Dali had hoped to make it back in time to fight the undead boss.

He grinned as they left the tunnel.

He heard fighting up ahead.

He charged towards the throne room.

He stepped on the remains of undead as he ran.

He burst into the throne room, drawing his sword as he did so… and immediately fell down.

The sounds of fighting were caused by a free-for-all between the four members of his party.

“What- what on earth do you think you’re doing?”

“Well,” Aurora responded, “It was taking you too long. We figured we’d do a bit of training.”

“What,” asked Rell, “Are you sad you didn’t get to kill the boss?”

“You shouldn’t be,” said Aesh, “He was pathetic.”

“Didn’t even get me down to ten percent health,” Paella said quietly.

The Monster King reconsidered his choice.

This kingdom might make people crazy.

On the other hand, considering how they met, it was quite possible that the whole party had always been crazy.

He stepped past the madman’s party.

He sat down on the throne.

His muscles rippled, showing off his strength.

This would be his land, even if it was a land of the mad.

He didn’t realise the true extent of his problems.

[p=center]* * *[/p]

A man sat on an ornate chair, not quite a throne.

Another man came in and bowed.

“Speak, scout.”

“Sir! Monsters have been spotted east of here!”

“Is that so? Rally our forces. We will prepare an army!”

The man on the chair laughed.

“We will fight the monsters in their own territory. As knights of the kingdom!”

[p=center]* * *[/p]

Much earlier…

Seg left the boss’s house.

He would be leaving this case before he got in over his head.

He didn’t want to have to choose between the law and his own beliefs.

However, some part of him felt that he was taking the coward's way out.

Going off to investigate some strange rumor instead of doing his job.

Still though, the boss had told him to do it, and the boss was always right.

“Hey, Seg!”

Seg turned around to see his best friend.

“Hey Brie.”

Brie was a fairly high ranking knight, and had helped Seg earn his reputation.

Brie was also much higher level than him.

“You’d better not be cheesing without me Seg.”

“I can’t believe you like that so much. You tried to stomp me the first time you saw me doing it.”

“Well, yeah. Wouldn’t you?”

“No. Well, maybe.”

“So, what’s wrong with the case?”

“Well- I didn’t mention a case.”

Brie sighed.

“You only get like this about cases. You’re in your funkytown again.”

“You got me dead to the wall Brie. Some guys got stomped, but I don’t know if I would un-stomp them if I had the chance you know? Not everythings as clean clear crystal cut as it could be.”

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Seggichino, baby, you never could look on the sunny side of Styx, could you? Learn the whole story from both sides, and then make a judgementalness about it.”

“But what if I’m rooting for the crimers?”

“Then the victims are wrong. You have to believe that you’re always on the right side of the road in Korea. If the government says go left, then they’re wrong, and the wrong are devoured by the weak.”

It took Seg a moment to translate this remark into real words.

“You think I can trust my own judgement better than that of the government?”

“Of course. They would disagree, but you know,” Brie leaned in close, “you can’t trust their judgement on the issue.”

Seg burst out laughing.

“How do you do it Brie? How do you always have so much faith in us?”

“I don’t. I just have less faith in everyone else.”

He laughed again.

“Okay, you win. I’ll do the case.”

He quickly told Brie all the details.

“What I want to know,” said Brie after he was done, “Is why the fifth person was so sure that the assassins were going after him next.”

“Because,” Seg said, “He was also encouraging the attacks on monsters. We’re pretty sure that’s what it’s about.”

“I don’t buy it. Four people isn’t much of a pattern when it’s people who don’t like mobs. Even if they are the most vocal, his precautions were too much.”

“Too much?”

“Think about it. He was sure that the connection was the anti-mob movement. Sure enough to spend huge amounts on that bet. But he didn’t try to frighten them off. That means that he knew something we don’t.”

“That’s highly improbable. He was probably just paranoid.”

“What does it smell like?”

“A detective,” he said haughtily, “does not live on hunches alone.”

“A detective,” Brie replied, “does whatever the case requires.”

Seg sighed.

“Fine. I think that there was something else going on.”

“Well trust your nose. It never fails, and I would know.”

“You are never going to let me live that down, are you?”

“You refused to undress in front of me because you thought I was a girl.”

“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I haven’t done it since then.”

“Yeah, because I taught you. And now I’m teaching you to trust your instincts. First thing is that we go and investigate this whole mess.”

“We’ll look for a connection between the five victims in addition to the known one.”

“And we’ll do it first thing tomorrow.”

“Why wait until tomorrow?”

Brie grinned a wicked grin.

“Because tonight,” Brie said, “we’re going cheesing.”

____________________________________________________________________

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