Cornflower Witch

Chapter 366 A Minor Trouble Before the Silver Bell Festival
After sitting for a while at 'Wisteria Flower Moon', the group got up and left.

"Although I really like that shop owner, her clothes are really expensive luxury items." Several students explained why they didn't buy any clothes. The cheapest clothes in that shop cost 300 gold coins, which was obviously not something ordinary people could wear.

Although Hilti is wealthy, her identity as 'Hdra' doesn't allow her to spend that much money. Even though she didn't buy any clothes, Yingzi still welcomes Hilti to come again next time.

"If you come to my place for tea more than six times a year, I'll make you a beautiful dress especially for next year's 'Silver Bell Festival.' There will be various banquets around that time, which is the best time for students to find their partners," Yingzi joked before leaving.

Although Siltia wasn't interested in dating for the time being, she was quite interested in things in the Eastern Continent, so she agreed.

The group then strolled around Beetle Street for a while before parting ways around 4 p.m.

The weekend passed, life returned to normal, and December arrived, with the weather gradually getting colder.

Over the past four months, Hiltiya has completed various basic courses, from "Differences in Local Language Families" to "Application of Thirty-Three Types of Equations," from "Ancient Wedge-Shaped Script" to "Anthology of Poetic Runes." Like a sponge, she quickly absorbed the various knowledge taught at school and also continuously borrowed books from the library to study on her own, increasing her understanding of the world.

It must be said that the Mage Alliance is far superior to the Woodland Alliance in the collection and organization of knowledge. More than 500 years ago, the Mage Alliance launched the Central Library Project, which aimed to collect and compile any books and records that were issued and circulated, and to examine errors and omissions and fill in the gaps. After the completion of this huge project, it greatly promoted the education system of the Mage Alliance and made it extremely convenient to look up the development process of certain skills and extraordinary secret arts, as well as the setbacks and improvements encountered along the way.

The more she learned, the more Hilti felt that the Woodland Alliance's defeat was not unjustified. Fortunately, the Woodland Alliance has now realized the gap and is preparing to start reforms.

Before coming to the Mage Alliance, she had heard that the Woodland Alliance had decided to set up special branches in major cities to examine and recruit talented young people, and to imitate the Mage Alliance by providing early subsidies and support to a large number of students from impoverished backgrounds.

The plan was able to be launched thanks to the successful development of the Dark Mist Mountains, which not only added a large area of ​​resource production but also increased the demand for personnel, making the various organizations of the Woodland Alliance willing to pay the price to compete for more new members.

Another day after school, Silti packed her things to leave, but the teacher came over and told her that she needed to go to the office.

"Is someone looking for me?" She had kept a low profile since joining the Mage Alliance, and she couldn't imagine that someone would specifically come looking for her.

Could it be that she's been too engrossed in studying lately and missed some intelligence? With a slight sense of doubt, Siltiya arrived at the office.

After seeing the man wearing the police badge, Hilti had some guesses.

"We meet again, Miss Hedra." The chief of the nearby police station came, seemingly to see her specifically.

"Did something happen?" the girl asked.

"Yes, there have been several murders recently, all of the victims being orcs, and the injuries were all caused by extremely fine threads. Although I don't think Miss Hedra would do such a thing, there's nothing we can do. The higher-ups are pressing us hard, and we need your cooperation in the investigation." The other party proactively explained the reason.

Sure enough, apart from that robbery incident where she did something rather outrageous, she was always the kind of good student in the Mage Alliance who didn't care about worldly affairs and had almost no chance of getting involved in other things.

"I understand, but could you tell me how long it will take?" she asked.

"It's hard to say. For the next three days, you'd better stay in a hotel near the police station. That way you can clear your name as quickly as possible."

"Three days..." That's not a long time, but there's likely more to come. If the murderer is never caught, she'll always be a suspect.

"Then I'll take a few books with me. Also, I need to ask the teachers for leave in advance." She looked at the teacher next to her, who nodded.

