The Monster Hiding in the Building (10)
I returned to Franc and explained everything that had just happened. She must have been completely flustered when I suddenly burst out of the room half-naked while we were in the middle of exchanging affection. Thankfully, she understood once I gave her the full story.
“Ugh…… So if you hadn’t noticed, that creep might have kept spying on us the whole time?”
Franc shivered, hugging her own shoulders. Even I felt sick to my stomach as a man—how much worse must it have been for her? I suddenly regretted leaving that peeping tom bastard alive. Maybe I should go back right now and finish him off. Just close my eyes and toss a lit piece of firewood in there. Done.
“Still, it was probably smart to leave it to the guards. They’re professionals at this kind of thing, so they’ll handle it better than we could,” Franc said as she dried her body with a towel.
Both Dorka and the other people of this world seemed to have a lot of trust in the guard force. “Yeah, I guess so. As long as it doesn’t leave you with any bad memories, I’m fine with it.”
If the guards screwed up, I could always ride Hamal back myself. We still had two full days before the next request, so the innkeeper wouldn’t starve to death in the meantime. With that thought, I looked around the room.
“But sleeping here for the night feels pretty gross.”
It was the exact same space as before, yet now it felt eerie and repulsive. I finally understood why buildings where incidents occurred always dropped in value. Trying to eat and sleep in a place like this just felt uncomfortable.
At my words, Franc pulled out her pocket watch.
“The sun will rise soon. Should we change clothes and head straight back to Sargadis?”
“What? What time is it?”
“Four-thirty.”
Four-thirty? I blinked in shock and pulled out my own watch. I wanted to make sure hers wasn’t broken. But mine also read 4:30. What the fuck?
We had returned to the inn before nightfall, yet nearly an entire night had already passed. I was stunned.
“It’s almost dawn. How did time fly by so fast?”
“……It’s because you never get tired, Norde,” Franc said, glancing at the wrecked bed.
Did I really lose track of time while having sex? No, more importantly—who the hell was going to clean up all this semen now that the innkeeper was in that state?
Fuck.
Before the guards or villagers saw this mess and lost their minds, I had no choice but to clean it up myself. I put on my top and stretched.
“Franc. Go wash up first. I’ll clean the room.”
“Oh, you will? Thank you.”
After wiping the semen off her body, Franc headed to the bath first. I roughly mopped up the disastrous room with a rag I’d fetched from the first floor, then switched with her and went to shower.
“Of course there’s a hole here too.”
When I checked the stove area in the bathroom, I found a hole covered by a wooden plank. If I hadn’t been standing guard, that son of a bitch would have been peeping at Franc through it while pretending to add firewood. Grinding my teeth, I washed up and made a mental note of the hole’s location.
──Tap. Tap.
I also confirmed that every room had holes in the walls, then went to check on Hamal’s well-being. I was worried the peeping tom might have tampered with him.
“Hiiirrrhing?! (Are we running?!)”
“Yeah, yeah. Just wait a little longer.”
Fortunately, Hamal was perfectly fine. If anything had happened to him, we would’ve had problems even without discovering the voyeur. It was good that we’d taken care of him.
After finishing the cleanup, we climbed onto Hamal’s back. It was finally time to say goodbye to this village.
“Huuuhiiihrrhing!! (See you again!!)”
Once we returned to Sargadis, the first thing we did was return Hamal to the farm. Even on the way back he had run like crazy, and now he seemed reluctant to part as he trotted back into the stable.
“I’ve never seen someone return a Hamal after just one day. This is a first in my life,” the farm owner said, clicking his tongue in amazement. We received our deposit back, then headed to the guard station.
There, we explained everything that had happened in Pefort Village.
“Understood. We’ll send people to make the arrest.”
The guard listened to our story and shouted to the waiting personnel.
“Ezel! Your team will go verify the testimony and bring that bastard in. Don’t forget to request cooperation from the Mage Guild!”
“Are we riding?”
“You planning to walk? Move out immediately!”
“Yes sir!”
The young guard called Ezel ran off toward the stable with his colleagues. I filled out the document the guard had given me, writing my name and identity—as Norde, a long-term resident.
“What happens when he’s arrested?”
“Peeping carries a fine. If he’s a repeat offender or other crimes are discovered, he could even receive a slave sentence.”
“Can’t you determine if he’s a repeat offender with magic?”
This world had magic. You could think of it as a watered-down version of the psychometry powers from sci-fi dramas. More precisely, it was magic that let you sense things like when an object was created.
