Chapter 14

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Although I had become general, at least in name, I mostly worked the same jobs. We weren’t in any wars and I couldn’t lead troops anyway, so it made sense.

It made sense, but… it felt more like I got promoted to a guy who does odd jobs than a general. The jobs had gotten weirder too.

Like today, my job was to stare at footprints stuck on a high-class carpet!

“Should we make a copy of this?” I asked.

“Probably. There’s a ton of them.”

The laidback voice came from Yuan. He had been assigned to the same job as me.

I was technically his superior and yet I never felt any respect from him.

Expecting respect from Yuan is like expecting Tina to be kind to me though!

Yuan seemed to have no intention of doing anything, so I began tracing the footprints on thin paper.

Though it felt like grunt work, worrying about that would make me cry.

After I finished a couple of footprint traces, a timid voice came from the back of the room.

“Um, what about… the corpse?”

“Oh, forgot about that.”

The footprints stood out too much that I forgot about the corpse!

I remember now, our job was to investigate a murder case!

We were sent to a small manor southeast of the castle city to investigate, as an aristocrat was killed there.

The early morning summoning by the violent princess made me sleepy. It made me sleepy, but if I didn’t investigate I’d get killed.

I examined the corpse on the bed.

Ah yes, he’s definitely dead. He was so dead in fact, that his death was almost satisfying, considering how dead he was.

His corpse was covered in blood and a staggering amount of blood had spurted out around him. Must’ve been a slash from the front.

I gazed at the corpse dressed in loose-fitting pyjamas—I’m not being rude, I’m just spitting facts.

“This wasn’t the work of an assassin, but no doubt someone very skilled. Probably a man,“ I said.

“Why’s that?”

“The murder weapon was a long sword. Assassins use short swords or daggers and they finish it in one strike to the vitals. And you see how only one slash was enough to almost sever his right arm from his shoulder? The murderers gotta be a man to have that much power.”

“True. Their footprints were big too.”

Yuan was looking at the paper I traced the footprints onto.

It was a man’s footprint for sure, and they all seemed to be the same size.

Yuan held the paper above his head and squinted, gazing deeply at it.

“So whoever has the same size footprints is the criminal. Let’s start comparing with you, Lu.”

“How many people do you think have the same size feet!? You’re bound to get the wrong guy! And take me off the suspect list!”

“But it’s best to start with the most suspicious person…”

“Your colleague should not be the most suspicious person!”

You’re making me sad! Please don’t make me go through this.

The mud-caked footprints mysteriously started from the bed and then throughout the room.

The culprit had broken into the see-through cabinets, filing cupboards and desk drawers and the insides were scattered around the room too.

There was no way of knowing what was missing, so I made a mental note to ask someone later.

Arms crossed, I was lost in thought until my leg was lifted.

Okay, Yuan, don’t compare my foot to my drawing. Tina buried me in the garden yesterday.

“Don’t you think it’s weird that these footprints start from the corpse? There weren’t any at the entrance.”

“… You’re right.”

“Which means the culprit crawled on the ceiling to get here. We’re dealing with a human capable of crawling on walls and ceilings—the only person able to do that is the one called the reincarnation of a gecko, you.”

“I can’t do that either! And who’s been calling me the reincarnation of a gecko!?”

“Vyro said it. He told me you could stick onto the ceiling.”

“And you believed him!?”

“I figured anything’s possible for you.”

“Why are you like this!?”

Use your brain! Maybe they just took off their shoes!

Once I explained that possibility to Yuan, he nodded, and yet still compared my footprints.

… I’m so glad my feet were smaller. No doubt I would’ve been framed if they fit.

Afterwards, we wrote a report, returned to the castle and submitted that to her Highness. Our job was done.

Phew, case closed! No criminal was caught but it’s case closed for me!

I returned home and told Tina about it.

She said, “They probably broke in with teleportation magic.”

Oh yeah.

No way I could catch them then… was what I thought, but I had to fight the culprit a few months later.

But who cares about that!

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