The Divine Hunter

It was only the break of dawn, but already a group of knights was huddled before the front gates. In the center of the circle was a naked man kneeling against the wall. His hair was golden, his face handsome, his body muscular. There was a beautiful blue rose tattooed on his neck, and the ghost of his last laugh was etched on his bloodless face.

The coroner wore his gloves and pulled the victim’s eyelid up to observe the pupil. “Simon Patrigadin. A twenty-eight year-old male. Vice-captain of the Order of the White Rose. Time of death: six hours ago.”

The scribe wrote down everything the coroner had said, and then the coroner tensed up and pulled out a springy, cylindrical item from Simon’s tongue. It was white, fleshy, and bouncy, then the coroner glanced at Simon’s lower body and smiled eerily. “The victim’s genitals were cut off cleanly by a sharp item. Said genitals were stuffed into his mouth.”

The knights roared into the high heavens. They couldn’t believe a handsome and ferocious knight would be killed and castrated before getting laid out for everyone to see.

“That bastard! How… How dare he humiliate a knight of the order?!” Cleveland gnashed his teeth, his fury boiling over. “And this is not the first time he has done this! Now he’s crossed the line! I, Cleveland, swear on the knight’s order that I will make him pay tenfold for this humiliation!”

His comrades shared his sentiment, and they were flushed with anger. “We’ll avenge you, Arthur, Simon!”

“Calm down, knights. Don’t get in the way of my work,” the coroner said quietly, but it was enough to calm the knights down. He went around the body and stared at the second wound for a moment before poking around. “The victim’s back was cut open by something sharp,” he explained calmly. “Crassly and… violently done.” There was a pair of fan-like flesh on the back of the victim.

“His lungs were pulled out and hung on his back. If you look closely, you’ll see that these resemble a pair of wings.”

“The victim’s elbows and wrists are slightly bruised. The killer twisted them, but it’s not obvious at first sight.” Francis was slightly confused too, then he took his gloves off. “The cause of death is obvious, so I’ll skip that. Simon suffered no wounds aside from the one on his back and lower body. I posit that the killer pinned him down in some way, sedated him, and performed the… surgery on him. The victim showed almost no signs of struggle, so he must’ve been out cold. Since we’re on the topic, let’s talk about the killer. He should be experienced enough at this point, seeing as he killed six people, but his skills are still as crude as ever. Right. That’s all I have to say. Thoughts?” Francis looked at the knights, but all he got was silence. “Nothing? Right. I’ll have to take the body back for autopsy, then.”

The knights still kept quiet, obviously sorrowful about their comrade’s death. Then Roy asked, “Who found Simon’s body in the first place?”

“Me.” A young knight came up. His chin was covered with stubble, his eyes tired and bloodshot, obviously from lack of sleep. “I was with Simon last night on patrol duty. He… He said he needed to take a leak, so I waited for him, but he never came back, so I went to look for him. A-and I found his body in an alley.” The knight slapped himself, and his face swelled. “It’s all my fault! I should have gone with Simon last night! The captain told us to never go anywhere alone! I followed his orders to a T, but the one time I didn’t, this happened!”

“What did I tell you? Reflect on yourself later.” Cleveland heaved a sigh and patted his shoulder. “But you’re not fully at fault here. The castle’s heavily guarded, but still the killer managed to slaughter one of us under our noses. Part of it is our fault, but honestly, I couldn’t believe the killer managed to pin Simon down without anyone noticing, much less slaughter him. And all in fifteen minutes?”

“Same here.” The other knights shared Cleveland’s sentiment. “Simon’s skills are second to Captain Cleveland’s.”

“Second to none in swordsmanship alone,” Cleveland said solemnly.

“So maybe he was ambushed—”

“Alright, stop it.” Roy raised his hand. “Let’s not talk about that. I have a far more pressing matter at hand, and I need answers, fast.”

“Ask away, Mr. Roy. We’ll help out if it’s about the killer.” Cleveland thumped his chest, and the other knights nodded.

“Tell me more about Simon.”

“Simon was a powerful and responsible knight. He helped us out a lot, and he spent most of his time working in the castle.” Cleveland looked at the body sadly. “He was a noble and humble man, and he got along with everyone. On top of that, he would spend his free time helping the underprivileged in the city. If you’re looking for the epitome of knighthood, then Simon would be the one to look for, not me.”

There was no need to insult the dead, so everyone had nothing but praise for Simon. After everyone was done with their testimony, Roy rubbed his chin. “Sounds like he was a perfectly brilliant knight. I bet he was a ladies’ man, huh?”

“Not exactly.” Cleveland threw him a look of surprise. He wondered why Roy wanted to know about that, but then he realized Roy must have found some clue that tied into the case. “Simon was a handsome and courteous man, but his background was… complicated.” Cleveland hesitated to elaborate.

“Something you can’t talk about?” Roy advised, “Simon would want you to avenge him.”

Cleveland gritted his teeth. “A true knight should never gossip about the dead, but I have no choice. Please forgive me for what I’m about to say, Simon.” He sighed. “Simon’s family came from Nazair, but ever since Nilfgaard took over, part of his family moved to Ellander. They weren’t welcome, to say the least. Because of the locals’ oppression, his family dwindled over the years, and he was the only descendant of the Patrigadin family. Because of that, the local nobility refused his marriage proposals, despite him being a knight. He could have married a civilian or a merchant’s daughter, but his pride wouldn’t allow him to.”

Cleveland could sympathize with Simon, since the order was in the same situation. “The order’s in a similar situation. Since our base is in Vizima, most of the kings’ ministers see us as outsiders. The more obstinate ones trip us up every chance they have. If it weren’t for the king’s generosity, we would have been chased back to Vizima by now.”

***

“Sorry.” Cleveland sighed. “I got ahead of myself. Let’s talk about Simon. He spent most of his time working and never talked about women. Probably because he was affected by the continued refusals.”

Another knight added, “Some of us would wind down at the House of Peacock at times, and Simon would come with us too, but all he did was drink. He never did sleep with anyone there. He was like an abstaining monk, or that was what we’d say.”

Then he saw Dennis waving at him from behind the knights. Roy went up to him, and Dennis whispered, “I looked into everyone on the list. Shoot, I looked into every knight. All twenty-five of them.” Dennis gave him a piece of parchment. “Their details are written right here. Nicely done, I’d say.”

“Yes. Thank you.” Roy read through it and asked, “Cranmer, anyone else in the order who came from Nilfgaard aside from Simon?”

“No.” Dennis shook his head. “Everyone else is native to Temeria.”

“Anyone whose ancestor was a Nilfgaardian?”

“I have no idea about that.” Dennis almost leaped in fury. “Don’t tell me you want their ancestors’ info.”

Roy went back to the knights. He needed to verify something.

Cleveland coughed. “Um, Mr. Roy. Pardon me, but have you found something?”

Roy stared back at the doubtful knights and nodded. “I have an idea who the killer is. Can anyone here take me to Simon’s place?” He scanned through the knights. “I’ve checked the other victims’ homes, and now I need to check Simon’s in case there’s a clue there.”

***

***