Dee Langley, costumed as "the white knight"

It took a second before you could even make heads or tails of who you were seeing. The faces of the other guests were pretty familiar to you after spending an evening interrogating them, sharing a dinner, and so forth. This person's face was entirely hidden by a platinum-silver, visored helmet, complete with a red plume, somehow upright and proper looking compared to Eric's. You couldn't make out a hint of their expression...

That said, the rest of their body was not so well-covered, allowing you to see dark-skinned arms. There was no way the person was Yara, judging by their figure, so it had to be Dee. After seeing the helmet, you'd expected she'd be clad in full medieval armor to match your outfit and Eric's, but it was not quite so. Instead, she wore what fantasy buffs might refer to in a derogatory matter as "bikini armor," consisting of a chest piece with armor fashioned to imitate the curvature of breasts and a mail loincloth over the front of the groin and the butt, secured by a shiny belt with tassets. The gloves, boots, and pauldrons were a bit more appropriate for actual protection, but the bikini wasn't doing much more than covering the vitals.

Not that the point of this was physical protection in the first place.

Thankfully, you didn't spot a weapon on her person, not that there was really any place to put it. That said, she looked pretty well fit to fight if she wanted to. What was revealed of her body was very athletic. She was extremely fit for her age, with her toned arms, legs, and abdomen on display. Not built like a brick house the way Burnhilde was, but still, she had a sort of boxer's physique. You wouldn't be surprised if she had some moves as well.

She probably didn't want to show off quite as much as she was... the chain-mail bikini section wasn't covering a whole lot. But she wore it as well as one can wear embarrassing fetish armor.

If being seen this way bothered her, it was hard to tell. Her body betrayed no emotions and her face was hidden, not that it was very expressive at the best of times. "Malcolm Wolf. I trust you slept well? You're the last to wake up." She crossed her arms, indiscreetly craning her neck to see how you were dressed. "Hm. Getting into costume, I see. Is there more to it than that?"

You winced, holding up the crown for her to see.

A sound came from inside her helmet that might have been a chuckle... no, she wasn't the chuckling type. She shifted her stance a bit. "Ah. A crown. Fitting."

You told her that you didn't see yourself as some sort of king. This was all out of your hands. All you wanted to do was find the perpetrator, as badly as anyone did.

"Actually, I'm beginning to believe you. It's all a bit too convenient. With you being the first to discover the victim each time... I don't see what you'd get out of playing dumb and stringing everyone along this way. Even if you're a sadist who likes to see women humiliated... I don't think there'd be a reason to be so patient about it. I've begun to theorize that the one doing this is someone chiefly interested in your benefit. But in a way that does not give you a chance to reject their gift."

You blinked in confusion. Most of the girls here barely knew you... who would be doing anything this crazy for your benefit?

"There is one. Right?"

Suddenly, you realized what she meant. You had to laugh at the ridiculousness of the suggestion. She meant Linda! The famous author, Linda Catz, had invited you on this vacation to make the place into your personal pleasure palace. What a ridiculous idea. Linda was no magician, but more importantly, she wasn't clinically insane, which she would have to be to come up with something like that.

"Hm. If you're not keeping a suspicious eye on her. Then I will. Consider it our joint investigation. If you've got a blind spot... Then it's all the more important that I cover your weaknesses."

It was a mild step up from having her watching you like a hawk all day, but still a cold comfort: you didn't want her trying to pin everything on your innocent friend, either! You tried to vouch for Linda's character again, but Dee didn't look interested. Eventually, she turned and walked away without so much as saying goodbye or letting you finish.

You clicked your teeth, watching the sway of her hips in low-cut bikini armor as she walked away. The armor bounced up and down with the pendulous motion of her buttocks. You could actually see the dimples of her defined musculature, visible above the curve of her ass.

"Oh and... stop staring at my ass. It makes it hard for me to set aside my initial impression that you're some pervert."

How did she know?! Either way, you had little choice but to let her walk away and finish getting in costume. It sounded like she had Linda in her cross-sight now. You needed to make sure that your old friend and you both came out of this unscathed.

--Note: all previous suspicions, affections, and clues have been reset for a new day--

--Check notes in the game tab--