Euphie x Alviss solving A Mystery (Gift to Kirroha) v2

Added more details because the original one sucked, sorry Kirroha.

“A new mission?”

It was a Monday, a normal nothing-is-wrong Monday. Lenarche decided to go down to the mission
station, to see if there were any high-paying requests today.

But she found something more intriguing. Alviss was leaning on the counter looking aghast. She inched
closer, whilst hiding behind the wall covering the stairs.

“Yup!” The girl said cheerfully (and I forgot the name laddydadyda).

“Er, with?”

“Can’t say. The person specifically requested for a C-Rank Diviner. And you’re the first person available,”
the girl shrugged.

Alviss frowned, was he being set up? No matter, it was a mission and he always fulfills his missions no
matter what.

“I’ll get my weapons then,” he replied after stalking up the staircases. Lenarche whistled as if she had
just walked down and then sped right away to the girl at the mission station.

“So, you really don’t know who the girl is?”

“Lenarche!”

The girl looked around with her eyes, and motioned for Lenarche to lean closer.

“It’s Euphemia de'Renquold,” the girl said solemnly.

Lenarche shuddered. She remembered a rant from Alviss that he HATED the de’Renquolds. No
wonder the girl didn’t want to mention her name.

---

The carriage shook and bumped the whole journey towards the mansion that the requester wanted him
to go to.

Yawning, he stretched and looked out the window.

Quite beautiful place the person got here, he thought to himself impressed. He then double checked his
supplies and nodded in satisfaction. Whatever this person wanted, he’ll have the materials to finish it.

After his first 10 steps onto the area, he stopped frozen in his tracks. He noticed the logo. It was in his
nightmares every night.

It was the logo of the de’Renquold family. And there she was. The spawn of the devil.

Euphemia de’Renquold.

He immediately turned around to hop back onto the carriage, but apparently the driver had the carriage
ride out in a burst of speed. Was the driver in on it too?

He just needed to get this over with, and then it’s done.

…Right?

He gulped, and walked bravely towards the awaiting Euphemia.

----

“You’re early,” the purple, black, and white doned girl aristocrat remarked.

Alviss breathed in and out.

“I like to be early, saves the trouble of the person having to wait.. yes?”

“Likewise.”

She mentioned him to follow her.

“I’m going to be debriefing you now. You won’t need weapons for this,” she ordered, indicating with her
eyes at Alviss’ throwing knives.

“Oh. Alright then,” Alviss pouted and stored his weapons in his backpack. You never know when you’ll
need to use them.

The entrance to the mansion was grand and unique. Gold leaves and décor seemed to be the door itself,
inlaid on wood. The handle itself was pure diamond. Whoever owned this house must be truly rich.

However, the inside was breathtaking.

A gigantic chandelier was mounted on the ceiling, giving the room a glimmering feeling. It was as if a
party was being hosted, when it wasn’t.

Furniture was randomly laid about, as if a mad man had been doing the interior decorating. A chair next
to a table while a lamp was sitting.. on the chair. Cobwebs filled the corners, giving the implication that
no one had lived in it a long time.

A large ornate rug seemed to come all the way from Asia to be there, with patterns of animals being
sacrificed and cavemen dancing around a large bonfire.

Alviss immediately felt out of place. Euphie smiled.

“Feeling poor already? Figures,” she remarked.

Whatever opinions Alviss had about her, immediately turned sour.

“What’s the request, Euphemia de’Renquold?”

Her teeth clenched. She never liked that name.

“Please call me, Euphie. Your request? Solving a 35 year old crime,” she laughed.

It was like a sound of chimes blowing in the wind. Large wind chimes the size of elephants.

It was beautiful yet chilling and evil.

“Is this some kind of joke?”

“No. The person who died, he was my grandfather. We all thought he died of cancer when he was
discovered in this very house. But you know, there were signs of foul play…”

Alviss waited for more, this couldn’t just be it.

“A daughter of one of the head maids that served here during his time, recalled her mom being
threatened by a strange man to slip some glowing pills into Grandfather’s food.”

