#Honestly it’s not the easiest to obtain so if anyone’s curious or has questions as to the contents feel free to ask

[not-the-coffee-machine4]

well I just finished Queen Unseen (I recommend) and am under the impression that the crew got into more wild stuff than the band did 💀

A somewhat nice story though was Ratty describing how in Japan sometimes they’d put live baby eels in the drinks (?????) and the bodyguards would bite the heads off the eels before eating them (?!?!?!????!!?!) and Brian was so horrified by that, that he would free his eels into the ornamental fountains and rivers and stuff 😭

[giftfromthesleepprincess]

Chapter 3–The Green Flower Seeds Fluttered to Toragay; Scene 2

Gift from the Princess Who Brought Sleep, pages 79-90

Hanne walked through Toragay for the first time in weeks. There hadn’t been any official statement regarding the matter of Kaspar’s death from the World Police since she’d been there last. She had once more arrived in town, both to inquire as to the progress of their investigation as well as to conduct her own research.

First she decided to meet with Constable Ayn Anchor. He might have despised Hanne, but to her he was the easiest person to talk to among the police. That was because she knew that Ayn was, essentially, a ridiculously soft-hearted person.

And then…while it wasn’t on level with an epic tale, she’d managed to obtain a small tidbit regarding his roots during her research on Toragay, and planned to tell him about it.

“…You have some business here?” When she visited Ayn at the police station, he had greeted her with a curt attitude as she’d anticipated. “I’m very busy, myself.”

“Doesn’t look it to me. Idling here so far away from the scene of the crime—is your investigation at a halt?”

“It’s not so much that it’s at a halt as it is on the way to being wrapped up. The only reason it’s been continuing on so long is because it involves the death of a man who had court rank.”

“So in other words the World Police sees his death as being from natural causes as the official report states? …You lot are more incompetent than I’d thought.”

Upon being told that Ayn’s countenance became openly indignant.

“There’s no point in you telling me that. That’s what the good doctor told us.”

“You honestly believe in the word of that Dr. Felix?”

“Naturally, I had a doctor properly investigate for myself. …In the end, he said the same thing; ‘suffocation by respiratory failure’. Only, he wasn’t completely certain on tobacco being the cause. Apparently it seems implausible at this point that any acute abnormalities would come about from it...Basically at present, we have no choice but to declare it as an accidental death by illness.”

“But that’s not what you think, is it Constable Ayn?”

“...Why do you say that?”

“You said ‘there’s no point in telling me that’. In other words, you don’t agree with the investigation results.”

Bulls-eye. Ayn’s brow furrowed. And then he checked to make sure there was no one else around them.

“…It seems the deceased Marquis Blankenheim was a shady character.”

“Enough to have a mistress. I know he wasn’t a man of good morals.”

“It’s not just that. The Blankenheim family has had wasteful habits since the previous generation, and thanks to that their financial affairs have been a disgrace.  Though apparently they temporarily recovered by having him be married to the daughter of the Felix family, a family line of affluent doctors. However…even the Felix fortunes have run dry lately.”

“Now that you mention it, I didn’t happen to catch sight of any servants there. Or guards. They don’t have the funds to hire anyone?”

“On the contrary. According to nobles in the marquis’ social network, his financial standing had rapidly improved several months ago. They said he’d been buying up many expensive imports from the new continent.”

“That tobacco being one of them.”

“That was close to one thousand ev. Not the sort of thing you’d expect an impoverished marquis to be able to buy several of so freely. …Which means there’s a chance he had a means to earn money no one else knew about.”

If Kaspar was the manager of a black market, then there was the connection.

“Were you able to find any clues on this income source from the marquis’ home?”

“No...Although, there was something of interest there.”

“And that is?”

“In the mansion’s cellar. It looked as though it was being used as a food larder, but one of the rooms in it was empty. Well, thinking on their money troubles it’s plausible that all the private property in it was sold off…But I couldn’t be satisfied with that. All the others were untouched, with that one room being completely empty...I tried carefully searching the room one more time. When I did, I was able to find a single piece of paper in a gap in the wall. It was part of a front cover that a story title was written on.”

“Was it...a Freezis Fairytale?”

It was obvious that it was, but Hanne ventured to ask pretending to know nothing.

“Yes. I had no doubt that it was one of the items on the ‘Lost List’. I have a strong suspicion that the marquis was involved in the underground sale of Freezis Fairytales….Though I don’t have any solid proof yet.”

“If that’s the case then you really should investigate more. That’s what you’re for, isn’t it?”

Ayn said something for a moment, gazing at the wall. Regret was spreading across his face.

“...I was told not to look into this matter. By my boss. Apparently someone’s been applying pressure from somewhere.”

“--? From where?”

“Isn’t it obvious who could put pressure on us?...The Freezis Foundation.”

“You’re joking. Why would the Foundation need to stop it? That’s the last thing they’d do.”

