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umiscripts2012-02-07 08:31 pm
endlesswitch) wrote in umiscripts2012-02-07 08:31 pm
end of the golden witch; chapter five ( witch of miracles )
Sat, Oct 4 1986 7:00PM`
Erika's seat was the lowest one in rank. In other words, it was at the inferior end of the table.
Since Kinzo's seat at the high end of the table was empty, if you turned the whole thing around, it sort of looked like Erika was the host of this dinner...
"Well then, everyone. I would like to begin tonight's dinner, if I may."
After Gohda's announcement, dinner began with the almost customary applause.
It was finally the beginning of the dinner orchestra conducted by Toshiro Gohda.
Except for Krauss's household, sitting at such a majestic dinner table was no everyday thing for these people by any means.
However, they were all used to it and acted as though this was completely normal.
......Again, if anyone was to be surprised, it should have been Erika.
And yet, she showed no surprise at this dinner and acted with composure, blending in with everyone else.
......There wasn't even a sliver of the fear one might expect from someone who had wandered here like a lost puppy.
".........She's a strange child. She doesn't seem the least bit flustered over the Ushiromiya family's grandest dinner of the year."
"Kids these days have nerves of steel. ...Definitely not something I dislike."
"Is Furudo-san used to meals such as this one...? She seems to be quite composed."
"No kiddin'. She seems very experienced. Heck, I still get confused about which fork I'm supposed to use next. Yeah..., was it this one, or this one...? Wahahahahaha!"
Without showing any confusion over the line of utensils in front of her, Erika gracefully ate her hors d'oeuvres.
Hideyoshi had started joking around with her, gripping a fork in each hand.
Of course, the president of a company in the food service industry like Hideyoshi would obviously know his table manners.
However, thinking that Erika must be nervous over this dinner, he had intentionally spoken with a comic tone of voice.
".........You just have to start on the outside and work your way in. ......If that's a pain, then just ask for some chopsticks. ......If you're Japanese, you've got to love chopsticks."
"Chopsticks are so great. Just one pair of those, and you can deal with any kind of food!"
As soon as she began talking about chopsticks, her eyes started glittering.
......The smile she now showed for the first time was far different from the dignity she had shown before and more like something you'd expect from someone her age.
"*giggle*. But you would use a spoon for curry and rice, wouldn't you?"
"Just make it as donburi. Is there anyone who eats gyuudon with a spoon? Of course not. For the Japanese, it's absolutely, positively, totally chopsticks! So, Gohda-san. Would you mind bringing me some chopsticks? I want to show everyone how a true Japanese person should eat, without any shame!"
"......By the way, what are we eating next?"
"Unfortunately, that would be soup."
As she pretended to shrug, Erika winked at everyone.
"""Wahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...!!"""
Of course, no one was laughing at her.
She obviously knew that soup came after hors d'oeuvres in a full course meal.
Furthermore, Erika had even noticed that she'd been performing too perfectly and creating a sense of tension...and that this was why Hideyoshi had tried to break the ice.
That's why she'd started behaving a little childish and light-hearted, acting out the part of a guest enjoying a harmonious dinner......
Pretty soon, not only Kyrie, but everyone else also caught on.
Even though she was an uninvited guest, she was apparently worthy of participating in an Ushiromiya family dinner.
"Smart kid. ......Did she really just come here by coincidence? Don't tell me you secretly called your illegitimate child to today's family conference, Nii-san?"
"It seems she's not only smart, but knows how to brighten the mood too. And her manners are simply wonderful. It wouldn't be bad at all to have this girl as a daughter."
"Hihihihi. That's pretty cruel. Where does that leave Jessica-chan?"
"*giggle*. That's mean, Rudolf nii-san."
"What's wrong, Jessica-chan? Headache?"
"Uuuu... I get the feeling my reputation's taking a dip......"
"Well, as the daughter of the head family, I doubt you're any worse. Try using those table manners and dignity Natsuhi oba-san's always training you with, and fight back!"
"Wanna see, wanna see! Wanna see table manners! Uu-!"
"Hey, jumping around is bad manners. Come on, Jessica-chan. Show us how it's done."
"......S, sure, of course..."
Jessica straightened up so much it looked like someone had poked her back with a pole.
......She had good posture, but it somehow lacked elegance.
She looked...well...kind of like a triangle ruler.
She sat at attention with her gaze fixed straight ahead, tried to bring her food to her mouth despite this, ......and failed miserably.
Dad, who was sitting next to her, suddenly realized that something was up.
"Hm? What is it, Jessica-chan? Your stomach hurt??"
Jessica turned bright red. ......Ah, sorry, I can't help myself...
We laughed our heads off.
Jessica protested, still bright red.
Natsuhi oba-san scolded us for being too improper.
Well, no matter how much we try to smooth it over, we are who we are. We couldn't act like we were anything else.
Still, that laugh really did help us to relax.
We were so concerned about the guest getting nervous that we had grown even more nervous ourselves.
Our chatter from the center of this long table spread to both ends, and ultimately, the dinner went even more smoothly than usual...
With some delicious cheese and coffee, our peaceful meal came to an end.
Gohda won unanimous acclaim and was praised for his skill by all present......
After a short period of harmony following the meal, it was decided that we would return to the guesthouse.
Normally, dinner tended to have a very dark atmosphere about it, and the adults would often move right on to the family conference with the same dark atmosphere.
However, perhaps because this year's dinner had been oddly peaceful, everyone decided to take a break, the adults included.
After eating, taking a bath, and relaxing while watching TV, I wonder if they'll gather again in the mansion in the middle of all this rain and resume their high-tension family conference... I'd rather not think about that.
Apparently, Eva oba-san got very worked up trying to convince the rest to start the family conference right away, but it didn't look like many people agreed with her. The meeting had probably come to a close for the night.
Since they had guesthouse duty, Gohda-san and Kumasawa-san were chosen to guide us to the guesthouse.
It must be tough for Gohda-san.
Even after making and cleaning up such an extravagant dinner, he also has the midnight shift at the guesthouse.
I heard that Kumasawa-san, old as she was, would be going to sleep soon.
It seems she was assigned a spare room in the guesthouse.
"Allow me to guide everyone to the guesthouse. Erika-sama, your room has also been prepared."
".........Thank you very much."
"Why not rest a bit? Are you sure you feel alright?"
"...That's right. I'd totally forgotten, but you nearly drowned and floated here, didn't you, Erika-chan? It's probably best if you take it easy today and get to bed early."
".........I'm perfectly fine. ......On the contrary, I'm so nervous and excited that I doubt I could get to sleep."
"Uu-uu-!! Then let's play, let's all play together! Play cards!"
Maria latched on to her, giggling.
This lack of restraint particular to youth was very much like Maria. ......However, we really should be worrying about Erika's physical condition now.
"Maria, why don't you play cards with us. Erika onee-chan is tired."
"......I like cards. Please let me join you after I've had a short break."
"Uu-uu-uu-!! All right!!"
"............Who is that?"
As she passed through the lobby of the entrance hall, Erika stopped walking......
When we saw what she was looking at, ......the rest of us also stopped.
"......Oh, that is the Golden Witch, Beatrice-sama."
"............The Golden.........Witch."
"What're you doing, brats? Head off back to the guesthouse right away."
Dad, Kyrie-san, Eva oba-san, Hideyoshi oji-san, and Rosa oba-san all came over.
The guesthouse party had all gathered.
However, Erika's gaze was captured by the portrait of the witch, and she simply stared at it for a while......
"......Yeah. Supposedly, Dad has a stash of hidden gold worth 20 billion yen, and the hiding place for that gold is written of on this epitaph."
Perhaps because it was too early for them all to disperse into their individual rooms, the relatives who had returned to the guesthouse all gathered on the first floor, continuing their chat.
The topic......was the witch's epitaph, which Erika had taken an interest in.
".........It really is a fascinating riddle. .........He stuck it out in a place where anyone could see it, challenging our intelligence. .........I love that kind of challenge."
"Whoa. You seem surprisingly interested, Erika-chan. Do you like solving riddles or something?"
"......Don't challenges like this seem interesting? ............It seems pretty clear that Kinzo-san wants to use that epitaph to choose his successor."
When she said that, the adults stopped moving, ......and slowly turned to face Erika...
"Why, .........do you think that...?"
Eva oba-san spoke with a coaxing voice.
......Though there had been whisperings between the relatives every now and then that the person who solved the epitaph's riddle might be given the family inheritance, ......that had been nothing more than wishful thinking, since such a thing had never been specifically stated.
And yet, though she had only read it once......this outsider had already reached that conclusion.
How had she come to it?
No, .........that's not the problem.
'If you solve the epitaph, you can become the next head'.
She wasn't trying to make it sound like wishful thinking......but an outright fact.
So they closed in around Erika, asking why she was so sure.
".........It's somewhat common for extremely rich people to relinquish their wealth to the person who solves a riddle. ......Furthermore, Kinzo-san didn't publish this epitaph in a newspaper, but displayed it in his mansion. That means the riddle is directed at the people in this mansion."
"You're right............Since it's inside the mansion, there's no way for someone who can't enter the mansion to solve it. ...So, that means Grandfather has been challenging the people in this mansion."
".......... Well thought. Just by the simple fact that the epitaph is inside the mansion, it's possible to figure out that much."
At first, this Furudo Erika girl had seemed to be the fairly silent type, ......but apparently, that wasn't the case.
When she grew excited about being challenged to a game of wits, she became much more talkative than I had imagined.
"I, I see...... Well, it does make sense that an epitaph inside a mansion would be there so the people in that mansion could read it......"
"But......can you really be so sure that the one who solves it will be given the headship too?"
".........If the treasure gained by solving the riddle were something small, I wouldn't even have considered that."
"That's right. The hidden gold is worth 20 billion. ......You could consider it the wealth of the Ushiromiya family itself."
"............Inheriting that would be almost completely the same as inheriting the Ushiromiya family itself. ...In other words, this riddle of the gold's hiding place buried within the epitaph is nothing less than a way of selecting the practical successor of the Ushiromiya family."
