Chapter 428

“Hotel…”

Narke’s eyes lit up, and he stopped dead in his tracks. Though he was Narke, he was ‘Johanna’ right now, so to me, it just looked like some unfamiliar lady repeating what I had said. But he soon smiled, moving the facial muscles in that familiar way I knew so well.

“Sounds good.”

Once again, we didn’t have to go far. We found something resembling one of Germany’s grand hotels just ten minutes away. Since this was the administrative center of the city, it wasn’t surprising that one of the few hotels around in this era happened to be nearby. The important thing was why we needed to go to a hotel in the first place.

It wasn’t because we had decided to give up, go inside, and sleep the night away whether the case was solved or not. Nor was it because we were so absorbed in the investigation that we might end up spreading newspapers on the street and sleeping on them when we finally needed to get some rest, so we should secure a room in advance. Either way, getting a good night’s sleep was never really an option for us. It wasn’t even eight in the evening yet. So why were we going to a hotel now?

Thankfully, Narke had already figured out why without me having to say anything, which was why he wasn’t trying to stop me. Even if he had figured it out using Insight, it didn’t matter right now. In fact, he wouldn’t have stopped me even without Insight—meaning if any of the 101st Unit friends other than Narke had been here, they wouldn’t have stopped me either.

I walked into the lobby alongside Johanna, matching his pace. The moment I noticed the people standing in the lobby, I exchanged a glance with him.

There were several people wearing all sorts of uniforms. Among those bearing the insignia of police departments from various regions, I could also see people wearing Investigation Bureau uniforms. They had probably been called in from elsewhere to help maintain order in Vienna. We didn’t even have to look very far for a similar example. Think back to the Pentathlon two months ago. How had those New Humans—mages academically, but culturally much closer to non-mages—managed to leave the stadium? Why had the Imperial Mages needed to warp them to the national park when they certainly didn’t have magic to spare?

It was the same here. These people had enough mana to become civil servants, but even so, the enormous amount of mana consumed by warping was a considerable burden for them. After warping once or twice a day, they would have no mana left to warp again, leaving them with no choice but to stay at a hotel. I gave them a quick glance before approaching the receptionist.

“Is there a room available right now that we can use until tomorrow morning?”

“Just the two of you?”

“Yes.”

“Could I see your passports?”

“…….”

Even here? They’re thorough. If they refused to let us in, there was nothing we could do but leave, so I handed over the fake passports I had prepared in advance.

“Hmm….”

The receptionist accepted the passports with a bright smile, then stared closely at the page with our photographs, looking back and forth between the pictures and my face. I gave them a smile to ask if there was a problem. Soon, the receptionist gave me a meaningful smile and handed the passports back.

For a moment, I nearly broke into a cold sweat, but I could guess what was going through their mind. They probably thought I had gone a little overboard retouching the face in my photograph. I had to look as unremarkable as ‘Johanna,’ so I had been mixing cognitive distortion magic into my appearance the whole time. If I walked around looking like my usual self, there was a good chance people would remember me. Since this was a new experience for me, I simply waited for the receptionist to say something. Instead, they turned toward a cabinet filled with drawers labeled with numbers and asked, “Would you like a double room or a suite?”

“A suite. If possible, we’d like one on the highest floor.”

“Would Room 6010 be all right?”

“Yes.”

It was on the top floor. I accepted the room key—a literal metal key—and told the employee we would carry our own luggage before walking over to the elevator. But then—

― “Wait.”

Narke grabbed my arm, pulled me out of the lobby, and led me toward the garden behind the hotel. After we stood there doing nothing for a few minutes, Narke suddenly led me back toward the elevator. Only then did I realize why Narke had pulled me away.

‘Insight really is the best.’

I stepped into the same elevator as an Austrian investigator. Narke’s ability had become the best possible guide in situations where the smallest details could make all the difference. I couldn’t help wishing I had that ability myself.

