No Fatigue: 24-jikan Tatakaeru Otoko no Tenseitan

At the king's command, two sergeant knights grab Prince Ellen's arms and leave the dining room.

Brother David said to Prince Ellen, who is to be taken, after turning his sore eyes only for a moment.

"Well, that's more than enough for an argument, but I have a few things to add"

The same attention was once again drawn to my brother.

"First, Ed, can I ask your reasoning?

"What... mine?

When I heard Brother David's reasoning so far, I had to admit.

My reasoning was wrong.

Nonetheless, your brother wants to hear my reasoning.

What do I do now when I hear about it?

"Yes, on your wrong (...) reasoning"

I look back at my brother with a smile.

When this happens, everything is embarrassing.

You know, I thought the detective role might have turned to me, or something like, "I solved all the mysteries!" It's something I've assured you, or it's going to blow fire out of your face just to remember.

"Don't stare at me like that. I also need to consider the possibilities you have in mind. Can that be a 'different solution' to the system of equations called the Ripper case?"

My brother doesn't seem to give in, so I start talking without feeling comfortable.

"... I thought the killer used the Golden Gate Bridge ropeway."

"I see, I mean, the killer tore the body apart because he needed to fit it in a ropeway cage, right? But there is a difficulty in that reasoning"

"Yeah. The ropeway is managed by knights on duty at both ends of it - the bridge tower in the old and new towns of Golden Gate Bridge. So I can't use it as freely as I can at night"

"You're right. But you solved the problem. [M]... No, I thought it worked out (...) exactly?

I look at Prince Irfrid awkwardly before I say it.

"... The knight on duty that night on the side of the Old Town was a drinking companion of His Highness Ilfreed. As for the Knight on the New Town Side, he has recently been promoted to the Dragon Knight by His Highness Irfried."

Prince Ilfreed reacted to my words.

"Ho. I mean, I bought Xanax and Minael, and I didn't intimidate them, and I tailored them to accomplices."

I answer as I subtly slip away from the prince who says in a grumpy way.

"Yeah, yeah... the Dragon Knights and His Highness Ilfreed had an alibi at the time of the double murder. But if you moved the body on the ropeway, that alibi would collapse..."

"Well, I don't like it, but it's my job as a Royal Detective Assistant again."

Prince Ilfreed forgave me for saying that, even though he still looked angry.

Picking up that word, Brother David said.

"But there was someone who had an eye for that 'assistant job'."

"The person who laid eyes on my work...?

"Ed, you reported this morning that you discovered evidence of immobility."

That's what Brother David says.

I remembered.

"That's right! What the hell was that blood in the ropeway cage!? Didn't they use the ropeway in the case?!

There was blood on the ropeway cage I found behind the bridge tower stuffing on the old town side.

Is that not evidence that the ropeway was used to commit the crime?

"Remember well, Ed. What were you doing before you got that" proof of immobility "?"

"What... my brother told me to go to His Highness Ellence..." Ah!

"Looks like you got it. When you asked me about the Bridge Tower Duty Knight's alibi, His Highness Ellens flashed. An alibi was unintentionally established for the Dragon Knights. I'm not likely to be able to sin against His Highness Ilfrid as it is. But using the trick you were considering, His Highness Ilfrid would have been able to carry out a double homicide."

No way... in that moment, Prince Ellen read what I was thinking and said he wanted to use it.

"What happened to you after you spoke to His Highness, Ellens?

"That... I also heard from Mr. Corsey about the investigation, as His Highness told me. Maybe half an hour in time."

"Half an hour. That's all I need. After splitting up with you, His Highness Ellens hastily disguised himself and rushed into the grocery store in the Old Town."

"Grocery store?

"It's to buy chickens. His Royal Highness ran into his lab with a chicken and cut off the chicken's neck and poured its blood into a small pot. And then... you know what I mean?

"... ahead of the old town's side of the bridge tower stuffing, you said you attached chicken blood to the ropeway cage"

If so, I would have been a total idiot.

Because I didn't even know I got ahead of myself, and I was going to look at the chicken blood left in the cage and get "proof of immobility".

