Magician in Type-Moon

Page 655

"The site shall remain as it is, and no one shall set foot on or touch anything without my permission."

She added, then looked at Matou Ike and Arcueid, “You two, come with me. Before we begin the ‘investigation,’ we need to have a proper ‘talk’—and perhaps, by the way, fulfill your little request for scones, Mr. Matou.”

With different thoughts in mind, everyone silently left the blood-stained guest room.

Matou Ike and Arcueid exchanged a glance and followed Inolai's steps. A bizarre investigation, personally supervised by the monarch and led by the "suspect," is about to unfold in this enigmatic Twin Tower.

As a result, only three people remained in the Golden Princess's luxurious room, which had become a bloody prison: Matou Ike, Arcueid, and Inole Valeretta.

After all, Lady Balyeleta had spoken, and her absolute authority was like an invisible decree.

None of the other magicians dared to object; even the heartbroken Lord Baron, the enigmatic Setra, or the curious neutrals could only leave quickly.

This stage, interwoven with sorrow and intrigue, is left to the monarch of the clock tower and the two special figures she "monitors".

As everyone left, the tension in the room, built up from the standoff, seemed to ease slightly, but a more substantial sense of tension instantly returned—

That was the impact of the senses, which had been almost numbed by adrenaline and scheming until just now, being awakened again.

The stench of blood clinging to the room, no longer diluted by human presence, became so intense it was nauseating. It was no longer an abstract "smell," but a substance with weight and viscosity, stubbornly adhering to the depths of the nasal cavity and even the skin.

Even before touching anything, the strong, cloying, and stale metallic smell, reminiscent of decay, filled one's mouth and stomach with an extremely uncomfortable metallic sensation, triggering physiological aversion and mild dizziness.

Inola seemed completely unaffected by the harsh environment; she even produced a new glass of wine from somewhere and gently swirled it.

Her eyes, burning with an ashes-like light, fell on Matou Ike, cutting straight to the point:

“So,” her voice was particularly clear in the silence, “where do you intend to begin your 'investigation'?”

Her tone was flat, making it impossible to tell whether it was sarcasm or a genuine inquiry.

Matou Ike's gaze had already begun to calmly scan the entire room, from the ceiling to the floor, from the arrangement of the furniture to the pattern of the bloodstains.

Hearing the question, he shrugged and answered just as directly:

"If possible, I'd like to start with 'room layout' and 'corpse'."

He made no attempt to refer to the Golden Princess's remains as a "corpse," speaking with the calmness of someone discussing a prop.

This is the most basic and also the most essential step.

“I see.” Inole’s reaction was unexpectedly calm. “Do as you please.” She gestured with her chin toward the bed, indicating that he should do as he pleased.

She neither mocked the absurdity of him, the suspect, investigating the scene himself, nor refuted his concerns that he might destroy evidence.

This completely laissez-faire, even cooperative, attitude actually makes people feel very uncomfortable.

This doesn't look like a monarch monitoring a major suspect; it's more like an experienced tutor observing a student's practical assignment.

What was her purpose? Did she genuinely want to use him to uncover the truth? Or did she want to observe his every move and glean other secrets? Or was it all just a "casual" pastime for her?

Regardless, despite being at the center of suspicion and being personally "monitored" by a monarch, Matou Ike cautiously began to explore the room. His movements were calm and methodical, his gaze sharp as a scanner, not missing a single detail.

"..." He silently looked around, his brain working at high speed like a sophisticated instrument, recording and analyzing everything.

The room was quite spacious, equivalent to a regular coffee shop, which was quite large for a princess's residence.

The bed with its canopy, the small table with the jellyfish-shaped lamp emitting an eerie biological glow, and the several paintings hanging on the wall that seemed to belong to the Impressionist style, with hazy brushstrokes yet subtly exuding magical energy.

There is also a very simple cherry wood bookcase, and the books inside, judging from their titles, should be beginner-level magic books, with basic content and not some profound secret manuals.

Each item, when viewed individually, is a luxury item befitting the name "Golden Princess," of extremely high quality. Matou Ike calmly assessed it, but in terms of variety and quantity, there was a feeling that... only the "minimum" required had been collected.

Lacking strong traces of personal preferences, it is more like a meticulously arranged, clearly defined "showroom" or "safe house" than a private space full of life.

His gaze shifted to the entrance. Inside, there was a door they had broken into, and a huge floor-to-ceiling window facing the lake.

The windows were locked from the inside, showing no signs of forced entry. Although there was a skylight in the ceiling for natural light, it was too narrow for a human to pass through.

If one were to insist on including the skylight in the infiltration route, he sneered inwardly, thinking it would be more practical to directly consider what kind of 'magic' could allow someone to pass through the wall.

This further emphasizes the unusual nature of the "locked room".

Next, the crucial corpse...

Matouchi's gaze inevitably and completely fell upon the crimson center. Even with his composure and extensive experience, upon closer examination, he still felt a physical discomfort and a tremendous intellectual shock.

"...This is such a 'thorough' division." He couldn't help but mutter to himself again.

The state of the completely dismembered body was far more horrifying than it appeared at first glance.

The torso and limbs were cut and separated with unusual 'neatness,' as if they were not destroyed by violence, but dissected by some extremely precise and cold instrument or concept.

The cross-section is extremely clean, and you can even clearly see the cross-sections of bones, muscles, and blood vessels. It is so smooth that it makes people stare wide-eyed and incredulous.

This wound could not have been caused by an ordinary blade or magic; it contained something far more bizarre and absolute.

