When Leisha succeeded in stopping Noel, she brought him to the table half by force, saying that she had something she needed his help with.
「Why do I have to listen to your request?」
Noel, who had sat down in a chair, said without trying to hide his displeasure.
「Please find it in your heart to help! Please lend me a hand! I beg you! I can pay up to 500,000 Fil! I need your intellect!」
Leisha put her palms together and pleaded with him desperately. She bowed her head many times and waited for Noel to agree. However, when she cast a quick upwards glance at him, Noel showed no signs at all of being swayed by her pleas. Instead he fixed Leisha with a stare that was as cold as ice.
「How can you lower your head so easily to a rival Seeker? I was way off the mark about you. I admired you, but it seems that I’ve overrated you greatly. Never show your face in front of me again」
Noel said, his words dripping with contempt, and then made to get up from his seat.
「Wa, wait a minute! I really need your help!」
「I couldn’t care less. It has nothing to do with me」
She hurriedly tried to stop him, but he gave her the cold shoulder. Tears welling up in her eyes and not caring what others might think, Leisha cried out with all her might.
「What I want you to solve is a locked-room murder case!!!」
「……What did you say?」
Unexpectedly, Noel stopped. Not only that, his hazel eyes shone with curiosity.
「Did you just say that it's a locked-room murder case?」
「Huh? ……Th, that’s right! It's a locked-room murder case!」
「Hmm…… that's very interesting……」
A delighted smile appeared in Noel’s face. It was just like the smile of a child who had found a new toy.
「I've changed my mind. I’ll accept your request」
「Huh!? Really!?」
「Really. So tell me more about the case」
Noel sat back down in the chair and nodded arrogantly.
「Thank you, Noel-kun!」
She didn’t really get it, but she couldn’t be happier that he was going to lend her a hand. Leisha thanked him with a smile, but for some reason, Noel clicked his tongue in annoyance.
「I don't need your thanks. More importantly, stop adding -kun. We're rivals. Being called in that belittling manner is nothing but unpleasant」
「I, I’m not really belittling you or anything……」
「Stop, I said」
「G, got it…… Ermm, Noel……」
As always, even though he had such a cute face, he was a young man who wasn’t the least bit cute. Was there a need to get so angry just because she had added the kun honorific when she called him?
「Say……」
「What?」
「What made you suddenly feel like accepting my request?」
It was a natural question. She welcomed his help, but she felt that something was off about his attitude. It was scary if she didn't know his true intentions as it felt like he might be planning something behind her back.
「Why, you ask? Isn’t it obviously because it’s interesting?」
「In, interesting?」
When Noel answered naturally, Leisha tilted her head.
「Huh, what do you mean?」
「I mean, it’s a locked-room murder case, you know? That isn’t something that occurs often, even in the imperial capital. It’s the perfect thing to use as a mental exercise」
「Me, mental exercise……」
His choice of words was so inappropriate that Leisha didn’t even feel like getting angry at him.
「Hey, what are you acting befuddled for? Hurry up and talk. I have things to do」
Noel tapped his watch with his finger irritably.
「I, I got it, hold on」
Leisha quickly took out the notebook that she had written the details of the case in. And when she opened it and was about to explain, Noel called for her to wait.
「I forgot to say one thing. When talking about the information that you've obtained, never mix in any subjective deductions. I don’t want unsubstantiated information like who you think is the culprit and so on」
「But won’t you be unable to figure out who the culprit is without that?」
「It’s the opposite. When seeking knowledge from others, don't give them unnecessary preconceptions. If you do, they'll become blind to the answers that they would have found otherwise. What you need is the answer of someone who has a different perspective from you, am I right? In that case, making others think in a similar fashion to you defeats the purpose」
「I, I see……」
Now that he had mentioned it, it was exactly as he said. If the answer could be reached using Leisha’s deductions, she wouldn’t have needed Noel in the first place. As she had thought, this young man was smart. Even the basis of his way of thinking was completely different from anyone Leisha knew.
「Got it. I'll do as Noel says」
「Tell me all of the information accurately. In particular, be detailed about the information regarding the inside of the apartment」
Leisha nodded and opened her notebook.
