Kapitel 59: Arc 2 - Chapter 15: Intestines (2/2)
"Mr. Valarfin and~ people I don't know." Lylphia looked at the people Yu had brought with him. "Hello."
Satoshi was conscious but unable to walk and Raul had to carry Satoshi on his shoulder as he vomited on him. Needless to say, he was told to do so.
Sivina and Ana were waiting for Yu to introduce them.
"This is Ana and Dame Sivina Ecues," he said, pointing to the girls. Sivina is a knight, so she introduced them using the title that precedes her name. "Raul Kathein and on his shoulder is Satoshi."
"Dame Lylphia Ardere, a mage knight from the Wizarding Academy." Yu introduced Lylphia as well and they retreated to greet each other
"Let's get along!"
"Shut your mouth, idiot. It's uncomfortable enough to feel your breath." Raul again responded insultingly to Satoshi's over-exaggerated and contrived reaction.
After they met, they found the adventurers' guild in Redchapel, where they would reside during their stay.
Because the group needed to stay together, Lylphia had to leave the inn where they had been staying.
"It might be cheaper for you to stay in the adventurers' guild, but not for me," Lylphia said. They were unpacking their things in their rooms in the guild.
Rooms in the adventurers' guild could cost the same or higher than in other inns, but were always cheaper for adventurers on a quest.
Lylphia, on the other hand, was a member of the Wizarding Academy, so she could not be an adventurer and would have to pay a higher amount than they had paid at their first inn.
"Doesn't the academy cover your expenses?"
"Yes, I'm even getting the bill."
"Then you don't need to cry, it's not coming out of your pocket." It was Yu who had asked Maron to give Lylphia an allowance, not to save the money, but to spend it. "You can pay for Yurine and me to eat."
"I don't think it's ethical."
"We're risking our lives, let Maron buy us two meals."
Food became one of their main expenses when they traveled outside the capital. Neither of them had a set meal schedule lately, so they ate less, but they still had to pay for food.
"We've finished settling in."
Sivina entered Yu's room. Behind him was Ana.
"Are those two settled yet?"
"They are still discussing which room to take," Sivina said.
Yu and Yurine's room was on the top floor and next to their room was Lylphia's room. On the second floor, Sivina and Ana shared a room.
They had taken two more rooms. One of the rooms was opposite the girls' room and the other was on bit away of the girls' room. Satoshi and Raul were fighting to stay in the room opposite girls.
"Those two can continue their discussion later. Let them come here, we will talk now."
"I'll call them."
Ana left the room to call the two of them. It wasn't long before she came back with the boys.
There were on Sivina and Ana's room. There were two beds, but Yu, Yurine and Sivina sat on one bed. Lylphia sat on the second bed. Ana was on a chair, Raul was standing and Satoshi had his butt on the table.
"We told you to investigate, did you find anything?" Yurine asked, reminding Lylphia of her mission. "Stupid human, I knew you wouldn't find anything."
"I haven't said anything yet!" Lylphia puffed out her cheeks and sighed.
"Your impression of me is so inadequate that my expectations were low from the beginning. It's your fault for creating such an impression."
"Uh-huh, so get ready to be embarrassed." Lylphia puffed out her chest, her big breasts greeting people again. "I found something."
"What did you find?" Ana asked.
There was no one in the room to hear them, but Lylphia lowered her voice anyway.
"After you left, there were two more murders in Redchapel. It was the Redchapel Killer."
"What's this got to do with Sony? IS HE DEAD?"
Even though Yu had warned Satoshi earlier, he was still having the same exaggerated reactions. Yu was feeling embarrassed for someone else. He wanted to hit Satoshi.
Ignoring Satoshi, Lylphia continued, "Only one person survived the break-in, and he heard the killer mention Sony's name."
If Sony was dead, their mission would have failed in its early stages.
But he couldn't imagine the Redchapel Killer killing him. Why would someone who wanted his crimes to be known would kill Sony in secret?
Sivina asked, "What exactly did he say?"
"That's the only name he could deduce."
"Only, what do you mean? Did he mention other names?"
Yu stood up. "Where were the murders committed?"
"It's not far from here, less than half an hour away. Shall we go there?"
Yu nodded to Lylphia. He didn't want to waste time, today they would question the surviving eyewitness and tomorrow they would spend all their time investigating.
"There's no need to go there en masse, a few people are enough. The others should start gathering information about the killer now. Maybe we'll find something Lylphia missed."
***
Yu, Yurine, Lylphia and Satoshi arrived at the house where the murder had taken place, while Sivina, Ana and Raul left the group to investigate further.
"Is the survivor inside?" Yu asked.
"He was here when I arrived."
Lylphia knocked on the door and a woman in her thirties opened it without waiting.
"Again?" the woman sighed when she saw Lylphia.
"I'm sorry, I know it's hard for you, but my friends wanted to hear it too."
The woman seemed reluctant, after a moment's thought she numbly opened the door fully and let them in.