The Austrian New Human beside us was about my height. He was probably a combat-oriented mage—since he had to be a investigator—and the holster running from his waist down to his thigh looked similar to the one I usually used. I opened his status window and checked every stat. He was strong, but nowhere near as strong as us. All I could hope was that he wouldn’t sense our mana.

As I pressed down on my core with all my might and watched the elevator’s needle move at its painfully slow pace, so different from the 21st century, ‘Johanna,’ who had been holding my arm, pulled it a little tighter. Aware of the investigator beside us, I leaned my head toward Johanna. I was only planning to act out the expression and leave it at that, but Johanna tapped her own cheek twice.

“…….”

I understood what he wanted me to do. The problem wasn’t doing it. It was the New Human standing right next to us… I’d never liked scenes where I had to make a fool of myself in public, even back when I was reading scripts. Granted, I had to act out things like this most of the time, but still.

I moved my head close enough to his and then returned to my original position. I could feel the New Human beside us looking at us like we were some kind of creatures straight out of a textbook. I had to suppress a hollow laugh at his reaction. I’d expected it, but Narke’s little stunt had worked perfectly. Apparently, everything Old Humans did—except commit crimes—was fascinating to New Humans. I wondered if he’d find it fascinating just to watch one of us use a spoon. When my eyes met the investigator’s, I put on an awkward expression, cleared my throat, and straightened up. He asked with interest, “Old Humans?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“You’re not Austrian, I take it?”

“No. You noticed right away.”

“I’m pretty good at picking up on these things. What brings you to Austria?”

“We came here for our engagement trip. We’re thinking of going to Italy next.”

“Isn’t that supposed to be an important occasion for Old Humans? It’s a shame you happened to visit our country at a time like this.”

“But what can we do? The hotel is lovely, at least, so we’re enjoying ourselves.”

“Our Austria is lovely in every way. Welcome to our country.”

“Thank you.”

I replied with a smile, then looked over his clothes before asking, “Are you an investigator?”

“Yes. I was at the Prime Minister’s Residence across the street.”

“Ah, because of that incident. It must be difficult with something this serious happening.”

“It’s all right. I can finally get some rest now.”

“That’s good to hear. Did you just switch shifts?”

“That’s right. The people who went to investigate first ended up going to the hospital for some reason… I’ll have to go back out soon, but at least I have enough time for a glass of sherry.”

“What room are you in?”

“6013.”

“Oh, I see.”

Ding—

It took an age to reach the top floor. Sometimes I missed the 21st century, where you could space out for a moment and find yourself on the fiftieth floor in no time at all. But right now, I was deeply grateful for this slow-moving technology.

Narke and I entered our room. We had no time to admire the accommodations. About five minutes later, Narke and I picked up the wine sitting on the table and went straight to Room 6013.

“Hmm?”

The investigator from earlier opened the door with a puzzled look. This time, ‘Johanna’ spoke instead of me.

“We’ve met by chance like this, so why don’t we have a drink together?”

Right. This was exactly why we had come to the hotel.

“…Sure.”

The investigator stared blankly for a moment before nodding. His pupils hadn’t gone slack, but I could immediately tell that Narke had subtly slipped some divine power into those words. There was no one else around, which made it much easier to use mental manipulation magic without worrying about anyone noticing.

“Come in. Oh, I’m going to have a cigarette. Is that all right?”

“Yes, of course.”

I had to wonder whether the hotel had any smoking restrictions at all. What if he accidentally burned the whole place down? As I stepped inside, I took in the investigator’s clothes and the things scattered around the room. He had immediately taken off his jacket and robe and tossed them onto the sofa. Only now did he hang them on the coat rack, move his luggage beside the sofa, and sit down. I took the seat he pointed to and said with a smile, “Shall we introduce ourselves properly? I’m Theo Neumann. And this is Johanna Ritter.”

“I’m Markus Faber.”

“Mr. Markus, then. Actually, one of the pleasures of traveling is meeting new people in the country you visit. Unfortunately, given the circumstances, that’s been rather difficult this time.”

“I suppose it can’t really be helped right now. Especially for ordinary people.”

“That’s why I was glad when you spoke to us earlier.”

