Chapter 600

December 3rd, early morning. The grave of the Saints of the Holy Order was found to have been robbed. On the same day, December 3rd in the evening, evidence of attempted theft was found at the National Cemetery. Since then, the National Cemetery has strengthened its access control to guard against grave robbers. Although it cannot be said that the two incidents are completely unrelated, it is suspicious that they occurred on the same date. They were heading to the location of the tomb where an attempted theft had occurred after confirming the location with the cemetery manager. They believe that they may be able to find something out by checking it out themselves, just like they found something out in the underground tomb of the Holy Order. The common point is not one, but two. The first is that they are both cemeteries, and the second is that they are burial places for those who had exceptional power. The purpose is not revenge, and there is a common point between the two scenes that needs to be considered. In the National Cemetery, where those who erected the pillars in the Demon World War or after the Gate Incident are buried, there is a common point that they are burial places for the strong. The purpose of their investigation is not revenge, and they believe that the perpetrators were looking for a strong undead. They arrive at the location of the tomb where an attempted theft had occurred and find that it is a secluded area that is not easily noticeable. They confirm the names on the tombstone and ask their companion to use their ability to melt the snow. "Hainrich's summoned flames began to emit heat and instantly melted the thick snow. Ellen, Louise, and Ludwig could feel the heat of the flames burning their faces in real-time. How long has it been? The melted snow revealed the bare ground of the cemetery. The withered brown grass, due to winter, was soaked and limp in the melted snow. Five graves. The flat ground behind the tombstones. The attempted theft meant they were trying to dig up the ground. Ellen touched the flat grass of the graves where the attempted theft occurred and soon pulled out a clump of grass with some dirt. 'The caretakers did a thorough job. They could have just passed by without noticing.' Louise nodded slowly at Ellen's words. 'Visitors could have discovered it too. If it was my family or friend's grave, I would have looked more closely.' The soil and grass on top of the tomb looked unnatural to visitors or caretakers, and they suspected it was an attempted theft. And the scene was restored to look normal by the caretakers. Ellen examined the ground closely and could see the shape of the unnatural dirt piles on top of the graves. She came to see it with her own eyes. And Ellen didn't come here to see the grass. 'Ellen...' Ludwig muttered in a daze. 'Is this really okay...?' Hainrich also muttered in a daze. From now on, they could guess what Ellen was going to do without having to say it. 'It won't be okay.' Blue magic power began to gather in Ellen's hands. There was only one thing they had to do to find out what happened here. To confirm it with their own eyes. -Thump! Ellen began to dig the ground with her bare hands. To confirm the tomb." Summary of previous part of chapter only for context: In this chapter, Hainrich summons flames that melt the snow in a cemetery, revealing five graves. Ellen, Louise, and Ludwig notice that the ground on top of the graves looks unnatural, indicating an attempted theft. Ellen pulls out a clump of grass and dirt, realizing that the caretakers did a thorough job of restoring the scene to look normal. She decides to dig up the ground with her bare hands to confirm what happened. Ludwig and Hainrich are hesitant, but Ellen is determined to uncover the truth. She gathers blue magic power in her hands and begins to dig. The chapter ends with the group waiting to see what Ellen will uncover.

Translation: Although the caretaker offered to accompany them, Ellen refused for a good reason. Although they didn't discuss it, everyone knew they had to do something about the situation. Even if they knew there was an attempted theft, the caretakers couldn't do anything crazy like digging up the graves themselves. However, Ellen had a different possibility in mind, so she had to do it herself. No one needed to help Ellen with what she was doing. Ludwig tried to help, but Ellen told him to step aside. Despite using her bare hands, it didn't take long for Ellen to dig up the ground. She found a body buried underneath and everyone looked at it with a stern expression. Although they felt guilty, they didn't feel scared or horrified by the body. If this was like the underground tomb of the Holy Knight Order, there shouldn't be any bodies. But there was a body. However, Ellen pointed out that it wasn't just any body. She found a broken piece of a coffin and Louise recognized it as a handle. If it was undead, they would have broken the coffin and crawled out of the ground. If it was a grave robber, they would have gone straight for the valuables inside the coffin. Therefore, it was likely that the undead broke the coffin and crawled out of the ground. However, if that was the case, the body should have turned into an undead. Summary of previous part of chapter only for context: In the previous part of the chapter, Ellen, Ludwig, and Hainrich discovered an attempted theft at a cemetery. Ellen decided to dig up the ground with her bare hands to uncover the truth. She found a body buried underneath, which was unusual since there shouldn't be any bodies in the cemetery. However, Ellen noticed that the body was not just any body, but rather a broken piece of a coffin was found, indicating that the undead broke the coffin and crawled out of the ground. Despite this, the body did not turn into an undead, leaving the group puzzled.

The culprits who left the scene as it was in the underground of the Holy Knight Order not only covered up the scene again in this case, but also buried the undead without recovering it. It is clear that the culprits did something they should not have done. However, it is strange that they did not take the undead with them if their purpose was to create an undead. "Is it someone else's body...?" Ellen furrowed her brow at Ludwig's question. "I don't know. But if that's the case, I don't know why they would do that... If they wanted to create an undead and put another body in it, they should have done that in the underground of the Holy Knight Order. But they did it here, where they didn't do it before." It is strange to suspect that they made an undead out of an already buried body and put another body in the tomb. It is a meaningless action that is so strange that it is exhausting. There is no one who would dig up the ground and check the body like Ellen did. And at the moment when the person who was trying to check the body by digging up the ground, they could only think that the buried body had been switched. So reviving the undead and putting another body in the tomb is worthless and meaningless as a disguise. If it was the same culprit, it was strange. They didn't care about covering up in the underground of the Holy Knight Order, but they did here. They didn't even take the undead or switch the body. "But... it's a little strange." Hainrich expressed his doubts. "What?" "He was buried this year... but he's decomposing so quickly?" "..." Ellen finally looked closely at the tombstone at Louise's lament. "Gordon Shirk, a high-ranking knight of Alskan. He died in October of this year... Oh no..." It's December now. "It's only been two months?" "Yes." Ellen narrowed her eyes at the sight of the body in front of her. The corpse had holes in its eyes. It was around the time when it started to get cold in October. Ellen didn't have detailed knowledge about the speed of decay, but in her opinion, the body buried in front of her was already considerably decomposed. It wasn't completely devoid of flesh and muscle, but it was too much for a body buried after it started to get cold. "It seems like it's a different body." "I think so..." At Louise's words, Ellen listlessly shook her head. She thought there was no reason to switch the body, but the body was actually switched. Then it's clear that it wasn't the work of tomb raiders. Ludwig muttered in confusion. "Why on earth... would they do this...?" They took the undead. But this time, they put another body in the tomb after taking the undead. What reason could there be for doing this? Since they couldn't reach any other possibilities, Ellen and the others could only think that the culprits had done nothing but a meaningless and unpleasant act. "We'll have to dig up all the other tombs." In the end, Ellen had no choice but to do the grave digging a few more times.