Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 19 - Chapter 4.2

2

“Do the laws of Selva allow for skipping over the first daughter and making the second daughter’s husband the heir?” Kamyua Yoshu casually asked as they walked down the brick hallway.

Polarth replied, “That would be difficult to pull off,” with a shrug of his round shoulders. “Lady Tetia is technically the inheritor of the rank, so I would imagine such a thing couldn’t be done lightly. The house of Alphan is the third most pedigreed lineage of those under the house of Daleim, after all.”

“Hmm. Then why did the famously strict Dame Mateela say she would do something so illogical? She valued discipline and proper morals greatly, didn’t she?”

“That is precisely why. Please keep this matter to yourself, but the first daughter Lady Tetia was a child born to the previous head of the house and a maid.”

“My, now that is interesting.”

The lanky Kamyua Yoshu and the rotund Polarth were huddled close together as they whispered back and forth. Despite one of them being a wanderer with blood from Mahyudra while the other was a noble, they seemed somehow alike... Or at least, Leito always thought so. And that was likely why they had been able to come together in order to bring down Cyclaeus.

“The wife of the previous lord had great difficulty conceiving a child. As a result, Lady Tetia was taken in as a legitimate child of the house despite being born of a maid, but ironically, the lady of the house ended up being with child a mere year later.”

“I see. So Lady Tetia and Lady Nicola are half-sisters with different mothers?”

“Indeed. Perhaps as a consequence, their personalities are complete opposites. Lady Tetia is neat, tidy, and sweet, a perfect example of ladylike comportment, while Lady Nicola is lively and boyish. Considering their lineages, the opposite really would seem more logical, wouldn’t it?”

“I see... So she judged Lady Tetia to be unfit to serve as the next head due to being the child of a maid? But officially, she retains the inheritance as of now?”

“That’s right. However, Mateela must have been quite displeased by that fact. Hence her desire to pass the official title of head to Lady Nicola’s husband instead.”

“Hmm. It certainly is an unusual tale, considering that there should be just as much of Dame Mateela’s blood in both of her granddaughters.”

“Apparently, she had been vehemently opposed to Lady Tetia being accepted as a legitimate child to begin with. How truly unfortunate Lady Tetia is. She has been left atop a bed of nails ever since losing the backing of her father,” Polarth stated, sighing empathetically and then finally coming to a stop.

They had reached the entrance to the manor. A number of guards were there, surrounding and questioning a young servant boy. When one of those guards noticed Polarth, he gave a salute.

“Good work there. Er, were you the servant in the antechamber of Mateela’s bedroom last night?”

“Yes,” the youth replied, his face completely pale as he nodded back. With a look from Polarth, Kamyua Yoshu stepped forward.

“I’d like to ask you a few questions too. I hear you spent the night in the antechamber between the hallway and the bedroom, never falling asleep. Is that the case?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“All night, with no sleep and nobody to relieve you? Sounds like a pretty tough job.”

“The man who was meant to relieve me was laid up with a sudden fever. Nothing could be done about it, since it was so abrupt.”

Now Leito understood why the youth was so pale-faced at the moment. The only way to get into the bedroom would require passing him in the antechamber. He would bear no responsibility if the murderer really had been a thief that came in through the window, but if that wasn’t what happened... Well, he would have been in a position to harm the dame far more easily than anyone else could.

Paying no heed to the youth’s distress, Kamyua Yoshu shot him a grin. “I see. And then Lady Nicola visited in the morning, at which point the incident was discovered.”

“Right. That occurred just as the second morning bell was ringing. That was when Lady Mateela always awoke.”

“Oh, I see. Still, what business could there be to handle so early in the morning? Did Lady Nicola make a habit of visiting her grandmother’s bedroom for a greeting each morning?”

“No. I don’t believe she had ever done so in the past. And I didn’t ask her what business had brought her there.”

“Hmm...” Kamyua Yoshu pondered as he stroked his stubbly chin. “So nobody aside from Lady Nicola visited the bedroom between last night and this morning?”

“That is correct. After Lady Tetia departed late last night, not a single person visited.”

