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umiscripts2012-01-30 01:44 am
endlesswitch) wrote in umiscripts2012-01-30 01:44 am
turn of the golden witch; chapter 9 (halloween)
Sun, Oct 5 1986 6:00AM
......What was the sound that always filled the ears?
The sound of the rain, the sound of a waterfall, or was it radio static?
In that case, I want it to be the sound of blood flowing through the body.
......I want it to be the sound of the blood circulating throughout my body, telling me that I am still alive...
".....................Hmm.........Is it, morning...?"
The light entering through a crack in the curtain was faint, but it at least told him that dawn had broken.
Kinzo, still acting like one who has just woken up, ...still sitting in a chair and looking up at the ceiling..., felt the blood slowly travel throughout his body...
...Judging by the clock, it was early morning, 6:00 on the dot.
......No matter how tired he was, no matter how deeply he slept, he woke up at exactly this time, as though he had measured it with an hourglass.
He didn't think that something like this would lead him to boast, but he instructed himself that while he could still do something like this, he was still in robust health.
".........Morning has come, which means...............hmmm. ......In any event, it seems that I've escaped being one of the first sacrifices. ......Was the result of the roulette fortunate, ...or is this the fruit of my efforts? It is irritating that I cannot tell the difference, but I will not say that."
Kinzo was very slightly driven by a temptation to see the outside of the study door.
Because he thought that maybe, he might find the traces of a vain struggle to break the door, made by something trying to select him as one of the first six sacrifices.
"...Hmph. .........Humans are cheap creatures. ......While they concern themselves with other's affairs and possess sacred life, they want to love themselves, and when they are given good fortune, they say that it was due to their own ability rather than simple good fortune."
So he wanted to check whether there was a wretched mark on the door. ...That's what humans would do.
Therefore, Kinzo did not check.
He repressed things that he wanted to do because he was human.
By that, Kinzo could be immersed in a feeling of sufficiency, as though he himself had become a being that surpassed humans...
He became aware of human desire, and forbade it.
Things that a human wanted to do, he resisted.
......This eccentricity and rebellious sense had surely given him a rare genius, which must have allowed him to succeed in his exploits as he revived the Ushiromiya family in one generation...
"Well then, Beatrice. What were the six pieces you took? ......And, what will your next move be? ...Entertain me. .........My defense is perfect. I will not shame myself like last time. ......Fu, ......fufufufu."
The servants woke early.
They had to open the curtains, prepare breakfast, and complete various other tasks to welcome the guests to a new day.
Gohda was the most enthusiastic.
During the family conference, he had been told to especially concentrate his efforts on cooking, and he had been specially exempted from several tasks that servants normally must do.
...It seemed that Gohda, who was a show off, had a particular feeling of supremacy about that.
He left the preparations of the inside of the mansion to Genji and the rest, and worked on preparing breakfast in the kitchen.
Genji split the work with Shannon and Kanon, and they carried out various tasks.
Shannon headed to the dining hall and knocked.
...Last year, the family conference had continued into the early hours of the morning.
It wouldn't have been odd for this year's conference to continue until the early morning.
Considering the possibility that they were still having a discussion inside, she knocked.
But there was no response, so she opened the door and said good morning.
"...Good morning. ............Is anyone there?"
The room was cold, and it seemed that the conference had ended a long time before.
On top of the table, there was a tea set, from which they had probably been drinking, arranged in a way that would make it easy to clean them up.
Cleaning up the tea was a servant's job.
So if the family was too caring and cleaned it up themselves, the servants would lose face.
Therefore, just doing this much for the servants truly was a pleasing act of kindness.
As she approached the table to clean it, she noticed something like a memo that had been left with the utensils.
It had been placed together with the tea set, so naturally thinking it was a memo for the servant cleaning up, Shannon took it.
Written on it was not a request, nor was it thanks for preparing the tea. There was just a single word.
Shannon looked at it blankly, and read it out loud...
"............Chapel. ............?"
A small sound kept repeating over and over.
It was a sound that was normally worthless and boring.
If only I could stop hearing it soon, then I could quickly return to my doze, someone thought vaguely.
...But no matter how much time passed, the sound did not end.
It repeated over and over.
Aaah, shut up.
Who is it? Banging on the door the whole time.
As soon as she noticed that, she woke up.
......Someone was knocking.
Then she noticed that there wasn't just a knock, but a voice.
".........Rosa-sama, ...Rosa-sama. ......Good morning."
"W, ......wait. I'm coming now."
It had been Genji's voice.
Looking at the clock, it was still before 7:00.
......It was clearly too early to wake the guests. ...Did something happen that was bad enough to cause this?
She felt her sleepiness increasingly fade thanks to this premonition of misfortune.
Because Genji had been a familiar servant to Rosa since her childhood days, even though she was slightly defenseless in her pajamas, she opened the door a crack and answered.
"Good morning. I apologize for waking you this early."
"......Did something happen?"
"Yes............Actually, at the chapel............, ........."
Genji spoke into Rosa's ear, and told her something in a small voice.
For a second, it seemed that Rosa couldn't understand what she had been told, and after having it repeated several times, she realized that apparently, something strange had happened.
Rosa closed her door for a second, and after changing her clothes, she immediately accompanied Genji and they headed to the mansion...
The chapel requires some explanation.
It wasn't in the mansion, but in a grove behind the mansion, which could be reached after a short walk.
It had been built at the same time that the mansion had been constructed on Rokkenjima, so while its outside walls had been repaired many times, making it look new from the outside, it was a very old building.
Rosa dashed through the rain along with Genji.
Just like the previous night, the rain was falling in earnest.
Eventually, they began to see the chapel beyond a thin grove...
Because they could only see it from the outside, it felt like a place of dazzling beauty, where a pair of young lovers might want to hold a ceremony.
However, it seemed that in Kinzo's eyes, this was a very sacred place, so Rosa and her siblings had been harshly told not to approach it unnecessarily.
So even though they had grown up, they would feel some guilt if they approached the chapel, no matter what the reason, and felt some fear, as though their Father would get angry and hit them in the face...
The servants' silhouettes could be seen in front of the entrance to the chapel. Gohda, Shannon and Kanon.
......Which meant that all of the servants on the morning shift had gathered.
A short while ago, Genji had spoken to Rosa, telling her what the situation was.
However, ...without laying eyes on it directly, she really hadn't been able to understand it...
Probably, all of the servants gathered there were the same.
...Without seeing it with their own eyes・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・, they couldn't understand what had happened.
On the door at the entrance to the chapel, was something very large, ...drawn with a creepy, stringy paint that made one think of blood, ...something like a creepy magic circle.
"Wh, .........what is, ......this........... When was it written?!"
The servants looked at each other.
Gohda was the first one to open his mouth.
"...M, ...my apologies. We do not usually enter here, so we do not know when it was written."
"Then, who was the first person to find it?!"
"Y, ...yes, it was me. ......When I went to the dining hall to clean up the tea set, ......there was a memo with 'chapel' written on it..."
Shannon held out the memo with a shaking hand.
"......Whose handwriting? It isn't Nii-san's or Nee-san's handwriting. ...And then, you came here, and found this, right?"
"Yes......"
"...Rosa-sama, .........look at this."
"What? ............Happy Halloween, for, ......wha?!"
Kanon pointed at a single line of English written below the creepy magic circle.
Until it had been pointed out to her, she had thought it was just another part of the magic circle, and hadn't noticed it.
There, words were written in English,
"Happy HALLOWEEN for MARIA."
――Happy Halloween. For Maria.
This creepy magic circle. For Maria.
Happy Halloween.
Yesterday, the only person who had said Happy Halloween to Maria......
This symbol matched.
......The Golden Witch, Beatrice...!
"Wh, what about Maria?! That kid should be sleeping with her cousins, right? Did you check?!"
"......My apologies. We just now realized that Maria-sama's name was written here. ...We still have not checked. Quickly-"
"What are you doing?!! I'll go check on Maria and come back! Then, I'll tell Krauss nii-san and the rest. After that, we'll follow their instructions!"
...After saying that much, Rosa finally noticed a feeling of discomfort.
Her own rank of this family conference was the lowest of the four siblings.
......Why was she the only one called in an abnormal situation like this, when the other siblings hadn't been called?
...Even if Maria's name had popped up.
"Could it be, ......huh? ......Huh?!"
"......Y, yes. We tried to contact Krauss-sama, ...but could not find him..."
