@Trasna: Yep comments are fixed. I think the difference in posting time was probably on my end. I was fiddling with my server settings. It showed up in other RSS feed readers correctly.
[Translator/Editor: otwentyfirst]
[Host: justreads.net]
[April 28, 2019]
... The room was silent, save for the sounds of their questions and answers. Jier knew the guards were staring at him closely but he didn’t care.
“No I didn’t hear anything. It was raining that night. I couldn’t hear anything over the sounds of the thunder and rain. I went to my mother’s room the next morning to invite her down for breakfast. That’s when I found her body.
Clara couldn’t help but tremble when she recalled the monstrous scene. It was such a horrible way to die. Who would have wanted to kill her mother like that? Her mother was a good woman! She cried as she remembered her mother, the tears dripping one by one onto the back of her hand.
They continued like that with one question followed by an answer for a an hour. Clara was taken back to her cell while Jier and the rest left the facilities.
Jier, Feng Wu and Pierre returned to the inn. They gathered in the study to talk.
“So? Have you figured anything out after talking to Miss Clara Wenda?” Pierre asked right away.
“Indeed. I did discover some things,” Jier said as he rubbed his chin.
Feng Wu ate the snacks Matron La made for them. Having so many things to eat was wonderful. Neither Jier nor Pierre touched the plates though.
“The likeliest culprits are Mr. Wenda and Ms. Dusha, but there’s something not right about it.” Jier wrinkled his brow trying to think it through.
“What’s wrong?” Pierre believed in Jier’s deductive abilities. At least with Jier, he was able to find some clues, unlike the previous adventurers who only knew to follow Wenda and Dusha around but found nothing useful.
“Don’t you think it’s strange? Why would Mr. Wenda and Ms. Dusha wait three years to murder Mrs. Malin? If either of them is the murderer or if one or other is an accomplice, why not get rid of Mrs. Malin earlier, when Mr. Wenda first met Ms. Dusha. Why wait until the day before the divorce?” This was what Jier couldn’t figure out.
Pierre nodded after listening to Jier. “You’re right. Why would they wait so long? Could they not be the murderers? Could it be someone else?” He was so frustrated. If they were on the wrong track, then all the work they put in was worthless. They would have to restart from square one.
Clara didn’t have that much time. If they couldn’t find the murderer, then she would be convicted and sentenced.
Jier shook his head. “No. I’m positive the murder is one or both of them.”
“But you just questioned why they waited so long…”
“Under normal circ.u.mstances, but these aren’t normal circ.u.mstances. Think about it. Miss Clara Wenda said her mother left that morning to talk to Mr. Wenda. Maybe she discovered something when she went. Maybe Mrs. Malin was killed to keep it secret and Miss Clara Wenda was used as a scapegoat.”
“What could Mrs. Malin have found out?” Pierre had to admit Jier’s reasoning made sense, but he couldn’t think of anything so secretive that would have justified the way Mrs. Malin was killed.
“A secret of the Asura people,” replied Jier.
“Asura?!” Pierre cried out.
Feng Wu’s didn’t understand.
When Jier saw the blank look of confusion in Feng Wu’s eyes he explained, “An Asura is not ordinary. They’re from the Asura race, known for their bewitching beauty and malevolent, bloodthirsty nature. They’re born from a sea of blood, and constantly hunger for it. They’re naturally inclined towards conflict and bloodshed. In fact their love for bloodshed surpa.s.ses any bonds or kinship.
Feng Wu nodded her head in understanding after listening. She understood the term “blood race.” She had read a lot of books when she stayed at the library with the Head Librarian.[notes] One of them was an introduction on Blood Kindred races but the book didn’t call them Asura, it called them Shura. It was this difference in terms that left her confused. Jier called them the Asura while the book called them Shura.
“You mean to say Ms. Dusha is an asura and Mr. Wenda was tricked by her?!” The information was explosive and Pierre needed some time to wrap his head around it.
After thinking about it a bit Pierre had to agree with Jier. It made sense. Wenda had to be tricked by Dusha; that was the only sensible explanation for Wenda’s ruthlessness.
“The magic in the Human world is too strong. The Asura race can’t survive here unless…” Feng Wu tried to remember what she read in the book. "Unless they wear the flayed skin of a human being. The skin helps the Asura resist the corrosive magical energy of our world.”
Jier immediately comprehended the situation from her explanation.
“Ms. Dusha isn’t human, but an asura in human disguise. That’s incredible! Who would have imagined such a thing?!” Pierre was beyond shocked. He had imagined all kinds of scenarios, like Ms. Dusha was an evil magician who befuddled Mr. Wenda with a spell, but he never even once imagined the possibility of an asura.
“Indeed. Who would have?” Jier shrugged. He took Feng Wu and left the study, leaving Pierre alone. He and Feng Wu went to their rooms to sleep for the night.
... The next day Rime-Frost received a very important visitor. The visit was a secret and only the Mayor and a few select high ranked officials were in the know.
The visitor was the dispatch sent from the legendary Star Marshal Hall of the Sacred Temple: the 28th generation Greedy Wolf Star.
Stars, each and every one of them, were outstanding in their own right, with incredible power and authority, an existence beyond the reach of normal humans.
Having never met a Star before, the Mayor and his people were expecting someone amazing with an overbearing aura and strength, however they were quickly disillusioned with the reality. It would have been better if they’d never met…This star… it was like meeting your idol on the streets only to realize he was a used car salesman in real life. The ridiculous disconnect made one want to faint.
Wolf was young but he was a professional. After the appropriate greetings he got right to work, not even bothering with the welcoming meal they prepared for him. He went to the cave where the girls were murdered, and after surmising it was the work of an asura, returned to town.
He strolled the streets once he came back, looking for all the world like he was just window shopping. One had to question if he was actually looking for the asura or being a tourist. Occasionally he would even take out a mirror and gaze at it.