WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 144: Officer's Hell - (Part 2)

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When Evian returned to Edelheit, the townspeople gave him a rapturous welcome. A police officer who had immediately brought back two runaway children, who had even fled in an automated carriage, looked almost like a magician.

The adults, who had been glaring at Ellie and Dev for some time, were simply waiting for Evian to let them go. They seemed intent on giving the children a long-overdue beating.

But Evian shouted before that could happen.

"Hold on. I found the alchemical cloth."

"Didn't those two steal it?"

"No. Someone else stole the alchemical cloth."

Having drawn everyone's attention, Evian headed straight for Vern's house. Vern followed in silence at first, then hurriedly asked,

"Wait. Why are we going to my house?"

"I received a tip. I'm going to look into it. Please come with me."

"...Hah. I see."

Vern sighed and followed Evian with the look of a man who had given up on everything.

Ellie did not even need to testify. The traces of what she had dug up the night before were obvious, while the attempt to cover them up was laughably clumsy. Evian fetched a shovel and dug up the hole.

Then he found bones.

Evian turned them over in his hands and examined the marks on them.

The townspeople began murmuring around him.

"My goodness... There really are bone fragments in Mr. Vern's field..."

"Did someone die recently...?"

"We'd know if they had. Everyone was cremated, weren't they?"

Evian studied the bones with a grave expression, then spoke with his face set hard. The frightened townspeople fell silent at once.

"They aren't recent. I'd estimate the body was buried around thirty years ago."

After finishing his examination, Evian slowly rose to his feet. His eyes gleamed fiercely.

"And as far as I know, only one person disappeared around that time. The one person said to have fled the village, leaving my mother behind before I was born. The story everyone believed because Mr. Vern personally testified to it."

Evian stared straight at Vern and said,

"My father."

Vern closed his eyes with the look of a man who had abandoned all hope. Evian glared at him coldly, returning to the ruthless police officer he had been before.

"Vern. You are under arrest for murder and unlawful disposal of a corpse."

The village erupted into whispers. This time, the noise was louder than ever.

A nephew was taking away his uncle. A police officer was dragging off the village chief. Vern was escorted away with his shoulders slumped.

One of the older townspeople muttered,

"Th-then what will happen to Mr. Vern...?"

Evian answered.

"I don't decide the sentence. I don't have that authority. Still, if the culprit confesses and the facts are clear, a military administration judge may issue a summary ruling."

"A ruling? For murder...?"

"Premeditated murder is punishable by death."

Evian spoke coldly, and murmurs spread through the village again. Someone shouted,

"Evian! He's your uncle!"

"What does that matter?! Before a police officer, there are only criminals!"

Evian looked around and shouted,

"Obstructing an officer may result in up to three years of forced labor, depending on the severity of the offense. Move aside!"

Forced labor was no light punishment.

Factories, mines, training corps, supply units.

Those sentenced to it were assigned to places like that and worked like dogs except when sleeping. People said six months of forced labor left a person with aches that lasted three years.

Only then did the people truly grasp Evian's authority. Groaning, they stepped back. Like a lieutenant of the military state, Evian pushed through the crowd with a fearsome presence.

But before the woman who stepped into his path, Evian could no longer maintain the bearing of a lieutenant.

"...Evian."

"Mother?"

Evian's mother approached through tears and grabbed him. Her hand trembled as it clutched his collar.

"Arrest me. Arrest me too."

"What? What are you saying?"

"...It was me. It was all because of me. Because of me..."

"Because of what?"

Even Evian could not push away his widowed mother and leave. The authority he had worked so hard to establish vanished, and he did not know what to do.

As he stood there, a hidden story poured from his mother's lips.

"...Your father used to beat me mercilessly after I married into this village from far away. He was the eldest son of the village chief then, so nobody could stop him..."

"What?"

"He was violent even when I was carrying you. Then Vern happened to return, they got into an argument, and while they were fighting... it happened..."

"What?"

"I buried the body myself. I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I couldn't tell you, so I lied and said he'd run away from the village..."

The truth from his mother's lips came as a shock.

Evian's father had been so violent that nobody liked him. People had readily accepted the explanation that he had run away.

In fact, they had never felt any need to question it.

Nothing bad had happened because he was gone.

The military administration had also arrived around then, leaving everything in confusion.

"I didn't want to disappoint you when you missed your father... I built him up and made him sound wonderful, but I'm sorry I couldn't tell you the truth..."

His mother had been an accomplice as well. Evian stared blankly at her wrinkled face.

The military state was harsh. No matter the circumstances, it did not tolerate acts that violated the law. Evian knew that better than anyone.

Yet he could not bring himself to lock these people up with his own hands. After sitting in the police station and agonizing over it, he finally rose.

"They said a captain was staying at the inn..."

This was a problem Evian could not solve. At times like this, he had to report it to a superior. He headed listlessly for the inn.

"...That is what happened."

Lieutenant Evian sought out the captain despite the imposition and made his report.

The blond officer with bandages around their head listened to the whole story, then replied in a flat voice. It was a voice Evian felt he had heard somewhere before.

"I understand. However."

Evian closed his eyes and waited for judgment.

Evian's rank was nothing to scoff at, but that only held among the residents. A captain stood far above him.

The soldiers who ran the military state. Monsters bound by entirely different rules. Their authority and power were on a completely different level from Evian's.

'What will happen? Maybe the higher-ups will take a dislike to me.'

But the next words surprised him.

"For incidents that occurred twenty-five years ago, before military administration began, we leave the matter to the discretion of the investigator in charge."

