Fate: Question And Answer System of Traversing Heroic Spirits

["When magic is involved as the murder weapon, any cause of death is possible."]

[Reines murmured, "If that's the case, then the creation of the sealed room might also be a clue."]

[Inorai: "I see. You're suggesting the sealed room was formed unintentionally?"]

[Reines: "Yes. In detective novels, sealed rooms are often used to obscure clues pointing to the murderer. Since it's theoretically impossible for anyone to commit the crime, it becomes impossible to catch the culprit."]

["However, since all the suspects here are magi, that reasoning is meaningless."]

Emiya Kiritsugu: "Indeed. For a magus criminal, there's no real need for a sealed room."

Tohsaka Tokiomi: "Could it be that, similar to what we saw in yesterday's incident, they used something like a Mystic Eye to kill from a distance?"

Kayneth: "Unlikely. This case happened before that one. If the methods were the same, it would've been obvious when the body was discovered."

Sisigou: "There are countless bizarre magical techniques in this world. At this point, nothing should be surprising."

[After thinking for a long time, Reines still couldn't come up with anything substantial.]

[She really wasn't cut out to be a detective.]

[However, it wasn't a complete failure—she did notice something unusual.]

[There was no mirror in the room.]

[Any woman would usually have at least one mirror in her room. But in the Golden Princess's chambers, not a single mirror could be found.]

[Inorai: "At this point, maybe she didn't want to see her own reflection anymore."]

[Reines: "But wouldn't someone as beautiful as her normally take pride in their appearance?"]

["Hahaha, I see where you're coming from, but that's just the arrogance of youth."]

[Inorai quipped, "When you get to my age, you'd rather avoid mirrors altogether. You might even regret not getting cosmetic enhancements when you were younger."]

[Reines: "…What?"]

["Haha, I was just joking."]

[Inorai chuckled and added, "Although, if I told you I still spend thirty minutes every day staring into a mirror, would you believe me?"]

["No, sorry. I couldn't help teasing you."]

Waver: "Another clue. No mirror?"

Fiore: "Even if she didn't want to see her own face, you'd expect her to have one available for practical reasons."

Caules: "Maybe the maids were instructed to handle it. After all, her maids likely followed her throughout the day."

Fiore: "That's possible."

[Afterwards, Inorai once again brought up the matter of acquiring El-Melloi, but Reines skillfully deflected the conversation.]

[Following that, Reines mentioned the Golden Princess's visit to her the previous night.]

["I see. That does sound plausible."]

[Inorai nodded, commenting, "In my opinion, the Golden Princess's achievements are quite remarkable. It's not unusual for methods that worked previously to fail when the stage changes. As for Lord Byron, he's hardly a clever man."]

["Then perhaps the Silver Princess might know something."]

[Reines: "Would you mind assisting us in a two-on-one interrogation?"]

[Inorai: "I'm afraid I can't. If I get too involved, it would blur the line between public and private matters. After all, I'm only here as your monitor this time."]

Kayneth: "Hmph, this woman doesn't miss any opportunity, does she?"

Sola-ui: "You should be thankful that Lady Inorai isn't more aggressive. If it were any other Lord, they would've used this chance to attack and forcibly annex El-Melloi."

Kayneth: "You expect me to be grateful to someone who's exploiting my misfortune?"

Sisigou: "The only person who might know anything at this point is the Silver Princess, but if Reines tries questioning her, I doubt she'll get much."

Tohsaka Tokiomi: "Agreed. She's still not quite up to par."

[Gray suddenly murmured, "...When did it start?"]

[Reines: "What are you talking about?"]

["Ah! No, I mean the Golden Princess."]

[Gray was startled that her musing had been overheard, but she continued, "Of course, she may have been beautiful since childhood, but people's appearances change as they grow older..."]

[Reines sighed and replied, "Gray, remember the Adela case in Peel City? My brother once explained the psychological preparation required for investigations. Do you think ordinary reasoning applies to magi?"]

[Gray: "Uh, the 'Whydunit' (motive) and 'Howdunit' (method) often don't mean much in cases involving magi."]

["However, the motive might be an exception."]

[Reines: "Exactly. That's the point."]

Waver: "The Adela case in Peel City? Why is another case being brought up now?"

Kayneth: "Peel City? What happened there?"

[He did have some acquaintance with Geryon Ashburn, the current Lord of Peel City.]

