76. Witch Hunt (7)
76. Witch Hunt (7)
"You're so mean..."
I stroked Millia's head as she turned away with a pout and apologized.
"Sorry. But there really wasn't any other way."
"Still, having my head thrown around isn't pleasant."
Honestly, I couldn't begin to imagine how it felt, but it certainly sounded unpleasant. Those spinning playground rides made people insanely dizzy, right? Experiencing that in three dimensions would probably make even someone without motion sickness throw up.
Next time I'd make sure to get her consent before pulling that trick.
Assuming there was a next time.
"Yohan, so what now?"
As we made our way back to Dawn Hall through the passage I'd dug, I looked over at Millia in response to her question. My head was a mess.
The Squad 3 Captain.
The Witch.
The disappearances.
Putting all the information I'd gathered together, those three clues were unquestionably connected.
That meant digging into the Squad 3 Captain could produce useful information. Combined with what I remembered from the original game, I might even reduce the number of victims. It'd take work, but... when had I ever not had to struggle?
"Remember that obnoxious man we met earlier today?"
"Yeah! He was super obnoxious!"
"I think that man is connected to this case."
"That creepy man?"
"Exactly. That stuck-up geezer... If it were up to me, I'd just kidnap him and interrogate him, but that's probably not an option."
Or should I actually do it? If I kidnapped him in secret, couldn't I make it work somehow? As the saying went, true support meant eliminating the source of damage. If I abducted the Squad 3 Captain, extracted the information, and killed him, couldn't I skip the entire incident?
My heart wavered at the enticing option that had abruptly surfaced, but I clamped down firmly on the impulse. I wasn't on my own anymore. I was Karina's Escort Knight, and I had Millia to look after.
In the end, the surest approach was to take down the Squad 3 commander through some legally defensible means.
"Canvassing would be difficult. We don't have any evidence to ask the Guard for cooperation either."
The most realistic option was to follow my knowledge of the original game, stake out the places where people were supposed to disappear, and catch the culprit in the act. It'd cause some problems, but if I rescued a would-be victim, that alone should provide evidence.
"...So I'm going to have to dig like a madman, huh."
"Huh?"
"I mean I'll probably need to dig more tunnels."
"...Isn't it hard?"
Worried eyes swept over my face. I gave Millia's head a light pat and opened my mouth.
"I had to do what needed doing."
"I'll help too!"
"Thank you."
"Heehee."
I was exhausted. First, I needed sleep.
I took Millia and headed for Dawn Hall.
------------------------------------
A lecture hall beside the main building's dining hall.
An out-of-the-way lecture hall in the Magic Department.
An underground lecture hall in the Alchemy Department.
A clearing behind the Knight Department's warehouse.
Over three days, I dug tunnels at four locations in total.
They were the disappearance sites from the original game. I called Millia and Elisa, gave them a rough explanation, and began our stakeout.
I brought Elisa into the stakeout as well. Millia took the Magic Department, and Elisa took the Alchemy Department. I took the Knight Department. The plan was to watch three locations simultaneously. If even one produced a clue, I could use it to solve the case.
Of course, that only worked if the disappearances happened exactly as they had in the original.
...It felt like some kind of People's Army operation, but I doubted I had a better option. When authority, money, and force were all lacking, I had to make do like this.
I chewed on some jerky and waited for people to enter the classroom. I had no idea if anyone would actually come, but stakeouts were always a test of patience, so it couldn't be helped.
I'd already been at this for two days. I'd really like some results to start showing up soon. How much longer was I supposed to survive on jerky?
"Status Window."
[Yohan Quartz]
Age:19
Sex:Male
Race:Human
Job: Escort Knight
-Traits-
Insight:B
Shoveling:A+
Carpentry:A
Processing:A
Pharmacy:C+
Dexterity:B
Anatomy:B
Survival:S
-Skills-
Craft:A
Repair:B
Dismantling:B
Auto-Translate:A
Allocate Trait Points.
Trait Points: 3
-Mission-
-Become friends with the witch.
Reward: 2 Trait Points
With nothing better to do than stare into space, I opened my Status Window.
It was the only quiet way I had to pass the time.
"...Maybe I should invest in Insight."
The thought came to me as I stared blankly at the Status Window.
'Insight' was normally the kind of thing used in situations like this. Would investing in it help?
At the very least, it ought to pull its weight.
I looked it over.
How was I supposed to assign stats?
I touched the Status Window with one finger. Its surface felt like plastic. What was it made of? Could anyone else touch it? Ah, enough pointless speculation. Assigning the points came first.
Carefully, I pressed my finger firmly on the part labeled Insight.
[Invest Trait Points in the Insight stat?]
YES / NO
"Obviously, YES."
When I pressed YES, one Trait Point disappeared.
...And the rank didn't go up.
What the hell was this?
"So one point won't get you a rank increase, is that it?"
Then the other two points as well.
[Insight rank has risen to A Grade.]
...What exactly changed?
I stared blankly at the Status Window but couldn't tell what had changed. Then again, what could I learn inside a tunnel like this? It'd probably become noticeable when I met someone or investigated something. I closed the Status Window and pressed my ear to the exit of the secret passage.