†
†
When she had finished telling him everything, Noel was sipping tea. He had ordered the tea from the cafe employee midway through Leisha’s explanation. He drank it in a refined manner that was rare for Seekers.
「Um, well, so, what do you think? Did you figure anything out?」
When she asked nervously, Noel placed the cup of tea back on the saucer.
「The culprit is Simone from upstairs」
「Huh?」
「And the murder weapon is『carbon dioxide』」
「Wai, wait a minute! What are you saying all of a sudden!?」
Leisha was flustered. Certainly, she had expectations for Noel’s deduction, but her heart wasn’t prepared for him to suddenly cut to the crux of the matter. She took a slow deep breath and got ready to listen.
「……Okay. F, for now, I’ve understood that carbon dioxide is the murder weapon」
Carbon dioxide is a part of the atmosphere. It’s harmless when inhaled. However, it’s a different story when there is a high concentration of it. It can cause physical anomalies and even instant death.
「If I remember correctly, 3% would cause headaches and dizziness, and 8% and above is the danger zone. It's said that it causes instant death if the concentration reaches 25%, right?」
「That's right. Even if the concentration doesn’t reach 25%, as carbon dioxide has an anesthetic effect, at the point of time the concentration reaches the danger zone, it'll result in the victim dying without being able to move a muscle. That's why there were no signs of agony or injuries on Irene's body. And when the carbon dioxide was exhausted by the vent, the concentration dropped, making it harmless」
Leisha was convinced, but she did have questions.
「But is carbon dioxide something that’s so easy to carry around? Oh, I got it! It's dry ice! Dry ice is carbon dioxide in solid form, so if you send a large amount of dry ice into the apartment, it will be filled with carbon dioxide when they melt!」
She was confident in her answer, but Noel shook his head.
「Wrong」
「Huh, I’m wrong?」
「If you do that, Irene will surely notice」
「Oh, that’s right…… The dry ice will make loud clattering noises, won’t it? Then how was it done?」
「It's the『fire extinguisher』」
「Fire extinguisher!?」
Noel’s answer surprised Leisha.
「When you say fire extinguisher, you mean the one that sprays the fire extinguishing powder, right?」
「Wrong. Fire extinguishers don’t only spray fire extinguishing powder, there are also types that spray carbon dioxide. When carbon dioxide is sprayed on a fire, it smothers the fire and puts it out. And with a single fire extinguisher, you can fill a bedroom with a deadly amount of carbon dioxide」
「I see. That’s why the culprit is Simone……」
Leisha had told him that there was a fire extinguisher in Simone's apartment. So it wasn’t used to extinguish a fire, but was actually the murder weapon……
「The main advantage of the carbon dioxide type fire extinguishers is that they don’t pollute the surroundings when extinguishing a fire. Simone is a culinary researcher. If she used the type that sprays fire extinguishing powder, her food and ingredients might get ruined. That’s why she has a carbon dioxide type fire extinguisher」
「Then, the carbon dioxide was sprayed into the apartment from the air outlet outside the apartment……」
「Wrong」
「Ehh, that’s wrong!?」
Once again, Noel shook his head.
「The apartment is constantly ventilated, right? Even if carbon dioxide is sprayed with great force from outside, chances are good that it gets exhausted before it reaches a fatal concentration」
「N, now that you mentioned it, that’s true……」
「Above all, there is no air outlet outside Irene’s apartment. In other words, it’s absolutely impossible to spray carbon dioxide into the apartment from the outside」
「Huh? ……Huhh?」
Leisha flipped through her notebook again. As she thought, there was nothing written about the presence or lack of an air outlet.
「Ermm, Noel? I didn't say anything about that, you know?」
「Yes, you didn't say anything. But I know that even without asking」
「Wh, why!? How do you know that!? Do you know that apartment building!?」
「No, I don't know it. But I know the kind of structure that the apartment building has」
「The kind of structure?」
Unable to understand the meaning behind those words, Leisha tilted her head.
「You said that the apartment was warm, didn't you?」
「Yeah, it was warm. But what does that have to do with this?」
「It has everything to do with it. Because that's the very key to the trick of the locked-room murder」
「The key to the trick!?」
Leisha rose from her seat in spite of herself. She had questioned the warmth of the apartment, but she had thought that it had nothing to do with the case. That was why she hadn’t looked into it more. If what Noel said was true, it would mean that Leisha had made a tremendous oversight.
