When Ray went looking for a guard, fortunately a group of guards was on their way to Ray's study, and they were soon able to join him.

"Oh, Ray. What's wrong with you? You couldn't find anything because you were heading this way? By the way, there wasn't any clue here."

　One of the guards muttered as he looked at Ray.
　Another guard who was working with him nodded in agreement with his voice.

(I wonder if it was really none of them who knew the guardsman in his profession... or if they could not find him in any way... well, which of them is it?)

　Wouldn't it have been better to bring in thieves who are better at searching than guards?
　Ray shakes his head thinking that way.

"Here it is,"
"Well, that's right, too... what is it said.

　The guards would have thought that they had found neither Ray nor anything.
　But, unexpectedly, Ray said he had found something easily.
　Ray goes on to say more, watching the two guards in surprise.

"And while I was looking into it, I was attacked by a man who seemed to have been protecting the house."
"Really? I was going to say that you were safe... but if it's Ray, it's okay."

　Some of the guards thought that Ray would be fine if he were attacked by other men because he easily overthrew the elderly man who came out when he was about to enter this mansion.
　Ray nods without being proud, too.

"Well, yes, I think he was actually weaker than the one who came out at the door. ... Anyway, come with me because I have tied him up in my study."
"The study? Was it the study that Ray was looking for?"
"Oh, ... I just looked it up and found nothing. The only switch I found on the wall."

　In addition to the blatantly suspicious expressions of the guards, they naturally become more serious.

"And did you press the switch?"
"Well, I'm wondering what to do about it. If this is the kind of scoundrel in the neighborhood, I'd have immediately pressed the switch. If you press the switch on the wall, you'll have to be careful. If you don't press the switch on the wall, this house will collapse and destroy evidence."
"Ah... I suppose it's strange that he's an extraordinarily cautious man, and he's got to do such a trick."
"Right? That's why I met you guys while I was looking for someone who knows a lot about it."

　Put it that far, the guards understand what Ray expects.
　In other words, they want us to check the switch to see if there are any strange tricks.

"All right. Then I'll go right away. Maybe I can get some information from him even if he knocks him down."

　Thus, Ray, accompanied by two guards, tried to return to his study... when he saw the study door, he suddenly stopped walking.

"Ray?"
"...I didn't expect to kill my comrades so easily. No, maybe another guard came after I left and attacked them?"

　The guard tried to say something to Ray, who suddenly stopped, but he must have understood what had happened. He looked sternly at the door leading to the study.

"What shall I do?"
"You'll have to go first. If the guards smell blood from being attacked, you might be saved if you treat them. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"If there's a guy who's caught, he's on your side, isn't he? But why are you trying to kill him?"
"Well, if you go inside, you'll find it hard to carry a fainting man because you didn't know when we'll be back, or if you go inside, you'll see that."
"All right,"

　Tell him so, and the three of them, including Ray, head into the study and enter the room.
　Once inside the room, the guards look around the room with a slightly unpleasant expression on their faces, perhaps because they were aware of the stench of blood.

"This is..."
"Look,"

　One of the guards tried to say something, but the other interrupted it, pointing to the wall of the study... to the wall decorated with a picture of the sea that Ray saw.
　There was a man who had just attacked Ray side by side with a picture.
　Yes, in a literal sense, both hands and feet were stretched out, and the ends were attached with metal stakes.
　However, the strong rusty smell was caused by a slit in the throat, not by a stake penetrating the limbs.
　Ray was away from this study for about fifteen minutes.
　In the meantime, this kind of thing would have been far from normal if we had made friends.

"He's a very clever fellow. ... He's cruel and self-assertive."

　Ray's words make the two guards nod bitterly.
　If you just keep your mouth shut, you can cut off your head, stab yourself in the heart, or pierce your head.
　Nevertheless, it would be an expression of self-assertion to have taken the trouble of sewing the tips of both hands and feet to the wall with a stake after cutting off the head.

(And I didn't hear the pile drive against the wall, so the guy who did this didn't drive the pile with a hammer, but let it sink into the wall by any other means, like pushing it with his hand...)

　The sound, however, is both hands and feet, so if you hit a stake with a hammer at least four times, the sound is high and strange if Ray can't hear it even if it's far away.
　The absence of such a thing proved that this was done by means other than hammering and hammering.

