Who Is the Culprit?
Selene stood before the morgue door and spoke in a low voice.
“I’m going to see Leonia’s body. Wait here.”
“No. I’m coming in too.”
“Are you sure you’re okay with that?”
Leonia, standing in front of the corpse storage room, gave a quiet nod.
“Then I understand. Selene, you’re fine with it too, right?”
“Yeah.”
The three of them entered the morgue together.
“......”
“Leonia. Are you alright?”
“...I’m fine.”
The familiar shape of the wound left on the corpse’s neck. To anyone else, it would look like an ordinary slash from a blade. But the memory of that day came rushing back vividly, and Leonia was certain.
“It’s him. No doubt about it…”
When Leonia staggered slightly, Selene quietly steadied her.
“Of course, our family’s butler also had a similar wound on his waist back then…”
“Did the butler know swordsmanship too?”
“Yes. Quite a few people in the household had some knowledge of swordsmanship. There were probably several who drew their blades when they saw the man carrying the curved sword that day.”
“But they couldn’t win.”
“Right. And this kind of wound was left behind.”
“At first glance, it just looks like a normal slash.”
“But it’s different. Subtly different.”
“The young lady is correct.”
The coroner standing with them in the morgue chimed in to support Leonia’s words.
“It seems slightly different from wounds made by ordinary weapons. If you look closely, the edges are a bit ragged, aren’t they?”
“So it’s inconsistent?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm? Aren’t curved swords usually made to increase cutting power?”
“Is that so? Then this wound is the opposite. It’s not clean at all.”
“Hmm…”
Brika stared once more at the wound on the corpse’s neck.
“Cause of death was excessive bleeding?”
“Yes. The artery was severed cleanly.”
Brika spent a long time staring at the body, turning thoughts over in her head. In the end, no clear conclusion emerged.
“Sit here for now.”
Brika led them into the internal conference room of the Security Bureau’s investigation office and locked the door.
“As you can see, this place is soundproof. Nothing leaks outside.”
“You still have more to tell us?”
“Yeah. Apart from the bodies left by the curved-sword killer, there’s another problem.”
“What is it?”
Brika spread out several sheets of paper. They were crude documents made of ordinary paper. The fact that they weren’t parchment meant they were still at the memo stage of the investigation.
“This is the third murder case since I took this position. More precisely, the third case that came fully into my hands.”
“What do you mean?”
“The only complete, perfect information I can obtain is from these three cases.”
“You’re saying it’s as if the information from the previous cases isn’t proper data.”
“Exactly.”
Brika showed them three documents. They contained information related to three victims from the civil guard.
“They’re not on your level or mine, but these guys were pretty skilled. At least when it came to swordsmanship sparring.”
“Hmm.”
“Yet nine victims came before them. And those nine were also people with decent swordsmanship skills.”
“So… that means the curved-sword killer isn’t ordinary.”
“Right. Seeing that even the empire’s sword—you—lost to him, this guy is no ordinary opponent. He might even be someone I can’t handle.”
“......”
Leonia rested her chin on her hand for a moment, sinking into thought. She began recalling the nightmare-like memory once again.
“Sorry. Did I make you remember bad memories again?”
“They’re still bad memories… but it’s a little different now.”
“What do you mean?”
“The family issue has been resolved, and after getting thoroughly chewed out by Instructor Brika during training, my head feels clearer.”
“Haha. When your mind’s cluttered, nothing beats moving until you’re out of breath.”
“Maybe that’s why I can look at this nightmare memory a bit more objectively now.”
“What do you mean?”
“The scene comes back more clearly—the way he swung his sword.”
“...Don’t push yourself.”
Leonia sank back into her memories. The man holding the curved sword, smiling slyly behind his mask. The moment she had desperately swung her own blade, trying to defeat him somehow.
“Brika. Did I ever tell you that I close my eyes when an opponent’s attack is coming?”
“You did.”
“About that…”
Leonia returned to reality and stared straight at Brika.
“I think… it was the same that day too.”
“So you lost because of that habit after all?”
“Hmm…”
“Well, maybe it would be advantageous to attack by targeting that habit of yours.”
“......”
“But don’t worry. That habit is gone now. Surprisingly, you erased all those habits in such a short time. Haah… is that also talent?”
“No… what I want to say is a little different… if my memory is correct, then probably…”
Just as Leonia was digging through the fog in her mind, trying to reach the answer—
“Shh!”
Someone put a finger to their lips. It was Selene.
“Huh?”
“Why…”
Selene quietly rose from her seat. Then she walked toward empty air.
“What are you—”
At that moment.
Crunch.
Selene reached out into the air and grabbed something.
Squish.
The sound of something being crushed came from Selene’s hand.
“Eh?!”
When Selene opened her hand, a previously invisible object fell and revealed its form.
“What the hell is this?”
“It was listening.”
“What?”
“To our conversation. It was listening.”
“Ugh?!”
Startled, Brika clapped a hand over her own mouth.
Thud.
Selene dropped the crushed, bat-shaped familiar from her grip. The familiar soon vanished.
“It’s fine now.”
“......”
Brika quickly picked up a pen and scribbled something on paper.
[How much did it hear?]
Selene shook her head.
“This. It just came in. And it can’t listen anymore.”
“It just… came in?”
“(Nods)”
“Then what part of our conversation did it hear?”
“If my memory is correct, probably.”
“Huh?”
Selene pointed at Leonia.
“Leonia’s words. ‘If my memory is correct, then probably.’”
“That one phrase was all of it?”
“It was the very last thing I said.”
“What the… so you noticed the moment that magic eavesdropping device came in?”
“(Nods)”
“Just what can’t you do…?”
Brika looked with a hollow expression at the spot where the magic familiar had been, now vanished without a trace.
