After that, they all decided to go their separate ways.
　Well, the guys who broke up first too, but we would each have our own things we wanted to do.
　Me and Lolibabaa were going to ask Tine to get us a new room and discuss our future plans there.

　As soon as we entered the room, the Lolita hag opened her mouth.

''I'm thinking.......isn't that girl Anna the real culprit for killing Ruafois?''
Hmm?　What makes you think that?
'Because if her testimony was all lies, it would be easy to tell. Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that Anna, who had met up with Ruaphuis as she was checking the room, used her magic on the spur of the moment?

　I can see that reasoning, though.

'And if so, how does that mean the crime was committed?　The blood was on the inside of the door, too, you know?
That's easy. Like this, after you open the door and release the vacuum blade magic inside the room, then close the door.

　I nodded back at the loli hag, mingling gestures.

'Well, yes. If the culprit was an ordinary sorcerer, as a M.O., it would probably be something like that.
Oh, I knew it!

　The lolly hag's eyes sparkled.
　Maybe it's because he's not familiar with magic, or maybe it's because he's still in the hypothetical stage, but the British Dandy hadn't mentioned the possibility of such a simple trick... but of course her husband would have noticed it.
　He exercised his magic from outside the room and closed the door immediately afterwards.
　The mystery of the bloodstains and the shit out of it, an uninteresting conclusion.

''But you know, the chances of that girl being the culprit are almost nil at the moment.
Mm, why is that?

　I wonder what this loli hag is.
　I think she's on the right track when it comes to awareness and inspiration.
　But I think she's lacking in some aspects. Well, that's one thing I can't hate about her.

Because her purpose was to meet the wise man.
Hmm?

　I decided to explain to the loli hag, who didn't seem to get my answer either, in a way that was easy to understand.

'Well. First of all, what do you think she would do if she ran into a fatty?
''That is, of course, if a sorcerer as obviously evil as that one appeared, even if he used offensive magic in self-defense, self-defense would be acceptable!

　I chuckled at the subjective, or rather personal, interpretation of the old lady's lollygagging, and continued with the analogy.

'She was going around the room to meet the wise man. If a sorcerer you'd never met before came out of a room to answer, you'd check to see if they were a sage, right?
'No, I don't ... I don't want to think about it, but I don't think you'd mistake Rufois for a wise man!
Yes. Do you think she's going to kill a wise man she's just met?　Though I'm sure the misunderstandings would be cleared up quickly if he talked. But if he was attacked by a fatty or something, there's no motive to kill him, I guess. Besides, from the way the flesh and blood splattered, the fat man should have been in the middle of the room. If he was killed the moment he went out to respond, then the most blood would be near the entrance... and I don't think the blood would have reached the back of the room.

　There's something else I can't explain.
　If Anna is the culprit, she's doing too many unnecessary things.
　Screaming and uncovering the incident, or lying about the key, etc.
　Unless there are some special circumstances, it's all just to increase the risk.
　It's like claiming that you are the culprit.

'Of course, it might be a different story if her story was all a lie from the beginning and her real goal was to assassinate a wise man. And furthermore, 'You were the wise man?' The fat man who was asked, 'How dare you! In response. If this is the case, well, it's an unfortunate accident. We don't have any evidence at this point, and you're talking about imagining things, right?

　In that case, the truth of the case would be this.
　The kingdom was disturbed by the wise man and sent him a letter under the guise of borrowing his wisdom, and obtained a protective amulet.
　He dispatched the assassin who gave him the amulet, that is, Anna, to assassinate the wise man.
　As a result of believing Rufois's words and actions and mistaking him for a wise man, he killed him.

'But if she was planning to assassinate the wise man, I'm sure she wouldn't scream like that and leave as soon as possible.
Mmmm.....

　The loli hag snorted in frustration, as if she was starting to think it was strange indeed.

'Well, I won't deny that the girl is quite suspicious, either.

　No matter what kind of other world you live in, it's normal for sorcerers to have secrets.
　It would be more foolish to think that they are telling everything stupidly and honestly.

''Uh-huh. If that's the case, what will we do from now on?

　I further berate the loli hag for saying something pathetic.

'It's not going to happen. If you want the wise man's legacy, you'll have to look for clues.
A clue, of course. You still haven't even explained how the title of wise man and his inheritance are to be given away?

　I shrugged my shoulders at the loli hag, who shrugged in frustration at what I was supposed to do.

I don't know what you're talking about. It's out there. There are things we need to look for and clues that we haven't found yet.
What's that?
The fat squire and the invitation for him. That body is for one person. We were able to identify the fat one from the fabric of the clothes that were cut off, so that means the squire wasn't dead in that room. And there wasn't even a piece of paper cut into pieces. Now that we've got the information that each candidate has a different guide, shouldn't we be looking for it?　If he was killed looking for the wise man's inheritance, then there's a good chance that he was the closest thing to an inheritance. In the first place, why was that fatty checking out the guest room that was supposed to be used by you?　Wouldn't it be natural to assume that there was some kind of prior information that no one else knew about?
I see!