“Hedera is an outstanding student at our school, and I believe she wouldn’t get involved in something like this. In fact, she borrows books frequently and attends classes on time every day; she wouldn’t have time for anything else.” This teacher had a very good impression of Hilti.

"We know that, but it's our duty." The police chief nodded slightly.

Afterwards, Hilti told her two roommates about it, and their reactions were different. Lovre thought it was a simple matter that could be resolved quickly, while Aurora was more worried.

"Don't worry, we'll bring Hedra delicious food every day from now on."

After packing up her books and notes, Hilti got into the car and went with the police officers to a hotel next to the police station. This hotel was a long-term partner of the police, and police officers were always stationed there.

Once on the second floor, Hiltiya settled in, ate something for dinner, and then slept peacefully through the night.

The next day, she read a book for a while. In the morning, police officers came to knock on her door and inquired about the situation. She then learned the general details of what had happened from them.

"The earliest case occurred three weeks ago when a dead orc woman was found on Black Crab Street. She was around 36 years old and worked in the sex industry, but she did not have a specific residence."

"The second incident occurred two weeks ago, when three orc beggars were found dead under a bridge."

"The third incident also occurred two weeks ago, when an orc man was attacked and beheaded on his way home after having dinner at a high-end hotel."

"The fourth case occurred last week, and the deceased was a pregnant orc woman."

"Because of the repeated incidents, it has caused great anger and anxiety among the orc community. As a result, the superiors ordered the chief to speed up the investigation. There must be clues within two weeks and the arrests must be completed within one month," the officer explained.

"I understand." Hiltiya nodded slightly.

"You said before that he used very fine threads to kill people. Are all of these cases like that?"

"Yes, but the first injury was obviously not smooth, with many irregular tears. The other party may have killed someone first and then dismembered them with the thread."

So that's how it is. No wonder the police didn't suspect her at first. Her manipulation of the threads that injured those robbers was already very strong, and the wounds were exceptionally smooth, unlike the rough and crude ones.

"Could I see a more detailed report?"

"I need to consult with the director about this." The other party indicated that they could not show it to her at the moment.

On this day, Hilti stayed at the inn, reading during the day and drinking tea at night to organize her notes, structure her knowledge framework, and experiment with rune combinations.

The next day, she still didn't leave the hotel, just studying, as usual. In the evening, Lowell and Aurora brought over some packed food, and the three of them sat together to enjoy it, chatting about recent interesting things. "There will be an exam at the end of the year, and I heard there will be an event after the exam, and there will be fireworks in the Asura District," the two said, talking about what their classmates had been discussing that day.

“At the end of each year, the academies of various schools hold the ‘Silver Bell Festival’ party. At this time, many members who are away will return. Although we are not yet members of those large academies, if we receive an invitation, we can enter at the end of the year and tour in advance.”

"They said that such an invitation could fetch hundreds of gold coins on the black market, especially since many people want to attend the banquet there and find a formal member of the academy to date and marry."

"The Silver Bell Festival..." This was the second time Silti had heard of this festival. It seemed to be a very important festival in the Mage Alliance.

According to records, after the rise of the 'Mithril Clock' school, they took on the responsibility of setting the standard time within the Mage Alliance. Every 'Silver Bell Festival' was the time when the school members returned to check and calibrate the time together.

Then these members went to other places and spread the calibrated time to clock towers in various places. Even in the countries of the Woodland Alliance, many of them used the time calibrated by them.

Later, this collective return gathering expanded, and other schools also held year-end parties at this time of winter, eventually becoming a custom of the Mage Alliance.

As a key factor in the rise of the Mage Alliance, the 'Mithril Clock' school played a crucial role. They initially established standard time, and then, with the promotion of clockmaking technology, they also determined standards for length, rotation rate, angular variables, and other parameters. The promotion of these rules led to a large number of members of the school with the 'Mystic' attribute advancing in rank, and also gave birth to the school's 'Named One,' namely the 'Clockmaker' Rhinehunt.