"And Madam was not in her room. ...Judging by the condition of the sheets, maybe she didn't return to her bed at all last night."
Rosa felt something creepy crawling slowly up her back...
".........D, ...did you try to check inside the chapel?"
"No, not yet. We tried to check inside, but..."
"......Actually, the lock to the chapel is special, so the master key does not work. There is a single key which can open it, ......but that key is missing from the key box."
She didn't want to get closer to the door with the creepy magic circle if she could.
Rosa readied herself and approached, and tried pushing and pulling the knob.
...All she felt was the resistance of the sturdy lock.
"We search to see whether there was a window through which we could enter, but...I think that, in order to check inside, we would have to break one of the windows... What do you think?"
"...There's no way I can give you approval to do that. It's Father's precious chapel, I can't do something like that. .................."
At that time, the events of the previous day swirled around in the back of Rosa's mind...
......That's right, ......when I met that witch in the rose garden, ...didn't she hand Maria an envelope?
That's right, there's no mistake, she had handed it over.
When Maria tried to open it, that witch told her not to open it yet, then she surely said
"The time to open that will come soon・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・"...
Rosa was sure.
......There could be no mistake.
......That letter which had been handed to Maria............
After dashing back to the guesthouse, Rosa approached the cousins' room while hiding her footsteps, softly opened the door, and peered inside...
From the inside, she could hear the healthy snores of young people.
There were four children. And Maria was there. ...Sleeping soundly.
After feeling relieved, she entered the room with quiet footsteps.
......She was after Maria's handbag, which was resting on the sofa.
Maria always liked walking around with her treasures.
...She was probably imitating how her mother always carried her makeup with her.
Of course, she was just copying her, so on the inside, it was full of junk.
In Maria's case, it was full of small, creepy, occult-like items, and a notebook with things like that written on it.
......Rosa hadn't been happy once to see her daughter walking around with those kinds of things, which were not girlish.
However, after she tried to force Maria to stop, they had gotten into a big fight, and she had decided to let it be.
"....................., ...here. .........This is it........."
A western envelope with the crest of the gold eagle...
When she tried to take it out, she realized that there was a heavy, cylindrical object inside.
...She could tell by its feel and its weight.
......There was no doubt.
This was, ......a key.
After turning around and checking that Maria was still sound asleep, Rosa tore open the envelope, and the contents spilled out into her palm.
......It was a key with an old and intricate design...
Rosa grasped that key, and dashed out.
...It seemed that Battler noticed that sound, but after grumbling and turning over in his sleep, he started snoring again...
"......Genji-san. ......Could this key, ......be the key to the chapel?"
"Where did you.........Yes, this is the key to the chapel."
Rosa approached the creepy magic circle once again, ......and put the key in the keyhole.
......There was a strong resistance.
After it resisted for a short while, ...it stopped resisting with a clunk.
Then, squeaking with a noise that hurt one's ears, it slowly, slowly began to open.........
"............Is anyone, ......there............!"
Her voice reverberated throughout the massive room.
...Of course, there was no answer.
The chapel had a high ceiling, and the air was cold.
...And even on this rainy, unsettling day, for some reason, it felt sacred...
The servants timidly followed after Rosa.
"......Rosa-sama, look at that."
Kanon noticed it immediately, and pointed.
......Over there, was the altar.
In the place where normally a pastor would preach of God's love, there was a table that shouldn't have been there.
At first, it looked like a dining table.
...There actually were gorgeous plates and utensils set on the table, enough to make you think it was a child's birthday party or something.
Upon closer inspection, the surrounding area had been decorated with pumpkins and black and orange ribbons.
They were probably, ......Halloween decorations.
And there were people seated at the table.
Three people on each side facing each other, seated in chairs.
They could be recognized at a glance.
Krauss and his wife, Eva and her husband, and Rudolf and his wife.
But if someone told you that, you'd still have to go even closer and check.
......Because they seemed almost like dolls.
Rosa and the rest had opened the door, entered all at once with the sound of many footsteps, and called out, asking if anyone was there.
...And yet, there had been no reaction.
...Even if Rosa and the rest assumed that they were being ignored, normally you'd expect there to be some kind of reaction.
......And there hadn't even been that.
So at first, it felt like someone had set down some dolls that looked a lot like them...
......By now, it wasn't just Rosa.
......Shannon and Kanon, and even Gohda.
...They were all fighting frantically with the creepy emotion that grasped their hearts.
"......Nii-san...? .........Nee-san.........?"
As she climbed up to the altar, she called out again, but still, the others gave no reaction.
......Yes, ...by now, Rosa had accepted it.
......They were not dolls,
she accepted that they were・・・・・・・・・・・・・
those very people・・・・・・・......!
"............This is........."
"..............."
They neared the distance at which they would be able to clearly see what was on the table.
Just like their first impression, it looked like a lovely banquet, reminiscent of a child's birthday party.
Plates piled up with sweets, glasses with lovely drinks.
Several ornaments in the shape of pumpkins...
...They were all decorated in a Halloween style, ...and while it might have been pointless to imagine at a time like this..., she thought that this would surely have made Maria happy if she could see it.
In front of that table, they were seated, and looked like they were sleeping......
It was an eerie scene, ...as though a small, fun-looking Halloween party had been stopped in time...
"......They're all............sleeping...? ............?"
When she approached even closer to them, ......she realized that candies were scattered all over the floor.
They were all candies, cookies, sodas and chocolates, with very fantasy-styled wrappings...
And they were all distributed across the carpet, which was covered with blackberry and cranberry jam...
"......Wa, uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?!"
Rosa and the rest, .........finally realized what the situation was......
It was, a Halloween party.
A banquet for those not of this world...!
Krauss, Natsuhi, Eva, Hideyoshi, Rudolf, and Kyrie, six people in all, were seated in the chairs, ......dead as though they were sleeping.
How could you tell that they were dead and not simply sleeping?
That was because, .........they were, ......v, .........vertically, ......sliced open, .........from their chests to their stomachs.........!
"K, ......Krauss-sama............!! Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii......!"
"..................How, ......cruel..."
The six of them were seated at a Halloween party, all of them with their stomachs sliced open, ...all of them had been killed.
Was the jam that covered the floor, something that they couldn't finish eating..., which had overflowed out of their stomachs...?
......No!!
The contents of their stomachs had been thrown out across the floor!! And that wasn't all.
From their stomachs, ......almost as though, ...almost as though! As though they had poured out!! S, ...sweets!
Candies and cookies, soda and chocolates, ......had poured out, stained with blood, and had scattered across the floor!!
What could have happened to cause this?!
It was almost as though the insides of their stomachs had been stuffed full with sweets, ......and when their stomachs had been cut, it had all flowed out?!!
Rosa remembered a shocking meal, a turkey that had been served at her own birthday.
When it had been cut with a knife, ......from the inside, things she loved, but which she had not heard about at all, ...bright-red, bright-red, ...ketchup omelet-rice had poured out like blood-stained maggots, buwaa, dripping, slimy, pulpy, sticky!!
"Uweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! Eeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"
The trauma of her youth was revived.
Rosa felt a monster raging inside her stomach, as the acid started to rise up.
...Unable to hold back, she threw up on the floor.
Her empty stomach couldn't throw up anything but stomach acid.
This scene in front of her was no longer a fun Halloween party...!
The three couples had been placed there, with their stomachs vertically wrenched open, wrenched open with a gyuiiiiiiigubaaa.
Many sweets had been stuffed in there, pulpy, squishy.
Blood and guts and sweets were overflowing onto the floor, ......bloodstained, sticky, sticky, sloppy, pulpy, sweet candy stuck to each finger, gummy, gummy, aaah, but it's stained with their entrails, sloppy, pulpy! What was that I stepped on just now, that didn't feel like a candy or a cookie or soda or a chocolate!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah, I'm scared what did I step on I can't even look at the bottom of my foot!!
Aaaaaawaaaakiiiyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!
...What a, what a gruesome Halloween Party...!!!
From far away, it looked really beautiful, fantastical, and fun.
And when you see it up close, it's really terrible, disgusting, and yet somehow beautiful...!!
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!"
Rosa's wild thoughts tried as best they could to escape her throat with a loud voice that was neither a scream nor a roar...
"............Krauss-sama............"
"......This is, ...horrible......, horrible........."
"......A, ambulance..., ......police.........!"
"Th, ......that's right, police... Police, police police police police!!"
