Symphony for the Insect Princess

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Guess.

Go ahead and guess, idiots.

Looking at their serious expressions, "he" felt that it was really difficult to hold back his laughter.

Where did Anhans go?

of course?

That arrogant idiot has already met his end. Don't even think about finding his body. Just give up.

Now there are two of us. Although there have been some unexpected situations so far, it has been going smoothly overall.

There is only one critical person left. The more times like this, the more we cannot be impatient, and someone may have already seen the clues.

clam down.

Act according to plan.

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"That leaves two possibilities."

York nodded, then looked at Lux and Nelris.

Right now, Ellen and Chloe were depressed because of Anhans' disappearance, Lillian and Nia were pale, and Molly, huddled in the corner, seemed like she would faint at any moment. Now it seemed that only York, Lux and Nelris were able to think about the problem.

Lux was also a little surprised by Nelris's calmness, and there was a hint of suspicion in his eyes, but York waved to him, indicating that their third sister could be trusted.

"Tell me what you think."

"The first possibility is that Anhans is the mastermind behind this. He probably saw the four of you - including the two strongest fighters - going to the top floor, and took the opportunity to escape and prepare for the next move." Lux said.

"But that's unlikely," York shook his head. "If he's the real murderer, then he's been doing too many useless things."

"The second possibility is—" Nelris said, "—Anhans discovered something and wanted to escape and investigate on his own without being discovered by the murderer. He left behind a substitute doll to confuse the murderer hiding among us."

As soon as the words fell, the three of them looked at each other.

Such arrogant behavior... If it happened to someone else, it might be incomprehensible, but if it happened to Anhans, he would probably do such a stupid thing out of his arrogance.

The possibility is unexpectedly high.

"Then...what should we do next?" asked Nelris.

"..."

York frowned in thought for a moment, then sighed.

"What else can we do? If Anhans really found some important clues, we must confront him face to face. If he is the real murderer, then we must do our best to find him."

"But, I'm afraid Anhans has already..." Lux turned his head away halfway through his words and didn't continue.

The three fell into silence again.

Whether manipulating puppets or insects, both fall under the broad category of familiar manipulation magic. A familiar's state is closely tied to its master, especially for puppeteers like Anhans. Upon the death of a puppeteer, if the puppeteer's puppet is autonomous, it will cease its activity after executing the master's final commands. If the puppeteer is directly controlled, the puppeteer's actions will cease immediately upon the puppeteer's death.

No matter what, once a puppet suddenly stops moving, it means... the puppeteer, as the master, has encountered an unexpected disaster.

Anhans, it's very dangerous.

"I know... No matter what, I have to find him alive or dead. I have to find out his whereabouts now!"

"But how should we search? This is such a big house, and the murderer is probably still among us. If we want to find Anhans as soon as possible, we can only disperse our efforts, but..."

"Of course we can only use magic. It would be inappropriate to disperse and search or leave the hall."

"But, given Chloe's condition, I'm afraid..."

The three of them turned their gaze towards Chloe, who was squatting on the ground in a daze, her long hair covering half of her face. Her mental state couldn't be worse. In this state, the accuracy of search-related magic would be much worse than usual.

Of the three people left who were still trying to think, York knew some magic knowledge but was not a magician. Lukes was the same as York, so he could only -

"Nellis, do you have any ideas? Can you control the bugs to search?"

"If we limit the number of insects under control to less than twenty, we should be able to conduct a relatively accurate search based on scent."

Chapter 10 Heart

"Insects..."

I stood in the center of the hall and began to use the most basic skill in familiar manipulation magic—communicating with distant familiars and calling them to my side. As an insect master, I naturally called upon the insects in the breeding tank in my room.

If I were to categorize my skills by target, I'd go with familiar manipulation, then beast taming, then insect magic. A fundamental rule of any familiar manipulation magic is that the phenomena it can achieve depend on the familiar's own capabilities. For example, to use a familiar's eyes to observe distant locations, the familiar must have vision; to eavesdrop, it must have hearing; to make the familiar fly, it must have wings or other flight mechanisms. For a magician specializing in this type of magic, their strength always depends on the abilities of their familiars. The more powerful, sophisticated, and versatile the familiar, the more difficult it is to manipulate, and the fewer of them can be accurately controlled simultaneously.

What I will be controlling is the simplest little flying insect, which can fly, moves nimbly, and has a good sense of smell, which is enough for searching for missing persons.

The flying insects came from the direction of my room, entered the hall door, circled around me, and then flew out.

"Remember? I've already used flying insects to memorize everyone's scent. As long as that flying insect passes the scent factor to the other insects, we can start searching."

I explained to York and Lukes that we should ignore the others for now as they were of no use.

"It's really convenient, amazing."

"It's not that impressive. 'Using a familiar to search within a certain range' is the entry-level course for any familiar manipulation magic user."

"But..." York looked at me seriously, "This should have gone beyond the scope of a magic apprentice, right? I think you are already a fully qualified low-level magician."

"I agree. Have you never participated in the low-level magician assessment?" Lux also said.

"..."

Sure enough, sooner or later someone will ask this question.

