Linda, sitting beside Arthur, asked softly-
"Mrs. Andor, you didn't kill the other two first.
Because that would have put Baron Kemail on his guard.
But you spent over thirty years preparing to kill Baron Kemail. Although that made you an increasingly accomplished cook and honed your skill with a knife,
according to Chief Maltz's description, the cuts on the bodies required not only skill, but tremendous explosive strength.
That was strength you didn't possess."
After quietly asking the Old Chief what had happened, Linda had found this point particularly strange.
Mrs. Andor was hardly strong and robust.
Nor did she carry any "mystical aura."
And the explosive strength and skill needed to slice cleanly through someone's neck were certainly not something an elderly woman could possess-Linda had some authority on that subject.
Over the past few days, when she had sought lessons in swordsmanship and dagger techniques from the old steward Orr and the others, the first thing they had made her do was slaughter pigs.
Faced with a whole, live pig, even a sharp longsword brought down with all her strength would invariably get caught in fat and bone. The spurting blood would also interfere with the sword's intended path.
Only after several attempts had she learned to avoid the bones effectively.
Several more attempts had taught her to use the blade properly and deliver a true strike to a vital point-as a result, Camille's household had eaten all manner of pork dishes for half a month straight, while the old steward had turned much of the rest into sausages, cured sausages, and other foods.
And that was only against pigs.
Against a person?
Linda had no confidence.
So even explaining Mrs. Andor's knife skills as the result of "years of cooking" was a considerable stretch-unless the old