Chapter 318
"We received a special commission today." Abe Haruaki raised the envelope in his hand to Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mashu who had just returned home, signaling them to join the current discussion. "Doman and Cave King have a disagreement on the direction of this commission - so I want to hear your thoughts."
“This commission is not specifically directed to us, but rather a broad-based commission to anyone who meets the criteria.”
"What do Mr. Earl and Mr. Doman think?" Mashu asked Abe Haruaki.
"If Lord Seimei could bring it to us and let us decide, then Edmund would probably be the only one who would reject this commission." Fujimaru Ritsuka blinked, took the commission envelope from Abe Seimei's hand, opened it and looked at it, "Can I know why Lord Seimei also wants to accept this commission?"
"I can't hide it from the Master at all." Abe Haruaki shrugged, jumped off the sofa, raised his head and looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka, "According to the results of the occupation, this commission is related to the previous incident - at least it should be a similar incident, so I think it is necessary for at least one person to go over and take a look at the situation."
"You can tell because Master Haruaki has never openly admitted that he and Mr. Doman have the same opinion..." Mash complained about Abe Haruaki, and quickly went to look at the letter of commission in Fujimaru Ritsuka's hand. "Rather than a supernatural commission, this commission looks more like a release to a detective."
"This is a huge house left behind by a family that had inexplicably fallen into decline. The client, the new owner of this house, and his family often find strange things happening after moving in..." Fujimaru Ritsuka paused and glanced at Abe Haruaki subtly, "Is it the client's problem or the house itself?"
"There are probabilities for both." Abe Haruaki spread his arms towards Fujimaru Ritsuka, "The family that declined first might have made the Zashiki-warashi unhappy for some reason, so what happened afterwards should have nothing to do with the original Zashiki-warashi - I don't know if a monster occupied the empty room or the client himself provoked the monster..."
"Or maybe it was done by a living person."
"Then let Mr. Doman go alone." Fujimaru Ritsuka put the letter back into the envelope and looked at Asaya Doman who was preparing dinner in the kitchen. "He is very experienced in dealing with both living and non-human beings. Besides, our club has arranged a live-in at the end of October, so we don't have to prepare three meals a day at home."
"I understand. Let me take care of the follow-up of this commission." Ashiya Doman cleaned up the table, took the commission letter from Fujimaru Ritsuka, and informed everyone that it was time for dinner. "Today's dinner is the pan-roast beef and lava omelette rice recommended by the Chaldea cafeteria. The soup is ordinary kelp soup - welcome home, Master."
At the end of October, while Fujimaru Ritsuka and Matthew were staying at the school to participate in the club training, Ashiya Michimitsu took the Shinkansen to Kyoto, where the commission was located, in the way ordinary people did - and found that the invitation scope of this commission was wider than everyone had guessed before, and almost all members of related industries in Japan were gathered in this mansion.
"Oh, you two are invited too?" Iwanaga Kotoko raised her eyebrows at Abe Harusai who was wearing a red kimono, and asked the two people from Monster An to stand beside her. "I thought that with Harusai's promotional plan, few people would see the consultation phone number of Monster An."
"I don't know how the client found my phone number, but coming here is the request of the administration." Abe Harusai walked to Iwanaga Kotoko's side and answered her question about why she was here. "I wanted to refuse at first, but the legislature and the judiciary are busy with the eye recently, so Monster An is temporarily under the jurisdiction of the administration."
"I hope they can successfully find the criminal and find a safe place to seal him up again." Iwanaga Kotoko heard about the recent situation of the hidden world from Abe Harusai, and was naturally happy to reveal some information about the commission to the two high school students who knew nothing. "The range of people invited this time includes ordinary private detectives, and also those who specialize in the 'other world' like us - of course, because ordinary people can't tell the difference, there are also a certain amount of scams among them."
"But the client himself should be inclined to believe in the existence of these non-human beings - because I don't accept commissions publicly like you do, no matter which side I will take over; I will only accept commissions from monsters... But, this time the client was invited through my private social circle."
"Normally, Iwanaga's parents would directly help her reject such requests." Sakuragawa Kuro filled in the blanks for Iwanaga Kotoko. "For example, the Otonashi family, who had invited her in the past, actually invited Iwanaga to come because they had a favor that they couldn't refuse. But this time, there was no special reason, they just showed up in front of her normally."
"And this is the biggest problem." Iwanaga Kotoko smiled and looked at the central part of the courtyard that everyone had tacitly left empty. "Let's see what this incident is all about - I hope it's not just some oolong who gets too scared and treats a normal situation as a supernatural incident and wastes time."
