A peerless killer possessing a cat girl assassin from another world

After some investigation, Alessi learned that the village was called Andefus, a small coastal village located southeast of the holy city.

If the records in the tower are accurate, this village was wiped out by the church sixteen years ago due to demonic infiltration, and remains a barren wasteland to this day...

However, Alessi only had some knowledge of the report; she didn't know the truth.

Furthermore, this is Valeria's mental world, and the reality is bound to differ greatly from the actual situation.

In short, let's find out where Valeria was at that time.

......

"Hey, did you hear that?"

"The Nelson family, yesterday..."

As she passed through the village, Arester overheard a conversation between two villagers.

It seems to be saying that a family at the west end of the village was wiped out last night.

The murderer was ruthless; none of the family members were left with intact bodies.

This was not something Arester cared about.

However, the murderer mentioned by those two is most likely a demon...

This matches the records in the tower.

Ignoring the two, Alessa followed the fluctuations of the mental energy of the master of the mental image world and arrived at the small fishing hut on the beach.

Hello, little sister.

A tall missionary was standing behind a little girl, asking her something with a kind expression.

Areste deliberately slowed her pace, listening carefully to their conversation.

Church personnel from the Holy City...

The man asked the girl some trivial questions, and then left thoughtfully with his head down.

Are you here to investigate a murder case?

I had long heard that for any unusual incidents occurring within the Papacy of Mare, the official investigation team always included at least one member of the Church.

Even adventurers hired by the villagers are subject to the church's covert surveillance.

The church does not allow anything to be outside their sight.

In a sense, the church's censorship was even more suffocating than the event itself...

Areste gave an awkward smile and approached the little girl.

Without a doubt, this is the patient being treated, Valeria Solarius.

However, "Solarius" is clearly not her current surname.

Arester knew that Valeria had been taken in by the Third Paladin, Ariana Solaris.

It's not hard to understand why the usually arrogant Third Holy Knight would take in an even more arrogant and eccentric student and adopted daughter, given their strikingly similar personalities.

"Hello, Valeria."

Alessandro greeted her in a formulaic manner.

The little girl stopped building the sandcastle and turned to look at Areste.

"Sister, who are you?"

"Just a traveling magician, you can call me Alai."

"Wow, a magician... No wonder I couldn't see your face clearly, this must be the legendary magic."

Valeria now looks like an ordinary little girl.

This shows that the turning point in one's destiny does not lie here...

Unfortunately, Arester did not have a deep understanding of mental magic such as dreams.

After all, the study of dreams only began five hundred years ago... Among the best researchers were the legendary "Dream Walkers".

Of course, that's beside the point.

The current problem is that Arester cannot control the flow of time in this mental world.

In other words, she could only wait for that turning point to arrive.

Although it was a bit troublesome, Alex was very patient.

After exchanging a few words with Valeria, Arester took her leave.

......

Currently, the mental world is very stable, so stable that it's somewhat unsettling...

This is not a good sign.

Areste knew this was just the calm before the storm.

Due to Valeria's personal perception, the village also appeared deserted.

While she was pondering, Alessandra had already strolled to the west of the village.

Ok?

It's that man from earlier.

For some reason, that missionary was able to appear here.

It's important to understand that at that time, Valeria had no idea about the man's movements, and her mental world couldn't possibly have been fabricated out of thin air.

It seems this man is the key.

The man pushed aside the blurred faces and walked straight towards a house.

This is the Nelson family's house...

The stench of blood was overwhelming; even though the bodies had been disposed of by kind villagers, it still lingered around the houses...

Areste didn't expect to find anything of value here, after all, even the owner of the heart-shaped image had never seen it in person.

Strangely, the moment the man stopped, Arester seemed to actually see the three corpses that had been lying in the room...

Um......

This man is definitely not right.

Since she was already there, Alesse immediately stepped forward and began investigating the three corpses.

His technique was skillful, yet he deliberately avoided killing the target with a single blow.

In other words, it was for the purpose of torturing and amusement.

This does align somewhat with the popular rumors about the cruelty of demons...

However, once you understand the situation better, this rumor will fall apart on its own.

Among the demon race, only some are inherently cruel... In comparison, the cruelty of humans is probably no less.

and many more.

Suddenly, Arester seemed to discover something interesting.

Several of the wounds on the male homeowner's body were very shallow, and the technique used was no longer as skillful as it appeared on the surface...

It's like someone else did it.

Similarly, the woman also had such inconspicuous wounds on her body.

This is very interesting.

Was there more than one perpetrator?

Or perhaps... there's something ingenious about the technique?

When Alessi saw that the dead little girl did not have similar injuries, everything seemed to make sense.

I see......

The killer did not commit the crime personally, but rather manipulated the family of three into killing each other in some way.

The shallow wounds on the man and woman were actually inflicted by their daughter...

That really is a heinous crime.

So now the question is...

Arester had seen plenty of magic that manipulated will.

How can we be sure that this was a crime committed by the demons?

"What a cruel method..."

Suddenly, the man standing on the other side of the corpse spoke.

May the Holy Light embrace their souls...

"Village Chief, the situation is complicated. Please inform the villagers to lock their doors and windows at night. The church's reinforcements are on their way and will arrive soon."

"Oh, right, there's one more thing."

"Tonight, I hope you can gather all the villagers in the village center. I will make some exorcism tools and distribute them."

"Remember, everyone must be notified."

"This concerns the survival of the village, so you must take it seriously."

......