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After selling off all the magic stones, the Loki Familia planned to push deeper, aiming to farm the middle and lower floors next.
It was already getting late, though, so they decided to stay the night on the Eighteenth Floor and take some time to rest.
"So where are we sleeping? Same as before, camping in the forest?" Tiona asked as she counted the money.
"We didn't bring any camping gear," Tione reminded her.
Finn chuckled. "Then let's stay at an inn in town for once."
"But Captain, staying in Rivira isn't cheap," Tione said, wincing a little.
After all, they were here to make money. Spending it freely on lodging felt painful.
"It's fine. This time, I'll cover it," Finn said, giving everyone a reassuring smile.
Then he turned to Alex. "What about you, Captain Alex?"
"I don't mind. If you're staying in town, I'll tag along," Alex said casually, waving a hand.
"That's awesome! Captain's so generous!" Tiona cheered.
Just then, Riveria suddenly stopped walking, her eyes sharpening as she scanned the surroundings.
"Riveria? What is it?" Aiz asked, puzzled.
She thought Riveria might have sensed a monster, but she herself felt nothing unusual.
"Something's off," Riveria said quietly. "The atmosphere in town isn't right."
"Now that you mention it, there do seem to be fewer people around," Lefiya added.
Before anyone else could speak, the door of a distant inn swung open.
A one-eyed man wearing an eyepatch stepped out, his face twisted in irritation. "Seriously, who could put up with this?"
"Borus!" Finn called out. He clearly knew the man.
Borus looked over and froze in surprise. "The Loki Familia? Why are you here at a time like this?"
They walked over, and Finn asked, "What happened?"
Borus let out a heavy sigh. "There's been a murder."
Everyone stiffened, then followed him into the inn.
Inside one of the rooms lay a male corpse sprawled on the floor.
Worse still, the body was completely naked.
With women present, Alex casually picked up a bath towel and covered the corpse's private parts.
Several of the Loki Familia women shot him grateful looks.
To identify the dead man, Borus brought out a potion that revealed one's blessing.
Riveria frowned. "Defiling the dead like this is hardly praiseworthy."
"Is this really the time to worry about that?" Borus said as he pulled the cork and dripped a drop of the potion onto the corpse's back.
The blessing quickly appeared.
It was a tattoo of an elephant's face.
"You can read this, High Elf?" Borus asked Riveria.
Although the blessing had surfaced, it was written entirely in divine script, unreadable to most people.
Alex had learned sacred letters while studying smithing. He was far from fluent, but he could understand most of it.
Riveria stepped closer, glanced at the markings, and said, "A member of the Ganesha Familia. Name: Hashana Dorlia. Level 4."
Everyone's eyes widened.
Borus shouted, "No way! A Level 4 adventurer was killed without putting up a fight?"
He checked the body again, as if confirming something. "The killer was a woman."
A beastman beside him nodded. "And strong enough to kill a Level 4."
They exchanged a look, realization dawning, and then both turned their gazes toward the women of the Loki Familia.
To kill a Level 4, you would usually need to be Level 5 or 6.
There weren't many female adventurers in Orario at that level, but the Loki Familia had several.
And by coincidence, they had just arrived in Rivira.
That made them look very suspicious.
Seeing this, Lefiya gasped and hurriedly hid behind Aiz.
"All the pieces fit," Borus said, pointing at Finn and the others. "The killer must be one of you, pretending to be a newcomer to town, right?"
The beastman chimed in. "Exactly. Seduced him, then killed him when he let his guard down."
He pointed at Aiz. "Was it you?"
But Aiz's blank, innocent expression clearly didn't match.
Without waiting for her answer, they pointed at Lefiya. "Then you?"
That didn't make sense either. Lefiya was only Level 3, and a mage at that. There was no way she could kill a Level 4 in close combat.
So their fingers turned to Riveria. "Was it you?"
Still wrong. A high elf of her pride would never stoop to something like that.