“I’m honored. Still, people in this country are generally friendly toward travelers, so once morning comes, try striking up a conversation with someone. You’re German too, so there shouldn’t be much trouble communicating. I doubt they’ll turn you away outright.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“More importantly, what do you two do for a living?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Well, I don’t come to hotels like this very often, but this is the first time I’ve seen Old Humans staying on the penthouse floor. I wasn’t sure how that might come across. I don’t mean to insult either of you for being Old Humans.”

From a 21st century perspective, this didn’t seem like something anyone would be particularly curious about. But apparently, it was a different matter for people in the 19th century.

“Haha, there’s nothing particularly special about it. There are plenty of bourgeois people these days, aren’t there?”

I continued with a smile.

“We do run a business, though. We run a factory that makes little things like this.”

I pointed to the vase on the bedside table.

And frankly, we were the ones who wanted to ask the question he had just asked. After all, we were staying here on the government’s dime, so where had all the other investigators gone, and why was this guy staying alone in such a spacious room? Room 6013 was a suite as well. It wasn’t necessarily suspicious, but it was certainly something worth thinking about. From this, we could conclude that this investigator was at least not some low-ranking officer, and Narke had probably already figured that out before approaching him.

After talking a little longer, the atmosphere quickly relaxed. This New Human didn’t seem particularly introverted. Thanks to that, we soon found ourselves faced with a rather pointless question.

“What does an engagement mean to Old Humans?”

“It’s a promise.”

“I know that. But surely the two of you already know, in one way or another, that you’re dating with marriage in mind. I was wondering why you would get engaged beforehand.”

“…….”

I had nothing to say, if only because I didn’t know the answer either. I wasn’t a 19th century Old Human, after all. People just did it because everyone else did. Was there really some special reason? Maybe the advantage was that everyone could reaffirm their commitment one more time? But the more ceremonies there were, the more of a hassle they seemed to become, so I figured it was probably just tradition.

I was about to laugh it off with some nonsense when ‘Johanna’ took my hand, laced her fingers with mine, and said, “My tesoro is pretty popular, so I’m just making sure everyone knows he’s taken.”

“So it’s basically a kind of pre-contract. I went looking for a townhouse near the Niederösterreich train station not long ago, and there were so many people after that property…”

“…….”

I put on a smile at Narke’s flawless performance while simultaneously trying to decipher what he had called me and suppressing a laugh. Still, it was the sort of word that could be used playfully even between close friends, much like the German word Schatz.

The investigator still didn’t seem to understand the point of an engagement, but I didn’t understand it myself in the first place, so there wasn’t much I could do. There wasn’t actually a single 19th century Old Human here, yet three New Humans—including one suspiciously fake-looking hybrid of an Old and New Human—were sitting around asking and answering questions about Old Humans. What were we supposed to accomplish with that?

All we could do was laugh it off and quickly change the subject, but the investigator kept asking about all the things he had been curious about regarding Old Humans. At least the fact that he hadn’t thrown us out was a good sign.

But we didn’t have much time. I gave Narke a signal with my eyes. ‘Johanna’ was still looking at the investigator’s face, but his voice slipped into my head.

― “Ten minutes, Lukas. You know where the jacket and robe are, right?”

― “I know.”

I knew, but I still needed to see them for myself. I immediately leaned back against the sofa and muttered, “I’m starting to feel sleepy. Aren’t you?”

“I suppose I am… I didn’t order anything to drink from the bar, but I think I’ll have to order a bottle later. This is good.”

Markus said this as he checked the label on the bottle. Narke gave me a nod. Now he would slowly make the investigator drowsy. I got up and walked toward the door.

“I’m going to use the bathroom for a moment.”

“You’re leaving? No need to go all the way out. Just use the one here.”

“Thank you.”

I opened the bathroom door, then closed it again, looking around the bedroom area. I took a quick look at the investigator’s robe and jacket before returning to my seat.

“Mr. Markus, aren’t you going?”

“Me…?”

He frowned slightly before slowly getting to his feet.

“Wait just a moment.”

