Chapter 378: Poisoning, and Culprit.
(Author: this isn't a detective novel. As the culprit is using a certain magic that has not appeared yet, please do not try and guess the trick involved in this incident. Touya-kun has been using new magic all the time though.)
The conference is called to a halt, and we asked Prime Minister Schwein to prevent anyone from leaving the castle for the moment.
The room doesn't have any signs of struggle. Looking at the teacup rolling around on the floor, as well as the Southern Spring Marquis who died after vomiting blood, poison seems to be the most likely method.
"[Search: poisonous substance]."
Upon using [Search], a reaction came back from the liquid that has partially seeped into the carpet. As I thought.
On the nearby table, a tray is placed, upon which a teapot and a porcelain jug filled with tea could be seen.
"Who's the one that prepared this tea?"
"It's apparently something the prime minister asked to be sent to everyone's room before the conference began. Since the room is unlocked while the conference is going on, anyone could've entered during that time."
The Ferzen king answered. So, practically anyone could've done the deed. While the ones who were participating in the conference are obviously in the clear, it's possible for them to order their subordinates for this. Of course, that includes the prime minister, the one who had this tea prepared in the first place.
On a side note, the guards for the conference had positioned themselves outside the room on alert after the conference was paused.
Did they not hear the sound of a person collapsing on the floor even though they were right outside? Was what I was thinking, until I noticed a familiar-looking dragon engraving on the ceiling of the room. So it's because of that.
Let's call Flora of the [Alchemy Building] here to analyze what's left of the tea. Knowing the type of poison used might become a hint towards figuring out this incident.
"Still, why did they want to kill the Southern Spring Marquis? It's rude to say this, but shouldn't the prime minister or the king's younger brother be a better target…"
The Ferzen king tilted his head. That's true… A threat? Something like intimidation?
"A, ano, about that…"
While we were thinking about the problem, a female servant called out hesitantly from the hallway.
"A, actually, this room was supposed to be used by His Excellency the Prime Minister."
"What did you say?"
"The prime minister had prepared the wide south-facing room over there for the Southern Spring Marquis at first, but the Southern Spring Marquis asked him to exchange their rooms, saying this one is smaller and more comfortable for him…"
The servant pointed to the door on the opposite side of the hallway.
Now that I looked at it, this room is facing towards the north, and doesn't receive much sunlight. I suppose the prime minister must've prepared the better south-facing rooms for the guests, the Southern Spring Marquis and the Eastern Sea Marquis, while leaving the north- facing room for himself.
"That means… Prime Minister-dono was the one who could've died instead-degozaru ka?"
The surrounding people froze upon hearing Yae's words.
The original target of the poisoning was the prime minister, but due to the Southern Spring Marquis requesting a change of rooms, he died in the prime minister's place… That's probably the correct way to look at this. Unless, of course, if the Southern Spring Marquis had reasons for people to target his life too.
For the faction supporting the king's younger brother, the faction supporting the prime minister is an enemy, and as such the Southern Spring Marquis being targeted isn't impossible. However, normally, they would obviously aim for the prime minister over him.
The room is around 8 tatami wide, with a table and sofa, a large closet, and a window facing the north. Next to the door is a string connected to a bell used to call servants to the room.
I opened the closet to take a look, but there's nothing inside. Well, this room is something closer to a break room than a place someone would stay in, after all.
Suddenly, the thought that I can probably revive the Southern Spring Marquis with the light- attribute magic [Resurrection], commonly known as revival magic, appeared in my mind for an instant.
[Resurrection] is an ultimate magic which must be used within an hour of death, requires the body to have no injuries, and also consumes an unworldly amount of magic power and life force.
As there's a high chance for the caster to die in the process, it's never used unless if it's on people with close relations like family or lovers.
There's naturally the requirement of the caster being a high-level practitioner that can handle such a magic, and it isn't rare for the caster to die without succeeding at the revival. Due to the above reasons, there's barely any records of successful revivals left in history. The success rate is below 20%, or so I heard.
I thought that if it was me I should be able to handle it risk-free, but according to Karen nee- san's explanation, in my case, aside from my magic power, there's the risk of me providing too much life force to the recipient—unless if they're my dependants—that it changes their fundamental existence.
"Even if you freeze a melted ice sculpture, it won't go back to the same ice sculpture as before" was Karen nee-san's words.
"I pray for the soul of this person to ascend towards the sky without going astray. O God, please grant him a peaceful rest."
Her Holiness the Pope gave a prayer for the Southern Spring Marquis, who's lying prone on the ground. Souls of the deceased don't head towards the Divine Realm where Kami-sama is. They head towards the Heavenly Realm, which is below the former.
Over there, the soul is purified and reborn within a new body. Although overly-tainted souls can apparently only become animals… I can only pray that this person isn't like that.
As a precaution, I searched the body's pockets and other places to see if there's anything that could become a clue.
There's nothing that really stands out. A fountain pen and a pocket watch, some tobacco leaves and damper inside a case, a pipe and some matches. These are all the things he had on his body.
Guess I'll ask Flora to look at the Southern Spring Marquis' body later too.
