Miniaturization Research

Rhode's eyes lit up.

As a mage, the killer would naturally have a special interest in Magic Equipment like this, while caring little for ordinary money.

Of course, plenty of necklaces were set with rubies. Whether the one Julie had been wearing was that piece of Magic Equipment remained unknown.

But that was precisely why the killer kept striking.

He could not be sure, so he had to snatch them one by one and check!

How ruthless.

It was only a necklace. If he wanted to look at it, or even take it, he could simply steal or rob it. Why did he have to kill everyone?

In any case, this clue was extremely important. Rhode felt as though the thoughts in his head had suddenly become much clearer.

Following this lead might uncover more details.

"Julie, do you... do you have any relatives here?" Rhode asked.

"We live in Tarren Mill. Dad came here to go into business with my aunt..." Julie began crying again.

"All right. Tell me where your aunt lives, and I'll let her know to come see you."

Then Rhode tugged at Brother Joshua beside him. "A word in private."

They went to the doorway, where Rhode took out another gold coin and placed it in Brother Joshua's hand. "Sorry for the trouble, Brother, but please look after this girl for the next few days. Once she's fully recovered, I'll send someone to take her to her aunt's home."

Brother Joshua lightly tossed the gold coin in his hand and said with a peculiar smile, "You were so desperate to save her earlier that I thought she must be some nobleman's daughter. Two gold coins to save a commoner, and this woman isn't even... particularly pretty. You certainly don't mind spending."

Rhode frowned.

Although those words displeased him, this was hardly the time to say anything.

The belief that nobles' lives mattered and commoners' lives did not was simply too deeply ingrained!

"Oh, I understand now. She's valuable because you want to solve the case." Brother Joshua suddenly looked enlightened.

That matched the thinking of the nobles who had gathered outside the woods.

They truly could not understand Rhode's actions.

"A human life is at stake. I won't say anything more," Rhode said. "Just do as I asked. If you need more money later, I'll give it to you."

"All right." Brother Joshua gave Rhode an ambiguous smile. "Although I don't quite understand your intentions, at least this shows that you're a kindhearted noble and a kindhearted mage. I'll take good care of her for you."

With that, Brother Joshua turned and returned to the Monastery's hall.

Rhode first went to find Lieutenant Drake.

While Rhode had taken Julie for treatment, Lieutenant Drake had led the soldiers in clearing up the scene, then returned to the barracks.

"Apart from the murder in the alley and today's case in the woods, have there been other murders in or outside the city?" Rhode asked the moment he saw Lieutenant Drake.

"Yes, but..."

"But what?"

"Those cases were all quite far apart. I think even the most recent one was... was several months ago?" Lieutenant Drake said after a moment's thought. "That's why we didn't connect them before."

"Then I need you to help me look into the exact times and locations of all those murders over the past year. Most importantly, find out whether a necklace was among the missing items in every case."

Lieutenant Drake nodded. "I'll make sure it gets done."

Then he asked, "Have you found a new lead, Lord Rhode? Why investigate necklaces?"

"Julie—oh, the girl I took for treatment—had her necklace stolen," Rhode said. "I suspect the killer's target is a piece of Magic Equipment called the Ruby Necklace."

"The killer is a mage, so he's stealing Magic Equipment," Lieutenant Drake nodded thoughtfully. "I'll get to the bottom of it, but since those cases happened quite a while ago, I'll need some time."

"I'll head back and wait for your good news," Rhode said with a smile. "I have other things to work on anyway."

What Rhode had to work on was, naturally, his research into arcane golems.

But his research had now taken a different direction.

Rather than rushing to develop them for combat, he would first explore their use in reconnaissance.

This, too, was for the sake of the case.

Although he could send beggars to keep watch, they were not professional scouts, so they were bound to overlook potentially important clues. Besides, their target was a mage, and mages were very good at detecting surveillance.

But if he could create some arcane golems that were difficult to notice and have them perform reconnaissance in place of the beggars, they would presumably be more effective.

The capabilities required of such constructs would differ from those of combat-oriented arcane golems.

A combat model needed stronger attacks, better defenses, and so on. A reconnaissance model, however, needed sharper senses, a better field of vision, and speed. Most importantly, it had to be stealthy!

And to be stealthy, the first requirement was naturally a small body.

If a normal-sized arcane golem swaggered down the street, it would immediately become the center of attention. How the hell was it supposed to scout anything?

But now came the problem.

The spells Rhode had previously researched, whether Mage Hand or Great Fireball, had all been drawn as spell models and then combined, multiplying both their size and their power. In other words, he had made small things larger.

Even the giant magical mech, which was still at the design stage, relied on layering countless complex construct spell models.

But now Rhode wanted to make an arcane golem smaller. Going from large to small turned out to be harder.

In other words, a Mage Hand was originally the size of a normal human palm. Rhode could now make it two or three meters wide without much difficulty, but he had no idea how to shrink it to the size of a finger.

That required an entirely new approach.

But how exactly should he go about it?

The spell models of existing spells formed stable structures, from their spell nodes to the energy circuits connecting them.

They could be linked end to end through key nodes, but that would only make them larger and larger-the opposite of his current research goal.

Rhode had no idea where to begin.

Time passed quickly as his thoughts wandered in search of an answer.

White moonlight slanted through the window. The entire city had fallen quiet. Night had already arrived.

Lilia's laughter drifted from the inner room now and then. She was still playing Gomoku with Sally.

There were simply too few forms of entertainment in this world. Rhode was fine, since he could focus on researching spells, but a young girl like Lilia could practice swordsmanship or wander around during the day, only to find herself bored at night.

She did not want to disturb Rhode's studies, so she often roped Sally into playing board games with her.

I should go take a look. After all that thinking without getting anywhere, watching the two girls play would be a good way to relax.