Chương 310: Real Clues

Instead of going back to her body, Binibelle found herself faced with what she would usually feel when using her investigative spells.

"It worked" Binibelle had been confident in herself, but it had nonetheless been quite the spooky experience to let herself fall into this strange void. She was fairly certain that this weird empty space in between realms wasn't even a documented phenomenon, but she had noticed that the crow had latched something onto her, and she was able to reason that it had placed her and itself into some sort of rule-based scenario where it would be able to beat her to gain an advantage.

Alas for the corvid creature, its plan had failed, and it wouldn't be able to exert as much control over what the halfling would see as it would have liked.

"Alright, what do we have here?" Binibelle found herself as an invisible force inside a brightly lit room with walls made of stone. Looking back, she spotted a hatch, which was enough to be certain of where she was.

"This is where Adem's body was found… What significance does this place hold, though?" If Binibelle were to assume that Mara was the one who had killed him–Which was likely regardless of which scenario she wanted to go with–Then, it might mean that Adem had a stronger link to the case than what appeared at a glance.

"... Actually, something is weird…" Binibelle almost thought that the crow had managed to do something despite it all, but instead, she soon discovered that her spell had certainly been more effective than expected, as she went from a non-corporeal state to being in her own body inside of this vision of sorts, and she found herself capable of interacting with the environment around her.

"Ah, is this some sort of treasure hunt?" She began opening the drawers of old pieces of furniture that seemed to be made of as much dust as wood. The closest wall full of clothes that fell apart at just a touch, for the most part. Adem was known to have lived a life of poverty, and even renting this basement was barely within his means with the salary he got at Harvey's Diner. However, this was not normal, nonetheless…

All of his belongings were said to have been taken away by investigators back then, so the scene she was witnessing was not one accurate to reality in any way, and it instead seemed as though the halfling was made to perform her own investigation. Unfortunately, this very basement had long since fallen into ruins in reality.

When she had finally managed to track it down, she had discovered that it hadn't just been empty of evidence or clue, but also that a house had been built on top of it, with the residents not even knowing that there was a basement beneath their home.

"Unless birdie somehow managed to mess things up, then I am supposed to find something hidden here. A clue that was lost or missed by investigators? Did the killer hide something somewhere and take it away once the case went cold? Or is this just a mere scenario in reference to the case, and what I am looking for is a clue to something unrelated to Adem himself?" Binibelle knew not to make assumptions when casting her spells to try to find answers about this case.

Things had been confusing due to the meddling of Mara's living innate ability… She had seen alternate realities, mirages manifested by the corvid in an attempt to misdirect her while making it seem like she was seeing things that mattered, and in some way, some had indeed been enlightening, but only in ways her investigative, and perhaps somewhat insane, mind could figure out. This might be the first real time she had the occasion to defeat the field of disturbance, and she did not intend on wasting it…

The short detective checked every possible nook and cranny, even moving furniture, until she finally discovered something that most certainly hadn't been there in reality–There was a gaping hole behind the closet, and inside of it was a strange skull melded with countless other skulls. It was a curious discovery, but most importantly, there was a skeletal hand holding a piece of paper. Three words. Two spaces. It is a variant.

These three sentences were all that was written upon it, but the momentary confusion gave way to a gasp as Binibelle quickly realised that this was a clue relating to the mysterious cypher.

"By the gods…" It might not seem like much, but it was a lot of intel.

"So… Despite all the letters being spaced in the same manner, there are actually three words, and thus, two spaces" The first two sentences went together, as one implied the other, but together they made it quite obvious what they were talking about. As 'Two Spaces' alone might have pointed to two rooms or areas if one thought far enough about it, which Binibelle definitely would have done. In any case, it was already a big help, but the third hint…

"A variant? Is it about the word it decrypts into… Does it mean that the answer is a variant of something? Wait a minute…" She had missed a little something at the end of the third sentence… There was a small 'X' and '2' at the end of it, written in smaller text.

"Times two?" This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. In her eyes, it meant that there were two things about the cypher that were variants of something.

"It could be… The answer… The… The cypher itself? Oh…" The dark spectre had mentioned that the cypher was probably one that required a key to solve. Then, perhaps it meant that the cypher used was a variant of the basic kind that required a key… Or so Binibelle theorised, if the shadowy ghost's idea was correct, then it might also mean that the key used is a variant of something as well.

However, there are only two variants mentioned, and she has three ideas, all of which were possibilities that she would deem equally as likely. She doubted that the hints would be simple, or that they themselves might not try to point her in a wrong direction. Despite managing to get one up on the corvid, the answers she was getting here weren't clear. They had been hidden, and one of the sentences could be interpreted to mean several things.

Clearly, no matter what, Binibelle hadn't been able to completely defeat the crow this round. The field of disturbance was still active, even if much weaker than usual.

