Became the Academy Romantic Phantom Thief chapter 221

221 – Murder Case

In the secret room that I finally reached after a long search, instead of the jewelry I was looking for, there was a dead body.

“·······.”

As soon as we found the scene of the incident, we alerted the crew.

No matter how secretly he was infiltrating, this was too serious an issue to just cover it up and pretend he didn’t know.

The excuse was moderately, that I lost my way as I had originally envisioned.

Fortunately, there were no suspicions. The two of them had been together since the beginning, the fact that the body would have gone unnoticed for a long time if we hadn’t reported it first, and above all thanks to Julia and Rachel’s vigorous defense.

A conclusion was reached shortly after the investigation began.

This is an obvious murder case.

It was not difficult to infer from the fact that the jewels that should have been in the secret room had disappeared in the first place.

“What!? The jewel disappeared…!!?”

When it was announced that the jewel was missing, the man who seemed to be the owner of the jewel ran amok.

From his appearance, he was a man who gave off the feeling of a greedy brat like Lappano.

On the other hand, the captain who heard the news did not get excited and handled the situation in a calm manner.

“Please calm down. Even if the jewels are gone, this is on a ship sailing the sea. The prepared emergency boats are all fine, so the culprit is probably still in here.”

“Is there any guarantee that you won’t run away just because you don’t have a boat!? What if I ran away! Are you going to ask?!”

“Gather all the passengers and crew and count the number of people. If the number is correct, it must mean that the culprit has not escaped yet.”

Despite the captain’s tidy arrangement, the owner of the jewelry seemed not to be easily relieved.

“Do you know how important that jewel is…!? You will have to find it at all costs!”

“Don’t worry, sir, just wait patiently.”

Because we were the first witnesses, we accidentally watched the conversation right next to them.

Then, the owner of the jewelry turned his attention this way and began to let go of his anger.

“Aren’t these kids the culprits!? After killing the guards and stealing the jewels, aren’t you brazenly coming out!”

“The two students have already received body searches and testimonies from students around them. I think the possibility that they are the culprits is very low.”

“The possibility of using magic! These guys are all evil, clumsy wizards!”

Oh, no matter how much magic is considered an unpleasant image for the general public, I never thought I’d openly pour out such nonsense in front of people.

Thankfully, the captain immediately defended us, so we decided to put up with it for once.

“There is a magic detector installed inside the secret room, so the probability of a crime using magic is low. And these people are also grateful guests who have boarded my ship, so please refrain from being rude.”

“···Tsk! That’s all right, you better quickly find the culprit and bring him in front of me!!”

The owner of the jewel leaves only his own words until the end and strides back to the room.

From noble mtl dot com

He’s such an annoying guy that you want to punch him in the back of the head really hard.

When we were the only ones left in the captain’s office, the captain politely bowed his head to us who were much younger than himself and spoke politely.

“First of all, the two of you, please come down to the dining room. The innocence of the two of you has been proven, but if you discriminate in the investigation, you might end up with useless protests like before.”

“Yes. Okay.”

“And thank you. If it weren’t for you two, my men would have been left alone for a long time undiscovered. The warehouse was ordered to be closed to anyone except the guards guarding the jewels.”

To be honest, it’s not strange to send a suspicious glare like a jewelry owner, but I was a bit confused to be thanked instead. It hadn’t been long since he had met her face, but it was immediately clear that this captain was no ordinary man.

Anyway, after saying goodbye to the captain, we went down to the dining room and quietly thought. Sharon, in particular, could tell openly that she was digging into this situation coolly just by looking at her eyes.

“What do you think?”

At that moment, I took a moment to choose an answer to her straight-forward question.

“It was definitely a crime to steal jewels.”

There will be no dispute about this. Did you find and kill the sailor who was standing guard in a secret room that no one knows, and take the jewel by accident? Even if you summarize it in one sentence, don’t you feel how ridiculous this is nonsense.

Then the investigation may be surprisingly easy. All you have to do is search the inside of this ship for gems.