I heard it’s useful for estimating time of death on corpses or finding traces of crimes, not just investigating the age of relics.
I couldn’t use it. The longer the history or the stronger the resistance magic, the more mana it consumed. Since the relics archaeologists handled had histories spanning centuries, I never even considered learning it. Usually, relics were dated with specialized magic tools anyway.
Still, it was a good spell for finding evidence on criminals who didn’t know how to counter magic. I’d heard it was one of the reasons the guards provided security and convenience to the Mage Guild.
But even with that, they probably couldn’t tell exactly how often he had used those peepholes.
“We’ll have to interrogate him for the details, but if the mage determines that the holes in the inn rooms or bathroom were made more than five years ago, he’s almost certainly a habitual offender. These kinds of crimes are more common in rural village inns than you’d think.”
The guard answered readily, probably because a free achievement had just fallen into his lap.
“Ever since public bathhouses became widespread ten years ago, the number of voyeurs has increased. Many cases escalate beyond peeping into other crimes, which is why new laws were created.”
“I’ve heard about that too.”
I was told that during the period when bathhouse security was lax, such crimes were rampant. People naturally wore lighter clothing when coming and going from baths. Stealing belongings was an everyday occurrence, and there were frequent reports of robbery and molestation targeting those returning from baths in every city.
There was even a time when the country issued a royal decree making bathing mandatory for hygiene reasons, but those same problems ended up harming the elderly, weak, and women living in the slums.
“Yes. This case is the same. It doesn’t make sense that no one noticed holes in the inn rooms and bathroom for several years, but even if he uses that as an excuse to claim innocence, the existence of the hidden basement will be the real problem.”
“He claimed it was a food storage to prevent theft.”
“Many scumbags make that claim while kidnapping travelers and pilgrims to sell them to illegal slave traders. If evidence of transactions is found, it’s over.”
“Ah, you mean something like a secret ledger.”
“Exactly. It looks like this incident will be reported to the lord and lead to a village-wide investigation. The fact that such problems occurred at an inn strongly suggests involvement with a criminal organization at the village level.”
The guard took the completed document from me and placed it in a drawer.
“And even if it turns out to be nothing more than a prank or malicious prank, if the villagers haven’t committed any crimes, there shouldn’t be any issue with them undergoing investigation, right?”
In a world without warrants, investigations tended to be quite coercive. Maybe it was because bandit groups had been increasing lately and they were in a crackdown period? From the perspective of the guards and the lord who maintained public order, they would obviously want to uproot any criminal organizations.
“Ah, you don’t need to worry, citizen. Even if that bastard gets lucky and is released, he’ll be placed under our guard’s surveillance, so he won’t dare harbor any filthy thoughts.”
He smiled awkwardly like a typical civil servant, trying to reassure me. I felt his consideration and gave a grateful bow.
“Thank you for your concern. Take care.”
“Yes. Please return safely.”
With that, the conversation ended. As expected, no one accused me of excessive force for beating up the innkeeper. I knew it. From the very beginning, I had been treated as an illegal immigrant and started off getting beaten without a word. Does the concept of excessive force even exist here?
I wasn’t sure about other countries, but it seemed nonexistent in Britannia. There had been people proven innocent after their entry records were checked before trial, but they too had been groaning in the same prison as me, clutching their bruises.
Thanks to its long history and magic, criminal investigation techniques were quite advanced, but when all was said and done, this was a world that offered no protection for the human rights of criminal suspects.
It makes sense. In a world where individual power can exceed all norms, if you show too much consideration for suspects, you might miss truly dangerous criminals.
The security forces of this world would rather create a hundred innocent victims than let one criminal slip away. Because that one criminal they released out of uncertainty could later create tens of thousands of casualties.
At least witch hunts without evidence are rare. That’s something.
I couldn’t say there were zero similar cases. This was a world where affection could turn to disgust in the blink of an eye. In the end, to live in this seemingly uncivilized yet strangely advanced medieval isekai land without getting caught up in unfair or dangerous situations, power and authority were absolutely necessary.
That was why I wanted to return to Earth, and why I was trying to become stronger.
“Did everything go well?”
When I came out after finishing, Franc, who had been waiting outside, asked.
“Yeah. They said they’re going to arrest him.”
“Will they call you in soon too, Norde?”
“To give testimony? Probably not.”
