Strength 99999 but the Holy Sister

"Is that so? Because of what you've done, you can't escape punishment. But if you want a lighter sentence, there's an opportunity for you. Work for her and catch those who break the law." Tricia glanced at Charlie and then looked away. "Since you're the Baron's subordinate, this shouldn't be difficult for you, right?"

Kingsley was stunned for a moment, then knelt on one knee in front of Charlie without hesitation.

"Of course... I'm happy to serve you..."

Kingsley was no fool. Even the Baron had surrendered to Elsa, so there was no reason for him not to yield. Should he make meritorious service to reduce his sentence, or fight back against these women with all his might—who could go wrong with that choice? Compared to Laurel, who was facing a death sentence, Kingsley naturally wouldn't let the chance of survival slip by.

It was nothing more than a change of allegiance, so what? He didn't want to be trapped in the castle by Charlie like Laurel.

Soon, the Baron brought the list. Tricia took a look at it and handed it to Charlie.

"From now on, your actual combat training begins. Among these people, there may be vampires with strength similar to or even stronger than Kingsley. Charlie, your goal is to capture them. Kingsley will lead the way for you. If anyone resists, you will try your best to capture him using the vampire's fighting style. Just go for it, and Crow will follow you."

……

There was still light snow falling in the sky, and the sharp wind was howling in the sky. Elsa could see the city of Kroros from afar.

It had been snowing for two days, and the city had become one with the crystal white. The only colors in the city were the streets swept by people and the clothes on people. The tall towers seemed to have become sculptures made of snow. In the suburbs, from the woods where snow and ink were mixed together to the bustling and noisy city to the endless fields in the distance, the view was all about flying snow, making it difficult to tell whether this was originally a grassland or a desert.

Outside the city of Kroros, a series of wheel tracks are particularly eye-catching in the snow, connecting the city with the distant valley. If there are any wild animals at this time, just pay more attention to their footprints.

Elsa originally planned to go into the city with the returning adventurers, but a figure somewhere on the outskirts of the city caught Elsa's attention. She looked over and saw a group of people gathered together. Judging from their clothes, they should be a small caravan, and there were two people dressed as guards.

Surrounding them was the corpse of a monster as big as two cows. Half of the body was embedded in the snow, and its limbs were twisted in strange arcs and stiffly facing the sky. Most of it was covered by the snow. If there were no people gathered there, it would look no different from a piece of stone. There was no color of blood around it, perhaps it had been buried by the snow long ago.

……

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365 No Clues

Elsa wasn't one to meddle in other people's affairs, as long as the "nosy matters" had nothing to do with her and wouldn't harm innocent people. And at this moment, the group of people gathered there really seemed to need help.

Hunting becomes difficult this season as there are fewer and fewer active monsters.

The adventurers set their sights on some small monsters. They might be able to gain something by digging through the thick snow and the soil that was frozen as hard as stone, but they also had to be careful of attacks from some dangerous monsters - in the vast snow, human figures were very conspicuous and could easily be mistaken for prey by some hungry predators.

Therefore, the appearance of the huge corpse would cause panic - the corpse was too big, and a monster of this size was obviously very dangerous. And it seemed that it died at the hands of another more dangerous monster, because there were bloody grooves left on its body. Those were the claw marks of some monster, thick and deep, simple and neat, killing with one blow.

No one wants a dangerous monster capable of killing such a big guy to appear near where they live.

The two guards looked solemn and seemed to be questioning the caravan members some questions, and the caravan members seemed a little uneasy.

——Elsa has good eyesight and can clearly see the expressions on everyone's faces. The people in the caravan seem a little frightened, and the two guards look completely unsure of the current situation. Elsa can see that these people are in trouble.

This is the outskirts of Kroros City. Going north over the mountains or west through a forest is the territory of the vampires, so Elsa was a little more careful and maintained her invisibility as she landed in the snow not far away.

Elsa made herself act like an adventurer who had returned from completing a commission. She walked towards the group of people, leaving deep footprints with each step. When she got closer, Elsa removed her invisibility spell and gradually began to hear their voices.

