Legend

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, is this true? I thought something was wrong when that store crumbled..."

The guard with the paperwork squeaks with surprise and anger.

Naturally. The paperwork is an order that the guards give instructions to crush the store that they have also been to several times… precisely because it could have been said to refrain from doing so.

The store collapsed... precisely because the cause of the collapse was the order of the owner of this mansion.

"Hey, look at me more than that. There's still solid evidence of blackmail.... how about you keep a book of money you get from blackmailing?

"No, it's good because this one helps. In the meantime, there's going to be quite a bit of evidence of evil in this study alone."

This mandatory investigation concerns only the underground space Ray found.

But naturally finding evidence of some kind of crime along the way doesn't mean you're going to miss it.

Naturally, the evidence will also be securely seized and an investigation will be conducted into the crime.

In that sense, it was seen that the number of crimes uncovered in this forced investigation would extend to a considerable number.

Nevertheless, there is no way that so many such forceful means can be used.

That's what I was allowed to do, because this time it was supposed to be called a genuine Guild crisis, where underground spaces were created in the Guild at some point, where they imitated things like calling out pink tentacles, not to mention that pink tentacles have a degree of strength that even Ray couldn't easily beat.

It would also have been significant in this case to say that it is not an aristocratic district, even if it is near the aristocratic district to carry out a forced investigation.

"Hmm... from what I can tell, I can't find anything particularly suspicious."

If there were paintings, like yesterday's mansion, that somehow bothered me, Ray would have attracted interest in it again.

But Hate and this study are not decorated with some kind of painting.

It was Ray looking around, but it doesn't look like something is hidden somewhere, given Ray's feeling at least.

(There were tons of bodies left in yesterday's mansion just bones and skins... no, wait. Could it be that there was an armed escort in yesterday's mansion because there was that body? In fact, I was so convinced that I and the guards were suspicious because I saw that body)

It had been heard that that mansion was an enemy stronghold, but still, if only bones and skins had not been mountains of corpses, there would have been nothing so alarming.

Of course, there were those who suddenly attacked me, so the option of not being vigilant didn't exist, but still, without one case of a corpse, it's likely it wouldn't have happened that way.

(I'm just protecting the mansion, that there weren't any residents like this mansion... I mean, I guess that mansion was an important place as a morgue. If you're a normal corpse, rot and smell are troublesome, but that corpse doesn't have to worry about the area)

The only corpse I saw yesterday was bone and skin... because it was like a mummy, it didn't smell like rot at all.

Most commonly, even corpses that became only skins and bones did not smell bad like rot. … I guess the lack of it meant that the corpse was still affected by some kind of tentacle.

While thinking that way, Ray looked at the guards looking into the study... and found something of interest.

That would not have been particularly uncomfortable if I had just seen it normally, substitute.

Yet why Ray was uncomfortable with it...... that's why Ray himself doesn't know.

However, for some reason I don't even know who I am, I was concerned about the vase decorated in the room.

Because it is winter now, especially since the vase is decorated with some kind of flower, the vase itself is decorated as an art substitute like a pot or something.

Or maybe even in winter if this was a nobleman's house, he was obtaining flowers and decorating them by some means.

Either way, Ray gets closer to such a vase.

The vase itself had been examined by the guards earlier, so I knew that something was not hidden inside.

Still concerned about the vase, Ray moves to the front of that vase and reaches out.

Lift the vase and examine it carefully.

But there's nothing particularly wrong with the vase Ray has.

Only Ray, who is oblivious to things like art, decides that maybe the vase he has is an expensive object and puts the vase back on the pedestal where it was placed.

I was wondering what the discomfort was when I was looking at the vase... and then I feel the same discomfort again when I put the vase on the pedestal.

That moment when I followed the idea and put the vase on the pedestal with only a little force. The pedestal with the vase sinks a little.

Yes, the pedestal itself sank to the floor.

"Hey!"

Seeing the sight, I can understand that there is some kind of trick on the pedestal to be exact about this vase… I call the guards.

I guess the guards who were looking into the vase earlier didn't even think that some evidence of evil was hidden in the vase, but that the pedestal itself was some sort of trick.

... Normally, I don't imitate putting more effort into putting the vase on the pedestal than is necessary, so maybe that's natural.

"I see. Here's a trick like this. Besides, this kind of trick means that, naturally, there's something hidden in trouble when people see it... what the hell is there?

A guard asks Ray to give the place away and examine the pedestal on which the vase is riding.

Then, immediately, that pedestal trick was revealed and he succeeded in finding several pieces of paperwork folded in the gap that was inside the pedestal.

Some of the documents that provided evidence of involvement in the crime were usually placed in this study.

Nonetheless, that is clearly suspicious when it comes to the documents hidden in this elaborate scheme.

Do the guards know that, too? I'll stretch out the paperwork that was folded...

"Cryptography."

One of the guards squeals in an unfortunate voice.

In fact, Ray, who peeked into the paperwork, also doesn't understand what's written there.

