In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 17

by Patora Fuyuhara

  “That means that the prime minister could have died, he could.”

  Everyone froze in shock after Yae spoke up. It was possible that the prime minister was the intended target, but the sudden room switch meant the south spring marquis died instead... I thought that was a sound explanation for the time being. Though it was still possible the marquis had people after his life.

  The faction that supported the king’s brother would obviously look at the prime minister and his allies as potential enemies, so it wouldn’t be out of the question for them to try and kill the south spring marquis... But if they could pull that off, then they’d have been better off killing the prime minister himself.

  The room was reasonably sized. It had a table, a couch, a closet, and a north-facing window. There was also a string by the door that rang a bell to summon servants.

  I checked the closet, but it was empty. I wasn’t too surprised, since this was more like a relaxation room than an actual place people would stay overnight.

  I realized that I could probably bring the marquis back to life if I cast the [Resurrection] spell on him...

  It was high-tier magic that could only be used on fresh bodies. If you waited more than an hour, it’d be impossible to bring the person back. It also voraciously ate at one’s magic and even risked the life of the caster.

  Typically, the spell was only used by people who were really close to the deceased, because the spell could potentially kill the person casting it.

  It wasn’t uncommon for the one casting it to die, and for the whole thing to just fail entirely. There were barely any records of successful revival cases throughout history. From what I understood, the success rate was lower than twenty percent.

  I figured I’d be able to handle it without any risks, but after asking Karen about it, she told me that there was a risk of me overloading the target with too much life energy. I could end up warping the person beyond recognition.

  She had said, “If you refreeze a melted ice sculpture, it’ll be ice again, but not the sculpture... You know?”

  “I pray mercy for his soul, for his spirit to find peace in the lands above. God Almighty, please watch over him and grant him repose.”

  The pope spoke a small prayer for the deceased. The souls of the dead didn’t go toward the divine realm where gods lived. They ended up settling in the heavenly realm just a little bit below.

  Souls were purified in the heavenly realm before being incarnated into new bodies, though souls with sufficient pollution could only reincarnate as animals... Hopefully, this guy wasn’t poor of heart.

  I rifled through the dead man’s pockets and belongings in a search for possible clues.

  There was nothing that really stood out to me. There was a pen, a pocket watch, some tobacco leaves, and a little case with a tobacco compactor inside, along with some matches and a pipe. That was everything.

  I figured I’d ask Flora to investigate the body as well, just in case.

  “Grand Duke, here...”

  Sakura motioned for me to follow. I wondered what it was she wanted. I left the room and went after her, Yae was there as well.

  “Something up?”

  “Sort of... Uhm... Sometimes I can hear better than usual.”

  “Huh?”

  What does she mean by that?

  “I can hear people talking from really far away sometimes... Karen said it was because of your influence...”

  “Huh, seriously?!”

  “Sakura-dono... You have awakened a Touya skill thanks to his divinity, you have. I am quite jealous, I am.”

  Yae seemed surprised by the sudden news.

  Wait, huh? A Touya skill?! Don’t go making up names!

  “Do you not know, Touya-dono? Yumina-dono also awakened such a skill, she did. With her visions.”

  “Yumina did? Oh... You mean that power she got after receiving my divine protection?”

  Those blessed by the grace of the gods ended up awakening to unique powers. Yumina manifested a form of future sight in her eyes, though it only let her see a few seconds ahead.

  Seemed like Sakura’s ears had been blessed. Given that she often sang to Sousuke’s musical accompaniment, and Suika would dance to their music as she drank. It was possible that she’d received some of their grace too.

  Yae often trained with Moroha, but so did Hilde... It was possible that their progress was slowing due to sharing a secondary source.

  “Um, well... I heard something falling in the room where the man died... It was like... fwump... so I started focusing my hearing on the room...”

  “Huh? But isn’t the room soundproofed...? Oh, wait...”

  Since their manifested powers were rooted in divinity, it made sense that regular magic wouldn’t be able to interfere with them. The fwump sound was probably the guy falling over.

  “And then... I only heard a little bit after that... But I heard latching sounds, and then a window being opened...”

  “Hold on... That’s a little odd, isn’t it?”

  “Mhm... That’s why I mentioned it...”

  What does that mean, though? Assuming he died after falling, then there shouldn’t have been any other noises. Does that mean there was another person in the room with him?

  Or maybe the poison was slow-acting, and he moved around after feeling the effects and falling down... But that doesn’t sound right. If I wanted to kill someone, I’d use a fast-acting poison.

  “Are you sure you didn’t mistake the rooms?”

  “Yes... I can use [Teleport]... I know spatial locations...”

  Oh, right. I guess I understand, since I can use [Teleport] too.

  But there were still some confusing aspects to all of this. If the culprit was using poison, then why would he bother being in the actual room? Unless of course he just wanted to watch his victim die.

  But if he wanted to do that, then he should’ve just stabbed him or something. The south spring marquis wasn’t exactly a physically able man, so it would’ve been a lot more straightforward.