"After I sent Ed out, I asked one of the sergeant knights to tail him if Prince Ellen wanted to show me his movements. The scene where the disguised prince buys chickens, the scene where he entered the lab, and the scene where he quickly approached the side of the bridge tower to do some fine work. All of them, officers, knights will testify."

I didn't know you were even doing that, not just gathering evidence. I'm afraid of how close your brother is.

To me I admire you, my brother has turned a cold eye.

"In the first place, you said that when Ed discovered it, the blood wasn't solidified. Thinking about the days since the incident, I think I might notice something strange."

"Ugh..."

"If you still doubt it, you can have Princess Irvara appraise the blood stains. There is no chance that blood will harden under any special conditions.

Actually, I've already asked the princess for an appraisal of Ed's blood trail. "

"... from the results, that wasn't any blood, Mr. Mary, Mr. Carroll... In the first place, it's not human blood either. That's chicken blood..."

"Without so much 'by chance', you can only accept it as the result of Prince Ellen's disguised work.

Most importantly, the sergeant who followed him didn't even see the prince at hand. In this respect, there was room for blurring.

A ropeway was actually used in the case, but no trace was left at that time, and only verification should be made of the possibility that chicken blood was adhered to later by some coincidence. There's no chance that the Gatekeeper's knight was using the ropeway for chicken interactions. "

"Ugh, yeah... he said he carried his neck on a ropeway, and it doesn't always leave a mark. I mean, you'd be careful not to leave a trace, so it's more natural not to."

"You're right about Ed. But there's another big reason why the Ropeway theory doesn't work."

"Another reason not to be...?

When I asked him that, he said with a sigh.

"About this, Ed. I must point out the arbitrariness of your investigation. [M]

You seemed to be gathering all the evidence in favor of your hypothesis. As for the unfavourable evidence, I wouldn't even say you closed your eyes, but you didn't actively try to collect it, did you?

So you make such a simple and extreme overlook (...).

Look, on the night of the incident, that ropeway was severed by the 'mutilator' phenomenon. Of course, the "cleaver" here is the cleaver of natural phenomena. "

"- Yeah, yeah, yeah!?"

Oh, that's silly......

"Yeah, it's not, Ed. Having your own hypothesis is not a bad thing. Not a bad thing...... you can't seem to be taking away such simple facts because of that. You were imprisoned by your own hypothesis."

"So, but the 'cleaver' phenomenon ended with your brother identifying the cause, didn't it?

"Since the Ripper incident began, rumors have broken through. Less than before, but a few outbreak reports are up. One of them cut the rope on the ropeway that day. This must be purely 'by chance'. Most of the total extension of the ropeway is on the Golden Gate Bridge - directly above Lake Monocanus, where the wind is blowing. I can say it's 'by chance' that happened when it tried to happen. In fact, by the time the" cleaver "phenomenon flourished, the ropeway had been severed more than once."

"But when your brother checked the Gatekeeper's knight for any anomalies on the ropeway, he said there was nothing."

After the discovery of the fourth and fifth double homicides, his brother was on his way from the Old Town to the New Town, asking the Knight of the Bridge Tower at Golden Gate Bridge if there were any anomalies on the ropeway.

The answer should have been, "There was an inspection in the early morning but there was no abnormality".

"That knight didn't think the ropeway would go out of the ordinary once in a while.

I should have chosen the question more carefully then. If I had asked 'Did you use the ropeway that night', that knight would have also replied 'The ropeway was out and unusable'. In fact, I checked again yesterday, and the knight said, "The ropeway was out."

I also did an inspection of the ropeway that morning because the ropeway was out during the night. They call it 'inspection' over there, including until we restore the broken ropeway. In the first place, that ropeway is a very simple mechanism, so you don't even think you need to do inspections that often? Something had to have happened that night more than I had bothered to inspect. "

It's unfair! I'd like to scream, but I'm the only one who did the investigation.

Besides, even if the ropeway wasn't disconnected, it doesn't make any difference that my reasoning wasn't in place.

At a time when the blood stains were dry, I should have realized that the Ropeway theory was the correct answer to the fiction conceived by the killer.

"Like our fool brother, His Highness Ellen did not know that the ropeway had been disconnected that night.

