#;wrongfully accused

Ah yes, another fabulous day here in the forest. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, everything was wonderful...except for the corpse currently lying face-down in his backyard.

Well, fine, it wasn’t exactly found near his cottage. However, considering Sijun was the only permanent resident in this god forsaken place, the entire forest was his backyard.

“And technically, that makes you an intruder,” he said to the corpse. “I will forgive you, however, seeing that you are not having the best day of your life either.” With a frown, he tipped back his chin, manfully downing the last of his foul tasting medicine so he could put his bowl down and properly assess the situation.

Let’s see, we got one dead man - Sijun confirmed it by giving the guy a quick sniff. Yeah, was beginning to stink a tiny little bit. Poor bloke was probably in his early twenties? Nice outfit - fantastic choice of purple and that fabric look quite expensive. Money pouch has fine embroidered details, too. “Don’t worry, I am not stealing it. I am just trying to figure out who you are.” See, after ten years of mostly isolation, even a dead man to converse with was better than no man.

He continued patting down the dead body until he found a silver bell, engraved with a nine-petal lotus flower. “Jiang sect.” Inner disciple too, since he had the bell. Sijun might be banished to a forest, but he didn’t quite give up on his history lessons. “How did you die?” Maybe he could trouble someone to send word to the Jiang sect, letting them know one of theirs died here. Then, for delivering the sad news, maybe they’d be willing to put in a good word for him. His prideful old man would glow for days, hearing a praise from the Jiang sect, and maybe then he’d reconsider Sijun’s usefulness and finally let him out.

First things first, though. The travelling merchant he made arrangements with won’t be showing up for another three moons, so he might as well investigate first. If they waited, the body would rot and all the useful information would be gone.

“You are okay with this, right? If not...send lightning down from the sky and strike...that tree over there.” 

He waited and nothing happened. So the investigation began. Sijun stripped the body naked to have a better look but no obvious cause of death could be found. Likely, he’d have to do some extra digging. “You still okay with this?” He paused over the corpse with his dagger, waiting. Still no lightning, great, he shall continue then.