Family heirloom, then turned into a demon girl

Chapter 317 Mission: 05-2 The Real Murderer

After laughing, Izayoi's expression became serious again.

"But my reasoning can only go so far. The remaining three theories appear flawless at first glance. Until the mystery is fully solved, there's no way to tell whether the stained glass depicts a 'true inheritance' or a 'false inheritance'. For now... I'm afraid we can only try to defeat the Demon King in the game."

Izayoi's face was filled with anguish, and he was tugging at the back of his hair in a rather irritable manner. Seeing him desperately trying to suppress the urge to yell, Yao suddenly couldn't help but laugh.

In an instant, Izayoi fell back in the chair and crossed his legs. "... Kasukabe, your sudden laughter is a bit excessive. I came here because I was worried about you."

"Feel sorry."

Yao stopped laughing, but a smile was still on his face: "But it's really rare to see you looking worried. I find it very interesting."

"Humph."

Izayoi turned his head away awkwardly, with an expression that said, "You're a patient, I won't bother with you."

"Asuka... still hasn't come back?"

According to the last witness, Asuka left with the mysterious man who suddenly appeared in the middle of the race. The man's name was recorded on the roster of participants - a name that didn't quite look like a name.

"Nod people"

Izayoi shook his head helplessly. "He didn't come back. But later, Ren and I looked up some ancient books together and had some guesses about the man's identity.

"The name 'Nod' probably doesn't refer to a place, but rather comes from the phrase 'the land of Nod'. The most common meaning of this phrase is 'dreamland'."

"...The person in my dream?" Yao asked with his head tilted.

"That could be one explanation, but I think the meaning of this word has to be traced back to an even more ancient origin. 'Dreamland', in a sense, means 'a place that doesn't exist in reality,' so 'in the land of Nod' can mean more than just 'in Dreamland,' it can also mean 'homeless' or 'wandering around.' This usage appears in the Bible."

Considering that "Nodekin" is a name, it must have a certain "specificity" to the owner of the name, Izayoi thinks the latter possibility is more likely.

"But that guy doesn't seem to be our enemy, so there's no point in thinking too much about it." Izayoi shrugged and said, "The young lady must have gone there voluntarily. Maybe she's participating in some game now and can't come back."

Yao nodded doubtfully and stopped asking.

The topic then turned to the Demon King's game: "But is it really okay? I heard you broke a bone on the first day, and if you still have to face the Demon King..."

"Don't look down on me, I still have some cards up my sleeve."

Izayoi pretended to be angry, which made Yao laugh again.

After laughing twice, Yao looked up and looked out the window: "Now I understand that Bai Yasha is right."

This meant, "If they were to engage in a battle with the Demon King, Asuka and Yō would definitely not survive." The fact that Yō had become like this, without even having a chance to actually confront the Demon King, was a perfect illustration of this. Izayoi knew exactly what Yō was talking about, but instead of comforting him, he grabbed a damp towel and placed it over his head.

"Since you can't participate anyway, I'll have to take the Demon King's head tomorrow."

He said sarcastically, "Just lie down here and prepare to watch me display my might."

The provocation was effective, and Yao's face turned a little redder. She didn't directly answer Izayoi's question, but instead lay down on the bed again and stared at the ceiling.

"It would be great if Shiroyasha could join the battle."

"Who says it's not?" Only this time, Izayoi completely agreed with Yao's opinion: "But the method of sealing Shiroyasha still seems to be a mystery. It's clearly said to be a legitimate method, but there is no clue at all. It's too strange."

"is it?"

Yao recalled the chaotic battle and recalled the clues that Shiroyasha hadn't fully given. He felt somewhat puzzled. "Yes, Shiroyasha felt the rules were incomplete because her seal wasn't described. I feel like her judgment shouldn't be wrong..."

"There's no way to ask her why now." Izayoi sighed helplessly, "It can't be that the premise of the game is that Shiroyasha is sealed—"

Suddenly, Izayoi seemed to realize something.

"——The premise of the game is that Shiroyasha is sealed?"

This seemed to be a direction he had never considered. Indeed, if this were true, then the rules of the game would naturally not need to elaborate on the sealing of Baiyasha, but why?
"The 'background' of this game is that the sun doesn't exist? No, has it become weaker?"

Because in the "game background", the activity of the sun weakened, so Shiroyasha was sealed?
That means——

Izayoi suddenly grabbed the book about the history of the "Black Death Pandemic" at hand and kept flipping through it.

"Yes, that's right. The weakening of solar activity and other factors caused the Little Ice Age, and the global temperature drop led to a decrease in food production... and finally, the chain reaction caused the Black Death to spread rapidly! The background era of this game is the Black Death pandemic several hundred years after the fourteenth century!"

A chill ran down Izayoi's spine. The inscription on the Hamel Town monument clearly records "1284," but the setting of this game, based on the events of Hamel Town, is "fourteen centuries later." What does this discrepancy mean?
"Pest...is not 'Hamiel's Devil' at all!"

The origin of this demon king has nothing to do with the "Hammel Town Inscription". The demon in the fairy tale "The Pied Piper" and the demon in the "Hammel Town Inscription" are two completely different things, so -

"The inscription doesn't mention 'controlling mice' at all, so the power to 'control humans' is undoubtedly a fabrication of fairy tale content. 'Using the sound of a flute to lure out children' and controlling people's hearts are completely different concepts!

"Then 'Nero' isn't the real 'Flute Player of Hamel' either. That's right, all 130 people who went to the hill disappeared. Even if it was a human sacrifice, they couldn't all be sacrifices; someone must have returned alive. So, according to the 'cult theory,' their deaths weren't caused by the cult itself. So!"

It was as if there was an invisible thread that instantly connected all the fragmented clues in Shizayoi's mind.

"The real 'murderer' can only be——"

(End of this chapter)