Chapter 189
Chapter 189
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 188
Chapter Title: Love is Death
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“Whatever answer you give, you’ll be happy with it.”
The moment I heard those words, my mind went blank without warning, and all I could do was stare at her in silence.
Looking at her, who cared more for me than herself, I felt something inside me being filled.
It was the same warm, fulfilling sensation that had spread through me while talking with Stella.
It was something foreign to me, yet I realized once again that I craved it.
In a situation where neither of us could offer any answer, we stood leaning against each other.
“My, how embarrassing.”
“What a handsome couple.”
“Must be newlyweds. Sweet as honey.”
I had momentarily forgotten we were in the middle of the downtown street. At the murmurs from those around us, Erika finally couldn’t hold back and spun away.
“Let’s go. We’re almost there.”
“Yeah.”
Following behind Erika, a dessert shop really did appear right away.
No—recalling the shop’s location and the path we’d taken, I could easily tell we’d deliberately circled around.
“…….”
Realizing this, I stared down at Erika, and she, sensing my gaze, deliberately avoided looking my way as she joined the line in front of the dessert shop.
“I’ll let it slide as a cute prank.”
Time had been wasted, but it wasn’t like I had anything important to do.
I tried to brush it off as a lighthearted joke, but then Erika subtly turned and glanced back at me.
“Was it cute?”
“I’m just saying it was.”
“…….”
Watching her return to her original position, the corner of my mouth twitched up without me realizing, though I stifled it so she wouldn’t notice.
“The line’s pretty long here.”
Sure enough, right after lunchtime, plenty of people were queuing up for desserts.
I figured we’d have to wait a bit.
“Excuse me, are you perhaps Mr. Necromancer?”
A man in armor approached cautiously. He was the captain of the Robern guards—I’d seen his face in passing a few times.
His thick mustache had made him particularly memorable.
“Yes.”
“Ah! M-Mr. Necromancer! I’m Paul, captain of the Robern guards.”
I grabbed his shoulder as he tried to go overboard with courtesy by dropping to one knee, pulling him back up.
I didn’t want the extra attention from onlookers.
“State your business.”
Assuming he’d sought me out for a reason, I asked. Paul’s expression darkened as he glanced furtively at Erika beside me.
“Yesterday, there was a death at a villa on Glass Street.”
“…….”
“But... the suspect has so many suspicious aspects. We were just thinking of requesting assistance from the Academy and bringing you in.”
“Suspicious aspects?”
Calling me meant they suspected evil spirits were involved.
“Yes. It’s a bit hard to explain here, but if it’s not too much trouble, could you come with us...?”
Glass Street was on the outskirts of Robern, so it would take some time even on foot.
I glanced at Erika, who had already crossed her arms, glaring at the guard captain with the icy expression she used on students.
“The mood was nice.”
Her grumbled remark slipped out.
She’d whispered it softly enough that the guard captain wouldn’t hear, but it reached me right beside her.
“No choice. You need me for this. I’ll grab the desserts myself on the way back.”
“Please do.”
Leaving Erika behind, I followed the guard captain toward Glass Street.
Glass Street.
The dark underbelly of well-policed Robern—a place some might call a necessary evil.
Overzealous parents called it a trash heap and demanded its removal.
But that would just send the trash spilling out, as the debates went.
It was a street students were especially discouraged from entering, with professors patrolling periodically.
Despite the name suggesting pottery or artwork, Glass Street simply meant “drinking glasses.”
Compared to other cities, it was quite small, but it was still where Robern’s bars, gambling dens, and brothels openly thrived.
A death in a villa there.
It might seem obvious, but then the guards wouldn’t have called me.
The entrance to the rundown little villa was already cordoned off by guards gripping spears.
Returning their salutes, I entered. The first floor had no hallway—just a door and stairs starkly placed.
It seemed each floor had a single room.
“The scene is on the second floor.”
I climbed the stairs, smeared with ash and spit. The smell had hit hard upon entering, and it didn’t look well-maintained.
The second-floor door stood wide open.
Passing the guard stationed there, I stepped inside.
The interior was far too filthy for a normal home, reeking terribly, with empty bottles scattered everywhere.
Of the two doors facing each other, I opened the one on the right. There lay a body covered with a white sheet.
“No visible external injuries. Cause of death: acute heart failure due to alcohol poisoning.”
“Victim’s name?”
“Hansen. He worked as a server at a nearby bar but got fired a few months ago for flirting with one of the barmaids. He’d been unemployed since.”
“…….”
“He was an alcoholic but didn’t touch drugs. And... he had a live-in partner.”
The guard captain’s voice sank gloomily as he mentioned the partner.
“That’s the problem. Ophelia. The barmaid I just mentioned—the one he was seeing. This is her room, the scene of the crime.”
Up to here, it sounded like Hansen, jobless and drowning in booze, had finally collapsed from it.
No external injuries on the body, after all.
But then the guard captain leaned in and whispered something intriguing.
“Ophelia is actually a widow. Lost her husband and daughter a year ago. I handled the investigation back then—tragically, it was an accident.”
“…….”
“And... in the past year, three men close to her have died.”
“Hm.”
“A young local, a barfly, a retired soldier. All men she was friendly with. All accidents or sudden illnesses. But this is the first time her lover died like this.”
