Read The Legendary Rebuilding of a World by a Realist Demon King

176 - - Detective Asito

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　A black pool of blood was found at the scene.

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　It was probably where the horse was found.

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That's a lot of blood.

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"I'm afraid so."

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　Eve chimes in.

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　Looking at the scene, she instantly assumes that this is the place where the horse was killed.

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　As she declares this, Eve asks, "How do you know?

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How do you know?

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"That's easy. If he was decapitated elsewhere, it would be strange to see so much blood. He must have brought the horse here and cut it while it was still alive, which is why there is this amount of blood.

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"I see, you are indeed the master. You're like Sherlock Holmes with your deductions.

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Oh, you know Sherlock Holmes, Eve?

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Yes. Yes. It was written by an author named Conan Doyle. He came from another world, but in this world he wrote a detective novel called Sherlock Holmes, which became a bestseller.

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"I see, so it's possible that the great writers have come here and are in the same business."

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　Come to think of it, Marco Polo, the author of the Book of Marco Polo, was also in this world, and writers and writers must be in the category of heroes.

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　If so, I would like to meet Shiba Qian who wrote Shiji. With these thoughts in mind, I will return to the main point.

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"I'm not as speculative as Holmes, but if he brought the horse alive, he might have stolen it from a nearby house or stable. Robin, will you investigate?"

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　Robin says "yes" and leaves.

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"Now that we know where he was killed, we just need to find the horse's body. Do you have any more?

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"Of course, sir."

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　Oswald, the bird man, leads the way.

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　The dead horse is in a corner of the backyard. Nothing seems to have been touched.

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　Examine the horse's severed surface.

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　The center of the neck has been sliced clean off.

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　We stare in silence for a while.

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　Eve asks, "Mr. Holmes, what happened to the horse?

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"Mr. Holmes, what have you found out?"

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"Watson, you're very impatient."

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　He jokes about jokes and concludes.

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"At first I thought he was decapitated with a machete or an axe, but it seems that this is not the case. I can see the marks of a sharp blade, not a machete or an axe.

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　I put my hand on my chin and think about it.

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"This cut surface was made by something very sharp. I thought it might be magic, but I don't feel any magic residue, so it is a blade. But this sharpness is not that of an ordinary blade.

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"If it's not an ordinary blade, could it be a Japanese sword?"

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"Yes. This cut is definitely a Japanese sword.

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Then Hijikata-sama must be the murderer.

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"Toshizo, who was in need of money, cut down a horse... That's possible, but unlikely. He came home this morning reeking of white powder, but there was no scent of blood.

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"Are you getting close enough to smell it? I'm glad you two are so close. ......"

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Recently, there's a novel in the castle about a relationship between me and Toshizo.

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I don't know.

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　He snaps his nose in the wrong direction.

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"Master gets along well with Hijikata-sama but he doesn't have much skinship with me. It's not fair.

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"That's not true, but..."

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Then let me wash your back next time. I'm sure you took a hot spring bath with Hijikata-sama.

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　Did they know what we did in the basement of Castle Ismailia?

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　I thought again how scary a woman's information network is, and returned to my original story.

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"Well, the murderer is a Japanese swordsmith, but he is not Toshizo. First of all, his character doesn't fit. If he doesn't like me, he'll come at me fair and square. Secondly, it doesn't match his ability. This horse's cutting face is brilliant, but Toshizo's swordsmanship is more impressive. The cut looks as if it were made not with a sword but with a thread.

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"Indeed."

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　Eve is convinced.

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"It's enough that we know the killer is a Japanese sword owner, but the scope is still too large. How many more could there be in this city?

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"Well, I'll narrow it down even further from here. I mean, we've already narrowed down the list of suspects.

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Already?

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　Eve is surprised.

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"Yeah, before we got here."

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Before you came here. You're the master. So who did it?

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You know who did it? Someone who's unhappy with the Postal Service?

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Yes, that's impossible.

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Then we should narrow down the list to those who are dissatisfied with the Postal Service, and those who are skilled with the Japanese sword. First of all, the disgruntled ones are, of course, the various guilds. The adventurers' guild, the sorcerers' guild, the merchants' guild. They have built up their own postal network and have made the postal service their business.

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"They use the network of guilds as a weapon. Especially, there are many F-rank missions of the Adventurers' Guild to deliver letters.

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"That's right. That means they hate my postal service, too. They have violated my vested interests.

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"I see, so the union leaders who had a monopoly on profits are furious."

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"Yeah, they'd like to kick the shit out of me. I'm sure the heads of all the guilds would love to do that, but if you look for swordsmiths among them, you'll have to exclude the sorcerers' guild.

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"And there didn't seem to be any magic residue on the horse's corpse."

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"Yes. The most suspicious guilds are the adventurers' guilds that have a large number of swordsmiths, and the merchants' guilds that hire mercenaries. The guild of thieves who are involved in the assassination business is also suspicious.

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Shall we focus on those three?

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"Yes, Robin will get some information about the horses soon, and then we will decide on a course of action.

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　Robin returned just in time.

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　He had found out that the horse had been stolen from a nearby nobleman's house.

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　I go to the nobleman's house to interview him and gather evidence.

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　I ask him about the physical description of the horse thief and the fact that the servant saw him behind the horse thief's back at dawn.

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　After confirming the location of the house, the central post office, and the various guilds, we walk along the road the thief would have taken and gather information from the beggars on the main street along the way.

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　I pay a silver coin to the beggar who knows nothing, a gold coin to the beggar who has information, and more gold coins to the beggar who is hiding information to make him talk less, and my theory is proven correct.

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"It seems that the culprit is a guild member, after all..."

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　Eve asked me as if to confirm.

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"Yes, it seems so. The question is whether it is an adventurer, a merchant, or a guild of thieves.

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"Shall we do that? I'll go with you.

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　Eve bowed deeply, and Eve and I and Robin headed first for the Adventurers' Guild.

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