Aion and Luna arrived at Magna, and soon the same scene unfolded.
Luna began, "I recommend seeing Mr. Dolion. I can take you there."
"Mr. Dolion, huh?" Aion asked.
"Yeah, he's kind of a record keeper." Luna said rather indifferently.
"Luna!" Aria's voice called out, just like it had before.
"Ah, Aria," Luna said and turned toward her.
"You're back early," Aria said as she stepped toward Luna, closing the distance between the two. "And here I was expecting to wait another couple hours before I could talk to you."
"What's wrong?"
"Well…" Aria's smile faded, and she said, "It's just that Aira was told to come and find you so you can meet with Saint Carter."
Aion's eyes reacted a bit to the mention of Aira's name, but he quickly calmed himself.
"Okay," Luna said rather apathetically.
Aria's mouth fell a little open before saying, "So yeah, could you go do that?"
"Yeah, I can do that."
"Great!" Aria smiled and looked toward Aion's direction. "Hm? Who are you?"
"He was out in the middle of the woods."
"Huh?" Aria looked confused at the information. "That's, uh, hm…"
"I just woke up out there, no clue how I got there," Aion said. "I'm Aion Belial, though. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Aion gave a smile for insurance.
"Yes, it's a pleasure. I'm Aria Liana," Aria introduced herself with an air of confidence and a bright smile.
"Aria," Luna said. "Can you show him to Mr. Dolion's?"
"Hm? Yeah! I can do that!"
"Great, I'll be off then." Luna waved goodbye and left quickly.
"So, we should get going!" Aria said enthusiastically.
"Yes, we should," Aion agreed and began following Aria despite knowing where to go.
"Still, waking up in the middle of the woods is kind of crazy," Aria said with a concerned look.
"It's just something I have to roll with," Aion said indifferently.
"You got to know Luna, though. What do you think of her?"
"What do I think of her? Well, she seems kind enough. I'm not really sure since I just met her and all."
Aria smiled a little sadly and said, "That's definitely fair."
"Still, I'd like to get to know her more," Aion said while staring off somewhere far away.
"..."
Aria didn't say anything and turned her attention toward the path ahead.
"Hey," Aria said quietly.
"Hm?"
"Since you woke up in the woods, that means you've seen the outside world, right?"
"Yeah, I have," Aion said.
Aria nodded and continued, "I am interested in the outside world. Just a bit, though."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, Magna, it's a rather small place. But it's my entire world. I mean, I guess it's all of Magna citizens' world, but I digress."
"Yeah, that does seem to be the case. I guess if you're curious, I could tell you about it sometime," Aion said.
"Oh, no, you don't have to do that."
"If you're sure."
"Yeah, I am."
"..." Aion looked at Aria for a few seconds.
Her expression was resolute, showing no signs of hesitation. So, Aion accepted that, and soon they arrived with Aria leaving and Aion entering.
The place was the same as the first loop, with the same game of chess set up, the same smell of books, and the same temperature. This time, Aion stared at the chessboard for a little while before turning his attention to the rest of the room.
It seemed like stuff he would've found in the Magnatium Manor library, just less. But that was probably because this is for the public. In other words, it only housed general books that didn't offer any useful insight into anything.
"Has something caught your eye?" Alexander startled Aion with his sudden appearance.
"Ah, Alexander," Aion said in surprise.
"Hm? Do you already know me?" Alexander asked.
"Ah, yeah. Aria mentioned your name; well, I guess I just assumed it was you," Aion said, shifting a bit uncomfortably.
"Of course, I understand. I was just a bit surprised considering I don't know you. Would you like a seat?" Alexander directed Aion toward the seat at the chessboard.
"Sure," Aion said and sat down.
"So you're from outside of Magna, yes?" Alexander asked.
"That's correct, I kind of need help getting home in the U.S.," Aion said.
"I can arrange for that," Alexander readily agreed. "Are you familiar with chess?"
"Hm? Yeah, I'm not all that good, but I used to play quite a bit."