「Tell me! What do you mean!?」
Leisha leaned forward over the table and urged him on. In response, Noel kept his composure and sipped tea gracefully as he answered.
「In that apartment building, air is shared among all of the apartments」
「Sh, shared!?」
「That's right. Air from all of the apartments passes through the same pipe. The reason why the apartment was warm was because all of the other tenants were in when the two of you were in Irene’s apartment. If each of the apartments had the heating on, then Irene's apartment would inevitably become warm as well」
「Wa, wait! If air is shared among all of the apartments, then smells from each apartment will also spread to the other apartments! That's a huge defect for an apartment building!」
As long as one lived in an apartment building, there would be times when smells from the other apartments seeped in. But that was spread indirectly, not directly poured into the apartment. It was one thing if it was a cheap apartment building, but it was hard to believe that the high-class residence that Irene lived in used such a defective heating system.
「Just because the air is shared, it doesn't mean that it comes and goes between the apartments themselves」
Noel started to explain to Leisha, who was unconvinced.
「First, stagnant air is sucked out from each apartment. All of the air goes to one exhaust outlet which then exhausts it to the outside. However, it isn’t exhausted as is, but it goes through a special device first. This is a device that stores heat so that the warmth collected from each apartment doesn’t escape outside. In other words, the heat is retained, and only the stagnant air is exhausted to the outside. And then, fresh air that’s sucked in from the outside also passes through this device. The opposite occurs this time and the stored heat is transferred to the fresh air. The warm and fresh air created in this way then goes to each apartment through individual pipes. ――This is what’s called the『heat recovery ventilation system』」
「Heat recovery ventilation system……」
It was the first time she had heard of this heating system. But certainly, with this system, the stagnant air from each apartment wouldn’t have gone into other apartments, and only the warm fresh air was shared.
「An ordinary apartment building wouldn’t use a troublesome heating system like this. But that apartment building wasn’t ordinary, was it?」
At Noel’s question, Leisha nodded.
「That apartment building was originally a mansion……」
「When a building is remodeled rather than rebuilt, more likely than not, the original installations are used as is. The heat exchange ventilation system was something that had been installed from the beginning. In other words, it’s conceivable that there isn’t an independent air outlet for each apartment, but only one for the entire apartment building. In that case, its location is likely on the second floor. It must be within reach of the balconies on the second floor. What happens if cloth and the like is stuffed into it?」
「The air circulation in all of the apartments would stop……」
From that point on, she could figure out what had happened even without Noel telling her.
「If the air circulation stops, you’ll be able to send carbon dioxide into the other apartments through the vent in your apartment. But I don't think that it can be sent into every apartment」
The pipes in each apartment should have been positioned so that the air didn’t clash with the neighboring apartment’s. Even if the air converged at the same place in the end, the pipes must have taken a circuitous route instead of being connected in a straight line.
「Considering the position of the pipes, it wouldn’t have gone into Harris’ neighboring apartment or the landlady’s. Even if carbon dioxide is sent from Simone’s apartment, the only place that it would have ended up in is Irene’s apartment, which is directly downstairs. Conversely, it means that only Simone, who lives directly upstairs, can send carbon dioxide into Irene’s apartment……」
The vent was near the ceiling, but since carbon dioxide is heavier than air, it would accumulate at the bottom of the apartment, which would surely kill Irene, who was sleeping on the bed. And then, if the culprit removed the things that had been stuffed into the air outlet after the murder had been committed, the air circulation would return to normal and the carbon dioxide would get exhausted to the outside. Nothing would remain in Irene’s apartment.
This was the trick used to commit the locked-room murder.
Leisha felt as if her head was spinning. Noel was not just quick-witted, he was knowledgeable as well. That was how he had see through the trick instantly.
However, even if Leisha hadn’t known of the heat recovery ventilation system, if she had thought more about the fact that the apartment building had been remodeled from a mansion, then she would probably have realized that each of the apartments were connected.
