By the time Luther arrived at the scene and was ushered into an illusion formation that was in place to make it look as if there was no one else but him at the location, the King of Lanthanor had his nose to the ground, while his eyes were filled with intense focus as he examined a few obscure signs that looked as if they had been made by passing animal.
Even the member of the Big Four who had been waiting for him to arrive was puzzled as he saw this, and when Luther walked up to the King and cleared his throat, Daneel sheepishly got up and said, "I thought that it might be some clue that we could use."
"Those are the marks of a beaver, My King. I don't think it has any relation to the case. And… Can I ask why you weren't simply using the zoom spell?"
Coughing lightly, the King replied, "I just thought it might be better to look at it myself. Anyway, let's go to the actual crime scene."
Daneel had to fight hard to not allow the blush to creep into his face, as he had been caught red-handed while acting like one of his most favorite characters.
He had been feeling a little light-hearted as one of the biggest worries on his mind had been solved, so he had decided to try and employ the methods that he had read about back on Earth here in order to see whether they would give any results.
He had felt that it might be…authentic to bend by himself and see rather than simply use a spell to alter his vision, and that was what had led to the embarrassing situation just now.
As he looked at Luther, he saw that the man had changed his usual attire of chain mail over leather armor. He was now wearing simple clothes, almost as if he was just a farmer from a nearby village who had wandered onto the scene.
Seeing the King noticing the way he was dressed, Luther said, "I always find that it is best to be underestimated in order to find information. A lot of people just let things slip because they get the thought that even if they speak freely, the one listening is not capable of doing anything as they looked so simple. Simple clothes and a humble tone works wonders, especially on arrogant folk, and I expect that that will be the type of people we meet most on this case. Am I right, Your Majesty?"
Daneel couldn't help but chuckle and nod, as they walked to approach the hidden entrance in the mountain.
Although he had a very keen interest in this, he decided to let the expert take the lead, and just see where he could help.
Luther seemed calm and composed, almost as if this was an everyday thing for him, but it was clear that there was still some resentment inside him regarding the fact that he had been abducted in that way.
In fact, it had been pretty surprising to hear about it for Daneel, too, because he had been reminded of his own encounter with Ashahell which had almost killed him.
At that time, he was led to believe that the consciousness was something sacred which definitely could not be manipulated without consent, but now, as he thought about it, he realized that many of the things that he had learned about the Big Four might not apply to these hidden reserves that were slowly being exposed to him.
He had never really thought that there was only as much to the Big Four as was visible on the surface, so he was actually quite interested to see just how deep these reserves went. He was already quite impressed by the five who had come to his Kingdom, because according to the system, they all either were training in high-level Paths, or had powerful Bloodlines which could not be assessed yet. Even Drakos had commented that the five had looked quite capable, almost like the top students in the academies that used to exist back in the age of the Empire.
This also made him understand that whatever Luther had been abducted for before might have been pretty damn important, because otherwise, the act of erasing one's memories without their consent would be pretty taxing, and not worth doing for trifling matters.
So, now, he was also curious to find out just what case had needed Luther's expertise before, and he decided to find that out before the entire affair was done.
Daneel had already gotten a small run-down of the facts while he was waiting, but he wanted to go over them again along with Luther.
There was a meandering path that passed through a lush green forest that surrounded the mountain, and soon, they approached the base of the dormant volcano.
Here, two more individuals could be seen, and they actually sneered at Daneel and Luther who were being led by another person who had a neutral expression on his face.
It was obvious that they were part of the investigative team, and that they didn't appreciate having others brought in because they had proven to be ineffective.
Whatever the case, the advantage here was that the Head was closely watching everything because of his guilt, so Daneel could at least relax as he would not be facing any danger on this casual excursion.
His objective was to bring everything to a satisfying conclusion so that he could hopefully obtain a weapon with some powerful consciousnesses inside, and if he did so, he would have a few more Godbeasts that he could transform into when needed.
A few seconds later, the unassuming spot where the ground began to slope up that indicated that they were stepping onto the volcano approached, and as they neared it, it actually...parted, as a hidden formation was triggered by someone on the inside.
They were greeted by a cavelike entrance which looked like a rip on the Earth, and inside, carefully hewn steps of stone could be seen.
Luther maintained his stoic attitude, and the two of them proceeded to climb the steps for around 10 minutes, after which they finally came upon a beautiful place.