“Ah, so Lady Tetia stopped by the bedroom too?” Kamyua Yoshu very casually asked back.

“Yes,” the youth replied with a firm nod. “But that was last night. It was around an hour after everyone had headed to their bedrooms.”

“And how long did Lady Tetia spend in the dame’s bedroom?”

“I’m not certain, but I don’t believe it was a particularly long time...”

“How did Lady Tetia seem when exiting the bedroom?”

“She was heavily hanging her head, so I couldn’t tell. It is not permitted here at the Alphan manor to rudely stare at a noble’s face.”

“I see,” Kamyua Yoshu replied with a smile. “Well then, what about Lady Nicola? Did she come flying out of the bedroom upon discovering the corpse?”

“Well... Lady Nicola remained inside for a while. And she had to crawl back to the door when she left. She must have been left dumbfounded when confronted with Lady Mateela’s remains. That comes as no surprise, considering Lady Nicola is still only fifteen years old.”

“Yes, I see... By the way, was the dame’s blood on her clothing when she exited the bedroom?”

That question clearly caused the young servant’s face to turn even paler.

“Lady Nicola’s clothing was soaked with blood. So much that at first I feared she herself had been injured.”

“Oh?”

“But Lady Nicola could never do anything so gruesome! And besides, Lady Mateela’s ring and whole right hand are missing, and weren’t found anywhere in the bedroom!”

“Yes, yes. And stabbing a blade so deep wouldn’t be possible with her slender arms. After all, the dagger not only shattered a rib bone, but even made it all the way to the dame’s heart.”

The youth’s shoulders slumped with exhaustion.

Kamyua Yoshu said, “Thank you,” and then swiftly turned around to walk back down the hall.

As Polarth hurriedly caught up to the bodyguard, he questioned, “We came all this way to talk to him, and you’re already finished?”

“Yeah. That was all I wanted to know. Next, I’d like to hear what the young ladies of the house have to say.”

“Not that I particularly mind, but what exactly is your plan here?”

“I’m not planning anything. It’s just, doesn’t this whole incident seem terribly odd? The idea of a thief breaking into a noble’s manor early in the morning, harming her, and then disappearing like smoke sounds like something out of one of those mystery stories the minstrels tell.”

“Hmm. Well, in the stories, the culprit is generally someone unexpected,” Polarth replied, a bit of a doubtful look on his face. “You aren’t thinking that’s the case here, are you, Sir Kamyua?”

“Who can say? Still, I owe you a great debt, and this tragedy has befallen your relatives, so I’d like to put the best of my meager abilities toward seeking out the truth.”

“Hmm. But Sir Kamyua, do you not need to help guard Sir Asuta in the post town when the sun hits its peak? That would mean you only have a tiny bit of time left to solve the case.”

“That’s true. And I’d like to have at least enough time to eat a snack as well.”

During that exchange, they had arrived at the bedrooms belonging to the young ladies of the house. They would first speak to the one who discovered the crime, the second daughter Lady Nicola. Polarth reached out to knock on her door, only for it to open from the inside before he could do so.

“Huh?” the person who appeared from within muttered, standing there dumbfounded.

He was a young servant with a robust build. Though his attire was plain, he looked quite masculine. However, the blood had drained from his face, and his unease was clear in his brown eyes.

“M-My apologies, but do you have some sort of business with Lady Nicola?”

“Indeed. Could you inform her that Polarth is here to see her?”

“Ah, no, I’m nothing but a gardener... My apologies, but please ask the servant inside instead.”

The youth averted his gaze and tried to leave. However, Kamyua Yoshu called out to stop him. “Hold on. What business brought you to Lady Nicola’s room? Was she giving you some sort of instructions?”

“No. It’s just that I heard Lady Nicola had been the one to discover Dame Mateela’s corpse, so I came to check on her. I realize it’s beyond my station to do so, but I was just so terribly concerned...”

“I see. If you don’t mind, could you tell me your name?”

The youth stared back at Kamyua Yoshu with a look of open wariness. “My name is Zess. Please, excuse me...” With that, he swiftly departed.