But you flashed when you heard Edgar say he was interested in the ropeway and wanted to do an interview with the knight on duty. A fictional scenario in which His Royal Highness used a ropeway to hand over the body to his collaborators and make it look like a Ripper (Ripper) offense and dump it.

This scenario doesn't matter if you couldn't use a dragon rider. No, rather, I can even suspect that it was an alibi operation to leave the dragon rider unusable.

If double homicide occurs, the Dragon Knights with the Dragon Cavalry are first suspected. In anticipation of that, His Royal Highness Ilfreed dared to use a ropeway after he had left his dragon cavalry unavailable - so we could have an alibi scenario like that. "

"Damn...... he's a wicked witch turner everywhere"

Prince Ilfreed throws up like that.

"I think that's enough physical evidence, but let me show you that there's also psychological support."

Brother David took something like a little book out of his nostalgia.

"This is the diary of Miss Mary, who was killed in the fourth case. I asked her parents to lend it to me. … let's read it out a little"

"I saw His Highness invite the woman dressed up to the lab. The woman was dressed but would not be aristocratic to observe from the measure. I lost my curiosity and peeked into His Highness's lab. The lab has a large open wall on the lake/sea side. It's an unusual creation, so if you dive into the shade of a stand-up tree a little further away, you can't even peek inside. So Prince Ellen and the woman were caught in an unclean act. I don't want to go into details. It was surprising that His Holiness Ellen, who was beautifully shaped but infirm and floating without rumors, had such an opponent. At first, His Highness Ellens had a fierce, sticky blame for plunging a woman, but eventually, when His Highness ran out of strength, the ascent and descent immediately reversed. The woman was about to continue to act to the limit so that not a drop of Her Highness's seed could be missed. Dirty, I thought. I stepped on a twig at my feet then. To the sound, the pleasantly blurred eyes of His Highness, who had been made but remained a woman, turned this way. I hid myself immediately, but for a moment they might have noticed who I was. What to do...... I've learned a tough scandal. Should I consult with Master Ilfrid? But I'm talking about my dear brother. Can you believe my words or not...... All you have to do is talk directly to His Highness, Ellens, and have me believe you're not going to take matters out of your mouth. His Highness Ellen is famous for his faint appearance and his gentle treatment of his servants, so if you speak properly, you may believe him."

"… another day there will be a statement like this"

"I received a call from His Highness, Ellens. They said they wanted to talk about that. If I said that, I would say that. His Royal Highness began with the explanation and said that the other person was a noble daughter with whom he was seriously dating. But from me being thoroughly planted with my demeanor as a maid, that was a lie no matter what I thought. The abusive woman of that measure is not noble, no matter how she sees it.

Are you getting married? And I asked His Highness. His Royal Highness answered to squeeze out '... I intend to' after a moment of emptiness. I think I found out that that was a lie, even if it wasn't me. But I was confused because His Highness kept saying this. "I'm going to introduce her to my father next time. I want to carry it in secret. I can't ask you to do this, but can you help me? I'll make it convenient for your parents."

I almost wanted to say no to every such favor if I could. But if you refuse what the royal family asked you to do until you bowed your head, you will have crushed your face, and you will be severely resented even if you are not punished. Even if it is difficult for His Highness Ellens to become king in the future, he is certain to enter the royal family. Even for the house, you can't buy a grudge here. I had to say yes.

When I'm done keeping my diary, I have to sneak eyes and go to the royal castle to help His Highness Ellence and that nasty woman from now on. I don't think His Majesty the Wise King will allow you two to marry... '

"Mr. Mary's diary is the last thing to interrupt this day. The date in this diary is from the night of the incident."

In a quiet dining room, the king raised his hand small.

"I have one thing to unravel"

The king opens his mouth.

"If magic cannons are available, shouldn't we have shot into the ocean and hidden the evidence?

"Your Highness wanted us to discover the body.

Miss Carroll is missing, and I have trouble finding out that she was a treat to Her Highness Ellen on some kind of clap.

