The Traveling Hero Won’t Let the Innkeeper’s Son Escape

A little while later Ruth checked into Wonock's room again to see how it was.

Then, the string became so visible that the third knot was visible.

(I guess that means it worked for that story)

Given that the altitude is dropping more rapidly than I measured a while ago, apparently it's not convenient for people to come out and see how the inn looks tomorrow. I don't know what the intent is to imitate this, but I guess I still don't want to be a fuss. However, given that it has not yet reached the ground, it cannot be distracted.

Ruth spoke to Rossa, who was carrying her snowscratching tools to the dining room.

"Dad, I went into my room, could you lend me the key?

"What are you doing?

"I always wear a jacket outside in my room. We're moving tomorrow morning."

"Yeah, you know what?"

I just couldn't say "because I want to keep the bow and arrow on hand in preparation for the showdown" and decided to mislead it appropriately with the most plausible words. Rossa didn't even seem to question it for the most part, and she gave the key to Ruth lightly.

"I know, but don't touch the body, okay?

"Of course. Thanks."

Ruth, who borrowed the key from Rossa, hurries to his room. Then, for the first time in a few days, he entered with a heavy sigh on the desolate tragedy of the room and on the three bodies lining him.

(Not if you're depressed, you need to spend as little time alone as possible)

Ruth tapped her cheek gently and knelt in to pull out a set of bow tools placed under the bed. But there, I noticed something gleaming on the floor.

"What is it?"

Ruth sheds light on that part of the lamp. Apparently, they're getting into a gap between the floorboards. When I put my face close to see what it was, it was there.

(- Needles?)

Falling under the bed was a needle like I had seen somewhere. To the size and shape I remember, I grabbed a cloth and pulled it out without touching it directly, as Wonok had done.

(I knew this would look just like the needle I saw then)

The needle, which was about the length of the second joint of the finger, which was thick to sew and had no holes to thread through, resembled very badly the needle entangling the poison that caused Nicolas to fall.

(What……………?

When I noticed the inside of my chest was getting hot and looked at the pendant I was borrowing from Wonok, it flashed red to prompt a warning. The flashing also looks as if Wonok is telling you to be careful. From the fact that the talisman is reacting, I'm sure it's not a good thing. Imagine from the circumstances, it's likely the same as that poison needle.

(But why is the needle here...?

The first reason that comes to mind is the possibility that the owner dropped it after the incident. But even when everyone came in, only my family approached me near the bed. Besides, this room has had a key hanging from the second day, and Mr. Herald was just lying there. Even when I opened the door earlier, there was no suspicion.

The next thing that comes to mind - Ruth and the others just didn't realize it, it could have happened from the beginning. That would mean that not only the warehouse room, but also this room, had a poison needle planted or was about to be planted.

(Uh, I thought he was killed (actually, a temporary death) because of an accident, but actually, maybe Mr. Herald was poisoned, too? But that would be inconsistent with what Mr. Wonok was saying, and Mr. Herald would be dead in the first place...)

Wonok said that Herald collapsed after losing his mind and was left in a room with a blizzard for a long time, so his body temperature suddenly warmed up and he died - in a state of temporary death. But if you were touching a poison needle, you wouldn't be. I don't know why I died while I couldn't find the trauma, like two coras.

(What do you mean...?

At the scene of the first incident, the same thing as the cause of the second incident had fallen. Yet the reason Herald was in a state of provisional death was because he was left in a room with a window open on top of the beating. I don't see any relevance to the two facts. Even though the rooms where this is happening are the same, the poison needle trap and Mr. Herald's state of temporary death are like a completely different phenomenon.

"Is that, …………………?

To gain certainty about the one thought that floated, Ruth rushed out of the room and took Wonock's suicide note in the living room of his mother's house.

The suicide note, which was in trouble at the storage site, eventually talked about burying it in the grave with Wonok, but it is also kept at the Blau family to tell the village chief the story of the incident. With the suicide note in his hand, he now headed to the reception room.

Ruth sneaks in to check her inn as she sees Rossa putting firewood in the fireplace.

(Latest page that was there)

The Blau family booklet is to have the name of the guest who was to stay at the inn filled in with his own hand. Some adventurers are rarely able to write, so in that case, I will fill it in with the Blau family, but it basically has my own autograph on it.

Ruth found the item of purpose, but sighed slightly differently than expected.

(Oh, but as I first expected...... the letter of this suicide note is different from that of Mr. Wonok. And the letter in this habitual suicide note looks just like Seju)

Wonok's inscriptions in the lodging book are big and grand and have the momentum to jump out of the partition line without hesitation. In contrast, Seju's writing is a nerve-wrapped word that goes up to the right, so much so that the paper is dented if the brush pressure is strong. - I mean, the letter of the suicide note that Wonok was supposed to have written and Seju's habit of writing look just like that.

No one paid attention because there is no such thing as a handwriting appraisal in this world, but if you make this point, you will be certain that your suspicious eye for Seju will go. I won't raise my voice now, but I will go to the village chief for the sake of slowness. This suicide note is going to go to the village chief, so I was definitely going to make it a problem then.

(That, but………)

Ruth felt strange discomfort while comparing the two letters. I can't really put into words what that discomfort is, but I feel like I'm missing something. But I don't know immediately what that is.

"What's wrong, Ruth?

"Ahh! And, Dad."

Soon after, Rossa, who was finished with the firewood, peered into Ruth's hand. I rush to hide the suicide note I took out on my own and pretend I was looking at the lodging book.

"Well, I thought we'd lost a lot of people."

"That's true………………"

Rossa looked so sad. I suppose it's only natural because I think the people I used to travel with have been sacrificed.