“Possibly poisonous pills,” Alviss remarked.

“We have taken that into possibility, yes. But, you see, the pills.. my Grandfather had this disease. He
would always cough up a little bit of what he ate all the time. A fragment of that pill was found in this
dumpster, which was quite old. But the pill had signs of being dumped in the trash very recently,” her
voice then turned to steel.

“We want to know, my family and I, why a mysterious person would throw away this pill after 35 years.
We assume that they are the killer.”

“Wait,” Alviss interrupted, “about the pill. It might be some magical pill that sped up the growth rate of
the cancer cells. Isn’t that possible? If we could find who manufactured this pill, then we can trace it to
the killer.”

Euphie’s lips twitched into a smile. She made the right choice after all. The older Tribe wasn’t worth her time.

“Indeed, yes. But we have already searched around the area for pill factories. None received the order to make the cancer growing pill. We can rule that one out. It seemed to be homemade. Before I forget, here’s a file of suspects that we have gathered. The most to gain when Grandfather died, if he did die at all of 'natural' causes.”
Euphie said disdainfully.

Alviss was intrigued. The murderer must be still alive, or it’s the descendent of him or her. Which
means, the suspects that HAVE children are top priority. But, he thought sadly, it could be a very young
accomplice that found the evidence and trashed it.

He sighed, this was going to be a tough one.

----

Alviss was sitting in his room, looking over the case files.

[Suspect #1:
Deegil Nif
Age At Time Of Murder: 40
Occupation: Butler
Family:
Wife (divorced)
3 Children
Age (Past):
Keenan 15
Chalotte 14
Bivel 3

Suspect #2:
Nickel Deld
Age At Time Of Murder: 30

Occupation: Chef
Family:
Adopted Daughter
Kaleen 1

Suspect #3:
Karil Myst
Age At Time Of Murder: 28
Occupation: Maid
Family:
Husband (Deceased Before Murder) 30
No Children

Suspect #4:
Helen Myth
Age At Time Of Murder: 13
Occupation:
Playmate for Stephanius de'Renquold
Family:
None Known Of
Adopted at Birth]

His eyes started getting heavy and using all his energy, he managed to keep them up. He then
reached for the last file; the victim’s.

[Victim: Edgar de’Renquold
Age: 60
Occupation: Land Owner, Manufacturer of Numerous Goods, Owner of de’Renquold company
Family:
Wife
Stephanius de’Renquold 5]

His lantern was dimming as the candles began to burn down. His hand rubbed the temples of his
forehead and a sigh escaped his lips. This is virtually IMPOSSIBLE. How can you find the murderer from
35 years ago? Most of the evidence would’ve been destroyed by time or some kind of natural event like
a storm or something. He frowned; perhaps there were pictures from back then?

Alviss couldn’t let this idea slip through his mind. He quickly grabbed his coat and ran down to the library
with a candlestick.

Bookshelf after bookshelf, Alviss skimmed through each and every book that contained information
about photographs and cameras. Finally, just when he was about to give up, he finally found what he
was looking for.

[Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, the French inventor of photographs, came here through a spiritual body.
It had turned out that he was a phenomenal parallel traveler, except that he had thought these were
dreams. People here a few decades ago decided to pretend that it was indeed a dream. However, they never
thought that something could come out of it. Joseph had found out the day before he went ‘under’ that
a chalk and silver mixture darkens under light. After various experiments, he had perfected the process
of making photographs right here in Fantasia. Of course, he never told anyone in his world. We sent
people over to make sure he doesn’t.
It had been only 37 years ago since he visited, but we have developed them to new heights.
Photographs are more refined now, using the magic and technology we have here. However, the
pictures do not have any color in them. To make them have color you would have to have dragon fire and the rarest of all elements, holypus. Numerous people have tried, but died in the process.]

So, photographs were around back then. If I could search around the mansion. Maybe someone took a picture that leads to the murderer! This might be a long shot, however..anything can happen.

-----

Birds were chirping, the sun was rising, it seemed as if it would be a great happy golucky day!

