As he looked over his notes, his attention returned to the unusual lock. It was a shame that there wasn't might light in this chamber - he really wanted to take the thing apart. Of course, he would have to wait until Mikkael returned from the holding chambers - it seemed like he knew a lot of the people here, as he had heard him and an unknown voice converse just outside the hallway.

"Perhaps one of the cat folk..." he mumbled to himself. "Maybe..."

While he waited, he took careful measurements of the swords, and compared them to the notes he took on the dead body's wounds. Length, taper, thickness and shape...

_________________

Philena nodded in response, "Okay! They'll just catch up with us, I'm sure."

Philena had grabbed a map of Vel Da Ir during her wait and followed the directions until they arrived at a hot spring near the Samurai Hall. It was a traditional style one, far enough from the slums of the city, and steam could be seen rising from the area which was walled off. The clerk greeted the girls and took payment from Philena.

"Mikkael will just have to pay me back later, after all, it is his treat." The meridian girl laughed.

Meanwhile, Mikkael had returned from the holding chamber to meet with Yemhelch.

"No use," He remarked, seeing Yemhelch measure the weapons and compare the cut measurements, "the two-handed blade is definitely the murder weapon, as well as an ornament. It's not super sharp, but it still is very capable." Mikkael sat down on the edge of the bed and warmed his hands next to the furnace.

"The other sword is hers, Miss Hajima's, I mean. It was missing since quite some time ago and with careful questioning I was able to find out that her weapon is a one-handed katana, the same one we now have. Whoever planned this murder premeditated the entire plot before carrying it out. At least that's what I figure. You should probably check the notes for more info."

Mikkael gave a loud yawn, looking outside, "At any rate, maybe one more look around and you'll be able to find something in either this area or another. You could also combine similar evidence entries to make the evidence more solid. Once you're done, we should head out and meet with the ladies."

EVIDENCE
-Victim File: Reizei Cynric'dair, 23, Human Fire Draco, was stabbed by the two-handed katana which lead to instantaneous death. The murder occurred on the third day of the Festival of the Lily.
-Two-Handed Katana: The weapon used to murder Reizei. It's actually ornamental, and belongs to a statue in her room, with a white wrapping over the black metal. It looks like it takes a bit of strength to get loose from the statue's grip.
-Hiroko's One-Handed Katana: A black metal katana with a white wrappen. Swapped with the two-handed katana at some point.
-Daimyo Room Key: The key to the Daimyo's room. It is one of a kind, although it seems like it doesn't work well on the door it belongs to...
-Dilated Eyes: The eyes of the victim were dilated, indicating magic, strangulation, or drugging.
-The Armor: The armor Reizei was supposedly wearing when she was murdered. Matching stab wounds, but no will evaporation presence.
-The Will Evaporated Wound: The victim's wound is smaller at the front of the chest, and thicker at the back, indicating a stab from behind. There is will evaporation surrounding the wound and going down her front and back.
-Folding Screen: A folding screen in Reizei's room. It has evidence of will evaporation on both sides.

<ONE MORE PIECE OF EVIDENCE REMAINS>


Link

_________________

"Nice boobs." Yemhelch smiled at the vision. Mikkael regarded him strangely, and he quickly changed the subject.

"I'll be honest..." he sighed as he packed his notes away. "There's so many things, so many factors here that are undecided... For example, what's with the locks? Were they damaged? How could a curved daikatana-ornamental sword penetrate armor? Are there any other witnesses?"

He took a breath to pause, and continued. " Most importantly, the Will Burn - do you think she was killed while she was getting undressed? The killer could've dressed her in the armor, then jammed that blade in her. I think we should inspect the lock first. Perhaps the killer forced their way into this room..."

He paused.

"Actually, who exactly found the body?" he wondered. "Hey, Mikkael, did you get any info from Hiroko-san?"

_________________

Mikkael shook his head, "I never thought to ask it. However, I think it would've been Miss Kazeko. If the key to this room is one of a kind, they'd need either a locksmith or someone with skills related to lock picking in order to get in. In fact, how would a murderer get in if that's the case? The window bars can't be easily removed, and no one could just slip in."

He moves over to the folding screen. "We know that the murderer, whoever it was, had to have come into the room at some point, otherwise, the will burn would not be here, and not only that, the murderer would've had to have been in Vel Da Ir at the time and have known where Hiroko's katana was in order to steal and plant it in the statue's hand. That being said, this still strikes me as odd, because it doesn't seem like an armored Daimyo, a master of her vocation at that, would be easily killed by a simple ornamental blade. She'd have to have been weakened first."

