The next step of the investigation is to question the blacksmith twins. The building they resided in was larger than any of the other buildings I have entered so far. That also means there are more blind spots than any of the other ones as well.

When I entered, I found a shop that was poorly stocked. It was wartime, after all, it’s natural that weaponry would be sold out. The ringing of the bell attached to the door alerted one of the brothers to my presence.

“Welcome to the Twin Blades Blacksmiths. I’m Tiberius one of the owners, how can I help you?”

“Cassius. I’m here to investigate the murders. Get your brother here for some questions.”

“A-ah, yes sir.”

He caved to pressure immediately and obediently got his brother. His brother, Gaius, wore a black apron and had a bit more facial hair than Tiberius. Aside from that they shared an average height, blue eyes, and dark brown hair. They were both a bit paler than most people are, likely due to being in a shop all day.

“So, you’d like to ask us some questions, sir?” Gaius took a less nervous attitude, but I could tell he was desperately avoiding offending me.

“Tell me what you know about the murders that have been occurring.”

“We don’t know anything about those. The soldiers here have asked us about the weapons we sell, but we haven’t sold any blades to anyone who lives in the village. We maintain the carpenter’s tools, the fisherman’s tools, and any other metalwork. As for swords…”

“As for swords?” I have him continue.

“We have only sold to the government, to the baker’s husband…. And…”

“And?”

“We maintain the old man’s sword.”

“The old man’s sword? And what do you mean the baker's husband.”

“We sold Carmina’s husband a sword, he wanted it to protect himself when he traveled to the capital with a merchant’s caravan. We told him it was pointless, that guy can’t swing the thing for the life of him, but he kept asking for one.

We gave him some lessons, but he is still hopeless.”

“You gave lessons to him? Are you two skilled swordsmen?”

“Not particularly haha… we were orphans once. When you live in an orphanage you often dream of becoming a hero like the progenitor of man. The priests and acolytes often told us stories of the hero, we trained to be just like him. But at the age of 15, we were adopted by our pops so he could have an heir to his shop. We stopped training around then.”

“How much did his sword cost?”

The number he gave me was about 4000 Cleia or the equivalent of 8000 USD. More than enough to hire a guard.

“I see, now tell me about the old man’s sword.”

“Ah… he occasionally hunts monsters in the area, every month or so he brings it in for maintenance.”

“I see, who do you think committed these murders?”

“I… I think it’s a traitor in your army! There is no way anyone in our village did this! You lock us in our homes and patrol our neighborhoods. How could anyone get around that? And then kill trained soldiers? We are simple folk!”

“I see, I may come back one day… could I see one of the blades you made first?”

“Of course.”

He handed me a sword. It was expertly crafted, with no blemishes on the blade, no oil residue, and sharpened to a fine edge. They could only be called master craftsmen.

I left their shop and went to a tavern for lunch. There were some soldiers eating and drinking there at the same time as me. The one on the right had an awful look on his face, but he was still drinking the most and was the liveliest.

“Ah these village girls I tell you. Give them what they want, and they spread their legs wider than the sea. Yet they act chaste! Nothing like the whores from the capital I tell you.”

“You’ve fucked village girls!? Lucky bastard.”

“I fuck a woman in every village I enter. The strong get their pick of women, train more and you’ll be like me.”

I chime into the conversation.

“Then you have fucked a woman from this village too?”

“Of course! But I don’t fuck and tell!”

“I see.”

“Ah shit, it’s the captain.”

“Don’t drink so much that you become useless… I cut off dead weight.” I flash my dagger to keep that guy in line then leave after enjoying my meal.

Give them what they want, and they spread their legs, huh?

The baker going to the old man’s house.

The old man’s attitude.

The blacksmiths’ testimony.

I fell as though this is all connected somehow, I have some inkling of an idea as to how. But this isn’t worth anything without getting some kind of proof.

I go back to the old man’s house. I enter without knocking this time. I go to the chair where he was sitting before. He was asleep despite it being just past noon. Quietly I pull his sword out of his chair.

An arm grips mine as I admire the blade recently drawn from the sheath. It has chipped edges and stains in many spots. It is scarred from years of battle and looks just like the blade a veteran of war would wield.