  But if the culprit was in the room, then that completely threw out the idea that the prime minister was the intended target. It would mean that the south spring marquis was the guy who was supposed to die.

  “Ugh...”

  I scratched at my head and grumbled slightly, much like a certain famous hakama-wearing detective. I don’t understand this at all!

  I walked back into the crime scene, and opened up the window. The window opened to a contained courtyard full of trees. There was nobody out there.

  “The window wasn’t locked, so this is the only place a person could’ve escaped to.”

  I hopped through the window. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see any footprints. I considered the culprit could’ve leaped toward the trees, but there’s no way that could’ve been the case. There were five meters between the window and the nearest tree... I could’ve made the jump, but I couldn’t imagine many others being capable of that.

  Elze, Yae, Hilde, Homura, and the other intelligence corps members probably could, too...

  “The ground here’s soft, though. So why aren’t there any footprints?”

  So how did the culprit escape? Unless they had some kind of teleportation magic... No, the room has an enchantment preventing that. It’s possible they could’ve flown away like me, though.

  ...Wait, all of this is lining up so the perfect culprit is me! I never thought about that.

  Pff... Obviously, that won’t hold water. I have an alibi. I should stop messing around and look for clues. I looked down and noticed something below the window outside.

  “...Wood shavings?”

  There were a few two-centimeter long wood shavings. They’d probably come from the window frame.

  Just as I was pondering, Yae came running in.

  “Touya-dono! There is a problem with the east sea marquis and the west forest marquis, there is!”

  I hurried after Yae to the meeting room and found the two people sta
ring each other down.

  Prime Minister Schwein wasn’t around, neither was Ganossa. But the north mountain marquis was there, standing off to the side with crossed arms.

  “I won’t tolerate these accusations! Why would we want him dead?!”

  “The culprit targeted the prime minister, not the south spring marquis. He ended up dying in our prime minister’s stead due to the last-minute room change. Now tell me, who was it that considered the prime minister to be a thorn in their sides, hm? Who?!”

  “Why would we kill him?! That’s utterly barbaric!”

  “Well, perhaps you wouldn’t have opted to, but what about the others on your side?”

  The north mountain marquis unfolded his arms in response to those words, glaring over at the east sea marquis.

  “...Well now. Are you perhaps referring to myself?”

  “I know your type, old friend. You’re the kind who’ll take any method at hand if it benefits him.”

  “Well, you’re not entirely wrong. My northern mountains bordered Yulong, so I’ve always had to act as harshly as possible, lest I risk my own life. Anyone would be hardened by living so close to foreign danger, though I must thank the grand duke of Brunhild for dismantling Yulong for me.”

  The north mountain marquis grinned in my direction. It seemed like he misunderstood my intentions in dealing with Yulong.

  “I didn’t dismantle Yulong or anything, alright? They had a few chances to rebuild, but they were too rotten from within. It’s not like I had an active hand, I just left them to their own devices and they died on their own.”

  “...Did you not destroy their capital city, Grand Duke?” The east sea marquis probed at me with another misunderstanding.

  “The Phrase did that, not me. The people of Yulong have been making outlandish claims like I destroyed them, or that I brought the crystal invasion to them... but that’s all nonsense. If I hadn’t intervened, then every last man, woman, and child in Yulong would be dead right now. There wouldn’t have even been a country left to collapse.”

  “...I see. So really the people of Yulong owe you a debt of gratitude. Is that what you’re saying? I can’t say I’m surprised by this knowledge, Grand Duke. You’re truly a commendable man.”

  The east sea marquis smiled and brought his hands together.

  Hrm... That felt a little backhanded... He didn’t seem this rude when he was showing us into the area earlier on. Did he maybe have family in Yulong or something?

  “Well, Grand Duke. Have you perhaps figured out the culprit already?”

  “No, I haven’t... Right now, we can’t even rule out that it was a suicide.”

  C’mon, man... Don’t raise your expectations that high. We still don’t have enough to go off.

  The east sea marquis cleaned off his glasses before turning to glare at the west forest marquis once more.

  “This may seem disrespectful to his memory, but it is better that the south spring marquis died than the prime minister. Even with Prince Kuoh on our side, if the prime minister was dead, we’d have lost our cause in an instant...”

  “So you’ll continue to assume we’re to blame?”

  “I’m not explicitly implicating you, of course. There may be others on your side that did this without telling you.”

  The two were about to start another glaring match when Prime Minister Schwein came back into the room, along with Ganossa.

  “We’ve just got done explaining the situation to the south spring marquis’ men. Apologies, but we’ll have everyone stay in the castle until this is dealt with. Your rooms have been arranged.”

  “Lord Ganossa, is this okay?”

  After the prime minister finished talking, the north mountain marquis turned to his leader for reassurance. The royal castle was considered home turf for the prime minister’s group, so it was natural for them to be concerned.

  “It’s quite fine, we have nothing to hide. I’m certain this’ll be dealt with promptly.”

  Ganossa answered casually. He was either completely innocent or completely confident there was no evidence to his crime.

