Lir Nightingale, the suspect in the Elder murder case.
She became Ruskynia's Yeirling about 10 years ago. The one who made Lir a Yeirling was her mother, Lily, who became an Ain around the same time. It is said that Ruskynia's 'experiment' was behind the mother and daughter becoming an Ain and Yeirling respectively.
After that, Lily was executed while trying to flee the duchy with some citizens. The citizens who fled with her were put to the Crushing Press.
...Crushing Press?
Wondering what that was, I looked around, but there was no explanation. It must be common sense in the Fog Duchy that doesn't need explaining. Forcing myself to ignore the ominous feeling from the word, I flipped through the documents. The first page only contained objective facts, but from the next page onwards, subjective judgments and testimonies were mixed in.
If so, I'll just skim through from here. I can verify subjective judgments and testimonies myself.
Because my telepathy is several times more accurate than written words.
"Father, how is the new mother this time? Do you like her?"
"She's better than a self-proclaimed daughter who keeps thinking about selling me off somewhere."
Hilde, who had sniffed it out like a ghost and come looking, hovered around me.
"Aw, you like it too, Father~. Just move your body a little and you get two nations for free, right?"
"I would have liked it if nations were actually edible. Since I can't eat them, I'm not too inclined to do it."
"You say that as if you're not interested. Do you really think you can find the Demon God without the help of a nation?"
"I'd like to say 'enough', just like I've done so far, but..."
It's hard to deny.
Just taking the Abyss for example, I had to risk my life to approach it. In the process, if things went wrong, the plan would be derailed or my body would be in danger.
The Golden Duke of the Nations and Claudia's Lightning Thief were the same. It's difficult enough for me alone to brave this rugged land and safely approach the heart of the Demon God, let alone where is the guarantee that I'll make it out in one piece? I barely managed to survive by relying on Tir and the Regressor.
"It will be difficult to approach the future Demon God from the standpoint of a mere individual. I'll review it positively."
"Hehe. I'll look forward to it!"
"Don't expect too much. I haven't shown you anything, so I don't know what you're expecting so much."
"That's because you're the King of Humans, Father!"
"When was that? The era when the King of Humans was a king ended in the first year. I'm an ordinary human."
Although he was the King of Humans, he was a being who was once denied his kingship, torn to pieces, and lost all his power. That's not me, but if the King of Humans could really have achieved a peaceful and prosperous era, he wouldn't have been betrayed. If things had gone as they did in the first year, the nation would have been torn apart.
Hilde herself was overflowing with more confidence than I was.
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"The King of Humans, Father, can become 'any human' in the truest sense, can't you?"
...Could she possibly know about my telepathy? I read her mind, but fortunately, she didn't. She just purely had a baseless faith in me.
"For the sake of a perfect nation, Yuel had no choice but to trim and use all humans like bricks. But you don't need to do that, Father, do you? Whether it's a great hero or a street thug, you wouldn't mind, would you? You're the only one who can unite all kinds of humans into one!"
"You're pretending not to know! Just having Shey and Tirkanjaka in the same space is already an achievement close to a great deed!"
Why is that. Those two used to get along well. It's the story from the previous round when I wasn't there, though.
"To return to the Military Nation, we'll have to investigate the murder case of the Fog Duchy first. The faster we figure out the truth, the faster the trial will end. Hilde, you used the Military Nation's intelligence agency as your limbs, right? Do you know anything?"
"What 'I' know is the same as what you know, Father~. You know where 'my' information came from~."
Hilde snatched the documents from my hand and flipped through dozens of pages, reading them quickly.
"The Military Nation had a system in place, so it acquired information independently to some extent, but to get information outside the nation, it had no choice but to rely on 'power'~. But the Fog Duchy cannot be seen with power."
"For someone who says that, you put Tirkanjaka in when making Tantalus."
"She was sleeping outside the duchy, wasn't she? Yuel is also uncomfortable when darkness is surging in one corner of the nation~."
True to someone who was the head of the intelligence agency, her ability to collect and analyze information was no joke. Hilde read through the documents in an instant and said.
"No matter how I look at it, Lir Nightingale is suspicious, isn't she? Even if this were the Military Nation, we would have arrested her first~. Is there anything more to investigate?"
"That's exactly the point. I don't like that."
"You've had a rebellious streak since birth~. I can see why they call you a barbarian."