As Polarth watched the youth’s burly back vanish from view, he remarked, “Ah, so that is Zess the gardener? Yes, I see...”

“What? You’ve heard of him before?”

“Indeed. If my memory is not mistaken, he is the son of the maid who attended the previous head of the house... In other words, he and Lady Tetia are half-siblings, sharing a mother.”

“Huh? Someone with that kind of history decided to remain here at the manor?”

“It was supposedly in the previous head’s will that he not be ousted. Though I cannot imagine that was something to be especially grateful for, considering his relationship with Mateela.”

The first daughter born to a maid, the second born to the proper wife, and the first daughter’s half-brother content with living as a manservant... Leito couldn’t help but feel the cast had finally been assembled for this tale of suspicion and doubt.

Having gotten himself back on track, Polarth knocked on the door, and a servant guided them through the antechamber into Nicola’s bedroom. The second they set foot inside, they were met with a harsh glare and similarly harsh words.

“What is it now?! Why won’t anyone just let me rest?! I’m sick of it!”

Nicola had turned fifteen this year and was a small girl with curled dark-brown hair. Though she had a face fit for a noble, she seemed to be rather severely irritated at the moment. In an attempt to assuage her, Polarth greeted her with a smile.

“My apologies, Lady Nicola. My friend here wishes to listen to what you have to say. Could you please lend your assistance in order to apprehend the fiendish thief?”

“Hmph! In that case, you should hurry up and chase after the culprit! What good is wandering around here at the manor?!”

“We won’t get anywhere if we rush out of the manor without any proper clues. We don’t even know if the thief fled outside to begin with,” Kamyua Yoshu interjected, at which point Nicola held her tongue with a look of hostility. The look in her eyes grew even sharper as she glared at him.

“Who are you? You almost look like those northerners I’ve heard tell of.”

“I’m a bodyguard by the name of Kamyua Yoshu. Lord Polarth should be able to vouch for me.”

“I don’t know anything about bodyguards or the like, but you certainly say some strange things. There’s no way the thief who did that to my grandmother would still be here in the manor.”

“That would normally be the case, but this doesn’t quite have the feel of an ordinary incident,” Kamyua Yoshu said with a smile, his droopy eyes narrowing. “Please, answer a few questions for me, if you would. When you came into the bedroom, was the dame atop her bed? Or was she on the floor?”

“She was on the floor, having breathed her last...”

“You remained in the bedroom for a while, and when you left your clothing was quite sullied from what I’m told. What were the circumstances behind that?”

“I have long since told the guards all about that,” Nicola retorted, the irritation now showing even more clearly on her small face. “I couldn’t believe that grandmother was truly dead and ended up clinging to her without thinking. It was no time for worrying about getting my clothes dirty. And once it fully sank in that she really was gone, the fear overcame me and left me weak in the knees... Feel free to laugh to your heart’s content at that unsightly image.”

“Ah, yes, I see. Still, just why exactly did the thief do something so gruesome as cutting off the dame’s right hand?”

“How should I know!” Nicola snapped back, fury blazing bright in her eyes. A look so intense that it was hard to believe it was coming from a noblewoman. It had to be a sign of just how thoroughly shaken she was right now.

Kamyua Yoshu didn’t seem thrown in the least, though, just giving a gentle smile and stating, “Ah, my apologies. Well then, this will be my final question. Why exactly did you visit the dame’s bedroom this morning?”

“I just wanted to tell her to retract that ridiculous thing she said yesterday...”

“Hmm, do you perhaps mean the matter involving the heir of the house?”

“That’s right. Regardless of bloodlines, Tetia is the heir, and that’s not something that can just be overturned. I’ve got no interest in having that stuffy position forced upon me either.”

Looking satisfied, Kamyua Yoshu gave a bow.

“My apologies on several fronts for bothering you when you’re dealing with the tragic loss of a family member. Please, get your rest.”

Just like before, he once again swiftly departed. As Nicola’s furious gaze dug into their backs, the party left the bedroom behind them.