If a word tied to reality, like police, hadn't come out of Gohda's mouth, Rosa and the rest would probably still be unable to escape this nightmarish party.
...But that wasn't because they thought that the police might be able to do something.
If they didn't say police, police out loud, ......it seemed that another seat would be set up at this demon's party and given to them...!!
It felt like their own stomachs were getting uncomfortably filled from the inside!! Rumbling, churning..., it was surely because candy was starting to overflow from their stomachs!!
Rosa was again tortured by a desire to vomit, and threw up her stomach acid on the floor. And then she searched. To see whether there was any candy mixed in!!
"......Haah, .........haah, ......haah......!! Eeeeh, ......haah........a, ......anyways!! *cough*, *cough*!!"
Rosa coughed violently again, and violently spat up the stomach acid that burned her throat.
She realized that by now, her whole body had been covered in filthy sweat...
"G, ...Genji-san, Shannon-chan, please ask Father for instructions. Gohda-san, go together with Kanon-kun and call the police. ...Then, have Doctor Nanjo come here..."
Why even bring Doctor Nanjo here?
It's way too late for medical care......!
The servants accepted their orders and dashed outside.
After watching them leave, ............Rosa once again fixedly cast her eyes upon those fantastical deaths of her siblings and their partners with a mixture of pleasure and pain. Even though there could be nothing more tragic, ...for some reason, she wanted to describe it as beautiful.........
"...They aren't here. Where'd they go?"
"The servants' room and the kitchen are both empty. ...What in the world happened?"
"Uu-uu-uu-!! Mama-!! Whe-re's Mama-!! Maria's letter! The letter Maria got from Beato! Give it back! Give it baaaack!! Waaauau-!!"
"Perplexing. ...Battler-kun, are you sure it was Rosa oba-san?"
"......Well, I was half-asleep so I'm not too confident, but I get the feeling that, at dawn, Rosa oba-san came in and fished around in Maria's handbag."
"...I was half-asleep, sure that there was a tube of toothpaste or something in Maria's handbag."
"Why would there be a tube of toothpaste in Maria's handbag? Looks like you were a little more than half-asleep."
Battler vaguely remembered Rosa entering the cousins' room.
And Maria, who had woken up first, had started rampaging around, saying that someone had opened an envelope that she had been keeping safe.
...And then they had decided that Rosa had come and opened the envelope.
"......A letter from the Golden Witch... I wonder what was inside."
"I don't know. ...But that envelope was for Grandfather's personal use, and it had the Ushiromiya family crest on it. ............It's hard to believe that what was in there doesn't have anything to do with the family conference."
She hadn't let anyone touch it, but yesterday, Maria had bragged a lot about the envelope to Battler and the rest.
...So they remembered it well.
"Uu-uu-uu-!! Mama, give it back! Mama, give it back!! Uu-uu-uu-! Waauuuuuuuuuuuuu!!"
"......If you're right, George-aniki, it looks pretty important. ...However, if it was so important, why did the witch give it to Maria? ...I don't have a clue."
Every once in a while, the refreshing morning atmosphere was completely wiped out by the sound of thunder.
...It was only natural. Since the time they had woken up, they hadn't met anyone other than themselves.
It felt like only they were left and the mansion had become an empty husk.
"......Heeeeey! Anyone the-re?! Answer me-!"
After Jessica called out into the hallway, eventually, an answer came back. It was from the entrance hall.
"I can hear you-. ...Has anything happe-ned?"
"It's Doctor Nanjo. ...Great. It looks like everyone but us hasn't disappeared from this island."
"Docter Nanjo, good morning. ...Umm, sorry, but do you know where our parents went...?"
"Dear me. ...I have just woken up. I could not know, let me see."
It was only natural. Nanjo was a guest like the rest of them. He had just now come to pass the time in the parlor until breakfast.
"Uu-uu-uu-!! Doctor Nanjo, Mama took it, Mama took Maria's letter!! Give it back, give it back, uu-uu-uu-!!!"
Maria buried her face in Nanjo's well-built stomach, sobbing and crying.
...Nanjo could do nothing but be bewildered at what was going on so early in the morning.
".........Nn. Someone's running. Jessica! Someone's coming!"
From down the hall, they could sense people running hurriedly.
When they looked, they saw that it was Gohda and Kanon.
......Running inside the mansion should have been immodest for a servant.
And yet, Battler and the rest didn't even think to question that now.
Maria's sobbing had become so unmanageable, they wanted to ask someone, anyone, where Rosa was.
But the two servants ignored Jessica as she waved her hand.
Gohda flew into the servants' room, and after Kanon noticed that Nanjo was there, he bowed and approached Nanjo at a quick pace, whispering something into his ear.
"............What did you say? Rosa-san did?"
"Yes. I will guide you, so please accompany me."
"Understood..."
"This way."
Without saying anything more than that, Kanon finally noticed Jessica and bowed to her.
...But he wasn't calm.
He dashed back down the corridor by which he had come, followed by Nanjo.
By looking at how hurried they were, Battler and the rest realized that yes, something bad really had happened.
They saw Gohda through the door to the servants' room, which had been flung open.
...He was holding the receiver and violently pressing the hook.
From that, they realized that he was trying to call a hospital or the police. In any event, he was trying to call someone because a serious emergency had occurred.
"Let's have a look...!"
"Yeah...!"
"Mama-, give it ba-ck!! Give back Maria's le-tter!!
It's an invitation to the Golden Land・・・・・・・・・・・・・・!!"
They didn't know what, but something was happening.
Battler and the rest chased after Kanon and Nanjo...
Aaah......, then we realized.
Kanon-kun had called Doctor Nanjo, but he hadn't called us.
...So we shouldn't have gone with them.
I wonder if Alice didn't regret her excess curiosity when she chased after the rabbit holding a clock......
"No, you mustn't go in!! You mustn't look!! Jessica-chan! No!!"
"Hi, .........i, ...noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!"
"Mother, Father!! What, ......what happened!! Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!"
"......What the hell is this.........there's a limit to how bad a hobby can be... Isn't taking someone's life enough.........What the hell is this!! Going to all the trouble after they died of sitting them on chairs, slicing their stomachs and pulling their entrails out!! You went to all the trouble of stuffing their stomachs full of sweets?!! Why, ......why the hell would you do something so gross?!! Damn it, damn it! Nice job, bastard, just great, just great!! Uwoooooooooooooohhh!!"
".........It would be better if everyone went outside...! There is no way they would want everyone to see them this way..."
Nanjo told the children to go outside, but no one listened.
"Rosa-san, please tell everyone. If they keep looking at something like this...it will do nothing but harm...!"
"..............."
Rosa regretted her own rashness.
......She should have realized that the children would eventually come here.
...She should have quickly locked it instead of standing around.
So the children had come.
They had seen it...!
Surely, in this very moment, they were having a sight burned into their eyes, which was far more grotesque than the shocking meal Rosa had seen in her youth...
While she hugged Maria as though she had forgotten her shock at the horrible scene, Rosa cried for them and their parents.
The four groaning and crying voices, their sadness, ...continued to echo in a place which should have known God's love......
"You piece of crap!! Again, another one of these murders!! And this time you made it all elaborate, killing them like it's a perfect joke!!"
"*cackle*cackle*cackle*cackle*. I was hoping I'd hear words of thanks rather than grief from you."
"Thanks!! Did you say thanks, you old bitch?! Damn it, if there's something wrong with your ears, I'll cut them both off so you can hear better!! Why should I have to say oh, thank you very much Beatrice-sama, about that insane way of killing, I'll beat you to death!!!"
"In the last game, you were grieving that you couldn't see your parents faces when they died, right? So I left them. Didn't touch them!!
Worship me, without a doubt, ・・・・・・・・・・・・・
your father and the rest have been killed・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・!!"
"R......eally, that's a great service, I'm so happy!! I swore that if I choked the life out of you, I'd plow your face, but I'll take that back, I'll drag out your guts!!!"
"Don't give in to emotion and stop thinking. My game has already begun, right? *cackle*cackle*cackle*. I decided to leave the corpses clean this time."
"Do you know why? When you denied my existence in the last game, you thought in a certain way.
'Their faces were crushed, so the identity・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
of the corpses couldn't be checked・・・・・・・・・・・・・・'
'Therefore, the possibility that fake・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
corpses had been prepared to create an alibi・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
cannot be eliminated・・・・・・・・'
'As long as that possibility can't be denied・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
a human culprit theory could apply・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・!!"