It was almost like paradise on earth. It began with the cave ending in a large stone arch which had been carved with various figures of people fighting with fantastical weapons, and right beyond the arch, a marble pathway could be seen which was framed on both sides by the most exquisite garden the Daneel had seen on Angaria yet.
Each and every plant looked like it had been handpicked carefully so that their colors would mesh together to form a beautiful kaleidoscope which anyone would be hardpressed to ignore, and true enough, even Luther had to stop for a moment and admire the incredible landscape that was presented to them.
After that, the beautiful sound of falling water reached their ears, and after they walked onto the pathway and looked up, they saw a waterfall that seemingly originated in the air falling into some spot which they couldn't see yet from where they were standing.
Without saying anything, they proceeded on the path to arrive at a large central area, on one side of which the small lake where the waterfall ended could be seen.
This was an open area, and all around them, the garden spread out like the roots of a humongous tree. The entire place was at least half the size of a football stadium, and up above, sunlight could be seen through a small circular hole which was clearly the top of the volcano.
Indeed, this was a hollow mountain, and it seemed to have been modified to become a sort of resting place for those who were lucky enough to have access to it.
There were benches here and there in this open area, and also praying mats complete with Ker gem formations that individuals could train in.
If Daneel hadn't been sure before, he was now - this was definitely an exclusive location meant for seeds, as no other place would have Ker gem formations laid out so casually.
Here, the five who had been to his kingdom awaited them while talking between themselves.
They seemed to be having some kind of an argument, because the two ladies had especially angry expressions on their faces.
"We know what happened! Why should we care if they don't find any clues to support us?!"
This was the last thing that Daneel and Luther heard from them before they noticed that they had arrived, and stopped the conversation right away.
Just like before, three hostile gazes became fixed on them, and seeing this, Luther couldn't help but say, "I heard that not cooperating will directly brand one as guilty? Oh my, then I hope that I find a lot of resistance, so that I can call it a day and go home early. We're having a feast back in the sect, you know, because training has been going on exceptionally."
These words made the expressions on those three freeze, and they immediately hid away that hostility and put on more normal attitudes.
On seeing this, Matthew laughed and walk forward.
He was a bear of a man, and it was a bearlike laugh, harsh and vigorous.
As soon as he reached them, he took Luther's hand in his and shook it before saying, "I've heard of you. You might not remember, but you were instrumental in a case a few decades back. I'm not allowed to talk about it, though, but I can say that I'm really looking forward to what you will do here."
He then nodded at Daneel, and walked back to his companions.
The others did not look like they were going to come forward to repeat the same polite gesture, but the two of them didn't really care.
All he wanted was to simply get down to business, so Luther directly asked, "Madam, can you give me an account of what happened?"
He said so while looking at one of the two ladies who had been agitated before, and she got a slightly irritated expression on her face before asking, "Why me?"
In response, as Luther simply opened his hands wide and said "Why not?", she glared at him for a moment and then began to recount the facts of the case that they were here to solve.
"At the same time that the Head went into the cogitation formation, six of us had gathered to set out and kill the King if needed, in case the Mad Doctor botched up the job. This is a place that only the seeds of the Big Four can access, and at that time, only we were present. Right while we were watching what was going on in Lanthanor, a man wearing black robes and a black mask suddenly leaped through the top of the volcano and broke through all of the formations that were present to land between us and strike out with a knife that seemed to have been infused with some sort of formation, or poison. Letitia was unlucky enough to be the one in the path of that knife, and because she was only a mage, she could not respond quickly enough. The knife pierced through all of the barriers that protected her, and the moment it struck her skin, she turned to ash, and it did so, too. Right after this, before we could manage to respond in any way, the culprit directly went out in the same way that he came in, and none of us were fast enough to stop him. Only the ashes that you see are left, and the reason you're here is that no one believes us. No one believes that there was even an assassin in the first place. We are being suspected of killing our own friend. It's preposterous. Preposterous! Why would we want to kill Letitia? She was always so kind and brave! She was perfect! She was my best friend! She-"
By the time the woman's statement came to an end, the anger that had been present on her face initially was gone, replaced by extreme sorrow, and when she burst into tears, it was clear that she was covering up all of these emotions with the façade of being angry.
At this moment, both Daneel and Kellor's gazes were attracted to a spot on the ground where a pile of ash could be seen, and right beside it was a plaque which had a few words on it.
"Remains of Letitia, seed from the Eternal Blossom sect. Suspects: Matthew, Dave, Memphis, Scarlet, Jessica."