Chapter 199. The Frozen Land (1)
I couldn’t get in touch with Holmes.
What happened?
No matter how many times I tried to connect a call or send a message, there was no response.
At first, I thought he might have stepped away for a while.
But even when I tried again several hours later, nothing had changed.
He said he would usually be at his throne.
Of course, I had also been away from my own throne for days at a time.
Holmes could have had something else to do too.
Still, the fact that contact had suddenly been cut off like this bothered me.
Should I ask the Count or someone else in the Committee?
As I was considering it, the Observer chimed with a message notification.
Could it be Holmes?
But the sender wasn’t Holmes.
It was Odysseus, whom I had met at the Committee.
[Sender: Wise Returner]
[Subject: Greetings]
[Message:
This is Odysseus. We met the other day.
I don’t know whether you enjoyed the gathering, but I hope we see each other often from now on.
The reason I’m messaging you is because I wanted to ask something...
Have you met Holmes separately since then?
We were supposed to meet today, but he never showed up. He isn’t answering my calls either.
I’ve asked the others as well, but nobody seems to know anything.
Please contact me if you know something.]
After reading the message, I fell into thought.
Did something happen to Holmes?
If even Odysseus was worried, then something was definitely strange.
I need to check.
I immediately decided to head for Holmes’s throne.
For a moment, I wondered if I had made a mistake.
I was certain that I had moved to the throne of the S-rank Constellation ‘Consulting Detective of Truth,’ Holmes.
And yet...
there was nothing in front of me.
Only empty space.
“What the hell...?”
I hadn’t come to the wrong place.
Holmes had given me these coordinates himself.
I had visited his throne at these exact coordinates before.
But now...
there was nothing here.
“What happened?”
There were two possibilities.
Either Holmes hid himself for some reason...
I had never heard of such a thing, but perhaps there were Constellation Skills that allowed someone to conceal or move their throne.
Maybe an Apostle could provide some kind of service like that as well.
Or Holmes has already perished.
Holmes hadn’t seemed short enough on Origin Power to go bankrupt.
If so...
someone must have attacked him.
Who?
The first person who came to mind was Merlin.
Perhaps Merlin had realized that Holmes and I were following his trail and eliminated Holmes first.
Of course, it could also have been the work of a Constellation completely unrelated to Merlin.
If this has something to do with me...
Then I could be the next target.
Holmes may not have been a combat-type Constellation, but he was still S-rank.
Someone had managed to kill him without anyone noticing.
If I wasn’t careful, I could be in danger too.
I need to strengthen my defenses.
I bit my lip.
"...?"
Then something caught my eye.
A stain...? No.
There was something on the floor.
More precisely...
Some kind of scorched mark?
I knelt down and examined it carefully.
Only after bringing my face close did I realize it was a letter.
M...?
The letter M had been written on the floor.
No way...
One word appeared in my mind.
A dying message?
The final words left behind by a murder victim as they died.
The sort of thing that appeared all the time in detective novels.
Had Holmes left one?
Could it be the killer’s name?
Which Constellations did I know whose names started with M?
Merlin starts with M.
Holmes might have written M to indicate Merlin as the culprit.
But it could have been another Constellation, so I went through the names I knew.
Mordred... probably not.
There were fewer names beginning with M than I expected.
Wait.
Someone came to mind.
Monte Cristo... also starts with M.
Come to think of it, the Count of Monte Cristo was an unusual man.
He had been the first Constellation I ever met.
He had suddenly appeared at my throne, become my sponsor, and helped me establish myself as a Constellation.
He introduced me to several other Constellations and had provided decisive help more than once.
But while he would show up at my throne whenever he pleased...
he had never told me the coordinates of his own.
There were also times when he vanished completely, making me wonder whether he had lost interest in me.
Had he really been involved with me purely because he found me entertaining?
If the Count killed Holmes... why?
There was a good chance the Count had realized that Holmes and I had met privately.
Maybe he killed Holmes to prevent the two of us from working together.
To stop me from obtaining information through Holmes?
This time, meeting Holmes had given me clues to several major mysteries.
If I continued interacting with him, I might have been able to solve many questions far more easily.
But if the Count was hiding something from me...
then he wouldn’t want me continuing to work with Holmes.
He killed Holmes instead of me because he still needs to use me?
Of course, all of that assumed the Count was hiding something and using me.
If he wasn’t, then the entire theory was meaningless.
I need to investigate the Count.
I finally made up my mind.
The operation to eliminate Pandemonium’s forces in North Korea was already being prepared in the Material Realm.
I probably wouldn’t have much to do with that personally, so I could leave it alone for a while.
Jason and Mordred could handle strategy.
Number 49 and Daji could take care of the broadcast.
Who should I ask if I want information about the Count?
Wen Zhong had already told me almost everything he knew.
Arjuna belonged to the same Committee as the Count, which made things awkward.
Hector and King Arthur weren’t particularly close to me in the first place.
Come to think of it... the Count was also the one who introduced me to Princess Longji.
Princess Longji was close to me.
And she was someone I trusted.
I should start by asking her.
And another Constellation who might have a lot of information...
Yang Jian came to mind.
Among the Constellations close to me, Yang Jian had once built the largest organization.
He was the sort who gathered intelligence and devised operations, much like I did.
There was a chance he knew something.
And since I had leverage over him, I could use him without much hesitation.
I should meet both of them.
With that thought, I manipulated the Observer.
“Welcome, Nameless King.”
When I arrived at Yang Jian’s throne, he greeted me politely.
A puppy resembling the Howling Celestial Hound also came over excitedly.
“Thanks for making time.”
“Not at all.”
“It is an honor that you would use my throne as a meeting place.”
I couldn’t tell whether he meant it sincerely, but Yang Jian smiled.
“Who else will be joining us today?”
"..."
I hesitated for a moment.
“Is something wrong?”
“Well...”
While I was hesitating, the other participant arrived.
“Hello.”