Alviss Tribe woke up with bags under his eyes and papers littered everywhere on his table. He groaned,
today was the meeting with the stuck up Euphemia de’Renquold. Yawning, he quickly gathered all his
materials and dumped them in his sack. He jogged all the way down to the guild cafeteria and grabbed a
piece of buttered toast and some red wine.

It wasn’t good to drink liquor in the mornings, but he’ll need everything that he can get his hands on to
survive being alone with a de’Renquold.
He couldn’t explain why he hated them so much, it would have to travel back to his past. He decided
then, that all de’Renquolds are the same ever since then.

Even Avalon, his twin brother, didn’t know why he hated the de’Renquolds so much. It would be kept
inside him for so long..

-----

“Thought you’d be early not prompt today,” Euphie remarked amused. Had it already turned into an
inside joke, she thought.

“Well, I like to change it up depending on my mood.”

All joking aside, she quickly got down to business.

“So, what do you have for me?”

“I realized that I could find some photos that could’ve been taken around the time of the murder. If I’m
really lucky, the day before the victim had died.”

“How are you so sure that photographs have even been around since then? They were fairly new, only a
few decades ago.”

“Yes, but I checked up on the history of photographing. It was invented a couple of years earlier than 35
years ago.”

“Huh. Oh, I found something in the attic, thought you would like this.”

She mentioned for a butler to come to her and hand her a package. It was bound in brown paper and
tied up with strings. Alviss guessed that it was a journal of some sorts.

“My Grandfather loved to keep records of whatever happened. This is his journal, but it’s full of his own
personal view and opinions on everything,” she explained as she undid the knot carefully. The moments
after were filled with the sounds of paper crackling.

Alviss excitedly reached for the diary, it was surprisingly white and not yellowed with age. He had once
done a report on yellowing of paper. If it wasn’t exposed to a lot of oxygen or sunlight then it would stay
white for a long period of time. This would definitely prove that no one had tampered or read with it.

As he flipped through the pages of the diary or journal, two entries caught his eyes.

48th Monday of Year 1989

Since photographing had just been invented two years ago, I bought a camera specifically documenting
my life. Of course I had already gotten through 24 rolls of film. Each and every night I dined in my dining
room, recording the food I had. It’s not my fault I’m so enthusiastic. Oh look, it’s Nickel Deld with my food
already ready! I wonder what he has in store for me?

48th Thursday of Year 1989

I don’t feel so well right now.. I think I’m going to go rest. I think I ate something bad. But the only thing
I’m allergic to is mushrooms, and I don’t think there were any in the dish I ate last night. It was a new
flavor, it’s really hard to define it. Nonetheless, very intriguing. I wouldn’t mind eating it again. I think my
bed is calling for me…

Before I forget, the rolls of film are under my bed in the 5th wood plank to the right of the little table that
holds my clock and journal.

“This is.. extremely insightful, Euphemia.”

“Please call me Euphie.”

“Er, right, Euphie. I found numerous facts in this journal, thank you.”

“My pleasure. But can you please tell me what are the facts?”

“Well, we know that for every single occasion of his life, Edgar de’Renquold had documented his ‘life’
using the camera. Judging from this, he had disappeared for a while from this diary and went on a
vacation in Grimwald. Which is a nice place, I tell you. So we can ignore the first 21 rolls of film, but I’ll
have them developed. The last three would be documenting his dinner meals. And you said that he was
drugged with the cancer growing pill, yes?”

“The name of that pill is called Awaiting Death.”

“Sick name.”

“I concur. But yes, do continue.”

“He also mentioned that he was allergic to mushrooms. I’m assuming that it wasn’t fatal, and he had
told his cook about it. We can keep the cook under suspicion for that reason only.”

“Nicely done, Mr. Tribe.”

“Alviss.”

“Alviss Tribe, I’ll send someone up to gather the rolls of film. Please wait here.”

When Euphie got up to call someone, Alviss was absentmindedly flipping through the pages of the diary.
Another entry was quite intriguing, unlike the others, it stated only business affairs.

