(Warning: Mentions of Suicide)
(Lunan)
I ran a tired hand through my hair, moving strands from my face.
This is a strange situation.
A dimly lit room, with tall drawers along each wall, and a sheet of paper next to my elbow that rested on the wooden table in front of me.
There were no windows.
I was suddenly taken off punishment to solve this case.
My colleague has died... how troublesome.
The body was gruesome. Even thinking back at it now, I have trouble holding in my retch.
The skin on his hand looked almost soft and mushy, green in color. Looking closely, you could see small worms and maggots wriggling and crawling inside his skin, claiming it as their home.
The killing blow appeared to be a shot from the forehead. A modified AHMC 1 bullet hole. The wound festered, so the strike must've not made it all the way through the head.
An autopsy hasn't been done, so there is likely more that can be understood.
But why me? I've never done any sort of investigation. The king isn't as wicked as to make me do such a thing. So which higher-up is always burdening me!?
Without realizing it, a heavy sigh escaped my lips. I held my head in my hands.
"This is far too much stress for me."
My thoughts escaped.
I started off by observing the sheet of paper that rested near my elbow. Conveniently, the paper contained exit logs. I traced names with my fingers, trying to find Pirvezon Felbinon.
While tracing, I noticed my name appear.
"So they logged me leaving... yet I still got in trouble?" I grumbled.
I flipped through one paper. Then another. It wasn't until the third paper that I noticed the name Pirvezon Felbinon.
"Two weeks ago... he left on a hostage recovery mission with 5 men to accompany him. 5 men... where the hell are the 5 men logged at?- Oh, it says it right here."
4 men did indeed go with him to the hostage recovery mission. However, only one of them is an archer. So... I have a lead! I'll find that archer, question them, and hopefully get a confession out of them.
Seriously... this is such a hassle.
. . .
. .
"Frank Aeur is dead."
The strange words entered my ears, escaping out of my mouth and sounding all the more unfamiliar, as I had felt like if I said it myself it would have made more sense.
"Frank Aeur... is dead?"
"He died in battle. I believe it was a week ago, or two."
The soldier that he was asking relayed the information as if it was common knowledge, lacking any emotion in his words. After giving me the information, he turned around, joining in with his mates.
Dead.
That... that really complicates things. If that man is dead, then I'll just have to ask about the others.
.
"Ian... he died a week ago. Said he had somewhere to go and never came back. His body washed up ashore, I heard."
Another soldier said, his face one of sorrow, and a little bit of fear.
Again?
I went on to the next.
"Victor? Jeez... I saw his corpse myself. Hung himself on a tree branch. In the midnight, with only the moon casting an eerie silhouette... I thought it was a monster of some sort."
This soldier spoke with a shaky voice, placing his right hand on top of his head, and pacing back and forth.
No. This... what is this?
The next.
"Ah... Eugene... blew his brains out with an AHMC. I swear I can still see the blood smears on the barrack walls, etched into the wood. Maybe it's just my imagination."
As he spoke, the old man's wrist had begun to shake, as he recalled his memories of the traumatic experience. No matter who I talked to about those 4 soldiers, I would get the same result.
What?
What the fuck is going on here?
They all killed themselves?
All these deaths... in the book, were they labeled as suicides or murders? I have to check.
So many questions... my head is starting to hurt.
But... why did they kill themself?
I didn't know Pirvezon for a long time, but I did know he had a family back in Anore. A family that he wouldn't abandon. To add to that, he added to the war effort as much as anybody else did.
My hands were starting to shake. I was feeling an overwhelming sense of fear. One that held onto me tightly, not wanting to let go.
I can't wrap my head around it.
All these men killed themselves... at relatively close times. All of them are connected by the hostage recovery mission.
Now that I think about it... Their coming back was never logged. Yet all these people talked about how they saw them.
But them leaving was.
Frank, Ian, Victor, and Eugene all returned and killed themselves openly. Pirvezon is the only person who was killed by an outside force. If it was a suicide, he wouldn't have been buried in the soil.
Wait.
It can't be...
I scrambled through papers. Specifically, the papers that recorded deaths.
It was just as I anticipated.
"I thought that the only enemy we would be facing was Sar. But I was wrong. There's... someone tampering with the papers here. Someone who wishes to hide a malicious secret."
I concluded.
"And... I'll find that secret out. I'll find out who's tampering with the papers. I'll find out everything!"