“Now then, next up is Lady Tetia,” Kamyua Yoshu cheerfully declared, but that expectation wasn’t met. Lady Tetia had collapsed from shock upon hearing the news of her grandmother’s passing, and was still in bed.

“No helping that, I suppose. In that case, how about we head out front for a bit? I want to see how security outside was being handled too.”

And yet, they were unable to gain any useful information on that front. After all, the violent act had occurred not late at night, but rather in the morning. By that time the guards on patrol had returned to the manor and hadn’t noticed anything unusual.

However, there had been members of the militia dispatched to search the inside of the manor. Just as Kamyua Yoshu had stated, they’d sent a report stating that it would likely be impossible to sneak into the manor by scaling that wall in the morning.

Even if someone had slipped past the nighttime patrol, Mateela had been murdered just before two in the morning. If the culprit had then scaled the fence and escaped on the front side, obviously people would have noticed. And so, the lead investigator’s conclusion was that it made sense to think there had been no intruder to begin with.

“Hmm. At this rate it seems the conclusion that shall be reached is that the servant keeping watch in the antechamber was the culprit,” Polarth commented.

“That’s true. Still, he wouldn’t have been able to leave the antechamber. Could he truly have not only chopped off the dame’s right hand without getting anything on himself, but also hidden it somewhere?” Kamyua said.

“Ah, I see. It isn’t as if he could have wandered about the manor in the morning all coated in blood... But then, just where exactly does that leave us?” Polarth questioned, tilting his head, only for one of the guards investigating the rear garden to come running over.

“Lord Polarth! We’ve discovered what we believe to be the dame’s right hand!”

“Huh?! Truly?!”

The party hurried to the rear garden, where they found another guard standing beyond the neatly trimmed bushes. The ground had been dug up at his feet, where an incredibly disturbing object was sitting atop a cloth. Polarth stopped some distance away, but Kamyua Yoshu and Leito hurried right over.

“Yes, it seems there’s no mistaking it...” It was a bloody hand, which had gone as pale as wax. And a ring with a shining yellow apatite gem was tightly stuck on the ring finger. “So it was buried? But it doesn’t look to have much dirt on it.”

“Right. It was buried wrapped in the cloth underneath it. As for the cloth itself, it seems to be a rather finely woven piece of fabric...”

“That’s true. Did it belong to the dame?”

With permission from the guards, Kamyua Yoshu wrapped the hand once more in the cloth.

It was semi-transparent, likely made of silk from Sym. Despite its fine gold hemming, it was soaked in blood and coated in dirt.

“Lord Polarth, do you recognize this fabric?”

“Please, no! Just looking upon someone’s blood is enough to cause me to feel faint!”

“But weren’t you fond of bloody karon meat, Lord Polarth?”

“That’s precisely why! Ugh, now I likely won’t be able to eat karon for some time...” Despite his protests, Polarth timidly peeked at the bundle Kamyua Yoshu was holding out from between his fingers. “Yes... That seems to be the shawl Mateela frequently wore. I believe she had it on during last night’s dinner.”

“Thank you. Still, this truly is awful...” Kamyua Yoshu remarked, his back to Polarth as he undid the bundle. And then, he said with amusement, “Oh... Leito, come look. There’s a rather deep wound on the palm.”

Just as Kamyua Yoshu had said, there were signs that the center of her palm had been roughly stabbed with a blade. She must have bled quite profusely from that wound too. After all, the palm and the base of the fingers were stained a deep red.

“Did she get this wound while trying to protect herself from a dagger coming at her chest?” Leito wondered.

“Who can say? That may be the case or it may not.” Kamyua Yoshu’s gaze suddenly shifted, and he called out to the nearby guard, “Excuse me, but what’s that building there?”

“The gardener said that was a shed for storing tools and firewood. We searched it right away but didn’t find anything suspicious.”

“The gardener... You mean that Zess man?”

“Yes, I believe that was his name.”

After entrusting the bloody bundle to the soldier once more, Kamyua Yoshu wandered over that way. It was a crude little wooden shack. The door wasn’t locked, so he casually pulled it open.

