Not only Conti, but Reinhard, Lie, and the three remaining Otherkind knights had also realized what had happened.
Without waiting for orders, everyone began searching.
But...
They found nothing!
Even after searching the entire convoy, taking the Otherkind knight's corpse as the center, they still found nothing. Only when Conti, unwilling to give up, expanded the search did she discover something unusual.
"Over here!"
Conti stood beside a distant clump of bushes, waving.
Everyone hurried over. As they rounded the bushes, they all stiffened.
An enormous cauldron sat behind the bushes. Some warm green liquid remained inside, giving off a strange, pungent odor.
"Wh-what is this?"
Reinhard, Lie, and the three remaining Otherkind knights exchanged bewildered looks.
Eventually, every human and Otherkind turned to Qin Ran, who was slowly approaching.
Qin Ran examined the cauldron, then looked toward the convoy.
There were at least a hundred meters between them in a straight line. With the bushes blocking the view, there was no way they could have seen this place from where they had been standing.
But once they approached, that pungent odor was impossible to conceal.
Good!
After murmuring that inwardly, Qin Ran instructed Reinhard and Lie to search the area thoroughly. Then he waved the three Otherkind knights away to guard the convoy.
Qin Ran himself followed Conti's example and expanded the search.
"Strange!"
"How is that possible?"
"Even if some unusual power twisted his neck off, there should have been blood at the wound on his head. Why wasn't a single trace left behind?"
Conti unconsciously followed Qin Ran, muttering to herself.
Qin Ran listened but said nothing.
Conti, however, clearly had other ideas.
"Did you find something?"
She asked him outright.
"No!"
Qin Ran shook his head.
"Really?"
"But your expression just now..."
Conti looked at Qin