"Right, that's right. We were passing by here last night when we suddenly heard a bang. You don't know how shocking it was. The sound was like an iceberg collapsing! We were all terrified!"

A man dressed as a businessman talked incessantly to a man dressed as a guard, gesticulating as if he was describing how exaggerated the scene was.

He was wrapped in thick mink fur, and the muscles on his face and the mink fur on his body trembled as he spoke.

"That scary thing falling from the sky—I mean, I didn't know what it looked like at the time. I'd never seen anything like it before, and it was at night and I couldn't see it clearly. It just fell down..."

The businessman spoke very quickly and seemed a little emotional, so that his words were incoherent, which made the guards frown from time to time, as if trying to understand the meaning of his words.

"Falling? From the sky? Are you sure such a big guy without wings fell from the sky instead of tripping you?"

One guard seemed very unconvinced and repeated it word by word.

"No, no, no! I remember it very clearly. My deer and I were almost killed by it! The sound was deafening. If you have experienced it yourself, you will definitely not feel it wrong! - Look, it was almost smashed into a pancake!"

"Maybe it was meant to be that way."

"To be honest, I've never seen this kind of monster before." said a man, a mercenary in charge of escorting the caravan. He used a dagger to scratch the monster's body several times, and then stabbed it hard inside, but only cut through the frost on the surface, while the monster's skin was not damaged at all.

"Tsk..."

He covered his wrist and rubbed it, shocked - it seemed that he could not get the core crystal of this monster. God knew how valuable the core crystal would be inside such a huge monster, but his knife could not even pierce the skin, how could he possibly get the core crystal.

The guard glanced at him and then turned his gaze to the monster's corpse.

"It's indeed a monster I've never seen before. It must have come here from somewhere else," another guard frowned as he observed the giant monster's corpse. He suddenly asked, "You said it fell from the sky. Did you look up at the sky?"

The businessman looked embarrassed. "No... It was too dark... I was so scared that my deer almost threw me off, and I was just running... And... And it was snowing so hard at night that I couldn't see clearly..."

"That's why I said it must have been done by those strange birds! They hunted the monster and then threw it down from the sky," another man dressed as a mercenary interrupted, hugging his arms, as if he was cold from standing in the snow for too long.

He said solemnly, "Haven't there been strange birds migrating towards the canyon recently? We must have caught up in time."

Someone objected, "No, this looks like the marks of a large monster, doesn't it? That claw mark is thicker than your neck. Even the biggest, strongest monster bird can only catch a reindeer, but this one has caught three cows!"

Someone else said, "Listen to me, everyone—I don't think things are that simple. Have you heard about the remnants of the Demon King's army appearing in the south? It must be those damned demons who did it. Only they would do such a wicked thing..."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone else looked at him and the air became quiet in an instant.

"I say, this doesn't sound good... How about we just leave here first..." Someone suggested quietly, "I think we should report this to the Governor... instead of just making random guesses here..."

"Wait, someone seems to be coming."

In the snow, any figure would be very conspicuous. After Elsa removed the invisibility magic, someone soon noticed Elsa.

"He looks like just an adventurer."

"Oh, adventurer..."

The guards and mercenaries cast their eyes towards Elsa at the same time, seeing her appear alone in the desolate snowfield, dressed in the common attire of a swordsman. Generally speaking, anyone wandering alone in the suburbs at this time would most likely be an adventurer.

Adventurers often go out alone to carry out commissions, which is very common. Although there are fewer adventurers going out to carry out commissions recently due to the heavy snow, there are still many people going out every day. Adventurers will not take a break just because the roads are blocked by heavy snow. It is better to say that because the heavy snow buried too many things, the adventurers' work has become more arduous. Of course, the reward for each commission is also higher.

No one cared about Elsa anymore. They continued to discuss something around the huge corpse, and then decided to use a cargo sled pulled by reindeer to drag the corpse back - but this was obviously a stupid idea. Although the caravan's sled was big and strong enough, the corpse was not a cargo that could be carried up one box at a time. Several people pushed together for a long time but failed because the corpse was too big and too heavy.

"Dig the snow! It's too slippery!"

