TFOA Chapter 37

Being a village head wasn't something you became for no reason. As soon as his body became capable of moving, he started wandering around inside the house.

"Raul. What about Mr. Benjamin?"

"In the small room. He's probably sleeping."

Gilbert and Niksi opened the door with a bang! in high spirits.

A splendidly dazzling princess's room. On a small bed where ankles would stick out if you lay down.

The painter was covered with a pink blanket, sleeping so deeply that he wouldn't know even if someone carried him away.

Gilbert examined the bandages wrapped around his arm this way and that.

After looking for quite a while and becoming convinced that his wounds weren't serious, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness. I was worried because he has to draw - his arm got hurt."

"It's fine. With this painter's determination, he'd paint with his toes if he had to."

Having confirmed that even the painter was okay.

Gilbert and Niksi now began discussing what to do next.

"Let's bury him so quietly that not even mice or birds would know."

"That's the same as killing him."

"Then how about locking him up and not giving him a single drop of water?"

"That's still 'killing' him in the end."

No matter how much he and she put their heads together and racked their brains, no better method than 'getting rid of him' came to mind.

Feeling a sense of crisis that this might lead to killing someone again, making their new resolution meaningless, Gilbert quietly summoned Raul and Betty to the room.

"Wow, what kind of meeting is this?"

"Trash collection crew meeting."

"Collection crew?"

"Yeah. Remember how livestock disappeared these past few days? And Helen's injured ankle, and here."

Niksi pointed to the bandaged area on Gilbert's head.

"The person who cracked Gilbert's head in half is the same individual. We found the culprit of all three incidents."

"What?! Where are they? That petty thief bastard!"

"And that incident's culprit is supposedly the culprit of the tourist death incident that happened in this village 10 years ago."

"Oh my, really?! This is a more tremendous human trash than we thought!"

As expected, Raul and Betty couldn't contain their surprise.

Raul looked ready to ring the village alarm bell at any moment, and Betty was holding a saw as big as her forearm from who knows where.

"But how did you find out about that?"

"Gilbert here persistently tracked it down and discovered this fact. Right, witness?"

"Yes, witness here!"

"Don't tell me you three got injured this time to catch the culprit too?"

"Something like that. It was to get decisive evidence. So here's the thing."

So here's the thing? Raul and Betty leaned their heads toward Niksi.

"Isn't there some other good way to handle that guy besides 'killing,' 'finishing off,' or 'sending to become dew on the execution ground'? I'd prefer if he stays breathing for now."

"Miss Niksi, is there a reason? He hurt people, so he should naturally pay the appropriate price."

"That's right! Even though it was long ago, wrongdoing must be judged. Send him to the guillotine!"

Rational Raul and emotional Betty objected.

Of course, they were right. But what could be done? Gilbert, who held the power of judgment, didn't want to do that.

'Still, there might be some affection from being raised by him... though I wouldn't know.'

Niksi glanced at his expression.

"Wait a minute... Legal judgment sounds fine, you know? Let's send him off. To the guillotine."

Huh. Niksi made a dumbfounded sound. She quickly whispered in his ear.

"Are you okay? Wasn't it that you hoped your father wouldn't die?"

Gilbert opened his eyes wide and replied.

"No. I just didn't particularly want to execute him with my own hands. If he did wrong, he should be punished. I'm not that magnanimous a person."

"Oh, oh my..."

Niksi stammered admiringly at his slightly unhinged, justice-filled, nonchalant words.

"Just so happens that the exact same incident as 10 years ago occurred, right? The outsider attack incident. Thirty-year-old habits can't be changed even at fifty, and he attacked an outsider who speaks English incredibly well here."

Gilbert pointed to Benjamin sleeping soundly. Suddenly, the painter's nationality changed to American.

"Plus, he touched the precious property of village people. As village head, I think this is a matter I can't just overlook."

He looked at Niksi once.

Given her personality, Niksi might jump up saying she'd do it herself, but he and she needed rest.

And entrusting this kind of thing to trustworthy friends and village people who'd die to protect them wasn't... bad either.

That was the village head's privilege, after all.

"Would you help me out? Raul, Betty?"

Clear-eyed Gilbert smiled brightly.

Gilbert asked Raul and Betty for four things.

First, release the officer.

"These crazy Auvers bastards. Do they know who I am to dare lock me up!"

Carl burst out of the town hall in a disheveled state.

Raul raised his hands as if to say calm down.

"Once the case is solved, I'll find the bastard who ordered me locked up here and make him look exactly like this wreck! Be prepared!"

"Haha, Officer. Actually, I had something to tell you about that."

"What?"

"Officer, you still haven't solved the case from 10 years ago, have you?"

Even if they told the officer that Mark Richter was the culprit, since the two had a friendship, the officer wouldn't easily believe it. So.

Second. Don't mention the culprit, but show the crime scene.

Raul led the officer to the cabin at the foot of the mountain.