The ones who wanted to eradicate the backroom dealing of Freezis Fairytales was none other than the Freezis Foundation itself. They were the ones who controlled the author rights.

It seemed Ayn didn’t know the reason for it either. He silently shook his head.

“Anyway, it means that the World Police can’t pursue this matter from there. …It’s for that reason that I’m talking about this with you now.”

“So, basically you want me to look into this myself?”

“The fact remains that you and I are both subordinates of the foundation. But as I can tell that you’re not the type to get overly bound up in organization—"

“No wonder, I thought you were telling me everything awfully easily today. …I guess I ended up not needing to tell you your souvenir story.”

“My souvenir story?”

Ayn made a strange expression.

“It’s nothing major, just forget it.”

“When you put it like that it just makes me more curious.”

“It really isn’t all that outrageous...Very well, I’ll tell you. As I recall—you got the name Ayn from your grandfather, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. I hear that when my grandad was a baby he was abandoned at a church in Lucifenia, and given that name by one of the sisters there. My dad revered my grandad, so when I was born he gave me the same name. He said he wanted me to become a splendid officer like him.”

“He was the founding commissioner of the World Police, wasn’t he, your grandfather? Well, that just leaves the question of why that sister gave him the name of ‘Ayn’ to begin with, doesn’t it?”

“I’m not sure on that… Though I did hear that the sister was a Netsuma just like my grandad and me.”

“Sister Clarith. The woman who later became the founder of the Sisters of Clarith. Well, there were several things written in her autobiography—things written about Toragay. When she was young…there was a period where she was held as a war prisoner in Toragay during the war between Lucifenia and Elphegort. And it’s written that there was also a single soldier working for then-lord of Toragay, Earl Felix, who had been a childhood friend of hers. The name of that childhood friend—was ‘Ayn’. It seems the sister gave your grandfather his name based on that one.”

“…I wonder what kind of person that ‘Ayn’ was.”

“He was very brave. It’s written that to the end he protected the sister as she was being pursued by the Lucifenian soldiers, and laid down his life for her. You inherited that name from your grandfather, but at the same time you also inherited the name of the bravest soldier in Toragay.”

“I see…What an astounding tale…”

Ayn nodded several times, deeply moved.

“That you and Toragay have such a connection—it must be fate. The land of Toragay protected by the ‘soldier Ayn’…As time has passed, a new incident has occurred here…Well, do you have the confidence to uphold peace in this land, Constable Ayn Anchor?” Hanne said bombastically to Ayn. She could see that the shine in his eyes was distinctly growing.

This young, hot-blooded constable loved heroic narratives like that. The simplest method for persuading him was historical tales of heroism—telling him the combined names and stories of heroes like, for example, “Leonhart Avadonia”. Once you had he would become fired up on his own, and in a state of great excitement answer anything asked of him.

Hanne knew that very well.

“Got it! I’ll do it! Miss Hanne! I will hold to the name of ‘Ayn’! To uphold! The peace in Toragay!”

It seemed the effect was immense. It was particularly intensified by the fact that it was something related to his own roots this time.

“I will keep on and investigate regarding the marquis’ death! And so Miss Hanne, I entrust the black market of ‘Freezis Fairytales’ to you!”

“No thanks.”

“…Huh?”

“Hate to say it while you’re all excited, but I’ve got no interest in that—in the black market. What I want to look into is the death of Kaspar Blankenheim…or rather, his murder.”

“Sigh…But, we haven’t determined it’s a murder yet…”

“There must be some method to make a murder look like natural causes, yes?”

“Such as?”

“Like a poison that’s untraceable after use...”

“If there is such a thing, then that would be the perfect crime. There have been cases like that in the past, but nowadays we’ve become able to detect such poisons. You mustn’t turn down your nose at the advancement of medical science. Especially the doctors that the World Police take on; all are top of their class,” Ayn boasted proudly.

“That’s not something you should get all pompous about. And just because they’re top rate doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily flawless, does it?”

“If you’re going to say that, then maybe you should hear it from him yourself. The doctor that inspected the marquis’ body, I mean.”

“Is that man here in town?”

“No, he’s already returned to his country, unfortunately.”

“...Wait a second. You mean he’s gone to Marlon again? I’ve only just gotten back myself!”

A round trip to Marlon, no matter how fast, took four days. There was nowhere in Elphegort where you could come and go that quickly.

“Ah, sorry. I wasn’t talking about Marlon. It’s Lucifenia. Doctor Rogzé living in the royal capital Lucifenian was in charge of this case.”

Hanne also remembered having heard that name before. A celebrity in his own right.

“...Puerick Rogzé. The authority on pharmaceuticals. If he’s in Lucifenian, then I could get there on a day trip.”

When her various investigations in Toragay were finished, she should probably try to visit him.

