Arc 2 - Chapter 27: Arena Game (2/4)

"Uhm..."

Sivina was bored. After finishing the last bites of her breakfast, she cleared her throat and drew Yu's attention to her.

"I wanted to talk about the killer's first murder. I had all the time in the world when I was here yesterday and I got bored and decided to look into it."

"This will speed things up, what did you find?"

"The man who was killed was a friend of Thomas Chember. I don't know how accurate it is to use the word friend, given their age difference, but he was something like that, and there is no trace of his involvement. He only testified against the Berry family, as Mathilda said."

Yu put his left hand to his chin again. He tapped the table with the fingers of his other hand.

"Are you sure there are no traces?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Got it, thanks."

Sivina kept quiet and waited. There was nothing more to say about the murder, so Yu was silent too.

He drummed his fingers on the table, waiting for a signal to start a conversation.

"Ah... Yes, I was going to forget why we came here." Yu looked at Sivina with an embarrassed face. "We might have gotten into a bit of trouble yesterday."

"What kind of... trouble?"

"We were in the police station..."

"WHAT?"

Lucie jumped to her feet, banging her hands on the table. Then she grabbed Yu with both hands.

"Mr. Valarfin! What are you-"

She hadn't finished her sentence when she realized that people were staring at her, her long ears reddened to the tips and she sat down as her sister pulled her back.

Yu sighed more deeply and waited until people took their eyes off them.

"Yes... Ah... That's it, we ended up at the police station."

"I hope it's nothing important." Sivina pulled her chair a little further into the table and approached Yu.

"We were given a false report by an adversary. He thought I was holding Yurine against her will. When the guards came and tried to take me away, my beloved hero stood firm to protect me."

"I don't like this conversation." Yurine folded her arms across her chest and grimaced.

Yu met her unpleasant expression with a small smile and continued talking.

"Of course I didn't detain Yurine, we were released because of my innocence, but because Yurine's harsh treatment to the guards, they said they will send us to court. We are forbidden to leave the city until the court's decision is made."

Entry and exit to and from the city was strictly controlled by the city guard and officials and there was no room for compromise. For anyone to sneak into the city or escape was a troublesome and dangerous business.

Maybe they could get out of court with a small fine, but if they were caught trying to sneak out of the city, they would be in much bigger trouble. So they would obey the law and not try to escape the city.

"We were supposed to go back tomorrow, I thought we could even go back today because I did it fast. So we can't?"

"Yurine and I won't be able to go back, but I want you to. There are some things that need to be done there."

The plan was to bait Sivina, as he had mentioned earlier, and he didn't want to be seen in front of Lucie and Lucia as someone who would bait his friend without blinking an eye.

"But maybe if they see me like that, I mean... if Lucie sees me like that... will her feelings for me change?"

To give the idea a chance, he began to explain, burying in his heart the pain he would feel at the loss of his reputation in the eyes of the people.

"I want you to rent two houses. The houses should be in view of each other, facing each other if possible. The houses will be our base of operations. The four of you will stay together until Yurine and I arrive. Make sure you lock the house tightly and always have one of you on watch, never miss a shift."

"Are we trying to lure the killer into those houses?"

"Yes, and it must happen within our control, we must not be caught off guard."

If the killer came and hunted all three of them in turn, their work would be stretched beyond their plans and Maron's mission would be difficult to accomplish.

"When we come, half of us will be in one house and the other half in the other. Both sides will always watch each other's door."

So that if the killer broke into someone's house, others would recognize it and intervene immediately.

"Assuming, of course, that he is coming in through the front door, I'd better tell you that."

He didn't want to die for a simple mistake. He motioned with his finger for Sivina to come closer. Sivina reached out and brought her face close to Yu's and Yu did the same. In this position it looked like they were going to kiss, but Yu whispered in her ear, not on her lips.

"Leave three places in the house where you can get in and out, a door, a window to watch, and a weak spot, a trap, where the killer can enter."

It was better to say it in a whisper, he was not going to risk it somehow getting to the killer ears.

They both backed away and sat back in their chairs, Yu rubbed his chin some more and continued.

"We need to do a nice publicity stunt for you too. Let's call some painters before noon today and have them paint you on the walls of Redchapel and write cool words on them. I want you to become a symbol in the fight against the killer, so we can provoke him even more."

"W-Wait a minute," Lucia interjected, holding out the index finger of her right hand to Yu. "Are you using Sivina as bait?"

"N-no?"

"What do you mean no?" Lucie grabbed Yu by the shoulders and shook him. She had been making physical contact with him a lot today. "You're basically use your friend as bait!"

"Yeah! Think I'm a bad person and get cold to me... It fucking hurts me to say that. I don't know if it's possible for someone to dislike me? I don't know... Here, try not to like me, I'm a bad boy."

Trying to alienate a person had bothered him more than he had ever imagined. Never before could he have imagined that one day he would do something like this.

"No big deal." Lucia grabbed her sister's shoulder. "This is normal for adventurers."

"I agree, I have no problem with that." Sivina had accepted Yu's selfish plan.

"Yes, serving my cause is the highest honor she can achieve." Yurine also stood on the chair and hit her chest with her hand.

Lucie bit her lip. Yu wasn't sure if she was doing it to seduce him, but she looked incredibly sexy in the process.

"I think I overreacted, you are right. Besides, Mr. Valarfin must know something, I know he's not the type to sacrifice his friend for nothing. He even took precautions for Sivina's safety."

"When the fuck did I become like this in your eyes?!"

Lucie's innocent smile tore a deep wound in Yu's heart.

"Let's not get married by mistake..."

"Anyway, back to the point. I'm almost certain this will work. I think the killer will know it's a trap and will come at us anyway. And if you ask me how I know that, let's just say I have a feeling."

It wasn't just a feeling, in fact, it was the result of an analysis of his past life, of the people he had met in the real world and in the virtual environment, which he could not explain in words. Some people liked to beat their rivals at their rivals' games.

"Tell Lylphia I told her to send the bill for these to the Wizarding Academy, we may not be able to afford them, but even if we can, let Maron pay for them, we don't care."

"Okay."

"Finally, can you tell Lylphia to contact Maron Martin? Maybe with his help they can let us to go Redchapel."

"Can such a thing be done?"

"I'm not sure but," Lucia interrupted them. "He's the second headmaster of the entire Wizarding Academy, if he vouches, something might happen."

"That's what I thought."

Maybe a letter mentioning that they were working for him would have been enough to lift the ban.

"So can I go today?" Sivina asked, trying to hide her excitement at being reunited with her friends. "I forgot how boring it is to be alone."

"Yes, you can go."

"Yay." She breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. Yu found it sweet that she was so attached to her friends.

"So can you come with us now? We should look for painters to paint on the walls. Do you know anyone?"

"I'm interested in art!" Lucie jumped in. "I can introduce you to someone."

"Fine, lead the way then."