The mountainside villa was built against a sheer cliff on one side, with steep drops on its other three sides. A single wooden drawbridge connected it to a winding road beyond. But now, the drawbridge had been severed, leaving the villa isolated.
Seeing this setup, Ebner couldn't help feeling a sense of familiarity. Just as he was about to say something, a line of text in Hermes script floated before his eyes: "Identify the murderer (you have only one chance)."
"It seems that this eighth-floor labyrinth is a crime scene investigation… 'only one chance' likely means that if we accuse the wrong person, we'll be deemed to have failed and immediately ejected from the Dream Labyrinth Tower," Mr. Gaston explained, clearly familiar with similar scenarios.
"Where's the murderer? Could they be inside the villa?" Xio glanced at the distinctly Loen-style building behind her, suddenly reminded of Backlund's famous Mayfield Estate.
"We'll find out once we're inside." With a knowing look, Ebner opened the door and took the lead, stepping into the villa.
Inside the villa were eight people gathered together—four men and four women. One of the men was a young boy, appearing to be only about six or seven years old.
Whatever roles the Dream Labyrinth Tower had assigned Ebner and his companions, their arrival did not seem to arouse any suspicion among the people in the room.
"Conan? Not him again!" Mr. Gaston's face darkened upon seeing the boy. His normally calm voice now carried a rare tone of frustration.
Conan? Hearing the name, Ebner immediately thought of the infamous "elementary school death god" and began scrutinizing the boy. The child wore a blue suit, red bowtie, and large-framed glasses… but his appearance was distinctly Loenese, bearing no resemblance to the original "death god" detective. And the furniture and decor here held no hint of modernity—they looked even older than anything in Backlund.
While Ebner was still piecing it all together, Xio asked softly, "Mr. Gaston, what's so special about this child named Conan?"
"I've encountered him twice before on the eighth floor and several times on the ninth floor as well. And each time, my progress ended in failure!" Gaston's tone became increasingly annoyed. "This kid Conan always appears in murder scenarios, and he seems to be a Beyonder of the 'Detective' Sequence, with strength and agility beyond any ordinary child. He even has powerful Beyonder items—his glasses, bowtie, belt, watch, and shoes are all enchanted! His deductive skills are top-notch, and if he identifies the murderer before we do, the Tower considers it a failure for us! It's utterly…"
Mr. Gaston took a deep breath, holding back a stream of profanities.
So, Mr. Gaston had been burned by Conan more than once… Xio thought, sneaking a glance at Ebner.
Ebner, however, was reeling with thoughts of what the hell—if he had only suspected this "Conan" to be a parody, Gaston's description left him nearly certain that this Conan was indeed that Conan, the "elementary school death god," even if the appearance didn't match.
With this realization, Ebner was now convinced of something he'd already half-suspected: the Dream Labyrinth Tower had to be Roselle the Great Emperor's creation!
"Did he use it as a magical archive for all the movies, TV shows, and cartoons he never got around to stealing? Now that I think about it, I may have seen a 'heated fireplace room' in some film, too… And now this villa scene—probably a traumatic event straight out of a Conan episode," thought Ebner, suddenly inspired. "If so, there could be many scenes I already know by heart… I might be able to push through past the seventh floor, and with foreknowledge of the scenarios, the sixth-floor dangers may not be so impossible."
While he pondered this, the group inside the villa had started talking about a "Mummy Monster" that had recently attacked Conan's older sister in the nearby grove. Though the attack failed, it had terrified everyone.
"This mummy monster is probably the murderer, and it seems it hasn't succeeded in killing yet. Should we set up an ambush to try and capture it?" Xio suggested after overhearing. Even without her Beyonder powers, she believed she could handle one or two ordinary people.
"It's not that simple… Any case involving Conan is always convoluted, and the supposed 'mummy monster' is usually the first one to die. I'd say we should watch everyone here closely—except Conan and his sister, anyone could be the killer!" Mr. Gaston, his voice deep, seemed to be suffering from a case of Conan PTSD.
