Mick Tower's Secret Method
Three screamed.
"Don't frame me."
Then he pleaded.
"Mage Gary, I swear I never laid a hand on the Motaro."
Chris accepted the protest, for the moment.
"Fine. You recovered the wooden case and gave it to Four?"
"Yes."
"Why Four?"
"That's the regulation."
"So you took it out of the magic circle and handed it to Four. Is that what you're saying?"
"Yes."
"And somewhere in there you had three seconds when you could have worked it over in secret?"
"No. Three mages were watching me with their eyes on fire. How was I supposed to pull anything? Absolutely not. My hands were shaking too hard to try."
"All right. Noted."
Chris turned his gaze on Four.
"What did you do with the wooden case you received from Three?"
"I put it in my spatial pouch."
"Why?"
"We always move them in pouches."
"Following regulation?"
"Yes."
"If you'd felt like it, you could have swapped the case inside that pouch."
"Mage Grain's case has a distinctive scent. It's difficult to forge."
Chris looked to the Chukhwan of Touleno Magic Tower.
"You still have the case from then?"
Claudia drew it from her robe.
"This is it."
Chris took the case and examined it. He had handled Grain's cases often enough to tell the genuine article from a fake.
"It's real."
Four's voice brightened.
"There, you see? Where would I even get a case to swap it with?"
"It's been quite a while since my master started making Motaro and spreading it around. Six or seven of them must have gone to the Rafunian side. That means the tower has six or seven empty cases lying about, and if you'd gotten your hands on one, a swap would have been simple."
Four's voice darkened.
"No."
"You wouldn't even need to swap the case. Just take the Motaro out of it."
Julien clapped his hands.
"Exactly. A Sikbae's hands are faster than a professional gambler's. Opening and shutting a case with a little finger-work inside a pouch is nothing at all."
Four started to object, but Chris waved him off with an open palm.
"After you put the case in the spatial pouch, what did you do?"
"I went with Three through the magic circle connected to Touleno Magic Tower."
"Do the two of you usually travel together?"
"Most of the time, yes."
"And then?"
Four counted on his fingers, then spoke.
"I handed it to Eight. Over there."
Chris looked at Eight.
"Same duty as Four?"
Whether from nerves or not, Eight's voice came out thin and shaking.
"Yes. The magic circles we're assigned are different, but the work is the same."
"Did you receive the case from Four?"
"Yes."
"And after that?"
"I put it in our spatial pouch."
"So you, like Four, could have swapped the case itself, or taken the Motaro out."
"It wasn't me."
Four flared.
"So you're saying it was me!"
Chris spoke sharply.
"Four. Don't open your mouth until I ask you something."
Four's face went red, then pale.
"Yes."
"Three. Four. After you handed over the case, what did you do?"
Three answered.
"We returned to our assigned sector."
"And Eight?"
Eight pointed to the side.
"I went to the magic circle with Seven."
Chris looked at Seven.
"Notice anything odd about Eight?"
Seven shot Eight a sidelong glance before he answered.
"Nothing different from usual. Except..."
"Except what?"
"His face was a little flushed."
Eight raised his voice.
"The treasure was in the spatial pouch. I was just excited, that's all."
"Did you know there was Motaro inside?"
"Yes."
Chris turned to Tower Master Rab.
"Wasn't it rather careless to entrust the transport of Motaro to Sikbae?"
Julien leapt in to agree.
"A Chukhwan ought to have been supervising."
Rab was more irritated by Julien butting in with his advice than by Chris treating the disciples like criminals.
"The ones who covet Motaro are mostly Chukhwan."
He jabbed a finger at Julien and went on.
"You don't leave the fish with the cat."
Julien snorted.
"And yet you got robbed."
Rab bared his teeth at him.
"There's no proof it was us. You're the one I suspect most."
"More than five people watched me open that case. It was empty."
"You said it yourself a moment ago. A Sikbae's hands are faster than a professional gambler's. How fast do you think a mid-rank Chukhwan is?"
Shay spoke up.
"He could have cast an illusion."
Julien snorted again.
"I have nothing to do with petty tricks like that."
Chris ignored the squabble.
"Seven and Eight moved together through the magic circle connected to Touleno. Then what?"
Eight answered.
"I took the case out of the spatial pouch and passed it to Seven."
Chris looked from Five to Six and back again.
"Were the two of you there?"
Five said,
"I saw Eight give it to Seven."
Six said the same.
"Seven. You received the case. What did you do with it?"
"I set it in the center of the magic circle."
Chris kept Five, Six, and Eight in view.
"After Seven took the case from Eight, did you keep your eyes on him until he set it on the circle?"
Five answered.
"Six and I had to activate the circle and send it to Touleno. We had to pour in mana and recite the spell, so we weren't watching the case the whole time."
Seven cut in.
"All of that happens after I set the case down. Before that, you were watching me."
Five shook his head.
"No. I was doing other work even then."
"Fine. We'll say that's true of you. Why are you speaking for Six as well?"
Chris nodded.
"Good point. Five, speak only about what you yourself saw, heard, and felt. Don't presume about anyone else's business."
Five bowed his head.
"I'm sorry."
"All right. Six?"
Six scratched the side of his head.