I stare at the old man gripping my arm with my exhausted eyes. Despite my condition, I feel sharp. With my high-pitched childlike voice, I ask him.

“Tell me, old man, how often do you have your blade maintained?”

“Every few months, though I use it quite often.”

“You don’t do it more often?”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I’m not made of money.”

“I see.”

I drop the blade and he let go of my arms. I walk out of the house without looking behind me. I can tell he follows me from afar, but this makes no difference to my situation.

I reached a familiar bakery standing outside of it was Carmina. She was speaking to some of the people who were passing by hand on her stomach. I approached her just like I did before.

“Could you get your husband, please? I have a question for him.”

“Yes, I can do that.”

She went inside and came out with a man. He had a weaker-looking build, but a fairly attractive face. I asked the question that could end up confirming my suspicion.

“What would you like to know?” He asks.

“Where is your sword?”

“Wha… what sword?”

“The sword the blacksmith brothers sold you.”

“I… I sold it.”

“Where?”

“In a city on the way back home.”

“Before your return trip was over?”

“Yes, I hired a guard on the way back home.”

“Then it should be nowhere in your home or on your person?”

“Correct. Search me if you want.”

“No, I won't search you. The one I will search is…”

I lock my gaze on his wife. While it would probably piss off that old guy Rusticus stationed here to grope this woman, it is necessary for the investigation.

I walk up to her and see her step back trembling.

“S-stop… I don’t have anything on me.”

I don’t listen to her request, I grab her waist, then her back, then her left thigh, wherever she could be hiding a blade. I reach for her right thigh when she slaps my hand away. She holds her hand against her thigh and for a moment I see it, the outline of a blade. The scared little girl's expression on her face fades for a moment, revealing bloodlust.

Just as I am about to act a scream echoes behind me. My ears ache at the pitch. I turn around to see a fountain of crimson, the old man standing in front of it. His eyes are more focused than ever before, his expression grim, almost in a panicked way for a moment, but then that clears.

The body of a young soldier collapsed. Head at its feet, empty neck leaking blood like a broken pipe.

“Ha, you’re a clever kid. More so than I gave you credit for. I wasn’t expecting you to realize I stashed the blade on Carmina’s body. You have earned my respect. Now, let us finish this with an honorable battle before God.”

“An honorable battle coming from an assassin? Stashing a blade on a pregnant woman’s body only to start a fight when it’s found. Buying a blade in the name of her husband as well. While having the brothers lie about your blade’s maintenance for you. This isn’t right, Magnus. This lie-“

He knew what I knew at this point and wouldn’t let me finish my thought. He leapt at me with a great deal of force. He knew he needed to finish this before the other guards arrived. But… he was operating not just upon an illusion, but within one. There is no way an attack like this would work on me.

He slashed his beaten-up blade at my neck. The attack was quick compared to most. I could see how in some story he beat the men stationed here.

It took mere wind magic to blast his blade a few feet away. Shock covered his face for a millisecond, but he quickly covered it with resolve. His now empty fist swung at my jaw. I grabbed it with my right hand.

I caught his other fist with my left hand as he attacked my torso. His legs were still free, but not for long. I slammed my right leg into his left knee, shattering the bone and bending the joint backward.

He pissed me off plenty earlier, now it’s my turn to toy with him. I shattered his right forearm and seared it with flame magic. I then turned to his right shin, launching earth magic at it, completely crushing the bone and tearing the muscle.

Now that his movement was incapacitated, I finished him off by kicking him straight in the chest, caving it in. He was thrown back quite far. He landed in front of his blade. With the state he is in, there is no way he could move, let alone walk, or fight. All that was left was to finish him off for good.

I drew my daggers and approached. I expected him to give up, but there was fire in his eyes still. In the face of certain demise, he started to move his limbs. As I started at this man I remembered looking in the mirror at a certain time of my last life and seeing the opposite. I froze upon this sight entering my mind.

Why… why am I remembering the end of my past life now? How can he keep fighting after everything he just went through? Why couldn’t I do the same back then? How… how the fuck can he stand!?

He should be a ragdoll. By all rights, he shouldn’t be helpless. Despite this, he is standing tall, leaning upon his blade which he planted in the ground. Blood pours out of his mouth. His legs are quivering. Despite this, he is standing. And his eyes, they behold absolute confidence and unwavering determination.