Slap. Hilde closed the documents with a sound and asked with a grin.
"Then, who do you suspect the most, Father?"
"Of course, I also suspect this vampire. It's clear that this vampire is deeply connected to the death of the late Ruskynia. However."
I read her mind, so I know she's not the culprit. But all the circumstances are driving her to be the culprit. It's unnatural.
In other words, someone... framed it.
"Indeed, did she do all this by herself?"
When I subtly threw out the topic, Hilde also caught it as if she had been waiting.
"There's a mastermind~?"
"It's a hypothesis worth suspecting, isn't it?"
"Rather, I doubt your guts, Father~. You're going to look for the mastermind of the Elder murder case in the Fog Duchy? If they're capable of harming an Elder and framing a Yeirling, they must be at least an Elder, right? And a madman who lies calmly in front of the Progenitor?"
That's pretty crazy. But.
I smiled and asked back.
"Aren't you curious?"
"Heh~."
Hilde also seemed a little itchy, needlessly tapping the documents and groaning.
She was someone who dealt with deep and dark information even in the Military Nation. Hilde believed facts over circumstances. Even though Lir was at a disadvantage circumstantially, it was realistically close to impossible for a Yeirling to kill an Elder. Even if Lir was a genius who transcended the other limits of the Blood Thread Art, it was the same.
She's completely on board.
"Let's go ask a nearby Elder first."
"Investigating an Elder~. Even ten lives wouldn't be enough~."
"Lives are always in short supply. Just like money."
Like that, the small investigation squad consisting of me and Hilde moved to find an Elder.
The Fog Duchy is adjacent to the sea.
One side of the nation is the sea. The other side is a mountain range. A land where humid air creates fog all year round.
It can't be said to be a land suitable for living. Tigers appear in the mountains, and Sea Fiends rampage in the sea. The hungry tigers, perhaps tired of sheep, occasionally make humans their dessert, and when a Sea Fiend stretches once, storms sweep across the entire coastline. The mountains and the sea are treasure troves of resources, but the gatekeepers guarding the troves are so powerful that they threaten survival instead. Trying to farm on the small amount of land available, now the fog is causing trouble.
It was because of such a land that vampires could establish a nation, and humans could accept the rule of vampires. Vampires dug into the treasure troves with their power and gifted the treasures to humans.
Thanks to this, the humans of the duchy obtained pastures and tidal flats. In particular, the tidal flats, where lost items of the sea washed up in abundance, were the duchy's greatest resource.
About an hour's distance east from the Castle of the Full Moon. A wide expanse of mud flats lay there. On this land soaked with saltwater, washed-up seashells and sea mustard were scattered all over the place. Hundreds of humans held baskets and rakes, busy picking up clams and seaweed.
Does money come out if you dig the ground? No, on the tidal flats, money just falls. A land that realizes a miraculous economy where you make money just by picking things up.
The one managing this wide tidal flat was....
"There's not much time left until high tide! Move quickly, you lazy bums!!"
It was Kabila.
It's rare for an Elder to work in person. A noble and ruler of the Fog Duchy. As soon as she arrived at the Castle of the Full Moon, diligently, she came straight here. And with a sullen expression, arms crossed, she was holding down and scolding a human.
"You're picking that up to give to us? That's feed for you to eat! Pick them up with all your heart! If you're this slow, even clams without legs will run away from you!"
"No, Lady Kabila. There are still two hours left until high tide..."
"Two hours? That's the blink of an eye! If you close your eyes for a moment and open them, most of this place will be sunk in the sea!"
"No. It's a problem if you look at it in vampire time..."
The bearded human was sweating profusely dealing with the rampaging Kabila. At first glance, it looked like an immature noble coming out for an inspection as she pleased and throwing a tantrum. It actually was.
However, the fact that a mere human was talking back to that great and cruel Elder showed how familiar Kabila was with humans.
Moreover, Kabila was not a noisy yet incompetent noble. Kabila suddenly furrowed her brow and looked toward the sea. The dense sea fog narrowed the field of vision. Let alone the horizon, even the curve the waves drew on the sandy beach was invisible. But... an unusual current was felt in the pitch-black fog where the darkness had melted.
Kabila ordered her subordinate.
"Chasey. Bring the screaming monkey."
"Here, brought as ordered."
