Chương 271: Keep Away

"Jimeni, what in damnation happened here?"

"Oh, hi, Golk. Listen, we had some guests over who wanted to speak with Miss Maya, but the maid who came to direct them apparently wasn't a maid at all! Here's a picture based on the descriptions given. Does this ring a bell?

You were the one in charge of vetting all of the people hired to work in the royal palace""I didn't know you had an artistic talent""I wish, this is a spell from Miss Binibelle that extracted the recent memories of everyone about this woman and used them as a reference to create an image as close to reality as possible""Mmh… So this is indeed an accurate representation? Then… No, this woman is no maid. No one inside the royal palace looks like this. I will be doing a head count…

Were you able to catch some energy residuals from this woman? We might be dealing with a shapeshifter. Urgh… I really hope this isn't one of those human-shaped mimics""Don't worry, this woman was apparently rather mechanical in nature, but considering that she was apparently wearing false skin, it isn't exactly improbable that one of the hires is indeed her, simply wearing a different skin""I see… How are our guests, though? Are their wounds healing nicely?"

"The healers got to them quickly, so they'll be fine, but… One of them has gone completely missing. There was another mage with them, an Elf called Yeldt. While the fake maid was still posing as the real deal, she got him to follow her, and since then, no one has any idea where he is–I swept the royal palace with my mana sense, but I wasn't able to find even a single clue" The archmage and warmaster exchanged for a while, with the latter of the two growing progressively worried about the safety of the royal palace.

"So she warped away? Don't we have things to prevent such things from happening?"

"The arrays we have prevent teleportation, and should prevent warping as well, but… Either she had been hiding as a maid for long enough to be considered an ally and exempt from the array's restrictions, or, more likely in my opinion, her kind of warp is too different from the norm, allowing it to function as the array does not recognise what she did as a warp" The warmaster pinched the bridge of his nose so hard that the articulations in his fingers popped.

"Is there a way to remedy this issue?"

"We would need a new array that prevents all forms of spatial manipulation, but as you can guess, the reason we don't have it already is that we don't have the funds to install such an expensive kind of array on such a large surface area""Damnit""Trying to solve the economic problems caused by the republic is a real burden, heh?"

"Do we even have an idea who this woman was and why she went after these people? Surely, if she wanted to kill them, there would have been better ways than to infiltrate a nation's royal palace… Why did they want to speak with Miss Maya as well?"

"You must have heard of the halfling detective mage, Binibelle. She was here to ask questions about a case she was working on, so I can only assume that the false maid did not like this very much and wanted to stop them. Whether she didn't want them to speak with Miss Maya, or if she just wanted to stop the case altogether, I can't make a guess""Right… But you didn't answer my question from earlier: What about residuals? I heard she summoned a ghost. Did it leave any residuals?" Johnpol Jimeni stroked his beard.

"Nothing exploitable was left behind, I am afraid""How?"

"Simple, for one, she herself only left useless, fake residuals behind. When I tried to pull them in, they crumbled like wet paper, and as for the ghost… It is a weird one. It had several residuals as if it had been more than one being, but all I get from said residuals is the screaming of the damned""And before you ask about the traces left by the warp, it was also inconclusive. It didn't lead in any particular direction for more than a handful of meters" Padri Golk sighed heavily.

"So we have nothing? Someone broke into the royal palace, made someone disappear, blasted a hole through another, and broke the bones of a third, and we have nothing? I can't pretend like I can provide safety for his majesty! From what I hear, this woman could just warp back in whenever she wants!" He sighed as he walked back and forth in the hallway where the brunt of the attack had taken place.

"Can I talk to the wounded?"

"Sure, they are both awake" The warmaster nodded and headed into a nearby room. Binibelle and Jupo had been taken to rooms just near the spot they had been attacked for convenience. They were being treated by skilled healers from the cleric. Their holy spells illuminated the room with a radiant yellow. He approached Binibelle. As of now, no cleric was actively casting any spell on her. She had only a box-shaped spell surrounding her, providing a light healing as her bones had already been mended.

Now, all that was left was for the natural regenerative power of her body to be stimulated so that it could do the finishing touches. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Hello, Miss Binibelle, I am Padri Golk, Warmaster, and… Also, the one in charge of security here. It is a failure on my end that happened today" In truth, it was the fault of a lack of money due to the country coming out of a dark age, during which money was spent only on the worst things, but it was never a good look to blame something for the failure of something one was in direct charge of. He should have been more rigorous with the new hires and made them remember each other perfectly.

If he had done so, they would have immediately noticed that the false maid was not one of them.

"Nice to meet you, Mister Golk. How can I help you?"