"...Are you?"
"...you."
The voices were hard to make out. Still, I could tell there was a woman's voice and a man's voice. Was this a jackpot or a bust? I wondered how things were going with Millia and Elisa over by the Knight Department warehouse and the Alchemy Department's underground lecture hall.
"...break up."
"...Tina!"
Uh.
Uhh...
I pricked up my ears and eavesdropped on the conversation between a man and a woman who might or might not be a couple.
"What's wrong with you!"
"...with a first-year..."
"That was... I-I just... I was trying to get to know her, that's all!"
Captivated by the drama, I focused more keenly than ever and savored the Love and War unfolding between the couple in crisis. Heard in 3D Dolby surround sound, it was the most fascinating gossip I'd encountered in ten years of transmigration.
The bastard got caught cheating.
And look at him shamelessly shouting, 'It's a misunderstanding!'
That was every cheater's standard routine: insisting that everything was a misunderstanding. At least come up with a more creative excuse. Something like, 'She's actually my half-sister!' Of course, that would still end in disaster.
"...way!"
"...wait! Christina!"
I could hear sobbing. A female student named Christina was definitely crying.
...Christina?
I'd heard that name somewhere. Not a heroine, that much was certain. Where had I heard it? Beneath the ground where the vibrations had died down, I sank into thought.
It really did feel like a name I'd heard somewhere before.
...Ah.
Around the time the sounds completely faded, I finally recalled the owner of the name Christina.
Christina de Esteng.
She was the eldest daughter of the commercially renowned Count Christina and a character who offered a side quest near the end of the main story's opening section. As expected of a merchant family's daughter, she paid generously and gave a struggling playthrough some breathing room. She was not a heroine, though.
But did she have a lover?
...That wasn't what mattered right now.
I got to my feet. This spot was a bust anyway, so I planned to regroup and exchange intel.
"...I hope one of the other locations had better luck."
I pulled the magical engineering communicator from my coat. I'd spent my entire fortune on it. By then, perhaps something had happened at one of the other locations. With uneasy anticipation, I pressed its power button.
"Ah, ah. Can both of you hear me?"
[I hear you!]
[I-I hear you...]
"Any results?"
[No one's come here! It's boring!]
So nothing on Millia's end. Then Elisa's was...
[M-My side is... still quiet... Ah, someone just came in...! The ominous presence... it's here...!]
"I'll be there soon. Wait quietly!"
A frantic voice.
I immediately shoved the communicator into my pocket and kicked off the ground.
--------------
'I-I was scared.'
Elisa pressed her hand tightly over her mouth and listened to the conversation beyond the wall.
"...Who are your backers?"
A woman's wary voice reached Elisa's ears.
"...need to know."
The sounds filtering through the wall were faint, but Elisa, who had her ear pressed against it, listened to the conversation while her clammy fingers twitched and her body shook.
'What if I got caught? If I got caught...'
Bleak futures unfolded in Elisa's mind.
Herself collapsed in a pool of blood. Herself kidnapped and subjected to horrors.
Like the witches of long, long ago, herself bound to a tree and burned at the stake.
Every kind of paranoid delusion surged through her mind. It was nothing unusual. Ever since her parents had nearly killed her as a child for being 'ominous,' those delusions had become constant companions that emerged at the slightest trigger.
"Do you think you'll get away with this!?"
"...In business, you have to accept a certain amount of risk."
'...It was Kain.'
She'd only heard that voice once before, but she identified its owner in an instant. There was no way she could forget that repulsive voice.
"...In any case, now that you've come here, I'm afraid you won't be able to run."
"P-please, spare..."
"Screaming won't do you any good, I'm afraid. I've cast a soundproofing spell."
Multiple sets of footsteps rang out. Several hostiles. And just one female student who would soon become a missing person. The sound from the other side of the tunnel still wasn't audible, which meant that at this rate, the student would be taken first.
'Wh-What was I supposed to do?'
She had to stall for time somehow until Yohan arrived. But what could she do, hiding behind the wall? She knew from Yohan how to open the door to the Secret Passage, but she couldn't even bring herself to touch the handle—she simply stood there, trembling.
'I might die...'
If she opened the wall and revealed herself, she could buy time.
But the chance of being harmed would rise exponentially.
'If I just stay still...'
It was a student she'd never even met. Not a friend. Wouldn't it be fine to just let her be kidnapped?
The wicked thought ate away at Elisa from her toes upward.
If she stayed quiet, that female student would get kidnapped and the situation would end. Afterward, all she'd have to do was pick up whatever evidence might have been left behind. That alone would advance the investigation.
Right.
That would be enough.
"Don't come near me!"
'Nooooooo!'
A scene from the past flickered before her eyes. The people who had tried to kill her as an evil being because she carried the Witch's Blood. Professor Lennon, who had accepted her after her desperate escape.
What had he said?
'If you perform good deeds, you will become a good person. If you commit evil deeds, you will become an evil person.'
She did not want to become a bad person.
Remembering the words of Professor Lennon, who was as good as her own father, she quietly placed her hand on the handle that opened the Secret Passage door.
'I could do this.'
Elisa threw the door open with all her strength and shouted.
"This way!"