The other two representatives fell into a heavy, thoughtful silence after hearing the words of the Supervision Committee member.
The official Knight Tournaments across the country did not forbid the use of high-level Originium Arts during combat; in fact, the flashy, magical displays were highly encouraged to keep the stadium matches as exciting and visually stunning as possible. The Candle Knight's legendary illumination arts were an excellent, highly profitable example of this industry standard. Furthermore, a new corporate plan had recently been officially introduced to allow Infected knights to openly participate in major matches specifically to increase the overall entertainment and betting value for the audience.
Therefore, the Ingra Family possessed absolutely no logical reason to hide a powerful expert skilled in mass-scale mist manipulation. If they had such a talented asset in their ranks, he would have been packaged as a celebrity athlete long ago. So, this mysterious expert could only have come from somewhere outside their lineage.
"Has the actual identity of the individuals who clashed with the Ingra Family yesterday morning been found yet?" the Supervision Committee member continued to press, adjusting his coat against the morning chill.
"Our scouts tracked them to a local hotel. They appear to be a group of wealthy tourists arriving from the south, speaking with a distinct, refined Londinium accent; they should logically be citizens from Victoria," the Commercial Federation member answered smoothly, consulting the data on his handheld device.
"And the primary reason for their initial street conflict?"
"That, I am afraid I do not know." Noticing both of his colleagues staring at him with deep suspicion, the Commercial Federation member quickly shook his head to defend himself.
Just as the three representatives were quietly chatting near the barricade, an eagle-eyed officer nearby suddenly cried out, pointing toward the estate.
"Look! The mist seems to be visibly thinning out!"
The group quickly looked up, and indeed, the swirling white barrier was rapidly beginning to dissolve into the morning air. Soon, the grand structural silhouette of the Ingra Family's luxury villa reappeared clearly before the public's eyes. After exchanging a tense glance, the representatives and a squad of heavily armed officers cautiously crept forward across the manicured lawns.
Before they even managed to reach the villa's grand main entrance, everyone was violently struck by a thick, suffocating scent of fresh blood drifting out through the cracks. Their expressions tightened instantly; although they had already guessed that the Ingra Family had unfortunately provoked some overwhelmingly powerful figure who chose to 'shut the front door to beat the dog,' they had assumed a few survivors might have bargained for their lives.
But this kind of total, absolute extermination still made everyone's skin crawl with instinctual dread.
Soon, the heavy wooden front door was forced open by the scouts, and after witnessing the horrific situation unfolding inside the hall, several younger officers couldn't help but turn around and violently vomit into the bushes.
The entire grand hall was literally filled to the brim with corpses. And they had died in a staggering, terrifying variety of brutal ways.
After a whole morning of meticulous forensic inspection and counting, the medical teams barely managed to confirm that there were a total of one hundred and seventy-two corpses present inside the estate—every single one of whom was a core bloodline member of the Ingra Family. It could be said with absolute certainty that after today, the proud Ingra lineage would completely cease to exist within the borders of Kazimierz.
The primary cause of death, upon close medical inspection, was uniquely found to be divided into two entirely different styles of lethal attack. This meant that precisely two mysterious, high-tier combatants had systematically slaughtered the entire assembled membership of the Ingra Family here last night. Even if they counted the phantom accomplice outside who had utilized advanced Originium Arts to raise the thick mist and block the neighborhood's vision, there were a grand total of only three individuals involved in the assault.
One must understand that the Ingra Family was a thoroughly established knight family. The word 'established' in Kazimierz didn't merely mean old and wealthy; over one hundred and thirty of these one hundred and seventy-two deceased individuals held official, registered knight titles, and every single soul in the building had undergone rigorous, basic knightly combat training since childhood. Even the forty or so who weren't active tournament competitors could easily take down several ordinary men in a fistfight.
Yet, such a formidable group of trained warriors, possessing rich combat experience and decent physical strength, were effortlessly wiped out like fragile little chicks inside their own home, without even managing to put up a decent, organized fight.
At the exact same time this gruesome tally was being finalized, another crucial piece of intelligence arrived from the city police lines; the detailed tracking data retrieved from the tourists' hotel showed that the five foreign individuals possessed a rock-solid, completely flawless alibi for the entire night.
The reason for their immediate clearance was simple: near midnight last night, the elegant maid of the party—who was actually a temporary magical butler that Patchouli had casually conjured out of thin air to maintain appearances—had gone downstairs to the front desk to order five late-night snacks to be sent straight up to their suite. According to the statements of the local delivery boy, he saw with his very own eyes that all five of the foreign guests were physically present inside the lounge room, eating and chatting.
And the unnatural mist wrapping around the distant Ingra estate had initially appeared at precisely eleven o'clock in the evening, lasting continuously until this morning. So, any logical suspicion pointing toward these five specific tourists was directly and thoroughly ruled out by the investigators.
