The True Culprit

On the second floor of the school, Roy and Faywen rapidly flipped through the files.

Cadell stood behind them with her arms crossed, watching coldly. She wanted to see what tricks these two strange people, so insistent on examining the registration forms, were trying to pull.

"1256, 1257, 1258, 1259, 1260..." They found five blank registration forms among thirteen stacks of files, one from each of the past five years.

"So there were five missing people in total, one disappearing each year," Roy whispered to Faywen. "That distinctive pattern proves it wasn't a coincidence."

"What exactly did you two find? Shouldn't you explain yourselves?"

"Teacher Cadell, you've always been responsible for keeping the enrollment records. Have you seen these blank registration forms before?"

The middle-aged woman took one and inspected it twice, her brows nearly knotting together. "These papers are specially made. One sheet per student, and they aren't cheap. I'm not that wasteful. But I can't completely rule out the possibility that I accidentally slipped them in there."

"They weren't blank originally..." Roy explained. "They recorded a student's information, but the writing was erased. Along with it, the student described on the page vanished as well. More precisely, they were taken away by the culprit."

"Why are you becoming as superstitious as Faywen? What could possibly dare to abduct my students without anyone noticing in Edersberg, a city with thousands of residents? Even the Sparrow Gang wouldn't have the nerve." Cadell retorted, "Unless you can provide other evidence, Roy, if you dare try to deceive me again, just wait to be expelled."

"You want evidence? Then you'll have to wait a little longer." He was the only one who had witnessed the mark on his clothes changing, so he had no way to convince anyone else.

But he already had a rough idea in mind.

"Teacher Faywen... What was the exact date of the final diary entry where 'he' appeared?"

"I've read through those diaries dozens of times over the past two years. I could recite them backward," Faywen said. "October 4th, 1258. That night, Bob got drunk and slapped me. I was angry and scared, so I ran to the school. 'He' followed me here too."

"You and I agreed then that 'he' must have disappeared sometime between October 4th and New Year, November 1st."

Today was October 7th, 1260. That meant the time when the symbol on Roy's sleeve gradually faded—the time when the student who had drawn it disappeared—also fell within that interval.

Both incidents occurred during that period, so they could not be called coincidence.

Roy's thoughts raced.

A date near October alone did not mean much. But less than a month later came New Year.

The Witcher world operated like life itself, forever cycling onward. Within that cycle were eight points of magic, each corresponding to an important festival in this world: New Year (Halloween), Winter Solstice, Spring Welcoming Festival (Candlemas), Spring Equinox, Beltane, Summer Solstice, Harvest Festival, and Autumn Equinox.

The closer it came to those eight days and nights, the stronger magical radiance became, and the more likely magical phenomena and mysterious incidents were to occur. If the culprit chose to strike at this time, it was likely a creature extremely sensitive to magic.

Roy wrote down his first conclusion: Since 1256, the culprit had committed one crime each year, near New Year. It was highly likely a creature sensitive to magic: a Monster, or a human with magical talent.

Second conclusion: The culprit gradually erased most traces the missing person had left in the world, including the memories of those around them, words written by the missing person, their drawings, and any writing directly describing them...

"Faywen, I remember you mentioned in your diary that you and your family all unconsciously overlooked 'him.'"

"I think so. I had to be fair, so I divided most of my energy equally among every student in the school. It was inevitable that I would overlook and neglect him." Faywen's pretty face was full of gloom. "And Bob was an old drunk. He spent all day looking for alcohol and had no time to care about him. His mother wasn't in her right mind, so she couldn't communicate normally most of the time."

"Then 'he' was someone everyone ignored..."

Five missing people... Even if the memories of those around them had been erased, and the traces and writing they left behind had vanished, hadn't any of their families noticed something strange, like Faywen had, and investigated the clues?

Roy wrote down his third conclusion: The culprit's targets might be children ignored by everyone... including orphans.

Perhaps it was some mysterious selection principle, or perhaps it revealed the culprit's cunning nature.

Compared to people who received plenty of attention, if those who disappeared were targets already frequently ignored by the people around them, the impact and changes to the real world would undoubtedly be much smaller. It would also be more concealed and harder to notice.

Roy showed these three conclusions to Faywen and Cadell. The former was somewhat surprised. She had noticed these things long ago and understood them clearly, but she had not summarized them so specifically and thoroughly.

Cadell's previously indifferent expression finally changed, though she remained skeptical. "Roy, these three conclusions sound frightening, but I'll say the same thing again: without evidence, they don't stand."

"Perhaps the truth is the exact opposite of your deductions. Maybe there were never five missing people at all."

"Evidence... If we can find the culprit, that will be the best evidence." Roy exhaled. "Teacher Cadell, I ask that you stop questioning me for now and trust me temporarily."

