As I expected, the Guld Workshop didn’t yield much. We were able to talk personally with the dwarves who had dug up the “coffin,” but it was the same story: they found it in a tunnel they’d been digging. In other words, they’d just been working on expansions when they happened to stumble across it, and they didn’t know anything more than that.
They could tell us, though, that diggers in a neighboring tunnel had come up with several other objects at about the same time. They seemed to assume this was just coincidence, but I wondered if there might be a connection.
“Hmm...”
After our investigation at the workshop, we headed to school, but it wasn’t for our normal classes. Well, for Myusel and Minori-san, it was, but Petralka and I had another goal in mind: we were going to see Romilda. She had already set off for school by the time we arrived at the workshop that morning, and we hadn’t been able to talk to her. She hadn’t been at the site when the coffin was discovered, but she had come with her father when he brought it to the castle. We wanted to know if she had noticed anything unusual at the time.
“Oh, there she is.” It turned out it didn’t take much searching to find her. She was chattering happily with her classmates, including some of the humans and elves. It hadn’t been long ago that dwarves would only talk with other dwarves, elves would only talk with other elves, and humans stuck with humans. But recently, those kinds of racial divisions had started to ease, and everyone was learning to get along. That made me really happy, and I was reluctant to interrupt the conversation, but unfortunately, today, I had little choice.
“Hey, Romilda, can I borrow you for a second?” I said, and led her out of the classroom to another, smaller room nearby, normally used for individual consultations with students or their families.
“What’s the matter, Shinichi-sensei?” Romilda asked, although she didn’t seem particularly ill at ease. Nonetheless, she stiffened when she saw Petralka—along with two armed bodyguards—waiting in the room. “Er, ahem—what’s going on, if I may ask...?”
“Petralka, I found her,” I said.
“Mm,” Petralka responded with a nod.
This was hardly the first time Romilda had met Petralka in person, of course, and although they could hardly be called close friends, Petralka would at least remember Romilda’s name and face. Still, Romilda had never sat down one-on-one with the empress before—there’d always been a sort of social cushion between them. Like me, or her father Rydell-san, or someone else to help mediate. Romilda was often sort of along for the ride.
“Shinichi-sensei... Your Majesty...?” She looked uneasily from me to Petralka and back. For better or for worse, Petralka looked very serious; she obviously wasn’t here for chitchat. It was clear to Romilda that she had been asked for by name, and she had to be worrying that the empress was mad at her or something.
“No need to look so stiff,” Petralka said. “We simply wish to ask you a few questions.”
“Yes’m...” Romilda nodded, not quite convinced, and I gave her the rundown. The missing stuff from inside the coffin. The tracks that led from the castle in the direction of my mansion. I told her we were just curious if she knew anything at all about the incident.
“That stuff was gone...?” Romilda said, blinking, her eyes as big as saucers. “You mean it... moved?”
“There is always the possibility that it was stolen. But from the evidence available, the material seems to have moved under its own power.”
“Did you notice anything unusual, Romilda? Anything at all?”
“I’m sorry, I really didn’t...” She shook her head.
“Okay, I see. Thanks,” I said, managing a smile.
The reality was that neither Petralka nor I had really expected to get anything enlightening out of Romilda. We were both grasping at every last possibility. But that being the case, we were left with nothing to go on. No clues. Why had the goo vanished? Where had it gone? Petralka and I were just sharing a look and a sigh when Romilda said hesitantly, “Oh... Um, Shinichi-sensei...” It sounded like she had just had a thought.
“What’s up?” I said. Maybe she’d remembered something. I looked at her with hopeful eyes, but she said, “Where’s Hikaru-sensei today...?” So this wasn’t about the coffin goo at all.
“Er, uh, H-Hikaru-san? Him?” My voice almost betrayed me as I remembered the morning’s events—in particular, Hikaru-san’s complete nakedness, which I had definitely not intended or wanted to see.
“Hrm...?” Petralka watched me squirm for a second.
I cleared my throat, got my voice under control, and managed a reluctant smile as I said, “He’s not quite feeling himself today, so he decided to stay home...”
I could hardly tell them he wasn’t here because he’d woken up to discover he was a girl. Nope, no way I could say that. Even if it had been a total accident. I was just about to tell Romilda I would happily take any message she had for him, when she said, “Not quite himself...?” The blood drained from her face with alarming suddenness. Romilda was usually a pretty happy-go-lucky person (even if by the standards of, say, Elvia, she seemed downright subdued), and I’d never seen her look so concerned before.
“Um, yeah. Something the matter?”
“I... I’m afraid it might be my fault...!”
“Huh?” I frowned. That seemed to come out of left field. Romilda, though, looked like she might burst into tears. She said might, but it looked like in her mind there was hardly any doubt. “Why would it be your fault?” I asked.
“You know—because I gave Hikaru-sensei that choker yesterday!” she wailed. “It wasn’t found in the same place... But it was found on the same day...”
“You mean the same day as—”
“That coffin!”
Ahh. Yes, I remembered her saying that the choker was another item that had been dug up. I was pretty sure Hikaru-san—the male one, lying asleep on the bed—was still wearing it.
“But