......The idea that the person who solved the epitaph would be chosen as the next head was something that had been floating around between a few of the relatives for a while now.
However, since that had never been stated specifically, it had been nothing more than an optimistic dream.
......Thinking this, they had decided to abandon all consideration of this point until it could be made clear.
Erika had clearly declared that this uncertain part was, in fact, true.
If one of the relatives had said it, people would have thought it to be merely an optimistic dream.
However, when Furudo Erika, a complete outsider, declared this, her words seemed more credible than they otherwise would have......
Everyone remained silent for a while, slowly considering what those words implied...
".........Simply by the existence of the epitaph in that place, this level of reasoning is possible for Furudo Erika. ......What do you think, everyone?"
"......S, sorry to butt in, but my father is the successor to the head. It doesn't matter who finds the gold, because just finding it doesn't make someone the head, right?"
Jessica thought the treasure-hunting part of the epitaph was really fun.
However, she couldn't help but let her expression grow bitter once they started talking about undermining her father's position...
"......By using deductive reasoning based upon my theory, it seems likely that Kinzo-san doesn't want the successor to the head, Krauss-san, to inherit that position very smoothly."
"Wh, why's that?!!"
".........Becoming the head of the Ushiromiya family, with all of the vast wealth it entails, would mean gaining a great deal of influence in a political sense. ......In that case, the succession must be overseen vigorously, without letting any element of chance creep into the equation."
"Th, ...that's right. ......It happens a lot in those stories about Sengoku period military commanders that my husband loves. When there are multiple candidates for the successor, it usually results in an internal squabble..."
"...That's right...... That's why it's important to clearly specify a successor, so that you can avoid any trouble. Sometimes, there's even a purge of all the competing successors."
Even the Sengoku commander Hideyoshi admired, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, made his son-in-law Hidetsugu commit seppuku, but it was rumored that he might have done this to make Hideyori, who was his real son and born after Hidetsugu, his true heir.
......In other words, naming a successor was a way to make it generally known that a single, unique person would be acknowledged by everyone as the successor, and a way to remove any chance of another person becoming an opposing candidate.
".......... That's exactly right. The only purpose for an epitaph like that would be to cast doubt on Krauss-san's position as successor to the head. In other words, if Kinzo-san wanted Krauss-san to become the head smoothly, he would have no reason to go out of his way and display something so dangerous for all to see."
"That's right. .........If you turn the chessboard over, you certainly could say that. It would be odd if he handed over the position of the head normally, but didn't hand over the 20 billion yen in gold except to the person who solves the riddle."
Kinzo would give up the title of head, but he would only give up the 20 billion yen in gold to the person who solved the epitaph.
......You really couldn't call this passing on the headship in the truest sense.
".........That's how it is. By this theory, we are able to doubt whether Kinzo-san truly acknowledged Krauss-san as his successor. ......Simply by the existence of the epitaph in that place, this level of reasoning is possible for Furudo Erika."
"......What do you think, Jessica-san?"
"Wh, ...what the hell's that?!! How do you call that reasoning?! That's bullshit!! It's screwed up!!"
Jessica let her emotions lay bare and glared at Erika.
...Erika, on the other hand, looked exceedingly calm with an expression that said 'Well, that's just the truth, right?'
.........I see. It looks like table manners aren't the only way this girl is fitting for the Ushiromiya family.
...It seems she really is like the family, ......even in ways that it would've been better if she wasn't...
"Well..., t, take it easy, Jessica.........And Erika, let's leave it at that for now."
"Well, umm, we can put all this about the successor to the side for now. In any event, there's no doubt that it's Father's big question for us. ......Wahahaha! It's 20 billion yen! Maria-chan, what would you use it for if you found it? Wahahahahahahaha!"
"......Uu-. The Golden Land isn't just gold. It's a more sacred place!"
Hideyoshi oji-san kept trying to force himself to chuckle and thereby force the mood to improve.
Everyone else tried to go along with that, but Jessica's mood didn't get any better.
"Ha, hahahaha. So, Erika-chan, would you like to have a go at the epitaph's riddle?"
"............Yes. My little gray cells are itching to get started. So I'd like to start solving as soon as possible."
George-aniki skillfully turned the conversation around.
Just like the time she had made everyone laugh in the dining hall, Erika looked about with gleeful eyes and jumped at the chance.
"*giggle*giggle*. I like it. .........Well, since Erika seems so interested, let's all try and solve it together, just like last year."
"I'll make some coffee. Raise your hand if you want some. Not for you, Maria! You won't be able to sleep...!"
"Uu-uu-!! Wanna drink black coffee!!"
"....................."
"......Don't they get you excited? Riddles like this. .........I love them."
Erika said that and smiled...
Even though she must have known that she'd ticked Jessica off and made the atmosphere sour, ......she just smiled nonchalantly...
"......See? Without even waiting for the crime on October 5, there's a riddle you can solve."
"........................I've tried to solve it many times myself. But-"
".........But you didn't have a clue, so you gave up and stopped thinking. ...Right?"
It pissed me off, but I didn't have a good counter for that.
After all, ......I don't get the epitaph at all.
I don't even get the beloved hometown part, much less the parts about the sweetfish river and the key...
Thinking that a few more hints would show up if I waited, ......I kept on waiting, ...and just stopped thinking......
".........Have you figured out an answer on your own? .........Because I'm about to
solve it・・・・."
"Wh, what......?"
"This is where Bern solved the riddle of the epitaph. ......I'd expect no less from the Witch of Miracles. 'If a riddle is solvable, she can solve it without fail regardless of the difficulty'. ......How many years did it take to solve this one?"
".........That's rude. I only fished through a few hundred Fragments."
"Heheheheheheheheheheh...... You really are terrifying."
"You aren't going to cheat by suddenly saying the answer in red or something like that, right...?"
".........Don't worry. Just like you, I follow the rules as a player. ......Well, shall we begin? .........It's cramped here. Why don't we talk over the sea?"
"OK. ...Don't get queasy, Battler."
"What do you mean, sea...? ............?!"
Right after I thought the world had turned pitch black, ......I was struck by a strange floating sensation.
It must have felt like suddenly having the floor drop from under you, sending you into a bottomless pitfall...
When I looked, ......I saw that the two witches and I......had been thrown into a pitch black universe.
In this space, every direction was covered in an endless darkness, and it felt like an endless expanse filled with countless glittering objects.
......Some people might have likened it to the depths of an ocean where countless glittering fragments drifted.
"Uh, ......wh, whoa................"
"............Didn't she tell you not to get queasy?"
"If you want the concept of gravity, just create it yourself, okay? ......Come on, calm down and look at us. ......Come on, don't we look like we're just fine? ......Believe that your feet are on the ground and that you're being controlled by gravity. ......If you do that, you'll find your equilibrium."
Y, yes, the two witches are standing normally, as though their feet are planted on a transparent piece of glass.
I'm the only one floating about like someone in a rapidly plummeting elevator.
......When I saw that they were just fine, I started calming down, figuring that there was no need to be scared.
Then, just as Lambdadelta said, I gritted my teeth and kept telling myself that there was a place to stand here...and that I had to calm down......
"Wh, ............whoa..."
"Very good, very good. ......What's your name?"
"Ushiromiya Battler. ......Who else do I look like?"
"OK. You mustn't lose your will, emotions, or form. After all, this is the ocean. If you lose your purpose, you'll fall into the depths of eternity and become a scrap of ocean seaweed. Be careful."
I don't get what Lambdadelta is saying, but I should calm down for the time being.
It seems that I gain my equilibrium more the more I calm down.
Gradually, that weird floating feeling, like I was falling forever, began to disappear.
......It still felt strange, like trying to stand up straight at the bottom of a deep pool, but it was much better than before.
".........Then let's begin. .........I'll grab a Fragment for solving the riddle of the epitaph......"
Bernkastel opened both of her hands.
Then, like a planetarium.........all of the Fragments throughout this empty space began to spin, leaving tails behind them...
The expression 'planetarium' might have been even more fitting...
......Multiple Fragments were tied together by gold lines, and what looked like constellations zoomed by us rapidly, one after another.
It felt almost as though we were dashing through space at an incredible speed...
Then, with tails of light drifting behind them, ......several brightly glowing Fragments swirled around Bernkastel.
It looked almost like she had created her own solar system with her as the sun.
That solar system surrounding Bernkastel grew to a radius large enough to swallow us up.
And every once in a while, one of those satellite Fragments zoomed right past me.
When those Fragments passed right by me, ......it felt as though some kind of memory welled up inside me.
So I sensed it.
......These Fragments are probably like a crystallization of memories.
"They aren't memories. They're Fragments of worlds. ......Well, I guess they might feel like memories to you."
".........Then let's begin. ...Let's start with this Fragment."
One of the satellites in this solar system was slowly sucked into an inward trajectory with Bernkastel at the center.
After drawing a spiral and approaching her, it settled down on the palm of Bernkastel's outstretched hand...
Then, it glittered brightly, painting over the world with pure white......
"...The 'beloved hometown' definitely won't betray our expectations. ......The only past that Father held dear was his years as a boy."
".........I remember that. ...This is when, in the 3rd game, Eva oba-san was just about to solve the riddle of the epitaph, and was thinking it over with this witch inside her or whatever."
"............That's right. And, from these thoughts, she made her way to the correct answer. In other words, this Fragment shows a vital hint for reaching the truth.
.........In other words, it means that
this theory is not mistaken・・・・・・・・・・・・."
"So, ......you're saying we should assume this beloved hometown isn't a metaphor or anything like that...but the place Grandfather actually spent his youth?"
".........That's right. And at the very least, it isn't Odawara."
"............Odawara is definitely where he was born, but I don't think this hometown Father loved was Odawara. I believe all of us siblings are thinking of the same place."
"...Right. This probably isn't Odawara. From what I've heard, he had a very fun time as a youth."