There, iron chunks presumably used by the hunter were still rolling around. And...

"Around here, items belonging to the victims from 10 years ago are supposedly buried?"

"Yes. Because of this rainy season, things like bags were sticking out, and when I looked, they seemed to be belongings of people who went missing long ago."

"...Why did you come up here again?"

Third. Change the painter's nationality to American.

"Benjamin, that friend from America, was attacked by someone here. He was a friend who worked hard to earn money to send to his family. He couldn't move his body for several days and was on the verge of being fired, sigh."

"That man wasn't German but... American? Ah, no, wait... This time too, just like the old days, an outsider was attacked...?"

'If you show this to the officer last, it should work. The officer has a persistent side, so he'll quickly figure out whose this is.'

"Mr. Raul!"

Just then, Betty came running from far away, waving something.

The officer's and Raul's gazes naturally fixed on Betty.

"Here! The man who attacked Mr. Benjamin was carrying this."

Betty was holding a crutch. It was the one from Niksi's basement.

Fourth and last. Show Mark Richter's belongings without any additional explanation.

The officer's expression became subtle upon seeing it.

The length adjusted for someone in the late 170cm range, familiar shape, the amazing coincidence of a limp and crutch.

His calculation skills that were 2% lacking and his instincts that were only good derived one conclusion.

'Come to think of it, the time when the village incidents stopped and the time when that man drifted to our village were similar. The fact that as soon as his full-body paralysis got a bit better, he stubbornly insisted he absolutely had to come here... The fact that he's been going back and forth to this place for several months, perhaps to dispose of evidence...?'

"...Sorry, but I have urgent business, so I'll have to go now."

The officer, having finished his calculations, quickly descended the mountain without looking back.

Raul and Betty glanced at each other as they watched him disappear to a dot.

They smiled brightly.

Next was the village people's role.

Much later, news came from Helen and the Auvers grandmother group members who had occupied the village entrances.

The news was that the hunter had been stopped by them while trying to leave the village.

The news also came that the role of the chihuahua 'Happy' with anger control problems was significant in taking away the gun.

When Happy became unhappy, there was no one who could stop him, and just then as he was biting and clinging to the hunter, the owner lady pretended to pull the unhappy one off and snatched his gun.

At the same time, the officer arrived at the scene, and seeing the blood traces on the hunter's gun tip and his anxious-looking face, he became convinced that he was the culprit of the outsider missing case.

Then he tied him with rope and headed to the jail cell.

"Somehow... I thought there would be something for me to do."

In front of Gilbert's house. Niksi sat perched on the fence, stamping her feet restlessly.

The farmer, village head, and painter were under restriction not to leave a 10-meter radius from the house because they were patients.

It was called recuperation, but it was closer to being trapped in an open prison where village people were monitoring everywhere, making escape impossible.

"After doing all that, what are you saying? Niksi, are you perhaps eyeing the next village head position?"

"Still! I wanted to do the wrap-up myself."

She was still in a state of not abandoning her lingering attachment to 'catch the hunter and become close with the village people~.'

To miss out on a chance to be active because she was still a patient. It was nothing but regrettable.

"Why would you bother dealing with such people who are no help to your life? There's so much other work left to do besides that."

Gilbert met the eyes of her pouting, fidgety gaze.

"It's almost summer. We still haven't done camping in our wheat field where there are fireflies."

Still, since it was a summer evening, grass insects were crying. Gilbert's eyes sparkled quite brightly as he talked about camping, making him cute.

Niksi looked at his cool smile and slightly smiled following him.

"Gil, you... If I look carefully, you treat me quite like a younger sister? Soon we'll be neck and neck."

"Soon? I thought it was already a long while ago."

"Don't mess around. How much difference is there in the food you and I have eaten? Besides, I know all about you crying while talking with the painter."

"What?! When did you hear that!"

Gilbert waved his hands in panic.

Do these people have some kind of bad taste for listening in when they pretend to be asleep?

In the end, Niksi, who succeeded in teasing him, jumped down from the fence.

"Then I'll go in first to check if the painter's awake!"

"Got it. I'll just watch Raul come back from meeting the officer and then go in. It might be late, so sleep first."

"Yeah? Then..."

Niksi briefly pressed her lips to Gilbert's left cheek.

Somewhat awkward compared to actual kissing. A good night kiss that failed when she tried to make a short kissing sound and went 'ah no.'

"Right. This wasn't it."

"......"

"But since you're like a younger brother, it's okay, right? I'm going in first!"

Niksi tra-la-la slipped into the house.

Gilbert, left alone, blankly stared at her retreating figure.

A summer night when the day's heated air had cooled and a refreshing breeze was blowing.

The playfully crying sound of insects.

One of the few streetlights in the village was blinking on and off.

"This kind of thing... I don't do it with my younger sibling, Niksi."

Gilbert swept his hotly flushed face.