Chương 148: 146. Gut Instincts

The servant swallowed hard.

"The... the bandit. He's dead!"

"You mean Sejkil?" Hudan asked with surprise. The servant quickly nodded.

"Yes, I was going to get some hay for the horses from that barn, but... but the door was already open, and Sejkil looked to be in a bad way. And when I went to check on him, I saw that he wasn't even breathing!" The young servant's eyes were wide with fear as he continued, "There was nobody else inside the barn at the time, but... but the bandit had a lot of bruises, like he had been beaten up. I think... someone killed him..." Within a moment, Hudan looked at Kivamus.

"Milord, you need to get inside the manor house, right now! It's not safe for you here until we find out everything." Then he looked at the ex-mercenary.

"You go and take a look at the body, and find out what happened. There might be more people who might have gotten injured or Goddess forbid, dead. I will get the guards ready in case there is another attack on the village happening." Feroy nodded, and immediately started jogging towards that barn with that servant in tow.

"I'll go and take a look as well," Duvas said, and started walking towards the barn. Gorsazo looked around them for a moment, then held one of Kivamus' arms, and spoke to Hudan.

"I'll take him to the manor house." Hudan held up his hand.

"No, wait a moment. You also need someone trustworthy who can fight." The guard captain looked around, and seeing someone, he called him up. Kivamus saw that it was Kerel - one of the experienced guards who had long iron grey hair - who came jogging towards them. Hudan quickly explained the situation to the guard, who immediately gave a nod and put a hand on the hilt of his sword, looking around them with alertness. The guard captain looked back at him.

"I'll be back to update you about the situation once I find out more." After he gestured to Kerel to take him towards the manor house, the guard captain jogged towards the gates of the manor. Kivamus was still so surprised by everything, that he didn't think of protesting when Gorsazo and Kerel surrounded him from both sides to shield him with their own bodies, and started walking with him to the manor house. And before long, he was inside the manor hall, with the door firmly shut and barred.

Gorsazo gently guided him towards a chair to sit, while Kerel had taken a position right next to the door, just in case. But Kivamus didn't feel like he could sit calmly right now. So he removed Gorsazo's hand from his arm, and started to pace inside the manor hall. What had happened here? Everything was going so well until now, but then this happens. His mind was still reeling with the news that a man had been murdered by someone within the manor. Could it be that the village was under another bandit attack?

Or had the two escaped bandits returned again and got inside the manor while most of the guards were watching the award ceremony? Or was it another assassin sent by someone to kill him? He didn't know anything at the moment. But the fact remained that once again, he had to hide inside the manor hall because someone dangerous had managed to infiltrate the manor. Again. He didn't like it. He didn't like this feeling at all.

After some time, which was probably only half an hour in reality, but felt more like an eternity to him, there was a knock on the outer door. Once Kerel confirmed who it was, he opened the door and Hudan walked inside, looking angry as a raging bull. Duvas followed him inside as well, his tired face showing all his years.

"Did you find out anything?" Kivamus asked. The guard captain took a deep breath and gave a nod.

"Kerel, you go and keep an eye on everything outside." Then he looked at Kivamus.

"It was just one death - of Sejkil, the bandit who had surrendered. Nobody else is dead or even injured." He took another breath and added, "The good news is that the village is not under attack, and there are no other bandits in sight."

"And what's the bad news? Gorsazo asked with worry.

"We still have no idea who killed him," Hudan replied.

"But why wasn't someone watching him?" Kivamus asked with frustration.

"This wouldn't have happened if there was a guard keeping an eye on him."

"We only wanted to prevent him from running away," Hudan replied, "and with the way Feroy had tied him up, there was no chance of him escaping. We just couldn't afford to keep a guard there in all three shifts of the day. We simply don't have enough guards for that." This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. The outer door opened again and Feroy entered the hall. Hudan looked at the ex-mercenary.

"Did you find anything new?" Feroy gave a nod.

"At first glance, it looks like an act of revenge to me. While I don't yet know who did it, what I can tell you is that the bandit didn't die an easy death, that's for sure." Kivamus shuddered thinking about what that usually meant in this medieval world. He shook his head to get rid of that imagery.

"Anything else you can tell about how he died?" Feroy thought for a moment.

