Detecting the Criminal
thump, thump, thump.
Are the gargoyles hitting the walls of the cave outside the door?
I can feel the thumping vibration through the wall.
Aine and Veronica flinch every time.
“Sah, I lived… ”
Veronica murmurs.
“Felice, are you okay?”
We were finally safe, first of all, we looked at Felice’s condition.
“I’m fine… Whoa!”
She was about to say it was okay, but as soon as Master touched the wound, she moaned.
“What’s okay with being okay?”
I started tearing up the sacks of food and drinking water provided by the academy.
“At least the wounds aren’t that deep.”
Master examines her wounds.
I used the torn sack as a bandage to stop the wound on Felice’s back.
“Where else?”
I asked that question, but Felice only replied that it was okay again.
I’m sure I saw the gargoyles collide with great speed earlier.
“Felice, really?”
he asked, making eye contact with her.
“If it hurts, say it hurts. We’ve had some bad things with us before, but that doesn’t mean we won’t say you’re sick.”
Why am I saying this, what?
Looking at her recent attitude, I couldn’t help but notice.
At least, the fact that Felice feels guilty about me.
That’s why I can’t even say that I’m in pain.
But now I have to fight the wizards of the Black Horse Tower.
It is only difficult to hide where the wound has been.
Tears welled up in Felice’s eyes upon hearing my words, so I covered her.
After a while.
We were sitting and resting on the floor of the cave.
In addition to the wound on his back, Felice said that he could not use his left arm because he accidentally bumped into a gargoyle earlier.
In the case of Veronica, she uses too much mana and has dizziness and headaches.
He was sitting still and recovering mana.
Aine wasn’t as good as Felice, but there were a lot of small wounds all over her body.
Even Master had several scratches on his face.
Sitting still, we started talking about this place.
“Disciple, but that’s it.”
Master looks at me suspiciously and asks.
“Did you know about this place?”
Fortunately, this was the question I was expecting.
I was groping along the cave wall when I suddenly saw a door open.
While wandering in search of a river, he was chased by demons and accidentally found a cave and entered it.
Up to this point, it can be excused as a coincidence, but not from then on.
So, the result of my head rolling in a short time.
“Originally, I thought about collapsing the cave, but a cool breeze came in from the back.”
“Is that so… ?”
“So I was looking for a place to hide, and suddenly something pressed and the door opened.”
“Hey, what a coincidence.”
“It’s really nice, Louie.”
Fortunately, everyone seemed to believe it.
It was a hasty excuse, though.
Whatever excuses I use here, the secret passage in the cave in the Darkwood is more reliable than I knew.
“Now what?”
“We will have to wait here until the beasts disappear.”
“Is the necklace still not working? I have to call the professor… ”
At Master’s words, Felice asks.
“Yes? why… If we wait here now, won’t all the demonic beasts retreat?”
“what are you talking about! If your wounds are healed by mistake… ”
“I, I am fine. I can’t give up on a hands-on assessment because of me.”
It was Felice who seemed to be moved by Master’s concern for herself.
Aside from that, she was still shaking her head with a guilty look.
“Felice, though… ”
Aine also discourages Felice, and Veronica also looks worried.
However, it was Felice who repeated only saying it was okay.
In the end, the story will be told later.
We started talking about this.
First, Felice explained the situation.
“While I was standing on the watch, I suddenly started hearing a strange smell. It was so faint that at first I thought it was because of my mood, but at that moment a branch suddenly flew away.”
“It smells strange… ”
I muttered.
Master seemed to know something.
I looked at Master, and she started explaining.
“It is a powder used for lure when hunting beasts. If you spray a little in the air, the beasts will go crazy and chase you.”
Felice even explains it.
“I immediately woke everyone up, and immediately another branch flew in. Since then… ”
Since then, we all know the situation.
“Did someone try to kill us?”
“Obviously, someone must have broken the necklace.”
“Perhaps it will. I felt a strange vibration, so maybe it had some effect on the necklace.”
it’s a wave
He must have felt that way.
Certainly, it is still far from following Master’s senses.
Anyway, one thing is for sure.
“I don’t know who it is, but it looks like he definitely wanted to kill us. It was also disguised as an accident.”
I said.
Except for one.
“Then why did you throw the branches? If it wasn’t for that, I might have been attacked by a sleeping bird.”
In fact, it was the branches that made Felice waking up all the time by smelling the powder.
While we ponder that question.
Master opened his mouth again.
“Actually, I don’t know who it is, but I think it’s possible to make a rough guess.”
“Yes?”
“His movement and presence, it was absolutely not human. Man cannot move so lightly.”
Unless you’re human…
“Maybe you’re not an elf.”
Elf.
As soon as I heard those words, a woman’s face popped into my mind.
“Felice, didn’t the wind blow a little before you smelled it?”
There’s something I’ve been missing so far.
The tree where Master blinked was too far away from us to say he just sprinkled the powder.
“Looking back, I think it was.”
“Leone. It was Elin who sprinkled the powder.”
With a cold voice, I was determined.
“Well, it can’t be… ”
Veronica murmurs.
I can’t believe I’m going to do that.
‘Blowing using the wind, that’s the method I used during the duel.’
I thought about it.
“still… Isn’t that too speculative? In the first place, personal items in the practice evaluation center… ”
“If you borrow the power of the family, there must be many ways to bring it inside.”
“but. It was like that even during the duel.”
Veronica says.
It reminds me of Leo who secretly took the scroll during the duel.
Veronica was also furious.
“No way, I thought you would really try to kill us… ”
As Aine said.
Everyone looks shocked.
I guess I realized that my words are persuasive.
“Bitch… ”
Veronica murmurs.
“Then was it Elin who threw the branch?”
“okay. Leo must have made Elin do it. That bitch, Elin, must have been stabbed by her conscience.”
I hate it, but in the original game, the other party members secretly liked her.
Later on, they confess their feelings and even become close to each other.
“under! You shouldn’t be sorry in the first place. They tried to kill us.”
“Still, warnings are helpful… ”
Veronica harshly criticizes Elin, and Aine speaks cautiously.
Of course, Aine also had a look of anger.
“Anyway, I can never forgive you!”
Aine clenched her fists and said.
So, after roughly guessing the culprit who did this.
We started talking about this place.
“What the hell is this?”
To appeal that I didn’t know anything, I looked around and said.
“Secret space… ”
“To be precise, it’s like a secret passageway.”
In a narrow cave, exactly like a passage, it was not too dark with shiny stones embedded in the ceiling.
“Is this a place prepared by the academy?”
Felice shakes her head at Aine’s question.
“It will not. Obviously, they said that the practical evaluation is new this year, but I don’t think there was time to prepare a place like this.”
“Then maybe a dungeon?”
“Well, it’s definitely not a natural place.”
Could it be that his curiosity as a wizard has been activated?
Veronica did what I was originally meant to say.
“I don’t know when the beasts will disappear anyway, shall we go inside? Maybe there is another way out.”
“Isn’t that too dangerous?”
“If it’s dangerous, you can come back.”
I naturally sided with Veronica.
“Hmm… I’m sure it’d be better than just sitting here.”
Master also expressed his consent.
Felice seems to be just following me, I asked her.
“Felice, can you move?”
“It’s fine.”
Felice smiles slightly at me.
“Veronica, Mana… ”
“It’s a little bit, but I’ve recovered.”
We began to move carefully into the passageway.
Veronica was the first to speak up.
And it was the master.
Master stood in front of me to check for possible traps, but there was no need for that.
“Wait, everyone.”
Veronica stops in front of her.