“Yes.”

While he went into the bathroom, I entered the bedroom, slipped on his jacket and robe, and returned to the living room. Narke, who had searched through the investigator’s bag beside the sofa, handed me the investigation report.

Click—

As the door opened, I stamped my foot and warped to the front of the hotel lobby. The night wind brushed against my face.

‘Ten minutes from now.’

For exactly ten minutes, and only during that time, Narke would project my image in front of the investigator. If it went any longer, Narke would run out of mana, so I had to inspect the inside quickly and return.

There was no time to walk. I tucked the investigation report under my arm, memorized the coordinates, and warped straight to the Prime Minister’s Residence. After disguising my face as Markus’s with an illusion, I held out my identification at the main gate. The police officer nodded. I put on the same expression as before and stepped forward.

Tap—

“…….”

I stepped onto the ground beyond the barrier, but nothing happened. I glanced at the badge attached beside the brooch on the robe and slipped my identification back into my pocket.

The residence was a three-story building. Once I entered the barrier, the entire building came clearly into view. I naturally made my way into the lobby.

Judging by the layout, the first floor seemed to be used for offices, while the second and third floors appeared to be living quarters for when the Prime Minister was in the capital. His “real home” was in Niederösterreich, which corresponded to Brandenburg in Germany, but that could wait. For now, the most important thing was the scene where the Prime Minister had collapsed.

I walked toward the office without changing my expression when a New Human wearing the same robe as me recognized me and called out.

“Ah, Senior. What brings you back?”

“…….”

I had never seen him before. He was clearly one of Markus’s junior investigators. I opened his status window and checked his name—Kathrin Wächter. I copied Markus’s friendly expression onto my own face, though I added a slightly troubled look to it, and answered.

“I couldn’t sleep even after lying down, so I came back to add to the investigation report. It felt as though the late Prime Minister was telling us to catch the culprit quickly.”

“Heh… It’s not like we’re in Hamlet. Don’t say things like that at this hour. You’re giving me chills.”

“Haha.”

It was the best excuse I could come up with if I needed to claim later that I had seen a ghost. I laughed it off and stepped into the office sealed behind the barrier. Once again, I was able to pass through without any trouble.

‘Finally.’

Eight minutes left.

Let’s trace back to the beginning.

The Prime Minister appeared to have been poisoned. So why was there no one who had prepared the poison for him, nor anyone who had secretly administered it?

From that question alone, we could come up with several theories about how the Prime Minister had been assassinated. Each theory would branch into dozens more possibilities, and Narke—or anyone else—had probably already gone through the same process. But we could still narrow them down into a few broad categories and determine which one was the most likely.

How had the Prime Minister been poisoned? If he hadn’t ingested poison, then how else could the poison have gotten into his body?

I looked into the office from the entrance.

The office was enormous, with an unusually high ceiling. Since the residence had been designed to resemble a Roman temple, round limestone columns stood on either side of the entrance. Inside were three large windows, with an equally massive rectangular mahogany table in front of them. Red leather chairs with brown trim were arranged between the windows and the table.

Thankfully, the wallpaper was red rather than green. If it had been green, given the era, I would have checked whether arsenic was flaking off it. There was no lunatic using arsenic in this world anymore, but traces of it might still have remained.

I looked at the low cabinet to the right of the entrance. There was a piece of red pottery sitting on top. From its color, I could easily tell that it had been coated with cinnabar. A large red dragon was painted across it. It didn’t look like genuine, imported pottery crafted by an Eastern artisan, but rather something made with an Eastern flair somewhere—it was aesthetically tacky, so it wasn’t to my taste. There was no moisture inside and no particular smell either.

I opened the lower drawer. There was an oriental-style box inside, also coated with something that looked like cinnabar. It was bright red all over, so I wasn’t exactly eager to touch it… but I would make the effort.

Click.

“…….”

My effort was for nothing. When I opened the box, all I found was a certificate of authenticity. I sighed. Either the Prime Minister liked red, or he liked cinnabar. Probably one or the other.