"That's right............Eva oba-san and her siblings said that it wasn't Odawara. ......And not only that, it looks like everyone guessed where Grandfather's hometown was."
"......Right. And annoyingly, the actual location isn't spoken of in any of the Fragments."
"Of course. If I told you that, there'd be too many hints. .........If a riddle isn't
hard, there's just no point to it・・・・・・・・・. ......Uh-oh, that's a hint too. *giggle*......"
".....................Just where is this hometown of Grandfather's? ...We can't even start if we don't know that..."
"You mean you couldn't start, so you stopped thinking? ......Since it had to be a place where he could have lived, the number of possibilities is limited. .........Well, this is the toughest part."
".........You were the witch who could 'certainly solve any riddle that can be solved', weren't you? ......So you took those limited possibilities, ...in other words, everywhere on the earth, and considered every single piece of land that Grandfather might have lived on?"
"............That would work too, but that way, no amount of time would be enough. So, I needed to take some more hints into consideration to wring out the answer."
"......Didn't you say it yourself? You said it didn't have to be a river with water flowing down it. ......If the word sweetfish is too complicated, why not forget it...?
Think of a river. A river. Linking it with a 'family tree' wasn't a bad idea. Try thinking about how to link a river with something else along those lines......"
".........A sweetfish river running through the hometown. However, this river isn't truly a river. ......Eva thought of something else, something that could be linked with a river."
"Sure...... But if it isn't a river, then what are the sweetfish...? ..............."
".........Think. A river that runs through the hometown. ......But it isn't a river with water running down it. Something that can be likened to a river........."
".................."
".........The beloved hometown, the sweetfish river running through it. ......Eva knew where the hometown was, so she could forget about the sweetfish hint. ......However, since we don't know where it is, this could be a hint for us."
".........I worried too much about the sweetfish river. The sweetfish part didn't really matter that much at all, did it?"
"That isn't true. It was an excellent hint, wasn't it? Well, of course, maybe there was no need for it to be sweetfish."
"............What are these 'sweetfish'...? ......If the river isn't a literal river, then of course, 'sweetfish' probably doesn't mean the kind of fish that swims."
"Yeah. And on top of that, Rosa tossed it aside, saying that sweetfish weren't that significant."
".........And on the other hand, Eva said that it wasn't important for them to be sweetfish, but that it was still an excellent hint. .........In other words, the 'sweetfish' is a key to make you think of something else. If that something is a different word, but a word that sweetfish makes you think of, then Eva's line about how it 'probably didn't have to be sweetfish' makes sense..."
"........................"
From these thoughts, Eva oba-san formed some theory, ......went to the archive, looked through some books, and 'verified that she was right'.
In short, Eva oba-san formed some theory about the true nature of this sweetfish river running through a hometown.
Then, ......she opened a certain book to determine whether that theory was correct or not.
In other words, this theory was something that could be verified through some kind of book...
Also, after she figured out what the sweetfish river was, she figured out the rest of the riddle very quickly......
".........Good thinking. ......The epitaph continues on, saying 'If you follow the river downstream, you will find a village'. At that point in time, Eva hadn't yet solved the three lines starting with this one."
"......What is '里' (village)? What does it mean?! If you go down the 'river', there's a 里......?! ............ah, .........aaaaaaaahhh......!!"
Right before my eyes, ......the pieces that I hadn't been able to understand at all, ......began to *snap*, ......*snap*, into place, all by themselves......
I couldn't even remember to close my open mouth.
...My throat grew completely dry...
Is it, ......really alright for this to be the answer?
R, really? Really...?!
"...So...if we figure out what the 'sweetfish river running through the hometown' means, ......we'll automatically understand the 'If you follow the river downstream, you will find a village' stuff, ......and get the key to the Golden Land."
".........Correct. And that's because even Eva didn't know what the village down the river was until she read the book and checked."
"Dammit.........Just what is this book...?!"
"...But this isn't six characters at all. ...I'm absolutely sure that this is the answer, but this doesn't reach six characters at all...!"
Did you stop thinking again? In that case, think of a way you could read it with six characters.
If you can't think of one, then research it.
......There has to be an answer. You must not doubt that.
If you can't believe that, why don't you cry yourself to sleep, and then just give up and die...?
"............1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.........Oooh, ...s, ......six characters.........I, ......I found it. ...This, .........is, th, ......the key to the Golden Land.........!!"
"............Then, Eva found the key to the Golden Land."
"Yeah. And this key......was some kind of word, number, or string of characters...six characters long!"
".........That's it. If we know that the key's true identity has six characters, the meaning of the first twilight changes drastically."
"A, ...at the first twilight, you shall lift up as sacrifice the six chosen by the key.........Chosen by the key...the six............Six characters......!"
In other words......it means to sacrifice the six characters chosen by the key at the first twilight...!
"This key points towards a certain group of six people. ......No, we should say it points to a certain group of six things, ......if this doesn't mean a literal command to offer sacrifices. For example, it could be an anagram."
"An anagram? Do you mean playing with letters...?"
Yes, Kyrie-san has been thinking that way ever since that moment...!
"...At the second twilight, there are 'those who remain'. ......Which means that, at the very least, that 'something' has a limited number of characters. You could read it like it's telling you to continue with the remaining characters after the six characters are removed.
"In other words, at the first twilight, we take a list of characters that's longer than six, 'kill' the six that are the key, and then do something with the characters that remain...!"
"............That's right. But, like Kyrie said, what should we kill the characters from? ......We don't know this longer string of characters that we're supposed to be killing from."
At the first twilight, kill the six characters that are the key.
..................At the first twilight.
"......In other words, ...by the time we reach the first twilight, some string of characters already exists? But 'the first twilight' (第一の晩) only has four characters. Is there another way to read it? If we act like Grandfather and read it in English, ......what does 第一の晩 become...? <１ｓｔ−ｎｉｇｈｔ>...? ............"
".......... That idea of yours isn't bad, Battler-san. ......We can interpret the six sacrifices chosen by the key as a string of six characters. I think it's a very clever concept. That way, the key doesn't necessarily have to be key-shaped."
"I also thought of the possibility that it's an anagram."
"......Come to think of it, you did say something like that before. But in that case, where do we take the six characters out from?"
"That's right. ......Since we're taking six characters out, it must be at least six characters long. How can we read 第一の晩 so that it has more than six characters..."
"If we follow Father's sensibilities...I guess it probably is English after all..."
".........If it looks like we're getting stuck, why don't we move on to the second twilight and look for hints. ......Those who remain shall tear apart the two who are close. ......We can probably think of 'those who remain' as 'the remaining characters after the first six have been taken out'."
"In that case, ......what does it mean by two characters that are close...?"
".........I see. ......I get it, that's what this is about...!"
For example, let's take the following list of nine characters: 123456789.
And then, let's say that the six characters offered as sacrifices are 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
In this case, we erase the aforementioned six characters from 123456789...and get x2x45xxxx.
"So 2, 4, and 5 are left. ......So what?"
"......Oh, ......4 and 5 are close..."
"Yes, I get it!! So the two who are close are..."
x2x45xxxx.
"Yep. There's a gap between 2 and 4, but 4 and 5 are right next to each other. They're the two who are close...!"
".......... Well done, Battler-san. We can't tell whether 'tear apart' means to crush 4 and 5, or to put a gap between them, but I think that's a good observation."
"Then what do you think about the third twilight, those who remain shall praise my honorable name on high?"
".........Since there's a good chance that we're playing with letters, there's a possibility that this is also playing with letters. ......'The characters that remain shall praise my honorable name on high'."
"Hmmmmm...... That's tough.........What could it mean...?"
".........Does anyone know? .........I think I do."
"Huh? What is it? Tell me...!"
"......Is this also...an anagram?"
".........Once again,. ...Battler-san, you're a pretty clever thinker."
"By anagram, you mean playing with letters, right? ......That means......"
"In other words, maybe it means that you can make some kind of word by changing the order of the remaining letters."
"Yeah. ......If so, ..................This theory might be a little rash, ...but maybe the original list of characters that the first twilight is taken out of is 11 characters long."
".........Well done again. I reached the same conclusion."
"Wh, why's that? Why do you think there are 11 characters?!"
".........We think that 'killing a single sacrifice' means 'crushing a single character'. If we interpret the 'tear apart' of the second twilight to mean adding a gap between two characters, then there are 11 characters total. If 'tear apart' means to crush those two characters, then we can assume that there are 13 characters."
"......After all, from the fourth twilight to the eighth twilight, the word 'kill' appears five times. And then, on the ninth twilight, it's written that none will be left alive."
"If we ignore the part about the witch reviving for now, I figured that after crushing the first six, separating the characters that are close, and then crushing five more of them......there should be no characters left."
So that makes 6+5, or 11 characters.
If tearing apart the two who are close in the second twilight means to kill both of them, that makes 6+2+5, or 13 characters.
There's a chance that the word which means 第一の晩 has 11 or 13 characters......
".........Wonderfully done. That's the exact same theory I thought of. ......It looks like you were gifted with a lot of little gray cells just like me, Battler-san."
"Hey, quit it. Just doing what comes naturally."
"............Hey, what the hell. ......The piece me is pretty damn smart. There's no room left for me to make theories."
"Oh, sorry about that. ......You weren't around at this point, so I just controlled your piece for you. .........Isn't it nice how smart I made you look...?"
"*giggle*giggle*giggle*...! It looks like you'd be wiser to let Bern be the player. ......Why not step down as the player and concentrate on being the piece instead?"
I joined in on this game on October 5, after the first few murders.
That means the piece called 'me' was controlled by the player, Bernkastel.
So, I guess that means it's possible for Bernkastel's reasoning to be announced through 'my' mouth...
......The game I'm watching now is nothing more than a replay of a part that's already ended.
However, that's probably good enough for now.
......Since this Bernkastel-sama has gone out of her way to solve the epitaph for me.
...I'll watch closely for now.
.........And, ......I'll try to find out what it means.
Lambdadelta let it slip herself just a second ago.
