灰色オオカミ「Grey Wolf」

Phase 3.5

Third Person POV

"Why?! Tell me why! We were just taking a walk! But now...!" Dan yelled at the Elder while holding onto Nat who was already gone. "Villagers don't normally venture near the forest. That's why Elder Robert mistook him for a wolf..." Ambrose tried to reason, covering up for Elder Robert. "I shot a wolf. I'm certain it wasn't this man!" The Elder said. "Don't give me that crap!" Dan yelled. "Dan!" "Bring Nat back to me! Nat! Give me Nat!" Dan cried out loud as he hugged his friend. 

Jimin's POV

In just one day, there were already two dead people. "The village elder insists that he didn't do it" I said out loud. "And what do you think?" Yoongi asked Ambrose. Me, Yoongi and Ambrose stood on the bridge near the entrance of the village as we tried to figure out. "If he insists he didn't do it, he'll have to prove it. Even if he is Elder Robert, the dispenser of justice in this village." Ambrose paused for a while "Bang Sihyuk" "Isn't he the one who brought electricity to the village?" I asked. "Yes. Back when I was a boy... He only stayed here a short time, but he taught me many things about life outside the village. I love this village. But thanks to him, I became interested in the outside world. However..." Ambrose stopped again. "However, at the same time, you began to sense the Chaos swirling throughout the village. I grasp the pieces that form the cause of that. And I don't mind putting it into words for you. It's the proof you mentioned." Yoongi said.

Yoongi's POV

"The church is empty at this hour. Now is the only time when the ancestral spirits can pass through. No doubt, the culprit is going to use this time to steal." We went to the church and sat behind the hairs to be hidden. This is going to be the proof. "But there's nothing worth stealing in this village." Ambrose told me. "On one side, humans seek out new stimuli with insatiable desire. On the other, they're also odd creatures that value old and very rare things." I explained to them.

"Then the perpetrator is…" I put my hand on Jimin's mouth to shut him up. "...here, it seems." Just when I finished talking, we heard the church door open. The culprit walked towards the alter (A/N Sorry if I am wrong… I had to Google what it was called). "He's the one?" "That's right. The real murderer..." I said as I watched the culprit taking a vase form the alter. Just then, someone opened the door. "You're under arrest...Dan Banks!" "W-Why is Inspector Kim here?!" Jimin asked. Namjoon stood outside with a crowd of angry looking villagers. "This jar is mine! There's no way I'm handing it over to bumpkins who don't know its value!" Dan said as he ran away with the vase but Namjoon was faster. He ran towards Dan and jumped on him and put cuffs on Dan's hands.

"They were thieves. They pretended that throwing the jar into holy water was drunken mischief, but they were really confirming its authenticity. A mere gold-plated fake would float in the water." I explained to everyone. "And the murders were due to a quarrel amongst themselves?" Ambrose questioned. "That's about right." "B-But right before the incident, Alan was pelted with hazelnuts in the plaza." Jimin said. "That was Dan in disguise. After the fight with Harminia, Dan beat Alan until he was unconscious, wrapped him in paper-mache, and switched him with the dummy." I told him.

"Where's your proof?!" Dan asked me. I held up the hazelnut I had found near him earlier in the woods. "Right here. This is what you dropped on the floor a few moments ago, when you were detained. And it was also on the ground in the forest, next to Nat's body. You planned ahead of time. You shot Nat in the forest. You knew the sound would be mistaken for festival drums or a fired blank. And then you used the wolves' howling to frame Robert for the murder. When the wolves howl, the people of this village shoot. He remembered that particular custom from when you showed it to us, right after we arrived. You didn't kill Nat. This is your proof." I explained to everyone, including Robert.

"I never imagined I would be saved by Eunsong's son. Take him away!" Robert ordered Ambrose to take Dan away. "Yes, sir!" "H-Hold on there! Where are you taking the prisoner?!" Namjoon asked Robert. "This man will be judged by this land." Robert told him. "What?! This village is within the kingdom of Crete. There's going to be trouble if you disobey the laws of Crete and its police!" Namjoon told Robert. "You say this is Crete? This is no village. It's a country. This is the Kingdom of Minoan." Robert said. "Minoan..." "I'm not the village elder, but the king. And the king's word is absolute. Do you understand?" Robert made it clear not to mess with their rules.

Jimin's POV

"What's with these people? Honestly!" Namjoon mumbled as we sat at the dinner table back at the house. "The same thing could be said about you. Why are you in this village, Inspector Kim?" I asked Namjoon. "Jimin, didn't you think it through? About why Namjoon would let a criminal go, when an arrest would have brought him more glory?" Yoongi asked me. "Criminal?" just then Anna came into the room. "I drank too much..." she always drinks too much. "Are we done here, Inspector?" she asked Namjoon.

"She was talking on the phone to someone. And that someone was Namjoon." "EHHH??" "Oh, this bloke here caught me cheating at poker. He said he'd let me off the hook if I agreed to work for him." Anna told us. "What do you mean by "bloke"?!" Namjoon whined.  "What kind of work?" I asked Anna "Following me about, keeping an eye on me, and then reporting to Namjoon. That’s her job." Yoongi said.
"But more importantly... Ambrose, now it's your turn to help vindicate someone's innocence." Yoongi said. "M-Me?!" Ambrose looked surprised. "And Jimin, you've got an important role to play." "M-Me?!" "That's right. We're going to turn the clock back 20 years...and prove that Min Eunsong was innocent." Yoongi told us.

Third Person POV

Later that night, the whole village, or should I say kingdom, gathered in front of the church to finish the festival. Villagers came out dressed as a criminal while others dressed like the people who caught and punished them. In the crowd of people, Harminia was there too. The criminal stopped in front of her and whispered something to her and said "I found you. You're the girl who murdered me." "Elder Theodore... No... No!" "Harminia..." "No!" "Go back..." "Please, go back to the afterworld where you belong!" "Do you admit your crime, Harminia?" "I admit it! I... I killed you!" Harminia said it out loud and clear for everyone to hear.

"Indeed, you were absolutely right... Yoongi!" Harminia took of the the mask of the criminal to reveal Jimin. "H-How... Those words came from your mouth! From the afterworld! That's why I thought you were an ancestor spirit... Elder Theodore himself!" Harminia said. "Th-Those lines were...Jugemu-jugemu Gokonosurikire Kaijarisuigyo-no— Er, in my hometown, those are traditional...magic words, I suppose?" Harminia collapsed in shock. "Don't tell me you...?!" The Elder questioned.  "I-I don't believe it! Harminia is a bit odd, but she's a kind person... She's no criminal..." Ambrose said.

"The pigeon flew away." Yoongi cut in. "Pigeon?" "She and I had a conversation in the study, where the murder took place 20 years ago. At that moment, outside the window, a white pigeon took flight. When I saw that, the wellspring of wisdom spoke to me. This Chaos has the same structure as that of the Dresden Plate theft at the flea market. There, the movement of the pigeons was used to restrict everyone's line of sight. In the crime of 20 years ago, gold coins were used instead. On that fateful night, you lay quietly in wait for Theodore, hidden inside the grandfather clock. That was the place where the gold coins, not used in this village, were hidden.

When Theodore walked by, you swung open the clock. The impact of that sent gold coins and their vivid afterimage raining down on Theodore's head. With his eyes instantly locked on the coins, Theodore's movements were limited. Her body weight was enough to plunge the dagger to its hilt into his back. After Harminia murdered Theodore, she locked the door, and hid again inside the grandfather clock. Until someone would discover the body and be blamed for the crime. And that poor, unlucky person...was my mother, Eunsong." Yoongi explained.