Tohsaka Rin: "With all these cases piling up, I feel like I'm going to end up as a detective myself."

Chihiro: "Waver, maybe you should switch careers early."

Waver: "Spare me, please. I don't want to deal with this mess."

["Master, the arrangement is complete."]

[Trimmau reported that she had pieced the Golden Princess's body back together like a puzzle.]

[Everything was accounted for; no parts were missing.]

[Reines: "It seems there was no inherent magical seal. However, considering the Golden Princess and the Silver Princess were essentially created through magic, it's possible the seal was retained by Byron, who cast the spell."]

["Hmm?"]

[As she examined the body, Reines's Mystic Eyes suddenly reacted, pointing her to a corner near the damaged door.]

[Reines approached, carefully running her fingers along the fragments of the door and the floor, and discovered something stuck to her fingers.]

["Is this some kind of powder? It stings my eyes, which means it must have magical properties. But given that this is a magus's residence, it's not entirely unexpected."]

["What's wrong?"]

[Gray and Inorai both came over, curious.]

[Reines: "Nothing."]

[She discreetly collected some of the powder in a handkerchief, keeping her discovery to herself.]

Sisigou: "Good, another clue. And it seems like a critical one."

Darnic: "At this stage, it's smart not to share your findings with others so easily."

Kotomine Shirou: "If we can figure out the nature of this magical powder, it might point us in the right direction."

[After completing the investigation, Reines decided to return to her room to organize her thoughts.]

[Upon returning, Gray's stomach growled.]

[With everything that had happened that morning, neither of them had eaten breakfast yet.]

[However, given the circumstances, neither of them dared to touch the food provided by the Iselma household.]

[Seeing this, Reines took out some canned food and dried rations from her bag and handed them to Gray. She even brought her own drinking water.]

[Gray: "Miss Reines, do you always carry things like this with you?"]

[Reines: "Before I inherited El-Melloi, I spent much of my life on the run. It became a habit to carry the bare essentials, just in case."]

["Eeheehee, another murder case! Maybe it's the work of a ghost! No, no, being possessed by a ghost is perfectly normal. As an elite gravekeeper in England, it's only natural for a magus to be cursed by their surroundings! Ugh, ugh, ugh!"]

[In the middle of the conversation, Add couldn't hold back his sarcastic remarks and was, of course, promptly shut down by Gray.]

The Rebellious Knight: "I didn't notice before, but his tone sounds awfully familiar."

Lancelot: "...Kay."

Mordred: "Yeah, it's just like that loudmouth. His tone is exactly the same!"

"Kay, my brother..."

Artoria also thought of the older brother who had always supported and protected her since childhood.

Whenever the three of them—Artoria, Merlin, and Kay—traveled together, it was always Kay who cleaned up the messes left behind by her and Merlin.

Though sharp-tongued and quick to criticize, Kay was a knight everyone could rely on.

The way Add spoke was uncannily similar to Kay.

"…"

Seeing Artoria lost in thought, Chihiro decided not to spoil anything for her. Add's personality was, after all, modeled after Kay.

Anyway, the next video should be released soon, probably within a day or two, covering the "Atlas Contract" chapter. Everything would be revealed then, and Artoria would get to see Kay again, albeit in the video.

Whether Kay would join the chat group remained uncertain. That guy had always been unpredictable.

Still, considering even the First Emperor of pan-human history had joined, there was no reason Kay couldn't as long as the timing was right.

[As Reines and Gray finished eating and were preparing to discuss their next steps, Trimmau suddenly issued a warning.]

[It was a signal—someone was approaching.]

["Excuse me?"]

[Sure enough, the next moment, the black leather door swung open without so much as a knock.]

[It was Mick, the man who had previously accused Reines.]

["You know, it's quite rude to barge in uninvited."]

[Reines narrowed her eyes and asked, "What do you want?"]

[Mick: "Apologies. Did you hear any strange noises just now? Something like a wildcat being thrown out of its cage?"]

[Reines: "...No. You're overthinking it."]

[That loudmouth Add was making too much noise.]

Tohsaka Rin: "Even if you heard strange noises, you can't just barge into a girl's room without permission. What kind of manners are those?"

Kayneth: "This is absurd. No one respects El-Melloi anymore."

Waver: "Ultimately, it's because you left a massive debt when you passed away."

Kayneth: "Are you an idiot? Do you think they'd pass up the chance to annex the El-Melloi faction even if there weren't any debts involved?"