BMD 21

“Oh, Investigator!”

Flynn turned his head at the familiar voice. Then, Terzio emerged from the tent where team members were being separately investigated and waved at him.

“Mr. Theo?”

“Investigator, that uniform is…”

“Mr. Theo, where have you been!?”

Flynn ran to him, grabbed his hand firmly, and spoke. At that action, Theo looked at Flynn with slight surprise, then glanced down at the hand he was gripping tightly. Seeing Theo seem flustered, Flynn realized his own action and released the hand, saying.

“Ah, ah…. I’m sorry. I’ve been looking for you for a while…”

“Me?”

“Yes, where were you?”

“Ah…. Well, after I parted ways with the investigator, I was tired, so I decided to slack off and take a nap in the lodgings. Haha, I didn’t expect it to get this dark….”

Theo answered, awkwardly touching the back of his neck.

“When I woke up, all the guild members had gone to the territory’s plaza for investigation, so I came here too. Is it true that the guild was distributing demon beast carcasses?”

Theo spoke nonchalantly, but Flynn doubted whether everything he said was true. However, thinking that worrying alone wouldn’t solve anything, Flynn decided to confide his suspicions to Theo.

“Theo, or rather, Terzio.”

“Yes?”

“Please answer everything I ask from now on truthfully. Understood?”

“Ah, yes.”

“You have to tell me the truth.”

“Of course.”

At Flynn’s repetitive words, creating a rather heavy atmosphere, Theo nodded, answering somewhat awkwardly, as if a little nervous. Flynn took a deep breath and said to him.

“That storage room I went to with you earlier today…. Did you happen to go there again?”

“Ah, that storage room? No? I haven’t been there since I went with the investigator today.”

“…Then, do you have any witnesses who can prove where you’ve been until now?”

“Uh…. Witnesses?”

He scratched his cheek, looking a little troubled. Flynn looked at him suspiciously.

“I was sleeping the whole time… so it might be a little difficult to prove, but I greeted the owner of the lodgings I’m staying at when I went in and out. Would that person be a witness?”

“…Yes, well, it’s possible for now, but in that case, would it be okay if I searched your room?”

Flynn felt that he was an ordinary person with no magical power at all. Even when he held his hand, he didn’t feel even a trace of magical power.

However, if there were tools or teleportation devices imbued with magical power, even someone without magical power could use them to move to other places. Of course, even so, there was a high possibility that he had already taken care of it.

Flynn felt sorry for him for having such suspicions. However, he was a member of the Council. To solve the case, he had to focus on and delve into even the smallest suspicion.

As the time Theo spent just looking at him without saying anything to the question of whether he could search the room grew longer, Flynn felt that his eyes seemed a little unfamiliar. It was difficult to shake off a strange coldness.

And a little later, Theo slowly opened his mouth.

“Investigator, what makes you suspect me?”

“Yes? No, it’s not suspicion. This is just part of the investigation process.”

At Theo’s direct words, Flynn tried to hide his embarrassment and made excuses, saying it was just a routine procedure. Theo, who was looking at Flynn, nodded.

“Ah…. I see. You can search it. If that clears your suspicion of me, I’ll gladly do it.”

Theo said with a smile. He was smiling, but Flynn felt like he was committing a sin at the thorny words. But he couldn’t not search because of that. There were many strange things in the circumstances, and he was perhaps one of the most likely suspects.

One of the things that felt a little strange earlier was that when he asked the Delberg guild members if they knew Terzio’s lodgings, they all knew the location differently.

And as a result of investigating all the lodgings they told him, it was true that Theo had stayed in those places, but there was something strange.

That was, he kept moving from place to place, changing his place of residence. As if trying to keep anyone from knowing his exact location.

Theo told Flynn where he was staying. Flynn immediately sent other investigators to search the place, and then asked Theo one more thing.

“Theo, you said that the place I went with you earlier was a storage room used by the Delberg guild, right?”

“Yes.”

“But that place wasn’t marked on the map showing the location of Delberg’s storage rooms.”

“A map showing the location of the storage rooms? Is there such a thing?”

Theo asked back as if it was unfamiliar. Flynn was rather embarrassed by the words that he had never heard of at all. After speaking, Flynn recalled that he was, at least superficially, a low-ranking guild member who could not easily access information.

“Ah…. Yes. A high-ranking guild member had it, but if you don’t know, I’ll change the question. Is that place really Delberg guild’s storage room?”

“Yes, as far as I know. Is something wrong?”

Flynn felt frustrated at his attitude, which seemed to not know what was going on.

“Then, can you tell me who instructed you to put the boxes there?”

“Yes. When the investigator and I first met at the tavern, do you remember that there was another guild member next to me? It’s that person.”

“That person?”

Flynn handed over the list of additional guild members he was holding and soon found a name that matched his face.

“Elijah Tennant.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Please wait here for a moment.”

Saying that, Flynn went to another investigator nearby and asked him to investigate whether Elijah Tennant had instructed Terzio. The investigator immediately went to the waiting area where the guild members who had finished the investigation were gathered to find Elijah.

At that time, Flynn’s communication magic tool rang. When he checked the sender, it was the investigation team that had gone to search Theo’s lodgings.

“Yes, did you confirm?”

―Yes, Lieutenant. When I checked with the owner, that guild member named Terzio returned to the lodgings in the afternoon today and stayed inside until about 10 minutes ago before leaving. This owner also told him that the guild members were gathered in the plaza.”

“Was there anything special in the room?”

―After checking the inside, we couldn’t find anything special. There were no magical tools that could be used for teleportation.

“…I see.”

―We will search the surrounding witnesses or nearby trash cans a little more and report back.

