As I was walking towards the morgue, finally t.i.tus finished eating the soup, as he threw away the pot. He soon started calling Dexter, and Maximus informing them of what I said. They kept the line open as we walked into my restaurant as I got some things and went back to the morgue."Are you a awards user or a magi?" I asked t.i.tus
"Award. Why, do you want a magi?" He asked me back
"Rank 5, able to cast identify and link body." I said as I nodded back
"Oi covert unit guys, send one of yours to come down here." Shouted t.i.tus. It was silent for a few minutes as no one responded.
"Are you going to keep on pretending you didn"t hear me? Because if you don"t come down here in the next 5 seconds I am going to smash all your b.a.l.l.s back into your stomach." Suddenly a black clothed figure appeared in between John and t.i.tus.
"Follow me" I said as I walked towards the morgue were the remains of all 7 of them were located. I got to the location where a severely burned and disconnected body parts and limbs of each of them were laid.
"This is Seban"s training shirt. He used it 2 days ago as well, he didn"t wash it as we got attacked then, which caused the first 2 deaths. So, his sweat should still be present in it. Use identify to see if any of the bodies present here is his." I said as I pa.s.sed the training shirt to the covert agent.
He took it as he casted the spell. The shirt started glowing green, but none of the bodies even glowed green. Everyone furrowed their brows confused.
"As expected. Interesting." I said
If the training cloth had along with one of the body had turned green, that meant it was Seban"s body. But since it didn"t that meant none of the body parts here is Seban"s.
We did the same thing for all 7 bodies to find none of them matched the bodies.
"So, this means none of the bodies found in the crime scene are theirs. Next I want you to cast link body, on the bodies and the limbs found here." I said while smiling.
Seeing the interesting situation going on here all 3 commandments were interested now.
He casted the spell on each limb to see that none of the limbs matched the bodies present here.
"That confirms it. Thank you" I said to the agent as I walked out of the morgue.
"Are you saying that they are all still alive?" Asked Dexter from the crystal.
"Yes, but not for long, as I doubt restraining 7 rank 5 magi mercenaries is not an easy job, unless it was done by at least 3 rank 6 magi or award users. Even the empire has limited Rank 6. Or it was done by a group of at least 20 highly trained magi or award user of rank 5"
"But why?" Asked Maximus
"Isn"t it obvious? For the plague, which I don"t know, and the cure, or my cooking. They want one of these or all of them from me." I said to them.
"But why capture the whole group, wouldn"t it have been far easier to capture just 2 or 3 of them?" Asked t.i.tus not believing me for what I said about the plague
"They wanted to use all of them as bargaining chip for each of my capability, for example 2 of them for the plague, which I don"t even know, 3 of them for the cure and 2 of them for my cooking secret." I said as I smiled
"But why would they use body parts from different bodies instead of just one body?" Asked Maximus
"Simple, they wanted to make sure their trade with me remain a secret, and no one was aware of it other than me and them. Imagine what would happen if I told them the secret to my cooking? Wouldn"t you guys and the emperor go after them, to find out the secret, if you guys were aware of the trade?" They nodded without any shame as they admitted the fact.
"So, for their safety along with acquiring the secret without any problems they first needed to make everyone think that the "Rotten Rats" are dead and for that they needed fresh body that could be replaced in the explosion. Which means they had to kill seven people for it.
But the problem with that is if seven people were reported missing and 2 days later 7 mercenaries were found to be dead, it would be quite obvious to the whole kingdom that none of the mercenaries is dead but were instead captured and were replaced by 7 other bodies. Thus, ruining their safe escape after the deal.
So instead they killed at least 35 people, for 4 limbs and the torso, for replacing seven peoples body part. And burned to ashes the rest of the body. This would instead divert the empire to think a serial killer or s.a.d.i.s.t out there is committing the crime, followed by no one linking that crime to the murder of the mercenaries. Thereby giving them a safe escape after acquiring the secret to my cooking." I explained as everyone listened.
"Dexter is it true?" Asked t.i.tus as Dexter seemed to be tapping on a communication crystal and talking to someone.
After waiting for 5 minutes Dexter replied "38 small time thugs, crooks, accused criminals who were to be presented to a trial etc, have been reported by their family member to be missing, since a 3 days ago. I presume the 3 extra were killed to make this seem more like a serial killing.
This means the body parts have been kept cold to stop it from rotting, which means we just have to find the storage room to find their hideout."
I shook my head "Not possible, they are very meticulous with their work so far, this means they won"t leave any remains of the 38 people in the storage room, and they would have most likely abandoned it by now."
The rest were confused to what to do next and t.i.tus scratched his beard as he asked, "What your next move then kid?"
I smiled as I said "Well their plan was perfect up to this point, except the miscalculated 1 thing. I could care less if those 7 were dead or alive. When I freed them the debt I owed them ended there. At this point I am more interested in those guys who managed to capture the "Rotten Rats" than the "Rotten Rats" itself." Hearing my reply t.i.tus frowned along with Maximus, while Dexter kept his poker face.
"Are you sure that"s what you want to do?" Asked Dexter
"No matter what I choose now its too late for those guys. First they wanted this to be a secret deal, and by now most of the commandments, and the emperor is aware of what is going on." I said as I looked at the covert unit stood next to t.i.tus.
"Consequently, it jeopardises their safety after I give them information. I am pretty sure they gang who is behind this is aware by now that we went to the morgue, and due to this the whole empire being aware of the deal they are about to make.
The second reason being, they would never want to leave those 7 guys alive, after they had heard their voice, seen their face or any way to identify them. They would most likely return each of them paralysed, brain dead or even dead to me.
Now they know that their plan has been screwed, hence they will kill those 7 and attempt to escape from the empire." I explained my reasons.
They all sighed once they heard my reasons and we left the morgue as I walked back to t.i.tus"s place.
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"Go back to your a.s.signed mission" Said James as he looked at the recording crystal in front of him.
"Smith inform Albert to keep a tail on any rank 4 or 5 mercenaries leaving the gate. And do it as soon as possible. Trying to steal my golden goose, from underneath my nose, I will teach you a lesson."
Smith nodded as James thought "He doesn"t even care about his closest people. What the h.e.l.l is his weakness?"