"Of course. If I told you that, there'd be too many hints. .........If a riddle isn't
hard, there's just no point to it・・・・・・・・・. ......Uh-oh, that's a hint too. *giggle*......"
......This theory about Grandfather creating the epitaph in order to choose a successor isn't bad at all.
Erika and Bernkastel's logic is extremely reasonable.
But that's only if we assume Grandfather was the one to create it.
He was probably alive at the time the epitaph was displayed, but of course, ......Grandfather is already dead by 1986.
And, in the games up until now, Beatrice threatened us repeatedly with letters, saying that the only way to survive was to solve the epitaph...and trying to force us to solve the riddle.
In other words, ......it was Beatrice's intention, ...her hope......that we would try solving the riddle of the epitaph.
The epitaph is so confusing that, in most cases, the relatives never seriously tried solving it until the threatening letters started to arrive.
That's why Beatrice fired the starting pistol which made us take a go at it.
..................
.........Why is Beatrice succeeding Grandfather's will after his death......?
Like the theory proposed in the first game, ......is Beatrice really Grandfather's confidant, who's following his orders even after his death and trying to select the successor with the riddle of the epitaph in Grandfather's stead...?
If she did that, it would mean that Beatrice really was Kinzo's trusted underling, like the alchemy counselor she called herself in that letter...
After Grandfather's death, Beatrice managed the ten tons of gold and took the title of alchemist.
......She was entrusted with the epitaph's riddle, and without ever embezzling the gold, she waited for a human fitting to be the successor to appear and solve it......
And if that human didn't appear within a set time limit, ......would that be 'game over'?
Certainly, Eva oba-san, who solved the riddle in the 3rd game, became the only survivor and, automatically, the final head of the Ushiromiya family, inheriting everything.
Up until now, no one has ever survived past October 5 except Eva oba-san, the one who solved the epitaph......
That was the only case where Beatrice let anyone survive......
..................
Is Beatrice's loyalty to Grandfather......the thing that drove her.........?
Was she so loyal that she faithfully carried out some terrible order...to kill everyone if the epitaph wasn't solved......?
............
......I must not stop thinking. ...Don't, ......stop thinking......
Don't just think of the riddle itself......think about why it's significant.
..................
Why is Beatrice telling us to solve the epitaph......?
Why did she create such a confusing・・・・・・・ epitaph for us......?
......If Beatrice makes us try and solve this epitaph that we have no real chance of solving, .........and by some lucky chance, a 'miracle' occurs and someone is able to solve it......, .........what significance would that have to her.........?
I don't know......what this miracle would be worth to Beato.
"Anyway, ......until we figure out the first twilight, we'll have to give up on the rest."
We tried looking at it from several different angles, but in the end, we got stuck there and made no further advances.
"Mmph, ...fwaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh......"
Maria let out an extra-large yawn.
This caused several other people to yawn.
...We had been using our heads so much that everyone had gotten a little sleepy.
Jessica, who had been silent and looking displeased the whole time, quickly stood up.
"......I'm going upstairs with Maria. We'll watch TV or something."
"Okay... I'll go up too. Hey, why don't we all play cards upstairs?"
When George proposed this, Maria completely forgot about that big yawn of hers and started jumping around, insisting that she wanted to play cards.
Judging by the clock, it was already 10:00 at night.
It was already about that time you normally take a bath and get ready for sleep.
Even the adults seemed pretty weary from traveling.
We decided to continue this later and went our separate ways...
"Will you play with us too, Erika-chan? Cards?"
".........I appreciate the sentiment. I overstepped my bounds a little, forgetting that I'm a simple guest. I'd like to take it easy and rest for the night. .........I'd almost forgotten that I was just in an accident."
"Seriously. You're in such high spirits it's hard to believe you almost drowned."
"*giggle*. That's youth for you. Still, I enjoyed it. I think we've taken a big step in our reasoning thanks to you. If I find the gold, I'll let you have about a million yen worth."
"Wahahaha! Can't you at least offer the poor girl a hundred million! Uhahaha!"
"No need to bother. I'm only interested in solving the riddle. ......Well then, if you'll excuse me. ......Good night."
"Yeah, 'night."
"Oh, you aren't going upstairs, Battler-kun?"
"......I'm getting a bit interested here. I'll think things through here just a bit longer. If I can just figure out the list of characters that marks the first twilight, I'll bet the road before me will open up all at once..."
Everyone went up to the second floor one by one.
Only Rosa oba-san remained behind, cleaning up the coffee cups everyone had been drinking out of.
Kyrie-san and some others had offered to help, but since Rosa had refused this, she was washing them all alone.
Since I'd just been treated to such delicious coffee, I decided to help too.
......I wasn't just doing it because I felt obligated.
I wanted to keep discussing the epitaph with someone.
".........The first twilight...the first twilight. ......Gah. Rosa oba-san, have you thought of some list of characters or a word?"
"Nope... I don't have a clue. .........But instead of the first twilight, it's the tenth twilight that bugs me."
"The tenth twilight...? What about it?"
"Well, .........the word 'Golden Land' appears several times, right?"
"Yeah, it does."
"Why is it......that only on the tenth twilight do we read it as 'ougon no kyou'...no, 'ougon no sato', instead of 'ougon kyou'? It's written as '黄金の郷' (ougon no sato) instead of '黄金郷' (ougon kyou). ...It bugged me a little that this is the only place it's written as '黄金の郷'."
"............You're right. ...No mistake. Even though it's written as 黄金郷 everywhere else..."
Even though the rest are all 黄金郷, the tenth twilight alone has a 'の' in it...making it 黄金の郷 and possibly changing the pronunciation of the 'Land' in Golden Land from 'kyou' to 'sato'.
Could it have some kind of special meaning.........?
..................
"Still, ......you and that Erika-chan girl are incredible. The way you think really is flexible. ...I'm already an old lady, and my mind just doesn't work that fast. That theory about the six chosen by the key signifying six characters to be removed was very impressive."
"After hearing that, I can't see it as being any other way, but before then, I didn't think it was like that at all... My thickheadedness is getting annoying."
"That's not true. You think in a very flexible way, Rosa oba-san. This thing about '黄金の郷' that you found might be a key to something."
"Not at all. My mind's very stiff. ......Up until now, I've always thought that this 'first twilight' was nothing more than a place one-tenth of the way on a road to the Golden Land."
"......What's this? Sounds interesting. Could you let me hear?"
"*giggle*. ......After all, in the line before the first twilight, it's written 'you should travel to the Golden Land', right? Then you travel for ten days, so I thought the rest was a story about that journey."
"......A journey............Yeah. ............"
"Then the journey begins, and when you set up camp at the first twilight, you offer the six as sacrifices. ......So, where is that place? How many kilometers from the starting point...? That's all... Don't tell anyone, okay? I'm a dummy, so I've always read the '郷' of 黄金の郷' as 'kyou'.
......Look, when you say 'kyou', it sounds like Kyoto, right? So I thought there might be some kind of secret hidden at the end of the first tenth of the road from Father's hometown to Kyoto..."
"Are you kidding? That idea is totally clever. .........The very first place on a journey that lasts ten days.........The name of that place might be the key......"
"In order to figure that out, you'd have to know both the start point and the end point. ......I know the start point. I know the hometown Father loved. The place Father spent his time when he was a boy really is far away."
"......But the problem is the goal...the Golden Land. Where in the world could it be? ......If we don't know that, my theory gets us nowhere. I've been stuck at this spot for a long time, but after listening to your reasoning today, I've realized what an embarrassing mistake I've been making."
".........No, ...I think that's still an interesting idea. ..................A start and a goal, a ten day journey. ...And the place reached at the very first twilight......"
"Believe it or not, I think you might solve this one easily, Battler-kun. ......If you do solve it with your aunt's hint, share some with me. Even 5% would be great. It's a promise♪"
Despite being my aunt, she gave me a wink which would've made a man's heart jump.
As I helped her wash the coffee cups, ......I kept pondering the epitaph's riddle silently.........
......After I finished helping Rosa oba-san and went into the corridor on my way to the bathroom, I saw Erika unlocking the door to a room on the way there.
"......Your room is on the second floor, right? I was sure you'd gone upstairs and had fallen asleep by now."
"............I was just searching for something. ......I thought it might be here."
"Searching for something......?"
Erika unlocked the door and opened it.
A dusty smell drifted out...
It was the archive.
The gaps between the bookshelves were too small for this to be called a library room.
This was obviously a room made for storing books, not reading them.
"......So you're searching for a book?"
"Not necessarily a book, ......but materials. There's something I've just got to look up."
"............You're looking for something having to do with the epitaph's riddle...? Pretty admirable that you haven't given up yet. I guess 20 billion yen is pretty enticing."
I hadn't given up either.
Apparently, we were both bad at giving up......
"You're joking. ......I'm only interested in riddle-solving. I'm only looking for the gold because I want proof that my reasoning was correct. Even if I found it, I wouldn't pocket it for myself, so don't worry."
......She immediately cast it aside, saying that she just liked solving riddles and had no interest at all in the gold.
At first, I was pretty sure she was a weird one, and it looks like that impression was spot on.
As Erika slowly circled the bookshelves, she started searching for the book she was after...
"I'm also in the middle of trying to solve the epitaph. .........Oh yeah, just a second ago, I heard something interesting from Rosa oba-san which might be a hint about the first twilight."
".........Let me hear it."
Erika asked this without stopping her search or even turning to face me.
"In the line before the first twilight, it says one who lays hand upon the key shall do so and so."
".........He who lays hand upon the key shall travel under the rules below."
"Whoa... You've already got it memorized? Guess I shouldn't be surprised..."
"And what about that?"
"......Yeah. You should travel to the Golden Land, right? Apparently, this made Rosa oba-san think about the tenth twilight...in other words, going on a ten day-long journey from the beloved homeland to the Golden Land..."
"Actually, I already noticed that myself. The place you reach on the first day of the ten day journey. ......That's where you offer the sacrifices from."
