Chapter 65
Chapter 65
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: Corpses in the Lake
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Inevel immediately climbed over the fence. The one screaming seemed to be a woman who had boarded a ferry far off in the distance.
Breathless shrieks and the flustered ferryman’s frantic rowing heightened the tension.
“What happened?”
She stood next to Guchi and asked. It was nighttime, and the distance was too great to make out the situation.
Anyone with sharp eyes like Uncle’s would be able to roughly discern what was happening way out there.
“Looks like a body floated up.”
“Is that so?”
She felt a little deflated. It didn’t seem like anything major.
“Why the disappointed look?”
“I thought something exciting might be going on, but it’s no big deal. You said this is a place with lots of suicides. So a body or two bobbing up makes sense, and someone spotting it could scream.”
The ferry veered around and rushed toward the dock.
Just as it seemed the commotion was dying down, the boat turned toward the dock but halted midway. This time, even the ferryman let out a curse-laden scream.
“What’s going on with them?”
“Not a pretty sight. It’s not just one or two bodies.”
“What? Not just one or two?”
She squinted. Right then, a lantern by the lakeshore drifted toward the middle of the lake. The dim light revealed the truth of the matter.
“What the hell is all that?”
Her face twisted involuntarily. She couldn’t see details, but there were at least five bodies floating on the surface.
The gathered tourists buzzed. But no one left their spot.
The tragedy unfolding in the distance seemed like prime entertainment—everyone was up on tiptoes, peering at the bodies drifting in the lake’s center.
“Mass suicide?”
“Who knows.”
Lander stepped up behind her.
“All women.”
“You can tell?”
She peered at the center of the lake again. She could barely make out human forms bobbing on the water—distinguishing gender or features was impossible.
How good is his eyesight? Another mana-enhanced physical technique?
“To some extent.”
The boat finally looped back to the dock, and a woman leaped off.
A man who followed the exhausted woman tried to soothe her, while the ferryman spat toward the lake.
“Out of the way!”
A group carrying lanterns took over the dock. Their uniforms suggested they were officials.
They swiftly launched boats and headed to the center of the lake. Spreading nets, they hauled in the bodies, and cleanup didn’t take long.
She strolled toward the dock, hands clasped behind her back.
What kind of story would drive so many people to throw themselves into the lake? And she wanted to verify something. Were they really all women, like Lander said?
Despite the officials’ shouts to stay back, people milled about, craning their necks.
She wormed her way through the crowd. Bodies lay lined up on the road beside the dock. Women, all in similar attire.
They hadn’t been dead long; their flesh was only slightly bloated.
She knew full well how grotesque abandoned drowned corpses could become. If facial features were still distinguishable, they were in remarkably good shape.
“Quiet for a few years, and now this mess again.”
“Why do they keep dying like this here?”
“If we knew, we’d do something about it.”
“Poor girls. All so young.”
The onlookers chattered.
“This isn’t a show—step back.”
The officials spread cloth over the bodies. Nine in total had been brought ashore. Similar clothing, similar ages.
A cart arrived. The officials loaded the cloth-wrapped bodies onto it.
She watched as the fifth body was lifted onto the cart, then turned away.
“What’d you go all the way over there to see?”
Guchi remarked as she returned.
“Needed to check something. If they were really all women. And sure enough, like Lander said, they were—all women. Same clothes, too. The level of decay was about the same, so they must’ve jumped around the same time.”
“Sounds like there’s a story behind it.”
“Probably. Oh, that reminds me.”
“What?”
“I heard about this up-and-coming religion called Bronpa that’s been getting really popular lately. Their doctrine says you gain eternal life through death.”
“Country gets stable, and all sorts of cults pop up. I’ve heard of over a dozen just traveling around. All based on folk superstitions about salvation and eternal life—pretty much the same stuff. But having to die to get eternal life? That’s a new one.”
“Exactly.”
Lander, who had been listening, spoke up.
“Probably about money and assets. They convince followers that you have to die empty-handed to achieve salvation, so they donate everything to the religion. Then when the devotee dies, the cult leader just sits back and collects.”
“What a scheme. Where’d you hear that, Lander?”
“An acquaintance told me.”
“Acquaintance? Who?”
“There’s this guy named Bank who does all sorts of odd jobs.”
Guchi let out a dry chuckle at the name Bank. He knew the guy.
“So these women were tricked into killing themselves?”
