Chapter 107

Her Murder Motive

Teramond lived in a small town in the west.

He was an orphan abandoned as a child, but he met a kind-hearted general store owner and grew up like that family’s own son.

‘We only had a daughter, so we always wanted to have a son.’

The only daughter under that couple was one year younger than Teramond.

Maria.

She was a lovely woman with red hair.

Teramond grew closer to her by protecting and caring for her, and he became not an adopted son but a son-in-law.

‘After we die, you two can run the general store and live happily.’

On the day they brought the two together, the old couple said that.

And one dawn when Teramond opened the general store door earlier than usual.

He screamed and rushed into the house.

“Maria! Maria!”

The west isn’t a stable city like Soren. In the midst of territorial lords’ power struggles over the precious resource called the labyrinth, it’s common for rural villages to be attacked.

“Hide in the closet!”

Maria entered the closet and burst into tears, terrified. She covered her mouth with her fist.

Screams and shouts could be heard from outside the window.

Bright red flames rising could be seen through the window.

The rural villagers who knew nothing about complex politics or war were massacred overnight without understanding why.

Until around noon when the lord’s army came and chased away the enemies.

Teramond survived. So did Maria.

But her parents did not.

The lord’s wizard cast ‘Speak with Dead’ magic to investigate the enemies’ invasion route. On Maria’s mother.

It was by chance that she was chosen among the many corpses in the village.

The mother said this:

‘It wasn’t the army that killed us, but Teramond.’

Teramond laughed.

“Caught.”

While wiping his dirty hands on his blood-stained shirt hem.

But why?

To Maria’s question, he answered like this:

“We were going to run the general store together anyway, so it’s good to reduce mouths to feed.”

Why was he abandoned and became an orphan as a child?

Because he tried to kill his birth mother.

That devil, who was congenitally lacking something, thought it was a good opportunity when the village was attacked.

‘Let’s quickly kill those bothersome old couple while we’re at it! The lord won’t investigate in detail anyway. There will be plenty of corpses throughout the entire village. If those people disappear, the general store will be mine now.’

While being dragged away, Teramond told Maria he loved her.

He said it was something he did for her.

‘If you have a child, it’ll be hard to feed five people with the general store’s profits.’

Maria was five months pregnant.

She miscarried.

***

Indeed, the Magistrate’s experience cannot be ignored.

I once suspected Bipa and Mugol, then suspected the red-haired woman, then wavered back and forth searching for the motive and method, but the Magistrate pushed only ‘slave-hating criminals’ from beginning to end.

That was correct.

“It doesn’t make sense… Why… Why are they being lenient? Why are they forgiving? Why are they becoming freemen?”

Maria’s shoulders trembled violently in extreme excitement.

“Because they have talent as wizards? Because they can be active adventurers in the labyrinth? What’s important about that…?”

The Magic University’s slave adventurer system is a system that quantifies the price of crimes in monetary terms, then gives prisoners who prove abilities exceeding that amount another chance to contribute to society.

…That’s what they say nominally, but in reality, it’s a desperate measure to supplement the number of wizards that went crazy during the labyrinth eruption 12 years ago.

“I was trying so hard to forget, hoping he would just die, but then a letter came?”

Maria’s eyes became moist.

“Do you know what Teramond said?”

When she opened the letter, she was terrified remembering that psychopath’s nature. She thought the letter would contain all kinds of curses, anger, and hatred.

“He said he was sorry.”

The letter’s contents were unexpected.

He said he had reflected a lot while rolling through the abyss of death in the labyrinth, that he would live a new life as a wizard, and that he would never appear before her again.

At that time, it ended with an apology and well-wishes for her health.

It was written in a tone like young students who hurt each other in clumsy romance, then apologize and wrap things up.

“I guess he was pleased about starting a new life as a wizard?”

What should she have done in front of that letter?

Should she have cheered on the new beginning of someone who was once the person she loved most, the father of the baby she had conceived, and her lover who had grown up with her since childhood?

Leaving behind her ruined life, he was trying to live a cleanly laundered second act of life in Soren.

That letter wasn’t to ease his guilt. It wasn’t to convey a sincere apology either.

It was mockery.

Bragging that he had enough talent in magic to pay off a debt of 30,000 gold.