Alexander smiled and said, "Yes, I find chess to be quite an enjoyable pastime. It's a very stimulating game. Unfortunately I'm unable to play all that much with the people here."
"Yes, it seems like this town is quite disconnected from everything else."
"Yes, but in its own way, that is quite advantageous. It opens up much deeper devotion to religion, and it builds a tighter-knit community than one you would find in this modern world."
"Is that so?" Aion asked vaguely, recalling Luna's treatment.
"Of course, it's not perfect. Perfection isn't attainable by human standards. But comparatively to the contentious state the world is in, I find this place to be rather soothing."
"That's…fair…"
"Although, it would be nice to play chess with others. Would you care for a game?"
"I have the time, so sure."
"Excellent," Alexander had a cheerful smile on his face, and soon he began the same process as the first loop.
And much like the first loop, Aion chose the black pieces again, not intentionally, of course.
And so, the game commenced.
"So, what's your name?" Alexander asked.
"Ah, I didn't introduce myself…I'm Aion Belial."
"Quite the name," Alexander commented. "Are you familiar with the etymology?"
"Yeah, I am."
Alexander nodded and continued playing.
"Aion, you've seemed troubled by something since I've met you. Is something bothering you?"
"Ah…" Aion wasn't sure how to respond.
He could easily lie and say it was the fact that he was in the middle of nowhere and away from home. But at the same time, could Alexander perhaps help?
"Well, before I woke up in this place, I was reading a detective novel written by a friend."
"Oh?"
"Yes, well, the cases inside troubled me because I couldn't quite figure them out. Are you familiar with the genre?"
"Yes, I am quite familiar with detective fiction. I'm also familiar with all genres, but that's aside from the main point."
"Okay, so the first kill was very troubling. You see, someone was stabbed in the back and was found lying face down on the floor within a completely locked room. This room could only be locked from the inside, and the windows can't be locked from the outside. However, no one was found inside the room, whether that be in the bathroom, under the beds, behind the door, and so on. So, how could that have been performed?"
"Hm…" Alexander made a noise of pondering and then asked, "Can I ask some clarifying questions?"
"Sure, if I can answer them."
"The room—was it unlocked when the detective was present?"
"No, it was unlocked with an attendee of the party along with a group of servants."
"Oh? A party?"
"Ah, yeah. It was basically a party where some nobles were invited, and the attendee doesn't live in the manor."
"I see. So, now, was the window locked when discovered?"
"By the detective, yes."
Alexander nodded and continued, "And the lock, what type is it?"
"Uh…"
"It's fine if you don't know, but was it a chain lock?"
"That I can confirm. It was not."
"I thought so. That would've stood out. So then, who was the first to examine the body?"
"The victim's lover is in a fit of emotional distress. Before that, we don't know if anyone else interfered with it since they could've lied."
"As in a group murder? I see…that could definitely be the premise."
"I'm leaning against it simply because this friend of mine was trying to write a 'return to form' for the genre."
"Hm…"
"So, anything else?"
"Looking at the possibilities, the door may have been manipulated from the outside to be locked. Using wire, or something of the sort, to force the mechanism to be locked. There's also a hidden passage, but a 'return to form' may not have something like that. It just depends if the possibility was properly set up or not. Of course, that's assuming this friend of yours designed it properly."
"I think it'll be best to just go under that premise, since we would go on endlessly otherwise."
"Was the ground outside the window disturbed?"
"No, it was also on the second floor."
"Hm…based on everything so far, it seems like the most likely method was lock manipulation. Or another possibility is the lover rushed to the side of the victim to finish her off after he escaped."
"I doubt that's the answer."
"You do, huh? Well, I never read it, so I can't say."
"Okay, how about this premise that happens later: the attendee from earlier is found in a similarly locked room and situation to the first victim with a hook impaled through his chest. The door was at the end of a hallway where two servants were poisoned somehow there or earlier, and then the room at the end had the keys from the servants in the door when the detective found them. On top of that, on the other side of the hall was another kill. This all happened in a few minutes. Furthermore, the corpse of the attendee was cold despite having been seen by multiple people at the party."
