She is not an investigator.

Looking down from above, there's nothing particularly special about it. The area enclosed by the wall is much cleaner than the outside, and there are hardly any tall weeds to be seen, probably because the servants take good care of it every day.

From this angle, the main gate of the wall is not visible, and naturally, the strange stone tablet is also not visible.

Although somewhat disappointed, Igris withdrew her gaze and prepared to go downstairs for a stroll.

She walked down the stairs and arrived at the castle's main hall, which was also the entrance. Buze had already left, and apart from a few cleaning servants, the hall was quiet and peaceful.

Upon seeing Igris, the servants bowed to her one after another. She didn't say much, just nodded, and continued walking away.

She prepared to continue looking down. This castle had a basement, which she had noticed when she came in. No matter how bright and beautiful a building may look, there are always some strange things that shouldn't be there hidden in the basement.

After she had walked down the spiral staircase for a short while, a wooden door appeared before her.

Igris tried to push the wooden door and pull the handle, but unfortunately, the door seemed to be locked, and Igris had neither a key nor anything to pick the lock.

Maybe I can ask tomorrow, or find a chance to steal one?

Anyway, she's a repeat offender.

The Gods' Fool - The Castle's Invitation: Chapter Ten, Echoes of the Past

Igris ultimately decided against wandering around, as it would seem suspicious and might be mistaken for a thief who had sneaked in, which would be disastrous.

So Igris simply went back to her room and began searching for anything.

So she opened the wardrobe and crawled inside, feeling around in all directions. There was nothing inside, not even a hidden compartment, which disappointed Igris.

After all, shouldn't most castles have something hidden in a corner that allows you to create a new path with just a tap?

Unconvinced, Igris crawled under the bed again, but found nothing. She concluded that the servants were very diligent in cleaning, even under the bed, which was shockingly clean.

After thoroughly searching through the drawers and confirming that there was indeed nothing left in the room, Igris lay down on the bed with peace of mind.

Now that things have come to this, let's go to sleep.

……

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my exhibition. I am Raymond Noval, the owner of this castle."

An unfamiliar cacophony slowly rose in Igris's ears, causing her to wearily open her eyes and look toward the source of the sound.

She should have been lying in bed, but somehow she ended up sitting on a chair in the living room, and only now has she come to her senses.

Around her, countless people turned their gazes to the man at the very front, the middle-aged man who was speaking.

Igris raised her eyebrows slightly and touched the pistol at her waist, but found no trace of it.

She seems to have encountered some strange events again. She's almost gotten used to it, but being without weapons will probably make her current situation even more dangerous.

More importantly, the man in front of him identified himself as Raymond.

In other words, he is the father of Buze and Nanko, the former head of the Noval family who suffered from mental illness.

But at this moment, he showed no signs of anything unusual, and the large number of people surrounding him, as well as the exhibits displayed throughout the hall, led Igris to a bold guess.

"Is this...the past?"

Time travel is always an extremely dangerous and almost impossible thing to achieve, and Igris felt that rather than her traveling back to the past, it was more accurate to say that her consciousness returned to that time period for some reason.

She wasn't carrying any weapons, which probably means that the body didn't belong to her at that moment.

But whatever the situation, she is more curious about how far the current exhibition has progressed.

If he chooses to display the Tear of the Ocean next, the scene will likely descend into chaos very quickly. Conversely, if he does not, she will have more time to search for clues in the vicinity.

Fortunately, after Raymond said something, he left on his own initiative, and the people around him dispersed and went about their own business.

Clearly, the current progress is not yet at the point of displaying the Tear of the Ocean. She still has plenty of time to look around, to see more details of the castle's past and this accident.

Igris first went to look at the nearest item in the collection. It was a pendant that looked a bit strange. It was placed in a crystal display case and seemed to have some moss on it.

Igris leaned down slightly and looked at the name written on the display case.

"Deep Dive Rune... Woohoo!"

Igris couldn't help but gasp. She looked around and, finding no one paying attention to her, breathed a sigh of relief.

She never imagined that this kind of thing could be displayed on the public stage, and now she understood why Raymond dared to call himself a collector.

This is something that most people can't do, not even Igris could.

After all, she now suffers from a strange disease that causes her to die if she gets near the sea, so such things are almost out of her reach.

Although wearing this for a long time will turn a person into a deep diver, its other effects are quite appealing. Wearing this to the beach might have some amazing effects.

However, Igris didn't want to try it, since the appearance of a Deep One after transformation was really ugly.