"What did you saaaaaay......!!"
"*cackle*cackle*cackle*kikikikikikikikikikikikikikikikikikikiki!! So, Battler, is it alright to leave the autopsy to Nanjo? Isn't it traditional in mystery novels for the doctor who performs the autopsy to be an accomplice?"
"Then don't leave the autopsy to Nanjo, you should do it yourself. Make completely sure that without a doubt, the six corpses are those six people, that they aren't pretending to be dead, that they really, really are dead!!"
"To make sure that your Father and Mother really have been killed by having their stomachs cut open and their entrails pulled out, you should stick your hand inside their stomachs and feel around inside!! Kuhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, ki-hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!"
"I won't cry!!! Damn it, damn it, ...I won't cry...!!"
Battler suddenly yelled.
His tears were still dripping down, but as though scolding himself for being girly, he slapped his face hard several times with both hands.
Even so, the tears still wouldn't stop.
......However, he felt a hot blaze on both his eyes.
"That bastard who did this, I'll make him pay back his debt completely!! So this isn't the time to cry, think about what you're gonna do!! Aaaah, it's useless, it's all useless!! If you have enough spare time to cry, then think! This is no time to let yourself cry!!"
Rather than genuine hatred, maybe it was more of an evasive hatred to blot out his sadness.
......However, it gave a little courage to George and Jessica, who had been crushed by sadness.
"......That's right. ...Even if we cry, ......it won't change the reality, ...that this had occurred."
"Damn it..., damn it damn it damn it, ......damn it damn it damn it!! Well, then what should we do?! What should I do, ...for Mom and Dad's sakes?!!"
"......Rosa-sama... I have returned..."
"Gohda-san, what happened with the police? What did they say to do? Did they say when they think they'll be able to get here?"
"...That is, ......it seems the phones have broken down... I also tried the emergency wireless, but...umm, maybe it's the weather, that isn't working either..."
"What did you say...! So, we can't contact the police?!"
"It's that person! They did something to the phone line, and made it so we can't contact the police!!"
When she heard that the phones had broken down, Jessica immediately decided that it was the work of that mysterious guest.
Her eyes were bright-red after so much crying, and they began to grow even more red with rage.
"...Aaahh, there's no need to talk about it, right?! I understand everything, that's right, I get it! Who killed Dad and Mom?!"
"It's obvious, it's her!! It has to be that witch or whatever who came yesterday!!! I'll grab her by the collar!! Damn it damn it damn iiiiiiiiiiiit!!"
"Jessica-chan...! Wait! Gohda-san, Kanon-kun, go!"
"Y, yes...!"
"Milady, wait...!"
Covering her sadness that had nowhere to go with anger, Jessica ran outside, torn apart by emotion.
...Thinking about it hastily, maybe the mystery guest, Beatrice, who had arrived yesterday, was suspicious.
However, at the current time, there was absolutely no proof that she was the culprit.
...At this moment, she was nothing more than a simple guest.
So Rosa made an adult decision, and had to stop Jessica in her hasty rampage.
Gohda and Kanon realized that immediately, and chased after her.
"......Could the guest that no one invited, Beatrice, be the culprit...?"
"I understand how Jessica feels. ...I also want to make myself think that. It doesn't matter who, I want to have them be the culprit and bash them right in the face!! ......But before that, we have to understand things clearly. ...Who is this Beatrice? I haven't even seen her face!!"
"......Kihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihi. If you're looking for her face, it decorates the big portrait in the mansion. You still don't remember after looking at it for so long? Kihihihihihi."
"...Come on, Maria. ...What's so funny in a situation like this?!"
"Beatrice is a witch. And the ceremony to open the door to the Golden Land has finally begun. Those six people are sacrifices. ......Kihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihi! Come, let us begin the witch's banquet. Tonight is Halloween, now the witches will gather to celebrate. Ki-hihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihi!!"
"Maria, don't I always tell you not to laugh with that creepy voice!"
The crisp sound of Rosa slapping Maria's cheek echoed through the high-ceilinged chapel...
It kinda felt like, since it had started raining yesterday...
No, ...since the island had been wrapped up in the typhoon, something had gone crazy.
I had arrived in Rokkenjima while it was clear, and taken a nap because I had gotten up early.
......When I woke up, it had already started raining.
And since that time...
Suddenly, a mysterious visitor had arrived, calling herself the Golden Witch Beatrice, and it felt like I was sinking bit by bit into an insane world.
Had something happened while I was asleep? During that time, had this island been cut off, trapped in a different world where common sense didn't apply...?!
Who is this person called Beatrice?
Was some unknown person trying to involve themselves with the inheritance problem, like our parents were freaking out about at dinner last night?
......Or was this witch from the Legend of the Gold the culprit, like Maria said?!
Even if Jessica hadn't let her short temper get the better of her, in this situation, the visitor was probably the most suspicious.
However, we couldn't decide just like that. Aaah, it's useless, it's useless, it's all useless...!!
I smacked my face with both hands again, cooling off my brains before they got too hot.
Even though it might have been a wasted effort.
"......This is, .........Grandfather's envelope."
On a tray piled up with sweets that decorated the table, George-aniki found a western envelope which had the Ushiromiya family crest on it in gold leaf.
And it was unopened.
"So, ......doesn't this mean it was sent to us? If it was something Dad and the rest read, it should be open."
"......It seems your reasoning is correct. ......It's written here. Someone wrote, 'To those that remain'."
"Is that, a letter the culprit left...?! Wh, what's inside...?"
"Aniki, let's open it...!"
After nodding silently, George-aniki opened it.
......A folded letter came out.
".........I'll read it. .........I welcome you to Rokkenjima, members of the Ushiromiya family. I am serving Kinzo-sama as the Alchemy counsellor for this house, and my name is Beatrice..."
That letter really was a joke.
This Beatrice, who called herself an Alchemy counsellor, had proclaimed that she was collecting the gold she had lent Grandfather with interest.
And that interest was everything that Grandfather had given birth to.
Since this tragedy was right before our eyes as this paragraph was read aloud, it wasn't only referring to all of the wealth that Grandfather had created.
......It was literal.
Everything that Grandfather had given birth to, ......in other words, ...all of Grandfather's descendants were included in the interest!
"You bastard!! What a screwed up contract! Lives as interest on gold, you say?! That's almost like a contract with the devil. isn't it?! Is that how you pretend to be a witch?! Ha, you make me laugh!!"
"......Special clause. .........However, should someone discover the afore-mentioned gold, Beatrice shall renounce all rights to its recovery for all time."
".........Hmmmmmmm............As for the cache of the gold, Kinzo-sama has already edicted it in the epitaph beneath my portrait..."
"......In other words, it's something like this. If the motive for these murders was collection of the interest, the condition for stopping it, is to try and find the hidden gold she gave to Grandfather, ...that's what it's saying. And it also says that this secret is hidden in the epitaph from that portrait."
"In other words, ......this is a letter of challenge from the witch? If anyone thinks they can solve the coded paragraph where the location of the hidden gold is written, then try to do it?! And if we can't, it's saying that the collection of the interest will continue as planned?"
"I'll beat you to death, no problem!!!"
"...B, Battler-kun! Look......, here!!!"
The table had been full of sweets, ...so even though it had been right in the open, we had assumed it was a sweet.
......I mean, come on, you find stuff like this a lot, right?
......Come on, it might have been a box shaped like a golden ingot, filled with chocolate...!
"Th, ......this is, not a box of candy... It's the real thing...! This is a real gold bar...!!"
"...It's inscribed with the crest of the One-winged Eagle......I heard Mother talking about it earlier. ......This is a gold bar from Granfather's Legend of the Gold...!!"
A gold ingot weighing a full 10 kilograms, ...wait, three of them, were piled up in the very center of the table! It was where a cake would be placed if it was a birthday party.
...In other words, this was without a doubt the birthday cake of the party known as the family conference!
"If these are really four nines quality ingots......nn, *gulp*. I, it's worth about 60 million yen!"
"Dumbaaaaaaaaaaasss!!! That's too cheap!!! Our parents have been killed, and all the gold you've piled up is only worth 60 million yen?! Don't take us for fools, damn iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!!"
"......Kihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihi. ...So, it has begun, Beatrice. ......It's not like anyone can solve this riddle anyway. So Beato will definitely win."