"For five consecutive years, near New Year each year, the culprit came out and took one victim from House of Cadell." Roy asked, "Don't you get a feeling?"

"The culprit is hiding inside the school?" Faywen's face turned pale. "It comes out to kill when New Year approaches?"

"That's impossible..." Cadell shook her head. "I know every person in this school inside and out, including the kitchen helpers. I swear by Prophet Lebioda that there is absolutely no culprit among them."

"I never said the culprit had to be human." Roy had already observed every teacher, student, and staff member in the school. They were all ordinary humans, with no ability to erase memories. "A greater possibility is some kind of Monster living within the school."

"Do you have any leads?"

"I can't say yet. Please wait a moment." Roy had no memory of any Monster that matched those conclusions. But that did not mean he was out of options.

He turned and left the room, wandered through the corridor for two minutes, then took out the notebook Letho had left him from his space and returned to the room.

The notebook recorded herbs, potions, and knowledge of Monsters. But he had been busy studying Common Script for the past half month and had not yet had time to read it.

"What is that?" Faywen and Cadell could not help casting curious looks at it.

"It's an experience notebook left to me by a master Witcher. It records information about all kinds of Monsters. Perhaps it contains the target we're looking for."

The three of them then read through most of the notebook's sections on Monsters. The more Roy read, the more alarmed he became. He had no impression of more than half the Monsters recorded in it. This world ran far deeper than he had imagined.

After browsing through over a dozen Monsters of different forms, the three of them came across a passage on one page.

"At the end of autumn, the best season for hunting bears, Cerret and I stayed overnight in a small mountain village.

That night, the wind outside was fierce, making my bladder feel like it was about to burst. I went into the yard to take a piss, and the pendant around my neck suddenly began vibrating. The movement was faint, and the lingering magic was weak, but without a doubt, new prey was calling to me again. Hunting Monsters was much more interesting than hunting Grizzly Bears, especially in a completely unknown situation like this. That piss was the guidance of fate.

Nearby, I found an oak tree over five hundred years old, carved with complex symbols of unclear meaning... The magic came from that tree.

After trying the Ald Sign, Igni Sign, Nekker dung... and more than thirty other methods in turn, I discovered that salt produced a chemical reaction with the oak tree.

The roots of the oak painfully opened a mouth, revealing a deep, pitch-black tree hollow.

I woke Cerret, and we went down into the hollow for a good fight.

Apprentice of the School of the Viper—yes, I mean you, the one reading this passage. You are not allowed to skip the content below:

The Monster beneath the tree hollow, which I named The Severer, Child Hunter Ghost, or Demon in the Tree, was a thin, humanoid creature with an indistinct face. Its skin was rough and hard like bark, and it had sharp venomous fangs and claws. Once bitten, one's limbs and nerves would gradually become numb.

Illustration below--

Its speed and strength were comparable to an ordinary human's. It could regenerate quickly, and ordinary weapons could not inflict fatal injuries on it.

But it feared fire, salt, and Necrophage Oil.

After Cerret and I swiftly dealt with it, we dug a total of fifteen sets of remains out of the tree hollow. The next day, after speaking with the villagers for half a month and conducting extensive investigations, we learned the following information about this Monster:

It spent most of its time sleeping in the tree hollow. Only near New Year each year did it awaken due to abnormal fluctuations in magic and hunt nearby creatures.

Its targets were always young human children, and the lonelier they were, the more they suited its taste.

It wrapped helpless prey from head to toe in its vomit, then consumed them after they suffocated to death. Its vomit also possessed some unbelievable effect, gradually severing the prey's connection to the real world. Once the prey died, the severance was complete.

Most traces the prey left in the real world would vanish with them, and everyone would forget that poor person.

It was a forgotten ghost that slept beneath an ancient tree and devoured the ignored...

Rookie, when you read this record, you presumably will not have passed the Trial of the Grasses yet. If you intend to deal with this thing, remember to bring equipment suited to its weaknesses and wear thicker clothes. If you can kill it, take its most valuable tongue and dry it for storage.

October 6th, 1204. Nilfgaard, Vicovaro Province. Written by Oakes at Bairi Mountain.

The three stared at one another for a long while.

"So something has been living beneath that Horn Tree in the yard?" Cadell's face was full of disbelief, and her voice was astonishingly hoarse. "It's been there for years? How is that possible? How could I have felt nothing at all?"

"We'll know if we try!" Faywen clenched her hand into a fist, her pretty face filled with determination and hatred. "I remember there's still plenty of salt in the kitchen?"

Roy took a deep breath and looked once more at the nearly vanished mark on his left sleeve.

That person he had forgotten might still be alive. Are you going, rookie?