**Chapter 517: Seeking Souls**
Conquer Sea North Shore, Kankdar.
In the afternoon, on a road at the edge of a residential area in Kankdar, a carriage was slowly making its way forward. Inside this carriage, Doro and Nephnis were seated across from each other. As they traveled, Doro was explaining the current situation to Nephnis, especially the significant discovery she made from the corpse of Mazale yesterday.
“It’s truly unbelievable… Kankdar’s government actually did such a thing to frame Vania the Nun, causing even those who were not dead to end up dead…”
Upon hearing Doro’s words, Nephnis replied incredulously, while Doro nodded in response.
“Yeah… I didn’t expect them to be so ruthless. They suddenly pulled such a stunt. If I hadn’t often manipulated zombie puppets and had a meticulous grasp of the art, I might have fallen into their trap too…”
Doro reflected, noting that if someone else had faced this conspiracy by the Kankdar government, the chances of falling victim would have been quite high. Not everyone possesses the medical knowledge and puppet control skills that exceed the era’s average level. It would be difficult for an ordinary person to discern the clues on Mazale’s body and confirm their cause.
‘In their minds, there should be a mysterious power protecting Vania. After Evi appeared, this mysterious power would rightly be viewed as the faction within the church that Evi belongs to, a faction seemingly deeply connected to the Holy Mother faith.
‘Within the church, aside from Vania, the extraordinary beings on the path of the Holy Mother can use healing abilities, yet are not well-versed in medical knowledge, having only a basic level of understanding. Thus, they need to pray to the Holy Mother for guidance to ensure their treatments don’t go awry.
‘This contrasts with Vania, who knows profound medical knowledge and can guide herself thoroughly—acting as both a doctor and a clergy member. Ordinary extraordinary beings on the path of the Holy Mother tend to be primarily clergy, with only a minor role as doctors. They possess medical knowledge but do not delve deeply into it; after all, medicine is a profound subject, highly classified, and learning it has significant costs. In her previous life, she had to study an additional year to learn medicine at university. Extraordinary beings born into the church are not primarily focused on studying medicine; they also have duties and practices as clergy, making it impossible to specialize deeply in medicine given their limited energy.
‘This situation is common among extraordinary beings on the path of the Holy Mother in the church. At least until the Red Tier gains ample lifespan, they wouldn’t have an in-depth understanding of medicine. And considering this situation in Kankdar, the supposed existence of Evi the Nun seemed far from an extraordinary being on the path of the Holy Mother. Therefore, the Kankdar government dared to play this card, sending Mazale’s corpse to lure us into their trap, as they feared little from any unusual findings on Vania’s side.’
While sitting in the carriage, Doro continued her thoughts. At that moment, Nephnis spoke up again.
“Miss Doro, now that we’re aware of the opponent’s conspiracy, is it time to counterattack? If we use the difference between Mazale’s actual time of d*ath and the time communicated by the Kankdar government as evidence, can’t we bring them down?”
“If this were a regular criminal case, that evidence would indeed be quite strong and could help us regain some control over the situation. But unfortunately, this is not a typical case. It is judged by a group whose stance is already problematic, and then the weight of the evidence would be far from sufficient. This won’t just fail to affect the Kankdar government; it’s likely that those judges will add a charge of corpse theft against us. What we need to bring them down is decisive evidence that leaves them speechless.”
Doro responded to Nephnis, revealing her complete lack of hope in solely relying on the current collection of evidence to overturn the Kankdar city government. Hearing Doro’s response, Nephnis couldn’t help but appear somewhat disappointed.
“It feels like there’s no way to find such evidence…” Nephnis scratched her head, a bit troubled, but Doro’s reply surprised her.
“It’s not hard to find. In fact, I already have some ideas; I’m taking you to find the evidence.”
“Huh? You’re taking me to find the evidence?”
Upon hearing Doro’s words, a look of confusion appeared on Nephnis’s face. She couldn’t immediately think of what evidence Doro wanted her to help find.
