TWELVE Ch 1

Captain Romeo Alfieri of the 6th Corps of the Army of the Republic of Lubano, an organization established to root out the secret society “Dante’s 12,” was a blind man who could only perceive the faint shapes of objects.

“Fifteen days ago, you skipped your anatomy lecture and took a rest.”

Sitting across from Romeo at the wide wooden table in the interrogation room was Giovanni Sforza, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine at Bacci University, the republic’s most prestigious elite institution. On the table lay the lecture logs of the Bacci University professors.

“Why did you not attend the lecture that day?”

“I was extremely tired from performing dissections all night from the previous evening until early morning.”

Giovanni, who answered while staring intently at Romeo, had a face wearing a light smile.

“That day, I dissected a cow’s brain. Because it rained from night until dawn, the smell was severe, so I hurried the dissection. Around sunrise, in the basement of my house, I heard the bell signaling the end of the curfew. I always perform my dissections there.”

“Over the past three years, you have skipped your lectures seven times. It seems staying up all night to dissect and skipping lectures is not a frequent occurrence for you.”

“I am writing an anatomy book. As it is nearing publication, I have recently been dissecting until morning quite often.”

Giovanni’s voice was light, as if they were sharing small talk. He felt relaxed and even leisurely; for someone who had been brought in by force, he looked excessively comfortable. In this situation, it would not have been strange for a normal person to look around anxiously and stutter, yet he sat leaning back comfortably in his chair.

“But for what reason are you asking about the events of fifteen days ago? What happened on that day fifteen days ago?”

There was one reason why Giovanni was so relaxed. It was because he was a psychopath, unlike other ordinary people… no, wait… hmm. Yes. Before explaining the reason why Giovanni was relaxed, let us first talk about who he was.

Giovanni Sforza.

Who was he? A stranger dragged to this interrogation room by soldiers? A celebrity whose name everyone in the city knew? An interrogation subject under suspicion? No. To put it in a word, he was a genius.

To complete all the courses required to lecture as a professor, one must be at least 36 years old, but Giovanni obtained his professorial qualifications at a mere twenty-two and worked as a professor at the university until he was twenty-six.

After resigning from his professorship, he worked as a doctor at Bacci Hospital, the largest hospital in the capital of Bacci, and subsequently moved between several hospitals. Then, a year ago, he was invited by the government of the Republic of Lubano to take a professorship and began teaching students again. While contracting on a semester basis, he was requested to take a tenured position, which was currently pending.

Gifted not only in medicine but also in philosophy, art, mathematics, architecture, sculpture, and music, Giovanni published thirty-five philosophy books, painted murals for the public hall building at the request of the Lubano authorities, joined the association of mathematicians to write mathematics textbooks used in schools, and was appointed as an architectural consultant to take charge of the construction and sculpting of the stone fountain to be erected in the city’s central square. He also composed violin pieces with his high-level violin skills.

He also had a knack for invention, devising a parachute device to drop heavy objects from high towers and land them safely on the ground, and inventing a tool used to dig out rocks and soil buried deep in the earth. Giovanni’s inventions, born through precise stages from design to experimentation, numbered in the dozens. Besides invention, he showed interest in botany and astronomy, was knowledgeable in geography and geology, and possessed a talent for literature, writing novels and poetry as well.

In addition to his brilliant mind and talent, the fact that he was a strikingly handsome man played a part in Giovanni’s fame. Many women in the city secretly admired Giovanni, and many men were jealous of him and dyed their hair blond.

That such a Giovanni was dragged into the interrogation room within the Republic Army base was because he was suspected of being connected to Dante’s 12. Just a few hours ago, on his way home from school, he was captured by the Republic Army.

However, even though Giovanni knew the soldiers were storming his house and searching it thoroughly, he said with a smirk:

“I don’t particularly remember anything about fifteen days ago, so why on earth did you bring me here? Whatever happened that day, it surely has nothing to do with me.”

On the table lay documents regarding Giovanni’s history of illegal acts, handed over by the Public Security Bureau responsible for the Republic’s security. Giovanni had been referred to trial once each, six years ago and eight years ago, for dissecting illegally purchased corpses. What stood out was that five years ago, he had stood trial on charges of beating a weaver to death after getting into a dispute while drinking at a tavern.

The trial result was an acquittal.

“From now on, you must answer what I ask without lies. You may only leave this place once you have answered everything.”

“That is not a difficult request. So, what is the question?”

Giovanni stared fixedly at Romeo with eyes that looked as if they were watching an interesting spectacle. Occasionally, his lips twitched as if he were holding back a laugh, because in his mind, he was imagining the shape and color of Romeo’s genitals.

Including the soldiers guarding the front of the thick iron door, there were five soldiers in total inside the interrogation room. The windowless interrogation room, having no source of light other than the rusted iron lamps attached to the walls, created a gloomy and closed atmosphere.

If things went wrong, he might be moved to a torture chamber and leave this place as a corpse, but Giovanni showed no sign of fear or tension. Because he was busy grinning as he sat Romeo down completely naked in his imagination, having stripped him of all his clothes.

“Do you remember what you did that day, fifteen days ago?”

“Why even ask? Of course I do.”

“Please tell me.”

Romeo narrowed his eyes as he looked at Giovanni’s face, which was visible faintly in the lamplight. As if a thick mist had settled, the outlines of his eyes, nose, lips, and jawline were dimly visible, and he could barely distinguish only the colors of Giovanni’s blond hair and the sleeveless black outer cloak that Bacci University professors wore.

“Since I had been dissecting all night, I slept throughout the day. In the afternoon, I went to the market and asked a boy who does delivery work to deliver several items to my house. Since the last time I went to the market was last month, I had many things to order.”

As Romeo listened to Giovanni’s voice, he recalled the time he visited Bacci University to investigate this case. He remembered how, at their first meeting, Giovanni had answered his questions leisurely without any sign of hesitation or trembling.

The 6th Corps held the authority to arrest someone based simply on the existence of points of suspicion. Giovanni was certainly a bold man.

“State in detail what the delivered items were.”

“I requested items and food necessary for living. I bought three loaves of wheat bread, seven eggs, a bottle of Ardito wine, three silver buttons to sew onto clothes, a cord for a belt, and one candle. In total, I spent 1 gato, and I gave 4 baso to the child who did the delivery as a delivery fee.”

Listening to Giovanni, who answered without stuttering and without blockage about the items he bought that day, Romeo watched his expression tenaciously.

Was he giving answers that had been prepared in advance?

“What did you do after that?”

“I did nothing else besides dissecting until late at night.”

“Are you saying you met no one?”

“Yes, because I was at home the whole time.”

Romeo observed the gaze of Giovanni’s eyes, which he could see vaguely. Because the man’s eye level was higher than his own, he had to tilt his chin up.

The interrogation was beginning now.

“What is your relationship with Vittorio Nardi? What is the reason he visited your house several times over the past six months?”