Someone said this, and everyone started to dig out the snow bit by bit.

At this time, Aisha also came to them.

"Do you need any help?"

Elsa's appearance made the busy people stop and take a break. Seeing Elsa, the guard showed a look of surprise. He took a breath and shook his head.

"That's fine. We won't move if we can't carry it back. Thank you for your kindness," he said, brushing off the snow on his body. "But I have to mark this place. I will report what happened here to the Knight when I return."

At this time, a mercenary suddenly said, "Miss, you are not from here, right? I mean, your accent doesn't sound like you are from the North."

"My name is Fasha, and I'm from Femilis, Losdak Province."

Elsa put on a friendly smile and made up a place name that didn't exist.

"Oh? Femyris..." The man thought for a moment, then smiled maturely. "That's a really faraway place..."

He seemed to want to extend the conversation, but since he knew nothing about Femilis, he simply asked, "Why are you here alone? Do you look like you're looking for prey?"

"Well, the commission mentioned that there should be some troublesome little guys nearby. You should have guessed that I came here as an adventurer. My employer is staying in Kroros. I have to find something to do during this time, right? I can't let my sword rust."

Aisha smiled and continued.

"I saw you guys from afar just now, so I came over to take a look. Please forgive me for always being so fond of joining in the fun - but I'm really curious about what happened here. To be honest, this big guy doesn't look like he was hunted by humans."

"Oh, no wonder..."

The mercenary also smiled. Although mercenaries and adventurers often had conflicts, they were from the same family after all. But in a sense, they were also fellow travelers. Especially when he met a girl like Elsa who was friendly, beautiful and had a sweet voice, he naturally would not look at her with an evil look.

"In that case, I wonder if you've ever seen a monster like this? Those of you who frequent the forests are more knowledgeable about this kind of thing. I haven't seen one myself, so before I go back, I want to at least understand what this thing is."

"It looks a little... twisted."

"It must have fallen from the sky and been flattened," the businessman guessed.

"I'll have to see to find out."

Elsa did not approach the monster's corpse, but continued to chat with the people here in a familiar manner. She pretended to be surprised and listened to the merchants and mercenaries repeating what they had said to the guards, while observing the monster's corpse in front of her.

Since the other party did not need help to lift the body, Elsa did not plan to take action. After all, her strength was a little too shocking and too conspicuous.

Besides, whether the body could be transported back was a small issue anyway. Elsa didn't care. What Elsa cared about was that the body did look a little unusual. Before, Elsa's vision was mostly blocked by the people gathered together. Now she could finally see the whole picture of the body covered by thick snow.

Aisha searched her memory for information about this monster.

She remembered having seen records of similar features in books. It was a rare monster, at least Elsa had never seen one in person. It was only mentioned in the information provided by the guild. Elsa still remembered that it was mentioned in the introduction of the monster that it should be a monster living in the warmer forest areas. It should not appear in the freezing northern border. In fact, its range of activities is basically in the eastern border of the empire where the temperature difference is not much. How could a monster that does not even exist in the western forests of the western province run to such a far place in the north?

Although Elsa briefly suspected vampires or demons were at work, she thought again: Dropping a corpse into human territory? What for? A plague? Even if they were going to release a plague, they shouldn't be dropping it in the snowy wilderness, but towards water sources or within cities.

The most suspicious thing was the scars on the corpse. They seemed to be marks left by the claws of some very huge creature. Elsa pressed the surface of the corpse with her fingertips. Under the mercenary's astonished gaze, Elsa's fingers were embedded in it. Because the corpse had long been frozen, it made a creaking sound that made her teeth ache. Elsa felt it and found that the inside of the corpse was just as it looked from the outside. Its bones had long been scattered. Elsa was sure that this was not what the merchant said "flattened" because the bones around it were broken to varying degrees. It did not look like it was caused by a fall, but rather that it had been shattered before it fell.

Elsa could almost imagine the scene of sharp claws piercing the monster's body, and then the huge force crushing almost all of its bones.

