[TL: Asuka]

[PR: Ash]

Under the dim light of the morgue stood a man as burly as a bear, but he was sobbing before a cold, wooden bed. "Elsa, please open your eyes." Todd leaned beside the girl, holding her cheeks and pressing his forehead against hers.

He knew who she was the moment he laid eyes on her. She looked just like her mother, Kolleen. "I'm a coward, a sinner, an irresponsible man. More than ten years I left you to fend for yourselves. I'm a sorry excuse of a father, but please give me a chance to atone for my sins." Todd whispered resolutely into the girl's lifeless ear, "I shall avenge you, but I might need your help in finding the murderer."

***

I wonder if she's actually dead. Roy's brows furrowed. After a rough checkup, he concluded that Elsa wasnt breathing and didnt have a heartbeat. Her pupils were dilated, and her temperature was horrifyingly low. She looked like a dead person if he was judging her on these criteria, but some parts of her weren't as dead as a corpse should be. Her hair was lustrous, but a corpse's hair should be dry and spindly. Her skin was fair and supple, not bloated. No internal bleeding. No scars either. Not even a fatal wound. There were calluses on her hands and feet, but that was par for her poor background.

There was a bell on her ankle, and her cause of death was not stated. The coroner couldn't find out the reason for her death, or did he not make it in time?

"And she's surrounded by chaos energy" Perhaps that's the reason her flesh is kept fresh and beautiful like she was in life. And now she lies there like Sleeping Beauty, who won't and can't resist anything. So the question is: who took her body here, when did they do it, and from where? If we find these answers, maybe we can get a clue that'll lead us to the murderer Todd saw in that dream. And the coroner and his assistant died horribly too. Does this have anything to do with her? Or is this a coincidence?

"You saw her?" The hunchback came up behind Roy and looked at the dead. "A shame." He sighed. "She's a gorgeous lady, but she died before she could see what this world had to offer."

Casimodo spared the girl a look of sympathy. "She doesn't belong to this cold, dark place. I wonder what bastard did this to her."

Roy swiveled around and stared sharply into Casimodo's eyes. "Almost forgot about your actual work. You were a corpse collector, weren't you?"

"Yes. I collect all corpses in Novigrad and take them here to this morgue. I took this girl here too."

"When and where did you find her body?"

"Um" Casimodo paused for a moment. Apparently, he was hesitant to answer. He thought this young guard was a little too curious. "Does this have anything to do with the coroner's death?"

Roy kept staring at the hunchback. Then he lost focus for a moment. The young witcher quickly made a sign in the air, and Axii worked its magic. "Do you have something to do with the deaths of the coroner, his assistant, and Elsa?"

"No."

That's a bit disappointing. "Tell me everything you know about her."

***

Casimodo stared at the ground and swayed his body. Dumbly, he answered, "In the evening, three days ago, news about the robbery and murder of a merchant in the northern area reached me, so I went to collect his corpse, but I saw her on my way back." He pointed at Elsa. "She was lying in the bush beside the path. I thought she was out from drinking too much. Or maybe someone knocked her out. When she didn't answer my calls, I checked up on her and realized she wasnt breathing and didnt have a heartbeat. She was dead. After the guards came and checked the place out, I took her back here. Once I handed her to the coroner to find out her cause of death, I left."

***

Three days ago in the evening? That's one day before the coroner and his assistant were found dead. Elsa was taken back to this place, and then the coroner and his assistant were found dead the next morning. That's no coincidence. "Did she look like this when you found her? Anything different?"

Casimodo shook his head.

The young witcher asked, "Did the coroner exhibit any strange behavior when he took the body from you? Or did you see anything you thought was out of place?"

The hunchback frowned and thought back to that day. "He was as cold as usual. Didn't say a word to me."

"So" Roy turned Elsa around and confirmed that she had no wound on her back. "Do you think the coroner and his assistant would perform any autopsy on the bodies you sent to them that very same night?"

"I only collected the merchant and this girl's corpses that day. From what I know about the coroner, he would retire for the night after he was done checking the corpses. That'd be about a while after midnight."

"Where's the merchant's corpse?"

Casimodo led Roy to the doorstep, and the young witcher flipped through a file in the drawer. "Bed number twelve Aino the wood merchant." Left from Elsa. The young witcher took a deep breath and pulled the cloth down.