Thus, filled with doubts, Nephnis rode the carriage as it continued forward, eventually nearing the edge of the city. As the low buildings outside the window became increasingly sparse and the road grew rougher, they gradually left the urban area of Kankdar and entered the woods.
After advancing for a while through the dense trees, the carriage began to slow down. When the zombie coachman opened the door, Doro and Nephnis stepped down from the carriage. Doro then moved into the woods while Nephnis followed behind, still full of questions.
After traversing a small patch of thickets, Doro led Nephnis to a small clearing. Nephnis scanned the clearing before her, noting several figures of varying appearances and heights standing there; they were all Doro’s zombie puppets. In the center of the group laid a pre-prepared magical array, and from its spiritual symbols, it was identifiable as a “Silence” array.
“This is… a summoning array? Miss Doro, are you planning to…”
Seeing the array on the ground, Nephnis recognized its purpose immediately from her grandfather’s notes. She turned to Doro, who snapped her fingers without providing a direct response. After the snap, four more zombie puppets emerged from the surrounding woods, carrying a stretcher upon which lay a fat corpse. Nephnis immediately recognized the deceased’s face—she had seen it multiple times in the news over the past few days.
“This is… Mazale’s corpse? Miss Doro, are you trying to summon Mazale’s soul?”
Nephnis said, astonished. The summoning array and Mazale’s corpse combined made it clear what Doro intended.
“That’s right. I intend to summon Mazale’s soul. His soul is the evidence I’m looking for, or rather, the witness.”
With a slight smile, Doro candidly explained to Nephnis. Upon hearing Doro’s words, confusion reappeared on Nephnis’s face as she continued to question.
“The soul of Mazale… Do you think… it can help us testify?”
Nephnis asked Doro, who smiled confidently in response.
“Well, if Mazale died at the scene of the assassination on the day of the attack, from a gunshot or poison, that would be impossible because he wouldn’t even know how he died. But the actual situation is that he was suffocated to d*ath two days after the assassination while being secretly detained, even showing signs of struggle at the time of his d*ath.
“This means that the living Mazale probably knew the cause of his d*ath. He would know who captured him, who imprisoned him, and who killed him. After going through the last two desperate days of his life, once those guys decided on how to counter Vania’s poison testing accusations, he must have been executed… I believe those last two days must have been quite despairing for him. Once summoned, he may not require any coercion to willingly help us.”
Doro continued to explain her deductions based on her examination of Mazale’s body. She had found tiny particles of skin and dried bl**d films under the nails of his fingers, which were his own. Each correlating piece led Doro to conclude that Mazale had struggled in pain before he died, but due to being tied up, he could only make limited motions with clenched fists, causing slight injuries on his palms from excessive force, leaving traces of skin and bl**d beneath his nails.
Although the marks on his palms had been removed during his transformation into a zombie along with the bruises on his neck, these traces still remained. Doro could deduce the suffering Mazale experienced at his time of d*ath, indicating that he was aware of who was killing him and how he died. Since he knew before he died, his soul would certainly know after. Summoning his soul would ensure the best witness.
Letting Mazale recount how he died was indisputable evidence in such a case. Even on the extraordinary level, the victim’s own testimony is the ultimate undeniable proof.
“Indeed… if we can summon this prince’s soul to testify, their accusations will be powerless. Miss Doro, wait a moment; I’ll get ready to proceed with the summoning.”
After listening to Doro, Nephnis said in a daze, before promptly seating herself at the edge of the array to prepare for the summoning. She now understood that Doro had brought her here to help with the summoning.
Seeing Nephnis had seated herself, Doro busied herself controlling the zombies to place Mazale’s body on the array as the medium for the summoning. Having a complete corpse as a medium would create a powerful attraction for the spirit. As long as the soul had not sunk in the River of Souls, drawn by the Great Soul to a point of no return, it could basically be summoned back.