The rank of magician brings not only reputation, but also many other conveniences, such as sponsorship from the union, favor from nobles and even royal relatives, passes to certain important places... and so on. There are almost no people who have the corresponding strength but do not take the assessment.

It is true that I am now qualified to be a low-level magician, but it is also true that I have never participated in the examination because I am not very interested... Of course, no one will believe me if I say this.

If I don't handle it well now, it may cause them to have unwarranted suspicions about me, so I have to be careful.

"No... I don't think about the low-level magician assessment..."

Change your tone slightly to create the effect of "trying to hide your inner insecurity with calm words."

"...I'm not as powerful as Sisters Ellen and Chloe, nor as talented as Lillian and Anhans. I'm just studying on my own, without a proper teacher."

Observe their expressions out of the corner of your eye, lower your head at the right time, use some skill to make your face a little redder, and let your eyes wander around at a certain frequency.

"I... really don't think I can pass the test successfully. If I try rashly and fail, it might even bring shame to the family, so..."

"Calm on the surface, but still a child at heart, bearing the pressure of being ignored by relatives, using private efforts to improve my strength, but afraid to take the assessment because of the hidden lack of confidence in my heart" - I try hard to shape myself into this image.

What is the effect?

"Uh... Nelris, you are a little too unconfident. A small low-level magician assessment is not as serious as you think." Lux shook his head.

"I'm sorry. Maybe it's because I've been a little... indifferent to you all along? I made you always worry about this and that. In fact, all you need to do is confidently show the results of your hard work." York smiled bitterly.

"Um...thank you."

I felt relieved when I heard them say that.

It seems to work pretty well.

At this time-

"Have it!"

One of the bugs suddenly sensed something, and the direction was—

"It's on the first floor, in the corridor not far from the kitchen!"

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ten minutes later--

After a brief discussion, everyone decided to act collectively.

Considering the mental state of most people, those who are difficult to preserve will not encounter any unexpected events.

Of course, the main reason was Ellen and Chloe. After they heard that Nelris had found Anhans's whereabouts, they had to go and see it in person no matter what.

As a result, everyone saw this scene.

Bloody footprints on the ground.

Anhans' body.

Lying quietly in a pool of blood.

All vital signs disappeared.

"Anhans..."

And, like Crafa, he had a large hole in his left chest, his heart missing.

"ANHANSAAA ...

"Calm down, Ellen—"

"How can I be calm!!!!!! The bastard bastard actually took my Anhans!!!!!!!"

"Who is the murderer...? How did they do it..."

Ellen was half frantic, like an enraged lioness, while Chloe, on the other hand, was weeping profusely and lying on her knees, unable to get up.

As for the others, Lillian and Nia had already hidden away, trembling in fear, while Molly, who had seen the dead bodies continuously, was almost fainting.

Lux tries to comfort Ellen and Chloe, but with little success, while York and Nelris take advantage of this opportunity to quickly investigate the situation on the scene.

"It's still a missing heart... the murderer took it."

"Did you notice? This time the notch on the chest isn't as smooth as Father's. The edges are a bit rough."

"The murderer was in a hurry this time... and Anhans might have fought with the murderer."

The two looked around and saw three fallen puppets.

Judging from the footprints, many of the bloody footprints on the ground were left by these puppets after stepping on Anhans' blood.

"Wait, Nellis, something's wrong."

"where?"

"The bloody footprints on the ground are obviously left by a puppet." York pointed to the ground.

"Any questions?"

"The puppet left bloody footprints because it stepped on the copious blood that flowed out after Anhans' heart was ripped out. But after Anhans died, the puppet he controlled should have immediately stopped moving. So how could it have 'stepped on his blood'?"

"Perhaps because these puppets are 'autonomous' familiars. Familiars are categorized into fully controlled and autonomous types. The former require the caster to control their every move, resulting in highly precise movements but being more cumbersome to use. The latter usually have their own energy source, such as magic crystals, and act upon the caster's command."

"In other words..." York frowned, "Anhans's puppets are self-disciplined. Even if he dies, his puppets will carry out his final command before stopping?"

"That should be the reason."

"Yeah……"

York's expression grew increasingly solemn, his eyes fixed on the hollow space in Anhans' chest, his breathing becoming increasingly heavy. He took a deep breath and announced to everyone, "Anhans is dead, and he was the only one skilled in tracking magic, so further investigation is impossible. Everyone, return to the hall first—"

"Do not!!!!!!!!!!"

Ellen interrupted him rudely.

"Stop joking... Stop joking, stop joking!!!! Anhans... Anhans... he's... dead!!!"

"...I understand how you and Chloe feel, but—"

"—but bullshit! What do you know! What do you understand! Anhansi clearly—"

Ellen obviously wanted to say something else, and although she knew in her heart that she was just fooling around, her sadness and resentment had to find an outlet to vent.

however--

“I already know the murderer’s purpose!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

York, who could no longer bear it, suddenly roared, his voice so loud that it even drowned out Ellen. Ellen was shocked by his momentum, and stared at him blankly, speechless.

Not only Allen, everyone looked at him in surprise.

Do you know the murderer's purpose?

How do you know?

How do you know?