"Hoh," Alexander raised an eyebrow at the premise. "Well, to start, the cold body had rigor mortis set in?"
"Uh," Aion froze.
"You see, this is an out-there idea, but what if something was used to make the body feel cold, solving the mysterious time gap?"
"I don't know…"
"Alright, I'll go along with two separate premises here: one where rigor mortis had occurred, implying that algor mortis truly set in, and the second where rigor mortis did not set in and instead the body was chilled."
"Alright."
"To begin with, on the algor mortis premise, this means the attendee was killed before the party, likely invited earlier. Then, the keys in the lock were simply used as a misdirection to make it seem like the room had been locked, but really, it was not. The killer poisoned the two with some sort of poison to time it with reaching the room; that way the premise could be solidified further. And for this other victim, was it a locked room?"
"It was locked, but the room could be locked from the outside. The only key was found in front of the door."
"I believe that is rather self-explanatory. The part that becomes problematic is how the killer stole the key."
"I should add that there are multiple copies, but they were all missing."
"Oh? Even more complex then. Looking at it like that, either a servant or one of the hosts would've committed this."
"Yes…that seems to be the case…"
"Now the real problematic premise is if the body had been chilled. I suppose I should've asked to confirm, but your failure to mention it implies it is so. The question is, how thoroughly was the body examined?"
"Only the hand, which was cold, and the detective backed off."
"Not very thorough then, so that does open the possibility that algor mortis was faked. So, in order to pull this off, that's far more difficult. How soon after the attendees' death was the search started?"
"Less than a minute, I think."
"Understood. How soon was it discovered?"
"The people who found the scenes first arrived a couple minutes before the detective. Their testimonies are reliable enough to show that no one escaped in that time."
"Hm…"
Alexander seemed quite deep in thought, contemplating the situation extraordinarily carefully.
"Frankly, I'm not quite sure. Even if we assumed the keys were in the lock beforehand, performing the two murders in that time span without being seen seems impossible without hidden passages, but that wasn't set up. Honestly, it seems more like a magic trick a magician performed than anything else. After all, chilling the body in such a short time span also requires the killer to be occupied for a period of time. So, I think that the attendee likely had an imposter. I cannot see the feasibility of performing the murders otherwise. It's simply too impractical to be applied."
Aion nodded and said, "Yes, I quite agree with the assessment. It's just too easy, I guess."
"Perhaps so, but this was written by a friend of yours, right? It just takes some fine-tuning and it could become even better."
"Yeah…"
"Is it a disappointing answer?"
"Yes."
Alexander smiled and said, "The truth to cases is often like that. In the end, all the absurd ideas one can craft are all thrown out of the window for a far more conventional and rational explanation. But in a way, isn't that quite beautiful?"
"How so?"
"To find simplicity in the seemingly absurd, it's rather comforting and reflective of life. Life is absurd, but that's okay. There is simplicity in that acceptance, but with it comes beauty, the beauty of freedom."
Aion's mouth fell open, slightly taken aback.
"Although, it's just my take on it. Ultimately, whether you can find the answer that I provided satisfactory, that's up to you. I guess the easiest culprit would be the host, whoever that was. But perhaps it will be different when you come to that story's end when you return. Perhaps it will be something remarkable, something that lingers with you for a while. But if it isn't, maybe you should consider it from a rational and logical angle to understand the beauty of the work as a whole. For it is not the difficulty that makes detective fiction—it is the crafting of it that is beautiful. Whether you agree or disagree is up to you, but it's something I'd like you to consider."
"I will…"
"Murders that seem like they are performed by a magician, only for the truth to be brought out as grounded and rational—it is beautiful to me. For the true magician, the author is able to craft such a meticulous and mind-bending puzzle for the reader. Now, shall we finish this game?"
Aion nodded, and the two played until Aion's defeat.
Maybe Alexander was right. No, based on everything Aion knew, he likely was.
But Aion couldn't be satisfied with his explanations.