Ruth turns his inn to distract Rossa, who has shut up, and talks about needing a new notebook. And I noticed you were looking at the letters Rossa wrote on the cover.

"Hmm? … similar to your father's and Herald's letters."

There are letters written by Rossa on the table and back of the lodging book. It doesn't fit a large physique, it's a small, clustered letter. That was strangely similar to the letters written by the Herald on the page you were looking at earlier.

"Yeah, I'm the one who taught Herald and Julia letters, maybe they're similar because I'm the role model."

"My father?

"Those two couldn't write when they met me. I was teaching them letters while we were partying there."

The village of Hashi is in the favor of priests, so that they can all read and write, but even the inhabitants of the King's capital can't do that, they say, in poor people. Even the sub seems to have the same thing, the two have been adventurers since they were young, and they can somehow read it, but they couldn't even write their own names. They were concerned about two people who couldn't even sign properly, and Rossa suggested it was the reason.

"But you're perfectly good. I used to be worse... and Julia didn't even know what I taught her."

Julia's lettering was very polite, and her impression was faint in a lodging book with so many characteristic characters. The brush pressure is so weak that I can't imagine that the letter I wrote was using the same pen as Seju's.

"Was it a long journey with you two?

"Five years, no. About seven years. That's a subtle length. If I hadn't found my mother in Hashi village, I'd probably have been with these guys until this year."

While that's good, Rossa hands-on the two letters. Do you recall the past, Ruth will still be a strange face to Rossa with a lonely look on her face?

"...... Now is the time for a tattered mouth though. At first, I was careful, you two are much older. I never had a party with a guy my parents age."

"Uh, about parents? Are you that far away?

"Ha, because those guys are long-lived subs. He's eating a lot older than he looks."

As soon as Ruth heard the words, she remembered the dialogue that Wonock had said the first day.

"That's not a word I use for a woman my own mother's age."

A woman as old as Celine, I imagined her head in her late thirties and forties, but then there is a contradiction in what she says Rossa.

"And…… father. Which one's your age, father or mother?

"That's up to me. My mother is three down.... Hey, Ruth. Please don't do that in front of your mother. Because I'm gonna be in a bad mood."

Make Ruth promise with Rosa's really troubled face. Apparently Celine has been concerned about her age lately.

"Well, thanks to a lot of experience like that, you two were able to support me exactly. The Rapid Julia is a skilled avant-garde who handles short swords after hearing so much as she can get to the end of the village, and the Snake Herald is a rear guard who doesn't like direct attacks, but was sharp and good at spotting traps. The rest of us were just good guys. I don't know what to say to myself, but it suited me."

Rossa's old story continued. During the journey, he rubbed it where he was going and partied. But at that time, Julia and Herald seem to have had a rough time with the snowstorm ahead of them, and there seems to have been a rush back to Rossa's party. And then, when they went to a city where it snowed, they said they were resolutely against it. She didn't know what was going on, but then when Herald went to a slightly colder place, she started wearing thick clothes.

(Uh, wait, wait... I mean... I mean?

As Ruth listened to Rossa's old stories like that, she realized that a lot of things she hadn't even cared about before were inherently strange. Assuming all of Rossa's stories right now are true, it means that that person is acting strangely.

(Maybe this too………)

Gently touch Wonok's suicide note with your hands.

Then I could understand what the discomfort was that I remembered by comparing Seju to the letter of the suicide note.

(... well, you know what? So in all three cases, the circumstances were different at the time of death)

When Ruth swallowed up the truth that he had come to know, Rossa, who had enjoyed the old story, stopped talking when she realized how it was.

"Ruth, what's wrong?

"Dad…… let's all have a drink"

"Huh?"

Ruth smiles just saying he's thought of something fun now. Pretending, of course. The inside didn't ring. I was desperate to contain the sound of my heart.

"It's dark air, and why don't we all have a drink overnight at the inn? Either way, your father and mother are in the dining room, right? It's a corner, so why don't you call two of your customers and wait until the blizzard breaks out with us?

I thought it was an unscrupulous suggestion myself, but Rossa's face felt better than I thought.

"... Well, I have a snow scratch, but maybe it would be better if I had a little booze in it. I've had all these nasty memories for four days, and you might want to do something like that, talk to your mother."

People who come and go in this world don't grieve for very long about the death of others. Much more beside it than in previous life. It is more pleasing to distract anyone because they recognize it as something to visit one day - there still seems to be no doubt about that.

As suggested by Ruth, Rossa consulted with Celine and prepared to serve the liquor as it was after dinner. Originally the whole family was going to meet in front of the dining room until the next morning, so they kept a little food.

Ruth, the originator, asked the two innkeepers to "join us because it's free". "The other customer seems to be coming out," he lied.

"You've come a long way."

"One……………."

Ruth, who was visiting Wonok's room again, shrugged as she stared at the string under the floorboard.

The length of the string connecting the inn to the ground refers to the two remaining pieces, around eight meters. It's almost as far away as you can tell from what's anchored to the ground.

If you give me this far, if it's just Ruth or Rossa, it'll be possible to jump and run the worst. But Celine and Clark don't. They have less exercise and endurance than the two of them. If it's just Celine, it's also possible for Rossa to get off holding him, but the big Clark doesn't have to get off on his own. I also thought about the hand that conveys the string again, but unfortunately, the way Wonok tied the string wasn't like being able to support people, and even Ruth couldn't use that hand because if he tried to get caught and get off, the ropes would fall off each other along the way. I already experimented with Kia on the rope I gave you up there.

"Kia, you're right."

"One."

Kia and I stared at each other, fisting each other to get in the mood with the guy we had.