Chapter 187: Target Identified

Along with Justin, eight guards were also killed. To kill them without alarming anyone nearby, and without allowing any of them to escape, the perpetrators could not be ordinary people.

However, the perpetrators’ status could not be too high, for someone like Justin would never have had a conflict with them if they were of noble birth.

From their return to the previous location to destroy evidence, Klaus deduced that they were trying to protect their identities. He formulated several possible scenarios. They could be members of a sizable merchant guild, a well-known mercenary or hunter group, local officials, or minor nobility.

Judging by their movement patterns, they seemed to have entered Sentalus from the east, heading toward the imperial capital. Klaus immediately sent a carrier pigeon to the sheriff of Baron Elyar’s domain to ask about related information. Soon, he received a report. A few days prior, a group had attacked a garrison squad involved in relocating residents from Baron Elyar’s domain, almost completely annihilating the unit and fleeing east.

Annihilating a squad? Such a force could definitely kill Justin and his guards without alerting anyone nearby.

If they clashed violently with a garrison squad, it was entirely plausible for them to kill Justin in a subsequent conflict.

Klaus then sent another carrier pigeon to gather specific details about the incident and dispatched his men to the scene to search for clues. He himself took a shortcut east, using the limited information at hand to scrutinize passing travelers.

Their destination should have been the imperial capital, but after the incident, no travelers matching the description had passed through the territory of Sentalus. This meant that they either fled back or changed their route.

Heading south would mean detouring around the entire Haldoge Mountains, taking nearly an extra month, which was unlikely. If they dared to continue, the most probable route change would be heading north, through the adjacent Grand Duchy of Yagata, toward the imperial capital.

To lull them into a false sense of security, Klaus even released a fake wanted notice. In fact, the intelligence from Baron Elyar’s domain mentioned several key clues–a black-haired half-elf, a silver-haired wolfman possibly carrying some magical item, a catwoman whose size fluctuates, and a mixed-breed dog girl proficient in using a massive boomerang-like weapon.

A mixed-breed dog girl?

Klaus abruptly turned his head. A blond half-elf had just walked past with a catwoman, and about ten meters ahead of them was a mixed-breed dog girl slave carrying two swords, accompanied by her raccoon girl owner. Further ahead was a mercenary group primarily composed of hound men, which included a young wolfman, though he had black fur and hair.

This was no coincidence.

Changing the color of one’s hair was easy, but racial characteristics couldn’t be hidden.

“Follow them,” Klaus immediately ordered his men, and they began to move discreetly.

For ordinary passersby, the disguises and group movements of Wu Qingsong and his companions were enough to dispel any suspicion. However, to someone as astute as Klaus, their connections were quickly apparent.

Ling couldn’t help but glance back to see where Wu Qingsong and the others were, while Bernar and his group would intentionally or unintentionally wait for them, preventing the group from being separated in the crowd.

Yagata City wasn’t a major commercial hub, but as the capital of the Grand Duchy, it naturally had a large enough population and the corresponding industries, appearing no less prosperous than Umber. 

Wu Qingsong and his companions split into three groups and entered a reasonably decent-looking inn outside the city. They registered under different false identities. Klaus soon discovered a telling clue. Their horses were clearly very familiar with each other, calmly crowding together to eat, without any of the usual squabbling.

Would ordinary travelers go to such lengths to conceal their true identities?

Even if they weren’t the ones who killed Justin, they were definitely the bandits who attacked the garrison of Baron Elyar’s domain. Capturing them first and interrogating them slowly would naturally reveal the truth.

“Gather the men,” Klaus instructed his subordinates. “Keep a close watch on them. We move tonight.”

If this were in the south, within the sphere of Sentalus’s influence, deploying the city guards would undoubtedly be the simplest and most direct approach. However, the problem was that Sentalus and Yagata were not closely allied neighbors. In fact, they were quite hostile. Although both territories posted each other’s bounty notices at their checkpoints, the citizens of both duchies knew that this was just a routine formality due to imperial law.

Klaus still didn’t know the true identities of these people. If the half-elf was a merchant or the leader of a hunter group, it wouldn’t matter much. However, if he were an official or even a noble from some region, the situation could devolve into endless bureaucratic wrangling.

Sentalus would never allow the murderer of its members, even peripheral ones, to go unpunished. But for the people of Yagata, they would likely relish seeing the Sentalus people suffer a setback and might even allow the culprits to escape.

The Grand Duke Sentalus and the Grand Duke Yagata were far from friends. In fact, they were quite the opposite. Grand Duke Yagata was one of the most stubborn representatives of the purity faction. This faction firmly believed that any mixed blood was a blasphemy against nature, and all mixed-blood individuals were irredeemable monstrosities.

In terms of conventional forces, Sentalus could easily crush Yagata, but when it came to extraordinary powers, Sentalus couldn’t even come close to matching Yagata.

The treatment of citizens in the two duchies was drastically different. In Sentalus, beastfolk had no voice, but in Yagata, beastfolk could proudly declare themselves as warriors loyal to their lord. When facing half-elf and beastfolk soldiers from Sentalus, they always carried an inexplicable sense of superiority and hostility.

Yet, in reality, they were just another type of slave.

“There will always be someone in the Sentalus family who says, ‘Once these old relics are gone…’” 

This time, however, Klaus had to take a gamble.

“Prepare the tranquilizers,” Klaus ordered. “Move quietly and don’t alert the city guards.”