There are some texts that can be read, but many of them are not very, but cannot be read, and they just depict what should be called some sort of cryptography.

Rather than letters, even hieroglyphics are substitutes to be called.

Looking at such a letter, the guard gives a really unpleasant look.

If you try to lay it down, it's just a word of a code, but if you try to be the guards, it's only natural that you need to crack this code in order to pursue the crimes of the master of this mansion.

Still, it would be fortunate for the guards to be able to ask a specialist department or, in some cases, a department directly under Dusker, instead of solving this code directly.

When it comes to decrypting, a variety of knowledge is required.

In doing the job of guard, unfortunately such a margin does not exist.

… some of them have that much knowledge, but the number is never large.

"Ray, keep this for now. Once the mandatory investigation of this mansion is completed, I will give it to you on top."

"Okay."

Then also store the documents in Ray's Mystering that will be evidence of other crimes found after examining this study.

If the guard had documents of evidence, for some reason… specifically, there was also the possibility that the owner of this mansion or the person who was ordered to do so would somehow consider disposing of the documents.

In that sense, I guess these guards who acted with Ray were lucky.

... Some people had the impression that Ray would attract disturbances and pull off the lottery.

"So, what do we do? I think it's more likely that there's nothing else in this study than what I've been hiding so strictly."

"I don't know. There's no denying there's something else. I'll do some more digging."

"Really? Then I'm looking a little more appropriately at this one, okay?

"Oh.... protect us rather than be so desperate to investigate. If a strong guy attacked me, it would be hard to fight this one."

He looked like he was half-joking, but the look on his face looks serious.

If you get suddenly raided where you're actually concentrating your investigation, it's hard for the guards to counter it, too.

If you concentrate on something, it's natural that you won't be able to handle it.

In the first place, adventurers, including Ray, are accompanying the guards because they are expected to be escorts at such times.

Neither does Ray say anything more to that word of the guard, and he decides to take up his full role as an escort with great care.

... Nevertheless, there are quite a few other guards in this mansion that are under compulsory investigation, and if the owner of the mansion imitates such things as letting them attack, they will soon be noticed by those who are conducting other investigations.

(If you attacked a group with Vihera, it would suck)

It's not strange to even welcome someone who's attacking you, just Vihella looking forward to fighting the mighty enemy.

Most importantly, the only people who have suffered terrible damage as a result of the attack are those who have attacked them, but they will not feel sympathy for it.

"Oh, hey, look at this. This guy's running illegal drugs."

"Illegal drugs?... Hey, wait a minute. Could this have been a problem a while ago..."

"Maybe. However, as far as this circulation is concerned, although the owner of this mansion cannot be said to be on the lower end…, it does not seem to be the case that he is above the organization."

Ray turns his gaze to the guards for the word illegal drugs.

Medicine in this case is not the kind of drug Ray had a problem with when he was in Japan, but a medicine made with magic.

Nevertheless, there are many things that are habitual, so I'm pretty sure they're similar in nature to drugs.

"I hadn't heard much about the drug problem, but is it also a lot in the gilm?

"That's a lot."

To Ray's inquiry, the guard affirms without looking troubled.

"In the first place, Gilm is on the border. And there are many materials available because of the border, many of which can be used as medicinal materials. Ray's seen those pills a few times, too, hasn't he? Look, Devil's Fever or something."

Magic fever.

That's what Ray remembered when he used to ride Seto and take that pill in a big hurry.

"... that's nothing. That's not a physically harmful pill, is it? That's the medicine for the cure."

"Right. But there's an appropriate amount for everything, and beyond that, it's only harmful. The same goes for medicine for exorcisms and other medicines."

To be honest, in Ray's case, they say drugs and drugs, but they don't pin it.

I lived in the northeastern countryside in Japan, so naturally I never saw the kind of drugs, and that's the same since I came to this world.

(Yeah, but you've seen assassins use drugs and stuff)

I remember seeing it several times before, and then I get a convincing look at it like that.

"So, we found evidence that he was illegally running the drug," he said.

"It will. However, it doesn't feel like the owner of this mansion is taking the lead, but either hand or foot can be cut off lightly."

"I guess..."

I remember when I tried to enter this mansion, and while telling the soldiers to stop, I don't do anything myself. On the contrary, given its character of not being in action for fear, it does not seem to me that we can take the lead in such a big deal, though not very much.

(At least if you imitate something like stopping us yourself... or are you just not coming to our place and going somewhere else? Maybe this isn't the only place in the study.)

This mansion is quite large, if not quite as large as it is in the aristocratic district.

Also, given the size of the mansion we did yesterday's investigation, it's not strange to have more than one study.

In fact, yesterday, the guards other than the Rays are searching another study to find documents that could be a clue to the crime.

"In the meantime, the fact that these documents were here is, after all, possible that there are other documents of some kind. Ray, it might take a little longer, but will you wait?

"Oh, I don't mind. Slowly...... but try not to miss the paperwork, good luck"

That's what Ray said to the guard.