“From the way you put it, you think this Ophelia is behind all these incidents.”
“......Yes. That’s why we’ve deployed guards to search the premises this time.”
No wonder they’d committed so many forces to what seemed a simple heart failure case.
“I might be wronging a poor woman, but I wanted to confirm it once and for all.”
As he spoke, I slowly approached Hansen’s body.
No need to lift the sheet—I just stared at it and nodded slightly.
“Looks like the guard captain’s judgment is correct.”
“I-Is that so?!”
Paul clenched his fist in surprise, clearly not expecting such a firm confirmation.
“Where’s Ophelia?”
“S-She’s with a tenant from another floor for now!”
Without me saying more, Paul hurriedly gestured for his men to fetch her.
I’m no detective.
I can’t glance at a body or scene and pinpoint the culprit, motive, or murder weapon.
The guards, experienced in such cases, would be far better at that.
And they hadn’t called me for that anyway.
What only I, a Necromancer, could see.
‘Hansen’s soul is gone.’
Even if it had entered repose after death, this man died just yesterday.
There should at least be a faint trace, but the soul itself was completely absent.
If it had become an evil spirit and departed, it would have left a clearer malicious aura.
‘The soul itself has vanished entirely.’
A simple heart failure wouldn’t leave such traces.
Sensing something amiss in this man’s death, I waited briefly until quiet footsteps approached.
“Brought her.”
Disheveled black hair, skin not just pale but deathly ashen.
Emaciated, as if she hadn’t eaten properly, yet a relaxed smile played on her lips.
Perhaps because of that, she exuded a decadent allure.
Paul, who’d brought her, and the other guards couldn’t help sneaking glances at Ophelia—hardly an impressive sight.
Thump.
Even my heart stirred at the sight of her.
A fuzzy emotion welled up, along with a desire to protect her.
The instant I recognized this as the affection I’d long sought, intense murderous intent surged toward her unbidden.
“Mr. Necromancer, with Miss Ophelia...!”
My reaction was so fierce even Paul faltered, and Ophelia, approaching bluntly, stiffened her smile.
“We’ll talk separately.”
I led Ophelia to the victim’s room on the left. She glanced warily but followed after being nudged by Paul.
Thud.
Click.
As I locked the door, bewilderment flooded her eyes.
But I had no time for consideration or second thoughts.
“Don’t.”
I glared at Ophelia, grinding my teeth. The reason I was swept into this maelstrom of intense emotion was simple.
This woman had given a brutal answer to the affection I’d diligently sought.
“Does playing with others’ emotions amuse you?”
“N-No, it’s not...”
“The moment I saw you, a feeling of affection toward you surged up.”
Even though I didn’t know her, the instant I laid eyes on her, it forced the recognition that this was love.
Some might call it love at first sight.
But with my own emotions so faint, I could tell this was false—artificial.
Especially after my talk with Erika just now.
A coercive lust that dismissed not just my feelings for Erika, but for everyone else as lies.
The rage blazing like wildfire showed no sign of subsiding.
“I’m in a very foul mood, so answer carefully and precisely.”
“Th-This can’t be...”
Ophelia’s panicked eyes scanned me cautiously. Her intent was all too clear, so I reached out, seized her chin, and squeezed.
“Eek!”
Her speech garbled with her jaw gripped, her glance downward to confirm my manhood repulsed me utterly.
“I said no tricks.”
Even now, the desire to save this woman writhing in my grasp surged in my chest.
Suppressing the urge screaming to release my grip, I crushed her jaw as if to shatter it and backed her against the wall.
Thud!
“What trick are you using? How did you kill Hansen? Tell me everything.”
Releasing her, Ophelia—whose head had smacked the wall—looked up at me with teary eyes.
As if she couldn’t believe my behavior, I moved to warn her again.
But seeing my hand extend, Ophelia desperately dropped to her knees and prostrated herself.
“It’s... a tattoo! The tattoo on my chest enchants the mind!”
Prostrated, it wasn’t visible now, but I’d glimpsed a heart-shaped tattoo when I grabbed her chin earlier.
“A-And! I really didn’t kill Hansen!”
“You expect me to believe that?”
I warned her with killing intent so thick my whole body’s mana writhed, but she insisted it was true from her prone position.
“It’s my daughter! My dead daughter! She’s the one killing all the men I loved!”
Her words were not just odd but grating in multiple ways.
Her dead daughter killing people suggested an evil spirit, sure.
But even more grating was...
“Loved?”
The past tense.
If her dead daughter was killing her lovers, why wait until the feelings had cooled?
I voiced the doubt, but Ophelia, flustered, didn’t even hear and kept pouring out words.
“She keeps killing the men I loved! My husband! My lovers! She killed them all!”
Snapping her head up, the tear-streaked woman vented her grudge at me.
“Claire’s Miscellany Shop! It started after I went there!”
“......Claire’s Miscellany Shop?”
Trembling in terror at the name itself, she shook violently, but I could only feel puzzled.
I knew of Claire’s Miscellany Shop too.
The classic secret shop from games.
One you could only find with luck, stocked with rare items—a game ally.
Run by the ever-cheerful, bright Claire, lover of curios.
‘Something’s off.’
It seemed the continent’s tale was unfolding differently from the game I knew once again.