"......Quickly, open the door to the Golden Land. Then bring Maria with you. ...Kihihihihihihihihihihihihihi!"
......What was the sound that always filled the ears?
The sound of the rain, the sound of a waterfall, or was it radio static?
In that case, I want it to be the sound of blood flowing through the body.
......I want it to be the sound of the blood circulating throughout my body, telling me that I am still alive...
".....................Hmm.........Is it, morning...?"
The light entering through a crack in the curtain was faint, but it at least told him that dawn had broken.
Kinzo, still acting like one who has just woken up, ...still sitting in a chair and looking up at the ceiling..., felt the blood slowly travel throughout his body...
...Judging by the clock, it was early morning, 6:00 on the dot.
......No matter how tired he was, no matter how deeply he slept, he woke up at exactly this time, as though he had measured it with an hourglass.
He didn't think that something like this would lead him to boast, but he instructed himself that while he could still do something like this, he was still in robust health.
".........Morning has come, which means...............hmmm. ......In any event, it seems that I've escaped being one of the first sacrifices. ......Was the result of the roulette fortunate, ...or is this the fruit of my efforts? It is irritating that I cannot tell the difference, but I will not say that."
Kinzo was very slightly driven by a temptation to see the outside of the study door.
Because he thought that maybe, he might find the traces of a vain struggle to break the door, made by something trying to select him as one of the first six sacrifices.
"...Hmph. .........Humans are cheap creatures. ......While they concern themselves with other's affairs and possess sacred life, they want to love themselves, and when they are given good fortune, they say that it was due to their own ability rather than simple good fortune."
So he wanted to check whether there was a wretched mark on the door. ...That's what humans would do.
Therefore, Kinzo did not check.
He repressed things that he wanted to do because he was human.
By that, Kinzo could be immersed in a feeling of sufficiency, as though he himself had become a being that surpassed humans...
He became aware of human desire, and forbade it.
Things that a human wanted to do, he resisted.
......This eccentricity and rebellious sense had surely given him a rare genius, which must have allowed him to succeed in his exploits as he revived the Ushiromiya family in one generation...
"Well then, Beatrice. What were the six pieces you took? ......And, what will your next move be? ...Entertain me. .........My defense is perfect. I will not shame myself like last time. ......Fu, ......fufufufu."
The servants woke early.
They had to open the curtains, prepare breakfast, and complete various other tasks to welcome the guests to a new day.
Gohda was the most enthusiastic.
During the family conference, he had been told to especially concentrate his efforts on cooking, and he had been specially exempted from several tasks that servants normally must do.
...It seemed that Gohda, who was a show off, had a particular feeling of supremacy about that.
He left the preparations of the inside of the mansion to Genji and the rest, and worked on preparing breakfast in the kitchen.
Genji split the work with Shannon and Kanon, and they carried out various tasks.
Shannon headed to the dining hall and knocked.
...Last year, the family conference had continued into the early hours of the morning.
It wouldn't have been odd for this year's conference to continue until the early morning.
Considering the possibility that they were still having a discussion inside, she knocked.
But there was no response, so she opened the door and said good morning.
"...Good morning. ............Is anyone there?"
The room was cold, and it seemed that the conference had ended a long time before.
On top of the table, there was a tea set, from which they had probably been drinking, arranged in a way that would make it easy to clean them up.
Cleaning up the tea was a servant's job.
So if the family was too caring and cleaned it up themselves, the servants would lose face.
Therefore, just doing this much for the servants truly was a pleasing act of kindness.
As she approached the table to clean it, she noticed something like a memo that had been left with the utensils.
It had been placed together with the tea set, so naturally thinking it was a memo for the servant cleaning up, Shannon took it.
Written on it was not a request, nor was it thanks for preparing the tea. There was just a single word.
Shannon looked at it blankly, and read it out loud...
"............Chapel. ............?"
A small sound kept repeating over and over.
It was a sound that was normally worthless and boring.
If only I could stop hearing it soon, then I could quickly return to my doze, someone thought vaguely.
...But no matter how much time passed, the sound did not end.
It repeated over and over.
Aaah, shut up.
Who is it? Banging on the door the whole time.
As soon as she noticed that, she woke up.
......Someone was knocking.
Then she noticed that there wasn't just a knock, but a voice.
".........Rosa-sama, ...Rosa-sama. ......Good morning."
"W, ......wait. I'm coming now."
It had been Genji's voice.
Looking at the clock, it was still before 7:00.
......It was clearly too early to wake the guests. ...Did something happen that was bad enough to cause this?
She felt her sleepiness increasingly fade thanks to this premonition of misfortune.
Because Genji had been a familiar servant to Rosa since her childhood days, even though she was slightly defenseless in her pajamas, she opened the door a crack and answered.
"Good morning. I apologize for waking you this early."
"......Did something happen?"
"Yes............Actually, at the chapel............, ........."
Genji spoke into Rosa's ear, and told her something in a small voice.
For a second, it seemed that Rosa couldn't understand what she had been told, and after having it repeated several times, she realized that apparently, something strange had happened.
Rosa closed her door for a second, and after changing her clothes, she immediately accompanied Genji and they headed to the mansion...
The chapel requires some explanation.
It wasn't in the mansion, but in a grove behind the mansion, which could be reached after a short walk.
It had been built at the same time that the mansion had been constructed on Rokkenjima, so while its outside walls had been repaired many times, making it look new from the outside, it was a very old building.
Rosa dashed through the rain along with Genji.
Just like the previous night, the rain was falling in earnest.
Eventually, they began to see the chapel beyond a thin grove...
Because they could only see it from the outside, it felt like a place of dazzling beauty, where a pair of young lovers might want to hold a ceremony.
However, it seemed that in Kinzo's eyes, this was a very sacred place, so Rosa and her siblings had been harshly told not to approach it unnecessarily.
So even though they had grown up, they would feel some guilt if they approached the chapel, no matter what the reason, and felt some fear, as though their Father would get angry and hit them in the face...
The servants' silhouettes could be seen in front of the entrance to the chapel. Gohda, Shannon and Kanon.
......Which meant that all of the servants on the morning shift had gathered.
A short while ago, Genji had spoken to Rosa, telling her what the situation was.
However, ...without laying eyes on it directly, she really hadn't been able to understand it...
Probably, all of the servants gathered there were the same.
...Without seeing it with their own eyes・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・, they couldn't understand what had happened.
On the door at the entrance to the chapel, was something very large, ...drawn with a creepy, stringy paint that made one think of blood, ...something like a creepy magic circle.
"Wh, .........what is, ......this........... When was it written?!"
The servants looked at each other.
Gohda was the first one to open his mouth.
"...M, ...my apologies. We do not usually enter here, so we do not know when it was written."
"Then, who was the first person to find it?!"
"Y, ...yes, it was me. ......When I went to the dining hall to clean up the tea set, ......there was a memo with 'chapel' written on it..."
Shannon held out the memo with a shaking hand.
"......Whose handwriting? It isn't Nii-san's or Nee-san's handwriting. ...And then, you came here, and found this, right?"
"Yes......"
"...Rosa-sama, .........look at this."
"What? ............Happy Halloween, for, ......wha?!"
Kanon pointed at a single line of English written below the creepy magic circle.
Until it had been pointed out to her, she had thought it was just another part of the magic circle, and hadn't noticed it.
There, words were written in English,
"Happy HALLOWEEN for MARIA."
――Happy Halloween. For Maria.
This creepy magic circle. For Maria.
Happy Halloween.
Yesterday, the only person who had said Happy Halloween to Maria......
This symbol matched.
......The Golden Witch, Beatrice...!
"Wh, what about Maria?! That kid should be sleeping with her cousins, right? Did you check?!"
"......My apologies. We just now realized that Maria-sama's name was written here. ...We still have not checked. Quickly-"
"What are you doing?!! I'll go check on Maria and come back! Then, I'll tell Krauss nii-san and the rest. After that, we'll follow their instructions!"
...After saying that much, Rosa finally noticed a feeling of discomfort.
Her own rank of this family conference was the lowest of the four siblings.
......Why was she the only one called in an abnormal situation like this, when the other siblings hadn't been called?
...Even if Maria's name had popped up.
"Could it be, ......huh? ......Huh?!"
"......Y, yes. We tried to contact Krauss-sama, ...but could not find him..."
"And Madam was not in her room. ...Judging by the condition of the sheets, maybe she didn't return to her bed at all last night."
