When the Serial Killer Next Door Gained Harem System

Chapter 134: One Hundred Percent

I headed toward the girls’ dormitory, slowing down a little when I crossed that invisible line between the boys’ side and the girls’ side of the street. A few girls standing nearby glanced at me, some looking away right away, some whispering to each other, and some openly grimacing as I passed. It was probably safe to say I was not exactly popular around here.

I spotted a girl sitting on a bench nearby and called out to her. "Hey. Do you know someone called Pix?"

She looked up from her book. "Oh? Yeah, Jelda’s friend. Why?"

"Can you call her for me?" I asked. "It’s kind of important."

"Uh... s-sure." She got to her feet at once. "Wait here."

"Thank you, and sorry for bothering you."

"It’s fine."

While I waited, three students came over from the girls’ side of the street. The one in the middle had long wavy brown hair and mean eyes, and the two flanking her looked like little more than followers, both with brown hair and one of them wearing oversized glasses that sat low on her nose.

"You have some nerve coming here," the one in the middle said. "Go back to your own side of the street, where rapists and murderers usually hang out."

"What?" I asked, frowning at her. "What are you even talking about?"

"Don’t play dumb," she said, shaking her head. "Before Jelda died, we saw you talking to her. You really think that was a coincidence?"

"I have nothing to do with her dea..."

"You ungrateful bitch." A boy came up from behind me and stepped to my side. "He tried to catch the culprit, and that’s how you repay him?"

"Mind your tongue, you pig," the girl snapped, walking straight toward him. "Get out of our side of the..."

Before she could finish, more people started gathering from both dormitories. Great. I had only come here to ask about Pix, and somehow I had managed to turn the whole street into a powder keg.

The anger from both sides made sense, at least to some extent. The girls were grieving Jelda and wanted someone to blame, while the boys were just as hurt and tired of hearing their whole dormitory accused for something one person had done. Both sides had reasons to be furious, but none of them seemed interested in admitting the other side had a point.

"Calm down," I said, stepping into the middle before this turned into an actual fight. "Everyone, please. I didn’t come here to start anything."

"This isn’t about you, Ace," another boy said. "These bastards keep staring at us like we’re all guilty."

"We don’t," a girl shouted from farther back. "Some of us think Ace did the right thing, but the way you boys are acting is disgusting."

"Says you!"

"Whores!"

"You’re all the same!"

"Murderers!"

"STOP!"

Null, the student council president, came out from the boys’ dormitory and moved toward the center of the crowd. He stood beside me, looked from one side to the other, and then sighed like he had already grown tired of the whole situation.

"The suspects have been found," Null said. "You heard the headmaster today."

"Stop putting the blame on them," a girl said, though her voice had gone quieter than before.

The girls shifted aside, and Eselin stepped out from their dormitory in her school uniform. She and Null met eyes for a moment before she looked at me.

"The Ambly-blessed did what he could," Eselin said. "He wasn’t able to catch the culprit, but what did the rest of you do besides watch? At least he acted."

That shut both sides up for a moment.

"So stop this nonsense fight," Null added. "And don’t disrespect Jelda’s memory. Act like human beings."

"Everyone, come inside and cool off for ten minutes," Eselin said, pointing toward the dormitory entrance.

And, just like that, the girls listened to her as if she were the one in charge of the whole place. One by one, they turned and went back inside, including Mio, who I caught sight of just before she disappeared through the doorway. I stood there for a second, scratching the back of my head because the whole thing had gone from annoying to absurd in record time.

"Hey," I called to Eselin. "Can you let Pix come out? I need to talk to her."

She didn’t answer. She just turned and went back inside.

I stood there wondering what the hell I was supposed to do next. A few guards were watching from a distance, but I doubted they would have been able to stop anything if the whole thing had actually broken into a brawl.

"We should do the same," Null said after a moment. "Come on, everyone. Please go inside and cool off for ten minutes."

"Hey," I said to him. "I need to talk to Pix about Jelda’s death. I can’t just leave."

He adjusted his glasses and looked at me briefly. "Fine. Just don’t cause any trouble."

"I won’t."

As the boys started heading back, Pix finally stepped out of the dormitory. She looked around at the crowd that had just dispersed, then walked over to me with a worried expression.

"W-what happened?" she asked. "I heard yelling and..."

"Someone else will explain it to you," I said. "For now, I need to ask you something."

"Y-yeah?"

"Cadence M," I said. "Does that name ring any bells?"

Her eyes widened slightly as she nodded. "Yes. Jelda told me about him once. She said she had a really unpleasant experience with a noble before, and I think he was the one who tried to marry her."

"Do you know where I can find him?" I asked. "Or do you know what M stands for? A middle name, a surname?"

She shook her head. "No, I’m sorry."

"Hmm." I nodded once. "All right. Thank you, Pix."

Yeah. I had to get Sora’s help on this one, that was for sure.

"W-why are you asking about him?" she asked. "The culprits have been found, right?"

"Just curious," I said with a fake smile. "I should go back inside. Thanks again, Pix."

"Mm. No problem..."

ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎

Night had fallen over Kinola like a heavy blanket, and a light drizzle had started to gather along the windows. Thick clouds covered the moon, leaving the circular street dim except for the street lamps below, their flames flickering inside glass housings that kept the rain from snuffing them out. From my window, I could see the pale light reflecting on the wet stone and the occasional figure moving through the dark below.

"What if Sora tells on you?" Ken asked from the top bunk, his arms folded behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. "What if she tells the third suspect everything and the Queen catches on?"

"That’s a risk I’m willing to take."

I stood from my chair, turned around, and settled myself backward onto it so I could face him directly. Ken shifted his gaze toward the ceiling as if he was trying to work out a better answer, though I was pretty sure we both already knew there wasn’t a good one. Either option was terrible. I just had to choose the less terrible one and hope it did not explode in my face.

"Maybe we can ask around about him," Ken said after a moment. "If he’s really a noble, somebody should know his name."

"I already asked Pix," I said with a tired exhale. "She doesn’t know anyone called Cadence."

"Anyone else?"

"I’ll try tomorrow, but I’m not holding my breath."

"Maybe Garmonna?" he suggested. "She has enough girls in her brothel that even a noble might show up there."

I shook my head. "I doubt it."

"You said you ripped the paper from the ledger, right?" he asked.

I reached into my back pocket and pulled out the crumpled scrap of paper. "Yeah."

Ken hopped down from the top bunk, crossed the room, and took the paper from my hand. He sat on the edge of the lower bed and started reading it while I watched him. For a few seconds he stayed silent, his eyes moving steadily over the page.

"Shit," he said at last. "He buys a lot of tobacco."

"Yeah. Tobacco S. I figured he smokes a lot."

"No, no," Ken said, shaking his head. "Tobacco S. S means seeds. He grows them."

"Oh. That’s what the S stands for?"

"There’s only one family around here that deals almost entirely in tobacco," he said. "The Merygolds."

"The Merygold family?" I asked. "So Cadence M is Cadence Merygold?"

"The head of the family isn’t Cadence," Ken replied with a shrug. "It’s Jack, or Jaque, or something like that. I don’t remember the exact name."

"You sure?"

"One hundred percent."

"What if Cadence is their son?"

Ken nodded slowly. "That would explain why neither I nor Pix knew anything about him."

"Do you know where they live?"

"Yeah," he said. "But we can’t just knock on their door and ask if their son is a murderer."

"Who said we’d be knocking?"

Before Ken could answer, a man’s voice called up from the street below.

"Ace Walker! Come here!"