Chapter 67: Aftermath of the Case

That evening, after dealing with all the aftermath of the werewolf incident, Deacon Ozck found Wayne, who was practicing swordplay by the small river, feeling somewhat exhausted.

He stood to the side, watched the witcher's fierce, swift, and continuous swordplay, which was like that of a vicious wolf, and then stepped forward to salute respectfully, saying:

"Master Wayne, those injured workers have been sent to the clinic for treatment. According to the doctor's diagnosis, they should only have superficial wounds and are not in life-threatening danger."

"The bodies of the two sacrificed workers have also been claimed by their families."

"As for the child you brought back, we have also sent people to find his aunt's house, and someone is already taking care of him."

Speaking of this, he hesitated for a second, looked up at Wayne's expression, and then said hesitantly:

"It's just that the workers have some opinions about burying the werewolf's corpse."

"They think that for such a monster, the best way to deal with it is to burn the werewolf's corpse."

Wayne put away his steel sword upon hearing this, turned to look at Deacon Ozck, looked at this southerner with a serious expression and a sincere tone, and used the posture of an expert fooling a layman: "Mr. Ozck, the workers are short-sighted, so they don't understand that a werewolf is a very dangerous monster. They condense terrifying curses in their bodies; even if you burn their corpses, these monsters will turn into evil spirits and continue to endanger the safety of the workers."

"And the reason I want to bury him beside his wife and ask you to help me find the real culprit is because only in this way can the monster's hatred be eliminated and he can rest in peace."

Speaking of this, Wayne's words paused, and he said in a helpless tone:

"People living in the town are too far away, so there won't be any danger, but our lumber camps, the workers here, must stay near this forest."

"You wouldn't want an evil spirit by your side that can turn invisible, cast curses, fear no swords, and is always plotting to harm the lives of the living, would you?"

Listening to Wayne's account, Ozck couldn't help but turn pale with fright. He had seen the werewolf's corpse with his own eyes: a strong body over two and a half meters tall, huge claws as sharp as blades, and that ferocious, terrifying wolf-like head full of sharp teeth and a bloody mouth.

Seeing such a terrifying monster, this southerner found it hard to imagine how many people would have died before it could be eliminated if the witcher master in front of him hadn't taken action.

Thinking of the evil spirits that might appear in the future, Ozck shivered and his attitude became more anxious and serious: "I understand, Master Wayne. I will urge the managers of the nearby lumber mills to provide a list of lumberjacks who might have appeared near the hunter's cabin three days ago, based on the appearance characteristics you provided."

"Then I will ask you to go and screen them."

Wayne nodded. Looking at the back of the deacon leaving, he thought to himself that although he had told some lies, white lies could sometimes bring about a more perfect ending, and justice could be upheld because of it.

Sure enough, driven by such rumors of evil spirits, the bosses of those lumber mills all became quite cooperative. In less than a few days, they provided Wayne with a fairly accurate list.

And after eliminating the werewolf, during the few days he was on duty at the lumber camp, his work became quite leisurely.

Except for some blind Nekkers and low-intelligence Endrega insects that would appear around the lumber camp from time to time, no other monsters came to attack this lumber camp with its large number of people.

Taking advantage of this free time, Wayne would receive an ordinary-level guard mission from Deacon Ozck every day, completing it like going to work and receiving rewards.

On weekdays, he would practice riding in the clearing, collect herbs in the forest, brew witcher potions, and incidentally, he also took out the archery he hadn't practiced for a long time to practice, living quite comfortably.

And the Expert-level werewolf mission provided him with a total of fifty experience points and an Expert-level treasure chest, successfully promoting his witcher level from level five to level six.

Not only did his physical fitness improve slightly, but he also gained an ability point rewarded by the system.

Wayne (16 years old) Profession: Witcher Level: 6 (23/600)

Ability Points: 6

Attributes: Strength 18, Agility 23, Constitution 20, Spirit 23.

Skills: Swordplay LV5, Signs LV8, Genetic Mutation LV4, Gwent LV4.

Special Bloodline: Elder Blood (Weak, Unawakened) Activation requires ten ability points.

Subsidiary Skills: Archery LV2, Cooking LV5, Planting LV3, Alchemy LV3, Riding LV3.

