Deadlock (Revised)
Hearing the alarm, the entire village rushed back from all directions. The villagers who returned to the village were nervous and panicked. They huddled together like little animals and kept asking the village chief what had happened.
The acting village chief stood on the large stone slab where he usually issued orders and stamped his feet: "Shut up and be quiet."
The villagers, who had always been honest and obedient, soon quieted down.
The acting village chief cut to the chase, "The Viscount believes the cattle fall was caused by someone deliberately setting traps to injure the cattle. The Knights also found suspicious footprints at the big bend. Now, everyone, follow me to the big bend and compare the footprints one by one."
After hearing the village chief's words, the villagers felt relieved.
They were scared to death, thinking that there were monsters or bandits attacking, but it turned out to be just a small matter.
It turns out that they were called back just to compare footprints.
Huh? Wait?
Didn’t the village chief just say that someone deliberately set a trap to injure the cow?
Who is this? How abominable!
This vicious guy should be hanged!
The villagers talked angrily and cursed the bad guy with all kinds of vicious words.
There was only one person left, a person with a guilty conscience. He lowered his head guiltily, blended into the crowd, and walked at the end of the team.
The large group soon arrived at the big bend. Under the command of the acting village chief, the villagers walked to the footprints in an orderly manner and stretched out their feet for comparison.
Elena stood aside and observed the expressions of the villagers, muttering to herself.
Unfortunately, she had not studied traceology specifically. In the movies and TV series she had watched before, those specialized trace experts could analyze the criminal's height, weight, possible job, and possible physical characteristics based on a handprint or footprint. If there was such an expert, the criminal could be caught in minutes.
"Hey, what are you doing?" A voice suddenly appeared behind Elena.
Elena jumped in shock and jumped two meters away.
The moment he jumped out, he cast two more protective shields on himself. Only then did Elena dare to turn around and look at the man.
"Huh, I was scared to death. It turned out to be you. How come you suddenly appeared behind me without saying a word?" Elena patted her chest, her heart still pounding.
The bearded Leonard looked at her expressionlessly: "I didn't keep silent, didn't I speak out just now?"
"How can you say that you made a sound? You just wanted to scare me, didn't you?" Elena said fiercely.
Leonard shrugged. "Okay, whatever you say."
Damn, these perfunctory words make me even angrier when I hear them.
Elena ignored him angrily.
"Okay, enough joking, what are you doing?" Leonard pointed at the acting village chief.
Who's kidding you? What's so funny about this?
Elena was upset.
"What's wrong? Is it a secret?" Leonard asked when she didn't answer.
Ah, how can there be people who are so, so, so bad at chatting?
Elena took a deep breath, generously forgave Leonard's rudeness, and answered Leonard's question: "It's no secret. We are looking for a criminal. Someone deliberately harmed the cattle and injured five cows, but he left footprints. Now we are comparing them to see who they belong to."
Leonard hummed but said nothing.
The villagers compared themselves one by one, and after comparing seven or eight people.
"Hey, this is your footprint!" The acting village chief grabbed the foot that was stretched out for comparison and lightly pressed his foot on a place just above the footprint. The length and width of this foot almost matched the footprint in terms of up, down, left and right.
The villagers were shocked when they were caught: "It's not me, it's not me, it's not me!"
The acting village chief's expression and eyes had changed, and he glared at him with gritted teeth.
"If it's not you, how come your feet match the footprints? Where were you on the day the cattle were injured? What were you doing? Who can testify for you?" The acting village chief asked repeatedly.
The villager was so frightened that he lost his balance, his legs went limp, his buttocks sank, and he fell backwards.
The ground was uneven and covered with gravel and bushes. It would definitely hurt if he fell on it, but the villager didn't care about the pain. He was almost scared to death and could only repeat over and over: "It's not me, it's not me, it's not me."
"Okay, don't rush to arrest anyone yet. Keep comparing everyone." Elena stepped forward to stop the acting village chief from arresting anyone, then turned to Neil and said, "Let him stand aside for now. Keep an eye on him."
"Yes, Viscountess." Neil replied.
Next, they caught another villager whose feet matched the footprints, and the acting village chief's expression suddenly became complicated.
However, there was something even more complicated that happened to the acting village chief, because there were not just these two. After comparison, a total of six villagers whose footprints matched the others were found.
The villagers all work in the fields every day, and the features on their feet are similar. Since the feet are of similar size, it is really difficult to find out which person the footprints belong to.
Elena had no idea about the situation. She asked Neil, but Neil also had no idea. She asked the acting village chief, but the acting village chief looked even more worried.
Things are at a stalemate.
"Give me 3 silver coins and I'll help you find this person." Leonard suddenly said.
Huh? Elena looked up sharply: "Do you have a solution?"
Leonard nodded, his eyes serious. "Yes, for only 3 silver coins, I'll help you find the person who hurt the cattle."
These words, this tone.
"Are you really sure?" Elena looked as if she suspected that he was cheating her out of money.
Leonard: "...Absolutely sure."
Elena looked at him.
Leonard did not shy away from the question and looked calm.
"Okay." Elena pursed her lips and waved to Neil: "Take three silver coins."
Neil stared at Leonard with a look of reluctance. What a joke! Three silver coins? Why didn't he just go and rob? How much is a cow? It doesn't even cost three silver coins to buy five cows.
Neil spoke frankly to the lord, "My Lady, the criminal is among these people. Give me some time, and I will definitely catch the real criminal. There's no need to waste this money."
Leonard said, "I can catch the criminal right now."
Neil glared at him: "Who can guarantee that you didn't just grab one at random?"
Leonard remained calm and composed, saying, "Of course I will prove it with facts."
Elena was impatient to watch them quarreling, so she simply grabbed the leather bag from Neil's waist and took out three silver coins.
Now that she has money, she doesn't mind spending money on guides.
But, you can't lie to her!
Putting three silver coins in Leonard's hand, Elena stared at him straightly: "What are you going to do? Do you need my help?"
Leonard stuffed the silver coins into his purse: "No need, just watch."
Leonard walked around the footprints, squatted down, looked up, and suddenly jumped up the tree, rummaging around in the tree looking for something.
"Okay, found it." Leonard jumped down holding something.
"What is it?" Elena immediately came over and saw that he was holding a piece of bark. "Bark?"
Leonard smiled without saying anything. He walked up to several villagers whose footprints matched his own, pricked a small hole in their fingers, and squeezed out a drop of blood from each of them.
There was a series of strange mutterings, and Leonard said something to the bark. The bark suddenly glowed, and then a small brown stain the size of a fingernail broke away.
The brown stain floated in the air, swaying towards one of the villagers, landing on his finger, and dissolving with the drop of blood.
The villager was as stiff as a tree stump, his face pale as dirt.
"Kunkun, why is it you? Why?" The acting village chief was shocked and angry, completely unable to understand. "Why is it you?"
Elena's gaze turned to the acting village chief.
The acting village chief calmed down and said to the lord, "My Lady, this is Kunkun. He is Los's cousin. His father was the former cowherd, and his grandfather was the former former cowherd."
After hesitating for two seconds, the acting village chief finally spoke up for Kunkun: "Kunkun comes from a cattle-herding family. He wouldn't hurt the cows. Could it be that these footprints are just a misunderstanding?"
Could it be a misunderstanding?
Elena and Leonard looked at him and laughed.
"Misunderstanding?" Elena's eyes fell on Kun Kun, "It doesn't matter, just let him speak for himself."
This is a magical world. It is very easy to get someone to tell the truth, especially a civilian who cannot do magic.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