Ridicule meaning that she had lost such a great man.

“I can never forgive him…”

The strength enters the arm of her embrace around my neck.

The music had stopped long ago.

The session put down their instruments and fell into panic, running around in confusion.

Already, the entire club had moved away from me in concentric circles for quite some time.

“Brother!”

Mister Backstab was being held by the security officers.

“Don’t move.”

The woman opened her mouth and showed her tongue. A small capsule was placed on her tongue.

“It’s poison. If I bite and burst it, I’ll die instantly.”

If she dies, a corpse explosion scroll will immediately activate and blow up the entire club.

“You too…”

She said.

“You also have a murder record.”

Fuck.

Really unfair.

I don’t even know Hyedam’s face!

***

Let’s stay calm.

Let’s calmly retrace the current situation step by step.

There were a total of three women with red hair in the club, and the security officers were watching all those suspects.

Nevertheless, they let her approach me because there was no certainty.

If they rashly stepped forward and arrested her only to find out she wasn’t the culprit, we’d just be spreading word that we’re currently conducting an operation.

Honestly speaking, Security Headquarters was careless.

‘Since Soul Preservation is involved, even if the worst happens, there’s no real risk of me actually dying.’

Everyone probably thought that way.

Rather, some security officers might have hoped that the red-haired woman who approached me would take action. So they could end this tedious undercover investigation.

And honestly, I was careless too.

In my case, it wasn’t because I trusted Soul Preservation, but because I trusted the hourglass.

Even if I survive with Soul Preservation, if my leg gets blown off like Abisson, I can’t enter the labyrinth and it’s game over anyway. So Soul Preservation wasn’t trustworthy.

However, the hourglass would automatically activate the moment I’m attacked, and unless the opponent was a monster like Bipa or Mugol, I was confident I could handle them.

I was certain that the culprit was not a great adventurer but a common criminal.

Why? Because they clashed with Yernil at the dormitory back gate, and Yernil is still alive.

If it had been a truly powerful enemy, Yernil would have been killed on the spot.

Maybe Sally’s level.

At most, Ingelram.

That’s what I had guessed.

But who could have imagined they’d come out with corpse explosion scrolls wrapped around their body like bandages?

This quantity is definitely strange.

The Magistrate had sealed off Soren and was tracking sales records of corpse explosion scrolls and memory erasure scrolls.

Not only those sold within Magic University, but even those sold on the black market.

This much quantity can’t be obtained ‘secretly’.

‘Maria has an accomplice.’

Who could it be?

Looking back now, there are quite a few strange points.

Maria is holding a knife in her hand. Not a wand.

This woman isn’t even a wizard.

She’s not an adventurer either.

She’s just an ordinary citizen running a general store.

But how did such a person move so boldly as to commit murder on university grounds?

How did such a person skillfully clean up Teramond’s murder scene using memory erasure and corpse explosion, how did she find out that a security alarm was set on my room, and how did she disable it?

These are things that would require a wizard with considerable knowledge and skill.

Moreover, it would have to be someone well-versed in Magic University’s internal affairs.

Therefore, her accomplice is…

“Did a teaching assistant or professor from Magic University help you?”

But there’s still one more point I don’t understand.

This enormous number of scrolls.

Unless they mass-produced corpse explosion scrolls like churning out golems at a steel mill, how could this be possible?

Even if Meldini or Isilof stepped forward directly, this is…

‘Huh?’

Suddenly something flashes through my head like lightning.

‘Wait a minute.’

It’s possible.

There’s one person who can do this.

No, fuck, wait a minute.

“I don’t know who it was either.”

She said.

“They were using disguise magic.”

There’s one supplier who could provide this massive quantity of scrolls without leaving records.

‘The labyrinth.’

The labyrinth grants adventurers’ deepest desires. The giant treasure chest in the treasure room provides items desperately needed by adventurers on top of the miscellaneous items inside.

For example, corpse explosion scrolls.

“They seemed like a professor. That’s at least some consolation. That there are professors within Magic University who are negative about slave wizards.”

If you have a legendary compass, you could easily find treasure rooms every time you enter the labyrinth and collect scrolls one by one.

But if it’s someone originally belonging to the labyrinth.

“That person gave them to me. The scrolls.”

