Lune Aire had Nikolai Hilbert?
I couldn’t properly understand it even after hearing it directly. What does that mean?
Just last night, the three of us had talked about the coup. Moreover, these two who were closer to each other than I was wouldn’t suddenly kill one side.
However, the Logan pistol found at the sewage treatment plant just a moment ago was clearly the item I had given to Lune.
Then isn’t it almost like Lune Aire was also at the scene where Nikolai was killed yesterday?
I turned my head and looked at Captain Luna, who was being dragged out as if she was being pulled.
“What are you talking about! I didn’t…!! I didn’t do it!! Let go of this!”
She was resisting the military police officers who were forcibly dragging her away. I pushed aside the military policeman who was blocking my way and approached Lune.
“Lune.”
“Captain Enok Revendale!!”
“What…?”
“Captain Enok Revendale!! You know it too! We were drinking together at ‘Idor’ until yesterday!! I was completely drunk back then! How could I have killed him!?”
Lune Aire cried out loudly at me with tears streaming down her face.
“I didn’t kill him! You know it too! Captain! Captain, say something!!”
It was impossible to judge what kind of situation this was.
Why was Lune calling me captain, and why did the name of the bar we visited last year during the award ceremony for the Quernen War come up all of a sudden?
“Lune!!! Say it clearly!! Where did you put the pistol I gave you?!”
“Pistol…? I don’t know! I didn’t do anything!!”
My head went blank.
I wanted to continue questioning her, but I couldn’t even open my lips.
“It wasn’t me! I didn’t kill him! Captain! Please prove my innocence! Captain Enok!!”
“You’re completely crazy… First, let’s take this friend to the military police headquarters.”
Major Kamalov clicked his tongue and said, causing the remaining military police officers who were waiting to rush over and tightly hold onto Lune’s body.
“Ack!!”
Luna was pinned to the ground and bound. Even though I saw this, I couldn’t do anything.
“Captain!! Captain!! We drank together at Idor yesterday! Why can’t you remember?!”
Lune looked at me with pitiful eyes.
“Restrain her!”
“Okay.”
“Ahh!!”
From the Partzuts side!!
A purple magic activated by one of the military police officers paralyzed Lune’s nerves. Her body fell limp as she fainted.
“She is a soldier, and an accomplice at that. She is a suspect in a heinous first-degree murder committed against a fellow soldier. We need to handle this firmly.”
Following Major Kamalov’s orders, the other military police officers roughly lifted the unconscious woman and stood her up.
They tied her arms behind her back and threw her into the military police carriage like baggage.
Pak! Luna, who was bound, rolled around inside the carriage.
After the soldiers got on board, the escort carriage began to slowly move toward the military police headquarters.
Everything happened so quickly that I was still in a daze.
But it seemed Major Kamalov had no intention of leaving me alone.
“Enok Revendale, Major, you should come along too. There are many things I want to ask you.”
“So you all returned to your respective accommodations around 18:00.”
“Yes, this can be guaranteed by my companion, Captain Bella Meyer. We also ate at the same restaurant.”
“The alibi is solid. There’s no motive or suspicion either.”
Major Kamalov tapped the desk with his pen and closed the file that was spread out.
“The investigation is over. If further evidence comes to light, we may call you again, but for now, it’s exonerated.”
In response to the Military Police Special Unit Commander’s words, I nodded instead of answering. I still couldn’t believe it.
Nikolai was dead.
It was hard to believe that the most likely suspect was Lune.
“… Did you say you’re a smoker?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s smoke one together. Come outside.”
I followed him outside the interrogation room. The only lighting was flickering candles in the underground corridor.
Passing through there, an exit door leading outside appeared. It seemed to be a back door connected to the detention center.
Even though I had been there for only a few minutes for the investigation, my eyes were dazzled by the shallow sunlight.
“Here.”
“Thank you.”
I took the cigarette offered by Major Kamalov and lit it with a snap of my fingers. Soon, a pungent smoke filled my throat.
“The interrogation of Captain Lune Aire will probably be handled by the investigative bureau.”
“…”
“Surprised?”
“Yes.”
There was nothing else I could say.
The death of Nikolai and the arrest of Lune Aire. All of this happened in just one night.
“Seems like you don’t know why Captain Lune Aire changed so much. Was it really just a simple social gathering yesterday?”
“This was just a reunion before the celebration event for the birth anniversary of His Highness Prince Orlando Rus III.”
“Is that all?”
His sharp voice pierced through me. I looked at Major Kamalov. The cigarette in his mouth was burning red.
