed it to Alan beside him and asked:

"Alan, do you have any impression of these three people?"

Alan looked at the three names on the list, scratched his head, thought for a moment, and then said:

"I seem to have a bit of an impression of all of them."

"This Craig and Astock are both from the city and are both under thirty, but they should both be very poor; they have always lived in the workers' dormitory provided by the mine and rarely go home."

"As for this last one, Link, he lives in our village and is in his early twenties, but he is a bit mysterious; he only wandered into our village three years ago, lived alone, and had no relatives, and later he went to work in the mine."

Hearing the simple information about these three people, Wayne instinctively locked his target onto the young man named Link; after all, being a loner and mysterious, when encountering such a thing, people would definitely suspect him first.

However, for the sake of safety, he still had Alan take him to find the foreman of the mine to ask for detailed information about these three people.

After some comparison, it was indeed this Link who was the most suspicious, because the other two men both had families and children in the city; although they lived in poverty, they shouldn't have been capable of colluding with a monster to kill their own coworkers.

They had neither the motive nor the ability.

Only someone like Link, with a mysterious background and no ties, would be under such suspicion.

Soon, led by Allen, he arrived at his village and found the house where Link lived.

It was a quite ordinary little wooden cabin located in a corner of the village; after opening the door, the interior layout was also quite simple, containing only the things necessary for an ordinary person's life.

However, after a thorough search by the great detective Mr. Wayne, some anomalies were indeed discovered.

The house was too tidy; the pots, pans, clothes, and bedding were all neatly put away. Unless an ordinary person who went to work every day had mysophobia or obsessive-compulsive disorder, they wouldn't keep their residence so tidy.

This Link seemed to have anticipated that he would never return, having tidied up the house so neatly.

Secondly, and most importantly, under Link's mattress, Wayne discovered a very well-hidden letter.

It was a confession letter waiting for a fated person to find it; it simply and clearly declared that the murderer was Link himself, while also explaining the reasons why he had done so.

It turned out that Link was not originally called by this name, and as for what his original name was, it was irrelevant; his father had once been a miner in this mine, living happily as a family of three with his wife and son.

But six years ago, a mining accident occurred, and his father was buried directly in the mine shaft, becoming a corpse.

However, what was strange was that the only person who died in that mining accident was his father, and the subsequent compensation was never handed over to his mother and him.

When his mother wanted to go to the mine to demand this compensation, she also went missing.

Fortunately, Link was already fifteen years old at that time; he sensed the danger, fled his original home, and was adopted by another elderly couple.

Three years passed just like that; after Link grew up, he bid farewell to the old couple, came to live in Allen's village, and changed his name to go work at the mine.

It took him two years to uncover the truth of what happened back then.

It turned out that the mining accident back then had actually been plotted by several of his father's coworkers; besides wanting to embezzle that compensation, it was also because those coworkers held a grudge against his father, which was why they dealt the lethal blow.

His mother had also been murdered on her way to the mine, and her body had even been insulted by those few people; in an environment like the Middle Ages, no one cared if a few poor people died in the wilderness, and no one would go to uncover the truth.

With no way to seek justice, in order to take revenge, Link had plotted the massacre from half a month ago, and together with the monster, finished off the murderers who had killed his father and mother.

After clarifying the ins and outs of the matter, the content of this letter was mostly an accusation of the shamelessness and cruelty of those miners, as well as the hatred and resentment he held in his heart when he became an orphan.

However, it is worth mentioning that among the batch of miners who died together, about half were innocent people.

Yet, regarding their deaths, Link did not say a single word.

After finishing the letter, Wayne let out a sigh; no matter how tragic the past events were, or what was right or wrong, the murderer had been found anyway.

Although Link's letter did not mention the Leshen, he was in all likelihood the human marked by the Leshen.

Although it was unclear why that monster would help Link take revenge, or why it would let him leave the territory controlled by the Leshen.

But if Link thought he could escape the net of justice, move to a new place, and continue living under an assumed name, one could only say that as an ordinary person, he still knew too little about magic.

As long as he was still alive, his whereabouts would not be a secret to the sorceress, and after confirming his location, it would be about time to find the range where that Leshen was located.

Wayne collected some of Link's personal items in the room, especially the hair that had fallen out and remained in the bedding, and then, taking Allen with him, returned to Maribor City.

(End of chapter)