Airship Murder Case (3)
Hmm. Let me see...
I lightly infused the white grains I'd secretly tucked into Luna's shadow with mana, and like pollutants spreading from their source in a lake, a blue magical energy slowly seeped out around the grains, staining Luna's shadow.
After casually shattering those insolent decisions that dared invade my domain without fear, I spoke to Luna.
[Something like: 'I've got a lead on the culprit. Tell them from now on, we'll act separately.']
Luna hesitated, then called out to Exmus, who was striding ahead.
"Um, Detective. From now on, let me try deducing things. Something good just popped into my head."
Exmus halted abruptly mid-stride at Luna's words.
'Aaaah! Why did I say that?! Master, why make me say something so unnecessary!!'
Luna squeezed her eyes shut, but then Exmus's booming laughter rang out.
"Haha! That's a great attitude!!"
"Pardon?"
"To grow as a proper detective, following your own instincts is crucial! Call me if you make any progress! I'll be interrogating the suspects in the meantime!"
Exmus vanished with a hearty um-hahaha, looking less like a detective and more like a phantom thief.
Left alone in the middle of the corridor, Luna and Katrina stared blankly at the spot where he'd disappeared.
[A-alright. Now let's head back to Graham's room. There's something I want to check.]
I prodded the frozen Luna and dragged her toward Graham's room.
At my words, Luna and Katrina returned to the blood-soaked room.
Graham's room hadn't changed at all since earlier.
'What do you want to check?'
[Here, look. I'll show you too, Luna.]
With that, I wrapped black mana around Luna's eyes.
Luna blinked in surprise at first, then focused on the new vision unfolding before her.
A world of black and white spread out before Luna—a magical sight allowing her to perceive mana invisible to human eyes.
[Observer's Eye]
Around Graham's chair, blue mana residue flickered—unlike before. And that residue stretched in a straight line from the floor to the ceiling vent.
[Suspicious as hell, right?]
Not even a snail could climb the wall like that. At least, it was clear the culprit in this case wasn't human.
"Yeah..."
Luna sighed deeply as she peered into the vent, but Katrina grinned and stopped her.
"Luna sis. You're curious about what's inside, right?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Hehe. Finally, a chance to show some senior dignity!"
Katrina laughed hohoho and pulled a red-covered book from her bag.
"The grimoire I contracted with is called the Red Deer's Book. It's mainly for plagues, but..."
Katrina gathered the scattered blood from Graham and deftly sketched a magic circle.
"Dealing with plagues attracts all sorts of friends."
With a concise incantation over the completed circle, the pooled blood floated up, forming a red moth.
The blood moth slipped through the narrow vent gap at Katrina's gesture.
Katrina closed her eyes, frowning briefly, then smiled brightly at Luna.
"Found it. This vent connects to the kitchen."
"Let's check it out!"
Luna and Katrina rushed to the kitchen.
Like Exmus, Katrina smashed the locked door with brute force, then scanned the occupants with a menacing glare.
"Eek..!"
The kitchen staff froze like mice before a cat under Luna's gaze.
"We know everything, so no stalling. Confess quick. Who is it?"
Luna quickly infused her eyes with mana and scanned the kitchen, but it was filled with so much blue mana that nothing stood out.
"It's definitely in here."
"Really?"
At Luna's words, Katrina forcibly confiscated the staff's belongings and wreaked havoc.
Luna slyly joined in, grilling the cooks, when—
Drip, drip, drip!
A suspicious waiter caught my eye. A hefty guy, sweating like mad.
Huh? This is way too fishy.
I subtly brushed his dripping sweat with a shadow, and it carried the same salty, acrid tang as those grains earlier.
Hmm? This taste...
[This is the taste of a lying culprit! Luna, investigate that fatty right now!!]
At my urgent urging, Luna—midway flipping a cook's hat—approached him.
Step, step—
As Luna neared, the sweat-drenched waiter turned beet red, face swelling like it might burst, letting out a weird noise.
"Grk.. grk... damn... it...!!!!"
No, with a actual pop, the waiter's face exploded.
"You... damn pests!! If it weren't for you bitches, I could've escaped without a hitch!!!"
The human skin mask burst off, revealing a grotesque body inside.
Like a butterfly emerging from a pupa, flesh tore from the waiter's back, exposing a massive merman covered in blue scales.
"Haaah... finally, I can breathe."
The twisted merman fixed his pitch-black, chilling pupils on Luna and Katrina.
"Might as well slaughter everyone on this airship to break even!!"
The blue-scaled merman bared his jagged, malformed teeth and lunged at Katrina first.
A frail girl versus a hulking mystery monster—an unfair matchup by any measure. The staff squeezed their eyes shut, anticipating the horror.
But the sound that came wasn't tearing flesh.
Clang! Metal clashing against metal.
The kitchen folk cautiously opened their eyes at the unexpected noise, beholding a bizarre sight.
"Grk.. gerk... eek?"
The merman, proudly gaping his massive maw studded with irregular fangs like embedded blades...
...now had a red grimoire jammed down his throat.
The merman rolled his dead-black eyes in panic.
"Ha... you're the first to charge at me. Most monsters are too busy fleeing when they meet me."
Only then did the merman notice the red-covered book in his mouth.
"Wha... what? Why is the Red Witch of Panopolis here...?"
That was his last word.
"I'm."
Katrina's fist, rippling with red mana, smashed into the merman's skull.
Crunch!
"Told you not to call me by that hick name!!"
A sound no living body should make echoed as the merman clutched his caved-in head and collapsed.
"Ah. Th-thank you so much! If not for you, we'd have been trapped with that monster!"
Luna eyed the sparkling-eyed staff with a dry gaze.
"Don't just stand there gawking. Go call the mustached guy."
"M-mustached guy? You mean Exmus...?"
"Yeah. Case solved. Hurry."
"Y-yes!"
The kitchen folk nodded frantically and bolted out.
Whether from gratitude or fearful respect, I personally suspect the latter.
"Now I can really smell it. That Sea God cult stench. How'd they hide it so well?"
Sea God cult? Right, the group Katrina mentioned before.
From how she trashed them as dragging down the mage average, I figured they had bad blood, but not this bad—smashing skulls on sight.
Well, good result's what matters.
Katrina rummaged through the dead merman's clothes as she spoke.
From the crushed-skull merman's bosom emerged a shimmering blue gem pulsing with wave-like blue mana.
Ho. Nice find.
Katrina handed the blue gem from the merman to Luna.
"What's this?"
"Pretty good synthesis material. Useful for making magic tools. Looks like this, but it's infused with outer god energy."
"You sure you don't want it, Katrina?"
"Hehe, don't need it~"
Katrina forced the blue gem into Luna's arms.
As they finished looting the spoils, Exmus burst in panting.
"Oh! As expected of you two! Solving the case already! I believed in you!"
Exmus beamed, praising Luna and Katrina.
Luna awkwardly smiled, slipping the gem from the merman into her pocket.
"Ahaha... I think it's everyone's credit..."
And so, the murder case that had plunged the airship into chaos with the death of the culprit merman was resolved.