Their gazes shifted again, landing on Tiona. "You, then?"
But after glancing at Tiona's flat chest, they sighed in disappointment. "No way it's you."
"Yeah, definitely not," the beastman agreed.
"Wow, that's brutal," Alex thought with a laugh. Tiona's one weak point was her chest, and they had hit it dead on.
"Where are you looking when you say that?" Tiona snapped angrily.
They ignored her, because their eyes had already been drawn to Tione.
There was no helping it. She was huge.
"She's very suspicious," Borus said dreamily.
"Yeah, with that size, she could lure in tons of men," the young beastman added, equally mesmerized.
That was the final straw.
Tione stomped the floor hard, her face twisting with fury. "My chastity belongs to my captain alone! Say another word of nonsense, and I'll crush the filthy thing between your legs!"
Borus and the beastman instantly clutched their groins, trembling in terror.
Finn rubbed his forehead helplessly. "Borus, you see now, right? These women aren't exactly the seducing type."
Borus nodded frantically, no longer daring to make wild accusations.
After that little episode, everyone from the Loki Familia joined in to help analyze the situation, trying to find the real killer.
Tione calmed down and asked Finn, "So what do you think the killer's motive was?"
"If it were just for money, they wouldn't have made such a mess," Finn said thoughtfully.
Alex went over to the victim's luggage and rummaged through it. "Judging from how thoroughly this was searched, it looks like the killer was looking for something specific."
"And didn't find it, so they destroyed the body out of frustration?" Borus asked uncertainly.
"If that's the case, then the killer is still in town," Finn said, frowning.
"Exactly," Alex agreed with a nod. "If there's something she was willing to kill for, she won't give up that easily."
Finn looked at him. "Captain Alex, want to help us catch the killer?"
Alex shook his head. "I'll pass. You guys handle it."
He didn't want to get involved in the main storyline. This was tied to the Evilus faction, and that was dangerous.
He himself wasn't afraid of them, but the other members of his familia were still weak.
Saeko Busujima and Miko Yotsuya were only Level 1. Sakura and Illya were still children.
Who knew what those lunatics might do?
Even the Astraea Familia of Ryu Lion, all Level 4 adventurers, had been wiped out by their schemes.
"Alright," Finn said, clearly disappointed.
He then had Borus notify everyone in Rivira, including all adventurers on the Eighteenth Floor, to gather together.
Alex left the inn and leapt up onto the crown of the massive tree at the center of town.
His eyes glowed as he scanned every corner of the Eighteenth Floor.
This was Clairvoyance, not the Servant skill from the Nasuverse, but a technique taught to him by Luo Hao.
It did exactly what the name implied. It let him see very far.
It wasn't like the absurdly powerful versions in the Nasuverse that could glimpse the past or future. That kind of ability was just ridiculous.
After a brief scan, Alex quickly found his target.
It was a man clad in full armor, but his Clairvoyance pierced straight through the disguise.
Beneath it was a woman, wearing a layer of male skin as a cover.
More importantly, she wasn't a normal human. Like a dungeon monster, she had a magic stone inside her body.
Responding to Borus's call, she had joined everyone else gathering in Rivira.
Standing on a platform, Borus addressed the crowd. "The killer is a woman capable of killing a Level 4. But if she used a woman's natural weapons, she might have ignored the level gap."
As he spoke, his excitement grew. "So all women need to be physically inspected. Strip, now!"
His words immediately drew cheers from the male adventurers.
The female adventurers, on the other hand, erupted in anger.
In an instant, the two sides were on the verge of clashing.
"Stop saying stupid things. We'll handle checking the women," Riveria said as she stepped forward.
If she hadn't intervened, the place would have descended into chaos.
Seeing that it was one of the Loki Familia's Nine Witches, the legendary elven royal, many female adventurers stopped resisting.
Some even blushed, their faces turning red with embarrassment.
"..."
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