“Yes, thank you.”

Flynn ended the communication and fell into thought for a moment. He turned his head and looked at Theo, who had a blank face, and slightly raised the corners of his mouth as he looked at Flynn.

Perhaps no one would feel good if they knew they were being suspected, as long as they were human. But Flynn couldn’t tell whether he was trying to ease his guilt by smiling, or whether he was trying to hide something.

Soon, the investigator who had gone to confirm the facts with Elijah returned to Flynn.

“Elijah Tennant said that he instructed him to put the remaining materials in the storage room. However, he said that the storage room that was in the location you just ordered to search was not Delberg’s storage room.”

“…So, he went there on purpose, even though it wasn’t the guild’s storage room.”

“That’s right for now. Ah, but since the guild’s storage rooms are so scattered here and there, he says that it can be confusing enough for low-ranking guild members. He said that he had done that a few times himself. He said that Terzio probably made a mistake as well.”

Mistake? Mistakes were possible enough. It was just that all the situations matched too perfectly.

As some time passed while Flynn was listening to the investigator, he received a call again from the investigation team that had gone to Terzio’s lodgings again.

They also reported that there was no fact that he was seen outside other than the time he said, the windows had been closed for a long time, and even if they searched all the places where they could throw away nearby trash, they could not find any teleportation tools.

After listening to all these reports, Flynn stood still for a long time as if gauging something. Soon, he turned his head and stared into Theo’s eyes, who was looking at him.

Flynn felt a strange sense of déjà vu and slowly approached him.

Then, he bowed to him and apologized politely.

“I’m sorry, Theo. I think I misunderstood you for a moment. I’m really sorry.”

Flynn had no face to lift his head. At that, Theo made a very embarrassed face and waved his hand, saying.

“No, Investigator, please raise your head. I’m okay.”

At his words, Flynn raised his head with a dejected face.

He was affiliated with the guild and took the risk of telling me suspicious circumstances or things he saw, helping me.

However, he suspected him by associating him with various circumstances just because he appeared late from sleeping in the lodgings, and in order to prove all those suspicions, he searched the lodgings and interrogated the people around him, but no evidence was found that he was related to the escaped guild leader.

As the situation turned out like this, Flynn became ashamed of himself.

Apart from the suspicion that he was related to the whereabouts of the guild leader, Terzio was the one who told me that there was a teleportation zone with a portal that was not used but still open, and that if someone was trying to escape, they would likely use that place.

If he had been trying to escape, or if he had been planning to smuggle out the guild leader, he would not have told me about that place. If he had known about that place alone, he could have escaped more easily.

Rather, by telling him about it, he was able to arrest the mage of fire who impersonated Leonardo Blaine. And he, who had not shown his face all along, finally appeared at night and confidently received the investigation. In any case, Theo was just a good-natured low-ranking guild member.

“What’s going on?”

As a dignified, low-pitched voice was heard, Flynn, who was apologizing to Theo, looked at the place at the same time. Hugo Agrizendro, the commander, was approaching them, looking at the two of them. Flynn straightened his lowered waist and said to Hugo, touching the back of his head as if a little embarrassed.

“Ah, Commander. I misunderstood this person a bit. I was in the middle of apologizing.”

“Misunderstanding?”

Hugo turned his eyes from Flynn to Terzio. When his gaze reached him, Terzio looked at Hugo with a slightly nervous face and greeted him.

“Ah, hello?”

“The guild member I saw at the tavern….”

“Yes, Commander. This person is Terzio. Delberg guild buries demon beast carcasses in the ground to store them, and I learned about it by getting a hint from what this person said. And this person also told me that there was an unused gate that the mage of fire was trying to escape through.”

“Is that so.”

At Flynn’s words, Hugo stared at Theo.

Brown hair and brown eyes. Terzio, who had light freckles on his face, was much smaller than him and a little taller than Flynn, neither very tall nor very short.

He had a moderately slender body but didn’t look thin, and his face was innocent and somewhat likable, but objectively, he had a fairly ordinary impression.

That’s right. He had such an ordinary face that he wouldn’t even be remembered if he passed by in a flash.

“What misunderstanding did you have?”

“Yes? Ah, well… it’s embarrassing to say….”

As Flynn hesitated to speak with an awkward smile, Hugo looked down at him with sharp eyes. Then, Flynn looked back and forth between Hugo and Terzio, and finally opened his mouth with a forced smile.

“Theo was sleeping in the lodgings and appeared late to receive the investigation, so I suspected that he might be related to the fact that the guild leader was not visible…. Yes, I had such suspicions…. Theo, I’m really sorry again!”

“Ah, no. It’s okay. It’s a reasonable suspicion, well. Haha― But the guild leader hasn’t been seen until now?”

To Theo, who asked back as if he was hearing it for the first time, Flynn nodded and told him about the current situation where the top management had been caught but the guild leader had disappeared.

At that, Hugo quietly looked at Terzio, who was listening to the story. When Theo, who was listening to Flynn’s words with a serious face, felt his gaze and looked up, Hugo took off the gloves he was wearing and held out his hand to him, saying.

“As Flynn Levernill’s superior, I also apologize.”

“Y-Yes? Commander―”

Since the commander himself offered an apology, Flynn felt like he was going to die from embarrassment, shame, and remorse.

As Hugo’s large hand was held out in front of him, Theo looked back and forth between him and his hand, quite surprised. Then, he rubbed his hand on his sleeve and expressed his embarrassment.

As Terzio hesitated and seemed reluctant to shake hands with just one handshake, Hugo raised one eyebrow and said with a slight smile.

“Are you going to embarrass my hand?”