Rosa felt something creepy crawling slowly up her back...
".........D, ...did you try to check inside the chapel?"
"No, not yet. We tried to check inside, but..."
"......Actually, the lock to the chapel is special, so the master key does not work. There is a single key which can open it, ......but that key is missing from the key box."
She didn't want to get closer to the door with the creepy magic circle if she could.
Rosa readied herself and approached, and tried pushing and pulling the knob.
...All she felt was the resistance of the sturdy lock.
"We search to see whether there was a window through which we could enter, but...I think that, in order to check inside, we would have to break one of the windows... What do you think?"
"...There's no way I can give you approval to do that. It's Father's precious chapel, I can't do something like that. .................."
At that time, the events of the previous day swirled around in the back of Rosa's mind...
......That's right, ......when I met that witch in the rose garden, ...didn't she hand Maria an envelope?
That's right, there's no mistake, she had handed it over.
When Maria tried to open it, that witch told her not to open it yet, then she surely said
"The time to open that will come soon・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・"...
Rosa was sure.
......There could be no mistake.
......That letter which had been handed to Maria............
After dashing back to the guesthouse, Rosa approached the cousins' room while hiding her footsteps, softly opened the door, and peered inside...
From the inside, she could hear the healthy snores of young people.
There were four children. And Maria was there. ...Sleeping soundly.
After feeling relieved, she entered the room with quiet footsteps.
......She was after Maria's handbag, which was resting on the sofa.
Maria always liked walking around with her treasures.
...She was probably imitating how her mother always carried her makeup with her.
Of course, she was just copying her, so on the inside, it was full of junk.
In Maria's case, it was full of small, creepy, occult-like items, and a notebook with things like that written on it.
......Rosa hadn't been happy once to see her daughter walking around with those kinds of things, which were not girlish.
However, after she tried to force Maria to stop, they had gotten into a big fight, and she had decided to let it be.
"....................., ...here. .........This is it........."
A western envelope with the crest of the gold eagle...
When she tried to take it out, she realized that there was a heavy, cylindrical object inside.
...She could tell by its feel and its weight.
......There was no doubt.
This was, ......a key.
After turning around and checking that Maria was still sound asleep, Rosa tore open the envelope, and the contents spilled out into her palm.
......It was a key with an old and intricate design...
Rosa grasped that key, and dashed out.
...It seemed that Battler noticed that sound, but after grumbling and turning over in his sleep, he started snoring again...
"......Genji-san. ......Could this key, ......be the key to the chapel?"
"Where did you.........Yes, this is the key to the chapel."
Rosa approached the creepy magic circle once again, ......and put the key in the keyhole.
......There was a strong resistance.
After it resisted for a short while, ...it stopped resisting with a clunk.
Then, squeaking with a noise that hurt one's ears, it slowly, slowly began to open.........
"............Is anyone, ......there............!"
Her voice reverberated throughout the massive room.
...Of course, there was no answer.
The chapel had a high ceiling, and the air was cold.
...And even on this rainy, unsettling day, for some reason, it felt sacred...
The servants timidly followed after Rosa.
"......Rosa-sama, look at that."
Kanon noticed it immediately, and pointed.
......Over there, was the altar.
In the place where normally a pastor would preach of God's love, there was a table that shouldn't have been there.
At first, it looked like a dining table.
...There actually were gorgeous plates and utensils set on the table, enough to make you think it was a child's birthday party or something.
Upon closer inspection, the surrounding area had been decorated with pumpkins and black and orange ribbons.
They were probably, ......Halloween decorations.
And there were people seated at the table.
Three people on each side facing each other, seated in chairs.
They could be recognized at a glance.
Krauss and his wife, Eva and her husband, and Rudolf and his wife.
But if someone told you that, you'd still have to go even closer and check.
......Because they seemed almost like dolls.
Rosa and the rest had opened the door, entered all at once with the sound of many footsteps, and called out, asking if anyone was there.
...And yet, there had been no reaction.
...Even if Rosa and the rest assumed that they were being ignored, normally you'd expect there to be some kind of reaction.
......And there hadn't even been that.
So at first, it felt like someone had set down some dolls that looked a lot like them...
......By now, it wasn't just Rosa.
......Shannon and Kanon, and even Gohda.
...They were all fighting frantically with the creepy emotion that grasped their hearts.
"......Nii-san...? .........Nee-san.........?"
As she climbed up to the altar, she called out again, but still, the others gave no reaction.
......Yes, ...by now, Rosa had accepted it.
......They were not dolls,
she accepted that they were・・・・・・・・・・・・・
those very people・・・・・・・......!
"............This is........."
"..............."
They neared the distance at which they would be able to clearly see what was on the table.
Just like their first impression, it looked like a lovely banquet, reminiscent of a child's birthday party.
Plates piled up with sweets, glasses with lovely drinks.
Several ornaments in the shape of pumpkins...
...They were all decorated in a Halloween style, ...and while it might have been pointless to imagine at a time like this..., she thought that this would surely have made Maria happy if she could see it.
In front of that table, they were seated, and looked like they were sleeping......
It was an eerie scene, ...as though a small, fun-looking Halloween party had been stopped in time...
"......They're all............sleeping...? ............?"
When she approached even closer to them, ......she realized that candies were scattered all over the floor.
They were all candies, cookies, sodas and chocolates, with very fantasy-styled wrappings...
And they were all distributed across the carpet, which was covered with blackberry and cranberry jam...
"......Wa, uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?!"
Rosa and the rest, .........finally realized what the situation was......
It was, a Halloween party.
A banquet for those not of this world...!
Krauss, Natsuhi, Eva, Hideyoshi, Rudolf, and Kyrie, six people in all, were seated in the chairs, ......dead as though they were sleeping.
How could you tell that they were dead and not simply sleeping?
That was because, .........they were, ......v, .........vertically, ......sliced open, .........from their chests to their stomachs.........!
"K, ......Krauss-sama............!! Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii......!"
"..................How, ......cruel..."
The six of them were seated at a Halloween party, all of them with their stomachs sliced open, ...all of them had been killed.
Was the jam that covered the floor, something that they couldn't finish eating..., which had overflowed out of their stomachs...?
......No!!
The contents of their stomachs had been thrown out across the floor!! And that wasn't all.
From their stomachs, ......almost as though, ...almost as though! As though they had poured out!! S, ...sweets!
Candies and cookies, soda and chocolates, ......had poured out, stained with blood, and had scattered across the floor!!
What could have happened to cause this?!
It was almost as though the insides of their stomachs had been stuffed full with sweets, ......and when their stomachs had been cut, it had all flowed out?!!
Rosa remembered a shocking meal, a turkey that had been served at her own birthday.
When it had been cut with a knife, ......from the inside, things she loved, but which she had not heard about at all, ...bright-red, bright-red, ...ketchup omelet-rice had poured out like blood-stained maggots, buwaa, dripping, slimy, pulpy, sticky!!
"Uweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! Eeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"
The trauma of her youth was revived.
Rosa felt a monster raging inside her stomach, as the acid started to rise up.
...Unable to hold back, she threw up on the floor.
Her empty stomach couldn't throw up anything but stomach acid.
This scene in front of her was no longer a fun Halloween party...!
The three couples had been placed there, with their stomachs vertically wrenched open, wrenched open with a gyuiiiiiiigubaaa.
Many sweets had been stuffed in there, pulpy, squishy.
Blood and guts and sweets were overflowing onto the floor, ......bloodstained, sticky, sticky, sloppy, pulpy, sweet candy stuck to each finger, gummy, gummy, aaah, but it's stained with their entrails, sloppy, pulpy! What was that I stepped on just now, that didn't feel like a candy or a cookie or soda or a chocolate!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah, I'm scared what did I step on I can't even look at the bottom of my foot!!
Aaaaaawaaaakiiiyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!
...What a, what a gruesome Halloween Party...!!!
From far away, it looked really beautiful, fantastical, and fun.
And when you see it up close, it's really terrible, disgusting, and yet somehow beautiful...!!
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!"
Rosa's wild thoughts tried as best they could to escape her throat with a loud voice that was neither a scream nor a roar...
"............Krauss-sama............"
"......This is, ...horrible......, horrible........."
"......A, ambulance..., ......police.........!"
"Th, ......that's right, police... Police, police police police police!!"
If a word tied to reality, like police, hadn't come out of Gohda's mouth, Rosa and the rest would probably still be unable to escape this nightmarish party.
