We were riding the vehicles called electric motorcycles toward the capital of Asrangari when Karen contacted us. I never expected him to make General Arakaya submit to him in such a short time.
When I first read the plan he had written down, I thought it would take at least half a day. But Karen was still Karen. Making an enemy of him was nothing short of asking for your own death.
After the call ended, Alice, who was sitting behind Grace, asked me,
"Mr. Jacob, has Mr. Karen already arrived in this country?"
"He has."
"That's wonderful."
Alice placed a hand over her chest and let out a sigh of relief, as though a heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders. As expected of the Saintess—even in a battle she believed Karen would certainly win, she still worried about everyone else.
Next, the girl I loved, Grace, whose wind-tousled hair somehow only made her more beautiful, asked,
"So... the general is Mr. Karen's subordinate now?"
"I think so. We can ask Karen for the details when we meet him."
Karen had ended the call immediately after saying what he wanted. He really was in a hurry.
That meant we had to hurry as well. Otherwise, we'd waste far too much valuable time.
At 11:00 a.m. on February 20th, we arrived at a city north of the capital—a city I had already planned to visit.
After recommending our soap to the local merchant guild and finalizing a contract, it happened to be lunchtime, so the four of us went to find a restaurant.
Later, while walking along a wide street, an elderly man deliberately slammed his shoulder into mine. He didn't apologize or even glance back before walking away.
"Mr. Jacob, that's outrageous! He bumped into you and didn't even apologize!"
"Exactly! Fatelis would never tolerate behavior like that."
Grace and Alice both criticized the old man.
"No. Even if he's elderly, he can't get away with that. I'm going to make him apologize."
Grace angrily started after him, but I quickly grabbed her hand.
"Forget it. We need to keep moving."
Arguing with him would only waste time, and it would probably end in a pointless fight. Besides, we were foreigners. It wasn't wise to stir up trouble in another country.
After lunch, we prepared to leave the city.
That's when we noticed a crowd gathered outside a house. Judging by the expressions on their faces, something serious had happened.
"What's going on over there?"
Curiosity got the better of Alice, and she trotted toward the crowd, trying to squeeze her way inside.
"Alice, come back! We don't have time..."
Unfortunately, she disappeared into the crowd before I could stop her.
With no choice, we squeezed through the packed crowd to find her.
Then a young woman's clear, unwavering voice rang out.
"You are the murderer."
Her words immediately caught my attention.
A murderer?
What had happened here?
The speaker was a young woman with long, straight purple hair. Even from the side, it was obvious she was beautiful, but what stood out most were her sharp eyes, as though they could see through every lie.
Who was she?
The man she was accusing, a brown-haired man around thirty years old, looked heartbroken.
"What nonsense are you talking about? I have no reason to kill my own brother!"
So it really was a murder case.
How frightening.
We should find Alice and leave this dangerous city as soon as possible.
"Where did Alice go?"
As I searched for her, I suddenly heard her voice.
"You're lying. You feel guilty and afraid."
The voice came from beside the purple-haired woman.
I looked over again. Everyone nearby was staring in the same direction.
Was Alice over there?
"Excuse me... pardon me..."
I apologized as I pushed through the crowd.
The brown-haired man pointed frantically between the purple-haired woman and Alice.
"Y-You...! You're together! If you're just here to cause trouble, then leave! The police will find whoever killed my brother!"
His voice sounded genuinely aggrieved.
Had the purple-haired woman made a mistake?
As I continued pushing through the crowd, I overheard people whispering.
"What's that blonde girl talking about? Lincoln's obviously devastated by Carl's death. How could he be faking it?"
"And that sharp-eyed student too. Everyone knows Carl and Lincoln were incredibly close. There's no way Lincoln killed his own brother."
"They're just children. What could they possibly know?"
At last, I reached the front.
Long blonde hair.
A petite frame.
As expected, it was Alice.
She turned toward us, looking furious.
"You people don't know anyth—mmph!"
I quickly covered her mouth.
"I'm terribly sorry. She doesn't mean any harm. I'll take her away immediately."
"Wait. Don't leave."
Just as I was about to pull Alice away, the purple-haired woman stopped us.
Did she need us?
Confused, I stayed where I was.
She said nothing further to us. Instead, she folded her arms and addressed the police officer who appeared to be in charge.
"Officer, would you please state the victim's cause of death again?"
"Certainly. The victim died from a drug overdose. We found three empty packets of Phinto Powder on the table in his room. He consumed every last bit."
It sounded like suicide by overdose.
Then why was she calling it murder?
And what had Lincoln meant earlier?
Was he referring to the drug dealer?
"Phinto Powder?"
Alice tilted her head.
I was unfamiliar with the drug as well. It probably hadn't been smuggled into Aimebisalon yet.
The purple-haired woman continued questioning the officer.
"Besides the Phinto Powder, what else was on the table?"
"Nothing."
Before the officer could continue, Lincoln interrupted.
"Officer, she's only a student. No matter how much she asks, she can't help. Wouldn't it be better to find the person who sold the Phinto Powder to my brother and arrest them?"
He had a point.
The long azure coat she wore bore the golden book and crimson pen crest of Fenlust School, the most prestigious school in the world.
She was still a student.
No matter how talented she might be, she wasn't a professional investigator. Naturally, people—including myself—would have trouble accepting her conclusions.
Then Alice suddenly looked at Lincoln.
"Why are you so nervous and scared?"
"Alice, stop."
She really knew how to give me a heart attack.
Why did she always blurt out things like that?
Was every Saintess like this?
The purple-haired woman then coldly addressed Lincoln.
"Stop changing the subject. If you're innocent, then stop interrupting."