Lying underneath the cloth was a middle-aged man with a big belly. His body was covered in preservatives, and his chest had a stitch mark on it. His body was almost green, and his skin was pale. Someone has done something to this corpse. "Were you the one who checked this body?"

Casimodo shook his head. "It was the coroner."

So the coroner must have died after he performed the checkup on this body but before he had the chance to do that to Elsa. Didn't see any wounds on Elsa's body. So they were attacked after the coroner checked on the merchant?

Roy looked at Elsa. That's the only guess I have. He must have been attacked before he did the checkup on Elsa, or she would have had wounds on her body.

A gust of cold, dark wind blew into the room, and the witcher shivered. Time passed, and the sun was slowly disappearing behind the horizon, bringing its warmth along.

"Did you find something, witcher?" Todd shifted his attention away. He thought he caught a clue, but he couldn't put a finger on it.

"About Elsa's case? Not yet. But I know more about the deaths of the coroner and his assistant now. The murderer was a human or a humanoid creature, and there was more than one of them." Roy was sure about it. "The coroner and his assistant's bodies and insides were bitten and devoured. The marks show that the murderer's teeth had incisors, canines, premolars, and molars. Leaning more to a herbivorous teeth structure than a carnivorous one."

"Then they're regular humans," Todd said. Mercenaries had to learn about human anatomy, and he didn't spend a decade on the battlefield without learning more about it.

"There are marks of abuse and clawing on their bodies. Those are human traits." Roy looked at Elsa's body. Her nails are clean. "And there are wounds left by a scalpel. Slash marks, cut marks, stab marks The weapon of murder is one of the tools here. Only humans and humanoids can use a scalpel that deftly."

Roy noticed something else. The crimson air was mostly enclosed within this room. There wasn't a lot of blood found outside, not even at the doorstep. The murderer seemed to have teleported away within the room and didn't leave any clues for his witcher senses to pick up. It was odd, but Roy couldn't figure out why.

Casimodo shook his head. Axii's effect had worn off, and he sobered up in time to hear Roy's analysis. He answered without hesitation, "Yes, that's what I deduced as well. The killer must have been a human, a madman."

Only madmen would kill someone with their teeth and nails like animals and devour their flesh afterward. "What has the world come to?" Casimodo sighed. "There are nekkers, drowners, and ghouls outside the city, and monsters in human skin hide within the walls. Who do you think the killer is?"

"Not sure. For now." Roy shook his head. Humans can be crueler than monsters sometimes.

The sun was setting, and dusk settled in. Casimodo stared at the skies and said a hesitant goodbye before leaving for home. The Eternal Fire guards still hadn't returned, leaving Roy and Todd alone in the morgue.

"Odd guy." Roy realized Casimodo had been acting strange every time he was giving them answers. It felt like he was putting on an act. But he's not the killer, nor is he a higher vampire. What the hell is he?

Todd had a solemn look on his face. "Roy, you mentioned the tragedies following the prophecy. The sorcerer, the man in the dreams, is one of those who'd poison, capture, or chase out girls of the black sun like Elsa. He must have performed some kind of experiment on my daughter to turn her into this."

Todd brushed his hand across Elsa's cheek. Her body was already frozen stiff, but she still looked like she was alive and asleep. That only confirmed his guess that Elsa had been modified from the inside. What the sorcerer did to her must have something to do with that blasted prophecy.

***

"I wish to check on her further. I need to find out the cause of her death." Todd quietly picked the scalpel up from the tray. Before Roy could do anything, he had already cut Elsa's wrist open.

Roy wanted to stop him. He thought Todd would at least leave the body untouched, but he didn't seem to care anymore. He's too far in. If I stop him, it'd only make things harder for him.

The skin was cut open, but weirdly enough, her blood didn't even ooze out or stain the scalpel. Instead, it felt like it was stuck to the skin.

Roy kept staring at it.

"What did that bastard do to her? What kind of powers does he have? I need to find out!" Sorrow and fury filled Todd's eyes. "And then I'll inflict all that pain back tenfold on them."

Todd kept cutting Elsa's skin open, and another gust of wind blew into the room. The candlelights flickered, and the sobs of a girl rang out in the air.