Knights and Magic Wand
Chapter 265 - 265 135 Distant Visitors

265: Chapter 135 Distant Visitors 265: Chapter 135 Distant Visitors Dawn had not yet risen, and the early hours found Longka still engulfed in silence.

Within the dim confines of the prison, Leon stared at the corpse in front of him as if it were frozen in time, his expression growing increasingly solemn.

“Leon, this is a wound caused by a spear thrusting straight through from the front.

The shape and depth of the wound couldn’t have been made by a sword or dagger,” Olivia, who had hurried over with her lover, pressed down the hem of her skirt and crouched down to carefully examine the rigid and kneeling burly corpse of Canis.

“Just like this,” she said as she stood up, took a step back, and mimed holding the shaft of an invisible spear, thrusting forward to try and recreate the sole piercing strike that killed Canis.

“…The front,” Leon muttered, furrowing his brow as he watched the girl’s simulated attack, his mind attempting to reconstruct the assassination.

There was no doubt that Canis had been awake just before his death.

Yet, he had not fought with the assassin.

This was absurd.

Leon had exchanged blows with Canis himself and was very familiar with the latter’s martial arts.

In a one-on-one situation, even if Olivia wanted to kill him, it wouldn’t be so straightforward.

The Wolf Family Young Master’s legs were not injured, so had he not even tried to dodge before he was slain?

“When did you discover Canis had been harmed?”

He turned his head, looking towards the pale, exceedingly frightened soldier.

“Just…

just now, as soon as we realized something terrible had happened, we immediately went to notify you,” the prison guard replied, sweating from his forehead and speaking anxiously.

The several soldiers behind him were also sweating from their backs.

With such an important prisoner of war dying in such murky circumstances, as the guards, how could they not be seized with panic about the responsibility?

“Why were all of you outside the cell?

Wasn’t there anyone staying in front of the prison to watch over him?”

Leon did not trouble the trembling soldiers, simply continuing his calm inquiry.

“We had no choice.

Didn’t the lords say yesterday that we should try to satisfy that honored knight over minor matters?

As a result, last night that knight suddenly became furiously angry, scolded us all out, saying he couldn’t sleep with people staring at him.

We had to stand outside the door, who would have thought, just before changing shifts, when we came back in…

he’s he’s he’s actually dead!” The soldier’s face was filled with the grief of bereavement.

“All night, you didn’t hear any noise?

Did you see any suspicious person approach the cell?”

“No, sir, we were alert all night standing outside the door at such a short distance, just just just….” the prison guard became more anxious and stammered as he spoke.

Leon eyed the soldiers in front of him, then looked again at the wound that had pierced Canis’s chest, knowing these men might have narrowly escaped with their lives.

If these soldiers hadn’t gone out, then the assassin who had silently infiltrated the prison and killed Canis, could easily have taken their lives incidentally.

That is, unless this sudden accident had been plotted by these soldiers themselves.

As this thought crossed his mind, Leon surveyed the Wolf Family Young Master’s corpse up and down, then looked around the prison for any traces.

There were no signs of a struggle.

Ordinary soldiers like these couldn’t possibly have taken down a Knight of Valor with superb martial arts without a scratch, even with both hands shackled in heavy fetters.

With Canis’s physical strength and build, even a frenzied struggle from him would be more ferocious than a wild beast.

Moreover, even under worse circumstances, Canis wasn’t mute; he could have shouted for help.

This prison located in the middle of a military camp was not just guarded by these few soldiers.

But from the scene, the fatal thrust that had pierced the heart was clean and decisive.

The fixed expression on the Wolf Family Young Master’s face was only that of anger, with no time for struggle or resistance…

So who killed Canis?

Someone from Longka?

From the Farolis Family?

It seemed unlikely.

Could it have been from within the Wolf Family?

This might explain why Canis was caught off guard and subdued in a lucid state, but…

why would the Wolf Family’s own people kill the eldest son of their lord?

Leon shook his head internally.

The real issue at hand wasn’t tracking down the murderer but dealing with the consequences brought about by Canis’s death.

If he had died on the battlefield, it would be a different story.

Even if he and Baron Gunnar harbored grudges, the conflict would remain between the two parties, and since the other side had invaded first, killing an enemy in an upright fight would be justifiable for him.

But the impact of killing the enemy versus killing a noble prisoner was vastly different.

Especially since the other party had already surrendered and given up resistance; and moreover, his side had just signed a treaty with the Gunnar Family guaranteeing favorable treatment for the captives in exchange for a ransom.

Bringing it to the attention of higher-ranking Great Nobles, or even the King, would be a major problem, even for his own Sealing Lord, Baron Eriv.

As for defending that they were not the assassins?

…To the numerous Royalist Nobles watching the Thorny Flower Family, the truth didn’t matter, neither did who killed Canis matter to those people.

What mattered was that Canis was dead, “brutally killed in prison” by a knight of the Thorny Flower Family after his surrender, that premise was enough for them.

Once the news leaked, the conflict would immediately escalate from the Gunnar Family versus the Farolis Family to the Royalists versus the Farolis Family.

Among the internal disputes of the nobles of the Northern Kingdom, as long as it didn’t escalate to the level of treasonous rebellion, killing a surrendered noble went squarely against the rules and collective understanding of tradition.

Leon immediately turned to the soldiers and ordered, “From today on, you few will live in the same barracks as my Guard, your freedom temporarily restricted until the truth is clear.

Additionally, starting now, you’re not to mention this matter to anyone else!

Remember, to anyone!

Including Sir Redo and the others, or else I will punish you severely!”