He carefully examined the area around the bed and the posture of the corpse, but found no signs of struggle or resistance.

There were no signs of scratching, no disheveled sheets, and even the various parts of the body remained in relatively natural positions.

Judging from the unusually smooth cross-section, the victim probably didn't have time to react at all, and may have been killed before even realizing what was happening.

Matou Ike lifted his gaze from the unusually smooth, chilling cross-section of the corpse, his brows furrowing slightly.

"but……"

He pondered for a moment, his voice sounding particularly clear in the blood-smelling air.

"The body was dismembered so 'thoroughly' and the method so... 'clean' that it's hard to even determine the type of murder weapon."

He pointed out a key contradiction: the more extreme the methods, the more often they erase the most direct clues.

Ultimately, when 'magic' itself is included within the concept of a murder weapon, almost 'all' causes of death become possible.

He calmly continued his analysis, explaining that magic offered too many methods of killing that transcended the common sense of physics, whether it was spatial cutting, conceptual decomposition, life extraction, or forced spiritualization.

As he pointed out earlier, just as the physical form of the 'locked room' does not pose an absolute obstacle for a magician, the specific form and concept of the 'murder weapon' are 'almost meaningless' in this environment.

What's important is the "principles" and "techniques" behind it.

It was based on this understanding that his thinking made a crucial leap:

“…In that case,” he said slowly, his gaze becoming increasingly sharp, “then the act of ‘why the locked room was formed’ itself becomes an important clue.”

“I see.” Inore, who had been observing quietly, nodded. A hint of understanding flashed in her burning eyes, and she had clearly grasped the core of Matou Ike’s logic.

She stated the next line of reasoning for him:

"In other words, you believe that this 'locked room' situation is not the core trick meticulously designed by the murderer to prove that 'the crime is impossible,' but rather more likely..."

Was it accomplished "by chance"? Or was it a side effect, or perhaps even unintentional, "result," after the crime?

“Yes,” Matou Ike agreed. His thinking was very clear:

"The carefully designed 'locked room' in detective novels and other works is mainly used to 'eliminate' clues pointing to the murderer or to create a sense of impossibility."

He explained, “Because it tries to convey the logic: ‘Theoretically, no one can kill someone from here, so you can’t catch the murderer’—this should include this silent, provocative assertion.”

“However,” he changed the subject, his tone laced with cold sarcasm.

“Since all the suspects present are essentially ‘magicians,’ the claim of ‘impossibility’ based on ordinary people’s logic is meaningless and even redundant.”

From a magician's perspective, killing someone by walking through walls or retrieving objects from a distance is not a miracle, but rather a technical issue that can be explored.

If the murderer was also a magician, yet deliberately created a physical locked room that would be easily seen through by his peers, this behavior itself is highly contradictory and suspicious.

The "locked room" has transformed from a puzzle of "how to do it" into a clue that focuses more on psychological and tactical motivations of "why do it".

Chapter 680 Details (4k)

Matouchi's mind raced on the possibility of a "locked room".

Ultimately, for magicians, the "secret room" can be created indefinitely.

He calmly analyzed: There are various kinds of curses that can be manipulated from a distance, and their principles are completely different.

For example, it is not difficult to use water elements to precisely manipulate the blood in a victim's brain, causing cerebral infarction; or to leave too much fire element near the heart, causing severe myocardial infarction.

These can all create the illusion of an "internal disease".

Of course, in this example, the other party also possesses extremely high magical skills and defense mechanisms. He immediately corrected himself, so this kind of simple curse will not be as easy to take effect as the example I just gave, and the success rate is very low.

However, this still shows that the concept of a "locked room" has long since strayed from its original meaning of "absolutely impossible crime" in ordinary detective novels.

In that case, a traditional detective, thinking based on the laws of physics, would probably deduce that this 'locked room' is more likely a 'coincidence'.

He concluded that it wasn't a deliberate, meticulously planned core trick by the killer, but rather that the "locked room" situation likely arose "by chance" during or after the crime.

This 'coincidence' might actually connect to the killer's modus operandi, habits, or some unconscious behavioral pattern, becoming a crucial clue—

However, his reasoning was interrupted by another abrupt discovery that seemed out of place at the bloody scene.

Because when he examined the room layout, he didn't see any of the items that women, especially those who care about their appearance, would almost always have in their rooms.

He subconsciously whispered:

"...Why...is there no mirror?"

Neither on the dressing table nor on the walls were there any mirrors that could reflect an image. This seemed extremely unnatural in a young girl's room that pursued "ultimate beauty."

Hearing my whisper, Inola took a sip of her wine and said in a languid tone, as if she had seen through the world:

"At this point... she probably doesn't even want to see her own face anymore, right?"

Matou Ike frowned slightly and raised a reasonable question:

"Generally speaking, wouldn't someone who is so stunningly beautiful become extremely narcissistic and obsessed with their own reflection?"

This is not something to be condemned; it's simply human nature.

The same applies to art. When beauty is explored to the point of perfection, like that of the Golden Princess, it is impossible for people to get tired of it.

He thought to himself that people who longed to see that face for the rest of their lives until they died would probably form a long line in the blink of an eye.

Some fanatical believers might even call that procession the stairway to heaven—

Or perhaps it's the thirteen steps leading to the execution platform.

A chilling thought quietly crept in.

Upon hearing this, Inole let out a low, hoarse laugh:

"Haha, I understand your theory, young man. But perhaps this is precisely the arrogance that comes with being 'young'."

Her tone carried a mocking air of someone who had experienced the vicissitudes of life.