Chapter 52.2

***

‘The Prophet Risralpho was of a humble origin and of the people.’

He was an adult who developed his abilities as he got older.

‘He had a family. It’s obvious what will happen if you have very poor families that you need to support.’

Risralpho was greedy for money and a snob. Upon hearing Marco swear, Jacob told Carola the story many times. He often hid his goods from the temple and sent them to his family.

‘The biggest problem was that he refused the pledge to donate his body.’

Then, the temple could not profit from his death.

Merha was a man of great ambition.

‘Besides, a prophet who died while young and beautiful yields even greater dividends.’

The members of the Cartier family, like Merha, didn’t see commoners as human. How dare a prophet refuse his words? There was no way Merha could leave him alone. In the end, he was slained.

None other than in Yurif. On the land that he owned.

***

The truth hidden behind it was only known after a long time by Elisha.

Risralpho, who was stabbed by a sword and ran away, escaped into the woods. Merha and Marco, who followed him into the forest could not find him; it was as if he had vanished into thin air.

The two were bewildered. They wandered through the forest around Yurif, but they couldn’t find him in the end.

‘In the final moments of his death, Risralpho hid in his own secret vault.’

But the wounds on his stomach were so fatal that he had not survived. He died there, locked in a safe. It occurred eight years ago.

***

The adventure concluded at dawn with Lucerne casting a locking spell with his shadows so that no one could find Lystralfo’s body.

He said:

“It will last around three months. I’ll leave some of the shadows and go. No one will be able to open this vault.”

In the morning, Elisha and Lucerne were able to receive detailed documents about Risralpho and the land owner. Inside, she was astonished.

‘Even the VIPs of the Information Guild can’t get documents this fast.’

This was much faster than Jacob’s spies.

She was sitting on a chair in the hotel room. Lucerne slowly walked around the room, looking at the documents.

He was holding a piece of paper. She looked at it, impressed. Perhaps Lucerne had asked Ian to fetch the documents from the information guild at the same time as collecting the real estate title.

He looked through the papers and pondered, then opened his mouth.

“The owner of that land is currently missing, and it says he has arrears because of the high taxes for several years.”

“The price of land Yurif is very expensive, so the tax is unusually high too,”

Elisha concurred.

“Yes. And it’s been eight years since the landlord went missing, so it’s going to be auctioned off soon. The proprietor has no family.”

“Who owns the site?”

“A man who used to be the prophet’s secretary. He is known to have been Risralpho’s brother who he had brought with him to the temple.”

At last, Elisha felt the final puzzle piece in her head solving the big picture. The corpse that was sold in lieu of Risralpho’s……. It must have been his brother.

‘So the landlord is missing. Besides, since they were brothers, they must have looked alike.’

It was a terrible crime.

“Elisha, what do you think of this information?”

“I do not know. You said there was a wound on his stomach. Besides, he was found in his vault, so maybe he escaped into it?”

Elisha hinted at him, pretending it was her idea. Lucerne is indeed an extraordinary person, and he immediately speculated on the truth Jacob and Carola had taken four years to find with just a clue.

“It is certain that Risralpho’s body that was sold off was a fake.”

Upon hearing Lucerne’s words, Ian and Nora’s faces became pale.

“Insane. How could he commit such a crime?”

“Exactly and it’s committed by people of the temple… … .”

Nora, who was too innocent for her age, had a terrified expression. Elisha was touching her forehead.

“But that’s really Risralpho……. right? I recently saw a picture of him hanging in a temple. No matter how young a person is, after eights years, traces of the years will be on their face… … . He looked the same as the picture painted before he died. What the hell is going on? When did he die?”

“He must have died eight years ago,”

concluded Lucerne.

“The reason that the corpse remains look so fresh is because of the time magic that created a forcefield around him.”

“What’s is that?”

“There’s a treasure trove of the finest, highly powerful manastones around the body. Additionally there’s a lump of divine power.”

Elisha couldn’t understand. Ian and Nora nodded and gently explained to her.

“Magic and Holy Power have conflicting properties, so when the two meet, they sometimes create a huge barrier where time stops. This is a phenomenon that only happens once every few hundred years.”

“So, the magical elements are present due to the manastones, and the divine power……. Are you talking about Risralpho?”

“Yes. Plus, it is said that the moment a prophet dies, a tremendous amount of divine power is released, and the magic stones offset that power thus creating a time barrier.”

Elisha nodded her head.

“So it time perfectly stopped. I understand.”

At Elisha’s ‘perfectly’ declaration, Ian had an awkward expression.

“What?”