Of course, this kind of injury could also be the result of magic, but when Elsa looked at the blood clots that had accumulated and ruptured under the skin of the corpse due to the pressure of the huge force, she believed that it was the work of another powerful monster.

For a moment, Elsa recalled the giant metal dragon on the sky island, whose claws could easily cause this effect.

Could it be a dragon?

Elsa thought so. Although she also felt that such a rare creature should not appear so easily, she did not deny this speculation. After all, the merchant said that the corpse fell from the sky.

It would be great if Tricia was here with her at this time, Aisha thought. She had lived in this world for too short a time and her experience was limited, but Tricia would definitely be able to recognize the origin of this thing at a glance.

At this moment, the guard's voice interrupted Aisha's thoughts.

"We have to report back as soon as possible. Something's not right. Will you come with us?"

The guard looked at Elsa. He seemed to think that Elsa would be scared after seeing such a strange thing, just like the merchant, so he took the initiative to extend the invitation.

Elsa naturally wouldn't refuse anyone's kindness.

"Yeah, of course."

Elsa returned to Kroros with several people from the caravan and the guards. She went straight to Grace and Becky who stayed there and asked them if they had noticed anything unusual last night, but the answer she got was "no".

"Where's Lacey? Did you find her sister?"

Aisha asked again, Grace sighed and shook her head: "She has a fever, I let her rest in the room."

"Fever?" Elsa frowned slightly.

Grace glanced at Aisha and said, "I gave her some medicine. I got it from old Janji. Don't worry, it's very effective."

Having said that, Grace hesitated for a moment and continued.

"As for her sister, we don't have any leads yet. According to the guild, someone did see someone who looked like her sister coming here a while ago, but she disappeared after that. I think they either deliberately hid their whereabouts or have already left."

……

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366. You have a good eye

Generally speaking, demihumans possess much stronger bodies than humans, especially those in their youth and middle age, who rarely get sick. Even most demihumans, whose living conditions are much more difficult than humans, are still stronger than ordinary people even if they suffer from cold and hunger. This is one of the reasons why demihumans were able to establish a prosperous country in the freezing cold of Herancy Butana, a place most people would not want to go to, let alone settle there.

But Lacey, a subhuman, still fell ill because her body could no longer support her.

"Her leg injury hadn't healed in Ngo Village, and she didn't get enough rest every day because she was looking for her sister. If it weren't for Old Qiao Ya taking care of her, she might have died by then, but that also made her body weak."

Grace glanced at Aisha and said.

It is true that most sub-humans are strong and healthy, but that is only relative to humans. Their bodies are not made of iron. They will feel pain when they are injured and catch a cold when they catch a cold. They are also living beings, and there is no difference in this respect.

What's more, Lacey is still a child. With a leg injury, she has been running around non-stop and worried for a long time, which has made her body on the verge of collapse and extremely weak. In addition, it has snowed heavily in the past two days. An adult may catch a cold if he is not careful. Moreover, it happens to be the season when influenza is prevalent. It is normal to accidentally contract the disease when participating in activities in crowded places like the guild.

"The villagers gave her some food, but you know, it was either raining or snowing during those days, and hiding in the woodshed couldn't withstand the cold wind at night."

"Has old Janji been here?"

"Well, although he is a witch doctor, the potions he prepared are indeed quite effective, at least much better than those made by the pharmacists here."

The philosophy of witch doctors is no longer consistent with that of today's mainstream pharmacists, but as a classical medicine that has been passed down for thousands of years, it still has many merits.

"How is she doing now?"

"I've asked Lacey to take the medicine. Her fever has gone down, but she's still weak, so I asked her to rest first."

Grace rarely spoke so much to Aisha on her own initiative.

Although Grace herself would not admit it, she actually cared about Lacey very much. This was because she saw the experiences of the subhumans in Lacey and some witches who were still trying their best to conceal their identities. Therefore, she felt sympathy for Lacey, or for herself.

Of course, part of the reason was that Grace liked children. When did this feeling begin to sprout in her heart? Grace herself didn't know - she was not like this before.

Perhaps because she was bewitched by the abyss and did something that went against her heart, it made her see some things that she had previously overlooked.

People are always like this.