"What shall I do first? Should I lower this corpse? I'm sure I'll get in the way of examining this room."
"I suppose,"

　a guard who nods instantly to Ray's words
　Putting the body down on the floor could be a hindrance to examining the room.
　But it's definitely easier to leave a corpse on the floor...or in the hallway, than to see the corpse on the wall many times while you're looking into the room.
　It's not a compliment if you think about maintaining the scene.
　At any rate, when the stake is pulled out of the stuck body's arms and legs, Ray and the guards carry the body down the corridor.
　Ray said he could put it in a mistling, but for whatever reason the guard refused.
　Did you hate relying on Ray for everything, or did you have another reason?
　Ray didn't know which one, but if the regular guard says so, he thinks it's better to do it and follows suit.

"And what is a switch?"
"Come over here for a second,"

　A picture of the sea... where the man was pasted.
　The guards didn't seem very interesting to see the scene, but as long as Ray called them, they approached the wall, wondering if it was related to the switch.

"Here it is. ... Do you see it?"

　At Ray's words, the guards turn their eyes to the pointed wall.
　At first, when I looked in the direction Ray indicated, I didn't seem to know where the switch was at all, but I guess I finally realized it when I looked at it intensively.
　Soon a guard opens his mouth.

"I saw it. Over there."He goes on to say that he has found another guard.

"I'm glad they both found it. ... So what do you think? Do you think it's some kind of trap?"
"Oh... I don't know. I don't think I'll bother setting a trap, considering that I hid it so I couldn't see it."
"Oh, if you're going to set a trap, you should put that switch in a place that's easier to understand and easier to see."

　The two guards' opinions were that since they were so hard to find, there were probably no traps in place.
　Ray also nodded to see if he thought the remark had a point... but what he said was different from the security officer's conclusion.

"The one behind this incident is a very cautious fellow. That's the only one who's doing something about the switch that's hard to find ... isn't it strange to think so?"
"That's..."

　You must have thought there was a point in what Ray said. The guards can't go on saying any more.
　In fact, it was a very convincing reason when Ray told me.

"...Okay. I'm not as good as a real thief, but I have a little skill in that, so I'll check it out. But don't expect too much."

　Saying so, one of the guards heads for a wall with a switch.
　As you say, we're looking around the switch carefully, but the way it works is far from accomplished.
　Still, given the current situation, there was no doubt that the best option would be to have some skilled guards.

(Well, what on earth will come out? If possible, there would be a hidden room, and there would be a mastermind behind it.)

　Things don't go that easily.
　Ray knew it, but he still wanted to find some clues.
　A few minutes later... Ray, looking at the switch on the wall, suddenly turns his gaze toward the door.
　The guards next to Ray naturally notice the move, keeping his eyes open and ready to move.
　I thought the man who made the corpse might have returned, but... it was one of the guards who emerged through the door.

"What is the corpse in the corridor?"

　It would be a natural question for the guards who came into the room.
　Ray speaks unabashedly to such a guard.

"You're one of the guards at this house. Oh, by the way, I'm not the one who killed you. I think someone else did it to keep your mouth shut. Are you alone? What's wrong with the guy you worked with?"

　Yes, there was only one guard in the study.
　Originally, two or three people should have been acting in order to guard against attacks by elderly men and men who were found dead in corridors.
　Nevertheless, it was enough to make Ray feel uncomfortable that only one of the guards showed up.

(A traitor among the guards...is there a possibility?)

　While thinking so, Ray decides that it is this man who created the body in the hallway, and asks, ready to respond to whatever happens, but the guard probably understands that he is suspected. He raises his hands in a hurry and insists that he is not communicating with the enemy.

"I know what you're thinking, but I'm not a traitor. I'm just over there looking for something unexpected... No, find someone. So I'm here to talk to you about what to do."
"I understand why, but you came here by yourself."

　As he says so, Ray just gets off his guard.
　However, I still don't trust you completely in this situation, so I'll be able to deal with it as soon as possible.

"Ray seems to have had an assailant, but he wasn't here. He just found an unexpected one instead. So I came to talk to him about what to do."

　Normally, you should avoid acting alone to guard against an attacker.
　But he came here alone, for he had never been attacked by anyone who had been in charge of guarding the house.

"Don't be silly,"

　A guard checking the switch on the wall says in a dumbfounded way to the person who came to inform him.
　However, this guard could not find anything particular in the area they investigated, nor could he be attacked.
　That's why it's safe to assume that no one was attacked.

"Well, suppose you were in such a hurry,"
"...And what exactly did you find?"

　As Ray asks, the guards here look serious... open their mouths.

"It's a mass of dead bodies of only bones and skin. Ten or twenty are not enough."

　Yes, I told him.