Book 8: Chapter 10: Yuan and Heidi (1/2)
”A self-poisoning, huh?” muttered Louis in a low voice, prompting the head warden sitting across from him to nod once with a pale face.
What awaited Louis Miller when he returned home after leaving the mansion of the [Star Oracle Witch] was a report of the fake Pittman, the assassin who broke into Serendia Academy, which had killed himself with a hidden poison. Thus, even after having just returned home in the middle of the night, he flew with his flight spell to the prison and summoned the person in charge, after a bit of choking up of the guard who was speaking nonsense telling Louis to come back again in the morning since it's night now.
The middle-aged man who served as the chief warden of this prison trembled pathetically the moment he heard the Seven Sages had called him, which couldn't help but prompted him to answer Louis' question honestly.
”When did you find the body?”
”Earlier this afternoon… a patrol guard found him.”
”You said it was a self-poisoning, but did you find any eyewitness who saw him took the poison?”
”N-No, sir. The cell across from it just happened to be empty…”
”Have any of the other prisoners noticed anything unusual?”
”There's no sign of it either…”
Nodding his head with a ”hmm,” Louis recalled in his mind the structure of the prison he had checked before coming here. Instead of facing each other, the cells in this prison were built to be next to each other, making it difficult for prisoners to check on each other's cell conditions.
”When you imprisoned that man, did you not check his belongings?”
The warden's face turned beet red at Louis' question, causing him to refute in a desperate manner with his spits flying over.
”W-We did! We have checked it very carefully! That man certainly didn't bring any poison with him…”
”But in reality, he was dead.”
”W-Well… I…”
Louis considered a few cases in his mind before reaching two major possibilities. Either the imprisoned man was carrying poison by some means and committed suicide, or someone killed him to keep his mouth shut. Thinking that the latter seemed more likely, he asked the chief warden to show him the man's body.
The chief warden was getting nervous, but he still led Louis to the basement. Apparently, they were using one of the rooms in the basement as a morgue for the body.
The body lying on the floor was that of a man in his mid-twenties. He was told that his appearance, which resembled that of Minerva's teacher, Eugene Pittman, was not the result of any makeup or disguise. That was confirmed when he was captured.
Looking at the way he dressed in his prison uniform was pretty crude. It bothered Louis.
”Chief Warden. Did you take off his clothes right after he died?”
”N-no, not particularly, but I believe it remains exactly as it was when it was first discovered…”
Then it's strange, thought Louis, furrowing his brow. The way the prisoner's clothes were worn was a little too crude. The front and back of his pants were reversed, and it didn't reach all the way up to his waist.
… it looks as if someone put it on him after he died.
Suddenly, a possibility crossed his mind, and Louis thoroughly examined the condition of the body. He had some knowledge of autopsy, but admittedly, with the level of medicine in this country, it was difficult to determine the exact time of death.
——Still, distinguishing between someone who has been dead for half a day and someone who has been dead for a few days was something he could do.
”Chief Warden, how was the real Eugene Pittman murdered?”
”According to his statement, he took advantage of the fact that Eugene Pittman was on his way to Serendia Academy to participate in the chess tournament, and killed him by drowning him with water magic. He then stripped him and dumped him in the river…”
”So, you still haven't found the body of the real Eugene Pittman?”
After seeing the Chief Warden nod, Louis was convinced.
The real Pittman was killed by drowning—that's the only information available to them from the killer's statement.
What if Pittman had really been killed in a different way? …such as poisoning.
Louis looked down at the body in front of him with a bitter look on his face.
”I am pretty sure that the cause of death of this body is poisoning. However, this is not a body that has been dead for half a day… this is the actual Eugene Pittman.”
”…what?”
”I presume they were using ice magic to prevent the body from decomposing.”
Turning his gleaming, razor-sharp eyes on the uncomprehending warden, Louis posed a single question.
”Have there been any outsiders in or out of the building today?”
”N-now, that you mention it… there's a trader who delivers food to prisoners…”
”That trader must be his accomplice. He/she probably carried the real Pittman's body into the cell, faked the fake Pittman's suicide, before letting him out.”
＊ ＊ ＊
A covered wagon was moving down the street, despite the fact that it was late at night. A young girl with short black hair was seated in the driver's seat wearing a hooded cloak. Under the cloak was a fresh face with no makeup and eyebrows set in a dignified expression.
Just then, a young man emerged from the wagon behind her. He gave the impression of calm, unreliable, and gentle—it was Eugene Pittman, Minerva's teacher… nay, it was the man who stole his face.
Keeping her gaze forward, the woman opened her mouth.
”Yuan, please remain inside. There may be people who are already aware of your escape.”