Chương 326: Magnum Opus

Before Binibelle's brain could even process the new information before her eyes, she was already thinking back on the previous three lines she had discovered a little while ago… Three words. Two spaces. It is a variant. Although these three hints had already been rather important ones, as they revealed the way in which the answer was constructed. However, the third line had posed some trouble, as there was no way to really know what exactly it was referring to, or if it was even merely referring to a single thing.

With these new hints, she hoped to not only get more clues but also elucidate what this previous crumb of information could have possibly meant.

"Alright, let's see what we have here…" The key is two words sharing a very similar meaning stitched together. Already, this was a pretty big clue. If not an enormous one… Especially since it was direct and clear in what it was referencing, as it directly mentions the key, or in other words, what is required to decrypt the accursed sequence into something comprehensible–Into the truth.

Of course, although an obviously incredible piece of information to have, it didn't mean much if she couldn't find a way to know what the two words were, or even what 'similar meaning' actually entailed. She wasn't willing to believe that the clues she was given wouldn't intentionally be confusing or otherwise cryptic. Though she knew that the key was just two words now, meaning that it wasn't actually made up of too many letters, and also that the key itself wasn't just made up of a random series of letters.

One of the words is in your language, one of the words is in a language favoured by the Universal System.

"I suppose it is a matter of 'ask and you shall receive'. That's a good clue as well!" A language favoured by the Universal System wasn't as cut and dry as some might think, but when it came to the Universal System making use of strange languages, there were two in particular that came to mind.

If one were to ask an Unwanted Presence about these 'mysterious' languages, they would probably raise an eyebrow and simply respond something along the lines of:'It's just Greek and Latin' For reasons unclear, languages that were mysterious and liked by the Universal System tended to be regular languages to otherworlders, but this matter was of little importance to Binibelle at the moment–She knew that the great system could sometimes use other tongues, but these two were the most prominent, and as such, her attention should first focus on these.

Since the two words making up the key share a 'very similar meaning' but are actually in different languages, it isn't unlikely that they are actually direct translations of one another in some capacity. Technically the same word, but by crossing to another language, it slightly changes its meaning. Although such things aren't too common on the continent, as a singular tongue is most prominent… It could be likened to how certain words are used differently by different sapient species.

For example, beastfolks don't typically make a difference between animals and beasts in regular day-to-day speech. Since animals are typically weaker than beasts, they avoid making the distinction directly, as it would sound quite insulting to beastfolks who took after animals instead of beasts. As such, to the average beastfolk, animals and beasts aren't actually separate categories. The halfling rubbed her chin.

She stopped her train of thought and instead focused on what else the back of this photograph had to offer. The picture can help. This one is short and concise, but it does state clearly that the picture itself bears some importance. It nonetheless made sure not to elaborate on how exactly it will help.

"Should it be taken as a continuation of the previous hints?" The detective couldn't know for certain, but her first thought was that the image could potentially give her an idea of what the word in her language was supposed to be, but a proper idea didn't form by just looking at the picture. The image was merely one of Mara disguised as Glown, seemingly having some fun with the five missing girls.

The picture clearly indicated that Mara Nebulo, despite supposedly not liking children one bit, enjoyed spending some time with these five in particular, and in turn, the girls clearly liked Mara a great deal, with the demon girl even feeling safe enough with her to fall asleep in the clown's arms. Alas, try as she might, an idea wasn't forming just yet. Binibelle was a bit too excited about all these clues right now to think properly.

She would have to try and come up with something later–Which was fine, as she would have to stay in bed after the stunt she pulled against that murder of various oversized birds… Round and even.

"... Now, that seems a bit more unclear" Well, it might seem like nonsense to some, but Binibelle's first thought was that this was referring to a number, as both 'round' and 'even' were rather common words used in mathematics. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. The halfling wasn't very good at mathematics. Some mages used them to calculate a whole bunch of things, but she–Like most mages–Just went with her guts.

It had worked well for her for a long time, so it clearly was a perfectly legitimate way of doing things.

"Round and even… Is this about the key again? Is it telling me that it has a round and even number of letters?" If that was the case, then it would be useful to know this once she began trying to figure it out. If whatever key she came up with didn't suit these criteria, then she would know immediately that it wasn't the correct one. Now… This was a repeat of last time, somewhat.

The first two clues she had found previously had been about the number of words and the number of spaces, with both pretty much telling the same thing. The same was true here, as a round number was obviously also even, but she supposed that it was actually whatever force decided to make these hints being graceful, and hammering the fact that it was about a number into Binibelle's head.

After all, if it had just been 'round' or 'even' without anything else, it would have been quite simple for anyone to go in another direction with their line of thought. With both of them together, it made things pretty obvious.