"What?"

This was a murder case. Discretion? Evian asked stupidly.

"Are you saying there is a statute of limitations?"

"There is no statute of limitations in the military state. There is only discretion."

The captain spoke in a stiff voice, as though that alone were their duty.

"Flexible application makes enforcement easier. For acts committed before military administration, though, you are not held accountable if you do not make an arrest. That period was an administrative vacuum."

The military state benefited from having more laborers. There was much work to do and too few hands.

That was why it did not create statutes of limitations. It also granted broad discretion. If someone was arrested, they could be put straight to forced labor.

Laws could even be applied retroactively. If the military state took offense, a person could be arrested for something that had not been a crime when they did it.

Still, since it did not concern itself with administration before military rule, whether to bury or pursue what happened then was up to Evian.

"Why didn't I know that?"

"It is better not to publicize things like statutes of limitations. They ease criminals' vigilance. That is why the authorities do not announce such guidelines, even to investigators."

Arresting too few people was a problem, but arresting more never cost them anything. It was exactly the sort of policy one would expect from the military state.

Once Evian understood, he saluted the captain with a stunned expression and withdrew.

"Loyalty. I'm sorry to have disturbed your rest. I will take my leave!"

A small sigh came from behind the closing door.

"...What on earth have you been doing?"

"...The military state does not pursue crimes from the kingdom era. You were lucky, Mr. Vern."

The person truly fortunate was Evian, who no longer had to arrest his mother, but he did not show it. Instead, he released Vern in full view of the townspeople.

Freed from the handcuffs, Vern rubbed his wrists and spoke heavily.

"...I'm sorry. No matter what I say, I killed your father..."

"Quiet."

Evian answered bluntly.

There was another reason Evian had grown to dislike Vern.

His widowed mother and Vern would sometimes whisper together while leaving Evian out. They would also look at him with guilty expressions.

As a child, Evian had disliked Vern out of ignorant jealousy. But if it had really been about his father...

"Good work, Lieutenant Evian."

At that moment, Sergeant Vero, the administrative supply officer, approached. Evian greeted him warmly.

"Sergeant Vero. Thank you for accommodating me. I would have been in trouble too without the captain."

"It was the captain's decision."

"I'm simply grateful to everyone. Whew. In any case, that settles it for now."

"Settles it?"

The ominous voice suggested that the trouble was not over yet. Vero tilted his head, then stated why he had come.

"...So where is the recovered alchemical cloth? We have to take inventory in an hour."

Evian immediately kicked off the ground and ran.

The town was small, and he had just turned the place upside down, so the culprit was found quickly. Mrs. Malport next door, who had needed money urgently, confessed everything.

Apparently, among the people at the inn, it had become almost customary to cut off small pieces of alchemical cloth and steal them. Ellie's escape had happened to make the matter bigger, exposing this as well.

There was no room to imprison the dozens of people involved, major and minor alike, so Lieutenant Evian ordered them confined to quarters for the time being. After finishing everything, Evian collapsed into a chair at the police station in exhaustion. His entire body was drenched in sweat.

"Whew. It feels like everything that could happen in decades happened in one day..."

And I, leaning against the police station wall, listened to his muttering and smiled to myself.

Of course it did. I was the one who had stirred everything up.

Quiet rural towns like this always had a few hidden incidents. I read memories one by one, starting with the people around Evian, and prepared a stage for him. Then I scattered dozens of clues throughout the village.

Only a few were actually used, but I had reeled in the biggest case, so I was more than satisfied.

"The worst day ever... It was really hell."

That was the police officer's hell I prepared just for you.

Still, you endured it pretty well, Lieutenant Evian. It was a gift I put some effort into preparing, after all.

"Heh. Take good care of those epaulets until I pass through again."

I hadn't had enough time to prepare this round, so I could only meddle with the big things. There was still the affair and the mystery of whoever kept stealing pumpkins from the fields.

And actually, between your mother and Vern...

Ahem. Let's leave it there.

Well, whatever. This was enough. If I passed through near Edelheit again, I'd show you another kind of hell. Hahaha!

I was laughing to myself as I passed in front of the police station.

'...What's this? Who is that man? I don't recognize that silhouette.'

Lieutenant Evian, who had been exhausted moments ago, suddenly gripped a steel baton and strode outside.

No, wait. What's wrong?

I was just an innocent passerby. Why was he suddenly coming after me with a steel baton? There was no evidence or anything.

Still, anyone who got scared and ran now would be third-rate. As a first-rate criminal, I acted calmly even when suspected. I kept walking at the same pace as if I had not noticed.

There was no evidence or suspicion, so he'd look at me for a while and give up...

"You there. Stop."

What? Why had he pinpointed me so accurately?

Normally, I should stop here. Then I should answer casually and dispel his suspicions. Running off like an amateur would be the same as admitting guilt.

But why did Lieutenant Evian feel so strangely certain...?!

'That looks like the back of a criminal I saw before. I can't be mistaken. I don't know about anything else, but my instincts are never wrong.'

No, they could be wrong.

They weren't wrong this time, but still! If he was that certain, he might arrest some innocent person! The military state's motto about making a hundred innocent people suffer rather than letting one criminal escape...

He was following it well.

'I'll subdue him first and ask questions later.'

Fine. Let's run.

I took off at full speed.

"Stop right there!"

Evian roared, spinning the steel baton over his head.

The setting sun was red. Darkness returned to Edelheit, where long-buried secrets had been brought to light in a single day.

Footnotes:

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