#513 Dragon Hot Springs Murder Case: Solved

“Aghhh! I don’t know!”

I give up.

I can’t figure out the trick, no matter how I try!

“No worries! Besides, you should leave the mystery solving to an actual detective! Readers and watchers should just sit back and relax!”

Talk about blunt...

To begin with, I doubt Veil has even prepared a convincing solution.

I mean, this is a dragon we’re talking about here.

Her kind doesn’t understand the common sense of humans.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she said something like, “The body was tossed into the locked room using dragon strength! Case closed!”

I feel it would be a waste of time to play a deduction game with her kind!

“Hmm? Still nothing, Master? Hmmmmmmm?”

Damn it. She looks so satisfied with herself!

Fine! Let’s see through this till the end!

But if it’s a trick that requires dragon powers to pull off, I’m going to protest like there’s no tomorrow!

“All right, then, gather everyone involved at the crime scene again! The mystery is all clear to me now!”

* * *

Thus, we meet in the room that had been set up as the murder scene.

Among them is Lord Baal, our pretend victim.

...Hold up. He looks like he’s just had a hot bath!

He must have ditched his role and went to soak in the hot spring for a bit.

“I’m sure you’ve all gathered here to watch as the great detective Veil shows off her dragon-colored wit.”

Dragon-colored???

“The case has many peculiarities, to begin with: the locked crime scene, the murder victim, the mysterious murderer, everything is shrouded in mystery.”

She starts acting like a real detective and gives an overview of the case, but she doesn’t sound very smart doing it!

Is this okay? Maybe I should use the stun-gun wristwatch on her?

“But! With the great detective Veil, all mysteries will be solved! In a few moments, I will show you a reenactment of the events that took place in this locked room!”

Veil turns on her heel and walks away.

I wondered where she was going, but she just went to the corner.

What? Is there a secret passage there or something?

Or so I thought, but there was a lever in the shadows.

Without giving me time to wonder about the lever’s existence, Veil moved it, and...

“Ahhh!”

The whole room is shaking!

“Oh? Ohhh?!”

Why do I feel like we’re floating?!

When the shaking stopped, Veil said with a satisfied look, “This is the trick to the locked room!”

“That made no sense!!!”

You simply pulled the lever, and the room shook!

How is this supposed to explain the...

“Dear, look!”

“Huh? What’s wrong, Platy?”

“We’re on the fourth floor!”

Huh? What are you talking about?

The room where the murder occurred was on the fifth floor, right?

“Wait, we really are on the fourth floor!”

The view from the window is from a lower floor, and when I went out into the hallway and looked around, there was a 4F sign on the door!

What the hell is going on?!

“Don’t tell me the shaking in the room just now was...!”

“That’s right, Master!”

Veil moves the lever up this time.

The room shakes again and...

“It’s the fifth floor!”

No way...

Are you telling me the room itself is an elevator, going back and forth between the fourth and fifth floors with a single switch?!

“The murderer used this to create the illusion of a locked room.”

“Okay...?”

“First, the murderer calls the victim to the fourth floor and kills him. After that, he swaps the rooms and ‘moves’ the murder scene to the fifth floor. The murderer can then leave the fourth floor at his leisure.”

By doing so, a locked-room murder is established...!

“I got the idea from the elevator you built, Master! Most of the guests here use the elevator, so you could say I got more inspired from that!”

Wait, what’s more important here is...

“How is there such a huge contraption in the room? The entire room into an elevator! When and how did this happen?!”

“When the inn was still under construction, they ordered the orcs to build it.”

“They... You mean the culprit?!”

The orcs have become our farm’s building maniacs, and building this inn was just an extension of their hobby. 

“They were happy to help because of the complexity of the structure. They said it was worth building!”

Their building skills are getting better and better, I swear!

I had no idea they could make something like this!

“But doesn’t this strike you as foul as a detective case?”

Is a trick still considered fair if the building itself is the secret path?

I might get into a fight if I keep brooding over this, so I should probably stop.

“If they used this makeshift lift to escape, we could narrow down the culprit to some extent,” says Lucife Focale, one of the witnesses. “The Great Demon King was with me until just before he was killed. That means the murder happened after that.”

“Someone’s taking this seriously...”

“After we separated, I went to the Sky Bath on the top floor. But the existence of this trick means the killer would have been on a floor below the fifth. If this room goes between the fifth and fourth floors, then...!”

The murderer must have been somewhere below the fourth floor!

“I was also in the Sky Bath at that time.”

“Junior and I were in the women’s bath. Other people were also there, so you’re free to cross-check with them.”

Sensei and Platy have a rock-solid alibi!

All that’s left is...

“Me?”

That’s right! You’re the culprit, Master!”

W-What?!

I was the only one who was patrolling the inn at the estimated time of the crime, so my alibi isn’t as credible!

I took advantage of that opportunity and killed Lord Baal?!

“I had no choice! He kept trying to poach Aileron and our other skilled craftsmen—it was starting to get on my nervessssss!”

“Wow, he’s really fessing up just like that.”

The victim apathetically whistles from the sides.

Thus, Veil’s first hot-spring mystery game ended with the shocking conclusion that the murderer = me.

“What a sad case this was...”

“Hey, wait a minute.”

Things were just about to be wrapped up beautifully when Platy says, “It’s about the elevator trick... if this room itself moves by raising and lowering a lever, you would also need to operate the same to move the victim from the fourth floor to the fifth floor after committing the murder, right?”

“Well, duh?”

“If this room was locked after the lever was raised, who did the raising?”

“Huh?”

In the end, Veil’s trick was full of holes.

I mean, she even made me the murderer simply because I was the only one without a solid alibi. The trick had nothing to do with it whatsoever. 

“There’s plenty of room for improvement, it seems.”

“I’ll come up with a flawless trick next time, just you watch!” says Veil enthusiastically.

But I guess it was a fun event overall.

It was a great mental workout, and the feeling of being able to play detective provides just the right amount of excitement.

“Then, shall we adopt this as an official activity?”

“No, let’s not.”

This hot spring ryokan was built to relieve the fatigue of visitors.

Even if this activity’s purpose is to have fun, if the guests are too tired to use their bodies and brains, it would be inconsistent with the ryokan’s original concept.

If Veil still wants to go with this activity, I think it would be better to implement it at another event instead.

“Maybe we could try it at this year’s Orkubo’s Castle?”

“Something like, ‘The Tower Keep’s Serial Murders’!”

Wait, no.

I can only imagine that next year’s Orkubo’s Castle will be full of murderous obstacles!