35th Tuesday of 1988

It seems as if, even ME the great Edgar de’Renquold, is having slight financial troubles. So, in order to
pay some debts, I’ve decided to sell the Minel land. It’s only 10 acres, not much. I wonder if the family is
mad or having troubles with money. Oh well, not my problem. It’s their fault that they won’t help me pay
off the debt. I even asked, generously! Course I sort of did something… not worth mentioning. It doesn’t
matter. If they are coming to get revenge, I have the guards quietly take them and send them to the
castle dungeons! I have ties, which I cannot say.

So, Alviss thought, this Minel family might have some grudges against Edgar and have some motive.

Euphie then walked down the grand staircase with a bag filled with black canisters.

“Here are the rolls of film; I’ve made sure there are 24 rolls. I’ll develop them right away, so what will
you be doing in that time?”

“I will be questioning the Minel family. It seems that they have all the motive to kill Edgar.”

“A new lead, already? Hm, you might even be smarter than my brother. Alright, mean back here in
about…,” Euphie quickly checked the grand clock, “30 minutes. I will have lunch be prepared for our
meeting. Don’t eat anything, or you won’t be able to stomach the food later on.”

“Yes, Euphemia m’Queen,” Alviss curtsied mockingly and spun on his heels to leave.

“Odd one, isn’t he?” The head butler remarked as they both stared at the retreating back of Mr. Tribe.

“Makes it more interesting, I’ll say.”

----

Alviss is a guy.

Which means, he hates asking for directions.

Which means, he is staring at a map, which is possibly upside down. He notices, and quickly flips it
around.

“So, the Minel land is here.”

He had gone to the local library and asked to borrow a telephone book. He had called the Minels as soon
as he found them, because he wanted to ask them some ‘important’ questions. They of course, were
highly suspicious, but decided that it caused no harm. It had turned out, that they were still living in the
land that Edgar had sold away. Which is highly ironic, since they don’t pay the rent to Edgar anymore,
why would they stay around? This was bugging Alviss the whole trip to their land.

Since the horse that he rented was quite tired, he got off of it to let it rest.
And that led to him studying the map.

“WHAT? I’ve been traveling in the opposite direction?!”

A few minutes later…

“Nevermind.”

He then stared ahead and was quite shocked with the Minel house. It was gorgeous, sparkles seem to
shone in every place imaginable, even the flowers shone. Marble walls and pillars created the structure

of the house. Gold inlaid décor, much like the de’Renquold manor, were put on benches that dotted
around the garden. Gardeners and butlers bustled about to set up a party, it looked like, places dishes
and extra chairs near a long table that stretched for a hundred feet.

“Excuse me, I called earlier to talk to the Minels?” Alviss asked to the nearest person he found. They
quickly indicated the house and went back to whatever they were doing. Careful not to trip over
anything, Alviss picked his feet and placed them in places with nothing important in the way. After
spending 10 minutes just to navigate through the garden, he sighed in relief and pressed the doorbell.

“20 more minutes till I have to leave…”

----

“Please, sit down. I’ll get some tea and sandwiches. Do not move from this spot,” the head butler said
sternly.

Looks like they don’t like me already, Alviss noted into his notebook. It was actually Euphemia’s idea;
more organized that way she said.

It was then, a beautiful girl walked down the grand staircase with very loving eyes. However, Alviss saw
different. Those were eyes with secrets.

Her dress was elegantly put down as she sat on the red cushioned lounge chair facing Alviss. She cleared
her throat and began to speak.

“H-Hello, Mr. Tribe. I hear that you wanted to ask us very important questions?”

“Yes, do you mind if I-“

“It’s okay, just do it quickly. We’ve got guests over.”

He really didn’t like aristocrats.

“Alright. I have about 3 questions. One, about 30 years ago, your family had their land taken away and
sold by Edgar de’Renquold, yes?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Sweat on the forehead already, I’m getting somewhere.

“But I have researched, ma’am. Your family land was INDEED taken away.”

