One by one, people funneled into the hallway. After the initial gasps and shrieks there was one reaction that couldn’t be ignored. Teach knocked me out of the way and rushed over to Vole’s body. The knight scrambled to check his benefactor’s condition. Maybe he was unaware, or maybe he just didn’t care that his inspection was covering him in Vole’s blood.

“What…how…” Teach let out a low moan that suddenly accelerated into a high pitched wail. “WHO THE HELL DID THIS!?”

Teach drew his sword and faced his spectators. We all stepped back. I looked back and forth but everyone was equally horrified by the sight. Even Ten looked uncharacteristically disturbed.

“F-For now let’s calm down, Teach.” Dain held his hands out in front of him as he spoke. “I don’t know what happened but this won’t be solved by-”

“-You don’t know what happened!?” Teach yelled, cutting him off. “Vole was murdered, that’s what happened!”

“Yes, and now we need to figure out how and why.” Ten said.

“Before you draw your sword at us, we should at least decide if he was killed by a demon or a human.” Howes added.

Well that’s an obvious one… I thought. Just one look and I could see that his soul was still there. A demon wouldn’t have left it behind, unless that was a part of their plan. I glanced at Ten. We both wanted them gone so it was certainly possible that he was behind this.

“Hmm…” Teach glared at each of us in turn. “Dain, get over here and examine Vole’s body.”

“A smart decision.” Dain nodded. He stepped past Teach and knelt down in front of Vole.

“Why Dain?” I whispered to Howes.

“Dain knows a lot about the human body.” Howes replied. “Investigations like this are his area of expertise. Demons don’t always brazenly kill people, you know.”

After a few minutes, Dain stood up and turned back to us. His sour expression said it all.

“From what I can tell, he was killed with a weapon. Specifically, a small knife or dagger. Vole’s heart was pierced by something of that size.” Dain clenched his teeth. “There’s no sign that his assailant was a demon. In fact, everything points to the opposite.”

“So it was one of you.” Teach trembled with rage. “Now, how do we decide who it was?”

“W-Whoever did it should just confess.” Howes suddenly yelled. “There’s no way we’re letting you out of here unscathed but I’ll guarantee your life if you reveal yourself now.”

That’s Howes for you. I smirked. Even in a situation like this, he thinks things might work out peacefully.

“That’s a very sly move. You’re so clever, Lacer.” Teach turned his bloodshot eyes towards Howes. “By saying something like that, you’re casually declaring that you aren’t the killer.”

“What!? No, I’m just trying to-”

Howes went silent as Teach raised a sword to his throat.

“No, I understand. You were a favorite of Vole’s, so I doubt you’d wish to see him killed. But then again, I don’t know what any of you are thinking right now. Maybe I should just slaughter the lot of you. Then I’ll definitely get the right man.”

“Teach wait, don’t do anything rash!” Dain stood up but Teach kicked him back into the wall.

I thought he was going to do more, but Teach suddenly froze. Then he turned around straight into a sucker punch from Howes. Before he could recover, Howes and Dain leapt to restrain him.

“Ten, help Dain hold him down.” Howes barked. “I have some rope in my pack.”

“Ok.” Ten nodded.

Once the three of them successfully restrained Teach, we were forced to return to the problem at hand. Everyone, including the restricted Teach, moved into the main floor to discuss this case.

“So…What do we know about the murder?” Dain spoke first, and then immediately followed himself up. “We know that the murder weapon was a small blade, that Vole was likely killed by a human and that the murder was committed within the past hour.”

“How did you figure out the last one?” Ten asked.

“A lot of the blood around Vole has already dried out. Some of it was fresher but that’s likely because he slowly bled to death after losing consciousness.”

Teach groaned and struggled against his ropes but to no avail.

“So…if we can assume that Teach didn’t do it.” Dain continued. “That leaves four suspects.”

“Then let’s get the simplest part out of the way first…” Ten turned out his pockets and rolled up the legs of his pants. “Vole was killed recently, so it’s unlikely that the murderer had a chance to bury the weapon.”

Howes and Dain nodded and repeated Ten’s actions. Then they turned to me, but I was wearing a sleeping gown. After some arguing, I showed them enough that they couldn’t complain while still retaining my pride.

In the end, it was a somewhat pointless gesture. We were all wearing what we slept in so there weren’t many places to check. The real search came afterwards, when we investigated everyone’s rooms.

We left Teach downstairs and decided to search each room as a group. This way no evidence could be destroyed or hid. Frankly, I had no place in this investigation. I lose things often enough without someone hiding them from me. At least the others seemed to be thorough.

After a stressful investigation, we headed back to the main floor to discuss what we’d found. Which, by the way, was absolutely nothing. No blood-stained clothing hidden away, no letter linking Vole to his killer, no valuable items stolen from Vole’s person and certainly no murder weapon.

“Ah, what are we doing?” I sat down with a sigh.

“I don’t get it…” Howes furrowed his brow. “If they didn’t have time to hide it, then the murder weapon should be in one of our rooms.