Miss Mary also needed to be erased because she had accidentally witnessed the encounter between Her Highness Ellens and Mr. Carroll. Regardless, Miss Carroll will be searched extensively if Miss Mary, who is an aristocratic maid and serves in the royal castle, goes missing. Her Royal Highness Ellens would have given Miss Mary a mouth seal, but if Miss Mary ever goes missing and is suspected of anything more than not knowing if Miss Mary has really told anyone, she even discovers the worst about Miss Carroll.

In that regard, if you are a cleaver (ripper), you will be considered a Yukizuri offense. It is expected that the investigation of the back relationship will not be carried out, or even if it is carried out, it will not be satisfactory.

And the fact is, whatever Miss Mary was decided to do when the pregnancy was discovered... was cleared of being one of the unfortunate victims of the Ripper (Ripper) for being a civilian, Miss Carroll. The investigation into Miss Carroll's whereabouts was not conducted at all until I asked Ms. Corsey to do so.

Of course, on the instructions of His Highness the Chief of Investigation, Ellens, no one is more suspicious of this instruction than it is clear that the killer is a Ripper (Ripper). No, it's not exactly 'I instructed you not to look into it', it's not 'I didn't instruct you to look into it', so it's going to be hard to suspect.

Miss Mary, it was also only necessary that a very formal investigation was carried out into the pre-incident footsteps of both Miss Carroll. Regardless, if Miss Merry was to be washed seriously about Miss Carroll's footsteps, there was a risk that a close meeting with the two princes would be exposed.

Plus, there's another convenient thing to do by making it look like a Ripper. "

"One more thing? I don't know, what the hell?

"What a convenient thing for a cleaver to do is to slit a woman's abdomen and reveal her womb.

In other words, it becomes clear that Miss Carroll was not pregnant or anything, thanks to the Ripper.

If, even if Miss Carroll is washed behind her back and suspected of having a relationship with Her Highness, Her Highness is less likely to be suspected if Miss Carroll is not pregnant. Miss Carroll claimed to have had His Highness's child, but that meant it was virtually rootless.

Of course, the replacement of the uterus would make it possible for Lady Mary to have had a child who was not supposed to be there, but Lady Mary is the maid of Her Royal Highness Ilfrid, so it would not hurt or itch to take it to Her Highness Ellence.

On the contrary, there are also rumors of unknown origin as to whether it was His Royal Highness Irfrid who 'laid his hands' on Miss Mary.

This one too... "

"Are you saying this is the demma that Ellen deliberately flushed to fall on me..."

Prince Ilfreed sighed with indignation.

That's right, because my real brother was trying to tailor himself to a Ripper.

"It's only a possibility..."

and brother David cares about prince ilfried, but if you weren't sure, you wouldn't have spoken here. You should see it as evidence. In fact, if you keep track of the rumors, you'll soon find out.

"So, David, did you think that double homicide wasn't a Ripper's crime from the beginning?

"Yeah. The first thing I questioned was the condition of the body.

Until then, the Ripper had consistently taken the action of ripping and killing a woman's throat, then ripping her belly and removing her uterus.

In contrast, in double homicide, the throat and belly had indeed been torn and the uterus removed, but on top of that the body had been torn apart ".

"But isn't that normal to assume that the Ripper (Ripper) offense escalated?

"What about that? The purpose of the Ripper is to uncover the womb. Ripping and killing your throat, ripping your belly, is only a procedure for removing your uterus.

I didn't know what kind of interest and need the Ripper (Ripper) had in the womb, but the Ripper (Ripper) was obviously obsessed with the womb.

So you don't have to tear your body apart after you remove your uterus. You should leave the spot more quickly than you have already achieved your purpose. And the fact is, it seems that the Ripper (Ripper) acted that way in other cases.

Which means there's no consistency between the previous incidents and double homicide. "

"Consistency…?

But isn't he a lunatic? "

"Indeed, the Ripper (Ripper) is not the bearer of reason in the general sense.

Except he - no, it turned out to be her, but she had her logic.

In the first place, if you're a lunatic who kills and goes around people on the spot, you can't possibly stay caught forever in the more vigilant King's Capital.

So she should at least have reason to understand the circumstances in which she was placed and to warn the sergeant. "

"Mmmm..."

