Symphony for the Insect Princess

——Now, this is probably how they see me.

Humans are very contradictory creatures. When they encounter trouble, their sociability will prompt them to seek help from their companions, making them hope to have reliable people around them. However, humans are also proud. Although they think, "It would be great if I had reliable companions to help me through the difficulties," they will also feel unwilling to "have to rely on people who are stronger than me."

So I needed to carefully manage my performance. I'd maintain a calm demeanor, interjecting at opportune moments to give them the impression that I was reliable. At the same time, I'd act shy and try to hide my shyness in response to their compliments, making them feel grateful for the compliments. This was actually a form of weakness, letting them know that "this third sister is ultimately not as good as them," while also giving them a sense of self-satisfaction from having "helped someone," or perhaps even the pleasure of "giving alms to others."

No matter what, my recognition in their hearts has increased a bit now, so my situation will be safer. If there is a dispute in the future, these three people who have the most weight in their words will more or less consider my opinions.

If the result is good, everything is good.

First vote first?

Welcome to participate!

Chapter 8 Self-Righteous

As a result, Nellis and her group of four did not gain anything, but they also did not encounter any danger.

When they discovered that the magic circle on the door of the large room in the center of the top floor that detected people entering and leaving had been destroyed, the four of them had already guessed the ending.

"That's within my expectations..."

The crystal ball in the room, inscribed with intricate magic patterns—the barrier recorder—had several cracks on it, and the magical radiance it usually emitted had disappeared. Chloe tentatively detected it and discovered that the crystal ball had been destroyed three days ago. Incidentally, the manor's barrier records were checked every three days.

"Three days? That should be far beyond the range of Anhans' tracking magic. Nelris, your bug..."

"let me try."

Nelris stretched out her hand, and the flying insects with tracking function came out from her sleeves, first flying towards the crystal ball, then flying to the ground, circling slowly.

She explained, "These bugs have memorized the scent of each of us. If one of us had been in and out of here three days ago, they would have been able to detect it..."

But the insect was always circling slowly, without landing on anything, and its flight path was chaotic.

Nelris shook her head with an apologetic expression, and seeing this, York and Chloe could only sigh.

"So...Ellen, in your experience, are there any obvious signs in this room?"

"No, it's quite clean, not even a ghost."

"This is..."

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"Don't worry, Lillian. If the murderer comes to kill me, I will do my best to protect you!"

"……Oh."

Anhans deliberately struck an exaggerated pose, but Lillian only glanced at him with a dull look. He had hoped to cheer up the distraught Lillian, but seeing that he had failed, he shrugged and sat down on the other side of the chair.

Ever since the four of them went to the top floor, the atmosphere in the hall had become extremely tense. Lux paced anxiously in the hall, Nia stayed by Lillian's side, and Molly curled up in a ball in the corner. Apart from Lux, no one else seemed to be able to help, but Lux wasn't a magician.

In the end, the only one who can be relied on is himself - thinking of this, Anhans couldn't help feeling proud.

The people who stayed in the hall were of no help, and the few who were really useful had all gone to the top floor. In Anhans's opinion, it was simply idiotic to step into a possible trap just for that tiny possibility.

But it doesn’t matter, because I have basically seen through the murderer.

Although the identity of the murderer cannot be determined, he can be sure that "which location is closely related to the murderer."

The tracking magic that was cast at the beginning depicted the footprints of people on the floor of the hall. Liz also used insects to find the two missing shadow servants, but overall there was no substantial progress.

But Anhans noticed a detail. At that time, everyone's attention was focused on the body of the shadow servant, but he was the only one who noticed it.

Half a footprint was revealed under the crack of the side door of the hall.

Because it was too far away from Crafa's body, no one else noticed it, and the bug released by Liz also ignored it.

So Anhans quietly released the smallest puppet familiar to act as his eyes. After some investigation and observation, Anhans was basically certain that the footprint did not belong to anyone present.

In other words - this is the trace left by the real murderer.

The murderer left the hall through this side door after committing the crime.

Because of family connections, Anhans had visited this manor when he was very young and had a certain understanding of the structure of the mansion. If he remembered correctly, behind this door was a long corridor surrounding the mansion, leading to places like... the servants' bedrooms, the utility room, and... the basement.

Anhans couldn't help but chuckle. If he was the murderer, he would definitely try to get people farther away from his target. Right now, it seemed the only reliable source of clues was the barrier recording table on the top floor. In other words, the murderer was trying to lure everyone away, to the top floor.

Thinking in reverse, the murderer's destination is most likely the place exactly opposite the top floor.

(Basement…? Huhu…)

It is very necessary to investigate there.

However, the autonomous puppets could not act as his eyes, and he could not accurately judge the situation there. There was also a distance limit between the manually operated puppets and the puppeteers. His current attainments were not deep enough, and he would not be able to operate the puppets if the distance limit was exceeded or there was an overly thick obstacle between him and the puppets.

Is it just a matter of doing it myself?

The problem is... the murderer must know who went to the top floor and who stayed in the lobby. Once I take action, the murderer will definitely notice it quickly.

He had to make that guy think he was still in the hall.

In that case——

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

The investigation of the barrier recording table yielded no results, and the four returned to the hall.

But as soon as they arrived at the hall, they found that the atmosphere was very wrong.

"Finally... you're finally back!!!"

Lillian almost cried and threw herself into York's arms, Molly curled up in the corner and sobbed, and Lux ​​and Nia stood beside someone who had fallen to the ground with pale faces.

"I really don't know, wow... what should I do! So... please..."