...But that wasn't because they thought that the police might be able to do something.
If they didn't say police, police out loud, ......it seemed that another seat would be set up at this demon's party and given to them...!!
It felt like their own stomachs were getting uncomfortably filled from the inside!! Rumbling, churning..., it was surely because candy was starting to overflow from their stomachs!!
Rosa was again tortured by a desire to vomit, and threw up her stomach acid on the floor. And then she searched. To see whether there was any candy mixed in!!
"......Haah, .........haah, ......haah......!! Eeeeh, ......haah........a, ......anyways!! *cough*, *cough*!!"
Rosa coughed violently again, and violently spat up the stomach acid that burned her throat.
She realized that by now, her whole body had been covered in filthy sweat...
"G, ...Genji-san, Shannon-chan, please ask Father for instructions. Gohda-san, go together with Kanon-kun and call the police. ...Then, have Doctor Nanjo come here..."
Why even bring Doctor Nanjo here?
It's way too late for medical care......!
The servants accepted their orders and dashed outside.
After watching them leave, ............Rosa once again fixedly cast her eyes upon those fantastical deaths of her siblings and their partners with a mixture of pleasure and pain. Even though there could be nothing more tragic, ...for some reason, she wanted to describe it as beautiful.........
"...They aren't here. Where'd they go?"
"The servants' room and the kitchen are both empty. ...What in the world happened?"
"Uu-uu-uu-!! Mama-!! Whe-re's Mama-!! Maria's letter! The letter Maria got from Beato! Give it back! Give it baaaack!! Waaauau-!!"
"Perplexing. ...Battler-kun, are you sure it was Rosa oba-san?"
"......Well, I was half-asleep so I'm not too confident, but I get the feeling that, at dawn, Rosa oba-san came in and fished around in Maria's handbag."
"...I was half-asleep, sure that there was a tube of toothpaste or something in Maria's handbag."
"Why would there be a tube of toothpaste in Maria's handbag? Looks like you were a little more than half-asleep."
Battler vaguely remembered Rosa entering the cousins' room.
And Maria, who had woken up first, had started rampaging around, saying that someone had opened an envelope that she had been keeping safe.
...And then they had decided that Rosa had come and opened the envelope.
"......A letter from the Golden Witch... I wonder what was inside."
"I don't know. ...But that envelope was for Grandfather's personal use, and it had the Ushiromiya family crest on it. ............It's hard to believe that what was in there doesn't have anything to do with the family conference."
She hadn't let anyone touch it, but yesterday, Maria had bragged a lot about the envelope to Battler and the rest.
...So they remembered it well.
"Uu-uu-uu-!! Mama, give it back! Mama, give it back!! Uu-uu-uu-! Waauuuuuuuuuuuuu!!"
"......If you're right, George-aniki, it looks pretty important. ...However, if it was so important, why did the witch give it to Maria? ...I don't have a clue."
Every once in a while, the refreshing morning atmosphere was completely wiped out by the sound of thunder.
...It was only natural. Since the time they had woken up, they hadn't met anyone other than themselves.
It felt like only they were left and the mansion had become an empty husk.
"......Heeeeey! Anyone the-re?! Answer me-!"
After Jessica called out into the hallway, eventually, an answer came back. It was from the entrance hall.
"I can hear you-. ...Has anything happe-ned?"
"It's Doctor Nanjo. ...Great. It looks like everyone but us hasn't disappeared from this island."
"Docter Nanjo, good morning. ...Umm, sorry, but do you know where our parents went...?"
"Dear me. ...I have just woken up. I could not know, let me see."
It was only natural. Nanjo was a guest like the rest of them. He had just now come to pass the time in the parlor until breakfast.
"Uu-uu-uu-!! Doctor Nanjo, Mama took it, Mama took Maria's letter!! Give it back, give it back, uu-uu-uu-!!!"
Maria buried her face in Nanjo's well-built stomach, sobbing and crying.
...Nanjo could do nothing but be bewildered at what was going on so early in the morning.
".........Nn. Someone's running. Jessica! Someone's coming!"
From down the hall, they could sense people running hurriedly.
When they looked, they saw that it was Gohda and Kanon.
......Running inside the mansion should have been immodest for a servant.
And yet, Battler and the rest didn't even think to question that now.
Maria's sobbing had become so unmanageable, they wanted to ask someone, anyone, where Rosa was.
But the two servants ignored Jessica as she waved her hand.
Gohda flew into the servants' room, and after Kanon noticed that Nanjo was there, he bowed and approached Nanjo at a quick pace, whispering something into his ear.
"............What did you say? Rosa-san did?"
"Yes. I will guide you, so please accompany me."
"Understood..."
"This way."
Without saying anything more than that, Kanon finally noticed Jessica and bowed to her.
...But he wasn't calm.
He dashed back down the corridor by which he had come, followed by Nanjo.
By looking at how hurried they were, Battler and the rest realized that yes, something bad really had happened.
They saw Gohda through the door to the servants' room, which had been flung open.
...He was holding the receiver and violently pressing the hook.
From that, they realized that he was trying to call a hospital or the police. In any event, he was trying to call someone because a serious emergency had occurred.
"Let's have a look...!"
"Yeah...!"
"Mama-, give it ba-ck!! Give back Maria's le-tter!!
It's an invitation to the Golden Land・・・・・・・・・・・・・・!!"
They didn't know what, but something was happening.
Battler and the rest chased after Kanon and Nanjo...
Aaah......, then we realized.
Kanon-kun had called Doctor Nanjo, but he hadn't called us.
...So we shouldn't have gone with them.
I wonder if Alice didn't regret her excess curiosity when she chased after the rabbit holding a clock......
"No, you mustn't go in!! You mustn't look!! Jessica-chan! No!!"
"Hi, .........i, ...noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!"
"Mother, Father!! What, ......what happened!! Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!"
"......What the hell is this.........there's a limit to how bad a hobby can be... Isn't taking someone's life enough.........What the hell is this!! Going to all the trouble after they died of sitting them on chairs, slicing their stomachs and pulling their entrails out!! You went to all the trouble of stuffing their stomachs full of sweets?!! Why, ......why the hell would you do something so gross?!! Damn it, damn it! Nice job, bastard, just great, just great!! Uwoooooooooooooohhh!!"
".........It would be better if everyone went outside...! There is no way they would want everyone to see them this way..."
Nanjo told the children to go outside, but no one listened.
"Rosa-san, please tell everyone. If they keep looking at something like this...it will do nothing but harm...!"
"..............."
Rosa regretted her own rashness.
......She should have realized that the children would eventually come here.
...She should have quickly locked it instead of standing around.
So the children had come.
They had seen it...!
Surely, in this very moment, they were having a sight burned into their eyes, which was far more grotesque than the shocking meal Rosa had seen in her youth...
While she hugged Maria as though she had forgotten her shock at the horrible scene, Rosa cried for them and their parents.
The four groaning and crying voices, their sadness, ...continued to echo in a place which should have known God's love......
"You piece of crap!! Again, another one of these murders!! And this time you made it all elaborate, killing them like it's a perfect joke!!"
"*cackle*cackle*cackle*cackle*. I was hoping I'd hear words of thanks rather than grief from you."
"Thanks!! Did you say thanks, you old bitch?! Damn it, if there's something wrong with your ears, I'll cut them both off so you can hear better!! Why should I have to say oh, thank you very much Beatrice-sama, about that insane way of killing, I'll beat you to death!!!"
"In the last game, you were grieving that you couldn't see your parents faces when they died, right? So I left them. Didn't touch them!!
Worship me, without a doubt, ・・・・・・・・・・・・・
your father and the rest have been killed・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・!!"
"R......eally, that's a great service, I'm so happy!! I swore that if I choked the life out of you, I'd plow your face, but I'll take that back, I'll drag out your guts!!!"
"Don't give in to emotion and stop thinking. My game has already begun, right? *cackle*cackle*cackle*. I decided to leave the corpses clean this time."
"Do you know why? When you denied my existence in the last game, you thought in a certain way.
'Their faces were crushed, so the identity・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
of the corpses couldn't be checked・・・・・・・・・・・・・・'
'Therefore, the possibility that fake・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
corpses had been prepared to create an alibi・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
cannot be eliminated・・・・・・・・'
'As long as that possibility can't be denied・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
a human culprit theory could apply・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・!!"
"What did you saaaaaay......!!"
