Exploring Technology in a Wizard World

Chapter 192: Chapter 191: I Will Take Responsibility
 

“Dead people!”

“Someone died?!”

“Damn it! It’s Robert, Clark, and Dan!”

“They this…”

As dawn broke, Richard heard commotion starting outside the cabin in the corridor. Clearly, the students getting up had discovered the bodies.

Glancing at the bunk, Pandora continued to sleep in unaffected, with no intention of getting up. Richard shook his head, opened the cabin door and stepped out, only to see that many people had already gathered in the corridor.

The students from the third deck were poking their heads out of their cabins to look around, and people from the decks above kept coming down to check the situation—”rubbernecking” is human nature.

Richard turned his head to one side, looking at Gro, who stood at the doorway of his cabin with his neck shrunk, merely a few meters from the scene where the bodies had been found, his face pale as a ghost.

Richard walked over and gently patted Gro’s shoulder, only to see him shudder all over, startled.

Gro turned stiffly, and after seeing it was Richard, he relaxed and kept patting his chest saying, “Lord Richard, you scared me to death.”

“How so, are you very afraid?”

“Of course. You don’t see how close that body is to my cabin door. For all we know, next time it could be my turn,” Gro said, swallowing subconsciously.

“The body is so close to your cabin door, didn’t you hear anything last night?” A voice emerged, questioning Gro. When Gro turned to look, he saw Nancy coming down from the first deck, walking over to his vicinity watching him while also greeting Richard.

“Eh, this…” Upon hearing Nancy’s question, Gro hesitated slightly, seriously recalled, and then shook his head in confusion answering, “I… I don’t think I heard anything at all, really.”

“In that case, the killer must be very strong, they must definitely have the ability to cast spells, otherwise, it’s impossible to kill three people that silently,” Nancy analyzed quickly after hearing Gro’s words and looked to Richard asking, “What do you think?”

“The same as you,” Richard replied. After discovering black powder the night before, he had a fairly clear understanding of the entire murder case but didn’t want to reveal it, after all, it involved many secrets.

Nancy didn’t suspect much and just said earnestly, “Then you need to be careful yourself.”

“I’ll be cautious,” Richard nodded slightly, “and you be careful too.”

“Okay,” Nancy responded.

Gro on the side, looking at Richard then at Nancy, his mouth opened and closed. He lowered his head and whispered weakly, “I’ll be careful too.”

“You don’t need to be careful,” Nancy said.

“Huh? Why… why don’t I need to be careful?” Gro looked up, a puzzled expression on his face.

“Because your abilities are almost the same as those three dead students. If the killer really targets you, you won’t survive anyway. Being careful is pointless. You might as well relax and keep yourself in good spirits. That way, you can die smiling instead of dying so gruesomely like the three of them,” Nancy said, pointing her hand toward the three bodies next to them.

Gro looked over and saw that the three corpses all had their eyes wide open and mouths gaping—it was indeed a ghastly sight, repulsive even.

Gro: “…”

With his gaze returning, Gro looked at Nancy, fighting the urge to bite someone in his heart. He admitted that what Nancy said was factual, but it was too factual—solid as a Stone Ball, it hit him hard and hurt him. By the way, why did he feel like Nancy was deliberately targeting him? Was it just his imagination or was it real?

Lost in his erratic thoughts and despite the itch of hatred, Gro felt helpless. Under Nancy’s steady gaze, he meekly said, “If I really come across the killer, I will try my best… to die less unsightly.”

Nancy calmly said, “Do your best.”

Gro: “…” Are you that eager for me to die? What good does my death do you?!

Laughing to himself, Richard glanced at Nancy and noticed, besides her exceptional abilities, she had one outstanding characteristic: a sharp tongue. It hadn’t shown in their conversation, but in her exchange with Gro, it was fully manifest. Was she deliberately demoralizing Gro? Was that necessary?

“Pop,” Richard patted Gro’s shoulder and offered comfort, “Actually, you needn’t worry too much, the killer might not go after the students again.”

“Hmm?” Richard looked puzzled.

Nancy’s eyes flashed with thoughtfulness: “You mean…?”

“First, six Sailors died, now three students. The identity of the victims is escalating. Who knows, next time it could be…” Richard didn’t finish his sentence but turned his head towards the stairs and said, “They’re here.”

Nancy and Gro looked over and saw Potter descending with others in tow.

The three ordinary students who had been following Potter and helping with the bodies had now become new corpses, so this time Potter brought six new students with him. Also, there were three Wizard Apprentices surrounding him.

Potter’s face looked a bit unsightly with a deep frown, clearly agitated by the ongoing murders with no leads. The deaths of the three students only fueled his anger.

However, Potter still managed to keep his composure, walked up to the corpses, took a few glances, then turned to the three Wizard Apprentices following him and said something.

The corridor was very noisy, and Potter’s voice was purposely low, so Richard couldn’t hear exactly what was being said, but he could guess it was about speculating the cause of death and the killer’s methods.

After a moment, Potter halted his conversation with his companions and addressed the people around him, “I know everyone must feel fearful and think I’m incompetent. Because I haven’t stopped the murderer from striking again and let them kill three students.”

People around went quiet, all looking at Potter.

“Here, I must admit my incompetence,” Potter candidly said, his eyes sweeping over the crowd, growing sharp, “But I absolutely will not back down.”

“The dead are not my doing, but they’re under my watch. Because Professor Dempsey entrusted me with maintaining Order, it’s my responsibility to ensure everyone’s safety. I won’t bother with any more explanations, as I’m sure you’ve all grown tired of them in the past few days.

Here, I only want to say, I’m not afraid to die, and I will see my duty through. Starting tonight, I’ll lead a patrol through the entire construct, and I’ll ensure that Wizard Apprentices guard the three decks below the ship. If the murderer appears again and wishes to kill, they must kill the Wizard Apprentices, kill me first! That’s that.”

After finishing, Potter said no more, waved his hand at the six new students behind him, and commanded, “Carry the bodies away, then clean up.”

The onlookers stood dumbfounded as Potter, flanked by the three Wizard Apprentices, went straight to the upper level and then onto the deck, entering the cabin where the Wizards resided.

…