“Maybe it was one of Sera’s knives?” Ten said.

“Wha-? No, it wasn’t me!” I raised my hands defensively.

“I’m not saying that it was you. I’m just saying that someone could have taken one of the cooking knives, washed it and then put it back in its place.”

“No, the pump outside hasn’t been used today. I already looked out front to check.”

“What about the knives?”

I dipped into the kitchen to check and returned just as quickly.

“You’re right…there’s one missing.” As soon as I said it I felt everyone’s stares burning into me. “But it could have been taken by anyone.”

My rebuttal was met with silence. No one could deny that.

“That aside, you’re still incredibly suspicious.” Dain stood up. "You and Ten. Howes, Teach and I all know each other to some degree but you two are wildcards. Especially you, miss innkeeper. The very fact you’re here in this ghost town is reason to doubt you.”

“Well, that’s…” I attempted a flimsy argument but then trailed off immediately. I knew this would happen once the investigation slowed. Dain was right, I was the most suspicious person here.

“I, for one, am completely sure that she’s innocent.” Ten stepped beside me.

Thank you! I had no confidence in defending myself during an argument but Ten would be a welcome ally. He must have realized that if one demon is discovered in this house then they might start looking for more.

“Why is that?” Howes asked.

“Because I spent most of the night in her room.” Ten replied with his default, emotionless face. The other two blinked but didn’t ask anything else.

Meanwhile, I was cringing. I appreciated the help, but that statement sounded very creepy in his monotone voice.

“W-Well, that doesn’t mean that the two of you aren’t guilty...” Dain coughed awkwardly. “But if you’re throwing your fate in with hers then that’s certainly a statement.”

The room was silent once more, save for some unruly grunts from Teach. Once again we were at a standstill.

“I was thinking about something you said earlier, Dain…” Howes spoke up. “You said there were four suspects, but that might not be right. Counting Sera, there were seven of us to begin with.”

“Yes but excluding Rowan, Teach and of course, Vole, we now have four.” Dain replied.

“But is it possible that Rowan didn’t leave town? He could have hidden in a nearby building, waited for nightfall and then assassinated Vole.”

“Hmm, that’s certainly possible.”

“If that’s the case, then he’s long gone.” Ten waved his hands dismissively.

“Maybe, maybe not.” Howes countered. “Hypothetically, Vole might not have been his only target.”

“Then we should search the town. Even if he did flee, there should be traces of his presence in whatever house he stayed in.” Dain concluded.

We decided to abandon the inn for now and search the town itself. Once again, to ensure that evidence wasn’t tampered with, we split into groups. I wasn’t allowed to go with Ten since we were either both innocent or partners in crime. Dain left with Ten to check some areas Rowan would have likely used. That left me with Howes.

“Ok, let’s get going.” Howes said after he finished tying Teach to one of the inn’s supports.

“…You better find the killer.” Teach whispered. “Before I get out of here and solve this myself.”

“I’m sorry, Sir Teach, but we’ll have an easier time with this case if you stay out of it.” Howes chided.

“Don’t fuck with me, Lacer. I’m going to find whoever did this and tear out their guts.”

“Not from there you’re not.” Howes turned away and waved for me. “Come on, Sera. Let’s try to cover some places that Dain isn’t checking.”

I nodded and we left to explore the town.

As expected, neither of us were great assets to this search. I knew a little about which houses were still usable but none of them had signs of life. Howes was clearly my equal when it came to tracking humans. Despite this search being his idea, we ended up wandering around town with nothing to show for it.

“We only have a few more hours until the sun sets…” I mused.

“Yea, we’ll turn back soon.” Howes replied. “Maybe after we check out this cellar.”

“The what now?” I turned to where Howes was looking and grimaced. “Y-You mean that dusty cellar door over there? We’re going down there?”

With all the incriminating magical items in the house, I never even considered that one of these guys would discover the that room. I wanted to call out to Howes and tell him to turn around but that would be even more suspicious.

“Yea, come on. Someone could definitely hide in here.” Howes said. While I was busy thinking about how to approach this situation, Howes had already pulled the doors open and taken his first step inside.

“Okay then…” I sighed and followed him.

We were lead down a long flight of stairs into a pitch-black room. The light from the cellar door had provided for us up until now but once we reached the bottom it became impossible to see.

“It’s too dark, let’s go back.” My hopeful plea fell on deaf ears.

“I think I feel a door over here…”

I heard a loud groan as the decrepit wood protested Howes’ advance. I silently cheered for that door but in the end Howes won out. We entered a small rectangular room without lamps or candles of any kind. Despite this, the room was illuminated with a faint purple light.

“What in the world.” Howes breathed.

I wrinkled my nose, it was like opening a box full of spoiled food. You could taste the unpleasant stench of sorcery in the air.

“Sera, what is this!?” Howes pointed at the ground.

Glowing mauve lines curled around the room’s walls and floor to form several circles containing pentagons. Periodically, they would pulse faintly like the last few beats of a dying heart.

“This…” I took a deep breath and resigned myself. “This is where the barrier was created.”