"Nothing. I thought it was a trap to lure me in."

　Ray entered a room where a girl fighting a security guard appeared to have escaped, but there was no one there.
　It's not like Ray's first study, it's like a reception room to entertain people.
　As long as it's in such a room, there's a certain place to hide, but... I don't think there's anyone to look for.

(Well, I can't deny the possibility that he is so good at killing me that I can't detect him.)

　With that in mind, Ray searched for places where he could hide, such as the back of the sofa or the back of the furniture, but could not find the girl anywhere.

"The window, if it had escaped, should be open, but it didn't look like it."

　Ray hesitated a little to enter this room, but if he had escaped out of the window, he could have left some trace there.
　But as far as we can see, there is no trace left, and above all, the windows are locked.
　I don't think he did anything like going out of the window without a trace and then locking the window from the outside.

(No, can I do it if I have some magic items?)

　Under normal circumstances you cannot do that, but it is strictly in line with Japanese common sense.
　With all the magic and magic items in this Elgin, there could be some way to unlock or lock it out of the window.
　Naturally, such things are highly likely to be used for crime, so if they really were, they would be under tight control.

(Do we need to find something more like that now than that little possibility?)

　Ray looks around the room again, saying there's no point in thinking about things that are unlikely.
　We've already found most of the places where we can hide, so what remains is a loophole like a hidden passageway or a hidden staircase.
　But looking around the room like this doesn't seem to me to have a place like that.
　In terms of the size of the room, it is about 15 tatami mats in size, and there are some furniture, but there are still limited places to hide.

"Where did you really go? I wish I had brought you a set."

　If Sett were here, it would stink and track where the girl had gone.
　Of course it's hidden, but it's not that difficult to destroy a hidden place if you know there's a path or staircase ahead.
　But, as long as Sett is not here, it would be meaningless to think about it now.
　Or, if you shout out Seto's name here, there's a possibility that he'll come... if you do that, you'll probably end up with a lot of bad things.

"Then... what shall I do now? Should I keep looking into it, or should I call a guard and have him investigate it?"

　The guards who were fighting the girl who disappeared in this room were not far from here.
　Some were injured, but by now some treatment should have been done.
　The guards are clearly more familiar than Ray when it comes to searching.
　It's not funny to use that help.

"Should I have brought Bune with me? Then Vihela would have come with me."

　Bune was formerly a battle-focused thief, but this winter he also honed his skills purely as a thief.
　With that kind of veneer in mind, Ray could well have hoped he would demonstrate his skills as a thief.
　Ray also predicted that the keeper of the estate would come here hoping to be a Vihela who wanted to fight against the strong, given that he was a strong man of his own.

(No, it's no use thinking about it now.)

　It's meaningless to think about someone who's not here right now, and when I look around the room repeatedly... all of a sudden I hear several footsteps approaching the room.
　I didn't wonder if it was my enemy for a moment, but I knew from the number of footsteps and the voice I heard that was the guard I had just heard.

"Ray, where are you?"
"Here, in this room!"

　say so to a guard
　The door was closed, so the guards probably didn't think Ray was in this room.
　Soon, perhaps hearing Ray's voice, the door opens and one of the guards I saw shows up.

"Here!"

　Ray raises his hand to answer such a guard.

"Oh, here... the guy who was fighting with you escaped into this room, but he's nowhere. He didn't seem to have gone out of the window, so I think there's probably a hidden aisle somewhere in this room... I'm afraid I didn't know where it was. Don't you know?"

　Ray says three guards who come into the room look around.
　It looked as if it was some clue, but it was impossible to find them just by looking at them.
　So for now, the guards break up and search the room.

"What shall I do?"
"Ray, watch out for the people around you. If you're attacked like before, it's hard for me to deal with it."
"But as long as Ray is there, he won't attack you, will he?"
"Well, just in case. As long as I don't know what they're thinking, I can't deny the possibility that they're going to attack me even in this kind of situation. ... It's very troubling."

　I don't know if the expression "normal" is appropriate -- men and women, at least of a certain age, wouldn't have been too worried.
　In this case, however, the opponent is still very small.
　Naturally, despite his physique, he used a dagger as usual as an adult, so it was certain that he was not as good as he looked.
　Moreover, he has a high level of judgment that makes him decide that he can't win when he sees Ray.

(I'm sure there's a lot wrong with this house at the time of those things. The question is, was it the other guy who stumped the guy who attacked me to the wall? ... What do you think about that?)

