Polymath Redux

Chapter 42: The idiot's guide to political misinformation

"Geez! How many times do I have to say it?! We don't even know who this 'Lazzaro Zeder' even is! Why would Tau go through all that effort to kill someone he's never met before?!"

The cramped interrogation room was flooded with the loud voice of a young maiden. Her name was Alice and her childhood friend Tau had been taken in as the prime suspect for the murder of a top official of this country. It was a situation beyond Alice's comprehension, yet she still felt it was her job to prove his innocence. Unfortunately this task had proven much more difficult that initially thought as the ones who kept her childhood friend detained were adamant on the point that he was indeed the culprit.

"Stop messing around! There can be no one else except him!"

The man in charge of the interrogation of the young maiden slammed his fists upon the table with enough force to cause a crack. This man was the Supreme Commander of the Royal Knight Commission, Vladimir Zandora. After the Catastrophe of Fire he had thought to retire from his post yet amidst such thoughts this annoying situation had risen, preventing him from doing so. Thusly he grew exceedingly frustrated at this nonsensical issue. He knew that the girl was telling the truth; having checked her records she and the prime suspect were confirmed to only have recently entered the city for the first time.

As she had said, they had no motive to kill the Grand Cardinal. With his wrath clearly conveyed the girl who had shown such vigor before had become meek. They had been going around in circles with no clear result turning up and both of them were at their wit's end. He checked the papers and went over the case once more but no matter how many times he read over it there was only one real conclusion. That it could only have been Tau who was responsible for the murder.

It couldn't have been anyone else and that was because of the special properties exerted by the murder weapon. The murder weapon was the Sacred Sword and the only one who was able to wield it was the Chosen Hero, Tau. It was because of this very specific reason that the Commander was adamant to plant Tau as the culprit and be done with it.

"Listen carefully now. The Grand Cardinal, Lazzaro Zeder was murdered using the Sacred Sword. That sword can only be wielded by the chosen hero, meaning your friend, there is no other conclusion."

"Like I've been telling you! After Tau pulled out the sword there was this large explosion that knocked us all out and when we came to we were back at the village chief's residence!"

Alice answered back with confidence. Even to Commander Vladimir there was nothing wrong with what she was saying; onlookers have confirmed something akin to an explosion taking place at the time and place she had specified. Yet that was exactly the problem, that there was nothing wrong her words and her words were saying that Tau was innocent.

The most suspicious part was that they were knocked unconscious yet were taken back to the village chief's residence. How? Commander Vladimir did not doubt her words because the truth was that the explosion did indeed take place and that it wasn't just them but some people nearby were also knocked unconscious. Just having a quick glance at the girl he could tell that she was no experienced warrior thus meaning that she couldn't have resisted the explosion.

She was unconscious and so was the 'chosen hero', Tau. Then who was it that took them back to their lodging? According to the girl she was unconscious thus she didn't know and it could be that this may be the deciding factor to solving the case. Having asked the prime suspect beforehand, he had also told a similar story even without consulting each other so they were most likely telling the truth.

Both Commander Vladimir and Alice had been stuck in the room for over three hours and it was evident that they wouldn't get any more information from just locking themselves in.