With the medium in place, Nephnis closed her eyes, activating her spirituality as she began the summoning ritual based on her grandfather’s notes. Given the intense reporting on Mazale over the past few days, there was ample public information available; thus, Nephnis’s information medium was not lacking.
Guided by the medium, Nephnis’s will began to travel to the otherworldly river, searching for Mazale’s soul. Not long into her search, her brows furrowed, and she spoke.
“Miss Doro… I can’t find Mazale’s soul in the river. He died only two or three days ago, which shouldn’t be long enough for it to have sunk into the netherworld. His soul hasn’t entered the River of Souls… Or perhaps it has, but it was summoned by someone else before I could…”
Nephnis reported to Doro. Silently listening, Doro didn’t seem surprised; instead, she appeared to have expected it.
“Hah, they actually took precautions even at the soul level?”
Doro mused, having anticipated that they would implement protection at the soul level. It seemed that Mazale’s soul had likely been summoned early by their own people and then sealed with methods like the soul-binding coffin to prevent others from summoning it. At the first opportunity, they probably would seek to refine Mazale’s soul to eliminate future troubles.
However, Doro believed that Mazale’s soul still existed at this moment. While dead, spirits could be exorcised, sealed, hidden, devoured, or scattered, but complete annihilation was exceedingly difficult. This could be seen from the Underworld Coffin Cult, who previously captured many souls from the new world and Wilderness Souls but could not refine them on-site and had to return them to a large stronghold in the Main Continent. The rarity of soul refining devices was evident; even the Underworld Coffin Cult, the largest “Silence” society, possessed only a few sites, making it unlikely for other organizations.
“Nephnis, now let’s change the ritual and perform the reverse summoning rite to summon the Wilderness Soul Whiskers,” Doro asserted, already having a plan for the current situation.
“The Soul Whiskers? That little ancestor… Miss Doro, did you coordinate with Elder Uta about it?” Nephnis responded in surprise, to which Doro nodded.
“Yes, this morning, I communicated with that brat Kapak, asking him to check with Elder Uta regarding certain matters. They are now prepared to send the spirit your way; you just need to receive it.”
“Oh… alright, alright…”
After hearing Doro’s words, Nephnis hastily began preparing for the ritual, shortly removing Mazale’s corpse from the summoning and switching to a reverse summoning rite. Once everything was ready, she initiated a new round of the soul ritual.
This time, the ritual proceeded smoothly. As Nephnis completed the ceremony, a wave of spiritual energy spread out, revealing a small spirit bobcat in the center of the array. After appearing, it glanced around a few times, then wagged its tail and moved to sit in front of Nephnis with a proud expression.
Recognizing the cue, Nephnis quickly took out an iron coin as a “Silence” storage item from her pocket, placing it respectfully in front of the spirit bobcat. The bobcat looked satisfied and began licking the coin.
“The Soul Whiskers can sense the essence of the soul, and according to Uta’s account, after a person dies, the essence of the soul lingers on the body for a period of time, particularly longer in the bones. Once the Soul Whiskers picks up Mazale’s scent, Nephnis, you can follow its guidance to find the location where Mazale’s soul is sealed.”
As she watched the spirit cat licking the storage item, Doro explained. Nephnis acknowledged, nodding in understanding.
“Following the Soul Whiskers to seek the soul… Just like during the Lunar New Year in Tivyán? That’s easy…”
As Nephnis grasped the concept, the Soul Whiskers finished licking the essence from the storage item. Stretching and yawning, it gracefully floated into the air, drifting towards Mazale. First, it sniffed around the body, then wove in and out to directly scent the bones. After finishing, it slowly floated back to Nephnis, who was already proficiently preparing to follow its lead.
Moments later, Nephnis successfully linked with the Soul Whiskers. When she reopened her eyes, her pupils displayed feline slits, and her demeanor became somewhat colder and prouder. She gently sniffed the air, aligning her gaze toward one direction where she had caught the trace of her target.
