Chapter 678 The mysterious fire

Pete felt that he couldn't wait any longer.

Intuition may not be correct.

But he would rather make a mistake than do nothing.

"Dear, if you want to sneak in, are you sure?"

Reina glanced at the Marquis's manor not far away and said with certainty:

"I have no problem!"

Although there were Crusaders on guard outside the manor, it was a ruin burned by fire after all.

Almost all the manor's defense measures had lost their effectiveness.

As long as Reina was careful, it would not be difficult to sneak in.

"Okay!"

Pete made up his mind:

"Go in and look for any valuable clues, and the source of the sulfur smell."

"I understand, don't worry!" Reina nodded vigorously at first, then confirmed: "What about you?"

Pete caught a glimpse of the group of farmers gathered in front of the manor to pray, and had an idea.

"I'm going to ask them."

"They should be the first to discover the fire and appear at the scene."

"In addition to the physical evidence that can't speak, the witnesses may also find something."

Taking a step forward, Reina's figure slowly became transparent and dim, until it completely disappeared from Pete's sight.

...

Pete paced and slowly walked to the side of the farmers, observing their appearance calmly.

Compared with the farmers in Ceylon Territory, the farmers living on the shelter plains are undoubtedly in much better conditions.

They have clean clothes that are relatively neat and complete. Although they are patched, at least they are not the kind of ragged cloth with "pieces on the left and right";

Their complexion looks healthy, which is enough to prove that they are well-nourished, and because they have been engaged in physical labor for a long time, their bodies are very strong;

They don't have to worry about their farmland being destroyed and polluted by the monsters that suddenly rush in;

The soil is fertile enough, and there is plenty of help from the harvest magic, so they can have a good harvest almost every year.

Wheat is the most common crop in Ceylon Territory, and rice is also grown in places with abundant water resources;

As for vegetables and fruits?

Because they are not easy to preserve and transport, at most they can only grow some common varieties such as wild vegetables and peas.

If you really have to plant other crops, you may not even be able to recover the cost.

It is different in the capital. In addition to large tracts of wheat, you can also see neat vegetable fields and fruit trees.

The environment here is much more stable, and there are many rich people, enough to digest these things.

From their expressions, these farmers who were once hired by Marquis Madison are just a little confused about the future and look at a loss.

When Pete approached them, the farmers also noticed Pete.

"My lord? What's the matter?"

Although they didn't know Pete's identity, just from the fact that Pete and Prince Fradin appeared together before, the farmers would automatically imagine Pete as a well-known big shot in the capital Starosh.

And it really can't be said that their imagination is wrong.

Pete and his friends can chat and laugh with the king, the archbishop, the richest man, and others, and communicate closely.

In addition to having assets in the capital, Pete and his friends are now considered big shots in the eyes of ordinary people.

Pete's eyes swept over the farmers.

He asked seriously:

"Can you tell me what happened before and after the fire in the Marquis's manor? Especially, um, what do you think might be wrong?"

A farmer who looked a little old answered Pete's question:

"That night, we saw the Marquis return to his manor with his family and a lot of packages. Everyone was very happy at the time because we all thought that the day of paying money had finally arrived."

"As a result, in the middle of the night, there was a loud bang from the direction of the manor."

"Someone was awakened, and when he went out to check, he found that the Marquis's manor was on fire."

Pet frowned: "How big is the fire?"

The farmer replied: "Very big! At that time, the flames were soaring into the sky, and most of the manor was burning! After we discovered the fire, the whole village was awakened, and everyone rushed into the manor with buckets of water to put out the fire, but because the fire was too big, the few buckets of water we poured on it could not solve the problem at all. "

"Did you hear other sounds? For example, fighting sounds, or cries for help?"

The farmer shook his head: "No, sir."

"At that time, there was only the crackling of wood burning in the manor, explosions from time to time, and the sound of beams and walls collapsing, plus the sound of us running around and shouting to put out the fire."

"We didn't hear any cries for help."

Pate nodded thoughtfully.

The situation was indeed different from what was described in the news of "Trade and Fortune".

And it was extremely abnormal.

Pate was 100% sure that this fire was definitely not an accident.

If he was really targeted by the cultists by accident, even if Marquis Madison was so corrupt and unbearable, the other party was a 5th-level warrior, and his strength was there.

Even if he couldn't beat him, he could always run away, right?

If they really can't escape, making some violent noise shouldn't be a problem.

What's more.

There were dozens of people who died in the fire, including many servants in the manor.

In such a dangerous situation, they would definitely desperately send out a distress signal to the outside world, right?

But according to the witnesses at the scene, that is, the farmers, there was no "resistance" inside the manor when the fire broke out.

After the fire was over, only corpses and ruins were left.

Such an abnormal phenomenon.

Pete could think of only one explanation:

"Before the fire broke out, there was probably no one alive in the entire manor!"

The dead certainly would not run away, let alone ask for help, nor would they resist!

Kill first, then set fire, and burn all the evidence and clues with flames.

After analyzing it this way, Pete was very skeptical. Is this really something that the cultists can do?

They had to kill the 5th-level warrior Marquis Madison first, and then slaughter everyone in the manor, leaving no one alive.

During this period, they could not make any noise.

The more Pete thought about it, the more abnormal it felt.

Thinking of the eye-catching pollution on Madison, Pete felt something was wrong.

"If Marquis Madison himself realizes that he has been targeted and is about to be investigated."

"If he really can't stand the investigation, the best option should be to run away immediately, away from the capital, or even leave the Kingdom of Reyak and fly away."

"So, it is obvious that the mastermind behind the scenes created this fire in order to silence him."

"But what kind of method can be used to complete this massacre quietly?"

"A level 5 warrior can be killed so easily."

Pate pondered and pondered.

Suddenly.

A flash of inspiration!

"Wait!"

He suddenly thought of a very outrageous possibility:

"What if this is not murder, but suicide?!"

...

And!