Currently, except for Cooking, which has reached level five but has not yet selected a skill specialty, skills like Mutation Level, which is improved by drinking potions, and Gwent Level, which is improved by playing cards, have all reached the peak of level four.

In the future, as long as he puts some effort into these two skills, he will likely break through to level five within a month, thereby gaining the opportunity to select a skill specialty.

The only pity is that ability points are too precious. Except for the one ability point provided each time he levels up, only by absorbing magic nodes around the world can he obtain this kind of power.

And absorbing magic nodes will inevitably cause damage to space, forming a tiny space rift, which makes Wayne a bit conflicted, thinking that he must choose his targets carefully. This afternoon, it was the fifth day since Wayne was on duty at the lumber camp.

Deacon Ozck found him with a serious face and said: "Master Wayne, the seven lumber camps near the werewolf cabin have all gathered the lumberjacks who might have appeared near the cabin at the time of the incident and fit the appearance characteristics you provided. There are fifty-three people in total, waiting for your questioning."

"Do you have time now?"

Wayne raised his eyebrows in surprise upon hearing this, not expecting Deacon Ozck and those lumber mill bosses to have such efficiency.

It seems that the rumors of evil spirits have already made those merchants who rely on logging to make money fearful and scared. In order not to hinder their money-making, they have put effort into this aspect.

He nodded to Ozck and asked: "Where are they now? Are they inside those lumber camps?"

Ozck shook his head and said: "In order to solve this matter as soon as possible, those merchants have uniformly sent these lumberjacks to our lumber camp. They are now being guarded in our dormitory."

Facing such thoughtful arrangements, Wayne praised Deacon Ozck:

"Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Ozck. It is precisely because of your help that things have gone so smoothly."

"Next time, when I see Mr. Reuven, I will tell him the truth about this matter."

"Your efforts will surely be praised by him."

Ozck looked at Wayne with some joy and said with a smile:

"Thank you, Master Wayne, this is the work I should do."

After the two exchanged a few pleasantries, Wayne went to the dormitory of the lumber camp with Ozck.

Sure enough, just as Ozck said, more than fifty lumberjacks with different expressions were guarded separately in more than a dozen dormitories. They were either whispering, silent, or nervous.

Clearly, they already knew the purpose of being gathered here.

Wayne did not immediately start questioning these lumberjacks, but quietly hid outside the dormitory, observing these lumberjacks one by one through his keen observation skills.

And he marked those who showed strong feelings of guilt, fear, anger, or other emotions.

Until half an hour later, when he had observed enough, he turned to Deacon Ozck, who had been accompanying him, and said:

"Deacon Ozck, please arrange a separate room for me. I want to question these lumberjacks individually."

Ozck was quite cooperative and immediately arranged a spacious room, and let some guards of the lumber camp control the entire venue, letting the lumberjacks enter this room one by one to accept Wayne's questioning, so that they would not cause any chaos.

In fact, Wayne didn't know what interrogation was. When the lumberjacks were arranged in front of him one by one, he could only ask questions such as alibis based on the experience of police questioning criminals he had seen in TV dramas in his previous life.

Of course, as a witcher with spellcasting abilities, he didn't need any special interrogation techniques.

When he faced those he had marked who showed strong feelings of guilt, anger, fear, or other emotions, Wayne would cast the Axii Sign, directly hypnotize them, and ask the questions he wanted to know.

Things went very smoothly. The greatest difficulty in this matter was not interrogating these lumberjacks, but how to narrow down the criminal personnel from the hundreds or thousands of lumberjacks in all the lumber camps to the dozens who could be questioned individually.

When the three criminals were sent to the dormitory of Reuven's lumber camp by their bosses, their fate was already sealed.

All that was needed was the length of the interrogation time.

About two hours later, before evening, Wayne, who had cast spells more than a dozen times, endured the fatigue in his body and finally, through the hypnosis of the Axii Sign, successfully caught the three criminals and recorded their criminal process in detail.

Even if these criminals tried to argue after waking up, facing the detailed criminal records written in black and white, these scoundrels, who were ordinary people, finally surrendered to the ironclad evidence and pleaded guilty.

And Deacon Ozck immediately understood, and with the help of several guards, sent these three heinous criminals, as well as the criminal records they signed, to the prison in Wyzima.

Unsurprisingly, what awaited them was the fate of being hanged on the execution ground.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 68 =====