‘Come with me’ she said. Mattias followed her over to the village. There was quite a large two story house made from wood in the middle. ‘That’s his house, Mattias’

‘Oh… it’s quite nice, actually’

‘I think I heard someone that this guy wanted to buy the… ummm, other guy’s farm. And he said no to that’ Katrine was looking at an open window, she then whispered “Mattias! There’s your chance! Chuck the blade in the window!’

‘OK’ Mattias went over to it and threw the sheathed blade through the window. It fell onto the floor, leaving a bloodstain.

‘OK, brilliant! Now we have to get out of here!’ she said that in a whisper. They both ran out away from the house and back into the fields. ‘OK, here’s what we’ll do: you go over to that farm and I’ll wait until the guy gets back into his house. Once that’s happened, I’ll get a guard to investigate him’ she paused for a moment ‘Does that sound good?’

‘Yeah… I guess’

‘It’ll all be fine. Now come with me’ the two of them were walking through fields for about half an hour until they got to a large manor. It had a barn next to it and fields of dead crops. ‘OK, this is the farm. There should be someone inside that manor there. I’ll have to leave you now, so good luck!’

‘Thanks…’ Mattias gave her a rather weird look ‘What’s your name again?’ Kartine sighed when she was asked that.

‘Katrine’ she was shaking her head ‘Come on, now! I remembered yours!’

‘Yeah… thanks’

‘I’ll see you later, OK? And don’t worry about that guy from earlier, I’ll make sure that all goes without a hitch’

‘All right then’ Katrine wrapped her cloak around her body and disappeared into thin air. Mattias walked over to the manor and knocked on the door. He was greeted by a portly middle aged man who was wearing a black tailcoat.

‘Hello? Who might you be?’ Mattias suddenly looked nervous.

‘Uhhh, I don’t know how to explain this, but I’ve been sent to clean your farm’

‘Oh? Well… that’s jolly marvellous then! Come on in!’ Mattias got inside of the manor, he followed the man over to a desk, the whole room was lit up by a fireplace. ‘Now then, what is your name?’

‘Mattias. Mattias Bela’

‘Ah, nice to meet you, Mattias! My name is Lord Anrold Florian. I very recently acquired this property, but… ahem, the previous owner left it in an unbelievable state!’

‘Really? How?’

‘Well, unbeknownst to me, the crops were all dead, all the animals in the barn are dead, and there are even residents here that have perished! It’s preposterous! I almost feel I’ve been conned into buying this property!’

‘Well that’s… unfortunate. Surely you should report this? I do actually know the Duchess personally’

‘No no, that will not be necessary. I do not need unwanted attention from any of the authorities here! I want to get this farm up and running as soon as possible! After all, this purchase cost me dear, and I need to make a return!’

‘OK then. So… where do I start!’ Mattias was sniffing ‘It is just me, or does something smell really awful here?’

‘Oh, that would be the dead bodies upstairs!’

‘What?! You cannot be serious!’

‘I know, it’s shocking! The previous owner must have not of cared one jot about these people!’ there was a brief period of silence ‘Now, here’s what I would like you to do: I want you to bring all the bodies down here. Then we’ll have to dispose of them somehow’ Mattias sighed.

‘Again, why can’t we just report them?’

‘Like I said, I want this place cleaned up pronto! I am not in need of any-’

‘Fine’ Mattias marched his way up to the staircase. The second floor was very dark - there were at least four bedrooms. Mattias went back downstairs and got himself a torch. He went back upstairs and went over the closest bedroom - there was a dead man wearing raggedy brown robes. He was completely pale. Mattias had his hand on his mouth, he looked like he was about to vomit. He later held his nose and pulled the man by his legs. He did so until he was on the ground floor.

‘Good work, young man!’ applauded Lord Florian.

‘Any idea how he died?’ asked Mattias.

‘Not a clue! I’m by no means a mortician!’

‘OK, fine’ Mattias went back upstairs and entered the room next the one he went inside. There was another dead body, in more or less the same condition as the first one he found. He pulled it downstairs, like he did with the previous one. He put it on top of the other body. ‘These two can’t have died of starvation, they don’t look thin enough for that to have happened’

‘Like I said, I’m not mortician. I would never guess by looking at them on how they died’

‘But if they died of starvation, they would be thin to the bone. That’s just common sense. You don’t need to be a mortician or whatever to figure that out’ Lord Florian had no answer. Mattias went back upstairs - he headed over to a room with a fancy looking door. Upon opening it, he found there was a large man lying on a double bed. Like all the others, he was dead. Unlike the others, there was a long bloodstain that lead all the way to a table. On this table was a knife - it was the same type of knife Mattias used to commit his murder. His face went pale the moment he looked at it.