Lincoln finally lost his temper.
"Hey! Watch your attitude! I'm older than you. Show some respect! And who do you think you are anyway?!"
"Christina Fenelbia."
"What...?"
Lincoln stared at her in disbelief.
She repeated herself without hesitation.
"I am Christina Fenelbia, eldest daughter of Duke Daniel Fenelbia. This is the Fenelbia family crest."
She produced a round purple medallion engraved with her family's emblem.
I didn't memorize the crests of foreign noble houses...
But the name Christina Fenelbia?
That was a name I knew all too well.
The moment Lincoln realized who she was, his face turned pale.
He immediately dropped to the ground in a full prostration.
"I-I'm terribly sorry! Please forgive my insolence! My brother's death clouded my judgment. I couldn't control my emotions. Please be merciful!"
Honestly, his reaction was understandable.
Anyone would lose their composure after the death of a loved one.
And being accused of murdering your own brother would only make matters worse.
Still...
I took back what I'd thought earlier.
If the accuser was Christina Fenelbia...
Then Lincoln truly had every reason to be considered a murder suspect.
Whispers spread through the crowd once more.
"Isn't Christina Fenelbia the prodigy they call the Child Genius... and now the Brain of God? The newspapers are always writing about her."
"She's even prettier than her portrait."
"But why is she here? It takes three days to travel here from the capital. Shouldn't she be in school?"
"When you're the Brain of God, do you even need school?"
That was true.
Christina Fenelbia had displayed extraordinary intelligence since childhood. The king himself had given her the title of Child Genius.
Now that she was seventeen, she was no longer a child, and people had begun calling her the Brain of God instead.
I knew her from newspaper articles.
She had another famous title as well—
The Genius Detective.
Using her unmatched intellect, she had helped police departments solve countless cold cases, including the Haunted Manor Case, the Five Maidens River Case, the Vanishing Carriage Case, and many others so complicated that simply reading the reports made me realize how limited my own understanding was.
Those cases hadn't even happened in this country.
Local lords from neighboring nations had invited Christina Fenelbia to investigate them.
By now, her fame had spread across the continent.
Some people even knew her name better than they knew this country's king.
Ignoring Lincoln entirely, Christina put away her crest and continued her deduction.
"Officer, the victim drank the poison mixed with water. Earlier, you stated there was nothing else on the table besides the packets. That means the victim must have poured the powder directly into his mouth. However, after ingesting Phinto Powder, the body convulses violently every two seconds. If he had swallowed the powder dry, some of it should have spilled onto the table, the floor, or at least remained around his mouth. Yet none was found."
"That's correct."
"If he consumed all three packets at once, saliva wouldn't have dissolved that much powder quickly enough. Yet when you examined his mouth earlier, it was completely clean. Therefore, the powder must have been dissolved in water first."
"S-Salivary... secretion?"
The officer looked puzzled.
Wasn't that simply saliva?
Without missing a beat, Christina replied,
"Spit."
I couldn't help feeling surprised.
Very few noblewomen would calmly say a word like that in public without the slightest embarrassment.
It showed just how little Christina cared about noble etiquette.
Then again, she had little choice.
The technical term wasn't commonly understood.
The officer nodded.
"I see. But there were only the empty packets on the table. We also found no cup on the floor."
"Exactly. That's the strange part. Lincoln, what is your magic attribute? And what was the victim's?"
"I'm water. My brother was earth."
Ever since Christina revealed her identity, Lincoln's aggressive tone had completely disappeared.
He had become remarkably polite.
He clearly understood how to protect himself.
"Then we can rule out the possibility that the victim used the beginner-level water spell, 'Water Ball,' to mix the poison himself."
She paused.
"In conclusion, this was murder."
"And the murderer is Mr. Lincoln, who lived under the same roof."
"No! I truly had no reason to kill my brother!"
Lincoln denied it again.
But I didn't believe Christina Fenelbia would accuse someone without evidence.
I bent down and quietly asked Alice, whose uncanny ability to read people's emotions had never failed.
"Is he telling the truth?"
"No."
Alice answered without hesitation.
So he was lying.
Still, one thing puzzled me.
If Christina had already solved the case, why had she asked so many questions about the crime scene?
Then the officer asked,
"Lady Fenelbia, do you have any conclusive evidence?"
"Lincoln handed the victim a cup of water mixed with Phinto Powder. Once dissolved, the poison becomes colorless and tasteless, so the victim never realized it had been poisoned. The concentration from three packets was enough to kill after a single sip."
"At the time, the victim was reading a book. As he died, he released the cup, spilling the remaining water across the table and soaking the book. Officer, please search the bookshelf for the volume that has water damage."
After presenting her deduction, she asked the police to retrieve the evidence.
The officer immediately turned to two of his subordinates.
"You two. Go find it."
"Yes, sir."
He then asked another question.
"But Lady Fenelbia... the victim was found slumped back in his chair with both arms hanging naturally. Wouldn't the cup have fallen onto the floor?"
"The body was moved after death. Lincoln returned the soaked book to the bookshelf, stored both the cup and the towel he used to wipe away the water inside his storage magic, and finally placed the three empty Phinto Powder packets on the table to stage the scene as an overdose."
Honestly, I felt Christina's deduction still left many unanswered questions.
How had she concluded that Lincoln moved the body?
Or that he had wiped away the spilled water?
Still, if the police found the water-damaged book...
That alone would prove her deduction was correct.
The officer frowned.
"But what was Lincoln's motive for murder?"
That was a sharp question.
No matter how brilliant Christina Fenelbia was...
She couldn't possibly know the personal conflict between the two brothers, could she?