The Deck Stained with Betrayal (4)

Two murderers?

Ha Heijeong had never mentioned anything like that, so I was thrown into confusion. When we'd talked it over, there had been only one murderer. That much was certain.

Could the trial have been slightly altered because this was an individual floor?

That was the most plausible hypothesis I could come up with. A thin sigh slipped out of me. The one silver lining was that, with two murderers on board, I hadn't actually suffered any harm.

No, wait. I caught one before the storm even hit, so this worked out in my favor, honestly.

If two murderers had been left roaming a ship thrown into chaos… the mere thought was horrifying. Four or more sailors could have been dead in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a single night. I tidied away the spiraling train of thought. Right now, my only job was to find the remaining murderer.

So who's the last one?

Two suspects topped my list: the captain and the navigator. The captain had the cigar connection — if he were an accomplice, he could have supplied Denzel with the poison cigars. The navigator, on the other hand, was pure gut suspicion. He'd been the first to step forward and push the blame onto the captain when suspicion initially fell on him.

Maybe he's just easily swayed by whatever he hears…

Still, it had felt closer to instinct than reasoning. Of course, he'd later turned around and driven suspicion toward Denzel too — but that could just as easily have been him trying to discard his accomplice once he realized the man who'd suspected the captain might come under suspicion himself.

Naturally, I can't rule out one of the other sailors being the murderer either.

Hmm. What should I do? Then a thought surfaced in my mind. Consider the murderer's motive. Denzel had claimed he killed simply because he wanted to — but this was a trial handed down by the Tower. There might be no motive at all, yet surely the Tower wouldn't have built something so sloppy.

Unless he's a pure lunatic, the captain has no real motive.

There was no obvious reason to suddenly kill crewmates ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he'd lived alongside for years. Things I didn't know about might exist, but I decided to think only in terms of what I knew. But with the navigator, it's a different story. If the captain and this ship's crew all died, he could become the new captain. Nothing said the same couldn't happen to another sailor, but the jealousy of a second-in-command is a terrifying thing by nature.

I placed the navigator at number one on my suspect list, the captain at number two, and the rest of the crew after that. Now, what was the remaining murderer up to at this very moment…

"…Sir? Sir Knight?"

The captain's voice pulled me out of my reverie. Had I sunk too deep into my own thoughts? The captain was looking at me with a worried expression.

"Are you quite alright?"

"Ah, yes. I'm fine. Old memories surfaced for a moment."

I deliberately deflected — I couldn't very well tell him one murderer was still out there.

"Ah… you were on the Western battlefield, weren't you."

"It's nothing."

"The storm will be upon us soon, so please rest while you can—"

The captain bowed his head hurriedly and withdrew. Exactly as I'd intended — it seemed he'd assumed I'd grown lost in reflection after witnessing Denzel's death. I moved toward the cabin, picking my thoughts back up as I walked.

If I were the murderer, what would I do?

My accomplice had been caught and killed. Eight sailors remained, aside from me and Dobby. I'd have aimed for a night wracked by storm… but the murderers weren't two anymore. Just one.

If it were me, I'd still use the night to kill as many as possible. And after that, I'd probably poison the food or the water—

A black wave the size of a house crashed over the ship's bow. With a roar, seawater surged across the deck and soaked my ankles — though it hardly bothered me, since I was already drenched head to toe from rain pouring down as if the sky itself had been torn open. The ship rocked violently beneath us.

"Belachi! Tighten those knots!"

"Aye, Captain!"

"Renek! Take the helm for a moment!"

"Yes, sir!"

The sailors' rough voices cut faintly through the downpour across the deck. Above that storm-battered ship, I lay hidden beneath my veil of shadows — positioned, to be precise, directly behind the navigator. It was surveillance, plain and simple, of suspect number one.

The reason I'd moved personally was a simple one: I couldn't cover the entire ship with Presence Detection. Its range was limited to my surroundings. For all its crew of ten-odd sailors, the vessel was far larger than I'd expected — I could sense a certain radius around myself, but it didn't reach every corner of the ship. And the murderer knew I was in the cabin, so he was bound to show his hand eventually.

I had, of course, snuck out alone, leaving Dobby safely in the cabin. With the signal device on hand, he'd call for me if anything went wrong.

I was trailing the navigator as he moved at the captain's command when the ship lurched, and the navigator's feet slipped out from under him.

"Whoa—!"

He toppled — and stopped just short of my feet. Phew. That was close. He'd nearly collided with me. I'd need to keep more distance from here on.

"Damn it!"

The navigator pushed himself up off the deck with a curse. Watching his sloppy performance left me uneasy. I'd been observing him for nearly two hours now, and I hadn't spotted a single suspicious thing. The night stretched long ahead, and a gnawing anxiety crept over me — what if someone died while I was looking the wrong way? Had I misjudged things? Maybe something went wrong and he gave up on the killing entirely…

Just then, the captain — who had handed the helm over to the navigator — disappeared into the ship's interior. Hmm? Why was he suddenly heading inside? Knowing nothing of ship work, I assumed there must be some task or other below deck. And in that instant, I remembered: earlier, the sailor Ivo had gone below at the captain's orders too.

