My objective this time was to place the ‘Eye of Heaven’ inside the barrier room and delete it, but it wasn’t as easy as it sounds.
If this were a game world, it might be different, but in this reality, if anyone found a suspicious gem lying in the barrier room, they would surely become suspicious.
Furthermore, it’s not easy to sneak the ‘Eye of Heaven’ into the room unnoticed.
However, there was one perfect way to solve this problem.
It was to use the same method as the culprit.
If there was any place within the barrier room that no one could see, it would be inside the barrier itself.
By placing the ‘Eye of Heaven’ here, it wouldn’t be found until the room reset.
Just like Lilm, by using the method of breaking through the floor from the lower level, I wouldn’t be caught by anyone.
And incidentally, using this method came with another bonus.
The ‘Arken Family Ring’ quest, whose difficulty had been increased by a patch, ultimately benefited players due to the discovery of the ‘Forgetful Knight Commander’ bug, as is well known.
However, this story has more to it.
The bug caused by this patch wasn’t just the ‘Forgetful Knight Commander.’
Just before the crime, to be precise, the moment Lilm attempted to bring down the ceiling of her room, the barrier room would revert to its ‘Base State.’
This ‘Base State’ refers to a state where there is no player interference in the room, and the barrier and rings are intact.
This also means that even if the ring had disappeared from the pillar before Lilm committed the crime, the room’s regeneration would restore the ring to its position on the pillar.
In other words, by stealing the ring before Lilm does, the ‘Ring of Immortality’ would duplicate.
This is the later ‘Ring of Immortality’ bug, a favorite among ‘Nekoneko’ players.
It can also be combined with the ‘Forgetful Knight Commander’ bug, so if you give up on obtaining the crest and don’t mind playing as a sinner, you can obtain up to three ‘Rings of Immortality.’
However, there is one thing to be careful about here.
When a player steals a ring placed on the pillar, it naturally gets marked as stolen property.
If you use the stolen ring as is, you’ll be on the fast track to becoming a sinner.
But of course, there’s a solution to this as well.
If Lilm steals the ring, the player can possess it without the stolen property mark.
Furthermore, even if a ring has been marked as stolen, it’s not a problem if you return it to its owner, like Shizun, to clear the quest.
In short, if you swap the stolen, marked ring that the player took with the unmarked ring that Lilm stole, everything will be resolved.
With that in mind, here are my concrete actions this time.
First, slightly after 6:30 PM, I used the excuse of wanting to hear about the incident to go up to Lilm’s room.
Then, using the excuse of the guard change being near, I sent Lilm and Maki away, successfully ending up alone in Lilm’s room.
Quickly taking out the ‘Eye of Heaven’ from my bag, I removed the ceiling, which wasn’t very well attached even with glue, and swapped the ‘Ring of Immortality’ on the pillar with the ‘Eye of Heaven.’
Afterwards, I reattached the ceiling and glued it back on, but this took unexpectedly long. Unlike in the game, the glue stuck to my fingertips, slowing down the process.
On top of that, my fingertips became stiff, leading Mitsuki to mistakenly think later that my fingertips were dry.
Despite that, I made it just in time and accompanied Elm and Lilm to check their rooms in the barrier room.
At this point, I wanted to examine the floor in the center of the room to see if there were any anomalies, but Elm’s gaze was too intense, and I couldn’t get a good look. Elm continued to monitor me throughout, and this can be considered the biggest miscalculation in this incident.
Then, around 8:30 PM, Lilm went to her room under the pretense of changing, and the crime was committed. Due to the room’s regeneration, the ‘Eye of Heaven’ on the pillar disappeared, and a second ‘Ring of Immortality’ appeared. Lilm stole the second ‘Ring of Immortality’ that reappeared and placed it in her Magical Pocket.
…Or so I thought, but in reality, there is randomness in how many times Lilm visits the room and the timing of her crime, so I couldn’t be sure. To confirm this, I gave Asu a shiny toy that children would like (an Explosion Gem) and asked him to see if the character “未” in the room had disappeared. The Explosion Gem is a bit dangerous, but I told him, “Absolutely do not say ‘Explosion’ while holding this inside the house,” so I’m sure he’ll be fine.
After that, Asu’s report confirmed that the crime had occurred, so all that was left was to swap the rings. However, Elm and Ringo were watching me the whole time, so I had to come up with another plan. Fortunately, I knew about the power outage event, so I used the darkness to my advantage.
I pre-programmed the magic in my Magical Pocket to activate immediately after the power outage. As soon as the blackout occurred, I took the ring out of my bag and swapped it with the ring inside my Magical Pocket. I put the swapped ring, which now had no stolen property mark, back into my bag and took out a lantern instead, pretending to try and cope with the darkness. I was very flustered when Sahzan latched onto me right as I took out the ring, but I somehow managed to finish the task in time and wasn’t suspected by anyone, so it turned out to be all right.
“What I need to explain from here on… let me see. Since the ‘Eye of Heaven’ didn’t return even after dawn, it’s certain that the deletion was successful. And to avoid a body search, I had Shizun use the Magical Pocket first to find the ring.”
I concluded my explanation and looked at my companions’ faces. For some reason, their previous emotional reactions seemed to have vanished, and they all wore very strange expressions. I wondered if my explanation had been too long. As I harbored that concern, Mitsuki finally opened her mouth, “…If my memory serves me right, I believe you said you wouldn’t steal the ring.” “Huh? That’s right, I didn’t steal it from that family, did I? The ‘Ring of Immortality’ was returned to that room, and everyone is guarding it diligently.”
As I answered with a smile, Mitsuki let out a deep sigh, “Haa…”, and her cat ears drooped listlessly. As I tilted my head, wondering what was wrong, my eyes met Sahzan’s next to her. Sahzan, meeting my gaze, made a slightly displeased face and reluctantly opened her mouth, “I apologized earlier for latching onto you during the power outage… but now I regret not hindering you more back then.”
“You cruel person!” I protested this outrage, but for some reason, I couldn’t get my companions to agree. If anything, I felt they were distancing themselves from me. Amidst this, Ena and Ringo stepped forward with determined expressions. “It’s… it’s okay! Even if Soma becomes the lowest scum of humanity, I will never abandon you! I’ll follow you even to hell!” Ena declared, powerfully clenching her fists.
“…Soma. Let’s try, little by little, okay?” Ringo said, taking my hand and speaking in a strangely gentle tone. “Ah, ah. Thank you both…?” Although I thanked them, I didn’t understand the situation. Was it okay for me to perceive this as encouragement?
…Hmm. Although I felt like we understood each other just a moment ago, perhaps girls will always remain a mystery to men.
“Hey, Soma. Can I say just one thing?” Asahi was reconciling his own inconsistencies, Maki asked me in her usual drawn-out tone. I nodded and urged her to continue. Maki slowly raised her finger, pointed directly at me, and declared, “The true culprit of this incident—is you!!”
This concludes the ring arc. It was supposed to end in about three episodes at first… I regret it a little.
