Chapter 322
Chapter 322
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 322
Chapter Title: The Culprit is Among Us -3
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During the intermission, I huddled in the corner, conversing with the mad wizard.
He was still maintaining his pitch-black state. Even though no battle was unfolding right now. Perhaps he was preparing in case Goat revealed its true colors? Ready to kill it on the spot?
At any rate, there was a question nagging at me.
The mad wizard could force someone not to lie and claimed he was peering into their innermost thoughts. So why did we need to deduce anything?
Wouldn't it be enough to just make them chant "I am the culprit" over and over?
I asked him straight up.
"Can't you just... peer right through them?"
"That's the key point. You've hit on a pretty good angle there, Watson."
Who's Watson?
The mad wizard's eyes curved into crescents. It looked like a smile, but the glint of his pupils peeking from beneath his eyelids was so terrifying it didn't feel like one at all.
But regardless of how I felt, my mind was strangely calm. Was the mad wizard protecting me somehow?
"I'm peering intimately into the hearts of our juniors and seniors. Scanning the very contours of their souls. But I haven't caught Goat. Do you know what that means?"
"......"
"It means they've got some elaborate camouflage working inside their soul—a total black box no one's ever cracked—or some other... tricky method. My bet's 100% on the latter. If it was the former, they'd have cracked and confessed ages ago."
A disguise even this guy couldn't see through. Then could we even unmask the culprit?
"Of course we can. There are no unsolved mysteries or unbreakable tricks in this world."
The mad wizard gave me a hint.
"Suppose they've cleverly hidden their true personality. They commit the crime slyly, then slip back into being the innocent, clueless 'me.' In that case, even if there's nothing to see from the inside, things look different from the outside."
"...So, even if their words claim innocence, their actions will give them away."
"Exactly. Actions. Just catch the one whose behavior feels off. The one acting unnaturally for Goat's sake, even though they're not Goat. That's your culprit."
I see.
Then I don't need to trust their protests of innocence or their frustrated gestures. I just point to the person who acted the most suspiciously.
This was my chance. The opportunity had arrived.
My master had helped so many as the Hypnotic Detective. Now it was my turn to inherit that righteous name, unravel all the secrets through detective work, finger Goat as the culprit, and exact my revenge.
It was something I'd dreamed of ever since inheriting this thirst for vengeance. I clenched my fist tight. Time to resume the deduction drama.
"Hey."
"......?"
The mad wizard lowered his voice and spoke. I focused, expecting something important, but...
"Someone under hypnosis... doesn't know they're hypnotized. Neither does a character on stage. Only the audience can tell the roles apart."
"...What are you talking about?"
"Don't panic or freak out, Detective."
It was pretty cryptic, and from his expression, he had no intention of explaining further. So I just shrugged it off with a question mark in my head and got back to deducing.
"Not raising your hands means none of you touched the system panel. That's your claim, right?"
"......"
"......"
The suspects exchanged glances, gauging each other. The lights had gone out—that result lingered—but no one had turned them off. It didn't add up.
But... the mad wizard stayed silent.
If it were a lie, he would've unleashed his Swarm. Every suspect believed they hadn't touched the lights. At least, that's what they thought.
This was a crucial clue.
In other words, at the moment the lights went out... Goat had still been present as itself.
They'd turned off the lights, unleashed the familiar, then hidden somewhere, memory of the deed wiped away. So now, we just examine their actions.
The awkward silence dragged on until Lorey, stepping up, spoke cautiously.
"...But really, no one touched it. Specifically, no one could have. We..."
"Give your testimony."
"I mentioned it before. I stopped Senior Charlie from messing with the system panel. And after that too. I thought no one should touch the panel... so I grabbed everyone's hands and led them to the corner."
The corner?
Charlie cut in midway. He and Lorey took turns explaining.
"Yeah, the corner of this room where you and that junior were whispering earlier. Lorey led everyone there. She grabbed mine and Luce's hands, and Melverton went to the corner on his own."
"Right after that, the central control room lights went out. It was pitch black, impossible to see. But we were all holding hands. No one could physically reach the system panel."
"Then, something started scratching at the walls... and the lights came back on. We were all still huddled in the corner."
"......"
