25 days after the explosion - caravan

....... Let's take care of it tomorrow(prince) thought and went back to sleep

"Dude, wake up. Your friend is panicking while saying she didn't do it"(adventurer?) Said a voice outside the tent the prince and the rest were sleeping

"Fine"(price)said while reluctantly getting up and putting some clothes

When he got ready, he walked outside the tent and saw the guy who just woke him up

"Steve right?"(prince) asked since mental processing was at 10% at this hour, and it's not like he memorized everyone's name yet

The prince even felt like killing Aria since waking up at 4 am was hell for a lazy guy like him

"Yep, the chief told me to get you since dealing with your friend is a pain"(steve)said while walking a little ahead to what prince guessed was Aria

The chief was the way people called the caravan leader, and since there was a murder, the prince wasn't surprised that he got involved in all this

still, why the hell must she involve me in her mess....(prince) complained in his heart since he was tempted to go back to sleep and leave her to the dogs

"-Sigh- so can you tell me what happened?"(prince) reluctantly asked

"Well, me and some of the guards heard a scream and when we went to where the scream came from, we found your friend Aria with a sword on her hand and a dead merchant on the floor with blood all around him"(steve)

"F-cking idiot, do you think she did it?"(prince) asked since she looked like the culprit in that situation

"Well... we did thought that when we saw her there with her sword and the dead body beside her, and it didn't help that she was waving her sword while saying "I didn't do it, I didn't do it" over and over again"(steve)

"So? What happen after?"(prince)

"Well, we told her to drop the sword and took her to the chief tent over there, she should still be inside"(Steve)

"Thanks, I am gonna take a look, see ya"(prince)

"See ya dude"(steve)

Prince fist pumps with steve and got inside, hoping Aria didn't make a mess

And what he found was an Aria panicking as soon as she saw him

"Prrrriiiiprrii."(Aria)-chop-

Prince mercilessly chop Aria's head(he even put some mana there) to shut her up since she was about to say prince

"Ouch"(Aria)

"Calm down and tell me what happened"(prince)

"I didn't do it, I didn"(Aria) -chop-

Prince mercilessly strikes again

"It's really early and I am not in the mood to your babbling, calm down and tell me what happened, step by step, or you get another chop tot he head"(prince) warned her

And while Aria was trying to calm down, the chief was looking in amusement at the interaction within these two

"Do you know anything?"(prince) said while looking at the chief eyes

"Not much, we found her with the body and she has been babbling since then, saying things like "I didn't do it" and "price? is going to kill me", at least it helped that she didn't have blood on herself or her sword, since there was blood all over the place"(chief)

"Price" really felt like killing her, since it was by luck that the chief though she said prince

Or maybe not since he could be lying

Prince hoped he wasn't lying

"Hey idiot, have you calmed down already?"(Prince)

"Don't call me an idiot"(Aria)pouted a little

"Then stop doing stupid things"(prince) acted smug a little, making her turn red

"Youuuuuu!"(Aria)-chop-

Another merciless hit

"Start talking or you get another"(prince)getting annoyed

"Ouch!Stop doing that! It hurts"(Aria)said with a little tear on her eyes

"Start telling what happened or you get another"(Prince)Almost chopped her head again, but it would end in an endless loop at this rate if he didn't show a little restraint, and he wanted to go back to sleep

"Fine, I was doing my shift when I smelled blood"(Aria)

"What are you, a dog?"(Prince) retorted at her statement

" Shut up, I didn't finish. Besides, my father told me to enhance my senses all the time for weird sounds or smells, since they can warn you of a surprise attack"(Aria) made a pouty face again while answering

Prince and the chief were impressed at what she said, but knowing her father, it wasn't surprising she knew stuff like that

"Like I was saying, I smelled blood so I follow the scent and found a lot of blood on the floor and a dead guy over it.I think I screamed and I was panicking since I thought you would kill me for getting in another mess...."(Aria)-chop- got another chop to the head

"Ouch!what was that for!?"(Aria)complained while rubbing her head trying to ease the pain

"A lot of things"(prince) said, annoyed at the trouble she made and her last statement

"So what happens now chief?"(prince)

"Not sure, it is the first time I found myself in this kind of situation"(chief) shrugged

"Well, I don't think she actually did it and it looks like she is more of a victim of the circumstances. Sadly, right now she is the only suspect, so she will have to stay under observation to make sure people don't freak out"(chief)

"And then? Are you going to search for the culprit or leave it to the police in the next town?"(prince)

No matter what, prince needed to find the culprit as soon as possible since involving the authorities could get then into a mess, for a number of reasons

So because of this, he really hoped that the chief would look into it before handing the case to the authorities, or at least let him search, so they could find the true culprit and don't get involved with the authorities

But all the prince could do was wait while the chief ponders over the question, hoping for a favorable response

"Well.... I guess we should ask around a bit to see if someone saw anything suspicious, but if we don't find anything by sunrise, we will have to go to the next town and ask the police for help"(chief)

Prince finally breath after realizing he was holding his breath unconsciously

He didn't like that he had a deadline find the culprit, but it could be worse

" Can I help with the investigation? I promise I won't do anything that could jeopardise the investigation later, but I want to help my friend in any way I can"(prince) lied like a pro, showing a face of absolute concern for Aria

"It wouldn't hurt to have more people look into it, but the moment you do anything suspicious, I will send you to the cops with the girl"(chief) warned prince

"Ok"(prince)

25 days after the explosion - Around the caravan

After finishing the conversation with the chief, the chief put Aria under the watch of 2 guards meanwhile prince and the chief started to investigate

The first thing they did was find out who could have done it

While camping, the caravan was spread in a line where you could find 3 sectors. At the front was the merchants with their wagons, at the back, were the civilians and the middle were the guards

It was designed this way since the merchants didn't want the civilians near their merchandise since they could try to steal some of their stuff when they weren't paying attention

As for the guards been in the middle, the caravan were usually arranged that way for a quick response in case of an attack at the front or the back

While moving, the distribution was a little more random, but while camping they always made it that way, and since the murder happened in the merchant camp, it was really improbable that one of the civilians did it (unless it was one of the hookers that moved through the 3 camps all night long)

Since it was also really hard for the guards that didn't have a shift that night(like prince), the suspect were all 14 merchants, 2 hookers, and 10 guards

After getting the names of every suspect, both the chief and prince were about to start the interrogation when....

"Chief, one of the guards found a bloody dagger in one of the merchants tents"(Steve) told the chief

"Ohhh! let's take a look"(chief)

Isn't this too easy?(prince) couldn't believe that someone would be so dumb as to leave the murder weapon on his own tent

However, not everyone could be a criminal mastermind, right?