After leaving Triss's family mansion, Wayne did not stay in Maribor. Soon, under the leadership of Allen, he came to the mine where the murder took place.

This place is about five or six kilometers away from the city of Maripo. However, because the mine has a very long history and huge mineral reserves, the Duke of Maripo also built a special road leading to the mine. The two rented a carriage and arrived at the mine in a short time.

This is a large mine located inside the forest, covering a very large area. Not only have several huge mines been excavated, but many houses have also been built near the mines for the workers to live in.

After entering the mine, Wayne found that there were very few workers inside, and they were all just carrying ore. No one entered the mine. In such a large mine, there were not many people working.

According to Allen, half a month has passed since the first murder occurred. Due to the large number of deaths, even if the Duke of Maripo asked the miners to continue working and even increased their wages, not many people were willing to risk their lives and return to work in the mines.

Considering the income from this mine, this may be the reason why Duke Maripo is so anxious to resolve this matter.

The journey was smooth. Perhaps the people in the mine had already received the news and knew that Wayne was the expert in handling this matter. Alan took him around to observe, and no one stood up to stop them.

"Take me to the murder scene first. I don't see any traces of monsters, so I can't tell what it is."

Allen flinched a little when he heard this. He looked at Wayne and said, "Lord Wayne, the original murder took place deep in the mine. It has been half a month. The bodies there have been cleaned up, and the environment inside is very dim. It may be difficult to find out anything."

Wayne glanced at Alan and knew that the young man was probably afraid of danger, afraid of evil spirits or ghosts. After all, in places in this world where there are too many dead people, murderous ghosts really do appear.

This is understandable. Wayne thought about it and said, "How about this, you take me to the mine where the crime happened and show me the way. You don't have to go down with me."

Seeing Wayne so insistent, Allen had no choice but to agree and guide him into the mine.

The environment in the mine was indeed gloomy, and the roads were complicated, with all kinds of gravel obstacles everywhere. However, as a demon hunter, Wayne still used his sensitive sense of smell to follow the smell of blood and rotten meat and found the first scene of the crime.

He drank a bottle of cat's eye potion, but after a thorough investigation, he returned to the ground with a strange expression on his face.

It turned out that Wayne not only found traces of monsters fighting at the crime scene, but also traces of humans killing each other.

And based on his knowledge and experience, the murderer in the mine should not be the deer-headed spirit controlling the vines, but a large monster like a troll using a huge wooden stick.

Besides the fact that monsters like the Deer-Headed Demon rarely enter narrow caves like the mine, it was also because he discovered the troll's special three-toed footprints on the ground of the mine.

However, the combination of humans killing each other and trolls attacking humans does seem like the work of the Deer-Headed Demon.

Because the Deer-Headed Demon is different from other monsters, in addition to its own physical strength and various spell-like abilities, it also has a special ability that is enough to scare ordinary people.

In the forest, the leopard uses totems, spells, and black magic rituals to create a territory that belongs to it.

Then it will control and mark a human being. As long as this human being is within its territory, the deer-headed spirit can use the power of dark magic to revive infinitely.

If you want to defeat the Deer-Headed Spirit, you must kill this human or drive him out of the Deer-Headed Spirit's territory. Otherwise, you will not be able to kill the Deer-Headed Spirit.

Moreover, weak monsters like evil ghosts, wild wolves, and crows can easily be enchanted by the deer-headed spirit and become its combat puppets to assist it in battle.

Therefore, if you want to kill a deer-headed monster, you often have to deal with not just one monster, but a group of monsters that are united and under common command.

Perhaps the troll that appeared in the mine was bewitched by this deer-headed spirit and became its accomplice.

Although their individual strength is not strong, even for the monster expert demon hunter, a leopard-headed spirit lurking in the forest is definitely a strong enemy.

But there are still two questions. The first is, where is the troll now? Has it returned to the Deer-Headed Spirit, or is it still hiding deep in these mines?

The second question was, where was the human traitor who helped the trolls kill the miners? Was he abandoned by the deer-headed spirit and died here, or did he also return to the forest? After returning to the ground, Allen was pacing back and forth anxiously. When he saw Wayne coming out, he breathed a sigh of relief and came over to ask:

"Lord Wayne, how is your investigation going down there? Do you have any clues?"

Wayne waved his hand and did not tell Allen the clues and speculations he had found. Instead, he asked:

"Alan, do you know if there were any survivors when the murder happened in the mine?"

Allen shook his head and said:

"No, when the guards in the mine entered the mine, they did not find any traces of survivors."

"There were only corpses on the ground, and they were all chopped into pieces. The commander of the city guards found a professional coroner and was able to piece together their bodies. Even so, many parts were still missing."

Hearing that the body was chopped into many pieces and many parts were missing, Wayne's eyes moved and he asked:

"Is there anyone whose head has not been found, or is there anyone who is definitely missing?"

Allen scratched his head when he heard this and said:

"I'm sorry, Lord Wayne, I've only heard rumors about the body, I don't know the details."

"However, Mr. Plant, the coroner sent by the city, is still in the mine. Do you need me to take you to see him?"

Coroner? Wayne stroked his chin and nodded. That was fine. It was better to ask a professional about professional matters.

"Take me there, I have something to ask him."

Coroner Plant was an old man in his fifties. He had no interest in Wayne's arrival and didn't want to pay attention to him. However, after Allen introduced him as an expert invited by the sorceress Triss, the coroner reluctantly began to answer Wayne's questions.

"The missing person?"

"Hearing you say that, it is somewhat consistent with my guess."