That 'wall-scratching sound' Charlie mentioned last was probably the mad wizard reverse-hypnotizing Goat's familiar and sending it back.
Thanks to Lorey's decision, everyone in the room was out of reach of the system panel. And then... the central control room lights went out.
That was Lorey's basis for claiming everyone was innocent.
"So, maybe someone turned off the Violet Magic Tower's lights from outside. Like tampering with the power furnace that supplies the mana."
"Couldn't you manipulate the system panel with magic from afar?"
"Panel operation requires physical force. Pressing buttons or turning levers... It's designed that way to prevent remote hacking."
Physical force required, huh.
That made sense. If they'd kept their distance after the lights went out, maybe, but they'd moved away from the panel before it happened. At first glance, they seemed innocent...
But there was a blind spot. One we had to address.
"Just one thing to confirm. Does anyone know exactly when the central control room lights went out?"
"Hey, Detective. We're not monsters like that junior of yours. We don't have precise biological clocks in our heads, and we weren't cool-headed enough to check the time in that chaos..."
"I-I know. I do."
"......?"
It was Melverton. He rolled up the sleeve of his Violet Magic Tower robe, revealing a luxurious, intricately crafted—clearly expensive—wristwatch.
"Bought it when business was booming... It records time, audio, even has a jukebox function. Research funds were flowing back then. How'd I end up broke now? Oh gods."
That's why you're broke.
"When the central control room lights suddenly went out, I panicked and tried to turn on the watch's light. It has built-in light magic... But no matter how much I pressed the button, it wouldn't light up. I freaked out and accidentally hit the stopwatch."
"Our Crispy here's been busy. Hand it over."
"...Uh, can't you not confiscate it? Senior, this is really precious to me..."
"Who's confiscating? Just let me see it for a sec. Come on, Crispy."
The mad wizard analyzed the watch's time log, cross-checked it with his biological clock, and declared:
"Times don't match. Central control room lights went out first, then the Violet Magic Tower lights ten seconds later. Gotcha by the scruff, huh?"
"......!!"
The 'time the central control room lights went out' didn't match 'the time the Violet Magic Tower lights went out.'
"B-But... how could anyone turn off the central control room lights? Everyone would've noticed."
"Crispy's watch worked fine. Light magic too. But you couldn't see it lit up. That's because it wasn't the lights going out—it was 'darkness' being unleashed."
Right. When the mad wizard and I climbed the stairs, the light swarm tracking Goat had lost its glow in the darkness. It couldn't be explained by just turning off the tower's lights.
Goat had cast that spell in the central control room first.
Then, in that unseen darkness, secretly manipulated the system panel. And along the mana lines connected to the panel... sprinkled 'darkness' on the staircase floor where the mad wizard and I were.
Charlie stroked his chin thoughtfully, then raised an objection.
"...That hypothesis doesn't hold for two reasons. First, we were all huddled in the corner, holding hands. Even in the dark, we didn't let go. You couldn't reach without stretching your arms impossibly long."
"......"
"Second, if they'd cast darkness-spreading magic like that, we'd have sensed the mana flow. Inside or outside... we're innocent. Lorey, Luce, Melverton. Good, hardworking juniors. That's enough, junior. You've done plenty."
He looked at the mad wizard, trying to shield his juniors with a persuasive tone. But the mad wizard's ominous glare didn't waver.
Because Charlie's words had a flaw. I pointed it out immediately.
"That's wrong. Mage Charlie."
"...Where's the mistake?"
"Your grand magic was enveloping the entire tower at that time—and still is. Small spells are hard to detect amid a big one. Goat's skill could hide the casting."
And.
"Because everyone was holding hands in the corner, keeping distance from the panel—that narrows it down. Someone who could manipulate the system panel from afar. Someone who can summon illusions with physical force."
"......!!"
"It was in the data the mad wizard gave me. The Hologram spell is the only illusion magic with physical force—so the one who turned off the lights is you, Luce!"
"I-I, I'm...!!"
Whirrr—!
The mad wizard flicked his finger, and black currents spiraled around Luce's body. I didn't know the full effect, but it clearly included restraint and suppression.
"Mmph, mmph...!!"
Luce couldn't even speak. Her chanting was sealed.
To play it safe, I asked him.
