Hadwyn and Kela stared at the body.

 It hung from the town square’s signpost. The wood creaked and groaned as the gentle wind blew the corpse to and fro. Hadwyn turned to Kela, who had recoiled from disgust. 

Hadwyn was shocked, not because of the gruesome sight, but because he could identify the body. There wasn’t much left, the crows must have beat them to it, but the bone necklace was a dead giveaway.

 It was Cadrick, one of the strongest Adaraians , having slain thousands of monsters, and revered for his feats of strength, he could level a house with just the flick of his hand, Mow down an entire army, and kill powerful bosses.

Now he was a completely lifeless husk, hanging where everyone could see.

Hadwyn already knew what the motivation was. Cadrick, like any powerful hero, had a lot of enemies. None had been able to harm him, at least until now. Also Cadrick was not a likable person. Even if you were not direct enemies with him, you could probably find yourself a reason to kill the bastard. 

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Hadwyn stroked his chin. Kela returned, “Gods, why?” she complained, “like what kind of fucked-up person would do this?” 

 Hadwyn rubbed his palms together, “I dunno, looks like anybody could’ve done it.” Kela handed him the bag and stakes. “I didn't sign up for this shit.” she replied, “Here, take the bag, I dont wanna touch it.” 

Hadwyn cut the body down from the rope, it flopped to the ground. He surveyed the rest of the square, as if the killer may still be lurking. Then, he took a closer look at the body, even though he was trained as a medic, being a pathologist was much easier, since he didn't have to keep it alive. The smell was putrid and made his nose scrunch up, but he had used perfume potion a while earlier so it wasn't nearly as bad. 

Hadwyn squinted, the cuts were not clean, like he had been hit by some sort of blunt object. A club of some kind. He didn’t have much to work with.

Another interesting thing was the necklace. The bone necklace was worth a large amount of money, yet the killer didn’t bother to take it. Maybe the killer was in a hurry, or maybe he left it on purpose

Hadwyn bagged the body and tossed it into the carriage to take it to the morgue. “Come on.” he urged Kela, “we gotta go.” Kela looked annoyed, “No way I’m sitting with the body, scoot over.”

Hadwyn made room in the front as Kela made her way over. “It was probably monsters.” Kela said. 

“Definitely an Aldarian.” Hadwyn disagreed. “There's just no way an Anivor could kill someone as powerful as him.”