"I wouldn't exactly say that Sejkil was tortured, but the bruises on his body told me that whoever did this certainly wanted to hurt him and make him feel pain. However, my best guess is that it was an amateur, or maybe a small group of amateurs who did this, and I believe that they only wanted to make the bandit suffer instead of killing him."

"Why is that?" Kivamus asked. Feroy pointed his hand to the back of his head and explained, "The cause of death seems to be an injury to the back of the head, around here, and I think it happened when someone pushed Sejkil, making him fall backwards. But since his hands were still tied, Sejkil was unable to control his fall, and he shattered his skull when it hit a sharp corner on the base of the wooden post, on which he had been tied earlier."

He added, "It was still fairly dark inside the barn when I looked at it in the light of a few burning torches, but I saw enough blood and bits of brain on that post to make me confident that I was right."

He explained, "Before I had noticed the blood on the wooden post, I was thinking that someone had hit the back of his head with something hard, but I know that's not the case, since whoever was hitting Sejkil, wanted him to feel that pain while looking at his face, since most of the injuries on Sejkil's body are in the front part of his body. It was like someone was trying to interrogate him, although I can't say why."

Feroy continued after a moment, "So my best guess is that while the culprit certainly wanted to hurt him, the actual death was only a mistake, or rather, an accident." He shrugged.

"Of course, all of this is only a speculation, because it's not like we can go into the past and watch what happened." That immediately reminded Kivamus of the ever-present CCTVs on modern earth. If they had such a thing here, they could have easily found out everything. But there was no point in wishful thinking. He asked, "But if the culprits didn't go there just to kill Sejkil immediately, then it must have taken time while they were hitting him. So why didn't anyone see or hear anything?"

Feroy shook his head reluctantly.

"You already know that apart from the few guards at both our gates, nearly all of the servants and guards were outside to watch the award ceremony. And nobody thought Sejkil would be able to run away, so there wasn't anyone to keep an eye on him, not that we can afford to put a guard there all the time."

"Hudan told me about that. But still, do you have any idea who could have done this?" Kivamus asked. He hesitated for a moment, but then asked, "You said that it looked like an act of revenge... and our guards were the ones whom the bandits had tried to kill. They are the only ones who got injured in the raid on the village. So could it be one of our guards who did this in revenge?" Duvas immediately shook his head.

"That's not possible, milord. Apart from Hudan and Feroy, I have known all of our guards for at least a decade. None of them could murder someone in cold blood, or even do something like this." Kivamus gave a nod, but he knew that Duvas had a soft spot for the residents of the manor. So he asked Feroy, "Do you think so as well?" Feroy shrugged.

"I know that many of the guards were grumbling about your decision to keep Sejkil alive, but I'm fairly sure that it wasn't done by any of our guards."

"You are only fairly sure?" Kivamus asked with a frown. Hudan snorted.

"That usually means he is completely sure, since he is never going to trust anyone completely. And I think so as well. It wasn't one of our guards." Kivamus nodded.

"Alright. Then who else could have done this? If it wasn't a guard, then I am assuming that none of our servants or maids could have done this either." Duvas nodded.

"I trust all of them. It wasn't one of them."

"Then the only possibility which remains is that it was someone from outside the manor," Feroy replied.

"But that means they would have had to climb over the manor walls," Hudan said with a frown, "and while it's not impossible, it certainly wouldn't be an easy task, especially if they didn't know what they are going to find inside and where they are going to land - assuming they tried to jump over the walls using a ladder." Feroy snorted at the guard captain.

"You are leaving the possibility that they might have just walked through the gates."

"What? But both of our gates have at least two guards at all times," Hudan countered.

"There are certainly supposed to be," Feroy muttered.

"But that's what my gut tells me." Right at that moment, the outer door opened again and Kerel walked inside.

"Milord, you need to hear this."

"What is it now?" Hudan growled. Kerel jerked his thumb towards the doors.

"I found out that two of our guards who were supposed to be on watch duty at the eastern gates earlier, had left their posts without telling anyone. So I've brought them outside." Hudan looked at Feroy with surprise, who just grinned and gave a shrug. Kivamus shook his head at the ex-mercenary's gut instincts which had been spot-on once again, and then walked towards the doors with others.

Outside, there were two guards - both of them new recruits - who were standing there while gazing downwards in resignation, while there were around half a dozen other guards gathered around as well.

"What made you think you could leave your post in the middle of your shift?" Hudan growled at them.