"Just how strong is this ability of hers?" It was a question that didn't need answer. Her ability could talk and could manifest itself into some sort of physical body, it was obviously ridiculously powerful.

"Could there be anything else around?" Having already moved every piece of furniture and opened all that could be opened, Binibelle tentatively used a dangerously creaking chair to get closer to a wooden support beam. This was from where the rope that had been tied around Adem's neck had been hanging from when his corpse was discovered. She was even able to spot the marks of the rope as it had bitten into the wood. Clearly, the rope had been fastened quite strongly…

Frankly, Adem might have been able to survive as the beam was frankly not very well installed. Even without wear and tear, a man heavier or stronger than him could have broken free. Though if it was Mara that was to blame for his demise, then Binibelle was quite confident that she had stayed and watched him suffocate to death. If he had even still been alive when hung. It wasn't unlikely that she would have choked him with the ropes beforehand, at least enough that he wouldn't be able to struggle.

Just as she touched the beam. The halfling slapped her own forehead.

"Am I silly?" She was here in her own body instead of an invisible presence. She could actually cast spells. She could feel her mana flow throughout her own body. Her reserves were quite small as she poured a lot into the initial spell, and had lost some in her confrontations with the monstrous bird, but she wasn't an expert mage merely in name. She knew how to conserve mana when casting spells.

She typically used a lot because she had a large reserve and could get away with empowering her spells excessively, but if need be, she could be conservative of her mana without issue. As though the influence of the corvid could no longer intervene, her spell worked surprisingly well, soon manifesting three figures. One was that of Adem, back against the wall. While the other two stood before the small stairs that were the only exit out of this basement. One of the figures was obscured.

This was the figure that Binibelle supposed was meant to be Mara, or the killer–Or perhaps both. More surprising was the third person, who was easy to recognise as Wilston, the owner of Harvey's Diner. A man with a big belly, a very impressive moustache, and remembered as a man of poor business acumen.

"W-Wait! I swear I won't say anything! I'll keep my mouth shut, I promise!"

"What are you even talking about, Adem?! Do you not realise what you've done?!"

"What? I did nothing! I-It wasn't me, I swear! Wasn't it one of you?!"

"Obviously, he's just trying to trick us. He'll definitely try to shift the blame away from himself. There is no point in negotiating with him""But… ERQNPGRQ, what do you mean we can't negotiate with him? We just need to bring him to the authorities to clear our names and clear the restaurant of responsibilities""Are you as stupid as you are fat, Wilston? The diner is responsible. Isn't Adem your favourite employee? Everyone thinks he's your son, with how much you praise him all the time…

Besides, he can drag us down by running his lying, murdering mouth""... Let me handle this" The obscured figure brought out the rope, and there was nothing that Adem could do to defend himself. He was grabbed in a chokehold and slowly pushed to unconsciousness before the rope was tied around his neck… Within just a few minutes, his lifeless body hung from the beam, and Wilston had only watched in horror the entire time.

"Let's go""W-Won't this be a problem?" The wide-bodied man sounded calm, but his face indicated that he was anything but in his normal state. He was in shock and would probably break down later when the full weight of the situation fell on him. The vision ended, and Binibelle could only scratch her chin.

"That's why Wilston needed to die, huh? He showed himself to be a potential liability…" The halfling–If she could trust what she had just witnessed–Had just learned something quite important. Adem had seemed not to have killed anyone. If she assumed that he was panicked because the five girls were killed or had gone missing completely, then this exchange, coupled with his rather overt body language and known behaviour as a spineless man…

It meant that he had been under the impression that the other two had done something unplanned, while the other two came to him with the belief that he was the one to blame. Of course, it was highly likely that one of the two that showed up was messing around, and if it was the case, it was definitely the obscured one. Wilston was a bad businessman. Everyone agreed on this, and his track record was quite clear on the subject as well. He was bad at negotiating and would crumple under little pressure.

Binibelle struggled to see him capable of killing anyone. He had shown himself to be easily fearful and certainly lacked the guts to even hit someone. It was shown quite splendidly by how he reacted to Adem's death. He was utterly frozen in shock until the other figure spoke to him again. That man would have broken down before he could have even killed one of the girls. Meaning that the killer was likely to be the obscured figure, who was likely to be Mara Nebulo.

Wilston would meet his end in an oddly similar manner to Adem, which would lead the investigators back then, unable to put a dent in the field of interference, to assume that they had hung themselves in either guilt or fear of justice. It was a normal assumption, especially considering how clean the killing had been. Adem had been restrained and made unconscious with great care not to leave marks that wouldn't be covered by the ropes.

If Binibelle had been on the case back then and her ability had been blocked, she could only have come to this same conclusion. Well, official conclusion, at least…

"I need to find more of those steel monsters" As she said this, the spell ended, and she found herself standing in the exact same spot as before in her inn room, but now she felt sick. …She used too much mana in a short period of time. She would need to lie down for a while…