"Y, ...yeah, that's what Rosa oba-san thought of too. I also think it's an interesting theory. ......The place you reach on the first day of the ten day journey. That bit of land, or else the place name, might be a key..."
".........I also guessed that the place name might be a key. That's why I'm looking for materials. I want to turn my guess into certainty."
"What is it.........that you're looking for?"
Then, Erika's hand suddenly stopped, ......and she slowly pulled it out...
Then, as she dusted it off, she finally looked at me and spoke.
"It's an atlas."
Erika's seat was the lowest one in rank. In other words, it was at the inferior end of the table.
Since Kinzo's seat at the high end of the table was empty, if you turned the whole thing around, it sort of looked like Erika was the host of this dinner...
"Well then, everyone. I would like to begin tonight's dinner, if I may."
After Gohda's announcement, dinner began with the almost customary applause.
It was finally the beginning of the dinner orchestra conducted by Toshiro Gohda.
Except for Krauss's household, sitting at such a majestic dinner table was no everyday thing for these people by any means.
However, they were all used to it and acted as though this was completely normal.
......Again, if anyone was to be surprised, it should have been Erika.
And yet, she showed no surprise at this dinner and acted with composure, blending in with everyone else.
......There wasn't even a sliver of the fear one might expect from someone who had wandered here like a lost puppy.
".........She's a strange child. She doesn't seem the least bit flustered over the Ushiromiya family's grandest dinner of the year."
"Kids these days have nerves of steel. ...Definitely not something I dislike."
"Is Furudo-san used to meals such as this one...? She seems to be quite composed."
"No kiddin'. She seems very experienced. Heck, I still get confused about which fork I'm supposed to use next. Yeah..., was it this one, or this one...? Wahahahahaha!"
Without showing any confusion over the line of utensils in front of her, Erika gracefully ate her hors d'oeuvres.
Hideyoshi had started joking around with her, gripping a fork in each hand.
Of course, the president of a company in the food service industry like Hideyoshi would obviously know his table manners.
However, thinking that Erika must be nervous over this dinner, he had intentionally spoken with a comic tone of voice.
".........You just have to start on the outside and work your way in. ......If that's a pain, then just ask for some chopsticks. ......If you're Japanese, you've got to love chopsticks."
"Chopsticks are so great. Just one pair of those, and you can deal with any kind of food!"
As soon as she began talking about chopsticks, her eyes started glittering.
......The smile she now showed for the first time was far different from the dignity she had shown before and more like something you'd expect from someone her age.
"*giggle*. But you would use a spoon for curry and rice, wouldn't you?"
"Just make it as donburi. Is there anyone who eats gyuudon with a spoon? Of course not. For the Japanese, it's absolutely, positively, totally chopsticks! So, Gohda-san. Would you mind bringing me some chopsticks? I want to show everyone how a true Japanese person should eat, without any shame!"
"......By the way, what are we eating next?"
"Unfortunately, that would be soup."
As she pretended to shrug, Erika winked at everyone.
"""Wahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...!!"""
Of course, no one was laughing at her.
She obviously knew that soup came after hors d'oeuvres in a full course meal.
Furthermore, Erika had even noticed that she'd been performing too perfectly and creating a sense of tension...and that this was why Hideyoshi had tried to break the ice.
That's why she'd started behaving a little childish and light-hearted, acting out the part of a guest enjoying a harmonious dinner......
Pretty soon, not only Kyrie, but everyone else also caught on.
Even though she was an uninvited guest, she was apparently worthy of participating in an Ushiromiya family dinner.
"Smart kid. ......Did she really just come here by coincidence? Don't tell me you secretly called your illegitimate child to today's family conference, Nii-san?"
"It seems she's not only smart, but knows how to brighten the mood too. And her manners are simply wonderful. It wouldn't be bad at all to have this girl as a daughter."
"Hihihihi. That's pretty cruel. Where does that leave Jessica-chan?"
"*giggle*. That's mean, Rudolf nii-san."
"What's wrong, Jessica-chan? Headache?"
"Uuuu... I get the feeling my reputation's taking a dip......"
"Well, as the daughter of the head family, I doubt you're any worse. Try using those table manners and dignity Natsuhi oba-san's always training you with, and fight back!"
"Wanna see, wanna see! Wanna see table manners! Uu-!"
"Hey, jumping around is bad manners. Come on, Jessica-chan. Show us how it's done."
"......S, sure, of course..."
Jessica straightened up so much it looked like someone had poked her back with a pole.
......She had good posture, but it somehow lacked elegance.
She looked...well...kind of like a triangle ruler.
She sat at attention with her gaze fixed straight ahead, tried to bring her food to her mouth despite this, ......and failed miserably.
Dad, who was sitting next to her, suddenly realized that something was up.
"Hm? What is it, Jessica-chan? Your stomach hurt??"
Jessica turned bright red. ......Ah, sorry, I can't help myself...
We laughed our heads off.
Jessica protested, still bright red.
Natsuhi oba-san scolded us for being too improper.
Well, no matter how much we try to smooth it over, we are who we are. We couldn't act like we were anything else.
Still, that laugh really did help us to relax.
We were so concerned about the guest getting nervous that we had grown even more nervous ourselves.
Our chatter from the center of this long table spread to both ends, and ultimately, the dinner went even more smoothly than usual...
With some delicious cheese and coffee, our peaceful meal came to an end.
Gohda won unanimous acclaim and was praised for his skill by all present......
After a short period of harmony following the meal, it was decided that we would return to the guesthouse.
Normally, dinner tended to have a very dark atmosphere about it, and the adults would often move right on to the family conference with the same dark atmosphere.
However, perhaps because this year's dinner had been oddly peaceful, everyone decided to take a break, the adults included.
After eating, taking a bath, and relaxing while watching TV, I wonder if they'll gather again in the mansion in the middle of all this rain and resume their high-tension family conference... I'd rather not think about that.
Apparently, Eva oba-san got very worked up trying to convince the rest to start the family conference right away, but it didn't look like many people agreed with her. The meeting had probably come to a close for the night.
Since they had guesthouse duty, Gohda-san and Kumasawa-san were chosen to guide us to the guesthouse.
It must be tough for Gohda-san.
Even after making and cleaning up such an extravagant dinner, he also has the midnight shift at the guesthouse.
I heard that Kumasawa-san, old as she was, would be going to sleep soon.
It seems she was assigned a spare room in the guesthouse.
"Allow me to guide everyone to the guesthouse. Erika-sama, your room has also been prepared."
".........Thank you very much."
"Why not rest a bit? Are you sure you feel alright?"
"...That's right. I'd totally forgotten, but you nearly drowned and floated here, didn't you, Erika-chan? It's probably best if you take it easy today and get to bed early."
".........I'm perfectly fine. ......On the contrary, I'm so nervous and excited that I doubt I could get to sleep."
"Uu-uu-!! Then let's play, let's all play together! Play cards!"
Maria latched on to her, giggling.
This lack of restraint particular to youth was very much like Maria. ......However, we really should be worrying about Erika's physical condition now.
"Maria, why don't you play cards with us. Erika onee-chan is tired."
"......I like cards. Please let me join you after I've had a short break."
"Uu-uu-uu-!! All right!!"
"............Who is that?"
As she passed through the lobby of the entrance hall, Erika stopped walking......
When we saw what she was looking at, ......the rest of us also stopped.
"......Oh, that is the Golden Witch, Beatrice-sama."
"............The Golden.........Witch."
"What're you doing, brats? Head off back to the guesthouse right away."
Dad, Kyrie-san, Eva oba-san, Hideyoshi oji-san, and Rosa oba-san all came over.
The guesthouse party had all gathered.
However, Erika's gaze was captured by the portrait of the witch, and she simply stared at it for a while......
"......Yeah. Supposedly, Dad has a stash of hidden gold worth 20 billion yen, and the hiding place for that gold is written of on this epitaph."
Perhaps because it was too early for them all to disperse into their individual rooms, the relatives who had returned to the guesthouse all gathered on the first floor, continuing their chat.
The topic......was the witch's epitaph, which Erika had taken an interest in.
".........It really is a fascinating riddle. .........He stuck it out in a place where anyone could see it, challenging our intelligence. .........I love that kind of challenge."
"Whoa. You seem surprisingly interested, Erika-chan. Do you like solving riddles or something?"
"......Don't challenges like this seem interesting? ............It seems pretty clear that Kinzo-san wants to use that epitaph to choose his successor."
When she said that, the adults stopped moving, ......and slowly turned to face Erika...
"Why, .........do you think that...?"
Eva oba-san spoke with a coaxing voice.
......Though there had been whisperings between the relatives every now and then that the person who solved the epitaph's riddle might be given the family inheritance, ......that had been nothing more than wishful thinking, since such a thing had never been specifically stated.
And yet, though she had only read it once......this outsider had already reached that conclusion.
How had she come to it?
No, .........that's not the problem.
'If you solve the epitaph, you can become the next head'.
She wasn't trying to make it sound like wishful thinking......but an outright fact.
So they closed in around Erika, asking why she was so sure.
".........It's somewhat common for extremely rich people to relinquish their wealth to the person who solves a riddle. ......Furthermore, Kinzo-san didn't publish this epitaph in a newspaper, but displayed it in his mansion. That means the riddle is directed at the people in this mansion."
"You're right............Since it's inside the mansion, there's no way for someone who can't enter the mansion to solve it. ...So, that means Grandfather has been challenging the people in this mansion."
".........
At first, this Furudo Erika girl had seemed to be the fairly silent type, ......but apparently, that wasn't the case.
When she grew excited about being challenged to a game of wits, she became much more talkative than I had imagined.
"I, I see...... Well, it does make sense that an epitaph inside a mansion would be there so the people in that mansion could read it......"
"But......can you really be so sure that the one who solves it will be given the headship too?"
".........If the treasure gained by solving the riddle were something small, I wouldn't even have considered that."
"That's right. The hidden gold is worth 20 billion. ......You could consider it the wealth of the Ushiromiya family itself."
