Episode 111
Translator: RaidenTL
Episode 111
His gray eyes, which had been unfocused as if lost in thought, blinked twice. The man wiped the bathwater from Elysia’s face with the hem of his sleeve and asked playfully.
“If you’re trying to seduce me…”
Before he could finish, Elysia instinctively clenched her fist. The man dodged, backing down the stairs with a grin. Elysia swept a hand over her face, then slammed the door between the second floor and the staircase.
“I am not! Just get out for a minute. I’ll change and come down.”
“El, you already kicked me out.”
“If you know that, then just…”
“Alright, alright… I’ll be downstairs.”
After fuming for a while to cool the heat from her face, Elysia dried herself with the towel she had been wrapped in. Dressed in an outdoor dress rather than her indoor clothes, she descended to the first floor.
Seeing the food laid out on the kitchen table, Elysia muttered.
“What is this, a perfectly omnivorous diet…”
Half meat, half vegetables. She was about to refuse, saying she couldn’t eat something so heavy in the morning, but she immediately surrendered to Evan’s next words.
“You’re injured. You need proper nutrition.”
Right. A patient needs to eat well… If the doctor says so, who am I to argue? Forcing down the overwhelming amount of food on her plate, Elysia finally spoke.
“I feel like you should know everything, so I’ll share it all.”
As her explanation continued, the man’s expression hardened. The culprit who left footprints in a similar location to hers, which she had marked using the game’s map feature; the contents of the second letter, which she hadn’t known about because Zenia never mentioned it; the strange system window that had appeared just before she lost consciousness; and finally, the potion bottle that had vanished by the time she woke up today…
By the time her long explanation was over, it was late afternoon. The midday sun poured over his serious face. Elysia, who had been blankly admiring the magnificent sight, was brought back to her senses by his worried words.
“Aren’t you scared?”
“…I’ve thought about it, and I don’t think I am.”
She wasn’t the type to fear the unknown. Ghosts? Okay, damn it, those were a little scary, but this kind of thing wasn’t.
The trembling she’d felt in the forest wasn’t fear, but something closer to the exhilaration of encountering something she could never have imagined. He let out a deep sigh and muttered.
“Then again, you’re not one to be easily frightened…”
“I’d have to know what I’m up against to be scared.”
Evan pushed aside the dishes on the table, placed a piece of paper down, and began jotting down the information he’d gathered. Tapping his fingers on the table, he asked.
“What are you thinking about?”
“I was thinking about what you told me before.”
“Me too.”
Recalling the same moment, the two of them spoke the same word in unison.
“A mission.”
“That’s usually how ‘falls’ are depicted in holy wars or myths, isn’t it? Those who sin against a god are cast out… they fall, and once they complete the mission they’re given, they return to their original world.”
At the time, she had thought it was a novel but nonsensical idea. She still didn’t think he was right, but she had to admit it had a certain logic to it. Evan closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again.
“You said that strange window has appeared a few times before, right? When?”
“When I caught the culprit who vandalized the painting, when I confronted Alma Heron, and finally… yesterday.”
“All three times were when you met the person who caused the incident.”
Elysia’s mind raced. But the directive to ‘use’ the item hadn’t appeared for Rayner. The reason, as she had previously deduced…
“Because the motive for the crime was love…”
The core of this world, the game <You’ll Fall in Love>, was the romantic feelings exchanged between its characters. If the motive was to obtain love, the game would permit the characters’ deviations.
So, in Rayner’s case, there was no need to use the reset key to return things to normal.
But for Alma, who was expanding her drug business to satisfy her own greed, it was a different story. Reaching this conclusion, Elysia suddenly grew curious.
Then what on earth was the motive of the man who triggered a system window that said she ‘must’ use the item? And why were they using such a cumbersome method to find errors within the game?
With a scrape of her chair, Elysia stood up and extended a hand to the seated man.
“Let’s go find it.”
“Find what?”
“Every contact leaves a trace.”
It was the maxim that appeared on the loading screen of <Panic in the City> every time. It was also the core principle of the game.
“A person leaves behind an enormous amount of information just by staying in one place for a short time. From intuitive evidence like footprints to fingerprints left on a doorknob, and even fiber fragments that fall from clothing—it’s all information.”