At this moment, Ebner returned to his senses, smiled at Xio, then stepped forward with confidence and announced, "No need to make it complicated. I already know who the murderer is!" After all, I've watched this episode before!
Moreover, the murderer's belly shows some suspiciously incongruous details upon closer inspection.
"What?" Mr. Gaston was genuinely shocked this time. He'd never seen a detective who could solve a case so quickly—after only two glances, he'd pinpointed the killer? And even a would-be killer who hadn't committed the crime yet… Could he be right?
Gaston's outburst caught the attention of Conan and the others in the room, who turned to Ebner with a mixture of curiosity and wariness.
Without further ado, Ebner pointed to the portly man with a broad face and said in a single breath, "He's the mummy monster. He isn't really fat; he's stuffed his belly with cotton or something similar to hide items after his crime. The reason he attacked the lady here was that she witnessed him changing clothes and might have noticed his secret."
Ebner's explanation left the room in stunned silence, with everyone staring at the "fat man." The two other adult men even closed in on him from either side.
Then, when the "fat man" gave a sinister smile and removed the padding from his belly… the entire scene around them shattered like glass. The villa, the cliffs, Conan—all of it vanished, and Ebner and his companions found themselves back in the Reward Room.
Apparently, the Dream Labyrinth Tower only required identifying the culprit—it didn't need hard evidence.
Mr. Gaston was still in a daze, but after a long pause, he finally sighed in amazement. "This 1,000 pounds was money well-spent. Are all detectives this good? I thought that kid Conan was the best there was. I never expected…"
Any detective who's seen the plot certainly can be that good! Ebner quipped internally, ignoring Mr. Gaston, whose understanding of detectives had now gone completely off track. He walked straight to the seats by the bookshelves, eager to see what reward awaited him this time.
Xio, for her part, wasn't surprised—Ebner had always been "full of surprises" since she'd met him.
Once seated, Ebner felt a notebook materialize in his hands. Its title read: Arnold's Notes on Mysticism.
"A knowledge reward this time…" thought Ebner, flipping open the notebook and reading carefully. Unlike a novel, knowledge was something he treated with utmost respect, especially now that he had switched allegiances.
After reaching the final page, he habitually pinched his chin in thought and mused, "This Arnold must have been a Sequence 7 'Warlock' of the Hermit path. Most of the ritual magic and mysticism knowledge recorded here I've already studied, but that last bit—where he describes a ritual to channel power from high-level Beyonder items to create talismans without invoking a deity—is interesting."
It wasn't so much the specific talisman creation process that intrigued him as the underlying concept. For a Beyonder on the White Tower path who specialized in ritual magic, an innovative approach like this could open the door to methods better suited to his own path.
"I'd been reluctant to seek divine assistance to forge an item that could connect to the Gray Fog. But now, if I apply this concept, I could instead draw power from the Pure White Eye… Its level should be high enough, and after all, the knowledge on connecting to the Gray Fog came from analyzing it in the first place. Temporarily imbuing an item should be doable… though it might have to wait until I've advanced to Sequence 7. The 'Student of Ratiocination' lacks the spiritual energy to support such a ritual."
While Ebner felt regret at not being able to immediately experiment with the concept, he was quite satisfied with the eighth-floor reward. The Dream Labyrinth Tower was indeed generous to first-time clearers.
Turning his head, Ebner noticed that Xio was smiling broadly, evidently pleased with her reward.
"What did you get?" he asked, curious.
"It's a biography, but it mentions one of the main ingredients for the Sheriff potion formula!" Xio replied excitedly.
Both Sheriff ingredients are mentioned in Lord of the Mysteries, right? In a few days, I'll find a way to "accidentally" reveal it to Xio. Ebner mused, then asked aloud, "Whose biography? There might be additional clues hidden in it."
"It's about a Royal Navy Boatswain named Elland and his rise from a common sailor to boatswain. The biography ends with him retiring to become a passenger ship captain." Xio paused, then murmured in confusion, "Another story that ends halfway… Why do I keep getting these half-finished narratives?"
Maybe it's because you keep pressing Fors for updates on her manuscripts… Ebner thought to himself with a smile.