"There are so many people." Asaya Domitsu, who had just arrived at the commissioned location after changing into a more modern kimono, looked at the courtyard that was almost full of people in front of him, and sighed subconsciously before crossing the threshold. "However, after the client shows up, I'm afraid a few more will leave - after all, there are always people who think that guys who deal in the supernatural are all scammers."
The black-haired, green-eyed Alterego stood in an unnoticed corner, and while the client hadn't shown up yet, he quickly began to investigate the scene. Of course, because of his focus on the client, he wouldn't ignore Iwanaga Kotoko, Sakuragawa Kuro, Abe Harusai, and Asuka Hanae, who were standing closer to the center of the courtyard.
——After all, Chaldea doesn’t really intend to make a living from this.
"No fluctuations of the Holy Grail's magic power were detected at the scene." Standing in the corner, Asaya Doman sent a message to several people who were not at the scene through telepathic communication, "It looks normal, even normal to the point of being a little abnormal - I mean, this place is too clean. Not only is there no trace of the Holy Grail's magic fluctuations, there are not even any traces left by ordinary little monsters passing by."
"A magic vacuum?" Abe Haruaki, the only one left at home, immediately responded to the message sent by Asiya Michiman, "Well, is it possible... that it was eaten? The various traces of magic and monsters that should have been left here were eaten by an unknown existence and transformed into magic?"
"I don't think this is possible." Luwudao sighed.
"Have some faith in the 'you' in the other world." Abe Haruaki laughed at Asaya Michiman loudly, "Maybe it was the 'me' in this world who sealed it myself - so after escaping, you will continue to do evil and subvert the order of this world. No matter whether they are humans or monsters, as long as they have been protected by 'me', you will not let them go... Hmm? Why are you silent?"
"I just think what you said makes sense." Asaya Doman smiled and cast his eyes towards the center of the courtyard. "It would be great if this channel could be connected across worlds like the Heroes' Chat Room. The client hasn't shown up for such a long time. I have a bad feeling that I might need the help of Sherlock Holmes or Moriarty..."
"...No way?" Abe Haruaki looked up at the clock hanging on the wall and widened his eyes in disbelief.
"Don't rush to the front or the back - this is advice." Edmund, who was handling other commissions outside, reminded Suwu Daoman, "If you are too far ahead or too far behind, you will be suspected - although everyone at the scene will definitely be suspected, the people squeezed in the middle to watch are generally the least suspicious. "
"ah--!!!"
A scream came from deep inside the mansion.
"Oh..." Asiya Michiman blinked and replied to Abe Haruaki and Edmund, "It seems that someone really died. But——"
"Humans also have magic power in their bodies, the only difference is how much, and whether they know how to use it." Fujimaru Ritsuka at school finally joined the discussion, "Mr. Michiman didn't notice the change in magic power just now, which proves that at least before Mr. Michiman arrived at the scene, this case had already happened - whether it was a monster or a human, this case had already happened."
"Like I said before, don't be the first to discover, and don't be the last to arrive at the scene." Edmund, who was repairing the water pipe, took some time to pay attention to the progress of Asaya Doman. "First, go to the scene and confirm whether the dead person is the client. Then consider whether to follow up on this clue..."
"We must continue the investigation - the clues are right in front of us, and letting them go is not a virtue." Before Edmund finished speaking, Fujimaru Ritsuka finalized the subsequent arrangements and asked Ashiya Michiman about the situation at the scene, "Did you see the scene? Did you find anything special?"
"I thought that the rare group of magic gathered together was the client's family." Asaya Michiman fell silent as he looked at the scene in front of him, as if a barrier had been erected between him and the noisy world. "But now, it turns out that seeing it with my own eyes is the most accurate result."
"What's wrong?" Abe Haruaki, who also existed as a "certain side", sensed something bad in Asaya Michiman's tone.
"There is no one alive in this family." Ashiya Michiman looked coldly at the woman who was kneeling beside the client and crying in grief, and replied to Abe Haruaki, "Just like the group of people you met in Shibuya - it is a tasteless and extremely evil joke. I support your conjecture, because I can't think of anyone else who can do such a thing except "Ashiya Michiman". "
"They are all shikigami transformed from the dead. Although they look no different from living people and their body temperature does not show abnormalities, once they turn back into corpses, even ordinary people can find out that the client did not just die, but has been dead for a long time."