Although the previous street surveillance videos clearly demonstrated that the powerful Yan woman and the small blonde girl indeed possessed terrifying physical strength, and that young Olmer Ingra had explicitly died by their hands... the data showed they hadn't left their rented hotel rooms the entire night. Furthermore, because the party was apparently so incredibly noisy while playing competitive video games late into the night, several neighboring guests had actually lodged official noise complaints with the front desk. The hotel staff had physically gone up to check on the room during the exact hours of the massacre, firmly confirming that the entire group was lounging safely inside the suite from the start of the incident until it fully concluded at dawn.
Thus, their involvement was directly dismissed by the council. After all, they had just arrived in Kawalerielki yesterday afternoon. Leaving everything else aside, with everyone's physical movements perfectly accounted for by staff and witnesses, how could they have accurately located the hidden, private territory of the Ingra Family without even stepping out of their hotel door once? Under the premise that these circumstances simply could not be explained by human science, the authorities couldn't just rashly summon or detain wealthy foreign tourists without causing a diplomatic incident.
As for the initial street death of the competitive knight Brassrust, this was a matter that the higher-ups of the Commercial Federation were now incredibly eager to suppress even deeper into the archives. After all, if they wanted to utilize that specific street brawl to cause legal trouble for these dangerous tourists, they would inevitably be forced to make the original video recording public to the international press.
But that recording clearly and vividly demonstrated how the noble Brassrust had cowardly hid himself within a crowd of innocent citizens, suddenly lunged out as a child passed by, and prepared to split a little girl's skull from behind with a massive combat axe.
Once this damning video was exposed to the media, every single knight across Kazimierz would be thoroughly shamed by the association. After all, a grown, sponsored warrior who sneaks up on a little girl from behind—and you are telling the global audience that he is a respected colleague? Outsiders would instantly look down upon the moral standards and chivalric integrity of all Kazimierz knights, which would deal a severe, catastrophic blow to the lucrative tourism reputation and sports commerce of the entire nation.
So after watching the street playback behind closed doors, everyone from the Supervision Committee to the National Academy to the Commercial Federation tacitly and immediately agreed to permanently destroy the surveillance footage. No one would ever seek official revenge for the Brassrust because of it.
On the other side of the city, the very instant Remilia opened her eyes to the morning sun, she was startled to find Flandre standing right by her bedside in a frilly nightgown, staring straight down at her face with a locked, intense gaze.
"Whoa~~ Flandre, what on earth are you doing standing there like a ghost?!" Remilia gave a sudden, undignified start under the sheets, only relaxing her posture after her vision cleared and she recognized her younger sister.
"Bad sister," Flandre pouted, her ruby eyes narrowing slightly as she detected a very specific scent. "Did you sneak out to play a fun game last night without taking Flandre along with you?"
Remilia naturally understood that the fresh, lingering aura of blood clinging to her skin couldn't possibly be hidden from Flandre's sharp, supernatural senses. She quickly reached out her hand, ruffling Flandre's blonde hair to distract her.
"Absolutely not! If there were truly something fun happening out there, how could I ever dream of not bringing you along to play? I merely ran into a few blind, foolish little thieves while I was out taking a brief midnight stroll to digest our late-night snacks. How could I have known I would run into... well, you know exactly what I mean!"
Saying this, Remilia felt a bit guilty under her sister's intense gaze, and she quickly averted her eyes toward the window. Flandre suspiciously analyzed the thick aura of blood lingering around Remilia, leaning her small face even closer to her sister's nose.
"Is what you are saying to me truly the absolute truth, Sister?"
Remilia swallowed hard under the pressure. "O-of course it is the absolute truth."
"I don't—"
Just as Flandre was about to flatly state that she didn't believe a single word of Remilia's clumsy excuse, the bedroom door was politely knocked open. Sakuya Izayoi stood gracefully at the threshold, looking as perfectly immaculate and elegant as ever.
"Breakfast is fully prepared downstairs in the dining area," the head maid announced smoothly. "And I have prepared a special, double-layered sweet pudding for today's menu."
Hearing Sakuya Izayoi's magical words, Flandre's hyperactive attention was immediately and completely drawn away to the thought of dessert.
"I want pudding! I want sweet pudding right now!"
Cheering loudly, the girl quickly scrambled to change out of her nightgown and rushed out into the hallway at lightning speed.
Remilia let out a massive, exhausted sigh of relief the moment the girl disappeared down the stairs. "Thank you for the perfect timing, Sakuya."
Sakuya Izayoi looked at Remilia, who was still sitting in her silk pajamas and looking a bit disheveled after being thoroughly startled by Flandre's interrogation. The head maid offered a slight, respectful nod of her head, and then quietly turned her face toward the wall to cover a sudden, intense nosebleed that was about to start from the sheer cuteness of the display.
"I shall head downstairs to look after the Second Young Lady's table manners first."
"Mm, go ahead. Don't let Flandre run around the lobby," Remilia instructed, quickly smoothing down her messy hair.