Was going to use a Modern English to Shakespearean translator for Ren"s lines since I thought it would still be understandable but make her speech sound old-ish but it didn"t really look good to me so I"m going to stay with the nojya and stuff. I also thought it would be funny to do that tbh but oh well.

eg.: Modern english: How is it? Did you find anything? Shakespearean: How is"t? Didst thee findeth aught?

This one isn"t really that bad but there are worse looking ones. I just want you guys to see how it looked and what you think. I used so try translating Ren"s lines in this chapter yourself if you want.

Chapter 39: It"s an investigation! But it was actually a horror story!

TL: kizen
ED: Filip

「Well then, I"ll leave it to you」

After saying that, old man James went back.

With that, only the dog(fake) and the rat(fake) were the ones left at the horribly devastated fields.

I don"t really want to work but I would be sad if the old man doesn"t have his vegetables.
I guess I should just work hard for a bit and catch that vegetable thief then.

「Chuー (Still, my dear, how exactly do you plan on searching for the culprit?)」

「Wan (Of courseー. Gathering information is a must when it comes to an investigation)」

A buddy system was also necessary in those detective drama shows. I"m sure of that.

They were able to solve mysteries, not because of the detective"s deduction, but because of the information they found.
Incidentally, as for who we"re going to ask, I already have someone in mind.
There are two possible witnesses in the immediate vicinity, aren"t there?

「Wan wan (O~i! You guys!)」

「Hihiーn (Oh, if it isn"t Routa. Are you going back now?)」

I rushed back to the stable and explained the circ.u.mstances to the Illusive couple.
Like how the carrots fields were ravaged and that the old man entrusted the investigation to me.

「Brrrr (Fumu. I know about the fields being ravaged you know? James-san screamed loudly this morning after all)」

『W-wha the h.e.l.l is thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!』 I can imagine the old man screaming something like that as he was getting ready to do farm work.

「Chuー (And at which hour was was this?)」

「Hihin (It must have been around dawn. That scream caused us to awaken after all. I don"t think anybody came here last night, at least until we fell asleep)」

Does that mean that the crime was committed in the middle of the night?

「Chuー (You say that but is it not possible that you two were the ones who did it?)」

「Hihin (Impossible. We have no reason to do that. We"re given our proper meals after all, right?)」

「Brrrr (We do certainly eat carrots but only the ones that were thinned out. Iyaa, even though they"re rejects, those sure are tasty)」

「Hihin (We horses of the esteemed Falks household won"t ever resort to stealing food you know? It"s bad manners after all)」

OK. Let"s not continue this conversation.
I unexpectedly took some damage from that statement.

I"m sorry.
I"m sorry that the esteemed Falks household"s pet keeps on snitching food.

I mean, I can"t help it when I feel hungry.
Having three meals plus snacks per day isn"t enough for this growing body after all.
It also doesn"t help that Nafra and the others keep on taking my food from the side.

Ren is tiny so I don"t really mind but Nafra eats so much that you would wonder how she fits all of that inside her small body.
It really is a mystery.
I only know that she"s a homunculus made from a corpse.

「Chuー (Umu. I just wanted to make sure, so I apologize for implying that you did it nojya)」1

Ren politely apologized to the couple who angrily neighed.

Ren is usually arrogant and proud but that doesn"t seem to be the case now.
It doesn"t matter who it is, I like anyone who"s able to accept when they"re wrong.

If she wasn"t a hikikomori spinster pedo dragon, I would have probably accepted her as a wife.
Too bad~.

「Wafuu (The information gathering was a failure I guess. Let"s go back and inspect the scene of the crime then)」

It"s been a while but it"s now time to make use of this super wolf body!

*sniff* *sniff*
Haa. *sniff* *sniff*

I put my nose close to the ruined carrot field and started searching for a scent.

「Chuー (How is it? Did you find anything?)」

「Wafuu (Yeah, I got it!)」

「Chuー! (As expected from my dear! So, what did you find out?)」

「Wafuu (I found out that I don"t know anything!)」

「Chuー (……want me to bite you nojya?)」

「W-wan wan (W-wait, wait! I was just kidding okay! Or rather, I don"t need to follow the scent. Look)」

If you look carefully, there are footprints scattered all around the place.

The footprints are a distinct U shape so I"m sure that these are hooves.

However, it"s clear that these are bigger feet than the Illusive couple"s.

「Chuー (Did a wild horse come in here perhaps?)」

「Wan (I think so too)」

Garo and the others" specialty are monsters so there"s probably nothing strange about a wild horse living inside the forest.

「Wan (Anyway, let"s follow the tracks for now)」

After eating the carrots on the fields, the owner of these footprints went directly into the forest instead of taking the pathway.

Still, these tracks are strangely shallow compared to how big we imagined the owner would be.
If it was a horse this big then its footsteps would have left an even deeper impression, wouldn"t it……?

Following the footprints, the two of us entered the forest.
The sun is still high up but it sure is dim inside this dense forest.
We continued following the footprints as we went even deeper into the forest.

「Wan (Fumu……)」

I stopped walking once we got to a clearing inside the forest.
This was the only area in the dark forest where the light was shining through.

「Chuー (What"s wrong my dear? Why did you stop?)」

「Wan (The tracks stopped)」

「Chuー (Stopped?)」

「Wan (Yeah, it suddenly stopped and disappeared without a trace)」

That"s right. The footprints suddenly disappeared.
The same thing happened to the scent.
From here, all of the traces of the culprit vanished as if their entire existence disappeared.

「Wan (I get the feeling that something"s going to jump at us all of a sudden)」

I was planning to become a famous detective but I ended up as a character inside a horror movie before I realized it. Realizing that caused my fur to stand up on end due to fear.

It"s a ghost. This is a sign of a ghost.
The thought that this is something ordinary in a fantasy world makes it even scarier.

「Wafuu (Hey Ren)」

「Chuー (What is it?)」

「Wafuu (Let"s go home)」

「Chuー (What for?)」

「Wafuu (Fu. Don"t you understand? It"s scary so we"re going home)」

I"m bad with these kinds of things after all.
I also can"t tolerate grotesque scenes but I hate the feeling of being scared of something you can"t see even more.

「Chuー (Is that really something you should say with confidence? ……haa. How pathetic. Running away with your tail between your legs just because you don"t know the true ident.i.ty of your enemy is an unbecoming act for one who is called the king of all Demon Wolves. Is this the extent of the hero who defeated me?)」

「Wan (Ah, well, you can stay here then. The culprit will probably come back after all)」

「Chuー (W-what!?)」

「Wan (You"re not scared so it"s fine, right? As for this pathetic puppy, I"ll just go home. I"ll go home and sleep)」

「Chu, chuー! (are you going to leave this frail maiden alone here! How foolish! Even I would get a bit scared if I"m left here all alone nojya!)」

「Wan wan! (There"s no such thing as a frail dragon okay!!! Also, stop calling yourself a maiden, you"re a spinster! A thousand-year-old, ancient spinster!)」

「Chuー CHUー! (Shut up nojya! Stop calling me a spinster! It"s terribly unpleasant to hear nanojya!)」

We ran back home while we were arguing like that. Once we calmed down, we decided to just search for the culprit again at night once Nafra joins us.

I-it"s not because I"m scared of horror that I"m increasing our numbers okay!