I Became The Pope, Now What?
chapter-71

The investigation was not going to be easy. Sylvester tried to be as fast as possible, but that didn't mean he could be ignorant.

"Stop! We are not going to kill you!"

At the moment, Sylvester and Felix were chasing a man suspected to be a local creep in a town near where the last victim was found. Someone had seen the local creep taking the body with him.

And when Sylvester and the team reached there and started asking around, the man made a run for it on his horse. Felix and Sylvester had their horses with them, so they also chased.

But when someone like Felix shouts at somebody and says he's not going to kill, the other person will definitely think he's lying, and death is imminent.

Sylvester had to take the matter into his own hands. He showed his palm while on the horse and sent out light. Then he started singing... more like bellowing a hymn. "Fear not, Child of Solis, for you have not sinned. Fear the sinner whose fate is in your hands--hinged."

As the man glanced back, he was greeted by a mesmerizing view of Sylvester. Of course, at this point, Sylvester was not a cute child anymore, but still, he was handsome enough to affect even the men, especially when singing a hymn.

The man stopped his horse suddenly and jumped down to kneel. "F-Forgive me... my lord! Please forgive me. I didn't mean to take that body... I was just... I wanted to study it."

Sylvester was honestly disgusted, but he remained calm. At times, you have to call a donkey a dad. "What study, child of the light?"

The man confessed to his sins. "I... I just wanted to... see the body of a bright mother and how it's different from normal women."

"..."

Sylvester and Felix looked at each other's faces, appalled by what they heard.

"Why would you think they are any different from ordinary women? They are all the same except their worship for the lord." Sylvester said.

"But... they are considered pure! I wanted to see what that meant."

Felix scoffed as he bellowed at the man. "That means they are either virgins or reject laying with men. That's it. I don't know why you would think something else, but tell us now, when did you pick the body? Did you see who threw it?"

"Tell us, child of light," Sylvester chimed.

Acting as bad cops, good cops seemed to work, as the man confessed. "I saw him throw the body. That's why I took it before the monastery could."

Sylvester stepped down from his horse and walked to the man. He ruffled his hair and politely asked. "Can you tell me what he looked like? About his height, or anything peculiar about him?"

The man looked at Sylvester's face in worship. "Yes, my lord. I did not see his face as it was covered with robes. However, when I saw his left hand, it was badly burned. And... he had red eyes--I felt scared just looking at him."

"What about his horse? What did it look like?" Felix questioned.

The man tried to remember it with all his focus. "It was... It was black... tall, and had a hairy tail."

"A mare or a stallion?" Sylvester pressed.

"I believe it was a stallion. It was too tall."

"Which way did he go?" he asked further.

"Towards Ranthburg... unless he went offroad. I don't know anything else, my lord. I am not a sinner... please bless me." The man cried again on his knees.

Sylvester nodded and said a short rhyme for him that made a halo appear behind his head.

"Sinner knows not when sinned.

As unknowingly as the flowing wind.

But the lord sees all and judges.

His words are absolute.

His actions are just.

For he does not hold grudges."

"W-what?"

"Felix." Sylvester stepped back suddenly.

In response, Felix came forward and slashed his sword swiftly, beheading the man without any pain.

"His mind was too corrupt. If not today, then tomorrow he'd sin. For a man obsessed with dead bodies, one day when he can't find them, he'd make them." Sylvester muttered.

Felix didn't mind killing him either. "He was a lowly runt who was sick in mind. No need to think much about him."

"Indeed. Let's go." Sylvester used Earth runes to make a grave for the man, then he put the body in it and burned it. This was the easiest way to prevent him from turning into a Creature of Night.

Then they got on their horses and followed the trail. Sylvester, meanwhile, wrote in his report book. "In every instance, the man appears in a town or village near a forest or a large overgrown area. So I believe the conclusion by the previous inspectors that this man is a hunter is right. But I'd rather not take it to heart. What if the man is doing things just to confuse us?

"He has not been caught for this long by many senior inspectors. There has to be something he's doing that we have not thought of yet."

Felix had an idea suddenly and blurted. "What if it's not just one man? Otherwise, how would you explain the killer appearing in distant places so fast?"

"I thought of that too. The last attack occurred in Molgoth village, while this fool said the killer was moving towards Ranthburg. The pattern is too jumbled up." Sylvester muttered in deep thought.