I opened all the remaining drawers, but they were empty. Anything containing state secrets would have been taken by the government. As this showed, I also had to consider the possibility that the crime scene had already been disturbed.

A narrow walnut wardrobe stood wide open. Hanging from one end of an otherwise empty clothes rail was a small sachet made of white fabric. I took a deep breath and caught a sweet floral scent.

Honestly, the Prime Minister’s tastes were the exact opposite of mine.

Still, there was nothing irritating my breathing. I carefully touched the sachet, but its opening had been sewn completely shut, so no powder fell out. It was filled with brown leaves. My head still felt perfectly clear. There was no mana here, either.

I shifted my attention to the table and looked at the coaster. It seemed the Prime Minister had been drinking water. The Investigation Bureau had probably taken the glass away. I could have pinned my hopes on that, but unfortunately, after meeting Otto Wieser, I already knew that no one had prepared poison for the Prime Minister or secretly given it to him. I decided to let go of the water glass for now.

There was a dried mark on the table where some transparent liquid had spilled. I couldn’t tell whether it had been saliva or water. It looked as though the liquid had first gotten onto a sheet of paper, leaving behind a faint mark like a droplet that had been pushed slightly across the surface. Someone had taken away the sheet of paper it had gotten on. It was probably being kept as evidence.

I stood in front of the chair and looked outside from the direction in which the Prime Minister had been sitting. Anyone entering the room would have been immediately visible from there.

Nothing else stood out.

Then I looked up at the chandelier lighting the office. Each lampshade was shaped like a tulip, with the bottom left open, so there was nothing to block the light from the mana lamps when viewed from below. Every bulb was shining properly, though the ones in the second quadrant from where I was standing seemed slightly dimmer. Not enough to cause any real problem, though. Staring at the lights for too long made my eyes sting.

I ran my hand over the drawers. There was no moisture or damage anywhere. I picked up the fountain pen on the desk and drew a line in my notebook with it. Just an ordinary pen without any mana. This time, I took it apart. The ink was still flowing properly. Judging by the fact that the investigators hadn’t taken it as evidence, they didn’t seem to consider it important. I flipped through the investigation report, and that was indeed the case. Their judgment could be trusted, at least to some extent.

This time, I looked at the lever on the mana lamp sitting in the corner of the desk. The lever was turned to the ON position, but the light wasn’t coming on. I turned it back to its original position and moved it again. Up or down, the light wouldn’t come on. The cartridge must have run out.

‘Four minutes.’

I checked the time and swallowed.

The noise of the investigators moving around outside the office was distracting me. What was I supposed to do now? There was hardly anything unusual about this room apart from the section where someone had died being cordoned off with tape. If I missed this opportunity, I might never get another one.

I swallowed and opened the cover of the mana lamp. I took a quick look at the compressed mana cartridge dyed blue. It was completely full, yet the lamp still wasn’t producing any light. The mana should have been flowing into the light-emitting artifact, but the numerous glass channels between them looked slightly damaged, either partially melted or with the mana clumped inside them, leaving them somewhat darkened.

Yeah. The stand itself was a piece of junk. Was the Prime Minister the kind of person who liked keeping things of questionable quality around him? Like that cinnabar-painted porcelain I’d seen earlier.

I lifted the lamp toward the chandelier and shone its light through the protective glass.

I opened the desk drawers. Just like the others, all the documents inside had been taken by the government. The Prime Minister had come to work at dawn and collapsed in this office while he was working. Since he hadn’t died at his desk, he must have noticed that something was wrong at some point and gotten up.

I slowly retraced the path he had taken from his seat to where he collapsed, then lay down beside the marker showing where he had died. I thought it might help to see what would have been in his line of sight at the moment of his death, but there was nothing that stood out. Really, this room was empty in more ways than one.

Still, that was fine. I now knew how the Prime Minister had been poisoned.

I slowly got to my feet, went outside, and gestured to the junior investigator from earlier.

“Inspector Wächter.”

“Yes, sir?”

“Take the fingerprints from the glass of this desk lamp.”