　Doubtful, Ray stands in front of the door to react quickly in case of emergency.
　There is a prediction among Ray that he is probably not hiding somewhere, but that he is no longer by the side of this room using the sort of hidden aisle.
　Still, it was just a matter of case.
　Ray is also standing in front of the door to prevent him from fleeing the room by some means or other.
　and five minutes passed...

"Yes, yes! I don't know if it's a hidden aisle or not, but there's definitely something beyond it!"

　One of the guards suddenly screams so.
　The voice attracts other guards and laymen to the site.
　Then, just in case, another guard checks where he was told something was... and then nods.

"No doubt, there is some space beyond this wall... ...but how do you open it?"

　So, once the guard stops talking, he looks around them.
　I'm sure there's some sort of device, but I don't know how to move it.
　It is certain that it will take another long time to find the device... ...that it will be almost impossible to catch the girl who attacked it -- albeit almost hopeless at this point.
　If so, I'd like to say.
　Guards make decisions.

"Destroy this wall, Ray. It's easier than that, as time is wasted looking for a device."
"...is that all right?"

　The remark came as a surprise to Ray, too.
　In the first place, it is quite dangerous to force an investigation into the estate in this case.
　If, on top of that, it destroys the walls of the house, it is undoubtedly more likely to be punished than others.
　But... the guard nods back to Ray's words, saying that there was no problem at all problem.

"Oh, I don't mind. I'm prepared to be punished from above when I come to this place. I'm going to be punished, and I'm going to do something about the Cobold case... no, if I can do something about the guys who are mimicking Gilm calling monsters."
"I'll tell you, I'm the one who breaks down this wall,"
"I'm going to force Ray to work for me at my request." ...so break down the wall."When Ray is told so, he can't pretend to refuse it, and he nods back.
　Make sure the guards each step back and take the death size out of the mistling.
　Without looking particularly nervous, he quickly swings his death size.
　Cutting through the wall without resistance, it's no wonder that if you don't know Ray, you don't know what happened.
　But for the guards who know Ray's ability, there's no doubt that a death-size swing won't immediately break the wall... in fact, when Ray hits the floor with a death-size stoner, the impact divides the wall into several parts and falls to the floor.
　After the wall was cut, the remnants of the wall that fell to the floor... and the stairs leading to the basement.
　It was true that the girl had fled down these stairs.

"The stairs? Well, they're reasonable, if I may say so. ... So what do you do? Do you want to go further?

　It's a powerful clue.
　It was obvious that Ray wanted to say so, though he didn't say so.
　The word worries the guards.
　No, there's no doubt that there's some clue at the end of these stairs. I'm sure... the one waiting for you is definitely the girl I just mentioned.
　Even though she's still a young girl, she's capable of fighting in her favor against three guards.
　If Ray is not with us, it's very dangerous to move on.
　But there must still be a number of other clues left in the estate, and it was even frustrating to take Ray to the top of these stairs out of his immaturity.
　But, as long as there is a clear possibility of clues remaining, there is something that should take precedence over the pride of the guards."

"Please, Ray. Come with me."

　Ray nods without hesitation to such a guard's words.

"All right. That's fine with me. In any case, it's impossible to go through the whole house immediately. Then you'd better find a place where you think you have a clue."
"... I'm sorry,"

　The guard thanked Ray for his words, but Ray shook his head not to worry about it and stored his death size in a mistling.

"Here we go. I don't know what's going on down these stairs, but there's a good chance they'll be waiting for us. Be careful."

　Say so, Ray leads the way down the stairs.
　The only thing that surprised me a little after I started going down the stairs was that it was dark.
　However, since the stairs were provided in the hidden room, it is impossible to keep a light on them all the same time.
　Or if it were the nobles who used this mansion, they could have bought magic items of light or prepared lamps... unfortunately, it was not the nobles who used this mansion.
　...I think it's right to say that he's not exactly a noblemanother expression.

"Wait a minute. It's dark. Can you see Ray?"

　It's only natural for the guards to look bewildered as they suddenly entered the empty stairs from the bright room.
　However, Ray's eyes are usually bright at night, so he can see the top of the stairs without any problems with the darkness like this.

"The stairs themselves will not be so long in terms of location, so can't you manage them without them?"
"Don't talk nonsense. It's not Ray."

　To the guards who told him so, Ray would hand over a lamp he had previously bought from the mystery ring or had stolen from the thief.