Looking at the ornamental two-handed katana once more, he makes a final observation. "You know, come to think of it... The armor wasn't all that bloody, either. We know she had to have bled because there's blood-stains on the ground. So why is the armor so clean? I believe it was put on post-mortem. The only question is 'Why?' and I believe it had to be done to cover up a fact. Perhaps as to why the blade was blunted on the end? In any case, we would need to find the real clothes she wore at the time, which would be unmistakably bloody and have a key piece of evidence to explain how the blade was blunted."

_________________

"The lock seems to be damaged." Yemhelch shook his head. "Do you think someone might've smashed the thing to get in?"

"I was thinking the same." he nodded when Mikkael brought up the question about the armor. "There's no way a blunt weapon could've pierced through that thing. Second, it's clean as a whistle and doesn't even smell of blood. The armor was obviously damaged, then put on her well after she had died."

His voice trailed off as he finished. "So... we'll have to find out if she was wearing any clothes at the exact moment of her death... and find it."

How macabre.

_________________

"Well, maybe it's not the lock." Mikkael mentions. "Maybe it's the key."

Kazeko comes into the room with a bucket of water.

"Mikkael, you mentioned you needed a bucket of water?"

"Ah, yes, perfect timing." He says, taking the bucket from her and kicks open the furnace, splashing the fire inside, "Plus, I'm sure if the clothes were found, they'd be turned in by now. Nothing is more important to a murder case than a set of clothing."

Mikkael looks inside the now steaming and blackened interior of the furnace and searches around a bit. "Just as I expected. There's a lot of fine, dark ash in here. Exactly what one would expect if the clothing were burned. In fact, I also would imagine... Aha!" The meridian pulls out two fragments of what seems like metal. "This is why the key won't work. If I polish this off, the fragments here should match the key we have."

Sure enough, after a good five minutes of hard scrubbing and polishing, the fragments of metal were lined up an matched to the key they had.

"Impressive!" Kazeko remarked.

"Kazeko, I recall during my first meeting with Reizei that she had a necklace of sorts, did she have it on her the last time you saw her alive?" Mikkael asked.

"Why, nyes, actually, nyow that you mention it. In fact, the key was attached to a nyecklace when we found her body." The jounin master explained.

"Then that explains it. The lock is fine, the key is simply broken due to the stab." Mikkael then kneels down at the rope outline. "We still have yet to figure out how the murderer got in, but I imagine that if a spell was used on her, and she was weakened to the point where she fell here, then the shearing from the blade in her back would mean that it is very likely that the key would break from the stab."

"I still don't get it though." Kazeko said, stroking her chin, "Why burn the clothing?"

"It's a part of the murderer's plan." A new voice mentioned. Mikkael looked over to see a monk standing by, she had pink hair down to her shoulders, and blue eyes. The white and gold clothed girl almost reminded Mikkael of Philena, though she was human.

"Arisa? What are you doing here, nya?" Kazeko asked, tilting her head.

"As Jiu Duan master, I am tasked to oversee the entire case. However, I believe I can shed light on your question Mr. Mikkael."

The meridian nodded in response, "Go on."

"You see, the current leading theory is that during the morning hours, before Hiroko passed by the Daimyo's room, she had used that time to get in and kill her. However, now looking over the evidence you have gathered, as well as the presence of blood, which, as you can tell, is quite severe, the Daimyo would have had to have bled out for quite some time, and the amount of blood would have indicated that no one could bleed out to that extent in such a short period of time."

Mikkael gave a grin, "Well, save for in a battle with someone using a sword such as my own."

"True, however, as you know, this isn't your sword, this is a two-handed katana, one wound, and a clean stab." Arisa reminded them. "In any case, I hope we can reveal the truth tomorrow. For now, please feel free to use the local tavern to rest, perhaps visit our hot springs as well. They're really quite nice."

"OH CRAP! I TOTALLY FORGOT WE LEFT NATSUKI AND PHILENA WAITING!"

<ALL EVIDENCE FOUND. COURT WILL BEGIN THE FOLLOWING DAY.>

EVIDENCE
-Victim File: Reizei Cynric'dair, 23, Human Fire Draco, was stabbed by the two-handed katana which lead to instantaneous death. The murder occurred on the third day of the Festival of the Lily.
-Two-Handed Katana: The weapon used to murder Reizei. It's actually ornamental, and belongs to a statue in her room, with a white wrapping over the black metal. It looks like it takes a bit of strength to get loose from the statue's grip.
-Hiroko's One-Handed Katana: A black metal katana with a white wrapping. Swapped with the two-handed katana at some point.
-Damaged Daimyo Room Key: The key to the Daimyo's room. It is one of a kind, and was likely damaged when Reizei was stabbed.
-Dilated Eyes: The eyes of the victim were dilated, indicating magic, strangulation, or drugging.
-The Armor: The armor Reizei was supposedly wearing when she was murdered. Matching stab wounds, but little blood or will evaporation presence.
-The Will Evaporated Wound: The victim's wound is smaller at the front of the chest, and thicker at the back, indicating a stab from behind. There is will evaporation surrounding the wound and going down her front and back.
-Folding Screen: A folding screen in Reizei's room. It has evidence of will evaporation on both sides.
-Furnace: A heating furnace in Reizei's room, used to burn her clothes post-mortem.

