The circumstantial evidence all lines up!!

Karina-chan here! Right now, I'm searching for the culprit who tried to blow up the dungeon core!

The most suspicious person is—me! But looking at it objectively, it's nothing but convincing!!

• Can sneak to the back of the dungeon. There's even a new route, and I could ignore the door guard.

• No problem with the barrier in front of the core either. Could've staged that myself.

• Also seems knowledgeable about magic tools. I casually pulled out communication tools and everything.

• Trying to hide my appearance to cover things up.

• Have a prior offense of mass-harvesting treant lumber.

All the circumstantial evidence lines up!! Lines up way too well!!

It's not me, I swear!!

 

 

"H-hey Karina! So it was your doing all along!?"

"… I-I am not the culprit! Also, I'm not Karina—I'm Healer."

"Whatever! I believe in you! It wasn't you, right!?"

"Wait, Silver. I don't believe Healer is the culprit. A suspect, yes."

Oh, really?

"Don't scare me like that… So why do you think that? Now that you mention it, even I'm starting to think I look the most suspicious."

"When someone's this suspicious, they're actually not suspicious. She's been cooperative, and after observing her behavior, I've chosen to believe her. Mashiro seems to believe in her too."

Is that really enough? But probing further would just stir up trouble, so I let it go.

"And if it isn't Healer, the next most suspicious would be Silver, who can solo the dungeon boss, but—"

"Ha!? It ain't me! I couldn't do something that complicated!"

"—Indeed. I thought so. I believe in you too, so I think it's someone else."

Mashiro hurriedly defends herself. Yeah, I agree with that reasoning.

"Well, if that's the case then fine. So who's the culprit?"

"I don't know, but… if the culprit learns the bomb was disarmed, they might come to plant another. So I'd like to secretly request you two to guard the core."

Hmm. Is that okay though? We're the first and second suspects. If we're working together, the dungeon core's gonna collapse.

"Of course, the guild will provide compensation."

"You don't need to send anyone to watch us?"

"Ah, that's also… hmm, but no, it should be fine. We can't spare the extra manpower. At least you two reported the bomb. You're not both culprits, are you?"

"… Well, if we were the culprits, we wouldn't have said anything about the bomb."

"Exactly. That's what I wanted to say. Yes."

Garuon nodded as if that was his point all along.

Is this guild master gonna be okay…

"Got it. So we just need to watch the core area and see if anyone comes?"

"Right. When you two take up the watch, I'll make a big announcement about the bomb. There should be some kind of movement after that."

"… I see. What if the culprit runs?"

"That's fine too—if whoever planted the bomb leaves, then so be it."

"If the Empire's behind this, they'll probably try again anyway. We just need to reinforce the core's defenses separately. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say your job is to guard the core in the meantime."

He said he'd figure something out by around the new moon.

I wonder if that's really true.

"Well, anyway, it's a request. Let's take it, Karina—I mean, Healer."

"Indeed. Let's do it."

"Alright, then show me your guild cards. I'll issue a designated request."

Oh. What do I do about the card? I only have Karina-chan's cute little E-rank adventurer card. I can't borrow Dea-kun's either…

"… I need to register as an adventurer."

"You don't have an adventurer card? … Then how did you enter the dungeon?"

"Yesterday I was using my friend Karina's appearance, name, and ID… Here, Garuon-dono. My identification."

"… Ah, this should be fine. Alright, I'll issue one."

And so, using the universal ID, I successfully obtained a new adventurer guild card for newbie adventurer Healer.

Karina-chan's junior, an F-rank adventurer.

"Hey Karina. That ID felt kinda weird."

"… Please don't look too closely, Mashiro-dono. I don't want to show my true identity."

Looking too closely might mess with your head, after all.