"............Inheriting that would be almost completely the same as inheriting the Ushiromiya family itself. ...In other words, this riddle of the gold's hiding place buried within the epitaph is nothing less than a way of selecting the practical successor of the Ushiromiya family."
......The idea that the person who solved the epitaph would be chosen as the next head was something that had been floating around between a few of the relatives for a while now.
However, since that had never been stated specifically, it had been nothing more than an optimistic dream.
......Thinking this, they had decided to abandon all consideration of this point until it could be made clear.
Erika had clearly declared that this uncertain part was, in fact, true.
If one of the relatives had said it, people would have thought it to be merely an optimistic dream.
However, when Furudo Erika, a complete outsider, declared this, her words seemed more credible than they otherwise would have......
Everyone remained silent for a while, slowly considering what those words implied...
".........Simply by the existence of the epitaph in that place, this level of reasoning is possible for Furudo Erika. ......What do you think, everyone?"
"......S, sorry to butt in, but my father is the successor to the head. It doesn't matter who finds the gold, because just finding it doesn't make someone the head, right?"
Jessica thought the treasure-hunting part of the epitaph was really fun.
However, she couldn't help but let her expression grow bitter once they started talking about undermining her father's position...
"......By using deductive reasoning based upon my theory, it seems likely that Kinzo-san doesn't want the successor to the head, Krauss-san, to inherit that position very smoothly."
"Wh, why's that?!!"
".........Becoming the head of the Ushiromiya family, with all of the vast wealth it entails, would mean gaining a great deal of influence in a political sense. ......In that case, the succession must be overseen vigorously, without letting any element of chance creep into the equation."
"Th, ...that's right. ......It happens a lot in those stories about Sengoku period military commanders that my husband loves. When there are multiple candidates for the successor, it usually results in an internal squabble..."
"...That's right...... That's why it's important to clearly specify a successor, so that you can avoid any trouble. Sometimes, there's even a purge of all the competing successors."
Even the Sengoku commander Hideyoshi admired, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, made his son-in-law Hidetsugu commit seppuku, but it was rumored that he might have done this to make Hideyori, who was his real son and born after Hidetsugu, his true heir.
......In other words, naming a successor was a way to make it generally known that a single, unique person would be acknowledged by everyone as the successor, and a way to remove any chance of another person becoming an opposing candidate.
".........
"That's right. .........If you turn the chessboard over, you certainly could say that. It would be odd if he handed over the position of the head normally, but didn't hand over the 20 billion yen in gold except to the person who solves the riddle."
Kinzo would give up the title of head, but he would only give up the 20 billion yen in gold to the person who solved the epitaph.
......You really couldn't call this passing on the headship in the truest sense.
".........That's how it is. By this theory, we are able to doubt whether Kinzo-san truly acknowledged Krauss-san as his successor. ......Simply by the existence of the epitaph in that place, this level of reasoning is possible for Furudo Erika."
"......What do you think, Jessica-san?"
"Wh, ...what the hell's that?!! How do you call that reasoning?! That's bullshit!! It's screwed up!!"
Jessica let her emotions lay bare and glared at Erika.
...Erika, on the other hand, looked exceedingly calm with an expression that said 'Well, that's just the truth, right?'
.........I see. It looks like table manners aren't the only way this girl is fitting for the Ushiromiya family.
...It seems she really is like the family, ......even in ways that it would've been better if she wasn't...
"Well..., t, take it easy, Jessica.........And Erika, let's leave it at that for now."
"Well, umm, we can put all this about the successor to the side for now. In any event, there's no doubt that it's Father's big question for us. ......Wahahaha! It's 20 billion yen! Maria-chan, what would you use it for if you found it? Wahahahahahahaha!"
"......Uu-. The Golden Land isn't just gold. It's a more sacred place!"
Hideyoshi oji-san kept trying to force himself to chuckle and thereby force the mood to improve.
Everyone else tried to go along with that, but Jessica's mood didn't get any better.
"Ha, hahahaha. So, Erika-chan, would you like to have a go at the epitaph's riddle?"
"............Yes. My little gray cells are itching to get started. So I'd like to start solving as soon as possible."
George-aniki skillfully turned the conversation around.
Just like the time she had made everyone laugh in the dining hall, Erika looked about with gleeful eyes and jumped at the chance.
"*giggle*giggle*. I like it. .........Well, since Erika seems so interested, let's all try and solve it together, just like last year."
"I'll make some coffee. Raise your hand if you want some. Not for you, Maria! You won't be able to sleep...!"
"Uu-uu-!! Wanna drink black coffee!!"
"....................."
"......Don't they get you excited? Riddles like this. .........I love them."
Erika said that and smiled...
Even though she must have known that she'd ticked Jessica off and made the atmosphere sour, ......she just smiled nonchalantly...
"......See? Without even waiting for the crime on October 5, there's a riddle you can solve."
"........................I've tried to solve it many times myself. But-"
".........But you didn't have a clue, so you gave up and stopped thinking. ...Right?"
It pissed me off, but I didn't have a good counter for that.
After all, ......I don't get the epitaph at all.
I don't even get the beloved hometown part, much less the parts about the sweetfish river and the key...
Thinking that a few more hints would show up if I waited, ......I kept on waiting, ...and just stopped thinking......
".........Have you figured out an answer on your own? .........Because I'm about to
solve it・・・・."
"Wh, what......?"
"This is where Bern solved the riddle of the epitaph. ......I'd expect no less from the Witch of Miracles. 'If a riddle is solvable, she can solve it without fail regardless of the difficulty'. ......How many years did it take to solve this one?"
".........That's rude. I only fished through a few hundred Fragments."
"Heheheheheheheheheheh...... You really are terrifying."
"You aren't going to cheat by suddenly saying the answer in red or something like that, right...?"
".........Don't worry. Just like you, I follow the rules as a player. ......Well, shall we begin? .........It's cramped here. Why don't we talk over the sea?"
"OK. ...Don't get queasy, Battler."
"What do you mean, sea...? ............?!"
Right after I thought the world had turned pitch black, ......I was struck by a strange floating sensation.
It must have felt like suddenly having the floor drop from under you, sending you into a bottomless pitfall...
When I looked, ......I saw that the two witches and I......had been thrown into a pitch black universe.
In this space, every direction was covered in an endless darkness, and it felt like an endless expanse filled with countless glittering objects.
......Some people might have likened it to the depths of an ocean where countless glittering fragments drifted.
"Uh, ......wh, whoa................"
"............Didn't she tell you not to get queasy?"
"If you want the concept of gravity, just create it yourself, okay? ......Come on, calm down and look at us. ......Come on, don't we look like we're just fine? ......Believe that your feet are on the ground and that you're being controlled by gravity. ......If you do that, you'll find your equilibrium."
Y, yes, the two witches are standing normally, as though their feet are planted on a transparent piece of glass.
I'm the only one floating about like someone in a rapidly plummeting elevator.
......When I saw that they were just fine, I started calming down, figuring that there was no need to be scared.
Then, just as Lambdadelta said, I gritted my teeth and kept telling myself that there was a place to stand here...and that I had to calm down......
"Wh, ............whoa..."
"Very good, very good. ......What's your name?"
"Ushiromiya Battler. ......Who else do I look like?"
"OK. You mustn't lose your will, emotions, or form. After all, this is the ocean. If you lose your purpose, you'll fall into the depths of eternity and become a scrap of ocean seaweed. Be careful."
I don't get what Lambdadelta is saying, but I should calm down for the time being.
It seems that I gain my equilibrium more the more I calm down.
Gradually, that weird floating feeling, like I was falling forever, began to disappear.
......It still felt strange, like trying to stand up straight at the bottom of a deep pool, but it was much better than before.
".........Then let's begin. .........I'll grab a Fragment for solving the riddle of the epitaph......"
Bernkastel opened both of her hands.
Then, like a planetarium.........all of the Fragments throughout this empty space began to spin, leaving tails behind them...
The expression 'planetarium' might have been even more fitting...
......Multiple Fragments were tied together by gold lines, and what looked like constellations zoomed by us rapidly, one after another.
It felt almost as though we were dashing through space at an incredible speed...
Then, with tails of light drifting behind them, ......several brightly glowing Fragments swirled around Bernkastel.
It looked almost like she had created her own solar system with her as the sun.
That solar system surrounding Bernkastel grew to a radius large enough to swallow us up.
And every once in a while, one of those satellite Fragments zoomed right past me.
When those Fragments passed right by me, ......it felt as though some kind of memory welled up inside me.
So I sensed it.
......These Fragments are probably like a crystallization of memories.
"They aren't memories. They're Fragments of worlds. ......Well, I guess they might feel like memories to you."
".........Then let's begin. ...Let's start with this Fragment."
One of the satellites in this solar system was slowly sucked into an inward trajectory with Bernkastel at the center.
After drawing a spiral and approaching her, it settled down on the palm of Bernkastel's outstretched hand...
Then, it glittered brightly, painting over the world with pure white......
"...The 'beloved hometown' definitely won't betray our expectations. ......The only past that Father held dear was his years as a boy."
".........I remember that. ...This is when, in the 3rd game, Eva oba-san was just about to solve the riddle of the epitaph, and was thinking it over with this witch inside her or whatever."
"............That's right. And, from these thoughts, she made her way to the correct answer. In other words, this Fragment shows a vital hint for reaching the truth.
.........In other words, it means that
this theory is not mistaken・・・・・・・・・・・・."
"So, ......you're saying we should assume this beloved hometown isn't a metaphor or anything like that...but the place Grandfather actually spent his youth?"
".........That's right. And at the very least, it isn't Odawara."
"............Odawara is definitely where he was born, but I don't think this hometown Father loved was Odawara. I believe all of us siblings are thinking of the same place."
"...Right. This probably isn't Odawara. From what I've heard, he had a very fun time as a youth."
"That's right............Eva oba-san and her siblings said that it wasn't Odawara. ......And not only that, it looks like everyone guessed where Grandfather's hometown was."