"King-sama, a bit."
When I turned around, Sakura was waving me towards her out in the hallway. What is it?
I left the room and headed towards Sakura. Yae's with her too.
"Did something happen?"
"Un. You see, recently, there are times when I can hear very well."
"Ha?"
Times when she can hear very well? What's that mean?
"Sometimes, even people talking from really far away. When I asked Karen nee-san, she said it's because of you."
"Eh!? What's that supposed to mean!?"
"Sakura-dono, did you awaken to your [Dependant Trait]-degozaru ka? How envious…"
Yae showed a shocked expression, but eh, wait a minute. What's this [Dependant Trait] anyway!?
"Are? Did Touya-dono not hear from Karen aneue-degozaru ka? Yumina-dono also awakened it-degozarou?"
"Yumina did? … Ah, that power that appeared together with becoming a dependant, huh."
Those who receive the "love of god" and turn into dependants would awaken to special powers. In Yumina's case, she awakened to the power of future prediction. Although she's still only capable of seeing a few seconds ahead.
So it's the ears in Sakura's case, huh. That reminds me, she's often singing together with Sousuke nii-san. Suika was often with them while calling it a party, too. She might've received some "love of god" from them as well.
In Yae's case, she's often with Moroha nee-san, but that's the same for Hilda too. Don't tell me, did the effect dilute by being shared with the two of them?
"And, so. Earlier, I heard something falling onto the carpet from this room. Like *goton*. So I focused towards this place a little…"
"Eh? But didn't that room have [Silence]… Oh, right."
The power obtained from becoming a dependant is the power derived from a god. It's not something [Silence] can block. The *goton* sound she heard is probably the sound of the teacup falling.
"Probably. And then, after that, although I could only hear bits and pieces, there were some *gasa gasa* sounds, and also the sound of a window opening."
"Wait a second. Isn't that weird?"
"Un. That's why I called."
What's going on here? Assuming he had already died when the teacup fell onto the carpet, there shouldn't be any sound made after that. That would mean that someone other than the Southern Spring Marquis was in the room.
Or, it could be that the poison was a slow-acting one, and the Southern Spring Marquis had died after drinking the tea and then moving around in the room for a while… I guess? If they're trying to kill someone, it's more natural to use a poison with instant effect, though.
"Any chance that it was from some other rooms?"
"Muu. I don't have the non-attribute magic [Teleport] for nothing. I have confidence in my spatial recognition ability."
Right. I use [Teleport] as well so I can understand that.
However, there's still some confusing points. To begin with, why would the culprit bother coming all the way to this room himself if he's using a method like poisoning to kill the Southern Spring Marquis? Wait, if it's for a twisted reason like wanting to see the last moments of the victim then I guess it's possible.
And if he's coming over here anyway, he could've chosen a better method besides poisoning. The Southern Spring Marquis doesn't look like a strong person no matter how you slice it. He'd probably die easily with a single knife.
No no no, more than anything, if the culprit came to this room then the theory that "the prime minister was supposed to be killed" wouldn't stand. If the culprit knew who was in this room, that would mean he was aiming for the Southern Spring Marquis in the first place.
"Un—nn…"
I scratched my head in a way similar to how a certain great detective who has unkempt hair and wears a hakama always did… I don't understand!
I returned to the room which contained the crime scene, and opened the north-facing window. That window opens out to the inner courtyard, where several tall trees are planted. There's no one around the place.
"There's no lock on the window. If he escaped, then it's gotta be through here, huh."
I went through the window and got out into the inner courtyard. No footprint-like marks can be found. Jumping along the tree branches and escaping… Is impossible. There's more than 5 meters between the window and the nearest tree. I guess I could've made that jump, though.
"The ground's soft. It should've at least left some footprints…"
If the culprit had been here, how did he escape? Ah, transfer magic… Wait, that room has anti- transfer magic measures. If it was someone like me who can fly in the sky, then I guess it's easy to escape.
Ah, so that means I'm the culprit? I see, that's a point I hadn't considered.
…Haa. I should stop fooling around and try to look around for clues again. And as I looked around, I noticed something which had fallen onto the ground below the window.
"… What, it's just wood chips."
They're 2cm long thin wood chips. Did they break off from the window frame?
As I was thinking about something like that, Yae came running towards me.
"Touya-dono! The Eastern Sea Marquis and the Western Forest Marquis are!"
When I returned to the conference room in a hurry after hearing Yae's words, I found the two aforementioned individuals glaring at each other.
While Prime Minister Schwein and Ganossa aren't here, the Northern Mountain Marquis was sitting at the side with his arms crossed and a very bitter expression on his face.
"There's a limit to making false assumptions! Why would we want to kill the Southern Spring Marquis?"
"The culprit targeted the prime minister, not the Southern Spring Marquis. He became the sacrifice due to having his room changed with the prime minister's right beforehand. And who are the people that consider the prime minister a pain? I believe we all know the answer."
"There's no way we would've killed him! We would never do something as despicable as that…!"
"While that may hold true for the Western Forest Marquis, what about the others?"
Upon those words, the sitting-down Northern Mountain Marquis turned his head and glared at the Eastern Sea Marquis.