“Let’s leave that aside for now…Say for the sake of argument that Kaspar was murdered—the problem is then, who did it. Were there any signs of someone trespassing into the house?”

“All the windows were locked. Same for the front door. But apparently Dr. Felix had a spare key. He found the body using that to get in—at least, if his testimony is true.”

“And Kaspar’s wife? She didn’t notice the marquis’ death despite being in the house?”

“It seems she was prohibited from entering his room. Whenever that—mistress was coming over. She first learned of the deaths after entering the room with her father. She didn’t hear any unusual noises during the night.

“During the night?”

“Yeah, all night through.”

“That’s peculiar isn’t it? She couldn’t possibly have been awake the entire time, could she? Couldn’t something have happened while she was asleep?”

“Well that’s—”

There Ayn suddenly grew tight-lipped.

“What is it? Tell me now.”

“The wife...This Margarita, somehow it—it appears she has a condition where she doesn’t sleep.”

“...Huh? She doesn’t sleep...ever?”

“It appears so. Ever since she was born she allegedly hasn’t slept once.”

A human being that doesn’t sleep—could someone like that even exist?

“At first I also thought she was lying, but according to her father it seems it’s true, somehow. Maybe it’s some kind of idiosyncrasy? Actually, after the incident I’ve had one of my colleagues stay in the house to serve as a guard, and from what he’s told me she’s always awake, showing no signs of having slept at all.”

“That’s a little…actually a lot concerning, for multiple reasons. –Was there anyone else in the mansion at the time?”

“Like you said before, there aren’t any servants working at the mansion. So from night to morning, the only people to enter were the marquis, his mistress, lady Margarita, and Dr. Felix. That’s assuming that all the involved parties told the truth.”

“On the other hand, if either the wife or the doctor or both of them are lying—then it’s hard to deny the possibility that there was an intruder from outside.”

The fastest way to ascertain that would be to ask them personally, after all. Especially the wife that Hanne hadn’t met yet…She couldn’t help but be drawn in by this Margarita’s “sleepless” condition.

“Ah, pardon. There is one other person,” Ayn suddenly blurted out.

“What?”

“Someone who entered the mansion…You. Hanne Lorre.”

Certainly, Hanne had gone to the mansion to visit Kaspar that day.

“W…wait a second! Are you seriously suggesting I could be the culprit?”

“I guess that could be true--Augh! Dammit! What’s the matter with me, blathering on about case details with a suspect of all things…”

Ayn immediately went on guard.

“Give me a break. I didn’t have any motive to kill Kaspar. I’ve never even met him.”

“Motive, huh? That’s true. A killer’s gotta have a motive.”

“The wife and the doctor must have plenty of motives to kill Kaspar.”

Margarita must not have thought very highly of Kaspar, publicly fooling around as he was. And it wouldn’t be so strange if Dr. Felix harbored anger towards Kaspar as well for making his daughter bear such ill treatment. And in addition to that, the Felix family were the original lords of the land. The one to inherit the lordship now that Kaspar was dead—

“Did the marquis and his wife have any children?”

“No, they didn’t.”

Then that meant that the one to govern the area in Kaspar’s stead would be, as was customary, his wife Margarita. A member of the Felix family had bloomed once more in their territory. And if Margarita were to marry some other man and bear his child, that child would take over after her, and from then on the Blankenheim family name would disappear from the genealogy of Toragay’s sovereigns.

Though it was, after all, a theory. At this point she had yet to find any certain proof that the wife or the doctor bore Kaspar or the Blankenheim family any ill will, and furthermore taking into account the existence of “Pere Noel” made the case much more complicated than that.

“Well, I suppose for the time being I’ll see about arranging a meeting.”

She had heard the main points of the case from Ayn. Now it was her turn to do some digging.

“Who are you going to meet?” Ayn asked.

“Who…For now I think the wife,” she replied.

After a moment of thought, Ayn said, “That might be difficult.”

He likely meant that his colleague staying on at the Blankenheim house would get in the way.

“He’s more stubborn than I am. I doubt he’ll let a newspaper reporter meet with the wife.”

Hanne did have her trump card of “the chief minister’s signature”. Any World Police officer, not just limited to Ayn, would be able to do anything with it when it came down to it; but, from what she’d heard from him earlier, there was evidently some turbulent developments going on within the police and the foundation itself. She’d rather avoid making the situation more serious until the very last minute, if possible.

“I’ll go on ahead and talk to him for you. Though it might take a little while—Well, I know some of his weaknesses, anyway. I’m sure I’ll figure it out somehow,” Ayn said. With that, Hanne decided to rely on him to take care of it this time.

“I see. Then I leave it to you.”

She had no choice but to bide her time while Ayn persuaded his colleague. But that being said, she didn’t have enough free time to go see Dr. Rogzé in Lucifenia and get back here.

Then that leaves…Dr. Felix I guess.

That doctor had been fairly suspicious. He was bound to have some skeletons in his closet.

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