"I wasn't preparing to activate the circle the way Five was. I was looking at Seven during that time, but I wasn't watching him constantly."
"So you took your eyes off him."
"Yes. I looked away for a moment."
"How long?"
"Hard to say. Five seconds, maybe?"
"And Eight?"
"The same. I wasn't watching Seven the whole time."
"So there was time to pocket it."
"If it was Seven, I think he could have managed it easily."
Seven spoke in a rush.
"Fine. Five, Six, and Eight may have looked elsewhere. But all three of them wouldn't have looked away at the same time. I don't have the skill to catch the exact instant when every one of them glances aside."
If even one of them had been watching, the theft would have come to light. Chris nodded.
"A fair point."
Julien objected.
"He blocked all three lines of sight with his back, the same way Three did."
He looked at the three of them.
"You said you were looking at him. You didn't say you were watching the case."
Five answered.
"Yes. My eyes weren't only on the case."
At that, Six and Eight agreed.
"Sometimes I was looking at his face. Sometimes at his upper body."
Julien turned to Chris.
"There you have it."
Chris was silent for a moment, sorting their statements in his head.
After a while, he muttered.
"One, Two, Five, and Six couldn't have touched the case."
He looked at them.
"You four. Step aside."
Their faces brightened all at once. Swept up in relief, they put distance between themselves and the colleagues who had yet to be cleared.
"Three. Four. Seven. Eight."
Chris called them out and glared.
"The culprit is among you four."
Every one of them denied it. Seven's reaction was especially violent, his voice cracking.
"No! I didn't steal the Motaro!"
"Anyone willing to confess?"
No answer.
"Is there truly no one who will confess for the sake of his colleagues?"
Julien said,
"Use mental magic."
"I won't turn an innocent man into an idiot."
"Then what do you propose?"
Chris spoke with force.
"I will use the secret investigation method of Mickclonia Magic Tower."
Julien's eyes lit up like a miser's when he finds a coin in the road, and he rubbed his hands together.
"Oho. A secret investigation method. This is getting interesting."
Shay said,
"I've never heard of Mick Magic Tower having any such secret art. What is it, exactly?"
Chris looked around at them.
"Do you agree with me that the culprit is among those four?"
The Chukhwan all nodded.
"It does look that way."
Shay and Rab, who had been eyeing Julien with suspicion, agreed as well.
Chris lifted his chin and declared it.
"I've caught the culprit."
Then he clamped his mouth shut. Everyone waited for him to speak, but his lips never parted.
Julien tilted his head.
"So who is the culprit?"
The mouth stayed closed.
Rab said,
"You'll have to pick one of the four."
Shay said,
"Don't tell me you mean all four of them are accomplices."
Carmen said,
"I won't accept a theory of four accomplices."
Chris raised a finger and wagged it.
"Let's keep this simple. The culprit is definitely among those four. So..."
He fell silent again. Claudia, fit to burst, struck her own chest.
"So! What! What are we supposed to do!"
"We kill them all."
Chris's voice was flat and final. Julien picked up the thread.
"Ah, right. Kill them all and that'll— what? Kill all of them?"
Chris nodded.
"Kill them all, and the culprit dies too. Case closed."
Rab said,
"That's nonsense."
Chris was cold.
"We're all Chukhwan. Busy people. Are we really going to waste precious time sorting out which one is the thief? Let's keep it simple. Nice and simple."
Britney clenched her teeth, then spoke.
"Didn't you say Mick Magic Tower has a secret investigation method?"
Chris was unashamed.
"This is Mick Magic Tower's secret investigation method."
Rab was dumbfounded.
"Killing every suspect. What kind of investigation method is that?"
"An extremely efficient one. Don't disparage it."
Chris glared at the four suspects.
"Last chance."
All four cried out at once.
"It wasn't me."
"I'm innocent."
"Three is suspicious."
"Please believe me. I'm innocent."
Chris clicked his tongue.
"Talk won't get through to this lot."
He split his Willpower into four strands and drove them toward the points between their brows. Sensing something dire, Britney shouted.
"Don't do anything rash!"
Chris heeded the warning and eased the Willpower.
"In light of Elder Britney's counsel, I'll give you one final chance. Tell the truth, and I'll let you off with about ten years in prison. In exchange, the rest of—"
At that moment, the heads of Three and Four burst.
Bang. Bang.
Chris turned toward the one who had cast the spell. Shay's hands were locked in a seal.
Bang. Bang.
Seven's and Eight's heads burst like firecrackers.
Carmen shouted.
"Shay! What are you doing!"
Julien applauded.
"Just as Gary said, simple is best. I'm busy enough to drop dead. I can't be tied down by Sikbae trash."
Then he raised a thumb.
"Shay, I salute your decisiveness."
Rab's eyes drooped as he shook his head.
"Elder, this isn't right."
Shay let his shoulders sag, looking gloomy.
"We can't have our tower branded as the ones who sheltered the thief that stole the Motaro."
Chris put force behind his stare.
"You see? This is the secret investigation method of our Mick Magic Tower. It never fails."
Carmen sneered.
"Yes. Truly admirable."
Shay made to leave.
"Let's part ways here."
Chris stepped into his path.
"The climax is just getting started. You can't leave now."
"The climax?"
"I'll reveal the culprit."