'Haa… what now?'
Ash sat on his bed, unable to sleep as he pondered on the issue that lay before him.
What would have been a sequence of investigations had been cut short due to only one person in the entire Staff Quarters which fit into the model that he was searching for. Not only that, but the individual also fit the profile.
At least, to an extent.
'There are no other suspects to compare Britta, so based on my model… she's the accomplice.'
Ash had done his due diligence to make sure this was truly the case. He had asked Britta if there were any of their classmates who worked in the Staff Quarters for some time before they were transferred to a new location.
However, her response was in the negative.
She was the only former student who was chosen to work in the Staff Quarters.
'I correlated her response with the guards and other workers here, and what she's saying seems legit.' Ash thought deeply. 'That means I can no longer doubt her being the suspect, right?'
The only problem was that it felt too easy.
Still, perhaps this was the universe congratulating him for his hard work. This time, it seemed he was very lucky to solve the case rather quickly—far quicker than he ever anticipated.
That was good news!
Right?
'Britta, huh?' His thoughts drifted. 'I've been here for one and a half days, and she seems very kind and hardworking—definitely not the type that would do this.'
There was always the chance that she was pretending, but that honestly didn't seem to be the case. She truly was very nice.
'Perhaps the White Death offered some kind of incentive to reel her in. If I find out what that is… maybe I can get her to cooperate.'
After all, what use was his deduction if he didn't have proof?
His goal wasn't simply the accomplice, but the White Death themselves—whoever they were.
'For now, I should rest up.' He crashed on his soft bed, still remembering how surreal of an experience his first night was.
This was truly a reception befitting a Noble like himself.
'Too bad it ends soon—whether I act or not.' He smiled. 'I can't stay here forever.'
He would begin proactive work the following day, ensuring to gather as much incriminating evidence on Britta, while using that to blackmail her so she would have no choice but to sell out her comrades and give up the White Death.
'I'm definitely not going to enjoy doing that… but it's all necessary.'
Ash shut his eyes and let sleep claim him.
********
Hours into his sleep, Ash suddenly felt something that startled him from his enjoyable time on his bed.
BBBBZZZTTTZZZ!
It was a loud buzzing sound, one that permeated the entire room.
He woke up to the sound, swiftly prompting himself awake as he frantically glanced around him as quickly as he could. This was it—the experience he had read so much about in the novel, as well as what he had heard of from Justin, the student who lived.
It was far more eerie than he gave it credit for—enough to make his body shiver very slightly.
However, it didn't take very long for him to get full composure and also get rid of every former ounce of drowsiness that fogged his mind so he would remain extremely alert.
'The distracting sound to distract me from the sounds being made…' He glanced at the door to his room and found it to be ajar.
Someone had unlocked and opened it.
'As expected… the accomplices had access to the rooms in the Staff Quarters, which meant they were staff.'
Well, only one of them needed to have it.
'So, Brutta… you really are the culprit.' For some reason, a sad smile played on his face as he raised his hand and cast a simple Spell.
"[Bright]."
In an instant, a flash of light burst from his palm, rising up to the ceiling to ignite a spark in the luminous crystals above.
Within a moment, the room was filled with illumination.
'Ahh… good!'
With this, he would be able to see the spatial distortions around him, which meant he would also be able to spot the approaching accomplices who were supposed to strangle him and twist his body.
There was only one thing missing.
'Where is the White Dea—?'
BBBZZZZTTTZZ!
Before he could complete his words, the buzzing sound appeared again, and a glassy white silhouette appeared right behind him.
"Ah!" He swiftly jumped away, leaving his bed as he hurried towards his door.
However, he stopped not too long after he approached it.
'They're here! All four of them…' Ash could see the distortions in space, subtle but present… even as the invisible accomplices tried their best not to move.
'What should I do?'
He couldn't help but wonder as he considered his options.
'First things first, I can't touch the White Death since it could use its power to strangle me by messing up my Magia Flow.' He told himself. 'I also can't afford to be stationary for too long, and if I do notice the accomplices and react to them… it means I will have to stop them.'
However, this would mean nothing if he failed to capture the White Death.
'What makes sense for me to do, which will be most consistent with my character, is to run away.'
And how exactly was he going to do that?
Simple!
"HEEEEEELLLLLPPPP!!!" Ash screamed as he dashed out of his room in a hurry, coating himself in Magia as he did so.
Just as expected, the group parted the way for him to escape.
'If I had touched them, I could have undone their disguise right there and there…' He mused, also finding the situation to be a little odd. 'Their disguise being revealed won't mean anything if I'm dead, though… so why?'
Why were they not simply going for the kill?
Did they have other intentions in coming to his room? Perhaps the White Death noticed his investigations and wanted to scare him into stopping.
'Welp! I'm not doing that!'
Ash ran out of his living room and down the hallway, finding the White Death and its accomplices to be chasing him.
'Good… keep coming!' He smiled. 'The accomplices are using the darkness of the hallway to hide themselves while the glare and buzzing sound of the White Death makes it so my focus is on it.'
It really wasn't a bad strategy.
'But… I'm not falling for that!' Ash kept screaming as he charged towards the room at the furthest part of the hall.
It was none other than the Workers Residence.
BAM!
Not hesitating for even a second, he broke the door down and dashed into the room.
Once he entered, he knew exactly what to find.
'Britta should be missing… which will undoubtedly provide proof that she's with the White Death.'
Any other person missing would also be under the same kind of scrutiny.
'Regular Workers are not meant to step out of their rooms once it's curfew, which means that Britta would be unable to explain what she was doing outside! I can use this to my benefit, telling her to quietly point out her remaining colleagues while keeping a low profile and slowly working my way up the ladder.'
The reason he didn't opt for a more straightforward approach—that is, beating up the accomplices and revealing their identities right there and then—was simply because of the fact that he didn't know who they were.
'Since only one is a former Beta Student, the others could be much stronger than I am currently supposed to be.'
How would he be able to explain killing someone very powerful if an individual of such a caliber happened to be among the group? Besides, catching the accomplices in such a direct manner would cause the true culprit of the White Death persona to slip out of their fingers.
Ash had thought about it for a while, and honestly… he doubted any of the accomplices knew who the White Death was.
'If I was the one, I wouldn't let the underlings know my true identity… and the White Death is quite smart. If the person is an Otherworlder, then it also makes sense that they would keep their identity hidden.'
All in all… this was a very risky gamble for him, but it made a lot more sense that he ran away scared and ended up in the Workers Room than fighting and killing four people.
And he was about to see the result of his gamble as he stumbled into the sleeping quarters of the Female Workers.
There… he found a sight that startled him to the point of bewilderment.
"W-wha—?!"