Eventually, I snap out of my trance. With absolute hatred for this display before me I leap at him and stab directly through his chest, I stab and stab and stab again and again into his body until my anger subsides. Still, the light in his eyes hadn’t gone out. He let go of his blade and placed his hands behind my neck but didn’t try to choke me. He pulls my neck down until my head is against his. He speaks in a hushed tone, loud enough so just him and I hear.

“Maybe I’ve gone soft, but that act I put on hurt me so much. You are just a kid, and they are making you complete dirty tasks like this, you poor poor boy. You even remind me of Marcus.”

“How… how the fuck do you know Marcus?”

“We fought together… him and I. I joined the army to protect this village, but I failed. It turned over to the hands of the enemy, and my people suffered so horribly. My wife was raped by those barbarians, so were many other women. The men were enslaved and forced to work on farms. It was… hell.

I moved here to…

No, I don’t have time. What is your name?”

“Cassius…”

“Cassius, your father was like you once. Angry, menacing, evil, lost… but even then, he would not simply watch as a poor pregnant woman was killed. You must spare her, please, I’m begging you… promise me.”

“I… I promise.”

After saying this, the determination once present faded from his eyes. Ah, that just now was part of his plan. Once he knew he couldn’t win he threw his life away for a chance to beg for her life.

I should arrest her now….

No, I shouldn’t, then… that man’s death would have been for nothing, wouldn’t it?

This whole thing has left an awful taste in my mouth. Why do I even care about that piece of shit out of nowhere? That fucker asked for death, he got what he wanted, now I should get what I want.

“Cassius, is that old man him? The one who’s been killing our soldiers?” asked Appius.

“Yeah, he is.”

I walk away after saying this, Appius then starts handling the scene. I lay in bed for the rest of the day and all night, thinking about what happened.

…

Morning broke, and we began our preparations to leave. Before I go, I stop by the bakery. I can tell that Carmina didn’t sleep either. She held a blade in her hand as I sat down. She must have been waiting to see if I came to kill her in the night. I had no intention of doing this.

“What is going to happen to me?” She asked.

“I’m surprised you are even asking that and not just trying to kill me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, I know I can’t beat you.”

“Just… give up your resistance. I won’t be able to spare you next time. If you don’t do it for yourself, do it for your child.”

“Thank you…”

“What is it?”

“How did you know it was me?”

“The killer needed three things primarily. Ability to control a soldier, a weapon, and knowledge of the truth orb. The fisherman had an acquaintance in my army, but that is not nearly good enough of a motivation for the soldier. The twins didn’t have that at all. The old man intimidated a soldier often by his home, but it didn’t make sense for the soldier to let him out just for that. He would be more likely to survive fighting back while help arrives than turning against the army.”

“All you have done so far is explain why the other people are unlikely.”

“I’m getting to that. Something that confused me near the end was the old man appeared to be drawing attention to himself. By making sure the blacksmith said his name even though he never brought his weapon there. He also constantly antagonized me and talked up his combat skills.”

“Then you saw me head to his home.”

“Exactly, though that still was not enough proof. That was when I learned about your husband buying a sword, as well as overheard a conversation in the tavern about a soldier sleeping with someone in this village.”

“My pregnancy…”

“It takes more than one or two days to show symptoms. The father of your child isn’t your husband, but you weren’t raped either. Combined with the fact that the soldier said ‘give them what they want, and they will sleep with you’ proves there was an exchange. Yet he appeared distraught over this exchange in a way that led him to binge drink in the middle of the day.”

“That’s when you realized I tricked him with sex into letting me out of curfew. Once that was over it was easy to rope him into my scheme.”

“If one of you went down, you’d both go down.”

“I also knew about the orb.”

“Exactly, all three conditions were met.”

“I see, I was careless.”

“Truly so.”

After this, the room went silent. Eventually, some tears formed in her eyes. She stared at the floor and let out in a shaken voice.

“I… I didn’t even know him. He saw me when I was committing one of the murders and just decided to take the fall for me out of nowhere. He died for a complete stranger.”

“Yeah.”

I didn’t want to hear her talk about this anymore, so I left her building with the agreement to keep quiet about her crimes and stop the murders.

I returned to the king and reported my success.

Soon, the next battle will begin.