Annan had almost lost control of his expression.
He was on the verge... of bursting into laughter.
...It was too similar.
It was just too similar—
This nightmare’s plot was exactly like the opening scene of a detective novel.
If things were to follow the usual pattern, the murderer would now be among all these people...
"—The one who killed me, is among you."
The low voice flowed from the statue of the old man sitting in the wheelchair.
As the voice arose, the surroundings changed.
The grand hall, originally bright and splendid, was now faintly echoing with deep laughter and whispers.
Annan felt as if the statues surrounding them were looking down at them from another world, whispering in voices they couldn’t hear.
In the next moment, the sound of an old man coughing forcefully rang out.
All the whispering abruptly ceased.
At the same time, the flames that had been quietly burning throughout the hall suddenly elongated and grew taller. The flames became incredibly thin and began to flicker intensely.
The color changed from a warm bright yellow to a cold flame with a white core and blue edges.
The white statues, under the reflection of the cold flame, seemed to grow more sinister.
The atmosphere in the hall changed instantly.
The eight people, originally in the light, now had their expressions and figures obscured by shadows from the statues as the flames grew taller. The ground between them was also segmented by newly formed shadows.
It was as if Master Michelangelo had already anticipated where each person would stand when they heard this testament.
The next moment, a somewhat ethereal voice of an old man, overlapping with the pre-recorded voice from the statue, arose:
"From now on, you are all my students. Therefore, you may kill the murderer on my behalf, as it is a revenge sanctioned by the world.
"If any of you succeeds in killing the murderer, all the remaining people shall receive a portion of my inheritance... and the one who kills him will inherit the Frigid Wight Tower.
"But you must be careful. I only grant you the right to take revenge on the murderer. If you unfortunately kill someone other than the murderer, there will be no reward, nor punishment, but you must bear the guilt of murder."
As the old man spoke, his overlapping voice became clearer and louder.
Meanwhile, the recording within the statue gradually faded.
By now, it seemed as though the old man was sitting there—sitting in the wheelchair, tilting his head calmly watching them.
Although they could only hear his voice, Annan felt as if he could see a calm and distant old man looking at him... and also at someone behind him.
He suddenly had such a feeling in his heart.
He believed... the others must feel the same.
However, due to the intensely dense shadows, he couldn’t see the other people’s expressions.
Other people probably couldn’t see his expression either.
Thus far, the old man’s testament made sense.
But the following words left the eight people somewhat confused:
"However, I was already dying. The child who killed me was also the heir I was most optimistic about.
"Therefore, I have decided to give him a chance.
"If the number of people is halved, and the real murderer is still not dead... then the murderer will inherit my Frigid Wight Tower."
"Furthermore, within the Frigid Wight Tower lies the Curse Binding of the Bone Burying Crone. Each person in the White Tower is ’only allowed to kill one person,’ no matter how much time has passed, if you kill a second person you will be cursed to death; this Curse Binding is also effective against my murderer.
"The crone once said, all things end, all events cease. You don’t need to mourn for me... I have created too many eternal things in this life. But I have yet to try, creating a ritual for the gods.
"My Curse Binding has already entwined with the White Tower. You can neither escape nor leave... The eight people in this tower will be the first executors of this Golden Ritual. You will be renowned in history along with me."
By the end, the old man’s voice grew weaker, and the echo more pronounced.
And long before that, the recording from the statue had already ended.
"The name of the ritual will be known to you at the end...
"My students, put your minds to work and ponder this question. If the future is uncertain, does that which has occurred necessarily exist?
"—My students, witness the miracle with me."
In the end, as the old man’s overlapping ethereal voice completely dissipated.
The azure flames fell back to their original place.
Light once again filled the great hall of the White Tower.
But the initial atmosphere among the eight individuals had now changed.
"...These rules, they don’t seem to be restricting the murderer."
After a long silence, it was Maria Rime who spoke first.
Her voice was clear, young, and laced with a hint of mockery, "It’s more like... rewarding the murderer."
Everyone understood that she was right.
This daughter of the archduke... always liked to utter the harsh truths that nobody else was willing to admit.
Even though the murderer was bound by Michelangelo’s Curse Binding and couldn’t kill,
the difficulty of identifying the murderer from among the eight people... was entirely different from the murderer’s difficulty in muddling through and surviving until the end of the ritual.
If one could kill at will, it would be simple.
Everyone would just start a battle royale. If you kill until you’re the only one left, then naturally, the murderer would be dead too.
But now, as soon as half of the people are dead, the ritual will end. Consequently, they naturally dare not strike at will. Not to mention the "die upon a second murder" Curse Binding prevents them from using powerful spells...
—This was utterly a game of competition.
Annan immediately realized the nature of this ritual.
Moreover, it was an "asymmetrical conflict game"!
But unlike what Maria Rime had suggested...
Annan, with his keen perception, noticed that in this game, the "murderer" was at a significant disadvantage.
Because of Master Michelangelo’s Curse Binding, a person who had killed could not kill again.
In such circumstances, whoever did not agree to "identify and kill the murderer" was the most suspicious individual. "The murderer cannot kill again" was a strong consensus among the eight, meaning that everyone knew this and knew that the others were also aware.
—That must be why the ritual stopped once four people remained.
Each incorrect act of killing would at least confirm that two individuals were innocent—the killer and the victim.
...Although the victim could no longer speak.
In other words, if everything went smoothly and everyone just aimed for safety, willing to settle for a quarter of the inheritance,
then the murderer should be identified when there were only five people left.
That is to say, through a process of Dual Aspects.
In the end, the person who was not willing to take action... or the one who was killed by the Curse after committing murder, was the murderer.
This game had a foolproof strategy.
Annan narrowed his eyes slightly.
The mission he received was, "not to engage in battle with anyone."
Could he be the one who had killed Michelangelo?
But this was obviously impossible.
Because Gerald was still alive after this experience ended, and he had not inherited the White Tower... otherwise, he wouldn’t have remained in the silver ranks, much less have been easily killed by Annan at Roth Fort.
So he definitely was not the murderer.
...That’s strange, then.
Annan’s mission was almost as if...
It was intentionally designed to cause Annan to create chaos among the group.
This would certainly attract the attention of others... the more it went on, the more Annan’s reluctance to kill would make him suspicious.
So, no matter the reason,
Annan had to prevent others from realizing this "one-on-one killing" strategy... or from implementing it.
But he felt the difficulty probably wouldn’t be too high.
He glanced over at the other seven people.
"A detective game, huh..."
Annan murmured to himself, a warm and friendly smile appearing on his lips.