Chapter 99: Following the lead
They all stayed quiet after what Janus said.
"*Ahem* Formally," Selene said, "Captain Selene, court investigations, and this is---"
Then she gestured at Janus.
"Janus is what I’m called as," he said. He didn’t offer a title, or any formal post’s name, just said what he usually says.
Darin felt Elyra go very still beside him.
He looked at her as her eyes were wide open in shock.
"Wait...Janus? The Janus? Clearance Six Janus?" she said, her voice was slightly shivering.
"Oh, I already have a fan base?" he smirked.
Darin’s mind was already working on what he had just heard, ’A clearance six mage’.
The two Major Kingdoms can form and break ties in an instant, Dukedoms can wage wars against each other, and Counties would just fall in worshiping the power of one just to get favourism of a clearance six mage.
And one such being was standing in front of them.
"So what?" Jinhai growled.
’SO WHAT?’ Darin and Elyra screamed in their thoughts looking at Jinhai.
"Did you examine brother Shen?" he asked.
"I did," Janus replied.
"And?"
"Well, no wound, no poison, no trace of casting of a spell, but aftermath does give me an idea that it’s a work of parasite," he said.
"Maybe something he used to have for a long time near him, and just waited for him the right time to do the deed and vanish," he concluded with an assumption.
"His mala’s missing a bead." Darin, still in thoughts, said something aloud.
Jinhai glared at Darin as if this information was not to be revealed. But none of the people were looking at him.
Janus turned his head slowly toward Darin, and raised his brows on the sentence Darin had just said.
"A bead?" he repeated.
"Yes, there are always a hundred and eight in the mala," Darin said, and then glanced at Jinhai.
"He counted them constantly out of habit, there’s hundred and seven now, no damage to the string, no sigh it broke or fell."
Janus said nothing for a long moment.
"A resident," Janus muttered. "Small enough to sit in a man’s hand a thousand times and never be noticed, small enough to leave with nothing behind but a gap no one would think to count."
"That," he said, "is a considerably better theory than the one I walked in with."
He then looked at Jinhai.
"You weren’t going to volunteer that piece of information?" he asked.
"No," Jinhai replied, "I wasn’t."
"Wise," Janus’s mouth curved in a faint smile, "I’d have wondered about you if you had."
Selene looked at three of them simultaneously, and then decided to speak up.
"Someone," she said, "is going to explain to me... everything from the beginning."
.
.
.
The five of them stood on the bridge. Opposite to Darin, Elyra, and Jinhai, were Janus and Selene, all leaned on the reiling, facing each other.
"So," Selene said, arms crossed, "we agree on the premise. Something in that mala killed Monk Shen, and it isn’t there anymore."
"A highly probably lead, yes. But not the conclusion," Janus added, and he then pointed at Darin.
"You," he said. "Send a tele-post to your professor, and ask him to confirm from other monasteries throughout the world, whether the monks that died in the same manner had a bead missing from their mala,"
"Yes, Sir." Darin nodded.
"Now that makes the mala’s history the only evidence worth chasing for now, until confirmation, that is. So where did it came from?" Janus questioned looking at Jinhai.
"Monks don’t buy their own malas," Jinhai said. "They’re gifted, or given at donation, Shen’s was old. Older than most of ours, if a bead of replaced, it wasn’t recent."
"How recent is ’nor recent’?" Selene asked.
"Months atleast," Jinhai’s jaw tightened slightly. "I would’ve noticed sooner."
"Then we need donation records...if there are any? Whover supplies prayer items, incense, malas, all of it, there has to be a logbook," Elyra said looking at Jinhai.
"There’s a man," he said. "Comes up the mountain once a week, and has been for as long as I can remember, leaves goods at the storeroom by the southern gate."
"Who receives them?" Selene asked.
"Whoever’s on duty that day, no one checks anything against a list, we’re monks not merchants," Jinhai said.
"So there’s no verification," Janus said.
"No one confirms the goods match a manifest or the man is who he says he is?"
"Why would they?" Jinhai asked. "He’s been coming for years."
"Wow, you’re all so intelligen- ugh" Selene hit Janus with her elbow to make him go quiet.
Darin and Elyra were getting nervous for some reason looking at them.
Selene exhaled and pinched her temples. "Then we need four things, where the donations are stored, and for how long before they’re used. Who else has access to that storeroom. Whether anyone’s ever actually confirmed this man’s identity through any local guild of mercenaries or merchants, a name, residence, anything on record, and whether the timing of his visits lines up with when Shen’s mala would’ve changed."
"I can get the storeroom access and monastery side, we have been given authority by our professor," Elyra said.
"Ofcourse you are given the authority, that’s how that guy is..." Janus muttered.
"What?" Selene looked at Janus.
"Nothing, Darin, Selene and I will go down to the mountain, if there’s a guild registration, it’ll be in the town, not here...Elyra will not only look for records, but take care of Jinhai, is that fine with us?" Janus said.
"Yes, Sir.!!" Both Darin and Elyra agreed to it.
"Wait a minute...I don’t need anyone’s protection," Jinhai said after everyone agreed on their job.
"Yeah, sorry kid...nobody’s asking for your opinion-ugh..." Janus was hit by Selene’s elbow, yet again.
"Look, Jinhai...your brother wouldn’t want you being so disassociated if he was around, we’re here not just to investigate, but also to look after anyone who has been close to Shen...so just listen to us, there’s no harm in following a lovely lady is it?" Selene spoke up.
"..." Jinhai didn’t say anything, and just kept looking at the floor.
"Just for a while, until we get back?" Selene pressed further.
Jinhai looked her, and then at Elyra, who was already looking at him with pity of a child.
"Alright..."