Arc 2 - Chapter 22: Id (1/2)

It was wonderful to see Yurine walking with a teddy bear in her hand. The fact that she was attached to the gift Yu gave her and carried it with her was a source of happiness in itself.

"You're sure about this, right? You'll be the first target."

He took his eyes off Yurine and looked at Sivina. He wanted to check her resolve about their plan one last time.

"According to you, I am already the first target."

Sivina's eyes had the determination Yu wanted to see.

Yu admired his courage. Making oneself an open target was not something that everyone could accept.

---

"A vow of revenge?" Sivina looked at Yu, trying to understand what he was saying.

"I don't think I said anything difficult. A vow of revenge."

They still didn't understand exactly what he meant. Yu began to explain the plan.

"At the moment we are working on the theory that the killer did not like knights and chose them as targets. Our guess is that the killer also tried to kill Sivina, a knight. Don't you think he would want to tie up loose ends?"

"Are we going to use her as bait?"

"Yes."

Yurine quickly figured out Yu's plan. Yu was glad that his partner was a smart girl.

"You're trying to use us..." This time Raul was trying to suppress his anger.

"I am presenting to you the logical choice that can be made."

"I don't like plans that put others at risk, and I don't want Sivina to be used as bait." Ana was calmer than Raul.

"Then let's hear your plan."

Yu had no intention of wasting his energy dealing with unnecessary politeness and stupidity. Of course, if it was Yu or Yurine who was the bait, he wouldn't like this plan either, but that was another matter.

Without a plan, Ana fell silent.

"So, do you have a plan, Raul?"

"Let's keep looking for the killer instead of luring him to us. It's less risky."

"But it will take a long time and there is no certainty that it will lead to anything," Sivina said.

"But Sivina!" Raul stood up to object to Sivina.

"You can't risk yourself like that, there must be another way!"

Ana also moved to support Raul, but Sivina put them both in their place. Unlike her friends, she took a moderate approach.

"Let's hear it."

"Even if we're not going to use her as bait, the killer targeted her once, so there's every possibility that he will come after her again. It's better to have a plan before that happens. Instead of the killer coming at us unexpectedly, we can semi-control the situation with our plan and be prepared."

It was the first time he had used the term semi-control. He wasn't even sure there was such a term, he had just made it up.

"Tomorrow we will go to Rolderhelm and Sivina and I will meet with the Berry family. Sivina will appear as the head of the investigation and will interrogate our interlocutors. If they refuse to be interrogated, she will create a bit of a ruckus and talk about avenging the murdered knights."

Some of the dead were people who deserved to die, but their aim was to provoke the killer. And the fact that he had committed a few justifiable murders did not change the fact that he was still guilty.

"Are you saying the Berry family supported the killer?" Lylphia asked.

"It's just a theory. Killer may or may not hear that Sivina is looking for him. The real purpose of interrogating the Berry family is to find out why William killed the knights, or to get a clue. If Sivina is the one who stands out in the meantime and the Berry family informs William, that's good for us."

"What if he doesn't inform? The ties between the killer and his family could be completely severed."

"That's why, Sivina, you're going to stand in the middle of the Redchapel square and swear an oath of vengeance. We must make sure everyone hears it."

---

"Hear my voice, people of Redchapel! I am a knight whose friend has been killed! The dishonored murderer of Redchapel is targeting knights. In the name of all knights, in the name of all my slain colleagues, I will take revenge on that dishonored murderer! As a knight, I, Sivina Ecues will behead the murderer!"

---

Speaking in public could be embarrassing. He commended Sivina for her impromptu speech on the day they made the plan without any preparation.

"Don't misunderstand me, Sivina. I have no intention of gladly sending you to your death. I only made this decision because I thought it was the most logical choice."

"I know, I agree."

He wondered about their true feelings. Both Sivina's and his own.

What was going through Sivina's mind? Did she think, like the others, that Yu was using her? Was she angry with Yu? Or did she think Yu's plan was the most logical choice?

And how did Yu feel? He was really using Sivina for his own purposes right now. Not only her, but Raul and Ana, and if he had lived, he would have used Satoshi too.

"I use... I use people. I use them for myself."

He knew it was wrong, he knew it was bad. It was painful just to admit it inside, he couldn't imagine himself saying it to their faces.

"Was it here?"

Opposite them was a blue mansion with a large garden. The house, with an outbuilding attached to the main building and a lodge built in the corner of the garden, must have belonged to the Berry family according to the directions they had received.

"Walk ahead as I say, ask the questions I tell you."

Yu had told her in advance what to do and made her memorize the questions to be asked.

"Okay."

Sivina went ahead of Yu and Yurine and their group arrived at the gate of the mansion. There they were met by a guard.

"What is your name, Dame?"

The guard took in Sivina's white uniform and, recognizing her as a knight, addressed her by the title used for female knights.

"Sivina Ecues, these are my escorts. We're investigating William Berry."

The guard's cheeks tightened. Apparently the name he had heard was a name he did not like to be called. He told them to wait here and went inside.

"That's ridiculous, who's going to stop us if we go in without him?"

In the world, security would have telephoned inside and decided whether to let the guests in or not, but here he had to leave his post. This was a security breach.

"Will they let us in?"

"Probably." Yu answered Yurine. "If they refuse to meet with the people who are investigating William, their family could be suspected of being in cahoots with the killer. I think they spoke most of the people who are after the killer. After all, the Berry family is a merchant family and it would be very unpleasant for them to have their reputation tarnished."

