We stopped in front of the castle for a while, got out of the car, and looked around the castle. The castle was a beautiful Western-style building finished with a blue roof, the kind you might see in a movie.
"Wow~ In the middle of mountains like this, there's a castle that looks like it ca out of a fairy tale?"
"I know. Jin's fortune was right. He said we'd arrive at a wonderful place…"
"Wow~! It's amazing."
While everyone was admiring the castle, Dr. Agatha spoke with a question in her voice.
"But why would a building like this be in the forest…"
Then Conan shared what he roughly guessed.
"It must be that so rich person bought a castle from abroad, had it disassembled, and rebuilt it here."
Just then, a man who seed to be the castle's caretaker ca out and asked us.
"Who are you? Why are you making a commotion in front of soone else's house?"
The doctor replied.
"We were just passing by this area and saw this wonderful castle. If it's alright, we were wondering if we could step inside for a brief look…"
Hearing that, the caretaker responded as if bewildered.
"Go back, just go back! This is private property. It's not a tourist attraction."
Just then, perhaps because of the noise outside, a middle-aged man who seed to be the castle's owner ca out and asked the caretaker.
"Who is it? Those people."
"M… Master."
The middle-aged man looked us over, then spotted and greeted warmly.
"Oh~ Isn't this the famous Onmyōji, Master Jin? What brings you here?"
"It's like this…"
It seed my fa worked here too. At any rate, I explained that we had discovered this castle while heading sowhere else because we hadn't brought tents with us.
"Ah, I see. That's unfortunate. Well, it might be hard to call it camping, but how about staying in our castle for a day? We have plenty of empty rooms anyway."
"Would that be alright?"
"Of course."
Hearing that, everyone's faces brightened.
"Wow~ What a relief. I really thought we might have to sleep in the car."
Once the caretaker opened the gate, we went inside the castle and looked at the garden. The garden was well-maintained, and since the castle was quite large, there was a lot to see.
"Wow~ It's gorgeous."
"What a spacious garden~"
As we were going in like that, Ayumi spotted a certain sculpture and ran over to it.
"Wow~ It's a horse!"
The other children also ran over and looked at the horse statue.
"Oh~ You're right! There's a black one, too."
"But why does the horse statue only have a neck?"
When Mitsuhiko wondered, Haibara said.
"That horse is a knight. It's one of the pieces in chess."
As Haibara said, the center of the garden was arranged like a chessboard, with giant chess piece statues placed on it.
"It's not just the knight. Look at the ground, too. It's checkered, right? They've used the grass to create a chessboard."
When Conan added that explanation, Kogoro asked the caretaker.
"I see soone here likes chess?"
"Well… I just follow the orders of the forr owner, Lord Sadaaka, and trim the garden every day to maintain this state. I heard that Sadaaki-sama carried on the dying wish of an elder who passed away 15 years ago."
"If you say forr owner, then who was that earlier gentleman?"
Kogoro asked about the man who had invited us into the house.
"Ah… You an Madam's second husband, Lord Mitsuru? President Sadaaki passed away from illness six years ago. The Madam, the president's wife… also passed away four years ago in a large fire."
So, to put it simply, the husband who had lived in this castle died of illness six years ago, and the wife remarried a new husband (the man who had invited us) and then died in a fire.
"You see over there? That fire-damaged castle. That's where the Madam's bedroom used to be."
Looking where the caretaker pointed, we saw a tall, elongated castle building shaped like a tower. Due to the fire long ago, the roof had collapsed, and there were scorch marks everywhere.
"The Madam returned to this castle for the first ti in a while to celebrate the Elder Madam's birthday, and right after she arrived, the accident happened. She arrived in the middle of the night, and before daybreak, a fire broke out, and…"
"I see…"
"Not only the Madam, but also the friends she brought with her, the servants who had served the Elder Madam for many years, and even the butlers—dozens of people in total—all burned to death. The only survivors were , since I hadn't been working there long, a few other servants, the Elder Madam who was sleeping in the annex because she had a cold, President Mitsuru who arrived before the Madam, and the young master, Takahito, the only son of the Madam and the late President Sadaaki."
