## Chapter 134 – The Great Escape (3)
“What nonsense are you spouting?!
There’s no way she could have vanished into the ground!!
Go find her, now!!
It’ll be a problem if she escaped outside!!”
“But we’ve searched even the roof!!
She’s not in this mansion!!
We should inform the outside and increase security…!!”
“Damn it!! How did this happen?!”
The head of the guards and the guards continued their heated argument, before they scattered again to search for Arachnella.
The banquet hall, already in disarray from the sudden disaster, was in terrible shape.
Students lay scattered everywhere, caught in the chaos.
Because Hyeryung had thrown vials of potent poison all over the place, even finding a place to lie down was difficult, so everyone huddled against the walls.
They couldn’t return to their rooms due to the incident, so people were gathered in the banquet hall.
Amidst all this, those gathered in the banquet hall were either trying to recover their shocked and exhausted bodies and minds, or receiving treatment for their injuries.
And, like someone, there were those who were discussing the incident.
“I see. Let’s recap what I’ve heard.
Barumhausen’s autodrone, which was on display, went berserk.
That’s why Arachnella, who was restrained, was freed.
They managed to subdue the autodrone, but Arachnella escaped.
That’s the order of events, right?”
“If that’s the case, wasn’t it just bad luck?
A truly unfortunate accident?”
“If that were the case, it would be fortunate.
In the process, ‘an unidentified girl intruded’…
It’s more likely that it was a planned crime to disable the autodrone.
You don’t think a normal human could cooperate with Arachnella, do you?”
“Then who’s the culprit?”
“I don’t know. But after questioning, I was able to gather some characteristics.
Blue hair, about 170cm tall, or slightly shorter.
And judging from the way they wielded a sword, they’re likely involved in that field.
However, a student mentioned that they didn’t see anyone other than students inside.
There’s definitely a possibility that the culprit is a student from the academy.”
“Ugh… a student is a terrorist? These are dark times…”
“The fact that you’re alive is proof of dark times.
Don’t talk like it’s someone else’s problem.”
“Hey, we’re all getting old together, don’t be so harsh!!
So, what’s next? Is there anything else?”
At Deborah’s scolding, Pulcinella grinned and urged her on. Deborah sighed softly.
“Don’t even think about interfering in the investigation.
Just go to the front lines that you love so much.”
“Two heads are better than one, right?
Let’s unleash collective intelligence!!
Combine your brain with mine!!”
“The difference in brainpower seems extreme.
I’ll gladly refuse a futile effort.”
Of course, she said that, but there were too few clues.
If a crime occurred, and there were seemingly unconnected individual clues, then there must be some connection.
The culprit always leaves traces, and all the clues she had gathered so far might already be pointing to the culprit.
As Deborah fell into thought and pursed her lips, Pulcinella puffed out her cheeks and pretended to be angry, before suggesting another matter.
“Then how about this?
You fought with another person earlier, right?
Shouldn’t we consider that person as well?”
“Hmm. That person…
At first, their hair was close to brown, but at some point, it looked like bright blonde.
They were a little shorter than me, so… they must have been around 170cm as well.
Blue hair and blonde hair. A duo?”
“What about their connection to the people they escaped with?”
“I don’t know for now. But they seemed like comrades.
For now, Serkov de Schutzranova has been identified as a drug offender.
Monehen testified that it was the Schutzranova Marquis’s son and his gang, right?
But it’s unnatural to think that a drug offender would escalate things.
They need to be as quiet as possible to avoid getting caught.”
“Then? Aren’t they all in the same gang, so they escaped together?”
“No. If their goals align…
Then someone could have made a proposal after accidentally discovering each other’s existence.
For example, trying to quietly escape this social gathering.
But the most important thing is…”
Deborah’s eyes narrowed as if she was slowly closing them, and she began to stroke her lips with her hand as she pondered.
“Why did those who enjoy drugs and terrorists join hands?
Whose idea, whose judgment? And for what mutual benefit?”
“Ugh… I’m getting a headache…”
“I didn’t expect anything.”
At Deborah’s question to herself, Pulcinella, whose brain capacity seemed to be insufficient, covered her forehead.
Deborah, who was looking at her with a pathetic gaze, slowly got up from her seat and began to walk somewhere.
“D!! Where are you going?”
“The opponents are nobles. Eyewitness testimony alone won’t be enough.
I heard they’re comparing the list of those who received invitations with those who are still here.
But the blockade has loosened due to the chaos of cleaning up the scene after the incident, and quite a few students have already escaped.
I need to narrow the encirclement from there and secure physical evidence.”
“Blue hair and blonde hair…”
“Ah…”
Listening to Deborah, who had interrupted her but said everything she needed to say, Pulcinella yawned.
Deborah had disappeared from their midst, and as Pulcinella massaged the back of her neck with both hands and muttered, a small groan escaped from Anne’s lips.
“What’s wrong, disciple? Are you not feeling well?”
