Chapter 763: Detective Waver

The commotion outside didn't affect the three people in the room.

Lord Valualeta asked, "Professor Velvet, where do you think we should start investigating?"

"Let's start with the victim's body."

As Waver spoke, he put on a pair of white gloves and carefully walked to the bedside where the body was laid out, his gaze once again focusing on the shocking and heartbreaking scene.

"The dismemberment is very thorough."

The body was completely dismembered, with the torso and limbs neatly cut apart.

"The cut surfaces are clean, indicating that the perpetrator was quite skilled in dismemberment. The victim also didn't seem to struggle. We can't determine yet if they were killed before they could resist, or if the dismemberment occurred after death."

"Judging from the edges of the skin and muscle, the victim's time of death is even earlier than I thought."

"There are no signs of transplanted magic crests."

Waver was fully focused in work mode. Even the Golden Princess's astonishing beauty didn't affect his movements. His techniques were skilled and swift, reminiscent of an experienced surgeon, making Lord Valualeta watching from the side exclaim in admiration.

"For a magus, this is quite an unusual sight. Are you particularly interested in this field, Professor Velvet?"

"It's not interest, but necessity. Because I lack talent in magecraft, I have to compensate in other ways."

He calmly collected the body parts, examined each wound, and calmly uttered words that would be cruel to most magi.

"Science is also an art, and equally beautiful. Unfortunately, most magi don't realize this, or refuse to admit it."

For some reason, the old woman standing at the pinnacle of countless magi said such words.

Waver didn't respond, focusing on reassembling the body. Finally, he reached for the breathtakingly beautiful girl's head placed in the center of the bed. When his hand touched the girl's small ear, Waver's hand stopped.

"Hmm?"

"Did you find something?" the old woman asked.

"The Golden Princess... has no eardrums... and it doesn't seem like they were removed later in life."

"Regarding that, I know some inside information. Many magical techniques involve honing skills by sealing off one of the senses, and Iselma's secret techniques are no exception. They've taken it even further, inscribing it into the genetic traits of their descendants - the Golden Princess has no eardrums, while the Silver Princess has no retinas. However, due to the existence of magecraft, this doesn't affect their daily lives. They can hear, see, and communicate with others through other means."

Although modern science is gradually surpassing magecraft, there are still many advantages unique to magecraft.

What Lord Valualeta just mentioned - using magecraft to replace lost senses - is the simplest example. For instance, transmitting speech information without going through hearing, or visual information without going through sight, directly into the brain. While this type of magecraft is not low-level, the Iselma family is after all a branch of the Valualeta, so such things are not difficult for them.

However, if in a few decades, modern science can directly implant chips into the brain, magecraft will inevitably face another decline.

"I see. So the Golden Princess's lack of eardrums is an essential condition for achieving that beauty," Waver nodded thoughtfully after hearing the old woman's explanation.

"In that case, we might be able to find out who the Golden Princess who appeared last night was."

"You're thinking of using the eardrums to search?"

Lord Valualeta's reaction was also quick.

"That's right. Even for the Iselma family, restoring non-existent eardrums wouldn't be an easy task."

"Rather than asking me about this, you'd be better off asking my foolish apprentice. She's an expert in this field. Would you like me to call her over?"

"You mean Miss Aozaki Touko? There's no rush. We can visit her after I finish examining the scene."

As Waver spoke, he moved away from the Golden Princess's bed and began to investigate the room itself.

The Golden Princess's room was about the size of an average cafe. The main furniture included a canopied bed, a desk with a jellyfish-shaped lamp, and several paintings by Impressionist masters. A few basic magecraft books were arranged on an elegant bookshelf. Every item was a luxury item worthy of the Golden Princess's name, yet in terms of variety, it gave the impression of only having the bare necessities for living.

There was one window and one door in the room. Although there was also a skylight, it seemed impossible for anyone to enter or exit through it. If we were to consider that, we might as well think about what kind of magecraft could penetrate walls.

The door had been destroyed - Gray's handiwork. According to plan, Reines and Gray had come to visit the Golden Princess, but there was no response no matter how much they knocked. Sensing something was wrong, Reines immediately ordered Gray to break down the door, and then they saw that chilling scene.

Upon careful examination of several fragments, it was clear that a magical lock had been used on the door.

A magical lock, as the name suggests, is a lock made with magecraft. Although it has several drawbacks such as high cost and difficulty of use without magical energy, its security is indeed first-class. Even the Clock Tower's main treasury uses them, making them a relatively common type of lock in the magical world. The most distinctive feature of this lock is that it corresponds to an individual's magical energy wavelength. In other words-

"The Golden Princess's room could only be opened by the Golden Princess herself, which means this is a locked room murder - what a meaningless design?"

In the conventional sense, a locked room murder belongs to the realm of impossible crimes, but the existence of magi can't be measured by conventional standards. For this locked room, there are countless ways to kill someone inside from the outside. A complex fluid manipulation or air manipulation would be enough to kill invisibly.

"Was it necessary to create such a locked room? Or was it simply a coincidence?"

Waver crouched down, lost in thought, but even after pondering for a while, he still couldn't come up with any leads. Just as he was about to give up, he noticed that Shinji, who had been standing like a wooden post, had somehow come to his side and was now sniffing at the door fragments.

"When did you pick up Svin's habit?"

That youth with beast blood mixed in his lineage loved to identify things by smell.

"Because I found something strange."

Carefully scraping the ground with his gloved hand, Shinji gathered some powdery substance together, then cut off the thumb part of his other glove, poured the powder into it, and tied it up.

"Although there's only a little left, you can sense the unique scent of an ancient artifact. Its history is over a thousand years."

Hearing Shinji say this, Waver also became serious. He took out a magnifying glass and stared at the ash itself as if entranced. Finally, he even touched a tiny bit with his finger and put it in his mouth.

Shinji couldn't help but quip, "You say I'm like Svin, but aren't you pretty much the same?"

"..."

Waver ignored Shinji, moved his mouth for a while, then spat the powder onto his hand and muttered softly.

"...Ah, now we have a clue."