After being startled by this item, Igris began to feel curious about other objects.

This collector... surely he doesn't collect all sorts of random things.

Then, her gaze was drawn to a book that looked dangerous.

After hesitating for a moment, she slowly approached the crystal display case, not paying much attention to the book, but looking directly at its name.

"The Corpse Demon Cult Ritual..."

Igris silently shifted her gaze to the other people in the hall, each engaged in their own conversations.

How wonderful, the final disaster only resulted in one death.

At least for now, Igris has begun to doubt Raymond's true identity. If he's just an ordinary collector, Igris simply won't believe it. What kind of collector would specialize in collecting these kinds of things? A cult collector?

Even if it were precious gems or antique ornaments, Igris could understand it, but he even put up the Corpse Cult's ritual items, and the Special Investigations Department didn't notice?

Fortunately, Igris wasn't carrying a weapon. If she had encountered this situation in her past life, she would have immediately found Raymond and shot him dead.

Better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free.

"You seem quite interested in these strange little trinkets?"

The sudden sound behind Igris made her turn around and look at the source of the sound.

At that very moment, she suddenly felt a blur before her eyes, and everything around her began to twist and turn, as if the space itself was about to collapse.

But in less than half a second, everything in her eyes returned to normal, as if nothing had ever happened. And in front of her stood a strange man.

He looked to be in his early twenties, somewhat young, with short white hair and wheat-colored skin that gave him a powerful appearance. He was wearing a white suit, which contrasted sharply with his skin tone.

Regardless of when this person appeared behind her, at least Igris hadn't noticed him when she was looking around earlier.

"I'm just a little curious, after all, this kind of collection is quite rare for me."

Igris forced a smile; the strange feeling from just now still made her feel a little uncomfortable, and even a little nauseous.

"Is that so? It's just a pile of garbage."

The man looked at Igris's less-than-pleasant expression with a nonchalant smile.

"Have you seen Raymond's treasure? That gem, the Tear of the Ocean."

Igris hesitated for a moment, then gently shook her head.

"He hasn't shown it yet, has he? I've only heard about it; I've never actually seen it..."

"No rush, you'll see it in a moment. Compared to these things, that's what's truly worth collecting."

The man stroked his chin, took something out of his pocket, and tossed it directly to Igris.

"Here, consider this a small gift."

Igris instinctively caught what he tossed to her; it was a pocket watch, but it seemed to be broken and was turning backwards.

"Thanks... but is this watch broken?"

"If it's broken, fix it; its value is more precious than time."

The man waved his hand dismissively, and Igris didn't say anything more, simply stuffing it into her pocket.

I just don't know how she can get back to the previous timeline.

The Gods' Fool's Play - The Castle's Invitation: Chapter Eleven, Illusion

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure you've been waiting for a long time. Now, I will officially unveil the Tear of the Ocean."

Just then, Raymond suddenly clapped his hands, drawing the attention of all the underworld beings, and instructed a waiter to fetch something.

It seems that, according to the normal plan, the next step is to present the Tear of the Ocean and then descend into chaos.

"Sir, you also seem quite interested in the Tears of the Ocean?"

The white-haired man beside him smiled, appearing nonchalant. He then spoke.

"It's not some particularly rare private toy, but it does have some use, like a silver ring you see in a garbage dump. It may not be valuable in itself, but it's eye-catching enough."

"You're a collector too?"

The man gently shook his head, a faint smile on his face, as he watched Raymond take the button from the waiter.

"The more you see, the more you'll recognize. Why don't you take a good look at what that gem looks like?"

Igris turned her gaze to the crystal display stand that slowly rose after Raymond pressed the button.

Just as the story says, it's empty inside; the real gem is hidden in a secret compartment further down.

"I hope everything goes well."

Igris turned her head slightly as if talking to herself, but the man who had just been beside her had vanished without a trace.

Igris looked around, but still couldn't see the white figure.

Helpless, she could only continue to cast her gaze at the empty crystal display case.

"Then, please witness the true face of the Tears of the Ocean."

As he rummaged through the empty display case for a while and pressed a hidden compartment, Igris held her breath nervously.

According to normal procedure, what should be inside now is his wife's head.

Click.

The sound of mechanisms and gears turning filled the air as the crystal display case rose once more, revealing the true face of the Tear of the Ocean hidden beneath, exposing everything to everyone's eyes.

But at that moment, the image froze.

Everything around us seemed to be a videotape that had been paused; everyone's movements stopped in place, and the colors around us slowly faded, turning into black and white.

Tick, tick.