Several individuals from the mage organization had been dispatched directly by the Kingdom. Their mission was to investigate the murders of the two previous rulers... and at the crime scene:
"These magic traces... The guards were killed at close range with sharp weapons, but a few have holes in their heads. This wasn't caused by a melee weapon—it came from long range. Same with the ruler's death..."
"So, does that mean there were two culprits?"
"Yes. And tracking them is extremely difficult. It's as if they're masters at hiding... or maybe they left these traces intentionally?"**
"Send this report to the higher-ups!"
"Understood!"
"... *Grins. Is a revolution about to erupt in this rotten kingdom?"**
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Back to Arya and Dina
Dina: Hey Ar, do you think we're safe after killing two city rulers? Who's our next target?
Arya: Relax. Like I said—we need to leave behind just a little bit of our magical trace while erasing the rest to mislead the investigators. Since the attacks involve two different styles and types of magic, even the best trackers will struggle to trace us. As for our next target, according to the map, we need to head east to a city called EKPIRO.
Dina: EKPIRO? What kind of name is that? Sounds awful... Oh yeah, what's going to happen to the cities whose rulers we killed?
Arya: They'll definitely get replacements. Hopefully good ones. Like in LILA—rumor has it the city is now being led by someone decent. And if the new ruler in SIJU turns out to be just as corrupt, then I guess they're not afraid of dying.
Dina: Mwahahaha! So if the replacement ruler isn't good either, we kill them too?
Arya: Of course! Though... I wonder if we should leave some kind of warning behind at the scene?
Dina: A warning? Why?
Arya: Something like *"We only want corrupt rulers to die."* That way, the next rulers might be more cautious—so they don't become the next targets.
Dina: But wouldn't that be like giving them a chance to behave? And if we leave something like that, wouldn't it ruin the mystery?
Arya: True. You're surprisingly sharp sometimes.
Dina: Tchhh.