“What’s your intention in saying that?”
“There’s no need to react so aggressively. I’m investigating it too.”
“What do you mean…”
Military Police Special Unit Major Kamalov slightly turned his head to check if someone was watching and then continued.
“I’m talking about the traitors to the Capital Defense Division and the National Guard.”
“…”
I dropped the cigarette from my mouth. The ember of the cigarette, which had become wet overnight, quickly faded away in the damp soil.
“Wasn’t Captain Lune Aire’s state abnormal yesterday too?”
“No.”
“Then we agree. Even though this is a case of a current soldier being murdered, there’s a reason I separated you from the important witness.”
My throat felt parched.
But now, no one could be trusted rashly. I waited calmly for Major Kamalov’s next words.
“You already know that we have been investigating the counter-revolutionary forces ourselves… more accurately, the coup plotters, right?”
“Yes.”
“And during that process, you also heard that there are suspicions of a coup against Minister Alberto, correct?”
“Yes.”
“You seem to know quite a lot. It seems Lieutenant Colonel Lannister trusts you a great deal.”
Lieutenant Colonel Lannister had connections with Major Kamalov.
Indeed, the Military Police Special Unit would be perfectly suited to quickly suppress the coup plotters.
“As you know, Minister Alberto plans to gather key personnel and initiate a coup after the celebration banquet for His Highness Prince Orlando Rus III ends in a week.”
He threw away the nearly burned-out cigarette and stepped on it with his boot, then continued speaking.
“The core of the coup plotters is the Eastern Corps. It seems they might involve the Corps Commander. And coincidentally, the division Nikolai Hilbert belonged to was the…”
“Eastern Corps…”
“That’s right. Doesn’t it make sense? It’s a matter of cutting off the head. It seems Captain Lune Aire inadvertently fell into their scheme.”
Lune’s state was clearly abnormal. She seemed to have lost her mind.
But among the magic I knew, none could eat away at the user’s mind like that.
Except for organizations like the Strigoi Command.
Only then did it feel like pieces of a puzzle were fitting together in my mind.
Before Nikolai Hilbert was killed, he had completed decoding the encrypted message sent to Lune Aire.
Although I didn’t know the content, Nikolai had changed his mind to meet Lune Aire instead of delivering it tomorrow.
During that process, he was attacked by someone.
Probably by illegal groups like the Strigoi that had infiltrated the capital.
Though how they controlled Lune Aire’s mind was still a mystery, she fired the Logan pistol at Nikolai Hilbert.
There was a possibility that Lune Aire was a traitor.
Her reaction just now kept bothering me.
If she were truly a traitor, she wouldn’t have tried so hard to prove her innocence.
And why would she get arrested by the military police while still in her own room?
“Did you hear anything special from the Magic Brigade, perhaps from Colonel Harpenruke Helheim?”
“Colonel Harpenruke is currently at the National Guard Headquarters. Is there something you’re concerned about?”
“Well, that’s…”
I hesitated to mention the cipher text Lune Aire brought.
Come to think of it, something was strange.
Why Lune Aire specifically?
Harpenruke must know something. My intuition told me so. And Lune Aire’s behavior had been suspicious in several ways when I thought about it.
Calling me captain and mentioning the bar they went to after last year’s celebration.
Lune might have been trying to give me a hint somehow.
I extended my words naturally to avoid Major Kamalov noticing.
“I was wondering if there were any signs from Captain Lune Aire. If it was really the work of the coup plotters, wouldn’t it be too conspicuous?”
“Maybe they were warning her. Not to do anything foolish.”
Major Kamalov said in a calm voice.
“For now… it’s complicated. People who shared sorrows with me yesterday became like this overnight.”
“It must be confusing. I understand.”
“My companion, Captain Bella, must be in shock too. For now, it’s best to go back and calm her down a bit.”
“If there’s any progress in the investigation, I’ll inform Lieutenant Colonel Lannister immediately.”
“Thank you.”
I bowed respectfully to Major Kamalov, the commander of the Military Police Special Unit, and left the National Guard headquarters.
No matter how I think about it, it’s too suspicious.
Lieutenant Colonel Lannister.
Major Kamalov.
Colonel Harpenruke.
And Nikolai and Captain Lune Aire.
Thinking that acting hastily in this chaotic situation would surely lead to regret.
“Then… I should go to the place Captain Lune Aire mentioned.”
Especially since she specifically mentioned ‘Idor,’ the bar.
“They might be ahead of us.”
I moved quickly before the case became even more complicated.
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