"I hope Gab and Sir Dolorem find something."

The two made their way towards Ranthburg while keeping an eye on any clue they could find. They also went off-road whenever they noticed even a hint of a trail leading to any forests nearby. They came across many wild animals on their way, but they didn't kill them as that would be a waste of meat.

It was just their 3rd day, and things did not look very good. They were just praying that no other bright mother was killed before they could put an end to this menace.

...

At the same time, in another direction, not too far from Sylvester, Sir Dolorem and Gabriel entered a small village to meet the local clergy and ask them about what was happening.

However, as they arrived at the small Monastery, they were surprised to see there was another man--old and kind looking--investigating the same case, but he was not from the church. However, what shocked them the most was that the old man had a blonde beard, hair, and golden eyes.

Gabriel rubbed his own eyes, feeling it was just Sylvester but older. Sir Dolorem even directly asked him. "Do you know someone named Xavia?"

"Xavia? That's a unique name. I'd remember if I heard it before."

Gabriel looked at him in wonder. "Are you a clergy too?"

"Haha, no, I am an adventurer and a concerned citizen. I like Bright Mothers, the gentle women. I hate it when good people are hurt. Ah, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Jax, the golden eye. I got a bit of a name in Masan Empire." Jax cheerfully revealed.

Gabriel and Sir Dolorem took long breaths as they felt the man seemed too similar to Sylvester in all but age.

However, Sir Dolorem was smart enough not to trust the information provided by an adventurer. As the clergymen from the Holy Land, their investigation needed to be independent of any influence.

"I just spoke to the Archpriest in the Monastery. And I am heading to the Vine Forest, as all my leads lead me there. Do you wish to join me, respected clergymen?" Jax asked.

Gabriel let Sir Dolorem deal with this, knowing his inexperience. "What are the leads that you found?"

With a sigh, Jax took out a diary and handed it to Sir Dolorem. "I've been tracking him for a year now, and all the clues tell me the Vine forest is the place he hides... or they hide."

That raised everyone's eyebrows. Sir Dolorem silently read the whole diary and frowned from time to time. There were finer details about each victim that were not even present in the official church report.

"How did you find all these details?" He asked.

"Let's just say I have a disorder that forces me to overanalyze things. The daggers used to cut the bodies were different, yet the pattern was the same."

"That's why you think it's teamwork?" Gabriel exclaimed.

"Indeed, look more. You will find more compelling evidence."

Sir Dolorem read more and found the testimony of people who claimed they saw the killer. Each time the description of height and horse was different, while the clothes were the same. Soon, he reached the end, where the Vine Forest was pinpointed because of the direction of each killer's escape.

Sometimes it was vague, but if one were to focus on the forest, the direction matched due to the roads eventually leading there.

"I think we should check the forest. But we need to inform our superiors first. They are not too far away." Sir Dolorem decided. But at the same time, he made a mental note to keep an eye on this blonde man. Because things seemed too convenient at the moment.

Jax was happy to have company. "No problem, let's go there together."

...

"Yup, it's a team job." Sylvester reached the same conclusion around the same time. Why? Because he found the same road pattern as Jax. Of course, he was not as sure, however. But after plotting all the locations of crimes and escape directions on the map, everything pointed towards the Vine forest, as it was the only hiding location.

The Vine forest was located at the border of Gracia and Riveria Kingdom's easternmost edge, touching the Blood Sea. It was also called Broken Mangroves sometimes, as the area was cut into smaller pieces with deep water ditches.

The place was uninhabitable, so it was easy to spot that a group of murderers was heading in that direction. However, that also made Sylvester take this clue with a grain of salt because if he could so easily spot this, most likely other inspectors did too.

Could it be a fake trail they were following? He had to think of backups too, but that didn't mean he could ignore the Vine forest.

"Felix, let's meet Sir Dolorem and Gab. We need to head in there and kill these men. Prepare your tools and all the magic crystals you have."

"My blade is never not sharp, Max. You need to think about your spear."

Sylvester glanced at the spear that hung on the back. He was annoyed that he could not simply just go to see Viscount Gordon Mineworth and learn metal manipulation from him.

"I will eventually learn everything about it... first, we got some heathens to the massacre."

Felix grinned. "Ah, my favorite hobby."

STONE IS STONK!

**1069 Stones = Bonus Chapter!**

APE TOGETHER STRONG!