Most of the furniture was covered with sheets, making it difficult to comment on the house. The curtains were also closed and it was dark inside. The woman drew the curtains to let the sunlight shine in, but it was still a little dark inside because the clouds blocked the sun.
"Her name is Numi, the sister of Aletin, the eyewitness."
While Lylphia was telling them about the family, Numi called his brother from inside. The boy was no more than fourteen years old. He had red hair and green eyes, and they were black from lack of sleep.
The boy's cheeks were tense, his green eyes were still wet and his lips were trembling.
When Numi called out to him, he acted meekly, but he looked like he was about to burst into tears at any moment.
"Hello, my name is Yu Valarfin."
Yu introduced himself in a calm voice. The boy didn't answer him, he just turned his eyes to the ground and his expression became more pitiful.
"I know this is difficult for you, but you have to tell us what happened so we can get justice."
As soon as Yu finished his sentence, the boy exploded and started crying out loud.
Numi rushed to his brother to calm him down, but he didn't know what to do. "It's okay," was all he could say.
"I understand your situation is difficult. I hope we can get back without spending too much time here."
Otherwise, every time he saw Alatin crying, he would empathize and his heart would break.
"My bro-bro-bro-bro-brother," Aletin started to speak, stammering because what he had seen had affected him so much. "He-e tol-told me to hide-hide-hide in there." He pointed with his finger at the covered closet.
It was a small cupboard for stuffing junk, one would have had to force oneself to fit in there.
"D-d-d-d-d-dola-la-lab's kak-kapa-lid..." Aletin started crying again. Lylphia whispered in Yu's ear as Numi tried to calm him down.
"The closet door was ajar and the boy was able to see what happened. After killing Aletin's father, the murderer killed his brother. He cut open his brother's abdomen, emptied his organs and nailed the body to the wall."
Yu now understood why it had been so difficult for Aletin to tell the story. He had witnessed a scene of brutality.
"Do you remember what the killer said?"
They waited until he calmed down, and when he did, he started stuttering again.
"Said-sa-sa-sa-sa-just S-So-Son-Sony and N-N-N-N-N..."
"N?"
"Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh."
Aletin started crying again, Numi was patting his back to calm him down and Lylphia whispered to Yu again.
"He mentioned a couple of names, one Sony and another one that starts with the letter N. He realized that the others were just names, but he can't remember them."
"Did he say anything about the killer's appearance?"
"Long red hair, stubble and sharp blue eyes. Worn black clothes and a brown straw hat. This is what he told those who questioned him before."
Aletin couldn't speak any more, they left the crime scene after inspecting the house for a while.
***
"We came here for nothing, we learned nothing but what Lylphia knows."
"No one asked you, don't speak unless you're allowed."
"You're so rude."
Yurine, unsurprisingly, along with Raul, was among those who did not respect Satoshi.
"We could have found out, it was better to come just in case."
As Satoshi said, they had no new information except what Lylphia could tell them.
"What do we do with what we know?"
Lylphia looked at Yu. The mere mention of Sony's name was important information, but it alone wouldn't help them find Sony.
"We may need to catch the killer first," Yu said. "And our task becomes more difficult if it comes to that."
If they couldn't find Sony on their own, and so far all attempts to find him had failed, they could first try to catch the killer and interrogate him.
This was a different mission in itself, and Yu alone might have given up at this point, but he wanted to honor the agreement with Yurine. He had no particular motivation for it, he just felt it was the right thing to do.
"So, how do we catch him?"
A lot of work was piling up. To find the killer, it was necessary to investigate previous murders, and to catch the killer, it might be necessary to wait for him to target someone again.
There was also no regularity to his killings. They happened at random intervals and there were three months without a murder. They didn't have three months.
They arrived at the inn discussing how to catch the killer and Yu explained what he had in mind to Sivina, Ana and Raul, who arrived an hour later with no information.
"Eh? So we have to catch the killer?"
"There's no way to reach Sony, I know it's very annoying," Satoshi answered Sivina as if the plan was his own.
"But that's outside our remit," Ana said.
Yu looked Ana. "Do you want to give up?"
Yu knew that dealing with the killer was dangerous, but he couldn't afford indecision and didn't want to listen to excuses. It was better for him to do this mission with them, but it required everyone to sharpen their resolve.
"I never thought I'd think that."
"No," Ana replied, shaking her head.
"Tomorrow we'll disperse to investigate the killer's murders. We also need to figure out the algorithm for the murders. If his targets are random people, it will be hard to catch him, but if we can find a connection between the targets, we'll have a clue."
It would be impossible to find a pervert who kills only for pleasure, he would have to have an algorithm to find the killer.
"Assuming he's really William Berry, he can't live in town with a recognizable face and name. He must live in the woods outside of town."
"Most of the murders took place here, including the last four," Raul said. "I haven't investigated it specifically, but I've heard about it."
"We can ask other adventurers, I know a few."
Sivina had been adventuring more than a year, Ana had been adventuring for six months, and they had formed a team before Satoshi arrived.
They talked about what to do and after dinner, as everyone went to their rooms, Yu went to Lylphia for asking help.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
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Rangliste 
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Stein