Lillian was completely incoherent. York quickly comforted her with a few words and left her to Ellen and Chloe, then quickly walked towards the person lying on the ground.

That's Anhans.

He was lying face up, his limbs stretched out limply, and it was obvious that this was not intentional.

“…What’s going on?

York asked Lux ​​and Nia, his own voice trembling. Nia opened and closed her mouth, trying to say something, but her trembling lips couldn't utter a single word. Lux patted Nia's shoulder.

"Let me tell you, Nia was really scared... Anyway, just now, about a minute or two before you came back, Anhans suddenly fell to the ground."

"Fallen suddenly? Was he poisoned? Or—"

"No, the situation might be much more complicated. You'll know when you see it."

York reached out his hand suspiciously to Anhans' neck, but just as he touched it, he withdrew his hand like lightning.

"This is--"

Cold?

died?

No, not dead! But——

"This is simply..."

Nellis appeared next to "Anhans" at some point. She squatted down and lifted one of Anhans' hands, and touched the joints of the hand with her white and slender fingers. Several small flies crawled around the hand twice.

“…Not human.”

She looked at York with a questioning look. York hesitated, then nodded and looked at Ellen on the other side.

"Hey, Ellen, can you lend me your—"

“Anhans!!!”

After finally deceiving Lillian, whose emotions were nearly out of control, the two sisters finally saw who had fallen to the ground. They screamed in pain and practically cried as they rushed forward, knocking York, Lux, and Nia aside. Nelris nimbly dodged.

"Big sister, second sister, calm down!"

Lux shouted hurriedly, but the two girls didn't listen to him at all. They were frantically looking for a pulse and heartbeat on "Anhans", but obviously found nothing.

"Why! Why would Anhans... This... is impossible!!"

"Is it the murderer!?"

Ellen stood up like an enraged lioness, looking around the hall with eyes that seemed to be burning with fire.

"Just now... Chloe, York, and Nelris were all gone. Does that mean... the murderer... is the person who was in the hall earlier!?"

Ss ...

An invisible wave erupted from Allen, sending shockwaves through everyone else, as if countless ferocious beasts were hovering overhead. Even the air seemed thick with stickiness. This was Allen's true strength as a high-level magic warrior. The murderous aura that intimidated the enemy and the crippling pressure were the true testament to his power.

But York and Nelris's next words blew away Ellen's anger.

"Calm down, Ellen, this isn't Anhans."

"It's a puppet... a substitute puppet that looks exactly like him."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, okay, I'll update.

Chapter 9 Substitute

Today is the elder’s 90th birthday, how can we not update it?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Everything is back to square one... no, it's actually gotten worse.

Eight people formed a circle, and in the middle of the circle was "Anhans" lying on his back.

I studied the doll's face carefully.

This puppet is truly a work of art, with even the eyelashes and facial pores perfectly recreating a real person—a true feat of the puppeteer. To be able to create such a flawless stand-in puppet is a testament to Anhans's talent as a puppeteer, and his self-proclaimed genius is no exaggeration.

However, this genius has been identified as a missing person.

"Let's sort out the situation..."

York clutched his forehead, looking completely overwhelmed. First it was his father, then the two shadow servants, and now Anhans was in trouble again. He was exhausted both physically and mentally by this series of events.

"Let's sort out the situation. About two minutes before we returned, you found Anhans collapsed on the ground... So, who was the first to discover him?"

Near, whose face was as pale as paper, and Lillian, who was sobbing, raised their hands. It seemed that they discovered it at the same time.

"Before that, did you notice what he did? Or, in other words, while waiting for us, did any of you pay close attention to his every move?"

There was silence for a moment, and then several people shook their heads at the same time.

"I'm sorry, York," Lukes sighed. "To be honest, I was walking around distracted at the time and didn't pay much attention to others... As for Anhans, I only know that he said something like 'Don't worry' and 'Just watch me' at the beginning, and then stood back and said nothing. I don't know what he was doing specifically... York?"

We all looked at our eldest brother at the same time, and saw that cold sweat was pouring down his forehead, and his expression was becoming increasingly uneasy.

"York, what's wrong with you?"

"...Nothing, just a little tired...Okay, let me summarize briefly."

He held up a finger one by one -

“First, during the time you stayed behind, none of you noticed what Anhans was doing specifically;

Then, just two minutes before we returned, Lillian and Nia were the first to notice Anhans had fallen;

Then we came back and we have the current situation;

Anyway, the biggest mystery right now is Anhans's whereabouts...Lukes, what do you think?"

"Well... excuse me for being blunt, but the most obvious possibility at this moment is being killed—"

"impossible!!!!!!!!!!!"

Lux was interrupted by Ellen, who had completely lost her usual dashing demeanor. She looked like a mad lioness, radiating a violent aura. Chloe's eyes had completely lost their luster. She stood there in despair, staring blankly at the avatar of Anhans lying on the ground.

"Impossible, impossible, impossible! Anhans... he is very talented! And, very smart! Even if he encounters an emergency, he can deal with it immediately, right? He is like this, inexplicably, just... just..."

"Quiet, Ellen! Stop talking nonsense!"

York used his authority as the future head of the family and elder brother to suppress Allen again.

"Ellen, Chloe, I know you're both mentally unstable right now, so please go to the sofas on either side and rest for a while to calm down."

"........."

"……All right."

Seeing the two girls quiet down, Lux cleared his throat and continued, "Being killed is only one possibility, but the one who left behind the substitute doll could only be Anhans himself, so..."

"...Anhans may have gone somewhere, and in order to prevent others from noticing his departure, he deliberately left behind a substitute doll."