"… Eastern Sea Marquis. Are you perhaps referring to me?"
"Use any means to win. Isn't that your favorite way of doing things, Northern Mountain Marquis?"
"I won't deny that. The north bordered Yulong, after all. A single bit of negligence can cost me my life, and there's always the danger of being targeted. In that kind of situation, there's no way I can choose my methods. Well, ever since His Majesty the Sovereign King over there crushed Yulong, things have gotten really easy."
The Northern Mountain Marquis turned towards me and grinned. Sigh, there's that misunderstanding over here too.
"I'll throw this out first, but I didn't crush Yulong or anything, okay. Even though they had more than a few chances to rebuild their country, they only had their own selfish intentions in mind. The fact that the country crumbled was their own doing."
"… Was Your Majesty the Sovereign King not the one who destroyed the Heavenly Capital Shenhai?"
The Eastern Sea Marquis turned towards me. That's also wrong, I tell you.
"That's something done by the Phrase. I have no idea how they arrived at that conclusion, but the people of Yulong are claiming that 'If I wasn't there those crystal monsters wouldn't appear as well. There wouldn't be any fighting, and things wouldn't become the way they are now'; in actuality, if I wasn't there, the people living in Yulong would be killed off without a single survivor."
"… I see. So I suppose the people of Yulong should be thanking you instead? As expected of Your Majesty the Sovereign King. How commendable."
The Eastern Sea Marquis brought his hands together and clapped.
Mu. I wonder why, I'm feeling some thorns from the Eastern Sea Marquis' words. I didn't feel anything like this when he was guiding us in earlier, though. Did he perhaps have relatives living in Yulong or something?
"Wouldn't Your Majesty the Sovereign King know who the culprit of this murder case is already?"
"No, as expected that's a bit… Well, we are investigating into it, but right now we can't even remove the possibility of suicide."
Don't say something so unreasonable. There are way too little clues for us to find out about anything.
The Eastern Sea Marquis took off the glasses on his face and wiped the lens with a handkerchief as he went back to glaring at the Western Forest Marquis.
"While saying this would be rude to the Southern Spring Marquis, it's truly fortunate that Prime Minister-dono wasn't the one who died to the poisoning attempt. If Prime Minister- dono had died, even with Prince Cuo we would've been crushed in an instant, after all."
"… You're going to keep on assuming we're the culprits, aren't you."
"I'm not saying you're the culprit specifically. Even if you're within the same faction, there must be things you aren't told about, after all."
As the two of them began glaring at each other again, the door opened, and Prime Minister Schwein and Ganossa entered the room.
"We've explained the circumstances to the Southern Spring Marquis' retainers. My apologies for this, but I'll have you stay in the castle for the moment; we've prepared rooms for you already."
"Is it fine, Ganossa-sama?"
Upon hearing the prime minister's words, the Northern Mountain Marquis asked for Ganossa's opinion. The royal castle can be said to be the home base of the prime minister faction. It isn't strange for them to be wary.
"I don't mind. There is nothing to hide for me. Any lingering suspicions would be lifted soon."
Ganossa answered without faltering. Either he really isn't the culprit, or he's considerably convinced that we wouldn't grasp any conclusive evidences…
At the current stage, we don't understand anything, huh. It's also plenty possible that none of the people here are involved, and the murder was only the result of a portion of the retainers taking independent movements.
"Then we shall guide you to your rooms. I'm truly sorry for this, Your Majesty the Ferzen King. We'll guide Your Majesty and the others to your rooms as soon as we can…"
"Before that. Can I have a moment?"
Her Holiness the Ramissh Pope raised her hand. Oh?
"Under the exalted name of our god, I ask your conscience this. Including both direct and indirect involvement, are all of you innocent with regards to the Southern Spring Marquis' murder? Can you say out loud, right here and now, that you did not kill him?"
Of course, everyone had answered "I did not kill him" to Her Holiness the Pope's question.
Following the prime minister, the king's younger brother and the marquises left the room. We became the only ones left in the room; before long, soldiers came in to guide us, and we were led to a spacious guest room deep within the royal castle.
I looked up at the ceiling of the room we were guided to, and confirmed the existence of the same dragon engraving as in the rooms before. Still, well, doesn't hurt to be safe.
"[Silence]."
I casted another silencing magic over the room. With this, there's absolutely no way the conversation within this room would leak out. Well, if someone had been hiding in this room since the beginning, he would be able to hear everything easily, but since I can't sense any presences we're fine in that regard.
I looked at Her Holiness the Pope.
"So, how was it? You used your mystic eyes just now, right?"
"Yes. One person had lied during the questioning just now."
The question had been a restrictive one in the form of "Including both direct and indirect involvement, are all of you innocent with regards to the Southern Spring Marquis' murder?". Which means, if a person lied when answering, that would mean he/she is without a doubt the one who killed the Southern Spring Marquis.
"A, and who was the one who lied-degozaru ka?"
Her Holiness the Pope slowly opened her mouth in reply to Yae's question.
"Hai. The one who lied, was the Eastern Sea Marquis—Toren Hanoi."