In the morgue, there were still several corpses lying on the wooden beds in the hall, and the smell of decay filled the room. Alan, who rarely experienced such a scene, had his head hung, his face pale, and did not dare to look at the corpses that were already somewhat rotten.

Plant stroked his beard, then took out a list from a worn box. After thinking for a while, he said to Wayne, "Actually, I have discovered this problem as well. According to the list, thirteen people should have died in the mine, but I have only pieced together twelve of the body fragments they brought back."

At this point, the old man showed a mocking smile on his face, and then said: "I originally reported this matter to the deputy captain Knight Ramus who was in charge of this matter, and suggested that he investigate the missing persons one by one, but the knight thought it was too troublesome and ignored me."

"Later, they sent soldiers to search the forest, but a small team was wiped out and brought back ten bodies. The matter was left unresolved."

As he spoke, the old man also looked at Wayne's young and handsome face with a scrutinizing gaze. Although he did not think that a young man like Wayne could find out anything, he still handed the list to Wayne and said, "Later, I also investigated and used features such as age, skin color, and scars to eliminate the thirteen people to three people. If there is really a missing person, it should be among these three people."

After handing over the list, the old man waved his hand, signaling Wayne and the other man to leave his workplace, and warned them, "Be careful. I've been dealing with corpses for so many years, and I can tell that there must be a powerful monster behind this."

"Don't lose your life while investigating."

With the information in hand, Wayne left Plant's morgue. He didn't expect that this old man was not only very dedicated, but also very kind.

After he memorized the three names on the list, he handed it to Alan beside him and asked:

“Alan, do you have any impression of these three people?”

Alan looked at the three names on the list, scratched his head and thought for a while before saying:

“I seem to have some impression of them.”

"Craig and Esdock are both from the city, both under 30 years old. However, they are probably very poor. They have been living in the workers' dormitory provided by the mine and rarely go home."

"The last one, Link, lives in our village. He's in his early twenties, but he's a bit mysterious. He wandered into our village three years ago. He lives alone and has no relatives. Later, he went to work in the mines."

After hearing the simple information from these three people, Wayne instinctively set his target on the young man named Link. After all, he was a loner and very mysterious. If something like this happened, he would definitely be the first person people would suspect.

However, for safety reasons, he asked Allen to take him to find the foreman of the mine and asked for detailed information about the three men.

After a comparison, it turned out that Link was the most suspicious, because the other two had families and children in the city. Although they lived in poverty, they should not cooperate with monsters and kill their co-workers.

There is neither the motivation nor the ability.

Only someone like Link, with a mysterious origin and no ties, would be suspected of this.

Soon, under the guidance of Alan, he arrived at his village and found the house where Link lived.

It was a rather ordinary little wooden house located in a corner of the village. After opening the door, the layout inside was quite simple, containing everything that an ordinary person would need for life.

However, after a search by the great detective Mr. Wayne, some abnormalities were indeed discovered.

The house was so tidy, with pots, pans, clothes, and bedding all neatly put away. Most people who went out to work every day would not keep their homes so tidy unless they had mysophobia or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

This Link seemed to have anticipated that he would never come back, so he kept the house very tidy.

Secondly, and most importantly, Wayne found a letter hidden well under Link's mattress.

A letter of surrender waiting to be found by the right person, which simply and clearly declared that the murderer was Link himself, and also explained the reasons why he did so.

It turns out that Link's original name was not this, and it doesn't matter what his original name was. His father used to be a miner in this mine, and he lived happily with his wife and son.

But six years ago, a mining accident occurred and his father was buried directly in the mine and turned into a corpse.

But what's strange is that his father was the only person who died in the mining accident, and the subsequent compensation was not given to the mother and son.

When his mother wanted to go to the mine to ask for compensation, she had also disappeared.

Fortunately, Link was already fifteen years old at that time. He sensed the danger, fled from his original home, and was adopted by another elderly couple.

Three years passed like this. When Link grew up, he said goodbye to the old man and came to live in Allen's village. He changed his name and went to work in the mine.

It took two years to find out the truth of what happened.

It turned out that the mine disaster that year was actually planned by several of his father's co-workers. In addition to wanting to embezzle the compensation, those co-workers also had a grudge against his father, so they killed him.

His mother was also killed on the way to the mine, and her body was insulted by several people. In the Middle Ages, if a few poor people died in the wild, no one would care, and no one would find out the truth.

Unable to seek justice, Link planned the massacre half a month ago in order to seek revenge. Together with the monsters, he killed the murderer who killed his father and mother.

After explaining the whole story, the content of the letter was mostly about accusing the miners of being shameless and cruel, as well as the hatred and resentment he had in his heart when he became an orphan.

However, it is worth mentioning that among the miners who died together, almost half were innocent.

But Link didn't say a word about their deaths.

After reading the letter, Wayne sighed. No matter how tragic the past was, or what was right or wrong, the murderer had been found.

Although Link's letter did not mention the Deer-Headed Demon, he was most likely the human marked by the Deer-Headed Demon.

Although it is not clear why the monster helped Link with revenge and why it let him leave the area controlled by the Deer-Headed Spirit.

But if Link thought he could escape the law, move to another place, and continue living in anonymity, it only shows that as an ordinary person, he still knows too little about magic.

As long as he is still alive, his whereabouts will not be a secret to the sorceress. After confirming his location, she will be able to find the area where the deer-headed spirit is.

Wayne collected some of Link's personal belongings in the room, especially his fallen hair left in the bedding, and returned to Maribor with Allen.

(End of this chapter)