From a common sense point of view, the person who possessed the jewel had no choice but to be the culprit.

Of course, this rhetoric would have been meaningless assumptions if we hadn’t discovered the scene.

By the time you check the body and proceed with the investigation, it must have been a long time since all the passengers on the ship have landed in Europe and spread all over the place.

“Something is strange.”

“What?”

It is strange that such a disaster occurred on the first day of a school trip that should have been full of happiness, but Sharon seems to have felt something particularly strange even in the midst of it.

At least in this situation, the deduction of Sharon, the detective, is sharper than mine.

Isn’t it? Shouldn’t I be considered as possessing the same level of professionalism as Goedoni?

Anyway, when I asked what was wrong, she immediately replied.

“When we first discovered the crime scene, the door to the storage room as well as the secret room was open.”

“Hmm. It was.”

“Of course, the culprit would have an advantage if the scene was discovered later, so why did he leave it in such a lax state?”

When she heard that, thinking about it, she sure was weird.

After thinking about the reason for a while, I came up with my own guess.

“There are only two possibilities that come to mind right away.”

“Can you talk to me?”

“The first is that the perpetrator ran away in a panic because he had accidentally committed the crime.”

Looking at the current situation, it was the most realistic reason.

Inadvertently obtaining information on the jewelry stored in the secret room, blinded by greed, he tries to steal it and commits murder. However, after seeing the dying sailor bleeding, he belatedly realized the reality and ran away without even thinking about erasing the traces.

If this prediction holds true, catching the culprit will be much easier than you think. Evidence will remain at the scene of the crime, so a little investigation will quickly identify the suspect.

If you find a person who can’t make eye contact and is restless like a dog who wants to poop, there’s a possibility that he’ll confess on his own.

It would be nice if things worked out that easily.

The problem was the second possibility.

“The second is… It is possible that it was intentionally neglected.”

At first glance, it may seem absurd.

The more stealthy the crime, the better. Therefore, there is no reason for the criminal to deliberately neglect the evidence left at the crime scene.

In fact, it was a truth that would never be broken.

But there are always exceptions called special circumstances.

Isn’t the representative living witness of that exception none other than Raven the Phantom Thief, or myself?

I openly spread a notice that I plan to commit a crime.

It also draws attention by appearing confidently in front of people.

Do not hide the crime secretly.

Why? Because there is a purpose to it.

Because it is a crime committed for that purpose.

In other words, if the culprit of this murder case is also aware of the second reason, which is the same as mine, there is a possibility that he deliberately neglected the traces.

Sharon also had a rather serious expression, probably coming to that conclusion without difficulty.

Depending on each reason, the difficulty of the investigation will vary widely.

And it was my intuition that, on a cruise like this, it occurred to me that the latter would be the case for anyone who would dare to commit murder.

When I went down to the cafeteria with a rather distraught heart, all the passengers had already gathered.

The inside of the restaurant was full of confusion and mayhem. The detailed explanation hadn’t even started yet, but rumors had already circulated that a serious crime had taken place inside.

As witnesses, Yulia and Rachel, who had stopped by the captain’s office first and then came down, greeted us with worried expressions.

In such a situation, when all the passengers gathered at the restaurant, the captain began to explain the situation calmly.

“Since it seems like it’s already being talked about, I’ll be direct. There has been a murder on board the current ship.”

As the rumors were confirmed to be true, the scandal quickly overwhelmed the audience. There were also people who lost their reason and howled in fear. In particular, the confusion was even more extreme as most of the passengers were academy students who were still minors.

Nevertheless, the captain persevered.

“Until the culprit is apprehended, this ship will not land on land and will continue the investigation by roaming the ocean.”

In a way, it was a natural choice. Aside from the murder case, jewels meant to be presented to the king of a country were stolen. Just anchoring on land like this is no different from waving to them to live well because they will see the culprit and forgive them.

“And.”

Huh? What else do you have?

While I was tilting my head, he uttered a word that could never be passed over.

“The notice of the Phantom Thief Raven has been found.”

···What?