Evan, dragged out of the kitchen with a bewildered look, tried to decipher Elysia’s thoughts as she grinned. She tossed out casually.
“The crime scene was burned to a crisp by that bastard, so it’s severely damaged…”
“Ah.”
“But luckily for us, we know a place where the culprit stayed for a long time that wasn’t damaged.”
The fact that the culprit had shown interest in her and come all the way here was terrifying, but from a detective’s perspective, it was a cause for celebration.
In her flashing eyes, Evan saw the frenzy of a predator that would sacrifice its own limbs to catch its prey.
Smiling as if pleased, she squeezed the hand holding his.
“Well then, shall we start searching?”
*
Elysia found traces of the culprit in the house with frightening speed. First, she crawled around on the carpet, peering between the fibers with a magnifying glass. Her eyes gleamed, and she broke into a grin.
“Nice.”
“What is it?”
“I found traces of oil in the footprints on the carpet.”
It meant that the person who had nursed her was likely the same person who had committed arson and murder. Yet, far from being scared, Elysia’s eyes sparkled as if things were going perfectly.
Next, she went up to the room on the second floor and once again got on her hands and knees. Worried that she might wear out her knee joints, Evan fretted for a moment before deciding to be helpful, taking out the potion bottle and ointment the culprit had likely touched. By the time they had turned the room upside down, it was late at night.
And now, having found all the evidence they could, they were rattling along a country road in a carriage.
“…I’m tired.”
“Get some sleep.”
“It’s a waste of time.”
Elysia stared down at the evidence on her lap with a serious expression. If he were to ask why they were using such an inconvenient mode of transport when they could be back at the dormitory in seconds, she would have a lot to say.
To hide the fact that they had arrived via an unusual route, Evan had made up an excuse that his horse had run into trouble and he was waiting for a new one. However, this only served to ignite the goodwill of the villagers, who were eager to do something for their saviors.
What? The doctor who saved us is stranded because he has no horse to ride back on? Is this acceptable? In an instant, the villagers had prepared a carriage and sent it to the house where Elysia and Evan were staying.
“You really don’t have to go this far…”
“Please, don’t feel burdened and ride comfortably! We’re just sorry this is all we can do for you…!”
The answer was already decided; all they had to do was accept.
Elysia pulled out a piece of beef jerky from the pile of snacks the villagers had given them and chewed on it thoughtfully.
Evan watched her, fascinated, as she nibbled with determined lips, glaring at the evidence as if she were about to tear it to shreds.
She’s just like a rabbit, he thought.
If Adrian had heard that, he would have thrown a fit, asking if love had made him lose his sight as well. For one, rabbits didn’t chew beef jerky. But to a man so completely blinded by love, a rabbit’s diet was of no concern.
As he stared at her blankly, Elysia’s voice suddenly brought him back to his senses.
“Evan.”
“Hm?”
“What kind of person is he?”
Seeing Evan staring at her as if to ask who she meant, she quickly added.
“The Student Council President.”
“You suspect… Ror’s faction?”
Elysia said nothing, staring into the empty air before looking down at a single strand of hair in an evidence bag. It was a single strand of golden hair, so pale it was almost silver. She scowled.
It would be great if DNA analysis were possible, but unfortunately, that level of technology hadn’t even been available in <Panic in the City>, which was set in the early 20th century. There was no way it would be possible here, in an even earlier era.
Taking out her notebook, Elysia read aloud the sentences she had written in neat script.
“Considering the foot size, the subject is a tall male over 180cm. Given that he brutally assaulted and murdered a well-built victim, he is likely a man in his twenties with a strong physique. And finally, platinum blonde hair.”
Evan slowly closed and opened his eyes, then countered.
“It’s just hair color. Platinum blonde is rare, yes, but that alone isn’t enough to identify the culprit…”
“But it can give us a direction.”
“And if it’s really him, why? What connection was there between the two of them?”
At this question, Elysia too was at a loss for words.
If the culprit was Cain, nothing could be stranger. She knew that perfectly well. Why would the young master of a prestigious ducal house go through such trouble for a commoner?
The more she thought about it logically, the less credible her claim became. Biting her lip, Elysia thought, I know, I know, but still…