Following the caretaker's gaze, we could see a young man sitting while looking at the chess pieces. That seed to be Takahito.
"That man suddenly showed up two or three days before the fire. Since he had been studying abroad since childhood, that was the first ti we saw his face. It was also the first ti President Mitsuru and the young master had t. After the Madam remarried abroad, she and the president had lived overseas the whole ti. But for so reason, since the incident, the young master and the president have continued to stay at this castle. It's as if they're possessed by sothing."
We continued listening to the explanation as we entered the castle.
"So both of them must have felt unfamiliar when they first ca to the castle."
"That's not quite right. When the Madam remarried, she sent photos here, so everyone already knew what the president looked like."
The caretaker pointed to a portrait hanging in the entrance hall of the castle.
"As for the young master, the Madam's son, look. He looks exactly like the late chairman. Like two peas in a pod."
"Oh~ I see. Then who are the other portraits on both sides?"
"Ah, those are President Sadaaki and the Madam. The president, who ca as a son-in-law, greatly respected the chairman, who was also a historian, and the Madam, who was jealous of that, would often say sothing like this to President Sadaaki."
Just then, an old woman's voice suddenly ca from behind us.
"Father was just a quarrelso intellectual. Isn't that right?"
"E- Elder Madam?!"
We also turned around, and there was an old woman sitting in a wheelchair. Given that the caretaker was startled and called her "Elder Madam," this person seed to be the chairman's wife and the mother of the Madam who had died in the fire. She was also the central figure of this episode.
"That story reached my husband's ears as well. He didn't get angry; on the contrary, he seed pleased…"
"I'm sorry. For bringing up such an unnecessary story…"
"It's fine! I've grown quite accustod to this castle without him."
Just then, I opened my eyes wide and observed the old woman with a serious face. Seeing that, Ran quietly asked.
"What's wrong?"
"Ah, I'll tell you later."
At any rate, the old woman looked at us and asked.
"So who are you people?"
"Ah, these are people that Mitsuru-sama has invited to the castle."
Then Kogoro, who likes to step forward, greeted her.
"I am the famous detective Kogoro. Nice to et you."
"Oh~ A detective, how interesting. Please do solve the riddle that man left behind in this castle."
"Huh? A riddle?"
The caretaker answered that question.
"When the chairman passed away, he said he would give his most precious treasure to the person who solves the castle's riddle."
"Oh~ A treasure, I see."
Just then, the old woman, Mamiya Masuyo, asked the caretaker.
"So, has our eldest daughter not arrived yet?"
"Pardon?"
"She was supposed to co today, for my birthday."
"Ah! The Madam, because of the fire…"
"When she cos, send her straight to my room. I've been waiting so long…"
As if her daughter who had died in the fire were still alive, Masuyo spoke like that and then wheeled her wheelchair back to her room. Then the caretaker said to us.
"She's been like that ever since the fire."
"She must have been deeply shocked…"
"At any rate, let show you to your rooms."
We followed the caretaker to the guest rooms. There were three rooms in total, divided into one room for the won and two rooms for the n. First, we all gathered in the largest room. Since I had a serious expression on my face, everyone was worried and gathered together.
"Is there so kind of problem?"
Ran asked .
"Hoo… You know that old woman we saw earlier?"
"You an the one they called the Elder Madam?"
"Right. Behind her, countless vengeful spirits were clinging to her."
"What???"
Everyone was extrely surprised by my words.
"Shh! First, quiet down and listen. She is the person who has killed the most people among all the people I have ever seen. Probably, she's also the one who set the fire to the castle."
"No way…"
"And here's the funny thing. A person who looked exactly like that old woman was also clinging there. At first, I thought I was seeing things. They looked so much alike."
"That ans…"
"Right. Soone is pretending to be real while wearing the appearance of a person that murderer killed."
Everyone seed shocked by those words. Then Conan said.
