Skeletons were laid out on the ground. Despite the excavation not being finished, there were well over ten bodies, and various personal belongings followed in a line.0

"...." Mev's face, as she looked at them, was rigidly hardened. It was because the mud-covered skull overlapped with the face of her brother Vernon.7

...No. It can't be. It shouldn't. Mev immediately denied it, but it was not easy to shake off the thought that had already surfaced. Perhaps if he had fought bravely against the darkness and died in battle. But to be used as nourishment for some nameless beast, without even being granted salvation. Or to be abandoned in the darkness and never have their bodies found.4

If that's the case…. A grinding noise of metal echoed from her tightly clenched fist.0

I would stake everything I have—0

At that moment, her eyes darkly distorted as if sinking into a swamp.1

"The more I look at it." Ian's voice resounded. "This doesn't seem like the work of the one we're looking for."0

Mev quickly regained her composure and turned her gaze. Ian, with his usual indifferent face, was staring at something in his hand. 0

"Are you saying it's not the work of a dark mage?" Philip blinked and asked.0

"For starters, the method is different. He uses magic, not living sacrifices,” said Ian0

"...And?" Philip asked again. 0

"These corpses. About half are criminals, as you guys would have guessed, but the...0