  We honestly didn’t have anything to go off. It was possible that nobody here was involved at all, and it was some kind of separate plot done without permission.

  “Well then, we’ll show you to your quarters. I apologize for this mess, King Felsen. We’ll have guards take you to your room posthaste.”

  “Ah, before that... I’d like to have your attention for a moment.”

  Her Holiness the Ramissh Pope raised her hand. I wondered what she was doing.

  “With god as your witness, you must swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Were you responsible for the death of the south spring marquis, either directly or indirectly? Can you in good conscience say that you had no involvement in the man’s death?” Everyone answered the same, that they were in no way related to his death.

  The prime minister left the room, followed by the king’s brother and the marquis. After a short time, some soldiers came along to take us over to the royal guest room.

  I looked up at the ceiling and saw the dragon engraving again, which meant it had the same enchantments. I thought it was better to be safe than sorry.

  “[Silence].”

  I cast a secondary layer of soundproofing magic over the room, just in case. That would mean there was no chance of anyone outside learning about this. If someone was hiding in the room they’d still be able to hear it, but I couldn’t sense anyone else.

  I turned to the pope.

  “So, what are your findings? Did your mystic eye detect a liar?”

  “It did, yes. One person told a lie in response to the question.”

  The question’s terms had been so specific that anyone lying was involved with the murder of the south spring marquis.

  “Who was the liar, who was it?”

  Yae asked the pope, and the older woman turned to answer.

  “The liar was none other than East Sea Marquis Tauren Hanoi.”

  ◇ ◇ ◇

  “This is a poison called yuloneifred, you see. It is synthesized from the yuloneisha plant... A rather potent one, you see. It resonates with a person’s internal mana source after making contact with the mouth and utterly annihilates the internal organs, you see.”

  Flora had come by from the research laboratory and gave us her analysis of the poison.

  “And that plant you mentioned...”

  “It mostly grows in the mountains of north Yulong... You can rarely find it in Xenoahs, though...”

  Sakura answered instead of Flora. She was certainly more knowledgeable than I’d have expected.

  “The poison has been used in Xenoahs before... It’s a really nasty way to kill people, so it’s usually used to send a message...”

  That made sense. Sakura was the overlord’s daughter, so she’d have probably been informed of those kinds of risks. Still, given that the plant was mostly found in Yulong, I had definite reason to believe that those bastards were at it again.

  “Could the east sea marquis be an agent of Yulong, could he?”

  “It’s more likely he hired Yulongese assassins, I think.”

  Even if he was a scumbag, he was still one of the Four Grand Marquis of Horn. It wasn’t likely he’d be working on behalf of Yulong... If anything, he’d be the one using them.

  “Master. From the report I ran on the body, there’s something else. There were heavy traces of sleeping medication in his bloodstream, you see. It seems like he was put to sleep first before being made to ingest the poison, you see.”

  “What?”

  Why would they go to the trouble of doing that? As far as I get it, the sequence of events was like... The meeting ended, the south spring marquis asked to be put in the new room, he then fell asleep, he was poisoned after falling asleep... And then he died. But that means someone would’ve been in his room to administer the poison after putting him to sleep.

  Was the culprit hidi
ng in the closet and waiting for him to come back from the meeting? But that wouldn’t make much sense...

  Oh, maybe... Maybe he was waiting in the closet for the prime minister, but found the south spring marquis instead. So he put him to sleep, but killed him afterward because his face had been seen... Or something?

  “...I’m lost here.”

  This makes no sense. It’d be less convoluted just to use a knife. Why poison? Is it a calling card, maybe?

  “The culprit is already determined as the east sea marquis, it is. We should simply have him confess, we should.”

  “That sounds like something out of a bad police mystery drama.”

  “I do not know what you mean, I do not.”

  I sighed quietly at Yae’s puzzled expression. Obviously she wouldn’t know, but more importantly, I didn’t know anything about this case. The fastest way probably would be just to interrogate the guy...

  But that method had its own slew of issues, too. We didn’t have much diplomatic clout with Horn, so suddenly accusing one of their top seats of government would be brash of us.

  If we had permission from the leader of the country it’d be one thing, but this country didn’t technically have a leader right now.

  Not to mention the fact that the pope’s mystic eye wasn’t conclusive evidence either. I certainly knew she wouldn’t make anything up, but that didn’t make it admissible proof.

  Ultimately, we needed to find hard proof. I left the room and saw the king of Felsen walking down the hall.

  “Ah, Grand Duke. There you are. I just got done speaking with Ganossa and the prime minister. We’ll be talking more about succession rights tomorrow, so we’re staying here tonight. What about you?”

  He was basically asking if I was going to use my magic to warp home. It was tempting, but I didn’t want to run the risk of something happening while I was away. Even though we had alibis and no real motives, the girls and I were technically suspects as well... So we’d need to stick around.

  “Where are the other marquis at?”

  “They all have private homes in the capital, but obviously we won’t let them go back. They’ll all be staying here tonight as well... And we’ll be keeping a close watch on that east sea marquis.”