"Hmm… If that's true, there seems to be a possibility that they are still after sothing in this house."
Sonoko, who heard that, asked Conan.
"Why do you think that?"
"Well, there's no reason for them to keep hiding their identity by now. It's probably because of the riddle the chairman left in this castle. He said he would give his most precious treasure to whoever solves it."
"Oh~ That makes sense. Conan, you're pretty smart."
Pleased by the praise, Conan said.
"It's no big deal~"
Just then, Kogoro, who had been sitting in a chair, suddenly jumped up.
"Alright! Let's contact the police right away!"
"Detective, we can't. We don't have any evidence yet."
When I stopped Kogoro, Conan also agreed.
"That's right, mister. There's no evidence."
"Then what do we do now?"
After thinking for a mont, I said.
"Let's just solve the riddle. We'll move around with the goal of solving the riddle and collect evidence at the sa ti. That way, the culprit will think we aren't suspicious of them."
"Oh~ That's a good idea."
"But since it happened a long ti ago, finding evidence won't be easy."
"I suppose so. Still, it sounds fun, right? We find the treasure and catch the culprit."
At that, the kids were really excited.
"It's finally ti for the Junior Detective League to shine, everyone!"
"Ooh~"
I cald down the overheated atmosphere for a mont.
"First, everyone calm down. Please keep this a secret. If the others find out, we might not be able to collect evidence, the culprit might run away, or worse, we could get kicked out of the castle. We have to act as if we are just solving the riddle, nothing more."
"That makes sense. Got it."
We began to quietly search while moving around the castle. The children followed Conan, went up to a high room with a good view of the chessboard, and checked the positions of the pieces. Kogoro and the Doctor started asking the servants various questions. I pretended to wander around with Ran, Sonoko, and Haibara, but actually I already knew most of it, so there wasn't anything new to find.
"Hey, shouldn't we try to find sothing too?"
Ran asked carefully, perhaps feeling that I was just wandering around pointlessly.
"I've already solved the riddle."
At that, everyone couldn't hide their surprise.
"Really? Then shouldn't we tell the others?"
"I thought about that, but isn't it a bit much to say we've solved the riddle when we still don't have any evidence?"
"I- I guess so… But could you at least tell us?"
Ran spoke with curious eyes. Looking beside her, Sonoko and Haibara were the sa.
"Fine. Follow for now."
I took the three of them to a room with a good view of the chess pieces. Conan and the children seed to have gone elsewhere already.
"Look closely at the chess pieces."
I opened the window and pointed to the chessboard below.
"First, ignore the black pieces and only look at the white pieces. This is the notation used to describe chess piece positions. The bottom left is A1. Using that as reference, the horizontal axis is letters, and the vertical axis is numbers."
"Oh~ I see. And then?"
Haibara spoke as if she had caught on. Smart as always.
"So we just read them in number order, right?"
"Correct."
"Then… um… That spells EGG HEAD. Itchy? Intellectual?"
"It has that aning, but it's also a slang term for a quarrelso intellectual."
"Then that must be referring to the chairman. Earlier, the chairman's daughter who died in the fire called him a quarrelso intellectual."
Just then, Sonoko asked .
"Then what about the black chess pieces?"
I pointed at the chess pieces again and said.
"Look closely. Don't the black pieces look like arrows rotating to the left?"
"Oh, now that you ntion it…"
"Then that would an 'turn the chairman to the left'? How do you turn a dead person to the left… Ah! The portrait!"
I quickly covered Sonoko's mouth and said quietly.
"Shh! If you're too loud, the culprit might notice."
"S- Sorry… I'll be quiet…"
"This ti, no matter how much your mouth itches, you have to endure it. We need to find evidence, too."
"Okay. But still, Jin, you're amazing."
Just then, a commotion ca from downstairs. We hurried down to see what was happening. Ayumi was urgently telling Kogoro sothing.
"I'm telling you, Conan suddenly disappeared! He was with us just a mont ago…"
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