Why am I the one getting threatened?

  Captain Hugh pointed at you too.

  Even the little blond tuft on your head was pointing at you.

  That was what Ethan muttered to himself after Ivy's threat.

  The broad-shouldered man was named Hugh.

  When he was younger, his dream had been to become an honorable knight, join the royal army, and devote himself to the Empire. In the end, he had not even made it to the interview stage. So he came back to Willowbrook with a sword on his back and, while he was still young and strong, took up work as the town's security captain.

  At least, that was the version Hugh told whenever he got drunk.

  The dozen or so men under his command made up the town's defensive force.

  They were also Baron Gideon's private militia.

  Not long after Ethan first arrived in Willowbrook, he had made a point of getting on good terms with the local strongman. Over time, he had learned that Hugh was a pretty straightforward man. He spoke plainly, acted plainly, and did not have a bad heart. Invite him out for a few drinks on his days off, and he would treat you like a brother for life.

  Ivy pulled Hugh aside and began gesturing animatedly as she explained.

  "[Necromancy Scroll.] A basic spirit-calling spell. High-ranking necromancers in the Capital inscribe their spells into scrolls, and as long as the user follows the required steps, even an ordinary person can produce the spell's effect."

  Hugh listened with an expression that suggested he understood about half of that.

  Seeing this, Ivy launched into an even more detailed explanation of how scrolls were made, which only made Hugh look more lost.

  At that moment, Hugh looked like a man sitting on a bed of nails. Ivy was explaining everything so earnestly that he could not bring himself to admit he had not understood a single word, so he shot Ethan a desperate look for help.

  "Put simply, Sheriff Ivy and I were investigating how this man died."

  Ethan found an opening and summarized Ivy's long academic lecture in one sentence.

  In truth, that lecture had also revealed plenty of things between the lines.

  Ivy's family background had to be unusual. Scrollcraft was not common in the Empire. Ethan had heard hunters at the Guild say that even a functional spell scroll could sell for two gold lions, which was almost equal to several months of hard-earned pay for them.

  And just now, Ivy had slapped one onto a dead man's forehead without blinking.

  Rich girl.

  Now Hugh finally understood.

  "So what did you find?"

  Ivy answered, "He came from Riverbend. He was struck by a curse, most likely through the town's water supply. His organs were completely liquefied. That's what killed him."

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Riverbend."

  The moment Hugh heard the town's name, his expression changed.

  He gritted his teeth and said, "The Baron wants to see you."

  "Well, if the Baron is asking for you, then I guess I'll..."

  "You too."

  Ivy clamped a hand onto Ethan's shoulder.

  "You're the town's occult expert. We need your opinion."

  Ethan let out a long, resigned sigh.

  All he could do was gesture for Chloe, who was peeking halfway out from behind the cabinet, to stay where she was.

  ...

  Baron Gideon owned an estate north of Willowbrook.

  There were maids all through the manor, dressed in black-and-white uniforms. As Ethan passed, they bowed to him politely.

  Two years after arriving in this world, Ethan was finally experiencing what it felt like to be surrounded by maids.

  Baron Gideon was already waiting in the main hall.

  As always, he was dressed in a proper tailcoat, looking much the same as he did when giving speeches in the town square. He was a little thin, wore a neatly groomed mustache, and fit Ethan's stereotype of a noble almost perfectly. The moment the group entered, the Baron, who had been pacing back and forth, finally let out a breath of relief.

  Then he looked past them and frowned at Ethan, who was trailing at the rear.

  "And this is?"

  Before Ivy could answer, Hugh stepped forward.

  "That's Ethan, the Guild clerk. Knows a lot about the occult. He's a good friend of mine, and he should be able to help."

  The Baron nodded and said, "This man is a traveling merchant who returned to town this morning. He brought back news from Riverbend."

  Only then did Ethan notice there was someone else in the room.

  Mostly because the merchant had somehow managed to position himself in the worst possible corner. His whole body was curled up tight, his arms wrapped over his head, trying to hide himself behind the sofa. He looked badly shaken, trembling all over.

  Ethan could tell the merchant was doing his absolute best to turn into an inconspicuous mushroom.

  "They're dead. They're all dead. Every one of them."

  As Ethan got closer, he could hear the merchant muttering to himself.

  The Baron frowned and explained for him.

  "When he went to Riverbend to restock his goods, he found everyone in town already dead."

  Ethan's heart sank.

  When Ivy had used the Necromancy Scroll earlier, the corpse had also kept saying, They're all dead. Ethan had instinctively assumed the man meant his companions, maybe a merchant caravan ambushed on the road. That sort of thing was not unusual around frontier towns.

  But an entire town wiped out...

  That nearly gave him a heart attack.

  He thought back to the red moon that night.

  So that was all it had been. Someone had been conducting a large-scale sacrificial ritual in the next town over, and here he had been worrying that the heavens were angry because he kept launching Fireballs into the mountains.

  "When was the last time you went to Riverbend?" Ivy asked.

  Her expression did not change, and her voice stayed as calm as ever.

  "T-two days ago."

  Thoughtfully, she rested a hand on the merchant's shoulder.

  "Someone killed everyone in Riverbend within two days. The bodies you saw had no external injuries, but there was a lot of blood. Enough to stain the whole place."

  The merchant finally looked up at her, staring in disbelief.

  "H-how did you know that?"

  Ivy stated her conclusion.

  "They were killed by a curse. The town's water supply was tainted. Everyone who drank from it was cursed. That explains why the whole town died within two days."

  It was a vicious spell.

  Whoever had done it had intended from the start to kill everyone.

  "Captain Hugh, go investigate the town's water source immediately."

  "But how are we supposed to tell?" Hugh asked.

  He was panicking like an ant on a hot pan. He knew he needed to do something, but he had no idea where to start.

  How exactly was he supposed to know whether Willowbrook's water had been cursed too?

  Was he supposed to take a sip himself and see if he dropped dead like the people in Riverbend?

  "Take this."

  Ivy tossed him a palm-sized diamond-shaped crystal.

  "If it lights up, the water's contaminated."

  "You heard her. Do exactly as Sheriff Ivy says."

  The Baron gave the order at once.

  Once the guards had filed out of the manor in a rush, Baron Gideon finally seemed to lose the strength holding him up. His face had gone pale, and he stumbled back to the sofa and collapsed onto it. He adjusted his breathing and did his best to make himself look composed again.

  A few minutes later, he finally asked, "This curse you mentioned... you mean something like a witch's spell?"

  "I didn't specifically say witch."

  Ivy fixed Baron Gideon with a sharp, searching look. Something in his reaction had caught her attention.

  "But you seem very sure this was the work of a witch. Would you care to tell me why?"