"Alright… Wait a minute. There is more?" Do you really think it is worth it?

"... This definitely wasn't there when I first looked" The detective frowned slightly as she looked down at the words written on the back of the picture. What was the meaning of this? Was the damned bird persona of the field of disruption communicating with her? Was this Mara Nebulo speaking through some sort of medium? Or was it something else entirely?

"Of course it's worth it" She responded to the words without hesitation, but it seemed like they weren't done, as the words blurred and soon reformed into a brand new sentence. Do you really think the answer to this mystery matters?

"Huh… Are you telling me this because the families of the five missing girls vanished completely? You mean that just because no one who was affected remains, it doesn't matter to solve the deaths of these girls? That's a laughable idea" Binibelle sighed.

She had heard a few things about certain ghosts that seemed to be following Mara around these days, and in the halfling's mind, if those were truly the five missing girls, then the only reason they had turned into spirits was precisely that their deaths had never been solved. There are plenty of reasons someone can turn into a spectre after death, but one of the most common reasons is 'unfinished business'.

The girls probably remained completely trapped, unable to move on, until they were eventually picked up by Mara after she turned into a monster of steel. Even if it was too late to rest their souls, Binibelle felt like she had a duty to give these spirits what they had wanted, even if late. Even if it doesn't even matter anymore.

"It doesn't just matter. It is of the utmost importance" Whatever the truth may be, will it do anything more than satisfy your ego?

"Ouch… Now that's just a personal attack. Am I not allowed to have a bit of an ego as a master detective?" Naturally, one of–if not the–Main reasons why she was so set on solving this case was precisely because it was resisting her so strongly. Her younger self had been pumped with adrenaline back when her investigative spells were of dubious efficiency, back when every case was a mountain to climb.

It might seem selfish, but Binibelle was yearning for this sensation, and this case was proving to be even more than a nostalgia trip for her. It was genuinely the most difficult case she had ever faced. Not only were her spells nearly made completely useless, but she had to compete against a sapient crow-like horror that was trying to feed her information from alternate realities in an attempt to misdirect the investigation.

She had to deal with resistance like she had never experienced, and also, Mara Nebulo, the centerpiece of it all, was herself an enigma that Binibelle could not figure out. Although the halfling truly believed that there was something to gain by solving this case and understanding what truly went on inside Mara's head, it would be a lie to say that, even if that weren't the case, she wouldn't be working just as hard to solve it all.

Even if understanding Mara didn't mean anything, Binibelle would still want to do it, for the simple reason that it was a case in itself in her eyes.

"It will definitely satisfy my ego a fair bit, but I assure you… This is all perfectly relevant" For a few seconds, it seemed as though the last line on the back of the picture wouldn't change, but it eventually blurred once more, displaying one final sentence. Whatever you do… Do not tempt fate a third time.

"Huh…? A warning?" To Binibelle, this was clearly about her running into the bird-like field of disturbance. She had managed to 'win' against it twice, but it seemed like whatever it was that had been communicating with her was warning her that trying to do so again would end poorly.

"Wait a minute… This isn't the damned bird nor Mara Nebulo at all, is it? How did you even get here?!" There was no answer. The word merely faded away.

"Damn it. I should have recognised this way of communicating immediately, but… Seriously, how could that guy possibly affect this place? Has he been messing around this entire time? Is that why I've been able to get answers?"

Binibelle felt herself grow weightless, and before she could react, she was ejected from this recreated bedroom and back to her body in the real world, but from her perspective, everything just turned black as the damage she caused to her own mind caught up to her, making her lose consciousness on the spot.

"I've finally found you. I knew there was a rat crawling around in the dark, dragging its belly against the ground to stay unnoticed… Finding you was only a matter of time, but you've made a mistake this time" The crow, alongside the other monstrous birds, surrounded a humanoid figure in a dark recess of their domain. A place without a name, and without a true existence. A place that simultaneously was real but also did not exist. At least, that's how it should be.

Despite this, an intruder had managed to make their way inside and had been messing around to help Binibelle attain actual clues and answers instead of being fed truths of unrelated realities. There is no mistake. You can not catch me, your powers are useless against me. The intruder was a dark spirit. His voice was masculine, his form was akin to flames and seemingly held together by ropes of red energy, and upon his face rested a blank, cracked white mask.

"We shall see… But while you are here, interloper. Why don't you actually introduce yourself for once? You've run with your tail between your legs every single time. My Lady never got to hear your name" The dark spirit looked up to the crow, and as he spoke, his words appeared all around in the air around him. My name is Legion, for I am many.