"Mad wizard, can you check Luce's background? If she's Goat in disguise, there should be gaps in her history. Like uncertain birth records."
"Ah... playing the cop now, huh. I know a Defense Bureau agent. I'll call her right now. She'll get back quick."
"...What's a phone?"
"I mean, contact. Via communication crystal orb. Keep chatting while I do."
The mad wizard pulled out a crystal orb and contacted the outside. A faint woman's voice came through. The pink-haired woman I'd seen in his lab.
She was a Defense Bureau agent.
After the lights-off culprit was revealed, silence fell over the central control room. Melverton looked glum that a colleague was the perp, Lorey quietly closed her eyes.
And Charlie... the most senior mage there, gazed steadily at Lorey, then spoke after some deliberation.
"Detective, the story's not over yet."
"......?"
"Your deduction's spot on. In that blackout, only Luce with her physical-force Hologram magic could've reached the panel. Since we were holding hands."
Charlie readily admitted my reasoning. But then he added a sharp counter.
"But were we really holding hands with each other?"
"......!!"
"You'd know if the junior shared the info. Didn't want to corner her, but... we can't let an innocent go down."
"...I understand, Senior Charlie. To stop the wrong person from being caught, we have to drag every suspicion to the surface."
Lorey sighed deeply.
Right, Lorey uses Puppet magic. Its effect... handing over bodily control to the target. It pierces most mental barriers.
Handing over control means gifting your sensations too.
Charlie clasped his left and right hands together in a solo handshake.
"What if you cast Puppet on the people to your left and right, one arm each, like this? They'd feel like they're 'holding hands with the person next to them.' Even if they weren't."
...Maintaining the alibi of holding hands while reaching the panel.
Manipulate the device unseen in the blackout, then return to position like nothing happened. No suspicion, and...
"Lorey, that was your idea. Everyone hold hands and go to the corner."
"...Yes."
"That's it, Detective."
It could frame Luce, the only one who handles Hologram.
"......"
Another suspect added. I'd thought we'd nailed it.
But it's fine. The mad wizard's investigating their backgrounds. So just finger the one with the shakiest past.
Thud. The mad wizard pocketed the communication orb. Call over. He said:
"Nada."
"...Background?"
"Nah, no one with a shady past."
What?
I stared at him, dumbfounded. He nodded understandingly, then elaborated.
"While asking about Luce, I had her check everyone here. Got the files from my cop friend... Yuri Lanster. All four suspects—detailed histories from birth to entering the tower."
"......"
"No fake identities. They were born, lived, and ended up in the Violet Magic Tower for real. Not disguises Goat cooked up. And Detective... bad news."
"Bad news?"
The mad wizard thumbed behind him.
A door was slowly materializing on the blank wall.
"The duration of Doorstep Ascension is ending. If we don't nail the culprit in time, I'll have to get rough. Restrain all four and throw 'em in a painful session."
"......"
"How's it going, Detective? Deduction hit a dead end?"
"...No, there's still stuff we haven't discussed. The deduction isn't over."
Review the timeline.
● Mad wizard ambushed by tower members mind-controlled by Goat. Swiftly subdues them and the assassin.
This part.
The mind control on the tower members and hiding the assassin. We hadn't probed that yet. We could keep going. The deduction... wasn't finished.
Tick-tick-tick.
Creeak. Creak.
A faint sound echoed in my ears. Rhythmic yet erratic noise. The winding of Melverton's wristwatch? Or a broken wall clock somewhere?
"......"
One thing was sure: the mad wizard wanted this deduction to continue and uncover the truth... probably.
I tapped the document folder from the mad wizard.
"Aliv Ronto, entered the Violet Magic Tower a month ago as an apprentice. This guy's the disguised assassin. Ambushed us on the way up, got taken down by the mad wizard."
"......"
"Heard Violet Magic Tower entry is by internal recommendation or external visit. How'd this Aliv Ronto get in?"
Key point.
Whoever let the assassin in is highly suspicious. If it's Lorey or Luce, we'd have solid circumstantial evidence.
But the one sweating bullets and answering was...
"Uh, th-that, I... I r-recommended him."
Melverton.
I slammed my fist on the desk without thinking.
Thonk.
"...How are you all so suspiciously evenly spread out?!"
No way they're all in on it... right?