Chapter 106: Murder

A Few Moments Ago (Doppelganger Side)

*****

"And that’s why I think the Felren should be revered as absolute kings—no, more than that, as earthly goddesses. Now here’s the best part: once that happens—" (Itsuki)

"Before you go on, can I ask you something?"

I couldn’t go on like this. I had to put an end to this, or it could go on for the rest of the day.

"Huh? Of course." (Itsuki)

"What about the male Felren? If the women are to be considered goddesses, what about the men?"

"Huh? What are you talking about, little Rina? Among the Felren, there are only female members." (Itsuki)

"...So you’re just going to deny their existence outright (ㆆ_ㆆ)."

Yeah, it seems her love for cats is limited to a specific gender.

I know from Meru and Amy that male Felren exist; and Astan saw some when he went on a date with Iris.

"Denying their existence? What are you talking about?" (Itsuki)

"Ugh, sometimes I don’t know if you’re really faking it or not. Anyway, I disagree with that way of thinking, and I refuse to listen any further."

Anyway, none of that really mattered to me, but it was still a good excuse to stop this conversation.

"Huh? Why? We were getting to the exciting part—" (Itsuki)

"I said I refuse; it goes against my values (ㆆ_ㆆ)."

I’ve already let myself get carried away for two hours. I’m not going to keep this up. I’ve learned that, when it comes to Itsuki, it’s better to be firm, or she’ll just keep going.

Although you also have to give a good reason, or she’ll keep insisting.

Anyway, it’s better to stop her. This was also starting to feel like brainwashing. I almost agreed with her when she said we should deify the Felren... although, if Amy is the representative, I might consider it.

No, let’s not think about that—it’s not worth it... or is it? Hmm...

"With that expression, you look just like Meru." (Itsuki)

"Speaking of her, I really regret now that I didn’t pay more attention to how she seemed to find any excuse to leave two hours ago."

"Ah! Now that you mention it, she hasn’t come back. Did she run into some trouble getting water from the well?" (Itsuki)

"Big sister! You know the whole castle runs on a plumbing system, right? The well’s just for show."

"Heh~ ’big sister’, say that again, little Rina." (Itsuki)

I’d already gotten so close to Itsuki that, at some point, to gain even more of her trust, I asked if I could call her "big sister."

Iris does this all the time, and it always works for her—and she was right: Itsuki seemed over the moon about the suggestion.

"Big sister, that wasn’t the point I was making."

"Huhuhu~ that’s right, I’m your big sister." (Itsuki)

Yeah, when she got like that, it was hard to reason with her.

Anyway, it was a huge advantage, since calling her "big sister" before any conversation got her to open up very easily.

But that lecture on the excellence of the Felren was something I wish I hadn’t heard.

I think Astan would have handled it easily, but right now I have Iris inside me, and she hates long explanations and lectures with every fiber of her being.

The truth is, I don’t understand what happened.

The last time, when things were happening with Rose after the fusion: nothing happened.

But now, when we synced up, for some reason I was affected too.

I don’t know if it’s because of the difference between synchronization and fusion, or because this time, due to the Amy situation, I was paying attention to that side and got affected.

I’ll need to check next time.

Well, now that I’ve endured that tedious lecture, what can I ask about all these things?

As always, I started asking her all sorts of questions. By throwing in "big sister" whenever I could, she spilled everything without any trouble.

She also had no limits when it came to gossip and such, and she spilled everything with astonishing ease.

I don’t know how she does it, since every time I see her she’s here at the apothecary, but her information network is very good, and every day she has a lot of great information.

And as always, I gathered everything for the sake of my lovely Amy. By this point, I already knew the structure of the harem and many other things, including information about those who were bothering Amy—among them Stella, who was already on my blacklist.

I already knew a lot about her and her connections—I even knew her habits—and I was just looking for an opportunity to deal with her effectively and discreetly.

"yes, it turns out that Mrs. Raiko after that— Huh? Do you hear that? There’s some kind of commotion." (Itsuki)

At that moment, Itsuki stopped telling me the gossip—which, coincidentally, was the continuation of what had happened with Mrs. Raiko’s and her incestuous family .

I noticed her ears twitching, as if they were picking up a sound.

She seemed to be listening to something, but my hearing wasn’t that good, and I couldn’t hear a thing.

"Is something wrong, big sister?"

"Ahem! Well, I heard something coming from that direction. There’s some shouting and commotion. Hmm, I think something big is happening. Oh, but here comes someone who can clear things up." (Itsuki)

"Huh? What do you mean, big sister—?"

Placck!

Before she could finish, the apothecary’s door swung open. The one who walked in was none other than Meru.

"This is bad!" (Meru)

"Oh! Just in time, Meru. Tell us what happened in the other courtyard." (Itsuki)

"No gossip! This is actually serious. There was a murder—" (Meru)

"Oh, a murder? Which concubine lost her mind and went off the rails again? Was it that crazy Miyako? Besides, why are you so worked up? That’s not all that unusu— Wait!, was it a maid we knew?" (Itsuki)

At first, Itsuki seemed calm, and she actually has her reasons. I’ve only been here a few days, but I’ve already heard of two deaths during that time.

Usually, they’re maids or other servants.

The reason is simple: they don’t do what the concubine wants.