“Is anyone listening right now?”
“(Shakes head)”
“Then let’s speak briefly so they won’t notice.”
“(Nods)”
Brika pulled the two closer.
“The three who died while I was here. Those guys happened to be people I knew.”
“You mean they were trustworthy?”
“Something like that. We served together. That’s why I warned them repeatedly. The opponent is a skilled martial artist. Or that he’s someone who uses magic to defeat swordsmanship experts.”
“And they used that magic-nullifying pendant.”
“Right. And then two of them died. They left behind information about the curved sword.”
“I know.”
“So after that, I changed the strategy.”
“Strategy?”
Brika leaned in even closer and whispered.
“Yeah. They still use the pendant. But.”
“But?”
“I ordered them to run away no matter what.”
“......”
“The bastard seems to use swordsmanship. But his skill is outstanding. After hearing Leonia’s story, I’m not sure I could win either. I’d already been thinking that to some extent.”
“So instead of fighting, you ordered them to avoid him.”
“That’s right. Run away and find allies. Get someone who can use magic and survive. It doesn’t matter if the culprit gets away.”
“......”
“But the last guy didn’t run away in the end.”
“Isn’t that… because he was brave?”
“No. He absolutely wasn’t the type. He wasn’t reckless—he was cautious. He wouldn’t have made that judgment in a place like this.”
“Hmm.”
Brika squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before speaking.
“I was thinking about the body earlier. If I were that guy, why wouldn’t I have run?”
“Normally, if you think you can handle the opponent, you wouldn’t run.”
“Right. If the pendant was broken, the magic wouldn’t activate, and he must have been confident he could win with swordsmanship.”
“But after so many others had already fallen, he should have known it wasn’t an opponent he could easily beat with a sword.”
“Yeah. But what if the situation was reversed?”
“What?”
“What if… what if there was a specific condition that made it possible for me to win with swordsmanship?”
“......”
After those words, Brika held her breath for a split second. Then she spoke again.
“There’s a spy in the civil guard.”
“......”
Silence fell for a moment. When Brika glanced at Selene…
“(Nods)”
Selene once again confirmed that it was safe from eavesdropping.
“This makes the most sense. The opponent only uses swordsmanship, yet he can’t be beaten.”
“But what if there were allies nearby?”
“Right. Swordsmanship isn’t magic. Seventeen against one? Unless you have insane luck, that’s impossible. Even two against one drastically lowers the odds of victory.”
“So he had allies nearby and was certain of victory, but…”
“When they actually charged in with weapons, the only one fighting was himself.”
“......”
Leonia broke out in a cold sweat, looking somewhat tense.
“Until now I was just feeling it instinctively, but now I’m half-certain.”
“So that’s why you called us?”
“Yeah. You two aren’t involved in this side of things, so the chance that you’re the spy is low. Plus you only learned about the incident recently.”
“Then to summarize…”
“The culprit lured his comrade in and dragged him to the curved-sword bastard. Then he left him to die.”
“He didn’t launch a joint surprise attack.”
“If there had been a wound on the back, he would have immediately suspected betrayal from his comrade. A swordsman doesn’t expose his back easily.”
“Hmm…”
Brika leaned back.
“Any other peculiarities? Common points among the victims?”
“There is one.”
“What is it?”
Brika took out the notebook she had written in.
“The information on the previous nine is murky. It could have been tampered with.”
“Then these three?”
“These three happened while I was directly managing things, so I know for sure.”
“......”
“The pendants.”
Brika pulled a pendant from her pocket and showed it.
“Magic-nullifying pendants.”
“Right. They’re important items for the civil guard. There are piles of them in our building.”
“Then.”
“Yeah. The three who died were the ones managing the pendants.”
“......”
“I had secretly asked those guys to check the quantity of pendants. And the result was that the number recorded in the ledger didn’t match the actual number.”
“They were siphoned off.”
“Exactly. It’s certain. There are nearly ten thousand pendants in the warehouse, but several hundred are missing.”
“That’s a lot.”
“If the dead guys didn’t take them, then someone else did.”
“How?”
This time Brika showed an official document written on parchment.
[Pendant Management Staff Manual]
“All pendant managers are bound by a contract spell. Only the person who cast the contract spell can enter the pendant warehouse.”
“Then how did the culprit siphon off the pendants?”
“Probably because of this.”
Brika held up three fingers.
“Three hours.”
“Three hours?”
“There is exactly a three-hour window when the magic on the pendant warehouse is disabled, allowing anyone who wants to enter.”
“When does that three-hour window occur?”
“That would be…”
Brika looked at the documents again.
“When the person bound by the contract spell dies.”
“......”
“At that time, the seal on the pendant warehouse is released. It takes three hours for a mage to arrive and cast the contract spell on a new manager.”
“...That’s quite a sloppy system.”
“I at least suggested that pendant managers shouldn’t be sent to the field, but you know how bureaucratic societies are.”
“...And in the end, this happened.”
“Yeah.”
After that, Selene made another gesture indicating danger. Brika led the two out of the conference room.
“Ah, let me introduce you for a moment.”
Then, acting perfectly natural, she entered the investigation office and introduced the two to the security guards.
“These are experts in this field—Lady Leonia and Lady Selene. Be grateful for their cooperation.”
At the same time, Brika whispered, indicating the people inside the office.
“These are all the remaining civil guard members.”
“The culprit is among these people.”
“Yes. Without a doubt.”
Looking at Brika, Selene asked in a calm, steady voice.
“Then. The culprit. We just need to find him, right?”
“Yeah. …Huh? Where are you going?”
And then.
Selene walked straight through the middle of the civil guard members.
“This person.”
She grabbed one man without hesitation.
“This person. Is the culprit.”