Could it be? The captain?

I hurried to follow — but the navigator nagged at my conscience. He wouldn't pull something while I was gone, would he? Hm. After a brief moment of deliberation, I decided to follow the captain. There were comparatively plenty of sailors up on deck; he wouldn't start anything in front of everyone. Right now, the captain chasing after Ivo was more suspicious than the navigator.

"Hey, Renek! Go light yourself a cigar."

"Well, bless you. Thank you, Captain."

"And don't forget to bring back a fresh bottle."

The captain handed a bottle over to the navigator, who was holding the ship's wheel. The navigator took it and accepted the bottle with a deep bow, then grinned, clamping it between his teeth. Seeing this, it was clear the captain had simply wanted a drink and a smoke in the middle of the storm.

Taking the wheel, the captain bellowed at the sailors on deck. "Move it, you louts! Faster! You all want to die?!"

Watching him, I felt an odd surge of irritation — here was a man who'd gone off to drink and smoke while everyone else worked. Whether it's Earth or here, the people at the top are all cut from the same cloth.

In the meantime, the navigator headed below. Time to trail him again. Rain pattered down — I shook the drops from my shoulders and set off after him.

"Ugh, damn it!"

Down below deck, the navigator took a long swig from the bottle, then hurled it against the wall. Grinning ear to ear just moments ago — what a sudden change of heart. So the navigator really was the murderer? It looked like he was venting his frustration over everything going sideways when his accomplice died. He let out a long, heavy breath.

"Haah… that moronic bastard. Couldn't even dispose of one damn cigarette butt properly."

The navigator grumbled under his breath, voice little more than an ant's crawl. It was so quiet that anyone standing right beside him would have missed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it — but it rang crystal clear in my ears. He was almost certainly talking about Denzel. Finally showing his true face.

The navigator fumbled a cigarette case out of his breast pocket, but the storm had soaked it through completely. He flung the case away, and the crumpled case went rolling beside the shattered bottle.

"Er, Navigator? What's the matter?"

Just then, the sailor Ivo appeared, and the navigator's expression flipped in an instant.

"Haha, I dropped the bottle the captain gave me."

"Ah, the ship did lurch hard just now. Rough work out there, sir. Your smokes are soaked through too — here, have one of mine."

"Thanks, thank you."

Ivo pulled a cigarette from his pocket and offered it over. The navigator accepted it with a wide, toothy smile — knowing what he was, it was a smile that crawled right up my spine.

The instant Ivo lit it for him, the navigator shoved Ivo's back, pushing him forward.

"I've broken the captain's bottle, so it seems I'll have to fetch one more—"

"Heheh, say no more, I understand. Let's head to the storeroom."

"You always were a sharp one."

As Ivo dashed ahead, excited, the navigator's hand drifted toward the dagger strapped to his thigh. He meant to seize the moment and drive it in. Catching him red-handed. A smile crept across my lips.

Quietly, the navigator drew the dagger and crept up behind Ivo. Right before the blade could strike, I dropped my veil of shadows and seized the navigator's wrist.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Huwaaagh!"

"Gyaaah!"

Dropping the veil and speaking at the same moment, I sent both the navigator and Ivo scrambling backward like they'd seen a ghost. But with his wrist locked in my grip, the navigator couldn't get far — he crumpled right where he stood, landing hard on his rear. His eyes had gone so wide it seemed impossible for a human's to dilate that far, and they trembled wildly.

"Wh-wh-wh-what is this?!"

Ivo found his voice through chattering teeth. I gave the dagger in the navigator's hand a little waggle.

"I was hunting a murderer."

"B-but the murderer was Denzel!"

Ivo looked back and forth between the dagger and the navigator, dumbfounded — the picture of a man in chaos who couldn't believe his eyes.

"Turns out there were two. See this dagger? If it weren't for me, you'd be in the great beyond right now."

"Th-th-this is a frame-up! Ivo! The knight put that dagger in my hand!"

"Me? The one who caught Denzel? Why would I?"

"He appeared out of thin air! That man's no knight — he's a black mage!"

The navigator screamed at Ivo — a last, desperate struggle clutched to the final hope, by the looks of it. Even if Ivo took his side, it wouldn't matter. All I had to do was kill the navigator and be done with it.

"Let's end this."

I was done being on this ship. Superhuman as my body might be, I'd been aboard for over a day now with a storm raging on top of it — I could feel seasickness creeping in.

I bent the navigator's wrist back and drove the dagger straight into his own chest.

"Kghk—!"

With the navigator's death rattle, a notification window bloomed before my eyes.

Ding—