Chapter Ninety-Seven: The Murder Incident of Demon Proud Heaven

Rubi was no person of rank, yet in this setting no one was going to care that there was an extra face in the room. He stood in a corner, watching silently from the shadows. The weapon was a decorative short sword. Wizards did not need swords, but a dwarf-forged blade inlaid with gems was still handsome as ornamentation. The point had gone straight into the city lord’s chest, right to his heart. One clean thrust there, and even Rubi’s healing art could not have saved a man already dead.

“Father!”

The girl of the birthday feast, unable to bring herself even to cry, seemed ready to throw herself onto her father’s blood-soaked form and wake him, but Rubi caught her hand in time.

“Don’t go near. You’ll ruin the scene. Head butler, call the city guard at once. And don’t let anyone in the hall leave; everyone here could be the killer.”

It was Rubi’s first homicide case in another world. He did not know whether this world even had detectives, or how the guards pinned guilt, but to keep Kin Funi from leaving any trace that might be mistaken for evidence against her, he still held her back and told the butler as much.

“Oh, oh!”

The old butler, utterly flustered, obeyed without further thought, and everyone else turned to stare at this stranger. A youth remaining so calm in such a case was rarely seen.

The guard unit arrived quickly after receiving word. The dead man was the city lord himself, after all. More than ten guards in matching uniforms rushed in and sealed the room. Out of respect for the dead, Rubi and the others had long since stepped away from the scene. Now he stood with his head down against the wall, thinking.

“I heard you were the one who called for the guards.”

At that moment a stranger’s voice broke his thoughts. He lifted his head and looked at the square-faced man in front of him. The men who had come with him answered to Captain Mu.

“Mm.”

“You also told them not to disturb the scene, didn’t you? Been through official training?”

Captain Mu’s eyes were clear and bright. Years of investigations had taught him that a first witness was often a prime suspect, and Rubi, a commoner rather than a noble, was one of Mu’s prime suspects.

“No training. It was all what people said in stories.”

“Is that so? Then why haven’t you left yet? You give me the impression you’re waiting for the guard to come and ask you something.”

“I’m thinking.”

“Thinking about what?”

“Come with me.”

Rubi stepped off the wall and motioned Captain Mu into the room. Mu’s subordinates would never have let a stranger in, but after a short glance the captain waved them aside and let Rubi pass.

“There are no signs of struggle in this room,” Rubi said, looking around. “The chairs, table, teacups, and even the decorations are all in perfect order. The short sword was taken from a display cabinet, which suggests this wasn’t a premeditated strike.”

“True enough.”

Captain Mu nodded. At that level, killing a mage was no easy business: one either had to crush his magical barrier or poison him. To be stabbed in this way was almost a disgraceful death for a wizard.

“Look at his face. He was astonished that someone could kill him. So the other side’s power must have been far lower, weak enough to offer no resistance. Yet a person like that still drove a blade into his heart. That explains the expression.”
Rubi pointed to the dead man’s face. His eyes were wide and angry, mouth slightly open, pupils drained of color and still holding a trace of shock. In this explanation Captain Mu could not disagree, and he nodded once more in reluctant agreement.
“The right hand is clenched. A normal person with a fatal wound either strains in agony or holds the weapon as if trying to pull it out. His posture means he had clutched something in his palm. Did you find anything there?”

“No.”

“The killer is someone the lord knew, and one whose power is far below his. So from all this, the killer is… I don’t know.”

Both Captain Mu and his men found Rubi’s reasoning sound. When he was about to speak the killer’s name, they held their breath. Rubi did not disappoint them. He spoke only three words.

“You wretch, are you making a joke?”

Captain Mu’s face surged with angry veins. He grabbed Rubi by the collar of his coat and yelled, ignoring every civic safety regulation.

“I am no special person. How could I find a killer from so little information? It only narrows things to a small circle, doesn’t it? From here, that’s your job.”

“So then why say all that long speech?”

“Out of curiosity.”

With that calm face, Mu had no choice. He spent the night interrogating a few suspicious men on Rubi’s hints. By midnight, nobles restricted from going out had begun to chafe and pressed for permission to leave. The guards could not stop them all and had to release them reluctantly. The case was already edging toward becoming a headless, unsolved mystery.

“Bravo, famous Detective Rubi. Your deduction is excellent.”

On the way home, Rubi refused Moyuna’s suggestion to use spatial transfer and simply walked back with her. Perhaps sensing the awkward air, the cute law-girl of divine temperament made a faint clapping sound with her mouth and even lifted Rubi aloft in jest.

“Moyuna, why did you kill the city lord?”

“Hmm? What are you talking about? I can’t understand you.”

“Enough nonsense. I know you aren’t the killer, but you are clearly an accomplice.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“The reason is simple. You’re too strong—strong enough to suppress a sorcerer’s magic from afar so he cannot cast a spell. Otherwise, no one could have put a short sword through his heart.”

“Then from what you say, you already know who did it?”

Moyuna’s face pinched in offended disbelief. She had not expected her power to betray her, and fortunately only Rubi knew the extent of it.

“If it isn’t her, then who else? I stayed near the scene to see if either of you had left anything behind to wipe away afterward. You still have a bit of a mind, it seems.”

Rubi then slipped his hand into the pocket of the long skirt Moyuna wore and fumbled about. The dress had been made by him, so he knew all the places a small object could hide.

“What are you doing? It tickles!”

Laughing, Moyuna tried to push him away. His warm palm against her abdomen was indeed maddeningly ticklish, and the two of them looked, in those motions, almost like they were behaving indecently.

“Can you tell me your reason now?”

Rubi drew his hand out and held it open before her. A handful of golden hair lay quietly in his palm—that was likely the final trace the lord had left behind.

“Ah well. I wanted to slip by pretending to know nothing. Knowing too much is never such a good thing, is it?”

PS, please bookmark and recommend.
Kudo Rubi: The killer is you, Mao Aotian!
Mao Aotian: Hm. (coldly) And then? What are we having for dinner tonight?

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