Pokémon Detective Case Files

Chapter 460 The Source of Production Rumors

Chapter 462 The Source of Production Rumors

"I—I've never seen anything so terrifying!"

As if startled, the waitress immediately denied it, shaking her head like a frightened cooing bird.

"Haven't you noticed anything unusual since we parted ways yesterday?"

Caldelia pressed on, her languid tone tinged with a hint of complaint.

The receptionist immediately panicked. "To be honest, apart from hearing about the king's passing and the fact that you three guests disappeared from the hotel early this morning, there shouldn't be anything else that seems strange. But you travelers should know more about those things than I do."

She twisted the hem of her tavern uniform, racking her brains. "Besides that, since the tavern was closed yesterday, I haven't heard anything else from the usual customers. Even if I wanted to provide you with new clues, Master Cattleya, I'm powerless to do so."

It doesn't sound like a lie—

Cattleya's general ability "Insight" was successfully activated. Although it might not be effective against a deep and calculating person like Leclerc, it should be enough against an ordinary person like the hostess.

"So—what about Luna?"

Gadriya gazed at the trembling waitress and posed her final question, like a future trainer issuing a final, all-out order before the outcome of a battle.

However, she was met with another blank shake of the head. "I haven't seen Luna either. I thought she was with you guys—to be honest, although I met this apprentice who works in the palace gardens a few months ago, Luna's whereabouts are always unpredictable, like a shuttlecock swaying in the wind. What do you need that guy for?"

No, it was just a casual question.

Just as the monk was about to end this fruitless conversation, a gruff voice came from the back room of the tavern, "Emily! Where did that three-year-old cider barrel in the cellar go?"

The curtain was suddenly flung open, and a middle-aged man wearing a leather apron walked out, clutching an empty wine glass in his hand.

He was the tavern owner and the waitress's father.

"Just put it in the usual spot."

Miss Emily, the waitress whose name was called, turned around and replied, "Didn't the palace recently reduce its orders? That barrel of wine should still be in that innermost corner."

"I've looked." The boss, who had just been busy with renovations, shook his head vigorously. "There's nothing there. Could it have been stolen by those damned guards?"

The owner's daughter frowned in protest. "This—this is impossible. It's just a barrel of wine. Even if they drank it all on the spot, they wouldn't necessarily take such a large wooden barrel, would they?"

"Who knows?" the shopkeeper said, wiping his brow with annoyance. "Maybe they secretly carried it away using that clay giant statue at the palace gate. Anyway, the wine is gone."

Just then, Cattleya noticed that Emily's expression suddenly changed. She might not know where the cider was, but this waitress named Emily had obviously remembered something.

"That barrel of wine—" the monk suddenly spoke, "was it originally intended for the royal palace?"

The father and daughter were both stunned.

The shop owner was the first to react: "Yes, His Majesty the King—the former King—was a big fan of this flavor. However, he seems to have gotten tired of it lately and has unilaterally stopped ordering."

A barrel of cider reserved for the king disappeared on the day he was murdered.

This reminded Cattleya of Hugo XVI's last words to these travelers: "Luna—I've been craving cider lately, send some over when you have time."

Looking back now, those might have been Hugo's true last words before his death.

Was that Hugo's impromptu remark? Or was it some kind of hint the king gave to his spies?

Is this just another useless sideline, or has she finally rolled a useful number?

"Cattleya, have you found anything here?"

The newcomers were Lian Wu, a group of thieves who had split up.

This usually reliable thief was now covered in tattered packages and smelled of something that had been rotting in a garbage dump.

Under the murderous gaze of the waitress Emily, he wisely stopped outside the tavern and began exchanging information with Cattleya right there on the dirt road.

Splash splash splash

The thief unpacked his bags one by one, scattering all sorts of junk on the ground, making it look like a mobile junkyard.

"You spent a whole day's action points and all you brought back was this—trash?" Cattleya picked up a fairly intact rattle drum, wrinkling her nose in disdain. "Do you really think you can find that big-bearded rumor-monger with these children's toys?"

"To you and me, these things are indeed just children's toys," Lian Wu said, while continuing to pull things out of his seemingly endless pockets. "But they all once belonged to that suspicious person who spread nursery rhymes on the street."

As he sorted through the rubble, he recounted the day's investigation to his teammates.

"As far as the king's execution case goes, the nursery rhyme that person spread can no longer be considered a rumor, can it?"

Upon hearing the rumors circulating on the street, Cattleya narrowed her eyes.

Whether it's the detail of chopping the king's head off with an axe or the description of the garden where the incident occurred, this information should have been kept secret by Count Leclerc and no outsiders should have known it.

"That's the crux of the matter," Lian Wu said solemnly. "The details of the murder deep within the palace shouldn't have been leaked. The only reasonable explanation is that the person who fabricated the nursery rhyme was an insider."

"It could even be the killer himself," the intuitive monk replied without room for doubt.

"And we can use these items to trace back to that person."

The thief crossed his arms.

At this moment, only one unopened small package remained in front of him, and judging from its size, he could at least confirm that it did not contain Hugo's head.

"This is the world of games, and we can take advantage of its unique mechanics."

"You mean—the [Lost Item Tracking] magic that Lingju learned from the labyrinth scroll?"

Cattleya raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "But according to the setup Wanlong showed us before, these ordinary items that the other party only used once and have no emotional connection with shouldn't be able to serve as a medium for casting spells. At least one of the two conditions must be met. Even I, in reality, can't predict any accurate information from these things the murderer used to fool children."

"Tools for soothing children are really nothing special. So—what about this?"

The thief Lian Wu's usually calm voice finally revealed a hint of smugness.

It was because he found this item in the garbage heap that he was so confident in rushing back to reunite with his teammates.

At this moment, he finally opened the package that had never been seen before.

Lying inside was a magnificent scepter!

There was even a noticeable dent at the top of the staff, as if it had been used to strike something forcefully.