What Comes from the Past
"This is the Empire's Third Airship Amundsen. Air traffic control, do you copy?"
-This is Gerdarinne, Untersberg Military Airport Control Tower-
"Currently, a ship of unknown affiliation has been discovered 430 kilometers south-southeast of the Geldarinne continent. There is no national flag or ship name written on it."
-Understood, please wait for a moment as we begin to check the voyage records and departure records... No ships have been reported missing-
"Understood, there is no visible damage. The hull is almost entirely made of wood, with some distortions. There are no sails and there is no sign that it was ever equipped. It seems to be a screw type, but it is not rotating. What do you think?"
-It is still not registered-
"Understood, we will now begin to approach it."
---
"Aristes-sama"
The knights I spend time with on the southwestern continent have a habit of calling me with sama.
"You don't have to call me sama. I've said that many times, right?"
"I can't do that."
"As temple knights, we fear and respect the people of Edgeworth."
"That's something I would like you to do to my father and brother alone."
But they won't stop
"For now, let’s listen to the report."
"Yes, this is about the household disappearance incident."
"Is there any progress? What did you find out?"
"Yes, the bodies of the missing people have been found. There is almost no doubt that their physical characteristics match the testimonies of the people in the village."
"DNA testing, too?"
"Yes, and the bodies have something strange in common."
The knight hands me the report
"Every single one of them has committed suicide."
The cause of death is the same in all cases: heart rupture.
That's not the only thing they have in common
"They gouged out their eyeball on the spot, then crushed their ribs with their own fist and crushed the heart... is this?"
"I checked the extent of the damage to the fist and the residue left between the fingernails. There is no doubt about it."
Even so, it's abnormal.
How can they all die like this?
Yes, everyone.
"Not only men and old people, but also women and children committing suicide like this? That's insane."
Only the eyeballs and the center of the abdomen remain as injuries.
"Did you check the blood?"
"Although it is dry, it has been collected. We have not found any drugs, blue water, or nanomachines."
"Can we investigate any further without a fresh corpse?"
No, it was a slip of the tongue.
It seems like I'm wishing for a crime to happen.
"...I'm sorry, please forget it."
"Yes"
"What about the eyeballs?"
"Eyeballs… huh…"
"Is there something?"
"Well, it’s been chewed out."
"No way..."
"Yes, it was found crushed in the mouth or inside the body. It seems to have been relentlessly crushed with its teeth."
"...That sounds like it's going to make me vomit."
The suicide of those who disappeared seems to be an unimaginable method.
First, they scooped out their own eyeballs with their bare hands.
Chew it and swallow it
Then keep punching their heart until they died
"There's something about the eyeballs and the heart."
"We are currently transporting it to Eckezachs for investigation. However, there is one problem."
"What kind?"
"Some Shelma nobles are against us taking the body."
"Shelma?"
I don't think there was a single victim of this incident in Shelma.
Why are they meddling in the investigation of cases in other countries?
"What was the reaction from the mainland of the Empire?"
"Investigations into incidents are being conducted at the request of each country, and interfering with that investigation is interference in internal affairs.''
"Does that mean we can ignore it?"
"Yes."
"Excuse me!"
Another Temple Knight came to me with a new report.
"Aristes-sama, I would like you to look at this document."
"Let me see it."
The number of sheets is about 4.
There isn't that much text either.
However, the content was extremely disturbing.
"Where is this corpse?"
"Apparently, it was a corpse found in a poisonous swamp in the northeast part of the southwest continent."
It was just a document describing the corpse of a beast.
That poisonous swamp seems to be a special toxin.
Causes death by ingestion or contact
It doesn't even attract bacteria that promote decomposition.
Therefore, it is written that living things that die there do not decay easily.
And that poisonous swamp hasn't had much rain this year
It is said that several corpses have appeared from the dried up poisonous swamp.
Although it is described as a beast corpse, there were clearly human corpses mixed in as well.
And that human corpse...
"The way of death is the same as in the disappearance case..."
"It can’t be a coincidence, can it?"
"If this was just a coincidence, I think anything is possible in this world. What country is this poisonous swamp in?"
"It’s Kualakuru."
"Kualakuru Kingdom?"
"No, they are currently calling themselves the Republic."
At that time, why did the upheaval in the Kingdom of Kualakuru 60 years ago come to mind?
No comments:
Post a Comment