Murder on the 18th Floor

The group finally entered the inn. Even though there's a building outside, the inn is actually a large cave with small chambers connected to it. Once they stepped inside, Koneko was the first one to notice. "...The smell of blood." She muttered.

The Loki Familia members are not surprised by her words as it's typically that the Demi-Humans with beast characteristics have better senses. However, they're still unnerved by the two white tails swaying behind her.

The walls of the cave are fully decorated with candle stands that also give this place its lighting. After walking for several seconds, at the end of the corridor, they found two people watching over the room and Finn knew both of them, "Hey Bors, Willy. We're planning to stay for a while. So why don't we help you figure this out as quickly as possible?"

Bors is a well built muscular man with black hair and teal eyes, with an eyepatch covering his left eye. He wears a sleeveless open jacket that shows his muscular body, arm covers and gloves, blue pants, boots, and a belt with a red monster face carving and fur. He's the current leader and the strongest Adventurer in Rivira.

Willy, on the other hand, is a black-haired cat person and was currently mulling to himself as he looked towards the corpse with half of its head busted. He's the owner of this inn.

While Willy ignored Finn, Bors looked towards Finn, "Tch! You sure like to talk, Finn. Doesn't matter if it's your lot or the rest of the Freya Familia. Always walking in here, thinking you own this place 'cos you're strong."

The girls of the Loki Familia, especially Tione, could only give him a dirty look.

Rivira is self-governing, and the Guild has no presence. The trick to keeping rowdy types in line is being strong enough to shut them up . Bors, at Level 3, is the strongest adventurer in Rivira and is therefore in charge.

Finn let go of Bors's attitude as he's always been like this and asked, "Do we know anything about who the victim is? Or about the attacker?"

Instead of answering him, Bors turned towards the black-haired cat person, "Oy, Willy! This is your place. Get your head out of your hands and speak up!"

Startled by the sudden loud call, Willy looked around the room and finally noticed that there's a lot of people in it, "Ah... Um... That guy over there wore full plate armor. Couldn't see his face because of his helmet. Last night, he and a lady in a robe... Couldn't see her face either, but they both showed up and asked me to rent out the whole place."

"The entire inn to themselves? Ahh... That's what they had in mind." After hearing Finn's words, everyone from the Loki Familia, except for Ais, instantly understood what he meant. While Riveria, Tione, and Tiona didn't have any particular reaction, Lefiya started panicking with a blushing face, "!!! Awawawa!"

Seeing this, the trio finally understood that the lewdest of them all is the innocent Elf.

"Lefiya?" Ais asked Lefiya in confusion and the fantasizing Elf replied in a hurry, "N-N-N-NOTHING AT ALL!!!"

Ignoring them, Willy continued his words, "You got it. And take a look at this place. Since it's a cave, even the slightest moan echoes forever. But they paid. If I get paid, I've got no reason to say no. I stepped out for the night and came back to this mess. That was damn shocking, I tell you."

Bors nodded, "So the guy bites the dust and his lady disappeared. She's the culprit, no doubt about it."

Finn shook his head, "At the very least, she knows more than we do." He then faced Willy, "This woman in a robe, you said you couldn't see her face, but did she have any other identifying traits?"

Reaching this point, Bors and Willy's face became filled with lust, "Well~! Now that you mentioned it, that robe couldn't hide two really nice physical traits~!" Willy said while doing a dirty gesture on his chest.

"Ohh! Come to think of it, I saw a lady like that around town yesterday! A real fox, that one! Don't know her face, but that's her!!" Bors followed up.

However, they suddenly felt a piercing glare from the two Amazons and shuddered, shutting their mouth.

"If you run this place, How didn't you hear anything from the front counter?" Tiona asked.

Willy shook his head, "He brought that beauty in here and flaunted her. I knew what was up. Like hell, I'm gonna stay here with that going on. I hit the bar right away."

"Has anyone seen this robed woman since last night?" Finn asked Bors.

"Nope. I've got my boys looking into it, but nothing yet."

"Wh-What about the emblem used to pay?" Lefiya asked, wanting to help, "Money is just extra baggage in the Dungeon, so Adventurers use their emblems instead, right? We could learn the victim's Familia and their name as the guarantor if we see the paperwork...?"

"That would sure speed things up..." Bors then looked to Willy, "Yeah?"

"Well, about that. Sorry. They just plopped a bag crammed full of magic stones on the counter and that was that."

"So is that as far as we get?"

"Just you wait. We can ask this guy's body directly." Bors then shouted towards the outside, "Oy! Where's that status thief!"

From the entrance of the inn, a Human and a Boar Person entered, "Bors-san, I got it!" The Human shouted back.

Lefiya frowned and asked, "Status Thief? Isn't that..."

"It's an item solely designed to reveal our statuses."

"'Cos sometimes, you gotta break the rules." Bors justified his actions.

The Boar Person then started using the Status Thief on the back of the corpse, "That guy died like a total tool. Bet you anything he was some bottom-of-the-barrel punk from a no-name Familia."

"Job's done, Bors." The Boar Person stood up and stepped back.

"Let's see... Son of a... I forgot I can't read Hieroglyphs. Oy, you there. Go find an Elf outside and bring them in!"

But before the guy who Bors instructed could go, Riveria and Ais stepped up, "Wait. I am able to read Hieroglyphics." "Me too."

The two of them then started deciphering the words behind the corpse and the first one to speak up was Rivera, "His name was Hashana Dorlia. He belonged to..." "...Ganesha Familia." Ais finished her words.

"!!!?"

Bors and his men started panicking upon this discovery, "Ganesha Familia!? They're one of Orario's best!!" "Hey! You sure about that!?"

Bors then recalled something, "Hold it!"

"Hold it, hold it, hold it! What did you just say!!!?" With a panicked expression, Bors continued, "This is Hashana!? This ain't a joke... The Strong Fist Warrior, Hashana... is a Level 4!!!" Of course, he would start panicking since contrary to his expectation, the killed person is actually a very strong person, which means, an at least Level 4 murderer is roaming around Rivira.

Finn's eyes became serious and asked Bors, "Bors, I need to know. Has anything been moved since the body was discovered?"

Bors shook his head.

"With no sign of a fight, or that anyone else came in, then the culprit has to be at least Level 4, or even a Top-Class Adventurer." Inspecting the body and the room again, The only damage on the corpse is its twisted neck and the blasted upper head. Finn concluded that the lady in the robe is really the culprit and overpowered the Level 4 Adventurer, "The culprit already killed Hashana by twisting his neck, but seeing the state of his head and the cut opened bags of him, we can assume that the culprit smashed his head out of frustration after she couldn't find what she's looking for."

Editors:

28th00

Alexander