My Reincarnation Skills Are “Playing With Dolls” and “Playing With Clay”, but What Am I Supposed to Do With These? C98

Chapter 98: Detective Shiro's case file?

"Why did you kill your friend?"

The female elf's eyes narrowed at my question.

"...What on earth?"

"..."

"..."

This is definitely true. And of course I have no intention of admitting it.

How is murder judged in this world?

(If a slave kills his master, he will definitely be executed. However, even in countries with a court system, it is not as strict as in your world.)

I agree with Lina's answer.

That's right, since it's a world with magic in the first place, it's easy to commit crimes without leaving any evidence behind, as we ourselves realized by rescuing Nolte. It is not easy to gather evidence other than the person's own confession. In the first place, I have no reason to name the culprits for those barons.

"Let me say this first, but I'm not on the side of justice, and I don't want to judge anyone. I just want to know the truth. Many people died right next to me. If you don't understand that, there's no guarantee that you won't face the same problem, right?"

“So, aren’t you saying that you were caught up in the collapse that occurred during the purification of the master of the hierarchy?In the first place, I can’t hurt the master due to my oath, so why would you do such an impossible thing?”

The female elf answered in a polite tone, her expression disappearing again. Nolte looked worried and came back to where we were arguing.

“Then who put the word “tranquility” on you?”

"..."

Lucien seemed to sense that my question was a sensitive one, so he didn't answer.

"There were some high-level magicians in your party. Even if a landslide occurred, if you hadn't applied tranquility, you might have been able to stop it with earth magic and escape using teleportation, right?"

"Do you have any proof that I did it?"

It seems he has decided to refute my conclusion.

"If not you, then who? The only people who could exist inside the worm's shell were your party and the owner of the floor, right?"

"...The owner of the floor was Ogre Lord."

Are you saying that the monster chanted tranquility? That was a possibility. However, once you decide to object, the situation is at a dead end.

"Did the monster cast tranquility? That may have been the case. But if you defeat the monster, the effect of that spell will be removed, right? We have experience with it, too."

The reason Lina's spells couldn't be used and my clay skills and alchemy worked was because "Serenity" was still in effect.

However, if we hadn't defeated the master of the floor and applied "purification" in the first place, the collapse wouldn't have happened, and we wouldn't have been able to enter here because of the barrier. In other words, this tranquility was applied after the floor master was defeated.

It seems that Lucien also realized his mistake.

"There was another Lord in your party. However, even if that baron placed tranquility on him after defeating the master of the floor, his life reactions have already disappeared, so tranquility has been lifted. It's supposed to be..."

Finally, the raw expression returned to the female elf's face. It's a dark negative emotion.

"In other words, you are the only one who has been given this tranquility. And that was after defeating the master of the floor, and also after applying purification. If that's the case, then the goal can't be to fight monsters, right?"

Wait, Lucien has the "Discrimination (Beginner)" skill. Therefore, you should only be able to see that I am an "Alchemist (LV10)". You'd think we'd be a low-level party, all below level 10.

Then, what you should do when you finally feel cornered is...bad!

"Wait please!"

I failed. I just wanted to know, I didn't mean to judge you. This was caused by my poor communication skills.

So, the moment Lucien suddenly disappeared, I regretted the way I had told the story.

Then, a short while later, along with the sound of a person falling down, Lucien reappeared, having been grabbed by Carmilla's leg and pulled down.

About 10 steps towards the exit, the wolf girl was riding on her back and thrusting a dagger into her neck.

Lucien's level is much higher.

However, the unique abilities of a werewolf surpass them in terms of concealment, the sense of seeing through it, speed, and fighting ability. That's why I instructed Carmilla to prepare using Lina's long-distance speech. I'm glad I had insurance.

"Don't kill me, Carmilla. That elf didn't mean to kill us either. That's why she tried to run away from me instead of coming at me."

Yes, I thought there was a possibility that they might try to kill me or take me hostage. But even though Lucien knew that we might be dangerous witnesses, he didn't choose it. If that's the case, maybe there's room for discussion.

"Master, I'm telling you...killing a master is the most serious crime."

Nolte opened his mouth feeling heavy.

“I know what you want to say, but Lina, what should I do?”

 What should I do? I had been told before that I shouldn't ask questions that would force me to make a choice, but Lina answered me this time. That too in real voice. She seems to be trying to get Lucien to hear it too.

"First of all, if a slave kills his master, he will definitely be sentenced to death if he hands him over to the soldiers at the detention center. If that is ambiguous, then it means that the party died in an accident in the labyrinth and one slave was lucky to survive."

"How will it be handled in that case?"

"If the master has registered a will, it is valid; if not, a slave who lost his master becomes the property of the state and is either used for public service or auctioned off.However, if Shiro rescues him, then it is a kind of found property. He may be recognized as the new owner.Either way, in this case, we need to go through the process of reporting the details to the police office.''

“What if we let it get away?”

Lucien, huh? He made a face like that.

"A circular will be sent to you as a fugitive slave. When you enter the labyrinth, you must have paid a silver coin to register, so if only one body is found, you will be recognized as a fugitive. If I were to report that I had lost my body, it would be treated as national property, but...''

"That's why you asked me to build a wall here instead of over there."

Not only Lucien but also Nolte seemed surprised.

"If we build a wall here and pull it up, the place where the party's bodies are buried is deeper than that, so the monsters on the third floor will ravage it. If we do that, we won't know exactly how many bodies there were. In other words, even if you run away, you won't be searched.''

It seems that the female elf has finally come to terms with it.