“Why would I know about something that happened 37 years ago?!”

“…I never said the exact year number,” Alviss said triumphantly.

“Oh dear..! Look, don’t tell anyone alright? This is all ‘hush-hush’, so could you please?”

“After you answer my two other questions.”

She inwardly groaned, if her boyfriend saw her now with this handsome man, what would he think?

“Quickly.”

“Did you, or did you not, have an ancestor working at the de’Renquold household?”

“…No.”

“Truthfully, Ms. Minel.”

“I-Uh, I don’t know.”

“I’ll give you the list of staff workers, anyone popping up?”

He wanted to do an experiment, so he stared at her eyes as she scanned the list.

1…2…3…There! Her eyes widened at the third second. I’m going to see if anyone in the suspects list was
around that area. She doesn’t know that most of the names are fake and I just put in the suspect names
with the others. Euphemia is actually quite smart. I’d hate to admit that this was her idea though, she
should become a detective..

“None that I know of. What’s the last question?”

“Have you ever had someone who’s not related to the Minels marry into the family?”

“Only on one occasion, if they change their last names to Minel of course,” at this Ms. Minel smirked.
She was hiding something and Alviss would do whatever he could to find out what.

----

“Euphemia, I have gotten new intel.”

“Ah, but first. Pray to the goddess and gods of Fantasia. We are eating first, yes?”

“Yes, m’lady.”

A minute later.

“So,” Euphemia asked as she sipped white tea, “What’s the new intel?”

“The Minel family know something. But I don’t know who it is! They said that whoever is married into
the family must change their names to Minel. But NO ONE in the staff had a last name as Minel,” Alviss
said exasperatedly.

“Think harder, Alviss. You DO know you can change your last name, yes?”

“But we have people tracking down with magic if someone does illegally change their name, Euphie.”

“Not unless they are related to the person that they have changed their last name to. Think,” she said
sternly.

“…Can you do me a favor, Euphie?”

She looked taken back, and then asked what the favor was.

“I need you to look into the Chef. Nickel Deld. I have a sneaking suspicion that he was more than your
Grandfather thought he was.”

----

“Where have you BEEN all this time, Alviss?!”

Avalon held his brother by the arms with a very concerned look upon his face.

“Solving a mystery, and I must get back to doing it,” Alviss replied distractedly. He didn’t like leaving
things undone, especially if it’s an intriguing case.

“…You’ll have to tell me about it.”

Alviss stopped in mid-step up the guild stairwell.

“I’d love to.”

----

*BRINNNNN BRINNNN*

His message sphere shook as someone messaged him. Alviss quickly dropped what he was doing and
read what the person sent. It was from Euphie.

“Found out something. Get over here, fast,” he smiled. She doesn’t disappoint.

----

“I’ll be back!” Alviss yelled as he exited the guild halls. Rumors were flying that he was seeing some girl
except for entirely different reasons that the actual truth. He didn’t care that people were talking. This
case is top priority.

He quickly jumped onto his rented horse and galloped quickly to the de’Renquold manor. He had a
feeling that the mystery would end tonight.

“Euphie!”

“Ah, Alviss! Just the man I was waiting for. Please, do come in,” Euphemia beamed. Just with the help of
this one man, a case was solved within two days. Perhaps he was a miracle worker, or just an intelligent
man.

“So, what do you have for me, ma’am?”

“I did a background check on the chef, just like you asked. I went to the council building to look up
records of someone changing their last name. And I found his former name,” she said quickly.

“Let me guess,” Alviss interrupted, “his former name was Minel.”

“Correct, Mr. Tribe. Also, the next thing I found out. He had a wife, named Michelle Deld.”

“Which explains how he got to change his last name to Deld!”

“Remember the rolls of film? I got the developments! They were also time-stamped,” Euphie said,
quickly taking out a certain photograph.

“It’s the day before he said that he was ‘feeling sick’. This photo was taken of him eating,” she then
flipped the photograph to the backside to prove that it was the day before her Grandfather felt unwell.

