MTLNOVEL Chapter 7: The Investigation Begins!
The day passed quickly, and after a long, sleepless night, Arthur finally woke up when he felt the sun peeking from behind the curtain. He blinked slowly several times, trying to process everything before he realized that it wasn't a dream. He really got isekai-ed when his life just turned out to get better.
'Man, God sure knows how to ruin my life. What a bastard.' Arthur chuckled bitterly.
After washing his face and brushing his teeth – fortunately, he wasn't isekai-ed to a more primitive era, or he would be crazy if he couldn't even do that – he took the spare clothes given by Shira and put them on immediately.
While he was still sad about the blazer that he couldn't even show off properly in his world, he had to admit that whoever was responsible for this attire knew what he or she was doing. The simple brown clothes, surprisingly, looked really cool. He liked the loose fit, way better than his tight jeans. And even though it was a hot day, the fabric felt breezy.
"The clothes are not bad, right?" Shira's voice suddenly greeted him, and when Arthur turned around, he could see the leader of the Kurata tribe smiling at him. "While I don't know from where did you come from, the clothes you wore were ridiculous. The jacket was so gaudy that people would think you are some sort of a noble and became an easy target, and that ridiculously tight pants? Man, I was so afraid it would rip whenever you walked. You better throw away those pants as far as possible, okay?"
Arthur could only rub the back of his neck sheepishly. He didn't have the guts to correct the man that it was a blazer and jeans, not a jacket and ridiculously tight pants.
After fixing his hair one more time, he looked at his new appearance in the mirror one more time before smiling in a satisfied manner. Even though he still couldn't accept the fact that he was isekai-ed to this world, if there was one thing he learned from living in the street, it was to have a strong adaptability. He could mourn his loss later when he had the time, but for now, he had to stabilize his situation first.
"So, can I start investigating the incident?" He asked Shira next to him.
"Sure. What do you need to do first?" Shira asked back.
Arthur pondered for a moment before deciding, "First, where is the written report about the incident? I need to learn as much as possible before taking any action here."
However, the only answer he received was confusion from the lanky man. "A written report? Why would we do that? This is not a history-changing moment, right?" Arthur snapped his head in disbelief when he heard that, but when he saw the seriousness on Shira's face, the corner of his lips couldn't help but twitch a little.
'Man, there are so many things wrong here that I don't even know how to criticize him. If they didn't even write this incident, how would they solve this matter? Also, writing only for a history-changing moment? Really? How many things lost in history if they only focused on the big thing? Man, this era is more backward than I thought it would be.'
"Hey, Arthur, are you okay? Is there anything wrong with what I said?" Shira asked as he saw Arthur's face showed genuine confusion.
'Honestly, how come someone as smart as him couldn't see anything wrong here?' Arthur still complained inwardly. Still, this was his reality right now, and he had to cope with it. "Okay, if there is no written report, who do you think knows about the incident the best? I need to learn all the details about what happened that day, or it would be impossible for me to solve anything here."
"Oh, that would be easy! Come here!" Shira waved his hand, asking Arthur to follow him.
They walked out of the infirmary, and the first scene that greeted Arthur was a bunch of people working together to clean the ruins of the building spread everywhere. It seemed that was the impact of the battle he interrupted yesterday.
He couldn't help but marvel at the scene in front of him, of how the real magic was used here. There was one person who created a small tornado to lift a big chunk of ruins and throw it far to the place beyond the horizon, another person using a spear similar to the Guan Dao used by Shira yesterday to chop off everything into small pieces, and there was even a person who controlled the wind to sweep the ground from the small ruins that could potentially trip anyone who walked there.
"So, your tribe specializes in wind magic, huh? That is convenience." Arthur commented casually.
"We are that obvious, huh?" Shira chuckled. "But yes, we are the proud users of wind magic, powered by the astral energy harnessed from the brightest star in the sky. It is chaotic and pretty hard to control, but damn effective to change the terrain of the battlefield instantly. It is a pity that the battle two days ago was here, in our home, or we would wreak havoc the moment those fools from the Eldra tribe came." He let out a deep sigh.
'Astral energy and the brightest star in the sky, huh? So, their power is related to astronomical objects? Interesting…' Arthur saved that part in the back of his mind for now. It never hurt to learn how the power in this world worked. If anything, it would be valuable information for him in the future.
They walked through the ruined road for a while, spending a few times stopping and talking to Shira's men about their work and something casual like their day or their family. Arthur ignored Shira's questioning gaze as he knew that for a detective, connection to the other people was important because he didn't know from who key information would come, and a connection was always built from communication before anything else.
After about three minutes of walking, though, they finally reached a small house that was far older than any other building Arthur had seen before. Before he could ask any question about how this house was intact when everything else was ruined, Shira opened the door and said with solemn eyes, "Welcome to our Elder Hansa's house, Arthur. Here, everything you need to know about the past will be answered. Please, come in."