Chapter 23
“OH HO, WOULD YOU LOOK at this… It would seem that the culprit doesn’t hold their life dear,” Mira muttered as if swearing, her face a visage of rage.
Danblf’s portrait had been covered in graffiti from top to bottom.
He’d been given a unibrow, had his eyes expanded in a disgusting stare, sprouted nose and ear hair, and now had cueball written across his forehead. He’d also been given clown-like circles on his cheeks, had purple lipstick painted on his lips, and looked to be in poor health.
The portrait was covered in phrases such as “just some old geezer” and “dirty old man.”
“Yes, we will find and slaughter whoever did this!”
Anyone who saw it would certainly agree that Danblf looked to be in a sorry state. It was only the glass in front of the portrait that was covered in graffiti. If one were to wipe it off and clean it, it should go right back to looking how it had.
But Emilia knew the graffiti had been drawn with a permanent marker. She’d tried hard to scrub it off but hadn’t been able to clean very much off.
Looking closely, there were some places in which the graffiti had been wiped away, evidence of Emilia’s struggle to clean it. It should still be possible to fix. She’d already notified Cleos, and they’d be receiving a special detergent to clean it in a few days.
But the issue wasn’t simply whether or not they could clean it.
Whoever had specifically targeted Danblf and graffitied all over his portrait was still on the loose. To Mira, this was a declaration of war.
“In situations like this, the first thing to do is survey the crime scene.”
In order to get some clues regarding the culprit, Mira hurriedly got summoning.
Naturally, she summoned First Pupil and Woofson, who’d been frequent guests of late.
“No matter meow tough the case, you can leave it to me!”
“Dearest Master, might you need to use some of my knowledge, woof?”
First Pupil had made a flashy entrance while Woofson’s was rather courtly. However, right afterward, the two noticed each other and immediately glared at one another.
Mira noted that they were the same as usual and tried to step between them, but when Emilia caught sight of them both, she began getting extremely excited.
“H-Huh…?! The way they look… Their mannerisms… They seem just like Master Woofson and Master First Pupil! Incredible! But wait… Could they be the real thing?!”
She managed to creep up to them lightning fast and, gazing at them with glittering eyes, said, “You look exactly like I’ve heard…!” with a jubilant smile on her face.
“Oh ho, you know your stuff, don’t you?” She ought to have expected as much of a diehard Danblf fan.
“Of course! Everyone knows about Master First Pupil and Master Woofson!”
Cat Sith and Woofson shouldn’t have appeared in stories about the Nine Wise Men, which were standard bedtime story fare… However, Emilia had learned about them from word of mouth despite them not making it into books.
Emilia knew more about Danblf than she’d imagined.
“Did Master Danblf pass them on to you?!”
While there were very strict conditions for doing so, it was possible to pass on evocation contracts. Emilia seemed to think that this was probable when it came to master and pupil.
She was sure that it was possible to inherit evocations instead of guessing that Mira was really Danblf. Relieved that the whole master-pupil idea she’d come up with was still working, Mira said, “Y-yes…” Thereby confirming Emilia’s assumption.
Then First Pupil tilted his head quizzically and blurted out, “Pass on? What’re you talki—”
Woofson quickly covered First Pupil’s mouth, preventing him from spilling the beans. He even used his scent magic to render First Pupil unconscious. It was brilliantly done.
First Pupil’s eyes rolled back into his head as he passed out.
“Um, is he okay…?”
“He does that,” Mira told the concerned-looking Emilia as if there was nothing wrong. “They’re dear friends that were entrusted to me by my master.”
She’d lost First Pupil’s help with the investigation, but she could make do with Woofson. Mira and her companions began searching the banquet hall to see if there was any evidence that the culprit had left behind.
For the time being, I should probably try to hold back from using evocations.
Emilia might know about other things as well. Resolving to be more careful not to expose her true identity, Mira continued her search.
Having checked out the entire banquet hall, they were unable to find a single shred of evidence that might help them identify the culprit. They’d even used Woofson’s abilities, but surprisingly, he hadn’t been able to detect any lingering scents.
“It seems like this place was cleaned thoroughly. Even my nose won’t be of much use, woof,” Woof said dejectedly.
Hearing him say this, there was one person in the room who felt especially dejected: Emilia.
“What…?!”
The graffiti had shaken her terribly. And yet, she had a strong sense of responsibility and cleaned the place as impeccably as she could along with the other students on cleaning duty.
All the hard work she’d put into trying to clean the portrait of Danblf had backfired, as she’d eliminated the culprit’s scent. The tragic turn of events had happened because she was so earnest.
“Hey, there’s no need to feel down. Despite being so shaken up, you felt compelled to clean it as best as you could. That’s admirable.” Mira commended Emilia by saying that she’d only done her duty. Then clapping her on the back, Mira said, “There are plenty of other ways of finding them…so there’s no time to feel down in the dumps. Let’s make whoever did this pay!”
“Yes, that’s true. Let’s do it!”
Feeling inspired and rising to her feet, Emilia said she might be able to narrow down exactly when the crime had been committed.
The banquet hall was normally locked. The key was usually kept in the Teachers’ Room, so it was impossible to sneak off with.
“Students volunteer to clean this room and the last time the School of Evocation cleaned in here was three days ago. There wasn’t any graffiti on Master Danblf’s portrait then,” Emilia said with certainty. She’d volunteered to be on banquet hall cleaning duty so that she could see his portrait.
