CLA.S.S NEUTRAL: Stranger Is Coming

Who is the Killer? Conversation. Werewolf's Personality.

I slept well, but thoughts about the killer didn't leave my head. Lying in bed, I kept pondering. According to Kurbakht's words, werewolves couldn't control themselves, and, therefore, they pounced on any people.

They only did it, though, during the full moon, which had been three or four days ago—I'd just watched it from the Areen Forest. However, according to Katta, there were ten victims—all of them were girls, and they had all died more than a week ago, when it hadn't been the full moon yet. She'd also said nothing about the man.

I concluded that either someone was wrong, or someone had lied. But I'd seen the werewolf's footprints with my own eyes—as well as the corpse. Katta seemed not to be afraid of the werewolf, which meant she knew and trusted him.

The most annoying thing was that it was damn hard to walk along the werewolf's trails as he'd visited too many places. The people wouldn't understand me correctly if I burst into every house where the werewolf had been. There were too many of them.

Maybe there were two killers? One of them had killed the girls, and the other—that man. What about the bas.e.m.e.nt with all those of strange traces? Hmm… that begged the question, if Nars was the second killer? How had he fallen into the werewolf's clutches? Was it a coincidence? I didn't believe in such coincidences; the werewolf had killed him purposefully, I was sure.

On the other hand, I had no evidence that Nars had been a murderer. Of course, I could search his bas.e.m.e.nt inside out, but then I might destroy this very evidence. My skill of Observation wasn't pumped up enough for this investigation, as well as the Dexterity parameter, diminishing any chance of finding something interesting.

Or maybe there were two people, if not more? Damn! Who was to blame? There was only a day left to settle this issue. Now I needed to start thinking about the answer to the question, 'What should I do?'

Intellect increases by 1 point

***

The next morning, when I went out into the common room, I met the gatekeeper. Kurbakht sipped beer from a small mug, chewing a piece of black bread as he pondered.

We talked a little, then I decided to walk around the village again and speak to the residents. I was dressed inconspicuously, so no one should have remembered that I had come with the royal gatekeeper.

"Madam, could you tell me where the chief lives?" I asked an old woman that was sitting on a bench near one of the houses.

"He lives there," she pointed to the end of the street. "Twenty houses away from here. His house is decorated with a dragon. Why are you asking? I don't remember you. Whose son are you? Or are you a stranger?"

"Yes, I'm a stranger. Passing along the road, I came across your village. I like it here: it's very quiet and calm, and the villagers are kind." I praised the place, making a good impression, but I had to get to the important part. "However, rumors have reached me that things were unsettled here, and some people died. The royal gatekeeper found a corpse and decided to find out what it was going on."

"It's true," the old woman got visibly sad. "At first he killed only girls. About a dozen. And then Nars. He was a good man, and he helped other people. Of course, he liked to drink alcohol, but he didn't offend anyone and didn't brawl.

He came to us about five years ago. He told me that he'd lived in the city before, but his wife had died, and he'd left the damn place. Now death came after him.

I hope he has been reunited with his wife there. She has been waiting for him for so long. The danger seemed to have passed: no one was killed for more than a week, before poor Nars."

"Thanks, madam."

"You're welcome. I wished my neighbors talked to me more often."

I carefully spoke to other people and figured out something. Nars had had an impeccable reputation, despite frequent binges, which had always ended the same way: he'd got up and gone to his home, barely moving his legs along like a puppet.

The girls had really disappeared, and no one had found them, so they were considered dead. In the bas.e.m.e.nt, I activated the Search for Death, but I found nothing again.

What the hell was going on here? Maybe they had conspired and run away from the village that had bothered them, and the werewolf had just mauled that man? Hmm… the monster's traces were still confused, and I was already tired of wandering around, so I re-activated the Search for Death, which, again, showed nothing.

Sighing, I turned back and went to the tavern. Passing one of the houses, I noticed a dull violet flash out of the corner of my eye. It meant that there was someone who had killed an innocent person among these people who walked down the street. Well, where are you?

I saw a purple aura. I ran toward the source, which was far away from me. And after a couple of minutes, I ran into… that girl with the blonde hair. The aura emanated from her.

How? How could such a charming creature kill an innocent? I looked at the footprints. All doubts disappeared completely—the werewolf stood in front of me.

I refuse to believe it! I just refuse! Is this world rotten too?

I looked into her gray eyes, full of tears. The girl was heading to Katta's house, which was very close, and she had met me on her way.

She didn't pay attention to anyone and just buried her head in my c.h.e.s.t. Seeing that she couldn't pass, she raised her head and looked into my eyes, then she burst into tears.

"Come here," Katta called to us, and I quickly took the girl to the house, so as not to attract attention, and so I could find out everything in detail.

"Why are you following Eleya?" her friend asked as soon as she closed the door. "What have you done to her?"

"Because she's a werewolf," I said calmly. "And I've done nothing to her."

"Eleya, get away!" she cried to the girl and drew her sword. "I'll kill him. I knew that you were the killer."