Meeting (9)

【”Here is what happened…”】

After moving the documents from her desk to the table between the sofas, Natasha started explaining the case.

【”Have you ever heard of the Westminster resort hotel? It’s a hotel in the snow mountains.”】

【”Well, yes, it’s pretty famous. I’ve thought about going there one day but it’s a bit…”】

【”I’ve actually been there for a stay once when I was 5 years old. I remember it was built on the front-side of a cliff, so there were two entrances; one from the rooftop, the other from the first floor.”】

【”From the rooftop? Where does that door lead to?”】

【”It leads to a viewing platform. I recall the view was great, and they had binoculars that you could use for a fee. There was also a path from the rooftop to the top of the cliff. It led to a forest that makes for a nice picnic spot.”】

A resort hotel, a forest on the cliff, and a viewing platform.

Worried that I wouldn’t remember all this, I borrowed a notebook from Natasha.

【”The incident was discovered in the early morning of November 12th. One of the hotel’s security guards found the body while patrolling the ground floor’s garden.”】

【”A garden? How big is it?”】

【”Hmm, I don’t have all the details, but I recall it was really big when I went there. It had a wide pond, fruit trees, a hedge and…for some reason, they had weird bronze statues all over the place. They looked a bit eerie.”】

Bronze statues? What?

【”The body was apparently found near one of those statues, close to the hotel.”】

Natasha turned the page of a document and pulled out a cross-sectional view from above of the crime scene.

There was a long line on the left end of the sketch with the word ‘Hotel’ written horizontally on it. I’m guessing this means everything behind that line is the hotel, and the right side is the garden.

Mid-way through the garden, there was one circle that stood out.

【”What’s that circle in the middle supposed to represent?”】

【”It’s a bronze statue.”】

【”What kind of statue?”】

【”Hold on, it should be somewhere in the documents.”】

Natasha checked the photos scattered on the table one by one, and then suddenly shouted “Here it is!”.

I took the photo Natasha presented to me.

A picture of a soldier riding a white horse. Probably taken from a low angle.

Both the horse and the soldiers were simple statues, but the sword that the soldier was pointing towards the clear sky was reflecting the sunlight.

It was clearly a real sword.

Moreover, there was a red liquid on it.

【”Is that a bloodstain?”】

【”Yes, it matched the victim’s blood, without a doubt.”】

A bronze statue, a sword, and a bloodstain.

In the soldier’s grasp, the sword was at least 2 meters (6’6″ ft) high in the sky.

As for the the statue itself, it was fixed to ground and didn’t seem light enough that a single person could hope to lift it.

【”Hold on, are you going to tell me that’s the murder weapon?”】

【”Of course not. Here’s the murder weapon.”】

Natasha took out another photo.

【”It’s the holy sword, Blutgang.”】

I gave the picture a good long look, but there wasn’t much to see save for a neat scabbard and a simple sword that looked like it came from another era.

Honesty, it looked dull.

【”What am I looking at?”】

【”Like I said, it’s a holy sword. A holy weapon with the divine protection of spirits.”】

This is giving me a headache. What’s with this case?