From the second day, the atmosphere in the castle began to become tense.
After breakfast in the restaurant, everyone entered the magician's standard state - mysticism. Everyone tried to stay alone as much as possible, not communicating with the outside world, and even asked the servants in the castle to deliver meals to the room.
This morning meal also became the last meal that everyone attended together. It was the prelude to the battle for Grivin's legacy, and also a signal and farewell between the magicians.
If there were any exceptions, it would probably be Shinji and Gray, two young men who had no intention of solving the mystery from the beginning. However, since everyone else maintained their mysticism, the two were also isolated.
The boy and girl didn't care about it. Gray was wearing a hood all day long, with her face hidden. It was obvious that she was not good at interacting with people. The more people there were, the more uncomfortable she felt. Shinji knew there was something fishy going on, so he took the time to teach Gray a lesson. He didn't ask her to help, but at least she wouldn't hold him back in battle.
Soon, the incident happened.
Someone died.
Late at night, before dawn, in the center of the hall, where the stairwell is.
There is a huge statue of an angel holding a sword and a scale. Among the many angels, it is a symbol that belongs exclusively to Michael - the scales judge the sins of the dead, and the sword repels Satan.
But this time, Michael's sword pierced not Satan, but a woman.
The furisode kimono from the Far East hung on the angel statue, making it even more mysterious. Even if the angel's sword was stained with blood, it would not diminish its beauty. Even if the blood began to coagulate and turned black, the fact that the woman pierced was so moving would not change.
Kanono Hisiri!!!
All the invited magicians recognized the identity of the deceased.
"... Ugh!"
Gray covered her mouth involuntarily. As a gravekeeper, she had seen corpses before, but the corpse in front of her was a little different.
Her eyes, those beautiful eyes like black pearls, were cruelly dug out.
"I'll go put her down." Heine gently stretched out his hand toward the statue.
No one objected. Magicians were used to death and knew how to deal with it, except for Rosalind, who was still a child.
Heine stretched out a hair-thin wire from his hand and instantly cut off the statue's sword. The young man gently caught Hisiri's body. Not caring about his suit getting dirty, he carefully placed the body on the floor, hesitated for a moment, and lifted the kimono wrapped around the body.
"Excuse me."
Still no one spoke. While Heine was performing the autopsy, the magicians were also confirming the cause of the woman's death in their own ways.
The eyes were violently gouged out by a large claw-like weapon, and a large area of the back was also peeled off. It was speculated that it was the magic mark of the deceased. Normally, as long as the magic mark is still there, the magician will not die easily, and can survive for a while even if he is fatally injured.
There is a letter in the sleeve of the kimono, which contains the same invitation as the other invitees. The only difference is the name of the invitee and the corresponding "angel name".
Someone involuntarily recited the last words heard yesterday.
"—Ask the name of the angel."
"Those who cannot answer the question will be stripped by the angels."
Angel name.
Stripping.
I thought this sentence itself was a mystery, but I didn't expect it to have such a simple and crude literal meaning.
The pattern of stripping was later deduced by magicians and was related to each person's "angel name".
The name of the angel in "Stripping Castle" follows the Kabbalah system, which is one of the foundations of magic. Kanono Hishiri's "Angel Name" is Hachasiah, an angel with Aries as its ruling house.
Aries is the first sign of the zodiac. According to the theory that the macrocosm corresponds to the microcosm of the human body, the part that is protected is the head, and Hachasiah protects the eyeballs.
Aries first house, Hachasiah removes the eyeballs.
An invitation letter is not only an invitation letter, but also a death notice, predicting how you will die.
So who's next? Taurus? Or another Aries? After all, there are 72 angels in the Kabbalah system, so where is the part to be stripped
silence.
A strange atmosphere filled the air. There was no fear, no sadness, only distrust of the surroundings and equal joy.
Gray, who possesses super psychic qualities, captured these emotions, but she did not understand them. After returning to the room, she asked about her doubts.
"That's actually pretty easy to understand."
Shinji answered while making some kind of preparation.
"Hishori Kanono is the only one among the people gathered in the Peeling Castle who knows the secret of Ashburn and has no need to obtain it. He is also a symbol of the rules."
"Her death means two things. First, there are indeed very precious treasures here, otherwise no one would dare to risk being hunted down by the Law and Politics Department to kill Kanono Hishiri. Second, once Kanono Hishiri dies, the rules that were implemented with the deterrent power of the Law and Politics Department will be gone, and what will follow is the reality of the magic world that I told you the day before yesterday - the law of the jungle."
Gray recalled the various voices she had heard not long ago and the various emotions revealed in the voices.
conceited.
hostility.
curious.
greedy.
All kinds of emotions intertwined, like a gathering of demons laughing loudly on a stormy night.
At this moment, Gray finally understood that this was not just a simple mystery-solving and treasure-hunting, but something deeper. The mystery was no longer something to be solved, but a kind of bait, an ominous shadow.
"Instructor, what should we do?"
"Everyone is ready to make a move, so we can't just sit there. Take this, take the topographic map I drew, and keep an eye on one person."
"who."
"Heine Istari."
"Mr. Heine?"
There was obvious hesitation on Gray's face, and it was obvious that he had a very good impression of Heine.
"The instructor thinks he is the murderer of Miss Huaye? Because he was the first to find the body."
"No, on the contrary, I think he could be the next victim."
"Ehhhhhhhh!!!"
"Some primary school student who never grows up told us that the first person to discover a body is often not the murderer - ahem, sorry, I forgot you are not that otaku Weber who doesn't read comics. Seriously, on the night the body was found, the 'eyes' I set up told me that Heine had left the room very early and had not returned until the body was found. If he was the murderer, there was no need to risk arousing suspicion by discovering the body first. If he was not, then he might have discovered something, and it would be reasonable for him to be silenced by the real murderer - Miss Rosalind was only eight years old, how could she bear the blow of losing her brother."
"Wow, I didn't realize you had this kind of fetish."
Yad's unpleasant voice rang out.