Three guesses!

The dead silence lasted two or three seconds before a piercing shout shattered it.

"Impossible!"

"Absolutely impossible!"

Chief Lark stared at the Spirit Board and roared in fury. Then he fixed his eyes on Arthur and shouted even more angrily.

"It was you!"

"You did this!"

"This was all your trickery!"

"You're framing me?"

As he spoke, the Chief drew his longsword. With a turn of his wrist, he pointed its tip at Arthur.

Despite the sword aimed at him, Arthur showed no trace of panic. He rested both elbows on the desk, interlaced his fingers, and covered his chin with his hands, his head bowed slightly.

"Framing you?"

Arthur sighed and shook his head slightly, his voice growing colder.

"Wouldn't that be a rather childish way to frame someone?

After all, we need only search your residence for the victims' belongings, and the truth will come out, won't it?"

The softly spoken question made Chief Lark's expression change drastically.

Everyone knew that the Axe Murderer had stolen large amounts of money and valuables from his victims.

"Shut your mouth!"

Chief Lark snapped the words out and glanced at the flintlock on the desk. Once he confirmed that Arthur couldn't reach it in time, he thrust his sword straight at him.

The thrust was swift and vicious, far beyond Arthur's [Basic Swordsmanship Lv2].

But no matter how fast it was, it couldn't outrun a bullet.

Even if that bullet was merely a lead ball fired from a flintlock.

Bang!

Chief Lark looked down at his blood-soaked chest, then up at Arthur, who held a flintlock in his hand. His eyes filled with disbelief.

The flintlock he had been watching still lay in its original place on the desk. The one Arthur had fired had come from the drawer.

Chief Lark's eyes widened!

There had actually been another flintlock in the drawer!

What family kept two flintlocks in a drawer?

The Creados family did.

"The most important thing for a Medium is staying safe, so every man of the Creados family must carry three guns!"

Old Charlie always repeated this several times whenever Arthur's uncles, Winters and Drake, went out.

And he didn't merely say it. He practiced what he preached.

There really were two flintlocks in the desk drawer in the Medium's Hall, another two hidden in the bookcase, and two more in a concealed compartment beneath the floor in the corner.

In fact, while reviewing his predecessor's memories, Arthur had marveled more than once at the "arsenal" Old Charlie had assembled.

And now?

Naturally, he had to put it to good use.

Arthur looked at Chief Lark glaring at him and broke into a smile.

He knew perfectly well that, after all his careful preparations, the man had been convinced he could kill Arthur with a single strike.

And afterward?

With the authority he had built over his years as Chief, Lark could easily quash the "false accusation."

He could even turn the accusation back on Arthur.

Arthur knew just as well that Lark had already worked all this out by the time he thrust his sword.

Except he hadn't realized that Arthur had deliberately shown him everything he had seen.

Hah! Hah!

Chief Lark gasped for breath. The pain in his chest told him that lead fragments had pierced his internal organs. He knew he was beyond saving. As his life ebbed away, he looked at Arthur again.

Arthur hadn't moved from his seat. Even his expression remained unchanged, a smile still lingering at the corners of his mouth.

At last, Chief Lark understood.

He anticipated everything!

No!

He arranged everything!

The speed of that draw was faster than any of the gunslingers I remember!

The Creados boy was baiting me all along!

At that thought, Chief Lark felt the pain intensify. He staggered backward repeatedly, only managing to steady himself again by using his longsword for support.

Arthur watched him, his smile unchanged.

The moment Lark revealed his murderous intent, Arthur had decided to kill him as quickly as possible-the man's position as Chief was far too troublesome for Arthur as he was now. With just a few maneuvers, Lark could ruin more than half of Arthur's plans to gain XP.

South Los's seven Chiefs weren't nobles, but in certain respects, their influence exceeded that of the nobility.

As luck would have it, Lark also seemed to be hiding his identity as the Axe Murderer.

Better still, he was inside the Medium's Hall.

Old Charlie hadn't merely hidden multiple flintlocks here. He had also installed layer upon layer of mechanisms. Using a magnet to control the planchette on the Spirit Board was one of his most trivial tricks.

Had it been necessary, not a single person currently inside the Medium's Hall, apart from Arthur, would have escaped. They would all have died without knowing why.

With conditions this favorable, Arthur felt it would be a terrible waste not to kill the man who secretly intended to murder him.

Of course, killing him wasn't the end.

More importantly-

He had to gain XP!

Arthur glanced discreetly at Scott, Fontel, and Wiggins.

All three still stood frozen in shock, clearly yet to recover.

Scott went without saying.

His position as a reporter would allow him to help Arthur in many ways.

As for Fontel and Wiggins?

Arthur believed Dokule was no fool. He couldn't possibly have chosen two random people as witnesses. These two had to possess strengths of their own.

And now, they would help him gain even more XP.

Arthur believed neither of them would refuse him.

In fact, they would be more than willing to help.

After all, they needed forgiveness from him, a Medium, didn't they?

With those thoughts, Arthur turned his gaze back to Chief Lark, who was still gritting his teeth and using his sword as a crutch to keep himself upright. The amusement in Arthur's eyes deepened.

He thanked the man once again.

Lark's arrival had resolved his most pressing problem. He deserved that gratitude.

At the sight of Arthur's increasingly radiant smile, Chief Lark's eyes bulged, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

Splurt!

Crimson stained his blue uniform. Chief Lark desperately wanted to finish Arthur with a single stroke, but when he tightened his grip on his sword again, he couldn't even raise it.

In the end, he barely managed to lift the longsword a fraction before it fell heavily onto the carpet.

Then, without the sword to support him, Chief Lark collapsed and did not rise again. Blood gushed like a spring, and the police cap he had been clutching tightly slipped onto the carpet. Its brim, police insignia, and old-fashioned Sheriff's Badge were immediately drenched in blood.

Crimson covered the gleaming silver-white, making the contrast painfully stark.

Yet no one paid it any further attention.

Recovering from his shock, Scott picked up his Charcoal Pencil and began writing furiously.

News!

Huge news!

His reporter's instincts told him that this incident would send shock waves through all of South Los!

Fontel and Wiggins exchanged looks, each seeing the shock in the other's eyes.

They swore they had never experienced anything as harrowing as today in their entire lives.

First, the Medium's curse!

Then, the revelation that Chief Lark was the Axe Murderer!

Either event alone would have been shocking enough, let alone both happening one after the other.

The two young men from different social classes were left utterly speechless.

But Malinda Julius Caesar was different.

There was surprise on her face too, but anxiety dominated it.

She hurriedly asked a question.

"Mr. Credos, did you see Anna?"

Anyone would have noticed her anxiety from her hurried voice and worried expression.

Arthur was no exception.

But with [Keen Eyes] and [Reading People], Arthur noticed that her anxious expression had lingered a little too long, as though she feared someone might fail to notice it.

An expression like that was undoubtedly false.

She was putting on an act!

She was trying to hide something!

But what was she hiding?

Arthur narrowed his eyes slightly. He had three rough guesses.