"Kill me, bring me to the government, do whatever you want. I made a mistake, so I'm prepared."

　I guess your tone is simple.

"...Master, I heard that slaves who kill their masters are subjected to severe torture as a demonstration before being executed."

What Nolte is trying to say is that it would be pitiful to hand him over to the detention center as a criminal.

But while I was wondering about the answer, I felt the presence of men running towards me.

"Are you okay"

It was a mixed-gender party led by Demos, a high-level knight. From what I heard, they had captured the second floor of the left route, but when they were chasing a group of orcs that had escaped into a side hole, they came across this side. It seems that the orc we faced was chased by Demos and the others.

For now, I just told them what I could confirm: ``The baron's party seemed to have been caught up in the collapse, and when we went to rescue them, there was only one female elf alive.''

During Demos' interview, Lucien repeated the same explanation he gave me, ``It was just an accident,'' but Demos, who was unaware of the situation, didn't seem to have any particular doubts. Well, I'll think about the rest before I leave the labyrinth.

Then, with the help of Demos' party, we dug up the four bodies and brought them to the first floor.

"Shiro, what are you guys going to do? Carrying the body will be difficult."

"No, we'll load it up, so I think we can manage on our own."

Using his clay skills, he creates a cart that looks like a slightly larger version of the self-driving car he uses to travel to and from the royal capital. The demos are taken aback.

We piled up the bodies, moved them using our skills, and decided to walk with Lucien. I don't feel comfortable sharing a table with a dead body.

"Demos, if you want to conquer this point, I'll break the seal, okay?"

"Are you okay?"

"Ah, we'll be back today. Maybe they'll ask us to testify about where the body was, but..."

Yes, when digging up the bodies, a magic stone that seemed to belong to the floor master was found near the lizardman slave, and the baron who had a purification spell and the adventurers in his aide were buried quite far away from there. This was also unnatural if the baron had attempted to purify it and the collapse had occurred.

"I don't mind that. Well, I'm sorry, but I'd like you to let me go first."

All of the Demos are already at LV12 or above, so it will be fine for them to stand at the head of the third floor. I decided to absorb the clay wall and turn back.

"Shiro, I'll unlock the door."

A scout from Demos's party points to the treasure chest that Carmilla found. it was. I was thinking of letting Haniwa Golem come out and step on it, but I think it would be better to open it smartly.

Some gold dust and something that looked like a pill came out from inside. When I did the appraisal, it came out as <HP recovery medicine>. In short, it's "healing". I don't really appreciate it because it can be done with a spell.

“Speaking of which, what will the contents of this treasure box be like?”

I asked Demos. It wasn't us who defeated the master of this floor, but Lucien and his party of barons.

"Because the only survivors of the party are slaves. Will it belong to the baron's family, or will it go to the national treasury? Ask the staff about that."

Is that so?

I stuffed the things I got from the treasure chest into the leather bag that I usually put Lina in, and parted ways with Demos and the others as they proceeded to the third floor.

Even though I'm on my way back, there are many monsters in this labyrinth, so I can't let my guard down. Of course, Lucien can't let his guard down either. However, now that Demos and others have confirmed the number of bodies, even if Lucien escapes, he will become a wanted man as a fugitive slave.

Therefore, the risk of him escaping is probably low, but just in case, I tie his hands behind his back with leather straps and have Lina and Nolte lead him around. With Carmilla in the lead, I walked behind while keeping the cart moving slowly. I'll be able to send out the Haniwa Golem whenever a monster appears, but until then I'll be saving my MP.

Fortunately, there were a lot of parties today, so I only encountered a vampire bat and a few rabbits on the way home. Just me and Carmilla cleaned up the mess on the way home.

On the contrary, it was annoying that I was surprised by the ceramic cart every time I passed by another party, but when I told them it was carrying a body, they all sympathized with me.

Then, I left the labyrinth and arrived at the station. When the bodies of four people arrived, the soldiers at the station and even the knights leading them rushed out.

Although I hesitated, I did not tell the interviewer that it was considered a murder case, but only reported the fact that the body was discovered and recovered, which was the same as I had told Demos and the others.

If a government official suspects something and wants to investigate, just tell them what I investigated and cooperate.

I think I'm being passive, and if you say that I ran away from the weight of condemning others, you might be right. However, why and in what circumstances did Lucien act? That's what I wanted to know.

The owner, the baron, seemed to have a bad personality, but if it were me, I would treat him so badly that Nolte and Carmilla would hate him, and if he were to get stabbed for it, I think it can't be helped. Rather, why did he let the other slaves die? Was there something wrong?

I handed over the found items, magic stones, and gold dust packed in a leather bag, and told them, ``We live in Ozark Village, so if you have any questions, feel free to come over anytime.'' They seemed relieved and were released. .

Lucien was taken into the detention center, but he didn't want to be treated so harshly.

He didn't seem to be paying attention.

Although it was still early in the afternoon, we had fought quite a few monsters and were covered in sand from recovering bodies, so we all washed our clothes and then took a bath.

After that, I took a nap until evening, I was tired both physically and mentally due to various things...

For dinner, in addition to the meat and vegetables I went shopping for, I also used the meat of the one rabbit I brought home without turning it into a magic stone. Not only Carmilla, but for some reason Nolte also recommended it to her, her face turning red, saying, ``They say it's effective in recovering from fatigue.''

However, it does seem to be effective. Why did you think that? Everyone must have been tired, and even though I wasn't in the same mental mood during the day after all that happened, I felt really energetic at night...