If the investigation found no issues, they would just issue a fine and be done. They wouldn’t call in the suspect separately. Even if—absurd as it sounded—that bastard really was an innocent victim, the fact that he had left holes in every room and the bathroom would still earn him a fine. In Korea too, if hidden cameras were found in every motel room, the owner would be screwed.
Anyway, with the matter settled, we went to the Audumla Guild to report the request complete.
“Could you provide the Power Stone you mentioned for investigation? We can pay you within a few days.”
When I brought up the hobgoblin shaman and the Power Stone, the receptionist handled the procedure in a businesslike manner.
“Can I submit it as evidence and get it back later?”
“If you wish. However, I can’t give you an exact answer on how long the investigation will take.”
“Norde. For now, agree to return it later. If you change your mind, you can sell it then,” Franc explained, taking over from the receptionist.
It meant we could entrust it for consignment, and if we needed quick cash later, we could sell it then. She must have learned that back when she wanted to become a receptionist.
“Then I’ll leave it as evidence and get it back later.”
Selling it at a high price to someone who wanted it would bring more profit than letting the guild liquidate it. If I ever needed money urgently, I could come here and receive payment for the Power Stone.
The receptionist carefully placed the hobgoblin’s Power Stone into a box.
“Thank you for providing it. Ah, since you successfully completed this request, you will be promoted to Bronze Class after just one more.”
Even the receptionist, who had been speaking mechanically the whole time, smiled when she said that. I felt a bit embarrassed and my back suddenly itched.
“Ahem, that’s right. I accepted an escort request for a transport guild carriage heading to Heisvent. There haven’t been any changes, have there?”
It hadn’t been suddenly canceled while I was gone, right? The receptionist flipped through the documents and answered.
“The request details and compensation remain unchanged. Including Sir Norde and Lady Atrine, the four Bronze Class members have all been filled.”
“That’s good. What about the other members?”
“Besides you two, one mage and one warrior accepted it.”
“That seems appropriate.”
It was a shame there was no priest, but with just me and Franc, the risk of injury on a Bronze request was low. Above all, since there was a Silver Class member, that person would be the main force and we were basically just reserves or fillers.
I wonder if the Silver Class was hired by the guild master’s son.
The one-armed young man had said he would take responsibility for the children. He must have pulled some strings to ensure their safe transport. Thinking that, I spoke to Franc.
“Now everything’s done. Shall we go back and rest?”
“Yeah. I’m a little sleepy……”
Exhausted from staying up all night, we returned to the inn and slept deeply the entire day.
Franc and I woke up on the morning of the day before the carriage escort request. It was an awkward time to take a same-day request, so we decided to rest until the escort day.
Franc continued repairing the robe she would wear, while I rented a book on rune magic from the Mage Guild for a fee. I spent the day reading and researching the applications of runes. When night fell, I played the role of cat daddy and listened to the information the cats had gathered.
“There are more cats than I expected.”
Franc had wanted to see me talking with the cats that night and followed along, which left me feeling embarrassed. Perhaps my reputation had spread among the cats, because their numbers had increased since last time.
I cleared my throat and asked.
“Nyaa myaong nyangnyanya? (Did you find out what I asked for?)”
“Nyanya─. (Yep─.)”
Even though I swallowed my shame and meowed, there wasn’t any particularly special information. The only things they reported were that more humans were secretly exchanging things in the back alleys, or that the fish shop owner’s security had become iron-tight.
Still, at least they know how to gather information.
Considering how many of them had terrible personalities, choosing cats had been worth it. In terms of infiltration, rats were better than cats, but rats lacked a language system capable of complex conversation. Their memory was also poor, making it difficult to gather information.
In that regard, stray cats were excellent. These bastards fully enjoyed the benefits of lookism. No matter where they went, they were neither suspected nor attacked. And even if attacked, they escaped well.
There probably weren’t any psychos who would kill a cat at a crime scene just because it was a witness. When you considered that appearance was also part of a spy’s talent, cats were natural-born spies.
I can trust these guys.
Cats gathered information by cat standards, so the quality wasn’t particularly high. Still, I learned that they were capable of properly finding out what I asked for. It was more than worth the few pieces of dried fish.
“Nyaa myaong. (Eat your food.)”
“Nyanyanyang──!! (Yay──!!)”
I recorded the useful-looking information, distributed food to the cats, and returned. The dried fish I had bought for two coppers were completely devoured. In the future, considering cost-effectiveness, it would be better to gather information once a week.
Another night passed like that, and the morning of the request day finally arrived.