　The loli hag is convinced, but that was just a list of rather random thoughts on the spot.
　Since it's becoming doubtful that the sage is even really dead, it's highly likely that there is no such thing as a sage's legacy in the first place.
　If that's the case, the only way to fulfill my pledge would be for the Lolita hag to say, 'So this was the legacy of the Sage! You need to be convinced that you are a good person. Or we can make him break his pledge by proving to the fullest extent that there was no legacy of the wise man.
　At any rate, we can't do anything about it unless we get this old lolly hag to take an active role.

'Oh well. Anyway, let's get moving. It's getting late and we can go to the common room and get dinner. The other candidates may be there.
''Is that so? In this situation, it's standard practice to fortify the protection of your own room and deal with the food only with what you bring in as a precaution against poison...
You see. In the other world where you encounter this kind of situation, it's a given that the first to die is the one who caged the castle. As long as I'm by your side, you're safe!　Look, it's moving, it's moving.
"What the hell do you mean by that?　Yeah, okay, okay, you got it!



　I hurried the lolly hag and headed for the common room.
　Sure enough, there were a couple of visitors ahead of me.

'Oh, what a surprise.'
Oh. That's some nerve. I thought you'd be holed up in your room, but...

　A witch and a handsome sorcerer. It seems that the rest of them have not come. In response to the sarcastic remarks, the loli hag who had insisted on a siege a while ago makes an embarrassed face.

What about those ants?
Phew, it's not worth your concern.
'Giggle...'

　Neither of them responded to my challenge.

I wonder what's wrong with you boys?

　The witch who called me a monk smiles charmingly at me.
　If I'm going to be summoned, I'd rather be here. I'm a bit old, though.

Of course, of course I'm here for the same reason you are.
What?　I don't know what you're talking about.
'That's what you mean when you're willing to risk it all the way out of the room, isn't it?'

　While I have a certain amount of anticipation, I'll be asking for a reaction while playing a pretty random trick.
　It's hard to deal with this kind of sorcerer without using any kind of cheat.
　However, if you don't develop your intuition like this once in a while, you'll have a hard time when you're really in trouble. It's important to take a lot of chances when crossing the other world.
　I don't care what you think, but what about the loli hag behind you being the most cringeworthy?

''Well, it's fine, isn't it?''
Hmm, well, three is better than two, I suppose.

　The witch and the handsome sorcerer nodded to each other as if they had indicated.

'What the hell are you talking about?'
Are you really a magician?　It's a guide, a guide.
'Oh, by the way, we were talking about that earlier!

　I wonder if it's really all right.
　I'm starting to worry about other people.

''Then I guess we're going to table them all together on the table like we did before?
I'll be fine.
I love it.

　Sure enough, these two have already exchanged information about each other, apparently.
　Lolibaba's has long since been borrowed, so as soon as the signal is given, they table it on the table.

　On each of the invitation letters, it said this.

'Attention all candidates. For the heritage of the wise, come to our forest. To the most deserving of all those gathered here.
"To the candidates, I say to all. If you want the title of "Wise Man," come to my forest, if you really think you are worthy of the title. If you truly believe you are worthy to inherit it.
"To all the candidates. If you want the inheritance of a wise man, come to my forest. The most worthy will receive the title of wise man.

　Hmm, I knew it.

Wow, you guys are pretty wordy.

　The witch laughs matter-of-factly.

'Mmmm, certainly not... but I mean, what does that mean?'
It's that simple.

　The handsome sorcerer explains, sighing at the snarling lolly hag.

'Her guide mentions her heritage, but does not mention the inheritance of the title. In my case, it's the other way around. There is mention of titles, but no mention of inheritance. But whatever you got seems to have both. Perhaps emphasizing the items of greatest interest to the candidates.

　That's right.
　Well, this area was generally what I expected, so I'm not particularly surprised.

'Mmm, isn't that a given?　For it is a letter to gather those who deserve it, whether it is a wise man's title or a legacy!

　The loli hag with no breasts as she remembered her pride at being chosen as a candidate.

'Oh dear...'
"Hmm, you can look at all these statements and still see them. That's a rare occurrence.

　The witch seemed to be smiling at such a situation. On the other hand, the handsome sorcerer looked at him abominably.

''What?　What do you mean?
So-so. You don't have to worry about that.

　Deciding that it would only complicate the conversation if I was noticed at this point, I quickly dropped the subject.

''Do you guys have any idea what's going on?''
I'm afraid not.
'I'm sorry, but I'm not very interested in that either.
Yeah. Thanks but let's get something to eat.
Oh, hey!　Is that enough?
Yeah, that's it.

　We have enough information that we were hoping for.
　To be frank, we can ask about the contents of the fatty's guide, and the squire will probably be found as a corpse in due course.
　If possible, it would be me who would investigate and discover it........or rather, the desirable development would be to become a loli hag.
　If I don't do it by guiding my thoughts well, the next person to die will be the Lolita hag.
　And because I've figured out that trick, the witch and the handsome sorcerer are probably relaxing like this even after they've finished exchanging information.

　To be honest, I still don't know the killer's motive.
　In the first place, I don't even know if there's anything we can call a criminal.
　But it's good to get rid of the rut once in a while with a low profile like this.
　It's not often you get to enjoy a mystery-type atmosphere in the different world I travel in.