_________________

Yemhelch shielded his eyes against the daylight as they emerged from the underhold, and finally into the grand courtyard, almost wincing in pain. As his eyes became used to the evening sun, he looked around, and... as expected, neither Philena or Natsuki could be found.

"While we were playing detective, those two probably took a vacation." he chuckled as they began the climb down the stairs.

A little asking around eventually yielded what he wanted to know - 'a robe-wearing human girl', and a 'mermaid-like girl' had gone to the onsen, according to one of the Pagoda Guards.

"... annnd I remembered why I came here in the first place." he smiled.

-

The building was designed in a classical theme - flared roofs, wooden carvings - no jade this time, but the wood-cut panels were finely engraved, showing oceans, mountains and fields. Yemhelch signed his name on the guestbook and Mikkael followed his lead. After a stop-over in the changing rooms where they switched their gear for comfy small towels to cover their privates and fluffy headpads, they stepped out into the main onsen.

As his eyes again got used to the mist, he saw someone drowni- wait, no, a familiar girl... waving at them. A few seconds later, he waved back as he recognized Philena and Natsuki. Tentatively, he dipped one toe into the water, then almost leaped back out.

"あああああつい!!!" he almost yelled, causing a few others in the onsen to look at him with surprise... and then with bemused grins.

_________________

She had learned more here in the short time she had been relaxing in the invigorating water, than at the musty library of Vel Da Ir where she had spent almost 4 hours in. Philena proved to be very knowledgeable regarding magical release, and she was learning a lot more than she usually did. Philena was excited too - finally, someone who she could discuss her more wilder theories with!

They had been talking animatedly when Natsuki spotted two people entering the onsen. Philena seemed to have recognized Mikkael, so she waved at them half-heartedly; only to watch as Yemhelch dip a foot into the water, and scream bloody murder.

As they waded over, she shook her head.

"For once." she said as she adjusted the cloth wrap keeping her hair up. "Just for once, try not to make a scene."

She waited until they had become comfortable before continuing. "So, what kind of trouble did you two get into?"

Mikkael had eased himself into position, he didn't think that the girls would choose a shared bath, and a blush came over his face as he looked towards Philena's excellent hourglass figure. Nonetheless, he made an attempt to compose himself and responded to Natsuki's question, "Well, I guess we may be stuck in Vel Da Ir for a while... At least, Yemhelch and I are."

"Oh?" Philena pondered, "Why do you say that?"

"Well, this case we agreed to take will prove to be more complicated than I think either of us expected." Mikkael looked up at the now dark sky, the atmosphere lit only by torches around the base of the onsen.

--------------------------------------------------
((Stuck at this part with Eiryk, I have no idea what to do with him. However, I can't just get rid of him like my armament character because he's significant to Mikkael's plotline.

So starting at December, for every real month, all players gain one quest completion. I want to help lighten that burden of doing 100 quests as much as possible, but without completely breaking the challenge aspect. I may need to rebalance the scholar weaponry at some point as well, given that it's really hard to level up a scholar.))

Eiryk had read through many books before finally getting up and deciding that he wanted to take a look around the tower a little more. Many students were training their skills, honing their incantations, and writing papers. The last thing he wanted to do was read any paper being written at this time, given that most of the books were collections of reports, some verified, some very much hypothetical.

He saw various classrooms in the middle of lectures by some master or another, and when he passed by the summoner's classroom, he noted something odd. A necromancer was teaching the class. It did make sense, given that necromancy was a branch of summoning, but for a necromancer to be able to roam freely and even teach, even given the current situation? Prejudices aside, and whether justified or not, he didn't like the looks of it. Eiryk walked by and finally reached the bottom of the tower, deciding to take a walk through the town.

That's when he decided to take on a small quest.

_________________

She thought that her sort-of adventure with these folks could not get wilder. She sighed sadly as she was proved wrong.

"Defense attorney, huh?" she nodded. "... you do know what you're getting into, right?"

Shaking her head, she inquired further into their little predicament. If she had some free time, maybe she would see if there was anything she could do to help.

"Murder case. The trial will be tomorrow, bright and early. Seems like it will be pretty open and shut, according to the prosecutor, but it may turn out pretty exciting given our evidence." Mikkael notes, but refrains from any detail, "However, we've got everything locked up with the officials, so that will will be revealed tomorrow."