She then pointed to the dish he was eating. Apparently, her family magicians enlarged the photo to a
crystal clear picture. In the curry that Edgar had eaten, were little chunks. Barely noticeable, really. They
were mushrooms.

“You know what I think?” Alviss asked her, but she interrupted him from answering.

“You think that, and I’m pretty sure, that the chef wanted Edgar to think that it was just something that
he ate that made him feel extremely sick. If he ever did find out it was mushrooms, Nickel can always
say that he forgot that Edgar was allergic. ALSO, the doctors would blame the mushrooms and not the
pill if someone did ever look into it and questioned everyone. It was foolproof.”

“Until someone found the green glowing pill a few days ago,” Alviss sat there deep in thought. He was only shaken out of his daze when someone was knocking at the door. It was a woman, looked about mid-30’s with a sad smile on her face. It had started raining, and she was shivering in the cold.

“Oh, please, do come in,” Alviss said quickly, motioning for the butler to get a towel.

“…Who are you, may I ask?”

Euphie didn’t like this woman.

“I’m.. I’m Kaleen Minel,” she said after some hesitation.

Alviss’ mouth dropped. Kaleen Minel? The adopted daughter of Nickel?

“To answer your question, no I’m not adopted. Father only wanted people to think I wasn’t directly
related to him, so I wouldn’t take the fall,” sobs began to come out of Kaleen. She was directed to the lounge chair and began.

“Father.. I remember when he was mad.. I was only 1 year old. But his furious voice.. I would forever remember. He’s dead now, so he can’t tell you the whole story.”

Euphie’s face fell. Dead? Who will take the responsibility of killing her Grandfather then?

“He was pushed by my Mum. She wanted him to ‘liberate the family from the clutches of Edgar’. So, Father got a job as a cook there. But I was taken with him. He couldn’t stand Mum at all,” Kaleen’s fingers gripped her dress tightly.

“I’ve been keeping this secret for as long as I was alive. It was my Father that killed your Grandfather, I’m sure you know this.”

“Wait,” Alviss interrupted, “this was before Edgar sold the Minel land?”

“Yes. My Mum’s plan was to wait for an opportunity so the Minels can thrive and have power and
riches. Of course, with no de’Renquold near. When Edgar sold our land, he made this deal with my Mum,” Kaleen

said quietly. She breathed and continued.

“If he ever died he would give half of his personal savings to the Minels and the land would be theirs
again. But he was cautious. He knew my Mum was money hungry and power-driven. He didn’t hire anyone after that deal, and kept the people who served him before with him… This was the perfect time for my Father to strike. He slipped in mushrooms then threatened a maid to sneak in the glowing green pill. I remember hearing him laugh at how my Mum would stop belittling him,” she smiled grimly. Then her face looked refreshing, as if telling this decades old secret would let her go free. It wasn’t so.

“Oh, really then?” Euphie’s tone was surprisingly calm.

“Yes, I’m truly sorry.”

“That won’t bring Grandfather back to life. My family.. will sue your family for murder and fraud. I
suppose you’d better pack your bags, Kaleen. You’re going to be spending time in prison for destroying evidence and withholding information.”

“Euphie, don’t drag in Kaleen!”

“She didn’t want us to know. She wanted her perfect family to have the perfect life and hide the perfect
crime. I hate that. I hate it, they deserve to be punished!”

“Euphie, if you do this, I’ll never talk to you again,” Alviss said threateningly. He didn’t like that innocent people would take the fall, even if they were sort of responsible. The judge would deal the punishments not just because some aristocrat said so.

“I don’t care. Bye, Alviss. It was pleasant working with you. I’m sorry it had to be like this,” Euphie said with an unmoving face.

“I’m sorry it had to be like this too.”

----
Alviss threw his message sphere onto the ground, only to have it bounce up again. Each time he caught it and threw it back down, his anger subsided just a little.

"Alviss, brother, what is wrong?"

It was Avalon, with a concerned look on his face.

"Nothing, brother. I realized something today that I should've remembered."

"And what is that, Alviss?"

"People don't change."