I Transmigrated as my Bias's Messenger Bird - Chapter 41
“Why are you so surprised? Is there something you’re hiding?”
“…Not a chance. I’m not the one who just barged in here!”
“I walked in the right door. I’m innocent.”
“Hmm… I see. But what’s going on? Are you looking for something?” Dito asked, brushing off his dusty hands.
“It’s not about an item today… I’ve got a bit of a situation.”
“Hmm, if it’s not about an item, then why come to me…? What happened?”
At the mention of it not being about an item, Dito abruptly withdrew his interest. He’s truly a businessman to the core. I’ll have to get straight to the point before he loses further interest.
“Last night, while fetching a fishing rod from the royal warehouse, a royal guard was killed.”
“…What?!”
“And I’ve been framed for that murder.”
“Oh… Framed?… I see, that happened. I had no idea.”
Dito said with a knowing look on his face. It was as if his brazenness was matched only by his acting skills. There was something fishy going on here.
“But it’s strange. Someone else was in the warehouse besides me at the exact same time, and that person framed me… And the only one who knew I would be at the royal warehouse at that time was you.”
“Hmm… Well, that’s… umm…”
Dito suddenly began wiping the counter with a dry towel. Just in case, I decided to use a skill.
[Use skill – 1-star Mind Reading.]
[1-star Mind Reading has been used on Dito!]
—Ugh, I don’t want to get involved…
…Oh, really now?
“Dito, have you spoken to Commander Leon by any chance?”
“Hmm? No.”
“What a shame. If that had ever happened, I would have known how deep of a predicament I’m in right now.”
“Too bad. Such a waste,” Dito said soullessly, and I chuckled as I spoke.
“I tried to keep your fishing rod safe,, but if you’re not keen, there’s nothing I can do. I should head to the knights’—”
“Wait.”
He’d been nonchalant all this while but as soon as the topic switched to the fishing rod, his demeanor changed. He was truly obsessed with fishing.
“I saw someone following you outside the store right after you left…and that’s it! I thought maybe it was suspicious, but you said nothing happened in the warehouse, so I figured it was someone unrelated…That’s really it!”
Come to think of it, Dito did mention something like that. So, that was why I asked.
‘Someone was following me… It wasn’t Rai. Who on earth could it be? Were they the mages spying on me?’
“Any distinctive features?”
“I couldn’t see their face since they had the hood of their cloak pulled down. But it was a black cloak… and the person was tall.”
“Tall…?”
The mages who were surveilling me weren’t particularly tall, but that didn’t really tell me much.
“Is that all?”
“Um… It was really brief, so…”
Seeing Dito hesitating, I decided to use the skill again. I didn’t have much of a choice at this point.
[Use skill – 1-star Mind Reading.]
[1-star Mind Reading has been used on Dito!]
—Ugh, my memory…
As I started to feel like I might not find any more clues, Dito piped up.
“Oh… Come to think of it, there was something a bit odd…”
“What was it? Tell me—it’s all right.”
“I saw a white robe with gold trim through the cloak.”
“…And why is that significant?”
“Um…”
Dito started hesitating again. This time, I found it bothersome, so I decided to prompt him plainly.
“I know you don’t want to get tangled up, but if you don’t tell me, you’ll only get tangled up even more.”
“…Ugh.”
Dito sighed as if he had no choice and looked at me.
“You know, there’s only one place in Alucina Empire where people wear clothes like that.”
“Where?”
“You don’t know? Elves.”
“Do you think the Knights would really like to know that you have the royal fishing rod?”
“Goodness, you’re persistent!” Dito exclaimed in frustration before continuing.
“The shrine!!”
“…The shrine. You mean someone from the shrine might have framed me.”
“I don’t know. I’m really at my limit here. I don’t want to get more involved; I don’t know what might happen.”
“This should be enough. I’ll protect your rod.”
“…How can I trust you? You rascal!”
Dito grumbled nervously, and I simply smiled.
At least I got one small clue. It was time to figure out what it meant.