They wouldn’t need a compass or anything. The labyrinth’s infinite resources would be supplied to them anytime.

They’re knowledgeable about magic and also well-versed in university internal affairs.

‘White Lion…?’

***

Looking back, I probably offended them.

I activated the monument on the 3rd floor, and Spider Doctor was freed.

No one in Soren knows this fact, but White Lion might know. Since they’re a similar type of monster to Spider Doctor.

Maybe they’re in contact with Spider Doctor.

And after I came out of the labyrinth, the professors started stirring up the inter-floor village.

That’s right.

‘I probably offended White Lion.’

Maybe they wanted to kill me.

But it would have been burdensome to step forward directly. Moreover, the White Lion assembly thinks I belong to Black Dog. So they decided to just watch without touching me.

‘White Lion used this woman.’

They gave power and knowledge to Maria, whose eyes were blinded by rage toward Teramond, and subtly incited her to become a slave-hating criminal.

So that her blade would be directed at me.

“I can’t escape from Soren anyway and will eventually be caught. I’m not even an adventurer. I can’t enter the labyrinth either.”

Maria, who had fallen into panic, sniffled and gritted her teeth.

She’s just before swallowing the poison.

“Before I leave, I’ll kill you too…”

Bang!

The club’s front door opened vigorously and three deep-layer adventurers burst in.

“You fucking bastards.”

Blood vessels bulged in Orc Berserker Chrome’s forearm.

“What the hell are you doing in someone else’s establishment!”

Behind him shouting angrily, I can see the deep-layer adventurers I saw in the elevator before.

Chrome’s party members.

A northern sub-race, Frostian tribe wizard.

“Hello, Caleb. We meet again.”

And Cardinal of the Temple of Sacrifice and Challenge god Sanfriel, a human male.

“You used to blow up Chrome’s casino before, and now it’s a club?”

“Everyone don’t move!”

Maria shouted at Chrome approaching.

“Hey, miss. Put that friend down and calm down a bit…”

“I said stop right there!”

What is White Lion doing right now?

What would I do if I were that monster?

“Dalstream…”

Fuck.

I got it.

“Professor! Where is Professor Dalstream right now?”

I shouted to Meldini and Isilof.

“Wha, what are you suddenly talking about?”

“Professor Dalstream?”

Professor Dalstream said he found out something about the coin monster in the inter-floor village!

White Lion would find Dalstream bothersome too.

I’m being handled by Maria, and Dalstream might be…

“He’s probably writing papers in his office?”

“Or he might have gone out to collect materials.”

“…”

There’s no time.

If the person who provided scrolls to Maria is White Lion, they probably have them too. Corpse explosion and memory erasure.

With most of Magic University and Security Headquarters’ forces concentrated on me at Black Dog Club right now. On this late night, it wouldn’t be difficult for that monster to assassinate Dalstream and clean up the scene.

“By any chance…”

There’s no time.

I need to get out of here quickly.

“Are Bipa and Mugol among you?”

Please.

Be here.

You have nothing to do anyway.

All the gates of Soren are closed, and unless you broke through with force, you should still be in Soren.

Besides stalking me, what else can you do?

“Please help me.”

You’re somewhere in this club, right? Come out!

“Then I’ll teach you what you want to know.”

“Hmm.”

A human man at a table in one corner of the club raised his hand. While tapping the shoulder of his companion who was drinking beer and watching the situation.

“Dispel disguise.”

He had now fully recovered from Frenzy’s penalty. A young, handsome white-haired sorcerer smiled faintly.

“Those bastards!”

The Magistrate was excited but didn’t change targets. Maria and I were much more urgent.

“What can I help you with? Caleb.”

Security Headquarters Magistrate.

Magic University’s Meldini, Isilof.

Black Dog’s deep-layer trio.

And even the Windham duo.

Eight monsters gathered together surrounding one general store daughter who doesn’t even have labyrinth experience – what a ridiculous sight.

You idiots!

The real monster is outside right now!

***

“Huh?”

Civilian Security Officer Yernil, who came down to Security Headquarters’ underground archive, encountered an unexpected person.

Someone she had seen a few times at the Adventurer Guild.

An incredibly old Elf elder.

He had never exchanged greetings with Yernil.

“Hello.”

He’s Caleb’s university professor.

Was his name Dalstream?