Roland left Aldo’s manor with a bronze badge, as well as Aldo’s continuous nagging, asking him to check in at the magic tower and complete the registration as soon as possible.
Roland did not go to the magic tower straight away. He decided to take a rest in Lamb Girl first.
Although players did not have to sleep, they might get tired if they worked too long. However, they could generally recover after a rest of twenty minutes.
While Roland was considering questions, someone knocked on the door.
He opened the door, only to discover that it was a woman. He remembered her to be the woman he met in Gray Sand earlier. The freckles on her face were rather distinctive.
The woman seemed awkward when she saw Roland.
“How may I help you?” Roland asked after he observed the woman for a moment.
The woman was silent for a while, her head lowered. In the end, she summoned her courage and said, “Lisa is my sister. I didn’t know until yesterday that you saved her. Thank you very much.”
After that, she solemnly bowed to Roland.
Then, she continued, “But our family is too poor to pay the two gold coins back. The only worthy thing in my family is my body. So, can I serve you for several days as our payment?”
Looking at the woman, Roland shook his head. “That’s unnecessary. You’re too kind. Besides, it was my partner, Betta, who saved her. Maybe... he will accept your gift.”
From what Roland had seen, Betta must still be a virgin. It was a chance for him to learn how to hang around with girls.
The woman, however, was stunned and put on a bitter smile.
Roland comforted her. “Rest assured, we won’t ask you to pay the money back. Is there anything else?”
The woman shook her head.
Roland slowly closed the door.
The woman looked at the closed door and turned away in disappointment.
As a matter of fact, she had talked to the young man who was handsomer and seemed to be a noble. Though embarrassed, he declined her firmly.
That was why she came here, hoping to try her luck again.
She truly appreciated them for saving her sister, but deep down in her heart, she felt that it was an opportunity for her to become a noble’s mistress. In that case, she would earn much more than she could in Gray Sand.
However, both of them had declined her.
It seemed that she was truly not pretty and could not arouse their interest at all.
The freckled woman was greeted by her mates, who learned the result from her dejected appearance and comforted her.
The freckled woman put on a grateful smile, but she was actually bitter. She could tell that none of them were really sympathetic toward her. Deep down in their eyes was gloating and mockery.
As the same kind of person, she knew them very well.
That being said, the smile on her face was even sweeter, as if she were touched by them.
As fellow courtesans, it was important for her to maintain a superficial bond with them.
After a brief rest, Roland practiced Language Proficiency in his room. The spell had too many nodes and couldn’t have just one effect. Just like Inferior Fireball, there must be other derivative functions in Language Proficiency, which had more than a hundred nodes.
He tested the nodes one by one and wrote notes on the memo. Two hours later, he rubbed his dizzy head and left the city for the woods.
With his memory, Roland found the drag marks in the wood again. Luckily, the site was not ruined. He circled the site and recorded a video, before he searched for possible clues.
However, he found nothing in the end.
There was no blood, no strips of cloth, and no semen.
If this was the scene of a murder, blood should’ve gushed everywhere considering the stab wound on the girl, but nothing was found. It was quite odd.
Following the drag marks, Roland entered the cave again.
The stench was even more intense after a day. The hole was not blocked, and judging from the footprints, nobody else had been here.
Covering his nose, Roland took multiple photos of the corpses in the cave. Then, he sealed the hole with Hands of Magic.
“Rest in peace. I’ll avenge you,” said Roland in a low voice.
Roland returned to the city and found Betta.
Betta was seated on a hill and was staring at a house down below.
Roland approached him and asked, “How is it going?”
“The girl is awake,” said Betta with an awful look. “Just like you speculated, Brother Roland, she didn’t see the criminal. The criminal assaulted her from behind and threatened to kill her if she turned around. She was too scared to resist and could only crouch and let the man continue with her eyes closed. But in the end, the criminal still tried to kill her. She said that her chest was cold before she passed out. It must’ve been an iron weapon.”
Roland’s eyes glittered when he heard that. “An ice sword!”
After a brief daze, Betta understood. “That’s right! There’s no blood in the cave or the crime scene. I’ve been wondering how the criminal managed, but none of my theories seemed plausible. You’re truly smart, Brother Roland!”
If it was a magic ice sword, bloodlessness would make sense.
Roland chuckled. “Of course. After all, I’ve watched more than three hundred episodes of Detective Conan.”
Betta laughed aloud for a while. Then he frowned and said, “But there was no semen at the crime scene. How do you explain that?”
Actually, Roland already had a guess, but it was too disgusting and perverted, and Roland did not intend to tell it to Betta, who was still little.
So, he changed the topic and said, “I visited Aldo not a long time ago.”
“Oh? You intend to join the Association of Mages?”
“It’s only one of the reasons. At first, I thought that Aldo was a suspect, because he’s lustful and smart.” Looking at the clouds, Roland explained slowly, “So I met him under the excuse that I wanted to join the Association of Mages. But then I discovered that he was unlikely to be the criminal. After all, there are plenty of beautiful maids in his house, and he has no reason to hunt a plain-looking girl. However, since the criminal used a magic ice sword, the possibility that he’s the criminal is higher again!”