Fourth Prince's Debauchery

"What is he doing here?" Katherine frowned when I entered the office.

I smiled helplessly. It looks like her dislike for me has not decreased in the slightest.

I did not care about it and looked around the room. To my surprise, besides Katherine, Rose, Daisy and I; Dina, Andrea, Iris, together with other members of the student's guard committee and some teachers were here too.

All the members of the student council and the guard committee plus five teachers were in this office. A total of sixteen people.

"Everybody is finally here." The headmistress nodded towards us. "Please sit." She indicated.

After we sat down, the headmistress entwined her fingers and narrowed her eyes.

"Something happened last night." She said.

Each person in the room focused on the headmistress's words.

"This morning, a student appeared dead in his room. A murder."

"!!!"

The students and teachers were shocked. Nobody expected to hear something like this.

"Murder? Are you sure, headmistress Evelyn?" A teacher asked gravely.

Evelyn nodded gravely. "We are sure. The student had a dagger in his chest and his face had a shocked expression. Obviously, he was not expecting the attack."

All the people in the room fell silent.

"Do you know who was responsible?" Teacher Tear asked.

Evelyn shook her head. "It's the reason you are here. I tried to use magic to channel his soul and learn something, but the soul had vanished completely. The weapon used in the crime was a normal dagger, with hundreds of similar daggers in the capital, so we can't use it to narrow the suspect. In other words, we had nothing."

We looked at each other with surprised looks.

For someone so powerful as the headmistress, resolving a crime is something very easy. Just channeling the soul of the dead can give her the answer.

But if the soul is gone, it makes things much more difficult.

Actually, the fact that the killer wiped the soul completely is already strange. Not many people in the world are able to do it.

Headmistress Evelyn looked at each one of our expressions and nodded. "The reason I convened you here is so you can help us with the investigation. The sixteen of you are the most capable teachers and students in this school."

A teacher frowned. "But headmistress, none of us has experience resolving a murder. I think you need to seek the help of people with more experience in this topic."

I have experience. One of my past lives was a detective. It was one of the best lives I had lived, by the way.

Alcohol, drugs, and whores. Beating criminals and resolving impossible crimes. Almost nothing beats it.

I can't explain it to them, though.

"I know it." Evelyn nodded. "And I already asked a team of specialists to continue the investigation. But I need your help for something different, you will patrol the surroundings of the school in case the killer attacks again and pay attention to the other students and teachers. With a bit of luck, you can spot a clue that led us to the murder."

The teachers nodded.

Another teacher raised his hand. "What about the club committee? They also can help."

The headmistress furrowed her brows. "They are already busy with another assignment."

A lie. Evelyn probably excluded them to help Dina.

Dina lately had been increasing her influence in the institute as preparation for the struggle for the throne. Her influence was already big due to her being the student council's president, but now that she started to actively improve her image, she has become much more influential between the students.

This assignment was also an opportunity for Dina. The fact that the headmistress gave this responsibility to her and not to the crown prince will make the students look up to her even more than before.

When Evelyn confirmed that we did not have any more questions, she nodded. "There are sixteen of you, so I'll divide you into four teams of four people. Any issues?"

We agreed.

I was put in the same team as Katherine, Iris, and Rose. I liked this team, full of pretty girls.

Katherine did not seem happy about teaming with me, though.

"Two teams will patrol the institute's grounds at each moment." Evelyn continued explaining. "When one team finishes its round, another team will take over them."

We nodded.

Evelyn was satisfied with our answer. "Very well, now that everything is decided, you are dismissed. Return to your classes. Claus, you stay behind. I need to ask you something."

"I understand."

The girls stared at me strangely as though asking why I was asked to stay. I shrugged indicating I did not know.

When everybody was gone, the headmistress walked towards me.

"Let's go, Claus. I'll take you to the site of the murder."

"Huh? Why?"

"To search for clues. As a twelfth-layer practitioner, maybe you can spot something I missed."

I shook my head slightly. This is making a mountain out of a molehill.

"You don't understand the seriousness of this matter, Claus." Evelyn said when she realized I was not very interested in it. "There has not been a murder in the institute in the last forty years. Then, someone suddenly was killed last night. Fortunately, the victim was a commoner. But if we don't resolve this situation and a noble dies next, I will have to deal with angry and arrogant bastards that only know how to throw their weight around." Evelyn smiled bitterly.

I smirked. Yeah, nobles are like that.

"I'll teleport us there." Evelyn explained. "You are also a powerful powerhouse, so I hope that you can find something."

"… You seem very confident in me." I shot her a strange gaze.

Evelyn smirked. "Of course. You even injured a divine being last night."

I feigned an expression of surprise. "Huh? Me?"

Evelyn frowned. "It was not you? But you were not in your room last night... Mmm, you are lying to me, right?"

I'm sorry, but I'm not planning to reply to that question.

Evelyn stopped asking when she saw I planned to feign ignorance, but the expression in her face made it obvious that she did not trust my words.

After teleporting, we appeared in the room where the murder happened. The body had already been removed, and the room was empty besides Evelyn and me.

"Can you find anything?" Evelyn asked.

I furrowed my brows. "Wait a moment." Then, I activated [Akashic Sight].

All the information about this room appeared in my mind. Using [Akashic Sight] nothing about this room could escape my sight.

My mana was used up quickly, but soon, my frown became deeper and deeper.

"… Strange, I can't find anything."

It looks like this problem is bigger than I thought.

...

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