The mounted officer crouching beside the corpse looked up and walked over to the petite mounted officer.
Frost flecks brushed off the corpse clung to his gloves.
His voice faltered, and his gaze flicked between Cold Light and the petite officer.
He was asking the petite officer whether Aide and his group should be allowed to hear the details of the case.
“They’re involved, so there’s no need to hold anything back.”
The petite officer tapped the toe of her boot hard against the temple’s bluestone floor twice, the sharp knocks conveying her impatience.
She also emphasized the word “anything” to remind the mounted officer, who had just returned and hadn’t yet heard Aide’s surname.
“But the ligature marks alone can’t tell us whether it was suicide or a staged scene after a murder. For now, all we can say is that the bishop died by hanging, and there are no signs of struggle or a fight.”
Though he didn’t quite understand what had happened while he examined the corpse, the mounted officer had heard his boss stress the word “anything.”
He began to understand that these people were no ordinary visitors and started his report.
‘No signs of struggle or a fight? Does that mean the bishop was hanged without putting up any resistance?’
The petite officer furrowed her brow.
This case had deep connections, and the details were more complicated than she’d expected.
Cold Light’s gaze fell on the bishop’s corpse, which had been laid flat again.
The ligature marks around its neck were purplish blue, stark against the skin covered in a thin layer of frost.
She crouched down and made the sign of the cross to prepare herself for the intrusion that followed, then gently touched the corpse with her fingertip.
Pale golden holy light emerged from her finger and seeped into the body.
“There’s no residual magic.”
After finishing her examination, Cold Light withdrew her hand and stood up.
“At least on the surface, there’s no sign that sorcery or evil magic was involved.”
‘That makes it even stranger. As a bishop of the Holy Light Church in a sensitive region like the North, he couldn’t have been weak. Could a bishop like that really have been hanged without resisting at all, and without being controlled by sorcery or evil magic?’
After recording the information in her notebook, the petite officer sighed deeply and rubbed her temples as she sorted through her thoughts.
If she set aside the sensitive matter of the bishop’s position in the North, she could already draw a preliminary conclusion about the case.
But because he was a bishop in the North, and because this involved the critical matter of a stolen holy relic, she had to be extremely cautious before making a decision.
“Miss Moya, you seem to have been deep in thought. Do you have any insight into this?”
Just as the petite officer hesitated, Aide spoke from the side.
“Uh, what could I possibly think? I don’t know the whole story yet, so we should just do whatever needs to be done, right?”
Startled when Aide called on her, Moya had been listening to the case with drooping eyelids.
She hurriedly gave a perfunctory answer.
‘He’s right. Focusing only on the mystery of the bishop’s death will just drag me deeper into a quagmire of circular thinking. I should look for a breakthrough elsewhere, like when we investigated Aide and Moya’s backgrounds earlier.’
Moya scratched her head awkwardly, then noticed the petite officer’s grateful look and felt baffled all over again.
‘What did I do?’
“Do you know where the other priests in the temple are, ma’am?”
The petite officer composed herself and asked Cold Light.
“A temple this large couldn’t have been run by the bishop alone. Where are the other priests, deacons, and clerics? Where did they go?”
“I don’t know.”
Cold Light shook her head, her tone heavy.
“Like the bishop’s room, their rooms were tidy and undisturbed, with clear signs of regular use. They’d obviously been using them as recently as a few days ago. But now the entire temple is empty. There isn’t a single priest among the people gathered outside to watch, either.”
“I understand.”
The petite officer sighed again, asked everyone a few more inconsequential questions, then closed her notebook.
“I don’t have any more questions. The three of you may move about freely, as long as you don’t interfere with the investigation.”
The petite officer closed her notebook with a brisk motion, though her brows remained furrowed.
She turned and waved to the other mounted officer, signaling him to continue examining the scene, then sat down on the stone steps in front of the temple.
She unclipped a leather waterskin from her waist and tipped it back, taking several long swallows.
The moment she pulled out the wooden stopper, everyone there caught the strong smell of alcohol.
‘Drinking at a crime scene?’
Aide, Cold Light, the mounted officers, and even the onlookers all seemed accustomed to it.
Moya felt her worldview take a serious blow.
‘If they can drink at work, then why can’t I sleep or sleepwalk at work? It’s not fair!’
“Hard liquor is a traditional drink in the North. Before Holy Light-powered heating became widespread, many northerners relied on alcohol to get through the increasingly cold, snowy weather. Drinking like that is just a way to pass the time.”
Seeing Moya’s displeased expression, Aide saw right through her and explained with a smile.
“That’s right. Don’t think you can use this as an excuse to slack off. The Church wants to correct your bad habits in real life, not give you an excuse to indulge them by pointing to other people.”
Cold Light nodded and added, dealing Moya a second blow.
‘Fine, fine. So you two are teaming up to gang up on me from both sides?’
Moya rolled her eyes and ignored Cold Light’s advice.
“Let’s go investigate. Do either of you have any leads?”
Knowing Moya wouldn’t listen to her advice, Cold Light said nothing more.
She changed the subject and asked Moya and Aide.
“It’s obviously suicide. I bet the bishop lost it after accidentally losing the relic, felt too ashamed to face the Lord or whatever, and hanged himself. We might as well close the case based on that.”
Moya answered Cold Light’s question with obvious reluctance, clearly without giving it any real thought.
Aide rubbed his chin before answering.
“I think we should start by canvassing the nearby residential areas, or asking the people gathered here to watch. This involves so many people that there must be someone who knows the Church’s priests, especially among the followers of the Holy Light. Some of them are probably on friendly terms with one or two priests from the temple.”
“All right. We’ll do as you suggest.”
Cold Light nodded to Aide, then patiently explained to Moya.
“Your idea isn’t without merit. I doubt your initial conclusion is much different from what the petite officer came up with earlier. But whatever the truth behind the bishop’s death, the most important thing is to recover the missing holy relic. That’s our top priority.”