On top of that, she had felt that something was off about the apartment’s unnatural warmth. The fact that she hadn’t thought of that possibility at all in spite of that was both mortifying and infuriating.
「......Thank you, Noel. Now I know who the culprit is. But why did Simone kill Irene? Could it be really be because of mere unjust resentment?」
「Wrong. It’s not because of resentment. It’s for money. This is a robbery with murder case」
「Mo, money!? But Irene――」
「Has no desire for material things, right?」
Noel said it before Leisha could, and then laughed as if amused.
「That’s absolutely impossible, isn’t it!? You’re telling me that a woman who works as a songstress in a big city like the imperial capital has no desire for material things? Nonsense! I can’t understand how anyone could be fooled!」
「B, but there really wasn’t anything that looked valuable in the apartment!」
「That’s because that was after they had been stolen」
「Stolen? ......But even if Simone could kill Irene, she shouldn’t be able to go into her apartment, right? Or could it be that the landlady is her accomplice?」
When Leisha tilted her head, Noel shook his head with the smile still on his face,.
「No, Simone is the sole perpetrator. If the landlady was her accomplice, even if they didn’t murder Irene, they would have been able to enter the apartment and steal things, you see?」
「Th, that’s true……」
「For crime prevention purposes, doesn’t that apartment building have an arrangement where the landlady visits the apartments and checks inside them at the times specified by the tenants?」
「Y, yup……. That’s what I heard……」
「Simone knew the time that the landlady would visit Irene's apartment. She should have been able to grasp that since it’s only one floor down. And she also knew that the landlady would go into the apartment when she noticed that something was strange. As well as the fact that, after she had gone in, she would find Irene’s body, and then leave to report it to the military police. Now, here’s a question for you. Do you think that the elderly landlady would have the sense to lock the apartment behind her in order to preserve the scene of the crime? To say nothing of the state of fright she must be in after discovering a dead body?」
At Noel's question, Leisha felt as if the scales had fallen from her eyes.*
「I see! She went into the apartment the moment the landlady left to report it to the military police!」
「Exactly. After that, all she had to do was steal what she was aiming for and return to her apartment」
「But what was it that she stole?」
「It’s books. Of course, they aren’t ordinary books. They are books with exceedingly high financial value」
Realizing the answer, Leisha naturally straightened her back.
「Skill-books!」
Skill-books were items that allowed the reader to learn Skills just by reading them, and were made from Beast materials. Contrary to its usefulness, it was difficult to mass produce, so it was easy for their prices to soar. When it came to the rare ones, there had been cases where they were priced at several tens or hundreds of million Fil.
「So it was Skill-books that occupied the empty spaces on that bookshelf……」
Skill-books didn’t look any different from other books. Even if they were placed on a bookshelf, they would probably escape notice unless someone already knew what they were.
「Irene had turned most of her wealth into Skill-books. Her purpose for doing that was to hide her assets in order to evade tax. Also, it might have been for investment purposes as well. Skill-books are sought after by not just those who need Skills, but collectors who like them as well. Just by buying up every copy of a Skill-book that’s likely to increase in value, and then letting things lie for a while, you can increase your wealth in one go」
「So it was a lie that she donated them to the library……」
「That library probably plays the role of a depository. In the underworld, there are off-the-record banks that the wealthy keep their assets in. Rather than money, the assets kept by those banks are mainly pieces of art like paintings and so on. The wealthy do that because they can deceive the country’s tax agency by saying that they had donated them. Accordingly, the fees for doing that aren’t cheap. For that reason, she probably repeated the process of buying up noteworthy Skill-books and keeping them in her apartment before depositing only the ones that seemed likely to increase in value, while selling off the ones that didn’t so that she could buy other Skill-books」
When Leisha heard the words “underworld” and “off-the-record banks”, she increasingly thought of Irene as a criminal. In reality, tax evasion was a criminal act.
「B, but was there a need to go so far?」
「If I were Irene, I would probably have tried to earn as much as I could before moving to another country and living a luxurious life of leisure」
「N, no way……」
Leisha was sad. Irene had hid the truth from even Ophelia, who was supposed to be her friend. Even if Irene had her reasons for doing so, she felt sorry for Ophelia, who had believed in Irene’s character.