His rise to power also led the 'Mithril Clock' school to eventually replace the 'Origin Hourglass' as the top school in the Mage Alliance.

The group talked about the Silver Bell Festival with a mix of curiosity and excitement. Although they couldn't experience the festival yet, their schools held simple parties where everyone would eat something nice and sit together in the school's open space to watch the fireworks display.

"Hedera, hurry up and come out, or you'll miss it." Lovir cheered for the girl, even though Hiltiya didn't know how hard she should try to come out sooner.

On the third day, Hiltiya spent less time studying and instead focused her attention on the hotel guests and the whispered discussions among the police officers.

With her hearing, she could easily distinguish the faint sounds from upstairs and downstairs, but she usually didn't have the energy to process them and would just filter them out.

This hotel has a large number of guards and many hidden arrangements for monitoring and preventing escape.

……

On the fourth day, which was the weekend, Siltia was supposed to be released, but as she had predicted, things did not go smoothly.

"Another murder has occurred, but we still haven't found the killer," the police chief explained to the girl with shame.

"The deceased was a child who was murdered on his way home from buying fireworks."

"Still haven't found the person? When was the person murdered?"

"last night."

"At that time, I was having dinner with my classmates at the hotel, and many waiters saw us," the police chief said, indicating he was aware of the situation.

"Let Miss Hedra leave today." He said this in a not-so-strong tone, and Hilti guessed that if the murder case continued, she might be called in for questioning again.

If one day this bureau chief is pushed to the limit and decides to make someone a scapegoat, her situation will become very dangerous. After all, the identity of 'Hdra' means she has no power or influence in the Mage Alliance and it will be difficult for her to resist the oppression of power.

“Although I am still a student, this matter has affected my life. I wonder if you could let me take a look at the case file? I will also help you find the murderer later.” Hilti decided to solve the current problem as soon as possible.

“Miss Hedra.” He shook his head.

Even if this girl is exceptionally beautiful and academically outstanding, it won't be of much use in solving the case. Moreover, involving her as a suspect would make it difficult for him to explain if other situations arise.

"You should go back." He didn't agree, let Silti leave the hotel, and then joined the tense analysis and discussion.

Back in the dormitory, the other two congratulated Siltia on her return.

"Even though it's only been three days, these past few days away from Hedra have felt incredibly long." Lowell greeted her with longing and hugged her.

Feeling the warmth emanating from her ear and front, Hilti hugged Lovir, stroked her hair to comfort her, and then let go.

After she expressed her concerns, Aurora thought for a moment and nodded, "That is indeed a possibility. If the other side can't catch her, Hedra's situation is still a bit dangerous."

"Shouldn't the Mage Alliance have many methods to solve cases? Why haven't they been able to find anything?" Luo Wei'er asked curiously.

“Powerful mages can see lost time and space images, but only extremely powerful people can do that. It’s definitely not something we can ask such beings to do,” Aurora shook her head.

"However, things are not without hope. I'll go ask an acquaintance."

"Sigh, is Aurora finally going to make up with her family?" Lover knew that Aurora came from a well-known academic family in the Great Ero District, but she didn't know why Aurora had fallen out with her family.

"I haven't had any major conflicts with my family. I just don't want to be bothered by their lectures, so I rarely contact them," Aurora explained helplessly.

"Although we've made contact, they'll definitely come to ask about my situation later, but that's not as important as Hedra."

The three of them lived together for more than four months, and their relationship grew closer. Although Aurora was a bit aloof, she decided to get involved and help her roommate solve the problem so that her roommate would not encounter any trouble or danger in the future.

"We're friends," she finally replied.

"Oh, Aurora is so kind~" Even though it was Hilti who received help, Lover was so moved that she pounced on Aurora and hugged her, pinning her to the bed.

Aurora then got up to resist, and after a bit of playful banter, the two sat up again and pulled Siltia along to discuss their next plan.

　Happy New Year! (*^▽^*)~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)