Dorudia Village, the village where the Adorudia tribe and Dedorudia tribe live in harmony.
To raise Holy Beast-sama, many village warriors attend to him to protect him, so that they won’t be short in power, many children are reared and the married people usually have many children.
Now they’re a very large family numbering about 500 heads, and they live above the trees.
With a stream of muddy water outside during rainy season, their houses look like islands.
The chance that the culprit is an outsider is almost none.
If it was, then it’s someone who can move like me and many more difficult ideas come to my brain.
The main suspect Pursena said, that inside the village the line of men who want to mate with her is long.
Then I immediately get my assistant Yasu and my helping inspector Gyes,
I began to collect evidence from the testimonies of people that were involved in this incident.
"This mean, Yasu it’s time to go!"
"Who is Yasu nya?"
"It’s you Rinia. Now I will call you Yasu, a certain assistant from a certain country."[1] [2]
"Oh, so that’s it..."
Inspector Gyes also didn’t say anything.
Thinking that this is useless, but now is the time to move.
Part 3
・"First testimony, the one who found her in the morning, warrior Gimel"
"Are you the first person who found her?"
"Yes."
When I saw this youth, I got some sense of deja vu.
Somehow, I got the feeling that I saw him somewhere before.
So I asked.
Gimel → Ask → Event from the Past [3]
"You, have we met somewhere before?"
"Yes, ten years ago when I fell into the water you’re the one who helped me."
Ah, I see.
Ten years ago, come to think of it.
During the rainy season, I together with Ruijerd helped a kid.
At that time, the boy waved his tail.
So nostalgic.
Well, let’s put that aside in the meantime.
Now back to our incident.
"At the site of the crime ten days ago, what did Pursena look like when she was found?"
"Let's see, the box of dried meat was opened, Pursena was sleeping while she was leaning on them facing the door and she said, [I can’t eat anymore] happily with her bulging stomach."
The scene at that time, somehow I could perfectly imagine it just like he said.
"...In other words, there were practically no eyewitnesses that saw whether Pursena had really eaten the dried meat or not, right?"
"Yes. But there was some meat left in between Pursena's teeth. And from the half eaten meat that was scattered around that place, Pursena's saliva smell could detected."
Dorudia's unique way for carrying out their investigation.
This incident, just by the smell alone it could be easily resolved.
They really have absolute confidence in their own noses.
With that as their weapon it’s become, [The saliva smell has been detected], and that’s already become more than enough evidence.
But that kind of investigation process is full of holes.
"Though Pursena's belly looked like she was full... but there is a chance that inside her belly there was only air that was trapped and blocked. Isn’t there?"
"No, from her burp I could smell the dried lizard meat from it. I have no doubt about it, she was the one who ate it herself."
There was no hole.
From the smell that came from inside of her stomach, it’s almost certain that Pursena is the one who ate the meat.
We can bisect her with a large pair of scissors and look directly inside of her stomach, but I don’t want to use this kind of method as much as possible.[4]
"Is there really nothing else inside? For example... something like footprints of someone else other than Pursena?"
"Whether it’s footprints, smell, or hairs, nothing else was there."
I see.
At least, the true culprit is doing his job perfectly.
Part 4
・"Testimony of Pursena's partner that night, Kanalna"
"Kanalna-san, on your day of duty, how was Pursena's appearance?"
"Yes, she was repeatedly saying, [I didn’t eat anything since morning, so hungry-nano]."
It looks like Pursena was very hungry that day.
But, this fact is very odd.
The Pursena that I know, she was always eating meat whether it was meal time or not.
Dried meat, smoked meat, and occasionally raw meat.
To think that kind of girl, DIDN’T EAT ANYTHING....
What is the true culprit's aim?
"I wonder, why didn’t she eat anything?"
"When the warriors were fighting against the demon invasion the day before, quite a number of warriors were injured."
The report says that too, that the day before the incident a large number of demons appeared.
There were no civilians wounded by that large-scale attack, but I heard many of the warrior group were injured.
"Ho~~"
"Because Pursena is the only advanced healing magician in this village, she was running around to several places, going back and forth to treat the injured warriors. And in the end her magical power was running out..."
Pursena's magical power was running out.
I have also experienced it, running out of magical power then losing consciousness, and not being able to even wake up for half a day.
In Pursena's case, she didn’t faint... she must keep her consciousness for her duty time.
Just like that she, without drinking or eating, carried on doing her duty as she was.
"Did she eat something, she has a choice to do that right?"
"That’s the rule."
Basically in Dorudia Village during rainy season, eating snacks outside of meal time is prohibited.
The stored food absolutely must be enough for three months, so there is a very strict management on it.
"Pursena can take a rest when she is on duty, there is an option like that right?"
"Because the number of demons that attacked the previous day was the most we had, quite a few warriors were already on bed rest. We didn’t have enough hands. I also advised her to take a break from duty and rest, but she said [I only feel a little hungry]."
I see.
To become village chief, she was filled with a sense of duty, that’s admirable.
If it was the me from the old days; I would have made this and that reason to take a rest.
"And, that led to this incident."
"Yes, even now, at least it would have been fine if she was eating something while on duty."
After hearing that, taking that situation into consideration, I feel that I got some leads to this case.
No, Pursena insisting that she wasn't the one who ate the dried meat.
Part 5
・"Yasu's Opinion"
"Rinia... I mean Yasu, after hearing those stories just now, what do you think?"
For the time being, I will listen to my assistant's opinion.
She is Pursena's friend.
"That girl, I think she is the culprit nya."
"Hmm"
"Since a long time ago whenever she felt hungry Pursena has a habit of snatching food from her surroundings. When we were still enrolled in school, she often snatched my fish and dried meat nya."
Yeah... there is a criminal record.