"If until then she was consistently obsessed with the womb and suddenly took the body apart, it would be odd if there was no change in logic that would make her act like that.

Separating corpses is a hell of a heavy labor. It is not a task that I can come up with very well. If you dared to do that heavy labor, you need a reason there. That, too, is a serious reason enough to be commensurate with its heavy labour.

Of course, there has been, and has not been, such a change in logic, and there is no complete denial of the possibility that serious reasons have arisen.

But it never occurred to me that the madness driving her to such an unusual murder had changed without any foretaste.

Rather, it seemed more natural to think that double homicide was (...) a crime (...) committed by another human being disguised as (...) a cleaver case (...).

- That's why I reasoned that double homicide was someone else's crime. "

Together, he defies Brother David's reasoning without a voice.

My brother went on anticipating when his words stained him together.

"Now, if the double homicide wasn't caused by a cleaver (ripper), what kind of person did this double homicide?

The first thing I can say is that this person is a very cunning person.

I thought disguising myself as a Ripper would deceive my own murder, so it would mean that I'm not a madman like a Ripper (Ripper), but rather a cunning person around my head.

Next, we can say that this person is familiar with the victim. "

"Wait... how can you say that the murderer of double homicide knew the victim?

The king asked, shaking his head as bewildered.

"Let's assume the killer didn't disguise himself as a Ripper.

Then, as a common homicide, you'll find out where Miss Carroll and Miss Mary were killed. "

"Well, you wanted to disguise yourself as a Ripper because you'd have legs if you could check around."

"That's the thing.

Another possibility is that this second killer was also a mutilator (ripper) similar anomaly, intended to expose the victim's womb as well as the mutilator (ripper). "

"But... something with a bunch of such anomalies?

"It's certainly unlikely, but more than not zero, verification is needed.

Nevertheless, the verification itself needs to be simple.

All you have to do is focus on the difference between the first cleaver (ripper) and the second 'cleaver (ripper)' in how the body is injured.

The second 'Ripper' is tearing the body apart.

Whatever it is, the act will have a motive not found in the first Ripper. "

"Hmm..."

"The second 'Ripper' would have liked to have created exactly the same scene situation as the first Ripper (Ripper), if it could have done so.

Otherwise, you're going to be suspected of being someone else.

But the second 'Ripper' didn't.

No, I couldn't (...).

The second "Ripper" had a reason why the body had to be torn apart.

What is the reason for this?

If you think about this, it won't take long to get to the answer. "

Brother David says with a cool face.

... so I think your brother is the only one who doesn't take long.

"No... I don't think it's easy to come up with a magic cannon shooting into the opposite shore because of the logic of having to tear it apart."

The king said as if he was frightened.

"So you were also tied up with your hands and feet folded?

And when I remembered,

"It's simply a fold to pack into a magic cannon shell.

In the first place, if you just can't move, you'll have a more hassle-free tying. Folding your hands and feet into baskets and tying each with a different rope is an inexplicable way to tie them. If this is the case, isn't it a common way to tie both wrists, both ankles together? But the ropes didn't.

Note that for the biggest torso part, you seem to have pulled out your gut and stuffed it into another shell, and then pushed it into the shell by crushing some of your ribs and pelvis with something like a hammer.

Also, if it stays this way, the weight of the shell will change depending on the body area, which may cause the distance to fly to uneven, so it looks like the weight was added or subtracted by combining the victim's guts, blood, pot shards that were in the lab, etc. "

"Doesn't that sound pretty loud when you land a bullet?

... Oh, no, you know that. 'Cause it's the windy season. "

"Yes, because the sound of the wind is enough to prevent the people of the King's capital from sleeping in winter. If it's about the sound of a landing bullet, I'll deceive you. Even if that sound had sounded, the people of Wang Du would only have wondered if something had fallen in the wind.

Most importantly, the sound of the shooting will need to be silenced just by [wind magic].

- Well, that's all my reasoning. "

Do you have any other questions, Brother David asks, but I never got any questions from you together.

◇

On the way home.

I was still angry.

Of course, against Brother David.

"... brother, you used me as bait?

What I'm talking about is a disguised operation using Prince Ellen's chicken blood.