“Ah… no… it’s just…”
Anne turned her head slightly and slowly turned over. An uneasy feeling began to surge in her mind.
Vivian’s hallucination that appeared one drunken night.
Too conveniently, the testimonies about the blue-haired and blonde-haired individuals left at the scene, were just like the missing Vivian and Ranier.
‘If Vivian was really here…’
The Froden March family medal that she picked up on their escape route and returned to her, Grenot’s mechanical longsword, and the small vial that was stored inside.
‘Tears of Retrand…
Why this…’
She had seen it at the beginning of the social gathering, and she recognized it without any difficulty because she desperately wanted it.
Stealing the Tears of Retrand itself wouldn’t have been difficult.
It wasn’t in some vault, but in a display case in the upper part of the banquet hall where everyone could see it.
The reason it could be stored like that was simply because there were so many eyes watching, no one would dare to steal it.
And because there was a psychological constraint that touched the nobles’ unique pride in their honor and the family’s self-esteem.
But if Arachnella and the autodrone were causing a ruckus in the middle of the banquet hall, it wouldn’t have been impossible to quickly steal it in the chaos.
But the problem was the motive and relevance.
Why is the Tears of Retrand in the empty space of this mechanical longsword?
And why did the person holding the mechanical longsword also have this medal?
At that moment, several servants who entered the banquet hall took out the glasses on the tea table and took the plates that were used as teacups. Anne jumped up from her seat and started running towards them.
“Wait…!! Wait a minute!!”
“Lady… what’s wrong…?”
At Anne’s urgent question pointing to the teacup saucer that the servant was holding, the servant returned the answer as it was.
“That’s right…? It’s a symbolic, important item of the family.
So I was instructed to collect it first…?”
The servant was holding an item that looked different from her medal.
At the polite answer of the servant, who appeared to be of considerable age, Anne took out the medal from her pocket and held it out to him.
“This… this is also a medal…!! Right…?”
“That’s right, Lady.
Is there any problem…?”
“Maybe… other medals…
Do they look different from this…?”
The servant, who received the medal that Anne took out of her gown pocket and handed over, looked at it for a moment, then slightly widened his eyes and nodded.
“That’s right. Hmm…
I’ll collect this too…
I’m saying this because the social gathering has become a mess…
The last medal is that one.
The head of the family must like to joke around… heh heh…”
Following the servant’s fingertip pointing to the center of the banquet hall floor, Anne sat down on the spot, looking at the family crest engraved on a round iron plate the size of a table on the floor.
If you think about who would think that was a medal, it was an amazing disguise.
The rules clearly stated to find the medal, but it didn’t say to hold it.
But rather, that fact was leading Anne into a panic.
‘That can’t be…
Absolutely… how…!!’
A large medal engraved on the floor, and a medal disguised as a teacup saucer.
And the medal she had, which was stolen by Serkov.
The fact that all the medals looked different meant that the medal she had was the only one.
That meant that the medal that should have been with Serkov had been passed on to someone who had this sword, and at least as far as she knew, the person who had this sword…
‘Is also related to Serkov…’
The terrible nightmare in the dark hallway that she saw the day she lost her sword.
And the mysterious terrorists with blue hair and blonde hair, who seemed to be in the same gang as Serkov, who stole the medal from her.
The two facts could not know the clear intention, but they were only answering one thing.
And if you think about this folding longsword that appeared like magic on her waist after passing the flower bed, which was the last place she saw her, and fell on the route they escaped…
‘Vivian…!!’
The scene that was too vivid to think of as just a hallucination.
Those eyes that glared at her with an unpleasant gaze as she walked into the light of the torch, the only shining presence in the dark hallway.
And those eyes that looked down at her with an unpleasant gaze on the very day that she was pushed by Vivian and fell, losing consciousness in the flower bed.
Vivian, who had only been reported missing, with no news, not even a body, was here.
‘What’s going on…?
Are you… preparing something for me again…?’
Logically, there was no need to go through the troublesome task of faking a major incident like a disappearance just to screw her over.
Hadn’t she been harassing her well without doing that until now?
But if something happens once, it’s a coincidence, and if it happens several times, it’s inevitable.
At least as long as Vivian has been consistently involved in the things around her, she needed to be prepared for it.
Suppressing her trembling heart, Anne’s eyes, clutching the pure white metal rod hanging on her waist, were being consumed by the fear that came from the unknown.
In the end, the social gathering hosted by the Froden March family ended in an unexpected accident, resulting in the unprecedented decision to abruptly stop the social gathering in the middle.
The social gathering was over, but there was joy and memories, new encounters, and sometimes the feelings that they wanted to convey.
As the social gathering, which contained so many things, came to an end, everyone woke up from a midsummer night’s dream and returned to their places.
‘Then I…’
Only a wounded soul remained, unable to distinguish whether what she had dreamed was a dream or a nightmare…
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