"......Right. And annoyingly, the actual location isn't spoken of in any of the Fragments."
"Of course. If I told you that, there'd be too many hints. .........If a riddle isn't
hard, there's just no point to it・・・・・・・・・. ......Uh-oh, that's a hint too. *giggle*......"
".....................Just where is this hometown of Grandfather's? ...We can't even start if we don't know that..."
"You mean you couldn't start, so you stopped thinking? ......Since it had to be a place where he could have lived, the number of possibilities is limited. .........Well, this is the toughest part."
".........You were the witch who could 'certainly solve any riddle that can be solved', weren't you? ......So you took those limited possibilities, ...in other words, everywhere on the earth, and considered every single piece of land that Grandfather might have lived on?"
"............That would work too, but that way, no amount of time would be enough. So, I needed to take some more hints into consideration to wring out the answer."
"......Didn't you say it yourself? You said it didn't have to be a river with water flowing down it. ......If the word sweetfish is too complicated, why not forget it...?
Think of a river. A river. Linking it with a 'family tree' wasn't a bad idea. Try thinking about how to link a river with something else along those lines......"
".........A sweetfish river running through the hometown. However, this river isn't truly a river. ......Eva thought of something else, something that could be linked with a river."
"Sure...... But if it isn't a river, then what are the sweetfish...? ..............."
".........Think. A river that runs through the hometown. ......But it isn't a river with water running down it. Something that can be likened to a river........."
".................."
".........The beloved hometown, the sweetfish river running through it. ......Eva knew where the hometown was, so she could forget about the sweetfish hint. ......However, since we don't know where it is, this could be a hint for us."
".........I worried too much about the sweetfish river. The sweetfish part didn't really matter that much at all, did it?"
"That isn't true. It was an excellent hint, wasn't it? Well, of course, maybe there was no need for it to be sweetfish."
"............What are these 'sweetfish'...? ......If the river isn't a literal river, then of course, 'sweetfish' probably doesn't mean the kind of fish that swims."
"Yeah. And on top of that, Rosa tossed it aside, saying that sweetfish weren't that significant."
".........And on the other hand, Eva said that it wasn't important for them to be sweetfish, but that it was still an excellent hint. .........In other words, the 'sweetfish' is a key to make you think of something else. If that something is a different word, but a word that sweetfish makes you think of, then Eva's line about how it 'probably didn't have to be sweetfish' makes sense..."
"........................"
From these thoughts, Eva oba-san formed some theory, ......went to the archive, looked through some books, and 'verified that she was right'.
In short, Eva oba-san formed some theory about the true nature of this sweetfish river running through a hometown.
Then, ......she opened a certain book to determine whether that theory was correct or not.
In other words, this theory was something that could be verified through some kind of book...
Also, after she figured out what the sweetfish river was, she figured out the rest of the riddle very quickly......
".........Good thinking. ......The epitaph continues on, saying 'If you follow the river downstream, you will find a village'. At that point in time, Eva hadn't yet solved the three lines starting with this one."
"......What is '里' (village)? What does it mean?! If you go down the 'river', there's a 里......?! ............ah, .........aaaaaaaahhh......!!"
Right before my eyes, ......the pieces that I hadn't been able to understand at all, ......began to *snap*, ......*snap*, into place, all by themselves......
I couldn't even remember to close my open mouth.
...My throat grew completely dry...
Is it, ......really alright for this to be the answer?
R, really? Really...?!
"...So...if we figure out what the 'sweetfish river running through the hometown' means, ......we'll automatically understand the 'If you follow the river downstream, you will find a village' stuff, ......and get the key to the Golden Land."
".........Correct. And that's because even Eva didn't know what the village down the river was until she read the book and checked."
"Dammit.........Just what is this book...?!"
"...But this isn't six characters at all. ...I'm absolutely sure that this is the answer, but this doesn't reach six characters at all...!"
Did you stop thinking again? In that case, think of a way you could read it with six characters.
If you can't think of one, then research it.
......There has to be an answer. You must not doubt that.
If you can't believe that, why don't you cry yourself to sleep, and then just give up and die...?
"............1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.........Oooh, ...s, ......six characters.........I, ......I found it. ...This, .........is, th, ......the key to the Golden Land.........!!"
"............Then, Eva found the key to the Golden Land."
"Yeah. And this key......was some kind of word, number, or string of characters...six characters long!"
".........That's it. If we know that the key's true identity has six characters, the meaning of the first twilight changes drastically."
"A, ...at the first twilight, you shall lift up as sacrifice the six chosen by the key.........Chosen by the key...the six............Six characters......!"
In other words......it means to sacrifice the six characters chosen by the key at the first twilight...!
"This key points towards a certain group of six people. ......No, we should say it points to a certain group of six things, ......if this doesn't mean a literal command to offer sacrifices. For example, it could be an anagram."
"An anagram? Do you mean playing with letters...?"
Yes, Kyrie-san has been thinking that way ever since that moment...!
"...At the second twilight, there are 'those who remain'. ......Which means that, at the very least, that 'something' has a limited number of characters. You could read it like it's telling you to continue with the remaining characters after the six characters are removed.
"In other words, at the first twilight, we take a list of characters that's longer than six, 'kill' the six that are the key, and then do something with the characters that remain...!"
"............That's right. But, like Kyrie said, what should we kill the characters from? ......We don't know this longer string of characters that we're supposed to be killing from."
At the first twilight, kill the six characters that are the key.
..................At the first twilight.
"......In other words, ...by the time we reach the first twilight, some string of characters already exists? But 'the first twilight' (第一の晩) only has four characters. Is there another way to read it? If we act like Grandfather and read it in English, ......what does 第一の晩 become...? <１ｓｔ−ｎｉｇｈｔ>...? ............"
".........
"I also thought of the possibility that it's an anagram."
"......Come to think of it, you did say something like that before. But in that case, where do we take the six characters out from?"
"That's right. ......Since we're taking six characters out, it must be at least six characters long. How can we read 第一の晩 so that it has more than six characters..."
"If we follow Father's sensibilities...I guess it probably is English after all..."
".........If it looks like we're getting stuck, why don't we move on to the second twilight and look for hints. ......Those who remain shall tear apart the two who are close. ......We can probably think of 'those who remain' as 'the remaining characters after the first six have been taken out'."
"In that case, ......what does it mean by two characters that are close...?"
".........I see. ......I get it, that's what this is about...!"
For example, let's take the following list of nine characters: 123456789.
And then, let's say that the six characters offered as sacrifices are 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
In this case, we erase the aforementioned six characters from 123456789...and get x2x45xxxx.
"So 2, 4, and 5 are left. ......So what?"
"......Oh, ......4 and 5 are close..."
"Yes, I get it!! So the two who are close are..."
x2x45xxxx.
"Yep. There's a gap between 2 and 4, but 4 and 5 are right next to each other. They're the two who are close...!"
".........
"Then what do you think about the third twilight, those who remain shall praise my honorable name on high?"
".........Since there's a good chance that we're playing with letters, there's a possibility that this is also playing with letters. ......'The characters that remain shall praise my honorable name on high'."
"Hmmmmm...... That's tough.........What could it mean...?"
".........Does anyone know? .........I think I do."
"Huh? What is it? Tell me...!"
"......Is this also...an anagram?"
".........Once again,
"By anagram, you mean playing with letters, right? ......That means......"
"In other words, maybe it means that you can make some kind of word by changing the order of the remaining letters."
"Yeah. ......If so, ..................This theory might be a little rash, ...but maybe the original list of characters that the first twilight is taken out of is 11 characters long."
".........Well done again. I reached the same conclusion."
"Wh, why's that? Why do you think there are 11 characters?!"
".........We think that 'killing a single sacrifice' means 'crushing a single character'. If we interpret the 'tear apart' of the second twilight to mean adding a gap between two characters, then there are 11 characters total. If 'tear apart' means to crush those two characters, then we can assume that there are 13 characters."
"......After all, from the fourth twilight to the eighth twilight, the word 'kill' appears five times. And then, on the ninth twilight, it's written that none will be left alive."
"If we ignore the part about the witch reviving for now, I figured that after crushing the first six, separating the characters that are close, and then crushing five more of them......there should be no characters left."
So that makes 6+5, or 11 characters.
If tearing apart the two who are close in the second twilight means to kill both of them, that makes 6+2+5, or 13 characters.
There's a chance that the word which means 第一の晩 has 11 or 13 characters......
".........Wonderfully done. That's the exact same theory I thought of. ......It looks like you were gifted with a lot of little gray cells just like me, Battler-san."
"Hey, quit it. Just doing what comes naturally."
"............Hey, what the hell. ......The piece me is pretty damn smart. There's no room left for me to make theories."
"Oh, sorry about that. ......You weren't around at this point, so I just controlled your piece for you. .........Isn't it nice how smart I made you look...?"
"*giggle*giggle*giggle*...! It looks like you'd be wiser to let Bern be the player. ......Why not step down as the player and concentrate on being the piece instead?"
I joined in on this game on October 5, after the first few murders.
That means the piece called 'me' was controlled by the player, Bernkastel.
So, I guess that means it's possible for Bernkastel's reasoning to be announced through 'my' mouth...
......The game I'm watching now is nothing more than a replay of a part that's already ended.
However, that's probably good enough for now.
......Since this Bernkastel-sama has gone out of her way to solve the epitaph for me.
...I'll watch closely for now.
.........And, ......I'll try to find out what it means.
Lambdadelta let it slip herself just a second ago.
"Of course. If I told you that, there'd be too many hints. .........If a riddle isn't
hard, there's just no point to it・・・・・・・・・. ......Uh-oh, that's a hint too. *giggle*......"
......This theory about Grandfather creating the epitaph in order to choose a successor isn't bad at all.
Erika and Bernkastel's logic is extremely reasonable.
But that's only if we assume Grandfather was the one to create it.
He was probably alive at the time the epitaph was displayed, but of course, ......Grandfather is already dead by 1986.
