It must have been a strange sight!
Right in the middle of the streets of New Coimbra, two overly rge Horseguys in badly-fitted tuxedos are kneeling in seiza [1] with flustered and loose horselips, trying to 'neigh neighing' an expnation with wild gesticutions of the hands!
And right across them, pacing left and right across them is me, the detective, Ayano Sane.
When the trail of questioned shopkeepers led your small and cute detective to the same Horseguys that did their little 'Welcome to Hauntgirl' bow two weeks ago, they bolted and ran off in the opposite direction!
Suspicious!
So what was a detective supposed to do?! I gave chase of course! Guilty conscious (theirs) must be one hell of a drug, because I have never run so fast in my life! My small little legs are still sore from that little sprint! With a leap of logical faith, I managed to catch up and grab onto the back colrs of the two Horseguys, surprisingly pulling back in their tracks! Even Annalie and Madi-san were surprised at this burst of energy, but if it comes to a mystery, your detective is unrelenting and resolute!
"... so! You are telling me, your detective, that Rufti just vanished into thin air...?!"
I hold both sides of my head, my head completely boggled by this act of incompetence! Incompetence! Absolute incomptence! If I had a hand-cannon ready, I would have started a golden sughter already! This arc could have been ended in a simple three-count if we found Rufti wherever she was, expined everything to her, and then got her to hand over the ntern that belongs to our common enemy, Fox-Mask!
But noooooooo, for a pair of oversized bodyguards, you two are really bad at your job!!!
Worse than the goats, definitely, definitely, worse than the goats!
Oh great-grans, give me strength, they're starting to bray their excuses again!
"Annalie! Transte!"
Our local priestess somehow is able to understand non-human speech. She dispyed that ability all the way back on Bylon Isnd when I encountered that sailorfuku [2] wearing girlcat, but that's a story for another day! Problem at hand! Problem at hand!
Annalie nods knowingly at the garbled garbage that the Horseguys are spouting, occasionally leaning in to listen in, before spping her fist onto an open palm, as if reaching enlightenment!
"Aya-chan...! They swear on the Great Spirit Of Hexmark that Rufti vanished without a trace while eating!"
" ... and I am saying that's bakamite! How does someone just disappear in broad daylight?! Before your very eyes?!"
Madi-san's eyes light up, pointing a single finger in the air at the obvious answer, "Magick!"
"Magick my small and cute foot, Madi-san! There's got to be a logical expnation to this! Either you two were so incompetent that you let her walk off while you got a parfait, or you two are in on it and let her be kidnapped by some crazy! Out with it! You can't tell me you two just forgot that you were guarding Rufti!"
The frantic gesturing gets even more frantic as Annalie leans in with a considerate ear to hear their plight!
"Aya-chan, I think they are telling the truth. My Goddess Sharryn would tell me if they weren't..."
Of course I know they are telling the truth! My [Detective's Authority] already confirms this for me, no gods or demons needed! I'm just absolutely frustrated that I missed the chance to clear things up with Rufti, and it came down to two bumbling non-humans!
The real question... is how.
How did Rufti disappear? Under the watchful eyes of two bodyguard right next to her too. You two saw nobody interact with her, so how does that happen?! A demon-snatching? Aliens? In MY Vespana?! Don't be ridiculous! I would even put it down to someone slipping you both a healthy dose of the pink mist or some odd mennifest being used at long range to mess with memories, but where is the evidence or foreshadowing for THAT? No, you two are just incompetent and your incompetent has now spread even to me! The pnk! You two are walking the pnk after this!
Fiddling with the dice in my hands, it doesn't seem that any part of this thing is lighting up. So was the shotgun method to solving this mystery with the blue truth doesn't quite work. It doesn't work because there isn't any evidence. Plus, their memories cut off right at the point where Rufti was spooning herself a parfait, and next moment she was gone!
Let's think about the possibilities here. If our fair Prinz is gone, where did she go? No, before that, why did she go? Did she go willingly? The Horseguys never mentioned any hint of a struggle, even the parfait was half-eaten, so that hints that she was quite happy to go along with the disappearance.
Rufti doesn't seem like the person who would wander far without bodyguards, so there must be an outside force somewhere! Just who is this outside force then? Who can hoodwink the Horseguys like this? I have my 'Usodo', the art of lying, but if there's no magick, no violence, no alibi, then someone was able to convince her to leave her company, and that person is likely frighteningly convincing, just like me, your little detective!
... Someone who can use trickpution on the level of my 'Usodo'... The 'Usodo' which cheated its way into convincing everyone at Galopin Chateau that your little detective moonlights as [La Monarquía]!
I hesitate, turning my gaze to Madi-san. No. Definitely not. Madi-san was with Oracion all morning. That means that there's someone else on that level in New Coimbra right now...!?
Dou, this line of reasoning is possible for your great detective, Ayano Sane!
... but we are no closer to figuring out the 'who' in this scenario.
Stomping my feet into the ground, I curse the incompetents with cute anger! If it was unseiso of me, I don't need to apologize, nobody understands Moonrunes between all of us anyway!
It is at this point that the big-boobed one speaks,
"Hmm hmm! But you guys gotta have remembered something right? Come now, try to remember, what is the st memory you have before your master vanished? Even if nobody was there, try and recall the st words spoken!"
An odd golden authority emnates through Madi-san's words, imperceptible to all but myself. Humph, probably just one of her 'tricks'. The booba-fiend is all talk, no substance! Annalie, transte!
Annalie pats the sobbing Horseguy who has a drenched sleeve held against its eyes. Disgusting! Do NOT let that sleeve near me!
"Mr. Cheval's really scared of you Ayaya... Ehhh? What's a 'Reality Orb Show Contestant' ??"
Beats me, your detective wakarimasen! And of course they would be scared! They think that I am literally [La Monarquía]! (not) The darkest, and most evil sorceress and bad biichii in New Coimbra right now!! That's a small detail you don't need to worry your goddess-shaped head Annalie, the less you know, the better off it is for you!
"But I know what that is...!"
Ahhh? Enlighten us then, booba-for-brains!
Madi-san motions for us, all five of us to come close with conspiratorial undertones...!
"There's this really hot show on OrbTV right now...
Its about girls who pick up girls in nightclubs...
In fact, I think that pickup-artisté show is taping in New Coimbra... right now!"
...
... ...
hai?!?!
Go Go And Learn Moonrunes With Aya-chan![1] seiza - A type of kneeling stance where the sitter kneels humbly with both legs closed and right against each other. Sometimes used as a punishment stance!
[2] sailorfuku - "I refuse to eborate!" "Its just a sailor uniform, don'cha read Sailxr Mxxn, Aya-chan?!" "I. REFUSE. To. Eborate!"
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