When the Serial Killer Next Door Gained Harem System

Chapter 137: Star

"When did this woman come?" I asked.

"I’m not sure."

"Today? Yesterday?"

"I... seem to have slept quite a while after she left," she said. "I don’t know how long it was."

"A sleep spell," the guard beside her muttered. "Whoever she was, she must have put the woman to sleep."

"Can anyone just put someone to sleep with a single spell?" I asked.

The guard shook his head. "She’s old, and weak. With no resistance in her body, the spell would work just fine. That’s my two silver coins on it, anyway."

"Makes sense."

The old woman gave a tired scoff and wiped at the tears on her cheek. "Weak? I’m still standing, aren’t I?"

"Was Hatche acting strangely before this?" I asked. "I mean, besides being upset."

Mrs. Lei shook her head. "No. She was upset, of course, because of Jelda. Other than that, she seemed normal."

"Hmm." I nodded. "Thank you, Mrs. Lei."

"I hope you find whoever did this, lad," she said, her voice suddenly sharper. "And I hope you bring them to justice."

"I bet it was the elves," the guard said with a shake of his head. "It’s always the elves."

I turned back toward the door and saw Sora listening from the frame outside. She gave me a single nod and stepped back, and I followed her out into the main room again.

Now would have been the best time to ask her about Cadence, but I held it back. If I gave away my strongest suspect now, they might move before I did, and then I would lose the chance to learn anything more from him. For the moment, keeping that information to myself felt like the smarter choice.

"What do you think?" Sora asked.

"I don’t know yet," I said. "I need to think about it."

"Oh, lad." The old woman hurried out of the room, one hand stretched in front of her. "Where are you? I can’t see."

"I’m here, ma’am," I said, moving toward her. "Please don’t take another step. This is a crime scene."

"The woman told me something," she said. "She said she was working with someone called C.M."

My stomach sank.

Cadence M.

"Oh, fuck," I muttered.

"Who is he?" Sora asked.

Mrs. Lei shook her head. "I don’t know. I asked what business she had in my house, and she said it was something important. And that she worked for C.M. That was all she told me."

Cadence M. The man who had ordered the hits on Jelda and Hatche.

But none of this made sense.

According to Mrs. Lei, the woman had seemed weak. Why would Cadence choose someone like that for a job like this? And if she really worked for him, why would she casually give his name to a stranger? The fuck was I missing?

I exhaled and rubbed a hand across my face.

Yeah, I was right.

This was going to be a long night.

ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎

Ken rubbed the back of his head and let out a tired groan before placing one hand on the table and leaning forward. He opened his mouth like he was about to say something, then seemed to decide against it and shook his head instead, probably because none of it made sense even to him.

We were sitting beneath the elder tree, and thankfully we had arrived about ten minutes before first class, so we had some time to think about everything that had happened. Jelda had been murdered, and now her mother was dead too. A whole family had been wiped out in less than a week, and there was something especially sickening about that.

"Why leave the message?" Ken asked. "What’s even the point?"

"He’s challenging us," I said. "I know guys like him."

"He gets a kick out of this?" Ken leaned back and stared at the branches above us. "Gods take him. What a weirdo."

"Yeah..."

The Merygold family was still the part we knew the least about. We didn’t even know for certain who the head of the family was. According to Ken, it was someone named Jack or Jaque, though he was not even fully sure on that. On top of that, we still didn’t have a clean way to ask around without drawing attention to ourselves, which made the whole thing even more annoying.

"I’ll ask around the market after school," Ken said after a moment. "I can act like I’m there to buy tobacco and casually ask where it comes from, who makes it, and all that. That should let me gather some information about the Merygolds without making it obvious."

"Sounds good," I said. "I’ll come with you."

Before Ken could reply, a thick ledger landed hard on the table in front of us. I looked up and saw Eselin standing there with cold, sharp eyes, one hand resting on top of the book. She didn’t say anything else. She just stood there and waited.

"Thank you," I said, taking the ledger.

"Did what you asked," she said. "Don’t make me regret it."

I lifted the ledger and flipped to the back, then worked my way backward until I found the day Jelda had been murdered. I put a finger on the page and traced the list of girls who had gone into the showers that day. Pix was there too, which at least meant she had not lied to me.

"May I take the paper?" I asked.

"For what?"

"Reasons," I said.

"Fine."

I tore out the page, then ripped out four more from the days before it, folded the stack quickly, and crumpled it in my hand before pushing the ledger back across the table.

"You said paper," Eselin said, her voice flat. "Not papers."

"Slip of the fingers," I deadpanned, then handed the ledger back to her. "You can take it."

"Mm."

"Thanks again."

She took the book and walked off without another word. Ken looked at me like he was trying to figure out exactly what I had just done with a ledger full of student bathroom records.

"What was that?"

"The last five pages showing which students entered the showers," I said.

"Why would you take that?"

I exhaled and leaned back again. "I thought Pix was lying."

"What?"

"Jelda had her shoes on, remember? And according to the other students, Pix was her closest friend."

"Yeah?"

"So I thought Pix might have been the one who lured her outside."

"That is impossible, man," Ken said at once. "Pix? Come on. The third suspect is not her."

"I know," I said. "I’m just exhausting every option I have."

Ken frowned. "How did you even convince Eselin to hand over the ledger?"

"I just asked," I said with a shrug. "And she agreed, but only on one condition."

"What condition?"

"I have to spar with her in the arena back at the dormitories," I said. "So I guess I should get ready to have my ass kicked."

Ken winced and let out a short breath. "Oh, sparring with her? Gods help you."

"Yeah," I said. "Gods help me."

"We should go," Ken said, getting up after tapping the table a few times. "See you after school."

"Hmm."

He headed down the corridor, and after a quiet exhale, I got up as well and made my way toward my classroom. When I pushed the door open, however, I found it completely empty.

I frowned and took a step back, checking the sign beside the door.

1-F.

I was definitely in the right place.

So where was everyone?

A few seconds later, a girl stepped into the corridor behind me. Thinking she wanted to enter, I moved aside to give her room.

She was an A’eno. Silver skin, long silver hair, and taller than most girls in our year. She was one of the few people whose name I actually remembered. Normally, I was terrible with names, but Maarn stood out enough that forgetting her would’ve taken effort.

"Maarn, right?" I asked as she walked into the classroom.

"And the Ambly-blessed," she replied while heading toward her desk. "What?"

"Where’s everyone else?"

"Outside. It’s Professor Meki’s class."

She grabbed her backpack from her chair and slung it over one shoulder.

"You didn’t know?"

"Oh. Verdant Arts."

"Yeah. We do that class outside."

"Got it. Thanks."

"No problem."

I left the corridor and started heading left.

"Back courtyard," Maarn called after me.

I stopped. "Ah. Right. Thanks again."

I turned around and headed the other way.

For a moment, I considered slowing down and waiting for her. Walking off immediately after asking for directions felt a little rude. Then I saw her meet up with a friend near the elder tree and completely ignore me.

Well.

Guess she wasn’t too worried about being polite either.

I pushed through the rear doors and stepped outside.

A light drizzle still hung over the academy grounds. It wasn’t particularly cold, and the rain was gentle enough that most people barely seemed to notice it. The clouds overhead looked heavy, though. It felt like the weather couldn’t decide whether it wanted to rain properly or just threaten to.

"Did you hear?" a girl said while walking past me. "Star changed the weather of an entire region once because she thought the clouds were ugly."

"We need her right now," her friend groaned. "I hate rain."

Most of Class 1-F had already gathered around the arena. Since Verdant Arts focused on nature, healing, and support magic, holding lessons outdoors made sense.