And, in the games up until now, Beatrice threatened us repeatedly with letters, saying that the only way to survive was to solve the epitaph...and trying to force us to solve the riddle.
In other words, ......it was Beatrice's intention, ...her hope......that we would try solving the riddle of the epitaph.
The epitaph is so confusing that, in most cases, the relatives never seriously tried solving it until the threatening letters started to arrive.
That's why Beatrice fired the starting pistol which made us take a go at it.
..................
.........Why is Beatrice succeeding Grandfather's will after his death......?
Like the theory proposed in the first game, ......is Beatrice really Grandfather's confidant, who's following his orders even after his death and trying to select the successor with the riddle of the epitaph in Grandfather's stead...?
If she did that, it would mean that Beatrice really was Kinzo's trusted underling, like the alchemy counselor she called herself in that letter...
After Grandfather's death, Beatrice managed the ten tons of gold and took the title of alchemist.
......She was entrusted with the epitaph's riddle, and without ever embezzling the gold, she waited for a human fitting to be the successor to appear and solve it......
And if that human didn't appear within a set time limit, ......would that be 'game over'?
Certainly, Eva oba-san, who solved the riddle in the 3rd game, became the only survivor and, automatically, the final head of the Ushiromiya family, inheriting everything.
Up until now, no one has ever survived past October 5 except Eva oba-san, the one who solved the epitaph......
That was the only case where Beatrice let anyone survive......
..................
Is Beatrice's loyalty to Grandfather......the thing that drove her.........?
Was she so loyal that she faithfully carried out some terrible order...to kill everyone if the epitaph wasn't solved......?
............
......I must not stop thinking. ...Don't, ......stop thinking......
Don't just think of the riddle itself......think about why it's significant.
..................
Why is Beatrice telling us to solve the epitaph......?
Why did she create such a confusing・・・・・・・ epitaph for us......?
......If Beatrice makes us try and solve this epitaph that we have no real chance of solving, .........and by some lucky chance, a 'miracle' occurs and someone is able to solve it......, .........what significance would that have to her.........?
I don't know......what this miracle would be worth to Beato.
"Anyway, ......until we figure out the first twilight, we'll have to give up on the rest."
We tried looking at it from several different angles, but in the end, we got stuck there and made no further advances.
"Mmph, ...fwaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh......"
Maria let out an extra-large yawn.
This caused several other people to yawn.
...We had been using our heads so much that everyone had gotten a little sleepy.
Jessica, who had been silent and looking displeased the whole time, quickly stood up.
"......I'm going upstairs with Maria. We'll watch TV or something."
"Okay... I'll go up too. Hey, why don't we all play cards upstairs?"
When George proposed this, Maria completely forgot about that big yawn of hers and started jumping around, insisting that she wanted to play cards.
Judging by the clock, it was already 10:00 at night.
It was already about that time you normally take a bath and get ready for sleep.
Even the adults seemed pretty weary from traveling.
We decided to continue this later and went our separate ways...
"Will you play with us too, Erika-chan? Cards?"
".........I appreciate the sentiment. I overstepped my bounds a little, forgetting that I'm a simple guest. I'd like to take it easy and rest for the night. .........I'd almost forgotten that I was just in an accident."
"Seriously. You're in such high spirits it's hard to believe you almost drowned."
"*giggle*. That's youth for you. Still, I enjoyed it. I think we've taken a big step in our reasoning thanks to you. If I find the gold, I'll let you have about a million yen worth."
"Wahahaha! Can't you at least offer the poor girl a hundred million! Uhahaha!"
"No need to bother. I'm only interested in solving the riddle. ......Well then, if you'll excuse me. ......Good night."
"Yeah, 'night."
"Oh, you aren't going upstairs, Battler-kun?"
"......I'm getting a bit interested here. I'll think things through here just a bit longer. If I can just figure out the list of characters that marks the first twilight, I'll bet the road before me will open up all at once..."
Everyone went up to the second floor one by one.
Only Rosa oba-san remained behind, cleaning up the coffee cups everyone had been drinking out of.
Kyrie-san and some others had offered to help, but since Rosa had refused this, she was washing them all alone.
Since I'd just been treated to such delicious coffee, I decided to help too.
......I wasn't just doing it because I felt obligated.
I wanted to keep discussing the epitaph with someone.
".........The first twilight...the first twilight. ......Gah. Rosa oba-san, have you thought of some list of characters or a word?"
"Nope... I don't have a clue. .........But instead of the first twilight, it's the tenth twilight that bugs me."
"The tenth twilight...? What about it?"
"Well, .........the word 'Golden Land' appears several times, right?"
"Yeah, it does."
"Why is it......that only on the tenth twilight do we read it as 'ougon no kyou'...no, 'ougon no sato', instead of 'ougon kyou'? It's written as '黄金の郷' (ougon no sato) instead of '黄金郷' (ougon kyou). ...It bugged me a little that this is the only place it's written as '黄金の郷'."
"............You're right. ...No mistake. Even though it's written as 黄金郷 everywhere else..."
Even though the rest are all 黄金郷, the tenth twilight alone has a 'の' in it...making it 黄金の郷 and possibly changing the pronunciation of the 'Land' in Golden Land from 'kyou' to 'sato'.
Could it have some kind of special meaning.........?
..................
"Still, ......you and that Erika-chan girl are incredible. The way you think really is flexible. ...I'm already an old lady, and my mind just doesn't work that fast. That theory about the six chosen by the key signifying six characters to be removed was very impressive."
"After hearing that, I can't see it as being any other way, but before then, I didn't think it was like that at all... My thickheadedness is getting annoying."
"That's not true. You think in a very flexible way, Rosa oba-san. This thing about '黄金の郷' that you found might be a key to something."
"Not at all. My mind's very stiff. ......Up until now, I've always thought that this 'first twilight' was nothing more than a place one-tenth of the way on a road to the Golden Land."
"......What's this? Sounds interesting. Could you let me hear?"
"*giggle*. ......After all, in the line before the first twilight, it's written 'you should travel to the Golden Land', right? Then you travel for ten days, so I thought the rest was a story about that journey."
"......A journey............Yeah. ............"
"Then the journey begins, and when you set up camp at the first twilight, you offer the six as sacrifices. ......So, where is that place? How many kilometers from the starting point...? That's all... Don't tell anyone, okay? I'm a dummy, so I've always read the '郷' of 黄金の郷' as 'kyou'.
......Look, when you say 'kyou', it sounds like Kyoto, right? So I thought there might be some kind of secret hidden at the end of the first tenth of the road from Father's hometown to Kyoto..."
"Are you kidding? That idea is totally clever. .........The very first place on a journey that lasts ten days.........The name of that place might be the key......"
"In order to figure that out, you'd have to know both the start point and the end point. ......I know the start point. I know the hometown Father loved. The place Father spent his time when he was a boy really is far away."
"......But the problem is the goal...the Golden Land. Where in the world could it be? ......If we don't know that, my theory gets us nowhere. I've been stuck at this spot for a long time, but after listening to your reasoning today, I've realized what an embarrassing mistake I've been making."
".........No, ...I think that's still an interesting idea. ..................A start and a goal, a ten day journey. ...And the place reached at the very first twilight......"
"Believe it or not, I think you might solve this one easily, Battler-kun. ......If you do solve it with your aunt's hint, share some with me. Even 5% would be great. It's a promise♪"
Despite being my aunt, she gave me a wink which would've made a man's heart jump.
As I helped her wash the coffee cups, ......I kept pondering the epitaph's riddle silently.........
......After I finished helping Rosa oba-san and went into the corridor on my way to the bathroom, I saw Erika unlocking the door to a room on the way there.
"......Your room is on the second floor, right? I was sure you'd gone upstairs and had fallen asleep by now."
"............I was just searching for something. ......I thought it might be here."
"Searching for something......?"
Erika unlocked the door and opened it.
A dusty smell drifted out...
It was the archive.
The gaps between the bookshelves were too small for this to be called a library room.
This was obviously a room made for storing books, not reading them.
"......So you're searching for a book?"
"Not necessarily a book, ......but materials. There's something I've just got to look up."
"............You're looking for something having to do with the epitaph's riddle...? Pretty admirable that you haven't given up yet. I guess 20 billion yen is pretty enticing."
I hadn't given up either.
Apparently, we were both bad at giving up......
"You're joking. ......I'm only interested in riddle-solving. I'm only looking for the gold because I want proof that my reasoning was correct. Even if I found it, I wouldn't pocket it for myself, so don't worry."
......She immediately cast it aside, saying that she just liked solving riddles and had no interest at all in the gold.
At first, I was pretty sure she was a weird one, and it looks like that impression was spot on.
As Erika slowly circled the bookshelves, she started searching for the book she was after...
"I'm also in the middle of trying to solve the epitaph. .........Oh yeah, just a second ago, I heard something interesting from Rosa oba-san which might be a hint about the first twilight."
".........Let me hear it."
Erika asked this without stopping her search or even turning to face me.
"In the line before the first twilight, it says one who lays hand upon the key shall do so and so."
".........He who lays hand upon the key shall travel under the rules below."
"Whoa... You've already got it memorized? Guess I shouldn't be surprised..."
"And what about that?"
"......Yeah. You should travel to the Golden Land, right? Apparently, this made Rosa oba-san think about the tenth twilight...in other words, going on a ten day-long journey from the beloved homeland to the Golden Land..."
"Actually, I already noticed that myself. The place you reach on the first day of the ten day journey. ......That's where you offer the sacrifices from."
"Y, ...yeah, that's what Rosa oba-san thought of too. I also think it's an interesting theory. ......The place you reach on the first day of the ten day journey. That bit of land, or else the place name, might be a key..."
".........I also guessed that the place name might be a key. That's why I'm looking for materials. I want to turn my guess into certainty."
"What is it.........that you're looking for?"
Then, Erika's hand suddenly stopped, ......and she slowly pulled it out...
Then, as she dusted it off, she finally looked at me and spoke.
"It's an atlas."