"I just wanted to know what the purpose of your visit was in detail, so that I am better armed in figuring out why this woman was here and attacked you" The halfling softly exhaled. She thought for a moment before responding.

"We believe that Miss Maya knows something concerning a rather complex case I've been working on for a long time. We just wanted to speak with her about it, but as you can see, we ran into a bit of an obstacle and-" Just as he was speaking, someone else entered the room, holding something up whilst walking up to the halfling mage. I was told you wanted to speak with me. Binibelle frowned.

"I suppose I'll leave you guys to it" The warmaster stepped away to speak with Jupo instead, leaving only the two women inside the room.

"Have you come to gloat, Mara?" I have no idea what you are talking about. Also, you shouldn't try to cast spells in your state. You'll hurt yourself. Binibelle clicked her tongue. She would have liked the knightess to write something compromising on her handheld blackboard that she would then be able to create an image of with a spell, but it seemed like she was seeing right through it.

"I spoke with your brother. I have never seen someone describe another person like this. Hearing him, it is like you are some sort of guardian devil" What do you want, Miss Halfling?

"You killed people en masse, and you are asking me what I want? I want to stop you from killing more… The more important question is: What do YOU want, Mara? Is it really sensible to live like a monster?" The knightess's fist came crashing upon the nearby wall. What I want is none of your business, but if you really want to know… At first, I was merely adapting to my new form.

I discovered that my body had certain cravings, so just like a fox pounces to catch mice in fields, I began seeking to satisfy these cravings. Nothing personal. It is merely nature taking its course. You wouldn't blame the wild beast's lack of morals for its killing of other creatures, would you? Binibelle didn't respond. She merely stared. I quickly realised that my foolish brother had forsaken me, though. Not only had he not come to find my remains and bury me, but he had left the family home behind.

Left it to dust and disrepair. What else could it mean other than he had decided to move on from us?

"Us?" The whole family, Binibelle. I can not fathom leaving this home full of warm memories behind for any other reason than to decidedly separate himself from our parents and me.

"... Wouldn't the more logical assumption be that this house was an empty husk of what had once been to him? It is more likely that he left it because he couldn't bear to live inside of it alone" A logical assumption, but I do not believe it. Abandonment is for the weak. If he felt lonely, then he should have built something new inside of it. Regardless. I now seek vengeance as well. I must find him, talk to him, and settle our family problems. As for you.

I would recommend that you stop digging into me or those close to me. You got lucky today. That evil, evil maid could have very easily killed you if you had not been saved in the nick of time. Mara erased what was on the blackboard and turned around to leave.

"What about the five girls? Why did you kill them?!" Binibelle tried to get a rise out of the knightess, but she merely shrugged. Like him, you can believe whatever you prefer.

"What?" Before Binibelle's eyes, and seemingly without even Mara noticing, the words on the blackboard shifted into something that looked to be nonsense. K B O W C B S H R S Binibelle was so surprised by the sudden occurrence that she failed to say anything, allowing Mara to exit the room without another word being spoken.

"What was this? Is it a code of some kind?" Binibelle would have wanted to pursue Mara and keep on asking questions, but whenever she tried to move, pain would radiate throughout nearly her entire body. The strike she had received had been strong, and her halfling constitution wasn't exactly the toughest around, quite the contrary… She was lucky to have only gotten broken bones from it, all thanks to a hastily cast reinforcement spell. Her insides probably would have gotten mushed otherwise. …

However, it seemed like detective work never ended until a case was solved. She had to spend the night inside the royal palace, and even had guards assigned to protect her. She had half expected Mara herself to come to finish the job, or for the guards to be some of those that she had apparently created herself, but none of it came to be true. Mara probably deemed doing anything to be too risky.

Security was tighter than ever following her stunt, and it didn't seem like she was willing to compromise her identity as Maya, the Silent Knightess. Nonetheless, it did not mean that the night passed without any visitors appearing. A silhouette rose behind the end of the bed, and suddenly, it was like the room was illuminated by the entire might of a full moon. Binibelle didn't panic.

"And who are you?" The response came via writings on the wall behind the figure. An ally. I do not know all, but I know more than most. I was present that day, Detective.

"That day…? Do you mean when the five girls went missing?" Precisely. I can tell you what truly happened, but in exchange, you must help me bring her down.

"Do you want to kill her?" No, that is too kind of a fate. She must stay alive. She must never die.

"... I see. As long as you don't do creepy shit like when you appeared like a sleep paralysis hallucination, we should have a deal" Very well. The silhouette disappeared, and everything returned to normal. The only thought on Binibelle's mind for a few moments wasn't about the case, though.

"I probably shouldn't mention that this guy writes almost exactly like she does…"