Chapter 4: No Body, No Murderer
“As expected of Northern ruffians, their mouths are full of vulgarities, making one want to kill them.”
However, out of professional ethics, Guilliman suppressed his anger and did not immediately draw his sword to kill the three men in front of him.
He looked at the three hunter brothers expressionlessly, and said in a firm voice:
“It’s you, as expected. Detection magic already told me the result.”
“It was you who buried the rotting animal carcasses in Lady Judith’s orchard.”
“Hunters who often hunt in the forest naturally know what kind of behavior attracts ghouls.”
“As for your motive, it’s nothing more than coveting the lady’s beauty and the orchard she manages.”
“For such a crime, I’m sure the White Orchard’s constable would be very willing to extort a sum from you and then lock you up to torment you properly.”
Being exposed so firmly and directly, the three hunter brothers’ expressions changed slightly. They exchanged glances, and killing intent appeared in all their eyes.
If someone else had said this, they could easily have argued, as words alone are not proof, and there was no substantial evidence. Even if they were to be unreasonable, others would have no way to deal with them.
But the opponent was a Witcher, who possessed mysterious and powerful magic.
What is unknown is what is feared. No one knows what unexpected things magic can conjure. Both repulsion and reverence—this is the attitude of most commoners towards magic.
After a few seconds of low conversation, the eldest of the three hunter brothers, the scar-faced man with a sinister expression, turned his head and looked at Guilliman with the eyes of a predator, saying sinisterly:
“Shut up, you bastard. No one will believe a mutant’s words.”
“It’s you evil fellows who brought the Black Plague, causing heavy losses to the Temerians.”
“Now, you must have also used disgusting dark witchcraft to charm that bitch Judith and climb into her bed.”
“We’ll kill you, then dig out your mutated heart and brain. You won’t have a chance to see the constable.”
After saying this, the scar-faced man gave a look to his brothers behind him and growled in a low voice:
“Don’t just stand there, let’s kill him together.”
Being yelled at by his elder brother, the younger hunter brother holding a bow and arrow muttered:
“I said long ago that we should have killed this mutant sooner.”
“If we had ambushed him with arrows just now, there wouldn’t be so much trouble.”
After saying this, he took out an arrow and was about to shoot, while the other two hunters also picked up their weapons, intending to surround the Witcher from different directions.
Seeing this situation, more words were useless, and the murderers were basically confirmed.
Killing these ruffians was what he wanted to do most now.
Guilliman’s gaze flickered slightly, and he quickly formulated a battle plan.
He protected his chest with both hands, facing the three men’s encirclement, neither dodging nor evading.
Just as the enemies were somewhat confused, a huge wooden shield, large enough to cover half his body, appeared out of thin air in Guilliman’s left hand, protecting his body.
This method of conjuring objects out of thin air startled all three hunter brothers. Even their attacking movements hesitated for a moment, as if they were afraid this was some evil witchcraft.
However, Guilliman would not hesitate at all. He slightly moved the wooden shield in front of him, and a crossbow that was already strung with a bolt emerged from behind the shield.
In a flash of lightning, with a click, the crossbow bolt shot out, accurately passing over the two hunter brothers holding melee weapons, and instantly struck the neck of the younger hunter brother holding the bow and arrow.
Pfft! The sound of the sharp arrow piercing flesh.
The bow hunter’s eyes widened. He had no time to react before he clutched his bleeding neck and fell to the ground, whimpering and twitching continuously.
The eldest and second of the three hunter brothers were also stunned.
They had dared to openly attack Guilliman precisely because they saw him unarmed and not even wearing armor. They hadn’t expected the situation to change so quickly, losing a brother in the blink of an eye.
However, getting distracted during a fight is a suicidal act.
In that moment of hesitation, the shield and crossbow in Guilliman’s hand had disappeared, replaced by a gleaming steel sword.
Although Temerian military swordsmanship seemed unremarkable, with broad and sweeping moves, making it difficult to deal with true sword masters, it was quite suitable for dealing with commoners.
Guilliman gripped the steel sword in his hand, took a step, and swung upwards. The sharp blade cut the elder hunter’s stomach from bottom to top, spilling his intestines onto the ground.
Then, with another stepping spin and horizontal slash, the immense force, in the terrified gaze of the last hunter, directly struck his neck, sending his head rolling onto the ground.
Compared to veterans with battlefield experience and bandits who frequently commit murder and robbery, ordinary ruffians were like docile sheep, waiting to be slaughtered.
The gap in combat experience often made them a step slower at critical moments in battle, leading to fatal mistakes.
And it was this hesitation, this delay, that would cause their lives to be harvested as easily as straw.
After effortlessly slaying the three ruffians, Guilliman expressionlessly took out a rag from his storage space, wiped the blood-stained sword clean, and then put it back.
The recent battle was simply too easy. A Witcher with the ability to retrieve items at any time was like a dimensionality reduction strike against a small number of ordinary people.
He had three such pre-strung crossbows stored in his storage space, ready for use at any time.
Even experienced Witchers rarely managed to dodge a powerful crossbow bolt in a close-range ambush.
And once he learned more alchemy skills, his storage space would contain not just crossbows, but countless alchemical bombs ready to explode at any moment.
Ten minutes later, Guilliman returned to the house, got back into bed, without even a trace of sweat on him.
He closed his eyes, caressing the warm, soft body, a faint smile on his face.
The traces of battle in the yard had been cleaned up, and the three hunter bodies had all been put into his storage space, undiscovered.
It was still just after sunrise. Unless those three hunters had notified others before doing their misdeeds, if even the bodies couldn't be found, no one would know the reason for the three hunter brothers' disappearance, and no one would notice their deaths for several days.
After all, even in modern society, where reconnaissance technology and science are highly developed, it is difficult to solve a case and convict without a body, let alone in the ignorant Middle Ages.
However, Guilliman was a very professional person. He planned to stay at Judith’s house for a few days to investigate whether there were any other possible culprits, and to carry out his next plan.
It wasn't far from White Orchard, and he could also go to the hunter brothers' homes to scavenge for scraps and gather news about the Kingdom of Temeria.
Coming to White Orchard this time was a decision he made after careful thought.
Before the future Geralt arrived, this area had many good things waiting for him to uncover.
Life was tough these days, and he had to be very thrifty.