"*cackle*cackle*cackle*kikikikikikikikikikikikikikikikikikikiki!! So, Battler, is it alright to leave the autopsy to Nanjo? Isn't it traditional in mystery novels for the doctor who performs the autopsy to be an accomplice?"
"Then don't leave the autopsy to Nanjo, you should do it yourself. Make completely sure that without a doubt, the six corpses are those six people, that they aren't pretending to be dead, that they really, really are dead!!"
"To make sure that your Father and Mother really have been killed by having their stomachs cut open and their entrails pulled out, you should stick your hand inside their stomachs and feel around inside!! Kuhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, ki-hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!"
"I won't cry!!! Damn it, damn it, ...I won't cry...!!"
Battler suddenly yelled.
His tears were still dripping down, but as though scolding himself for being girly, he slapped his face hard several times with both hands.
Even so, the tears still wouldn't stop.
......However, he felt a hot blaze on both his eyes.
"That bastard who did this, I'll make him pay back his debt completely!! So this isn't the time to cry, think about what you're gonna do!! Aaaah, it's useless, it's all useless!! If you have enough spare time to cry, then think! This is no time to let yourself cry!!"
Rather than genuine hatred, maybe it was more of an evasive hatred to blot out his sadness.
......However, it gave a little courage to George and Jessica, who had been crushed by sadness.
"......That's right. ...Even if we cry, ......it won't change the reality, ...that this had occurred."
"Damn it..., damn it damn it damn it, ......damn it damn it damn it!! Well, then what should we do?! What should I do, ...for Mom and Dad's sakes?!!"
"......Rosa-sama... I have returned..."
"Gohda-san, what happened with the police? What did they say to do? Did they say when they think they'll be able to get here?"
"...That is, ......it seems the phones have broken down... I also tried the emergency wireless, but...umm, maybe it's the weather, that isn't working either..."
"What did you say...! So, we can't contact the police?!"
"It's that person! They did something to the phone line, and made it so we can't contact the police!!"
When she heard that the phones had broken down, Jessica immediately decided that it was the work of that mysterious guest.
Her eyes were bright-red after so much crying, and they began to grow even more red with rage.
"...Aaahh, there's no need to talk about it, right?! I understand everything, that's right, I get it! Who killed Dad and Mom?!"
"It's obvious, it's her!! It has to be that witch or whatever who came yesterday!!! I'll grab her by the collar!! Damn it damn it damn iiiiiiiiiiiit!!"
"Jessica-chan...! Wait! Gohda-san, Kanon-kun, go!"
"Y, yes...!"
"Milady, wait...!"
Covering her sadness that had nowhere to go with anger, Jessica ran outside, torn apart by emotion.
...Thinking about it hastily, maybe the mystery guest, Beatrice, who had arrived yesterday, was suspicious.
However, at the current time, there was absolutely no proof that she was the culprit.
...At this moment, she was nothing more than a simple guest.
So Rosa made an adult decision, and had to stop Jessica in her hasty rampage.
Gohda and Kanon realized that immediately, and chased after her.
"......Could the guest that no one invited, Beatrice, be the culprit...?"
"I understand how Jessica feels. ...I also want to make myself think that. It doesn't matter who, I want to have them be the culprit and bash them right in the face!! ......But before that, we have to understand things clearly. ...Who is this Beatrice? I haven't even seen her face!!"
"......Kihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihi. If you're looking for her face, it decorates the big portrait in the mansion. You still don't remember after looking at it for so long? Kihihihihihi."
"...Come on, Maria. ...What's so funny in a situation like this?!"
"Beatrice is a witch. And the ceremony to open the door to the Golden Land has finally begun. Those six people are sacrifices. ......Kihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihi! Come, let us begin the witch's banquet. Tonight is Halloween, now the witches will gather to celebrate. Ki-hihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihi!!"
"Maria, don't I always tell you not to laugh with that creepy voice!"
The crisp sound of Rosa slapping Maria's cheek echoed through the high-ceilinged chapel...
It kinda felt like, since it had started raining yesterday...
No, ...since the island had been wrapped up in the typhoon, something had gone crazy.
I had arrived in Rokkenjima while it was clear, and taken a nap because I had gotten up early.
......When I woke up, it had already started raining.
And since that time...
Suddenly, a mysterious visitor had arrived, calling herself the Golden Witch Beatrice, and it felt like I was sinking bit by bit into an insane world.
Had something happened while I was asleep? During that time, had this island been cut off, trapped in a different world where common sense didn't apply...?!
Who is this person called Beatrice?
Was some unknown person trying to involve themselves with the inheritance problem, like our parents were freaking out about at dinner last night?
......Or was this witch from the Legend of the Gold the culprit, like Maria said?!
Even if Jessica hadn't let her short temper get the better of her, in this situation, the visitor was probably the most suspicious.
However, we couldn't decide just like that. Aaah, it's useless, it's useless, it's all useless...!!
I smacked my face with both hands again, cooling off my brains before they got too hot.
Even though it might have been a wasted effort.
"......This is, .........Grandfather's envelope."
On a tray piled up with sweets that decorated the table, George-aniki found a western envelope which had the Ushiromiya family crest on it in gold leaf.
And it was unopened.
"So, ......doesn't this mean it was sent to us? If it was something Dad and the rest read, it should be open."
"......It seems your reasoning is correct. ......It's written here. Someone wrote, 'To those that remain'."
"Is that, a letter the culprit left...?! Wh, what's inside...?"
"Aniki, let's open it...!"
After nodding silently, George-aniki opened it.
......A folded letter came out.
".........I'll read it. .........I welcome you to Rokkenjima, members of the Ushiromiya family. I am serving Kinzo-sama as the Alchemy counsellor for this house, and my name is Beatrice..."
That letter really was a joke.
This Beatrice, who called herself an Alchemy counsellor, had proclaimed that she was collecting the gold she had lent Grandfather with interest.
And that interest was everything that Grandfather had given birth to.
Since this tragedy was right before our eyes as this paragraph was read aloud, it wasn't only referring to all of the wealth that Grandfather had created.
......It was literal.
Everything that Grandfather had given birth to, ......in other words, ...all of Grandfather's descendants were included in the interest!
"You bastard!! What a screwed up contract! Lives as interest on gold, you say?! That's almost like a contract with the devil. isn't it?! Is that how you pretend to be a witch?! Ha, you make me laugh!!"
"......Special clause. .........However, should someone discover the afore-mentioned gold, Beatrice shall renounce all rights to its recovery for all time."
".........Hmmmmmmm............As for the cache of the gold, Kinzo-sama has already edicted it in the epitaph beneath my portrait..."
"......In other words, it's something like this. If the motive for these murders was collection of the interest, the condition for stopping it, is to try and find the hidden gold she gave to Grandfather, ...that's what it's saying. And it also says that this secret is hidden in the epitaph from that portrait."
"In other words, ......this is a letter of challenge from the witch? If anyone thinks they can solve the coded paragraph where the location of the hidden gold is written, then try to do it?! And if we can't, it's saying that the collection of the interest will continue as planned?"
"I'll beat you to death, no problem!!!"
"...B, Battler-kun! Look......, here!!!"
The table had been full of sweets, ...so even though it had been right in the open, we had assumed it was a sweet.
......I mean, come on, you find stuff like this a lot, right?
......Come on, it might have been a box shaped like a golden ingot, filled with chocolate...!
"Th, ......this is, not a box of candy... It's the real thing...! This is a real gold bar...!!"
"...It's inscribed with the crest of the One-winged Eagle......I heard Mother talking about it earlier. ......This is a gold bar from Granfather's Legend of the Gold...!!"
A gold ingot weighing a full 10 kilograms, ...wait, three of them, were piled up in the very center of the table! It was where a cake would be placed if it was a birthday party.
...In other words, this was without a doubt the birthday cake of the party known as the family conference!
"If these are really four nines quality ingots......nn, *gulp*. I, it's worth about 60 million yen!"
"Dumbaaaaaaaaaaasss!!! That's too cheap!!! Our parents have been killed, and all the gold you've piled up is only worth 60 million yen?! Don't take us for fools, damn iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!!"
"......Kihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihi. ...So, it has begun, Beatrice. ......It's not like anyone can solve this riddle anyway. So Beato will definitely win."
"......Quickly, open the door to the Golden Land. Then bring Maria with you. ...Kihihihihihihihihihihihihihi!"