Muroi

* Anime
* Manga

**Muroi** (室井, *Muroi*) is a folklorist interested in the Yadagami-sama legend of Yada Village.

## Biography

### History

At some point, Muroi got lost in the mountains by Yada Village and fell unconscious. He surprisingly woke up at the foot of the mountain though. The incident strengthened his belief in Yadagami-sama's existence as he thinks the deity saved him. In reality, it was Shepherd Feier.

### Yadagami-sama Murders Case

A surveyor comes to Yada Village to tell the mayor, the residents, and Muroi about the government's plan to sink the village to build a dam. Sometime later, Spitz Feier, Ron Kamonohashi, Totomaru Isshiki arrive, and the mayor greets them. Ron wants to know what the commotion is about, and the mayor informs him that the surveyor has come to evict the whole village because of dam construction plans. He then tries to calm down the villagers who are not pleased by the surveyor's presence and announcement; they claim that his actions will enrage Yadagami-sama. When Totomaru asks who that is, Muroi explains to him that Yadagami-sama is a deity and the village's protector.

The surveyor clarifies that he has only come to do some preparatory surveying and that he will start his work tomorrow before he heads to the mayor's hut where he has been staying. He also tells everyone that he will sue anyone who interferes with his work and the dam plans.

The next morning, the surveyor's corpse is found in the waterfall basin outside the village. Around his neck are marks that look like a snake's scales. When Toto, Ron, and Spitz walk back from the waterfall to the village after investigating there, Muroi intercepts them. He wants to know how things were at the waterfall. And because Ron, Spitz, and Toto were allowed to go there although they are outsiders while Muroi was not, they have caught Muroi's curiosity.

Totomaru confirms the surveyor's death for him, and Muroi tells them about Yadagami-sama's special status as a "living legend" and continuous reports about the god's "power of disappearance": Fifteen years ago, there was another attempt to build a dam here. However, the day the construction was supposed to begin, all heavy machinery vanished. Eleven years ago, Shepherd Feier disappeared, and Muroi himself had a brush with Yadagami-sama once when he rescued him from the mountains. Because of that, Muroi has become so enthralled with Yadagami-sama that he is contemplating about moving to Yada Village.

Ron then asks Muroi what he was doing yesterday. Muroi is upset that he is suspecting him and testifies that he was visiting the Yadagami Shrine. When he went there, it was temporarily closed though. Afterward, he returned to Suzuki's house where he has been staying.

Later that day, Ron, Totomaru, and Spitz gather everyone at the shrine, and Totomaru explains what happened: Not Yadagami-sama killed the surveyor—the mayor did.

The mayor took a picture scroll of Yadagami-sama from the shrine and attached it to a tatami mat in the hut. He stood the mat on end and held it in place with a string; one end of it was pinched in the door's frame, the other tied to a rock and then dangled out of the window. He made sure Toto, Ron, and Spitz would be in a room in his house from where they could see into the hut and spot the image. When they went to the hut and opened the door, the string was released and fell into the river, weighted down by the rock. The tatami mat fell down into place on the floor; that was the loud sound they heard. And the shrine was temporarily closed yesterday to hide the fact that a scroll was missing.

Toto, Spitz, and Ron deduced this because Ron dropped a bottle of brown sugar on that tatami mat last night. However, when they found it today, the bottle was not there where its stain was. This means that someone must have lifted the mat, and the bottle slid down it. They know it is the mayor because he made sure to have Ron, Spitz, and Totomaru in that specific room to get witnesses for his trick and because the mayor immediately spoke of Yadagami-sama when Spitz wondered who or what they could have seen in the hut last night; he did not even consider the surveyor although their conversation rather pointed to him than to the deity. Ron adds that the mayor used rope from the shrine to strangle the surveyor before pushing him into the basin. The rope's placement looks different from yesterday; therefore, someone must have moved it. Muroi is shocked that it was all a trick.

The mayor confesses. He says that he killed the surveyor because he hated him and wanted to stop the dam construction. Totomaru challenges his words, asking if this is truly the sole reason, but before the mayor can reply, Ron's Kill on Sight ability is triggered. He orders the mayor to fall into the waterfall, and the mayor, dazed, complies. Totomaru manages to stop him on time, but then, the ground under them crumbles. Totomaru holds onto the edge and the mayor to prevent them from falling. Someone throws a rope to them, and Mii, Spitz, and Ron pull them up. The mayor is arrested afterward.

## Etymology

* The surname "Muroi" means "room, greenhouse/icehouse, cellar" (室, *muro*) and "well, mine shaft, pit" (井, *i*).

## References

1. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 18, page 16
2. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 19, page 10
3. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 20, page 14
4. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 18, pages 15-17
5. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 18, pages 22-25
6. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 19, pages 8-11
7. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 20, pages 3-13