The inside was dimly lit and cluttered. It was packed with the sorts of things the guard had mentioned, and since it was just a single room there wasn’t anywhere a person could hide.

Kamyua Yoshu gave the space a once-over, and soon stepped over to the right wall, where a variety of large tools such as a scythe and a hoe were hanging. From among them, he picked up a strangely shaped two-pronged bladed tool.

“Leito, do you know what this is? They’re called pruning shears, meant for cutting tall branches.”

“Shears?”

“Yeah. When you push the handles together like so, these two blades cut through whatever’s in the middle. With shears this size, you could easily cut through a sturdy grigee branch.”

Sure enough, those blades were each longer than a dagger, and they looked quite dangerous. As for the handles, they were likely about as long as Leito’s arm. It could definitely be used to cut down high branches. As Kamyua Yoshu opened and closed it with both hands, he turned back toward the shack’s entrance.

“There’s a bit of dampness about the handles. Did someone use it this morning?”

One of the guards was standing at the entrance, suspiciously watching over Kamyua Yoshu’s actions. However, since he needed to be polite to them as they were Polarth’s guests, the man quickly nodded back. “Yes. Apparently, the gardener was sharpening the blades. He said that was part of his morning duties.”

“I see. Sure enough, the scythe and hoe handles seem to be damp as well.”

With that, Kamyua Yoshu returned the shears to the wall and exited the shack. Then, he turned his gaze to the left. The Alphan manor towered above them in that direction. There were windows lining the gray wall, and one of them was left open wide.

“It seems you can see the dame’s bedroom from here.”

“Indeed. But the gardener says he was in this shack the whole time and didn’t notice anything.”

“I see. Thank you very much.”

Kamyua Yoshu then casually strolled back over to Polarth. Leito looked up at his teacher’s face as he walked beside the man.

“You’ve solved the whole mystery, haven’t you, Kamyua?”

“Hmm? Why do you think that?”

“It’s what the look on your face tells me.”

“You sure are quick-witted, Leito,” Kamyua Yoshu remarked with a smile, his purple eyes shifting to look down at his apprentice. “What do you think? You’ve seen and heard the same things I have, so have you been able to reach a conclusion of your own?”

“Well, based on what we’ve learned so far...I believe the culprit was Zess.”

“Oh? Why’s that?”

“I don’t believe the servant would have had a way to keep the blood from getting on him, and I can’t imagine Lady Nicola being able to thrust the dagger in so deep. That would leave someone forcing their way in through the window... And as you and the guards said, someone from inside the manor would’ve been able to do that a lot easier than an outsider who would have had to scale the walls.”

“Right. But you still need a reason to single out Zess. Besides, I think it would be difficult to climb that wall with a gardener’s strength.”

“Yes, but what if Lady Nicola lowered down a rope from the bedroom? Then he could have climbed into the bedroom, murdered the dame with her own dagger, and cut off her hand with the tool from before. That would explain why those shears were wet and the hand was buried right near that shack.”

“Hmm, I see. There’s a certain consistency to your logic... In that case, why did Zess need to go out of his way to chop off the dame’s hand, though?”

“Well...in order to desecrate the corpse? That Dame Mateela supposedly valued her authority as a noble quite highly. So taking away the ring that served as proof of her title would be a terrible humiliation for her.”

“I see! Yes, that’s certainly one way of looking at things.”

Upon hearing that, Leito’s shoulders slumped. “If that’s your response, you must think differently, right, Kamyua?”

“Hmm? Yeah. I don’t have everything lined up perfectly just yet, but, well, I suppose this is an exceptional situation.”

“In that case, I must be wrong. Also, I can’t see a reason for the first daughter’s elder brother Zess and the second daughter Nicola to conspire together.”

“I don’t have any clues about that either. But there’s no reason for us to give up before learning the truth.”

“No, my thinking must be wrong.”

Shrugging, Kamyua Yoshu returned to Polarth, who was standing off to the side with nothing to do.

“Well then, shall we return to the manor? I’d like to trouble Lady Nicola, Lady Tetia, and Zess to gather in order to bring the truth to light.”