And since she was saying so, it had to be true…
“There shouldn’t have been any events in this room between then and now. In other words…the culprit must belong to whatever school was cleaning in here yesterday or the day before,” Emilia deduced.
Considering what they knew at the moment, that was the most likely possibility.
“Hrmm, who was on cleaning duty yesterday and the day before that?”
And what was the motive for drawing graffiti all over Danblf’s portrait? Not being able to think of anything she might’ve done to make enemies of anyone, including any of the academy’s students, Mira hadn’t a clue.
But Emilia seemed pretty convinced as she said this, “The day before yesterday it was the School of the Holy Arts, and the day before that was…the School of Sorcery!” Emilia loudly proclaimed as if she’d cracked the case.
The story of how Mira had trounced the School of Sorcery’s representative, Caerus, during one of the past Spell Symposiums was well known throughout the academy. On top of that, even knowing that Mira was Danblf’s pupil, Caerus had decided to attack Mira before getting a taste of his own medicine.
“He really is the worst for attacking you, Miss Mira. And he took advantage of being from a noble family to… Not that you heard this from me, but word of that going around put the School of Sorcery in a bit of a bind. I’ve heard that even at Spell Symposiums, the School of Sorcery is judged particularly harshly.”
It was for those types of reasons that brand-new students in the School of Evocation had found themselves on the receiving end of various kinds of abuse. But now, there were students such as Emilia who’d grown enough to stand up for themselves, and direct harassment had begun to stop.
With all of this considered, it was certainly possible that someone with a grudge had scribbled graffiti over Danblf’s portrait. Or at least that was Emilia’s guess.
Assuming that the chances of it being perpetrated by the School of the Holy Arts were extremely low, Woofson suggested they go question the School of Sorcery.
“Hrmm, good plan. Asking questions is the foundation of investigating.”
“Okay, let’s go!”
They’d search for the culprit on foot. Getting back to the basics of investigating, Mira and her companions left the banquet hall to march over to the School of Sorcery.
Securely locking the door once more, Mira’s gaze lingered on several girls going into a nearby room. As fate would have it, the girls coming out of the room were all wearing gym clothes.
Oh no, so next door is a changing room.
Getting a better look, Mira noticed that the room near the banquet hall was the girls’ changing room. The room nearby was the boys’ changing room. Inside she saw the words Gymnasium No. 2 written in big letters.
It certainly was a big school to have two gymnasiums.
Hrmm… The girls’ changing room, eh?
The indescribably wonderful sounds she heard coming from the room sent Mira’s mind racing. But then she heard Emilia’s voice say, “All right, Miss Mira. Let’s go!” and was brought crashing back to reality.
“H-hrmm, yes, let’s go,” she stuttered.
Having made their way to the School of Sorcery, Mira and her companions first sought out the ones who had cleaning duty in the banquet hall.
Finding them wouldn’t be terribly difficult. While the inside of the banquet hall had been wiped clean, there were scents lingering outside. Using Woofson’s abilities, they could pinpoint whoever had been in the banquet hall the day before.
“So that’s what happened. How did cleaning go that day?” Emilia asked the students who’d been on cleaning duty.
She wasn’t casting suspicion on the School of Sorcery and demanding that they confess. She was simply stating the fact that someone had scribbled graffiti on Danblf’s portrait and asking whether or not they’d noticed anything.
“Hey, you’re joking, right? Who’d do something that stupid…?” one of the students who’d been on cleaning duty said incredulously.
Woofson, who was wrapped in Mira’s arms, reported, “It’s very likely that he’s innocent. His expression is one of surprise mixed with a hint of fear, woof.”
They were investigating by asking a non-accusatory question and then having Woofson assess reactions.
Upon doing so, he observed no suspicious behavior from anyone that’d been on cleaning duty. Their question session concluded with them all being deemed innocent.
“If they were lying, then they ought to all think about becoming actors.”
Having wrapped up their question session, Mira and her companions temporarily returned to the School of Evocation and went to a classroom to go over everything they’d learned.
“Considering how nobody could just walk in and grab the key, the School of Sorcery is clearly the most suspicious. After all, they were the ones on cleaning duty yesterday…” Emilia certainly had her own thoughts on the matter and still wasn’t ready to rule them out.
“Hrmm, all things considered, it certainly seems that way…”
Emilia wasn’t wrong. Considering the timing, it seemed improbable that anyone else had done it. But why would someone do something like that despite knowing full well that they’d be the first ones suspected of doing so.
But Mira was skeptical as to whether they even still held the grudge that Emilia had mentioned as a likely motive. From what she’d heard, there hadn’t been much conflict between them recently. But it was certainly true that she couldn’t know how they were feeling deep down.
So is there anyone we know who might have an ear to the ground…?
She was wondering if anyone might have an idea about how things were in the School of Sorcery that wasn’t quite as biased as Emilia.
Pondering this, a lightbulb went off in Mira’s head.
At right about that same moment, the final school bell rang, announcing that it was time to return home.
“All right, let’s end the investigation for the day. We can pick up again tomorrow,” Mira said, standing up. Emilia still seemed unsatisfied. But who could blame her? Something she loved had been defaced.
She nodded and answered, “Okay…” perhaps just because Mira had suggested it.
“All right, get home safe now.”
Leaving Emilia in the care of the butler, Mira headed to the castle.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login