Speaking of Ain, they are the Elders' subordinates. They are blood nobles, of which there are only about a hundred even in the Fog Duchy. Depending on their field, they are powerful beings that even the heads of the Nations or the generals of the Military Nation would look down upon, but... even that Ain is nothing more than a handyman ordered around by a chin flick from an Elder.
The vampire called Chasey immediately handed over a small doll made of monkey bones. Kabila picked up the doll without even looking at it.
Blood Maiden Kabila's specialty was doll arts based on black magic. She infused blood using the Blood Thread Art. As the bones soaked up the blood, it began to move according to Kabila's will. Kabila whispered into the doll's ear.
"Scream, little monkey. With your noisy voice, drive them all away."
At Kabila's command, the monkey bone doll grinned and turned its head. After that. The monkey bone doll opened its jawbone. And screamed at the top of its lungs with a voice like scraping bones.
"Ukiii--! Run away-! Run-!"
A warning sound that seemed to tear the eardrums. The humans digging for clams reacted hastily. Regardless of gender or age, they clamped the baskets to their sides and ran with all their might to the highest ground. Urgent footprints remained on the tidal flat.
"A tsunami is coming-!"
"Everyone run-!"
There is quite a distance from here to the nearest seawater. No matter how big a wave comes, it's hard to think that it would cover this vast tidal flat and roll in.
However... the reason why this land, far from the sea, is a tidal flat. The reason was soon revealed.
A massive presence wavered beyond the fog. A giant wave, more suitable to be called a tsunami than a wave, was approaching. It had already passed the coastline, and struck with a terrifying momentum, overturning the land.
It was not a natural phenomenon. The Earth Mother Goddess who created earthquakes and tsunamis was innocent this time. This tsunami was purely a disaster caused by a single sea monster.
It was the work of a Sea Fiend. Kabila felt the unusual momentum and asked.
"Chasey. Did you see it? An Island Whale? A Cloud Manta Ray?"
"...I'm sorry. I sent a familiar that way, but it was swept away by the storm. Please do not forgive my incompetence."
"Storm? Then it's a Cloud Manta Ray. Of all things."
Kabila frowned as if annoyed.
Sea Fiend, Cloud Manta Ray. A legendary giant sea monster, said to create cirrus clouds at the tips of its fins when it flaps them... had hit the sea hard once, and the result reached all the way to land.
The sea, shattered by the Cloud Manta Ray's rampage, bounced out like glass shards. Sea spray poured down from above. Stunned fish fell mixed between the salty drops. Whether it was good luck or bad luck, a small child among the fleeing humans was hit squarely by a fish and collapsed.
The child's parents stopped urgently and ran back to the fallen child. Throwing away their baskets, they lifted the child and carried them on their backs. However, the tsunami did not wait for them and swallowed them up. At this rate, a whole family was going to disappear as prey in the sea.
"Hmph."
Seeing that sight, Kabila slit the back of the doll and took out a giant bone needle as large as an awl. Kabila grabbed it with both hands, operated the Blood Thread Art to its limits, and drove it into the ground. The sharp bone needle pierced deeply into the tidal flat and took root. It looked like she had planted a sapling.
Kabila muttered.
"Dragon Bone Wall."
Crack-crack-crack. A giant spine rose from the spot where the bone needle was planted.
The spine waved across the wide tidal flat. The ribs of a giant beast stretched out, half-buried in the mud. The dragon bone that grew as if to bisect the wide tidal flat became a breakwater and blocked the tsunami. The tsunami crashed against the dragon bone and shattered.
It couldn't perfectly block the tsunami. However, the water flow, filtered once by hitting the bones, was clearly weaker than before. The sea spray swept over the family, but thanks to the weakened power, they were able to hold on, holding each other tightly.
If high tide comes, low tide follows. That is the law of nature. The tsunami that had surged as if to overturn the tidal flat also slowly receded as time passed. Before long, the tidal flat returned to its original appearance. Except for the giant dragon spine that had grown as if to bisect the tidal flat.
If the Sea Fiend was fearsome, what was Kabila, who easily blocked its attack? The humans who had their lives saved thanks to an Elder looked at Kabila full of awe.
Kabila, towards those who revered her....
"What? There's still two hours left? I've been doing this for five hundred years longer than you. You're just livestock, just do as you're told, why do you keep talking back!"
She shouted, stomping her feet like a child. The awe that had risen in the people's hearts quickly faded away.