Sometimes there doesn’t even need to be a reason—a concubine just does it.

Here, it’s no big deal if a concubine kills a maid, as long as the maid doesn’t have powerful backing.

Anyway, it seemed like Itsuki was starting to worry that the one who died this time was someone she knew, but...

"No, the one who died was a concubine! This is really serious. A specialized investigation team has been activated." (Meru)

Yeah, it seemed like the situation was bigger than we thought. I really could only stay silent and listen.

I myself didn’t understand the magnitude of this event.

"Huh! A concubine? This is really big. It’s been over three years since something like this happened. No wonder there’s such a commotion." (Itsuki)

"You know, this is even more serious because she was one of the king’s favorites. The one who died was Concubine Stella."

"Hey! Who beat me to it!?" (x2)

Two voices rang out the moment the name of the murdered woman was revealed.

"..."

"..."

Itsuki and I looked at each other. Evidently, the sudden news had caused my thoughts to slip out unintentionally.

After all, one of my main targets was that wretch who hurt my lovely Amy. The fact that she was dead angered me.

I felt she’d gotten off too easy, but apparently I wasn’t the only one with those thoughts.

"What did you two just say?" (Meru)

"Ahem! I didn’t say anything, and little Rina didn’t either. Anyway, go on. What’s going on?" (Itsuki)

"No! I swear I just heard that—ugh! Well, whatever. The point is, the king is really furious and deeply involved. You know, the investigators aren’t the usual group of eunuchs; I heard they have all kinds of skills for tracking down and finding the culprits—some of them are even men. The king gave them permission to enter; it’s the first time something like this has ever happened." (Meru)

Well, it’s true that it seems like a big deal.

It’s lucky that it doesn’t directly involve us or anything like that—or so I thought—but...

"Ah! People have entered the courtyard of the Fifth Queen’s estate. They’re questioning the servants... oh, now they’re coming this way; they seem to be in a hurry."(Itsuki)

Bang!

Not long after Itsuki said that, the door burst open again, and without a moment’s hesitation, a group of ten men and women stormed in.

One of them quickly stepped forward and looked at the three of us.

"Rank-two masseuse, rank-three bird trainer—take her away. She might come in handy. And the last one... ugh! H-her profession is..."When the one who seemed able to identify professions from a distance noticed Meru’s profession, he motioned for another to take her, but when he got to Itsuki, he acted strangely.

"Stop. She’s from the Blue Fox family. They’re exempt from the investigation. I’ve already checked their mana signatures—none match those found at the scene. Although that girl’s isn’t registered, she must be new."

"Register her... okay, let’s not waste time. Let’s continue."

And before I knew it, another officer approached me with a strange device that he placed on my hand, as if taking my fingerprints or something like that, and then immediately walked away.

They didn’t ask for permission or consent, and just as quickly as they’d arrived, it seemed they intended to leave.

"Wait, why are you taking Meru away?" (Itsuki)

"We’re sorry, miss, but we can’t waste any time. But I assure you, we’re not taking that girl because she’s a suspect—it’s just that her profession might be useful right now. That’s all."

The leader apologized briefly to Itsuki and finally left with the rest, who had already disappeared.

"Big sister, will she be okay?"

"Ugh! I really don’t know. Damn it, it had to be Stella of all people. She was basically the leader of the concubines and the king’s favorite mistress." (Itsuki)

"Why did they come to us instead of checking elsewhere? What did they do to me?"

"I don’t know exactly. Maybe they’re looking for the murderer among the servants. From what they said, they’re looking for a specific mana signature. Here, you have to register your mana signature every three months to prevent spies and such. You hadn’t done it yet, so they quickly made you do it. You didn’t have anything wrong with you, so nothing happened." (Itsuki)

"I see, Big Sister. I have one more question. Will they do to the concubines and queens what they did to us? Do they also know the queens’ mana signatures?"

"Normally not, but Stella was the first concubine, and, ugh... they’ll probably even check on the concubines if they don’t find anything among the servants. But no, they don’t record the signatures of any of the concubines or queens." (Itsuki)

"Huh? Why don’t they?"

"Because all the concubines have blood from important and noble houses, and you know, mana signatures are only taken for situations like these, where a crime has occurred, and having a mana signature taken means they’re viewed as a potential criminal. That’s something the pride of many houses wouldn’t allow, which is why there’s no record. But, from what I saw, there’s a guy with a skill to compare and record accurately in real time." (Itsuki)

"Ah! And if they don’t find anyone among the concubines, will they go after the five queens?"

"No, they shouldn’t, but Her Highness, the Fifth Queen... doesn’t have much influence. Besides, it doesn’t take much investigation to find out that she and Stella don’t get along. Even so, there’s a powerful house behind her, but the king, in a fit of anger and impatience, might give the order to search her." (Itsuki)

"I see... Well, it’s fortunate that it’s impossible for Her Highness the Fifth Queen to do something like that. Anyway, I’ll go see how she’s doing. Maybe this whole situation is stressing her out a bit, and she’ll need my services."

"Oh, that’s a good idea. Having someone close by is nice. I really envy you! That you’re able to touch her so often and—" (Itsuki)

I stopped listening to what Itsuki was saying.

I left the apothecary. I needed to alert the other side that a potential problem had arisen on this side.