「……When and how did Simone notice Irene’s secret, I wonder? Could it be at the time of the water leak? I heard that they had an argument, so she must have checked the state of Irene’s apartment to make sure that she wasn’t getting fleeced when she compensated her. Did she notice it then?」
「I think that it's the other way around. Simone must have run into Irene by chance somewhere, maybe when she went to a store to buy Skill-books, and had gotten an inkling of her secret. That’s why she deliberately caused the water leak in order to confirm her suspicions」
「She caused it so that she could enter Irene’s apartment and confirm if there were Skill-books or not?」
「Exactly. She had known that Irene would get angry. Skill-books do not lose their effects even if they’re drenched in water, but their value as pieces of art would decrease. So when Irene came at her in anger, Simone asked Irene to let her check the state of her apartment as she wanted to compensate her. As Irene had started it, it would be unnatural for her to refuse, which was why she didn’t」
「I see……」
Leisha heaved a deep sigh. The truth had become clear. As long as a confession and physical evidence had not yet been obtained, there were still other possibilities, but, almost certainly――this was the truth.
「Well, I’m leaving now」
Noel stood up slowly.
「From this point on, it's your job. With that said, getting a confession from Simone is easy. Although she’s a murderer, she’s an ordinary person. If you surround her with scary Seekers and confront her with the truth, she’ll surely be frightened and confess everything. As for the stolen Skill-books, she’s probably waiting for everything to blow over before selling them, so they’ll probably be conclusive evidence」
「Yeah, you’re right. Thank you for everything, Noel. Thanks to you, I think that Irene will rest in peace. I’ll pay you the reward of 500,000 Fil by tomorrow, so can you write down the account for me to transfer it into?」
Leisha held out her notebook and pen. But Noel made no move to take it.
「I don't need it」
「Huh? ……Ho, how come!?」
「I’m sure I told you earlier that this is just a mental exercise, right? A reward for something like this? Don't look down on me」
「N, no, but—!」
「Goodbye」
Noel ignored Leisha and turned on his heel after putting the money for the tea on the table. And then, with his back to her, he said,
「Leisha of Lightning Bite, don't think that the same thing will happen again. Next time, clean up your own mess yourself. A wolf that forgets its pride is just a useless dog」
With that, Noel left without looking back. His way of speaking showed his arrogance, and he seemed to be coldly forsaking her, but he was probably spurring his rival on.
In short, what he meant was: Continue to improve yourself without relying easily on your rival.
She thought that, when all was said and done, it was……Noel's own form of kindness.
「That's kind of cool……」
At the words that she had inadvertently whispered, Leisha’s heart tightened sweetly.
*Interestingly, that’s a phrase derived from the Bible(Acts 9:18). It means to suddenly be able to see a situation clearly or to realize the truth. I initially put the meaning directly in the chapter as that would make it easier to understand but I changed my mind and changed it back to the actual phrase. Why? Because I was intrigued by the fact that the Japanese language had the exact same phrase that used the exact same wording and had the exact same meaning as the one in English. An influence of the missionaries? Anyway, that’s also the meaning of the joke in the NGNL anime episode 5 where scales were falling from Stephanie’s eyes.
Also, kanji for Lightning Bite is “Purple Lightning Wolf Order”, which is why he used a wolf as the metaphor at the end there.
Thank you to all who participated in trying to deduce this mystery! Was it as you expected? It’s quite an elaborate mystery for just a short story, isn’t it?
In my opinion, the biggest inconsistency was that Irene had gotten extremely angry when her apartment got flooded, which is weird if she didn’t have anything valuable in it. Once I realized that, it became much easier to narrow down what is relevant and what isn’t.
Heat recovery ventilation systems(HRVs) are a real thing, of course, and were first installed in homes in 1998. And they work just as Noel described, drawing warm air from rooms within the home and transferring the heat to fresh air that is pumped into the home.
Super long chapter again, so for my sanity, I’ve split it. The case is wrapped up in the final part and a few extra bits that bring the story back to the present. Stay tuned for the end of this short story!
Lastly, a bit of news on the manga, apparently chapter 2 is finished and both chapter 1 and 2 are 43 pages long so it's definitely a monthly manga. The exact release date is still not announced though.
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