CH 298

“…And there you have it.”

Kahelone tells me about how the church of Araysla in the capital took care of the funeral service of vice-president Gahn of the arms transmutation department, and how his remains were placed safely in an underground tomb until his burial. But then, they suddenly realized his body was missing, along with several others in the same tomb.

“That’s… But wait, that doesn’t mean they came back to life, does it? They could have just been taken away by someone.”

“No. Several sisters report that they saw the dead people chatting as they walked away.”

“Chatting?”

“Yes. And it was in the middle of the day too, when other worshipers were around in the church. That’s why our eye-witnesses say they thought they were just regular worshipers at first.”

“I see. If they’re walking around normally during the day, it’s hard to believe they are just undead. And then you found out that the bodies were missing, checked with the other sisters, and they said… That’s basically it, right?”

“Yes. Once they were told what happened, they thought back to it and realized it was actually Ghan. The others were regular townspeople, but Gahn was the vice-president of the arms transmutation department, so his face was relatively known.”

“Do you have any leads as to the whereabouts of these resurrected corpses?”

“I don’t know. That is part of what we want you to look into. Of course, I will also take responsibility and accompany you.”

“I see… And who knows about this?”

“People here in the church and Princess Floren’s people.”

“Understood. Then let’s start by going to this underground tomb.”

“Very well.”

Kahelone gets up and starts walking, as the magic elements filling the room dissipate.

We cross the courtyard and go to the back of the church, where we see an old door.

“These stairs lead to the underground tomb.”

She says as she takes a key from her pocket and opens the door.

“Is this the only door? And is it always locked?”

“Yes, at least it should be. But there is nothing of particular value down there, so I imagine sometimes people forget.”

She opens the door, and a damp air hangs over the stairs leading to the dark underground tomb.