Philena scoots up to Mikkael for a moment, "So, about the fee.~" The girl smiles at Mikkael.

"Oh, I guess it was my treat... Except my money is over in my clothes. Afterwards, okay?"

"Alright. By the way, I wouldn't mind sleeping together again!~" Philena declares loudly, making Mikkael turn as pink as her skin.

"PH-PHILENA, DON'T PUT IT THAT WAY! It was just sharing a bed..."

"So, can I have my money now please, or do I need to hold onto you even tighter tonight?~" The meridian girl giggles, running a finger down Mikkael's built chest.

Mikkael looks over to Natsuki and Yemhelch, now eyeing him with suspicion. "I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW I DID NO SUCH THING TO HER. IT WAS PURELY INNOCENT." It then finally chimes in Yemhelch's head what Philena is implying and he stands up with a grin, giving polite applause.

"Oh, but didn't you? I remember how you held me last night, and told me so many things as we lay together. The moonlight shining in from the window of that Selkie inn.~" The girl had a wry smile across her face as she placed a hand on Mikkael's, and he could feel the heat sinking into his cheeks, now burning a bright red.

"OKAY, I GET IT, MONEY, COMING RIGHT UP!" He shouted, rushing back to his clothing and producing enough Legens plus extra to pay for Natsuki and his assailant. Philena simply smiled at him as he returned to where he was relaxing before her interruption.

"Now was that so hard?" She asked. He let out a sigh.

"Yes, but you wouldn't know the half of it, so please don't do that again." Mikkael pleaded. She grabbed his hand again and laughed at his frustrations.

"I swear," Philena began, "you act so tough all the time, so tense, but you're really so soft inside." She leaned in closer and whispered, "Hey, if it makes you feel any better, I really WOULD like to share your bed again."

Mikkael's blush returned as he proclaimed, "I AM NOT SOFT!"

--------------------------------------------------

The two of them retired early, Mikkael with a half smile, half grimmace on his face as Philena cuddled up to him.

"Total softie.~"

"No, you just exploit me too well."

The two of them simply lay in bed, smiling at one another. Yet the memory of the man's words continued lurking in his mind. Regardless, the here and now was important, and the trial would be the main focus for Mikkael, as well as the girl who looked up to him.

_________________

For a while, she thought Mikkael must be boiling alive as he sat and talked with the group. She was going to ask if she was allright, but to her relief, it wasn't so. Several times, she spotted him stealing glances at Philena. She must've noticed too, and had decided to embarrass the poor man even further.

As they left together, she sighed as the atmosphere calmed down somewhat. The few patrons in the onsen had already left and a warm silenced descended. Too quiet...

She leaned over and looked at Yemhelch, wondering if he was... then his mouth opened and a soft snore came out.

Asleep!

"How are you able to sleep in a place like this?!" she whispered to herself as she sat back down.

And then a playful grin danced across her features. "Maybe I'll let you sleep here. Consider it payback for disappearing that time. That cost me some good money..."

Unwrapping her towel, she folded it and put it on his head before wading out and returning to the changing room.

Falling. That was the first sensation he had. As he opened his mouth, he felt the hot water at his lips and jammed his mouth closed. Scrambling to wakefulness, he managed to poke his head out of the water. Did he fall asleep here?!

Shaking off the steam-clouds, he clambered back onto the changing rooms and the slow sensation of burning began to register on his skin. He looked down and realized - he was red as a boiled lobster! The stay in the onsen had pretty much given him an impromptu tan...

"Whyyyyy??"

-

As he reached the changing room, he sighed gratefully upon finding all his gear still in the locker. Once he was done equipping his gear, he stepped out into the patio and spotted Natsuki already having an early morning tea-time.

_________________

"Giant Boiled Lobster." Natsuki smiled as she spotted him enter the in-house tavern. It was morning and the place was slowly coming to life as patrons woke up and came downstairs for a drink. He looked almost pained at the remark.

"I know what you're thinking. 'Why didn't you call?', right?" she continued, letting her smile grow. "You looked pretty comfy while you suddenly went to sleep..."

"I've been thinking about it a little, last night." she continued after a waiter placed a glass of cool water for them. "Would you like my help in the case you're in? Velian law states that the defense attorney will not only have to prove their client is innocent, they also have to find the real criminal."

Recalling how badly he had blundered during the investigation, he nodded gratefully. He would need all the help he could get right now, and with Natsuki along with Mikkael and Philena, now he felt confident of a proper win.

They talked for a while, and the waiter returned asking if they were ready to order yet.

"Oh snap, Mikkael ain't here yet." Yemhelch nodded. "How about you go wake him up?"

_________________