Brother David said with a bitter smile.

"I'm sorry about that. But Ed would feel safe if something unexpected happened, wouldn't he?

If they say so, I'll have to shut up too.

"Because I thought it was possible that Princess Irvara's blood test alone could not drop His Royal Highness. Only the new technology makes it difficult to prove its evidentiary nature in a trial. It's all the more so because they're princes."

"So, you made him work in disguise and witness the crime scene to an officer knight, right?

"That sort of thing"

Brother David says that and laughs lightly.

"I thought His Highness had done it entirely."

"His Highness, Ilfrid, doubted too much. First of all, having a dragon rider put me in a privileged position to have free access to the 'Chamber of Secrets' where you call it. Even in terms of motive, if you look into it, you'll quickly find contact with both victims. This is like telling me to suspect you. It's as if you committed a crime to get His Highness Ellence to put up a handle.

In short, who profits from this case and its investigation? The leader is His Highness, Ellen, who can kick down a powerful rival while raising his hand. "

My brother said, pointing to me.

"By and large, you know that His Highness Ilfreed's temper is Ed, right? Doesn't look anything like the statue of the killer in this case."

"Gu......"

"It's the right attitude to doubt everyone who could, but there would be something called priority, wouldn't there?

Would you say that, brother?

If it was a mystery, any person would not be strange to the killer. No, rather, the more unexpected the killer, the better.

But since this is a reality, it is naturally unlikely that the killer is a person who is significantly off the profile.

"So, how long has Brother David been suspicious of His Highness the Ellens?

"I wasn't particularly suspicious of His Highness, Ellens. However, we can speculate that the killer is an upper-class person, but that he has a narrow friendship, is not a hopeful person, but is familiar with the victim."

"... why?

"As Ed put it, I use 'tricks'. The trouble is that unlike other cleavers (rippers), they were familiar with the victim. That's why we're gonna need an alibi."

"What is an upper-class person?

"Miss Mary is the maid of the First Prince. I have a proper identity to approach."

"What's a narrow friendship and no popularity?

"That's all I have, but I mean, there's no one to move with my hands and feet. If you have a trusted employee, you don't need a trick to dispose of the body. All you have to do is order me to bury it out of sight. If I make an alibi for the iron wall in the meantime, I can get away with somewhat suspicious. All the more so if you can't find the body. So the killer is likely to be one or a very small group. Moreover, it is natural to assume that the absence of an employee means that he is a young nobleman who has not inherited the title.

And the killer, or the killers, hide the chopped circumstances that must kill the victims. I can't help but show you the trick in hand.

So what is that 'chopped circumstances'? This is not that hard of a guess. One of the victims was pregnant. And the killer is a nobleman of eighty-nine high ranks. "

"You mean you got your hands on me and got me pregnant with the intention of playing"

"It's most natural to think so, isn't it? Besides, even Miss Mary is quite the daughter of the family, which means that she is a nobleman."

"But it wasn't Miss Mary who was pregnant, it was Miss Carol"

"It's the same in that case. I hate to tell you this, but if you're a noble man, you'll have to give the common woman a deposit. His Royal Highness Ilfreed, who said he would recognize him, is still a fine man.

But it can also be problematic to have a common man's daughter pregnant. A high nobility, or royalty, in the midst of a successor race. If I say it at last, the second hand in a subtly unfavourable position is more suspicious than the fate of the successor race. You'll be sensitive to scandals. If you think on this line, the suspect will be narrowed down to several other young male nobles besides Prince Ellens "

So you're saying that I was just thinking tricks, whereas Brother David was thinking of a viable plan for them, after refining them from the point of view of motive?

"By the way, the head of a suspect who looks good enough to shed a floating name is still His Highness Ellen. I mean, it feels like there's no one else."

"... Speaking of which, you said it when Mr. Ciel met. There are few unmarried handsome aristocrats of the right age in Santa Mana today."

- That's why I became a detective.

I checked my status at a later date and there were two names that became "Mr. Mislead."

Who, the guy who calls me by those two names?

Anyway, this solved all of the series of cleaver (ripper) cases.

... but it was rather after this that a real wave struck Monocanus, the king's capital -