“No idea.”
“Then how do you explain women of similar ages all suiciding at the same time?”
“Don’t poke into useless mysteries. Plenty of things where ignorance is better for your health—and your life.”
Guchi said. She somewhat agreed, ready to drop the topic.
That was when something washing up on the shore caught her eye. She focused on the slowly approaching object. It didn’t take long to recognize it as another body.
“There’s one more.”
She started to call for an official, but they were already gone.
She thought to leave it be, but Guchi moved. He used a long tree branch to drag the body ashore.
“What are you doing?”
She asked.
“Once you see it, you can’t just leave it. Better for her to be buried in the ground than rotting where all these eyes can see.”
“She’ll come back as a ghost and haunt you, Uncle—thanking you for fishing her out.”
“Cut the nonsense.”
She pitched in to help. Touching the fishy-smelling corpse creeped her out, but she couldn’t leave Uncle struggling alone.
The retrieved body was no different from the ones she’d seen at the dock. A woman in her late twenties.
“What’s that in her hand?”
Unlike the others, her fist was clenched, and something peeked between her fingers.
“No idea.”
“I’ll check.”
“Don’t mess with a dead person’s belongings.”
“I don’t buy into that stuff. And who knows? Might learn why these people died. I’m dying to know.”
“You’ll be cursed later.”
“The mercenaries I killed all said the same. But here I am, still kicking. Guess my life’s tougher than any curse.”
Inevel pried open the dead woman’s hand and extracted what she’d been gripping. It was a crudely carved wooden doll.
“Why hold onto something like this at the moment of death?”
“How should I know? Must’ve been precious to her.”
Guchi gave her a look. She smirked and placed the doll back in the dead woman’s hand. Guchi said he’d fetch someone and left.
“Like Lander said, seems like some creepy cult leader’s handiwork. No other explanation, right?”
She sought his agreement, but got no reply. Wondering if he was ignoring her, she glanced at Lander.
Lander was scrutinizing the dead woman. His gaze fixed on her hand.
“What? Something weird?”
“Nothing much.”
“If it’s nothing, you can tell me. Won’t you?”
Lander bent down. He pried open the dead woman’s hand again.
The precariously held wooden doll dropped to the ground. Lander picked it up and handed it to her.
“Felt familiar.”
“What?”
“This doll. It looks a lot like the one Riselra always carried.”
“Carved dolls all look the same.”
She held out her hand. She examined the wooden doll Lander had given her closely. Now that he mentioned it, it did seem similar.
“Yours?”
A light fell over them. An official hurried up with a lantern and checked the body.
“Bring a cover and call the cart back.”
The first official barked, and another man answered before hurrying off.
“Excuse me—does this sort of thing happen often?”
She tossed out the question casually, flashing her sweetest smile.
She’d had a pretty face since childhood—pretty enough for nobles to buy her outright—and even now, without makeup, she wasn’t hard on the eyes.
Look at a man with goodwill, and he’d usually respond kindly. If that failed to get results, she’d switch to fists.
“No. A mass drowning like this is the first in years.”
The official clammed up after that, looking annoyed at having to speak. She didn’t press further. Soon the cart arrived and hauled the body away.
“Why do you have that!”
Guchi spotted the wooden doll in her hand.
“It just kinda happened?”
“Go return it right now.”
“She’s already dead. Besides, Lander’s comment has me hooked. Uncle, doesn’t this look familiar?”
She showed the doll to Guchi. He eyed it dubiously, then spoke in a puzzled tone.
“This… looks like the one Riselra had?”
“There you go—three opinions match. Not a coincidence. There’s something here. But what?”
“Carved things all look alike.”
“I said the same at first, but staring at it more, they’re different. It’s not just the shape—the unique vibe is the same. Same carver, maybe?”
“Gilliud and Riselra—both hailed from Blunoton, not far from here. Not weird they’d have similar trinkets.”
“True.”
She pocketed the doll. Guchi told her not to carry it around—return it or leave it by the lakeshore.
“Got it, you and your nagging, Uncle.”
She stood between Lander and Guchi, arms crossed.
“Anyway, let’s grab something to eat. Lunch is long gone—I’m starving.”
“Sounds good. Guchi said there are decent spots nearby.”
“There’s a great little place for simple eats right up ahead. Let’s head there.”
She hummed a tune and shook the two men’s arms. The ten corpses were already forgotten.
(To be continued)