And even if they refused to meet with ordinary adventurers, the knights has a title and they believed they would not turn them away.

After a short time, the guard came back and said they could enter the mansion. The servant who came with the guard accompanied the group.

It was bigger than Lucia's house, its garden was more ornate than Lucia's garden. There were tiny statues in the grass, on the edge of the marble path. If Yu remembers correctly, they were called garden gnomes, they colored the path with different colored hats.

The only things Yu didn't like about the mansion were the color of the building and the outbuildings. Other than those two things, it was a place he would like to live.

"Welcome."

When they entered the mansion, they were greeted by a red-haired woman. She was wearing a red dress like her hair, with blue eyes and a round face. Yu guessed she was no more than thirty years old.

"The weather is nice today, would you like to talk while we take a walk in the garden?"

Sivina looked at Yu to ask if it was okay. When Yu nodded, Sivina said it was okay and accepted the offer.

"My name is Mathilda Berry, I'm the sister of the person you're looking for."

"Sivina Ecues, nice to meet you." She turned around and pointed to Yu and Yurine. "Yu and Yurine, my companions."

Mathilda smiled coquettishly at Yu and curtsied with holding her skirt.

"I'm such a pussy magnet, I swear I'm falling on myself..."

"I don't like the look on your face."

After three and a half weeks with Yu, Yurine had learned what it was like to see his satisfied expression when his ego was bursting.

His eyes squinted slightly, his cheeks relaxed and one side of his lip slyly lifted up.

But probably Mathilda's attitude towards him was not because of his good looks but because of the clothes he wore.

Yu always wanted to look good in people's eyes, so he didn't mind spending a significant amount of his money on clothes. With his current appearance, Yu could definitely be considered a rich man.

"What questions do you want to ask, Dame?"

"Are there a lot of researchers coming to ask you?"

Instead of directly questioning her, she began to talk as if she were having a friendly conversation.

"Yes. If it was my father, you'd probably be turned away at the door, but as the rest of the family we don't want to think we're in cahoots with a murderer. Every day my brother is out, our family's business suffers."

"So you want him caught?"

"Don't get me wrong, he is my brother and I love him in spite of everything. But he has hurt too many people and in doing so he is hurting his own family." Mathilda's full lips curled downwards, she had mixed feelings towards her brother. "I love my brother as much as I love my other siblings and relatives, and I don't want him to sully the Berry name any further."

Yu is fed up with Mathilda's constant claims that they are victims.

"We get it, you're a victim."

Yu could only see half of the girls' faces because he was walking from behind, but it was enough to form an idea of their feelings. Sivina's feelings were also complicated.

"Your brother will be executed," Sivina said. Mathilda was silent as Sivina pulled herself together and said the sentence sternly. "Why... Why does he kill people? Do you know why?"

"Why did you take us in if you're not going to talk?"

Mathilda was silent again. She folded her arms across her chest, indicating that she didn't want to talk.

"Why doesn't William Berry like knights? Maybe you can answer that."

Instead of answering the question, Mathilda responded with another one.

"Are you really going to kill him?"

"If he is caught he will be prosecuted and if he does not surrender he is too dangerous to leave alive."

This was not a helpful answer. Even if the Redchapel Killer was caught and put on trial, even if an army of the best lawyers in the world were hired for him, he would not get off.

"We are aware that the killer chose the knights to kill. We want to know why."

"Do you've heard of Thomas Chember?" Mathilda was squeezing her own arm with her hand.

Thomas Chember was the first person Yu and Yurine explored together in Redchapel.

"It was his first murder in Redchapel," Sivina said.

"He killed our mother and sister."

When Sivina and Mathilda stopped walking, Yu and Yurine had to stop too. Yu listened, unperturbed.

"Killed is an understatement to describe the atrocities that took place. Thomas Chember raped our mother and sister, and despite all he did, he continued to walk free."

"How?" Sivina's muscles contracted for a moment.

"I still believe that if William had been patient, the case would have solved itself. But he went mad every second Thomas Chember was free to roam. Finally, one night he ran away from home, and then there were reports of murders."

If the story was true, things turned out as Yu had thought. The murder of Thomas Chember was a revenge killing and the killer believed he had gotten justice.

"I can understand this murder, but what about the first man he killed? Or the other people he killed after him?"

"The first person he killed was testifying in favor of Thomas Chember in court, I don't know about the ones after them."

"You have no idea?"

Mathilda shook her head no. She claimed that there were only two murders she knew the motive behind, and they were the first two.

"When was the last time you saw him?"

"Just before the murders began."

"You never communicated afterwards, maybe through intermediaries?"

"No, we had no contact after that."

Yu didn't think Mathilda would confess even if they were in contact.

"Would other members of your family say the same thing if we asked them?"

After Sivina's question, Mathilda paused for a few seconds and then answered after some thought.

"They probably will."

"Then you don't know where he is or where he might be."

"I don't know."

The only new information they learned was the motive for the murders. As Sivina's questions continued to receive negative answers, Yu intervened.

"Can we meet your other relatives?"

"Not possible at the moment."

"Why?"

Mathilda also gave Yu a negative answer. Yu thought that the Berry family had sent the person who knew the least about the events to give them a pass.

"They're not here today."

"Is there anything else you can tell me?"

Even if Yu wanted to enter the house and search the other family members in turn to test Mathilda's honesty, he did not have the authority to do so.

Mathilda shook her head again. "That's all I know."