Norman flipped all the switches in his mind.
When acting together with Shizuku and the others, Norman would switch between his thoughts, abilities, and actions.
Not holding back, but purely so they could fully unleash their abilities, as that led to exponentially quicker incident resolutions. More importantly, to meet what he demanded of them.
“…Oh? What’s going through your mind?”
“The train hijacking, that was well done.”
“Switching the rail lines, you mean?”
Jim didn’t falter.
Rather, he seemed to have some expectation of Norman, sporting a smile.
“No, before that. How did Knocker Cromwell’s men sneak onto the freight car? If they came with the passengers, I would have noticed.”
“Then either…they boa.rded after the passengers, or hid before the passengers arrived.”
“Right. Which means, there was setup besides the perpetrators themselves.”
“And that was…?”
“Mary Wallwood was the president of the shipping company.”
The woman killed in the first incident was a skilled company president who took over her late husband’s shipping business.
But she died.
And for the walled city of Balldlum, a shipping company was a critical operation.
“If she died, the company would be paralyzed. Or at least, cracks would form.”
Speaking while reconstructing everything he had witnessed in his mind,
like a map.
His home, the living room scene. The furniture left untouched, the small objects placed about held information.
First he picked up the toy train model. Seeing the fallen woman’s nightgown on the floor, he next turned his awareness to
“Jacqueline Harley had killed Bronte Byron, who was a buyer of antiques and valuables among the nobility.”
A bloodstained bandage.
“Due to the incident she caused, he was killed, an illegal brothel was exposed, and the nobility was questioned and pressured by the police. As a result, their movements became restricted.”
Tracing the bandage leads to a tarnished box containing tarnished gold coins.
The desire the Ripper tried to correct. The hell that created the Ripper.
“The story jumps around, doesn’t it?”
“At this point, it does.”
But if you walk through the room of memories and see what you witnessed, the story changes.
The large diamond ring that Filgie Mule tried to steal.
It had rolled onto a woman’s nightgown.
“The jewel thief incident. In that case, the museum was completely destroyed and ceased functioning. Then the problem became what would happen to the undamaged exhibits. They couldn’t just leave them in the ruined museum.”
“—The wealthy would buy them, or they’d be moved to another location in the city, or to a museum in another city.”
“Right. But due to the brothel incident, the movements of the nobility were restricted. Especially those who desired antiques probably didn’t want to make any big purchases because of Bronte Byron who was killed. Plus, that whole thing had a bad reputation attached, including the destruction of the museum. It would be difficult to find a buyer in this city.”
The box of gold coins disappears from the room.
“Then they would try to move it to a museum outside the city. In which case, who would do it? For transporting things, it would be a shipping company.”
“And that company was Wallwood’s, right? Did you confirm that?”
“Yes. Among the bodies on the express train was the director of the museum. The inventory of items being transported included that diamond, and there were documents issued by the Wallwood Company.”
What was found was a dining car. Among the bodies were nobility and wealthy merchants dealing in valuables.
One of them was the director of the Balldlum Museum, there to oversee the transport of the artwork.
“Hmm. But why would they deliberately use a risky company like one whose president was killed to do the transportation?”
“—Here, the story comes back to the beginning.”
“Ah, I see.”
Jim nodded in understanding.
Norman remained still, simply exhaling.
“You said earlier you were on good terms with Ms. Mary, right?”
And that’s when the train hijacking occurred.
The four incidents were separate incidents. But they weren’t.
They came together as one thing.
“—The four incidents were all connected.”
“Are you saying this was all my doing?”
“Yes.”
Nodding, he joined the fingertips of both hands together.
This is where it gets serious.
“Knocker Cromwell said, ‘I knew you would be on this train.’ Indeed, that’s why he hijacked the train. But if you think calmly, it’s strange. He was cast out from Cartesius. I go to the capital regularly, even if I don’t know when, and it was only recently decided that Cklares would accompany me.”
Knocker Cromwell did it because Norman Heimisch’s companion was Cklares Airystep.
How did the revolutionary cast out from Cartesius know that?
“Or how did Mary Wallwood notice Alfred Curtis’s change? Was it really just consulting about the future? Maybe. But the newly awakened ‘Unlaws’ would be doing everything to hide their change. And yet…did someone tell her?”
If that gave you a slight doubt,
“Then everything connects.”
Did someone tell Mary?
Did someone tell Jacqueline what would happen if she killed Mr. Byron?
Did someone set up the museum director?
Did someone tell Knocker about Norman’s movements?
“—Someone was pulling the strings from behind the scenes.”
The listed conjectures are a thin thread.
Something you can only see by piling suspicion upon suspicion. Assuming that’s the case. It ensnares those who touch it, the threads tangle and are woven across this city. A malice spun by someone’s intention.
Invisible, unnoticeable thin, thin—spider threads.
“And that someone—is you.”
●
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
“Splendid deduction. Just like a famous detective.”
However,
“Wasn’t it you who said things like who and how didn’t matter? You should be explaining the why, not those other things.”
“Like I care, not like I’m writing a report here.”
“That’s exactly it Norman! That kind of attitude from you!”
The smile that had been plastered on vanishes. With a face like a crying child, he shouts,
“You! Aren’t you a bit too indifferent to me! “
” …………………………………… What about you? “
“Aren’t you and I friends?! And yet you’re always just talking about those monsters! I’m not talking about the interrogation earlier! About how to stabilize their abilities or how to apply them! You only drop by my lab occasionally to ask what you want to know and then leave! Think about how hurt I feel after you leave!”
“…Wait a minute. That’s your reason? You did all this just because you wanted attention?”
“No, of course there was also a practical reason.”
Regaining his rationality with an unsettling quickness,
“To be frank, what I wanted to know was about beyond Category III Ranks. I thought you knew about that Norman, but as I said, you’re too cold. So I thought if I put you in dangerous situations through various means, I might be able to get something out of you.”
“This guy…you wanted to pry info from me, but what if I’d actually died in one of those incidents?”
“Well, I trusted that you wouldn’t. But it didn’t turn out well in the end. You didn’t tell me anything, and having my subordinates monitor the four combat situations was fruitless – the spy for Fairy and Hellhound did nothing, the spy for Jewel got caught in the museum’s collapse and died, and the spy for Fairy was even wiped out by the Miner’s group.”
“Don’t try to sympathize with the victims.”
“Yeah, well—but you being so cold is no good!”
“What’s with that emotional tone? Trying to make me laugh?”
“Heh…if you did laugh, my efforts would have been worth it…”
“……”
“Ooh, that cold gaze, it’s giving me chills!”
I only feel a physiological revulsion at his contortions.
But that’s just how Jim is.
He did it because he wanted Norman’s attention.
He did it because he wanted to extract information from Norman.
I can’t understand it. I don’t want to.
“So that’s the whole story! All has been revealed, my friend, my detective! Since I framed you once and tried to kill you, we’re even, so why don’t we study and control those monsters together?!”
“—Don’t screw with me.”
Even at this point. On one side, he cornered and framed me. On the other, he tried to kill me without a second thought. And yet he still thinks we can talk it over, join hands as friends. It’s the height of selfishness.
Toying with people’s hearts, lying, arrogantly doing as he pleases alone.
“Monsters…Did you call them monsters?”
A creaking sound. My heart creaks and grinds.
The reality in front of me. The person next to me. Even if I can’t see or touch them directly, we rub against each other, creating that jarring grind.
“—Ah…so that’s what this is.”
I inadvertently clicked my tongue. This is it. This is why.
This is what I can’t forgive, why Norman is in this city.
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