when-you-have-eliminated-the-impossible，whatever-remains，however-improbable，must-be-the-truth.――sherlock-holmes

Stripped of all the impossible, what remains, no matter how unwilling you are to believe it, is the truth of the matter. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info - Sherlock Holmes

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The boy stood wordlessly in front of the angel sculpture.

The structure of the stripping city resembles a curved concave. At the end of one side is the foyer where the first meeting begins, and at the end of the other section is this lobby. In addition to the paintings and frescoes, the pianos and harps, the pillars, and various furniture are also painted with angel patterns, which are no different from other rooms in terms of giving a sense of the paranoia of the deceased.

However, only now people are completely unnoticed.

The teenager's attention was completely focused on the girl who was penetrated.

“…………”

I don't know who it is at all. The teenager affirmed again. He'd turned out of his brain everything he knew, who he had photographed, who he had even just glanced at. But there is only one conclusion - the girl in front of her. Victims killed by penetration. He didn't know it at all.

The boy stepped forward and observed the maiden's death without destroying the scene.

Sure enough, the eye was savagely gouged out by a large sharp weapon resembling a claw. In addition, there are large traces of peeling on the back part, but it is not clear what exactly was peeled off...... He is about 16 years old, and his height is in the middle and upper part of the average height of the Japanese people, and his hair is obviously dry. The expression is calm, with no obvious signs of resistance. The boy rolled up his kimono and looked inside. "The kimono is dirty on the outside but clean on the inside, so it's new. There are no huge signs of destruction, and according to the previous information, the victim was pierced by a long sword and died in an instant, and then his eyes were gouged out and something was stripped...... That's probably it. ”

Although there is still a huge contradiction that the time of death is extremely unreasonable, the boy still stops there. After all, the patience of the eldest young master in the back has a limit.

Turning around, he calmly looked at the purple spear pointed directly at his heart, and said:

"You can't kill me like that. ”

"I just want to know if you're a murderer. ”

"No, that's what happened when I came here. ”

“...... Is it. ”

The spear was retracted. Although the suspicion has certainly not been ruled out, the other party doesn't seem to think that the teenager can do such a thing. In short, he had disarmed, and crossed the boy, staring at the girl who was pierced by the sword.

“............”

Wake up the others. The boy thought so and stomped down.

Knock ―――――― knock―――――― knock――――――

Visible ripples gradually spread from the ground into the air, like an echo of the death knell through the space, burrowing into each person's body, echoing infinitely in all parts of the body. In a few moments, the roars and invectives spread to every corner of the castle.

"Which impudent man played the Ninth Symphony at night!?"

"Why is there a place like this where there was heavy metal rock twenty years ago? I'm Japanese!"

"I didn't expect the old man to wake up one day in the Requiem......"

"Master...... What kind of music is this?"

"Ma'am, if I'm not mistaken, this is supposed to be Mozart's Requiem, for the dead. ”

………… It seems to be very effective. The boy thought so, and then ran away.

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The moment we stepped into the lobby, the atmosphere changed.

Because, she was there.

The kimono is as beautiful as if it was made for this purpose.

The costumes of the Far East are hung on statues of angels, which are even more mysterious. Even if the blood of the Angel Sword is stained, it will not be able to detract from this beauty. Even if the blood had turned black as it began to clot, the fact that the pierced woman was so touching would not change.

“…… Hmm!"

I couldn't help but cover my mouth.

Because at about the same time as I smelled the almost breathless smell of blood, I noticed another fact.

Her beauty, her fair, smooth, exotic face leaned back, and she could see that both of her eyeballs had been gouged out.

"It's ......"

Master didn't know what to say.

All the magicians who were invited were there.

Kiyogen and Frieu, Luvia Zerita and her entourage, even the Ollock and the wheelchair-pushing assistant couldn't seem to ignore what had happened. This is probably a situation that most magicians are used to, and although there is an unusually tense air here, no one panics. Only Rosalind looked very uneasy, probably because of the fact that her brother was present to support her, that she did not faint. In this way, the boy with a blue nose and swollen face who was beaten is probably the only one who has not been affected by the atmosphere.

"Oh, it's so tense...... Do you want me to tell me a joke?"

Hanging from the ceiling, he swayed like a swing, completely unsympathetic to the dead girl. It's like treating a dead piece of meat, and it's chilling.

The master on the side clenched his teeth tightly, and his voice sounded as if his teeth were rubbing against each other, and he said the name of the victim.

"Kano...... Ryoli ......!"

"Huh?"

The boy made a stunned sound. But because his face was beaten like a pig's head, the sound was very quiet, and only I heard it closely. But at this time, I didn't pay much attention to the boy's voice, I just thought it was the boy's leakage, and then turned my attention to the master who was examining the corpse.

There was a snap, and a blood-stained envelope fell out of her sleeve.

Master carefully picked up the envelope that was the same as our invitation. I didn't say anything in particular, just took out the contents and started to check it.

"Huh,"

Suddenly there was a sound.

"It seems that she also has an angelic name. It's ......"

He didn't go on.

hachasiah。

Looking at the words that appeared on the invitation, Master's expression became very terrifying.

"Master?"

The master touched his chin with his blood-stained fingers and did not speak for a moment.

Then, at last, he replied in a faint, trembling voice.

“…… Maybe we're all mistaken. ”

"Did you make a mistake?"

He didn't answer my question right away.

“shemamphorae。 ”

The boy's voice and the words he said attracted the attention of everyone present.

"Didn't I say that word at the dinner table before? Don't look at me like that, yes, I'm eavesdropping, please raise your hands and don't ask about the specific situation. Anyway, let's get back to the point - as mentioned earlier, the seventy-two angels of shemamphorae can be transformed into the signs of the zodiac, but they can also be compared to the human body. The big universe (makrokosmos) and the small universe (mikrokosmos) usually look after each other. ”

The expressions of the magicians present became tense.

They also understood in advance what the boy meant.

"The eyeball belongs to the head of the human body, and it is the ...... of Aries that protects the head"

The boy spoke without a pause, as if he didn't feel how ominous the next words were. Say it naturally

And the angel who has the House of Aries as the ruling house is called Hachasiah. ”

I almost felt like I had to scream.

The message from the will that Ryori read in the foyer was revived in my memory.

- "Whoever cannot answer the question must be stripped by the angels.] 】”

Stripped by angels, is that what it means?

"I said, Grey, before you look scared, I urge you to look behind you. Those crooked demons have turned the world upside down......"

I turned my head to look behind me.

Just by that look, you can already understand it fully. Except for Rosalind, who was sheltered by Heine, none of the magicians were afraid.

Rather, it even looks a little happy.

Because they were sure that there was indeed something hidden in the stripping city (here). And there is no need to worry about killing each other in order to get it. Since the Masis Division, which is the administrator, was killed in the first place, what do you care about?

"Haha, is it the beast that carefully peeled off the magic mark and gouged out the eyes, and then strung people here? ”

"Mr. Fryuga, are you trying to say I'm lying?"

"No, no, we can believe what Heine said. ”

“…… Do you mean, then, the ghost of my friend Griwin Ashuburne, still roaming somewhere in this city?"

"Oh, old Sir Sammond, do you mean to say that the prisoners are among us? ”

The magicians' voices, voices, voices.

The voices in the lobby resonated, with a complex mix of conceit, hostility, curiosity, and so on, like a wild-hunt of demons laughing loudly on a stormy night.

Ah, that's right.

This can't be just a treasure hunt anymore.

The mystery did not disappear from this incident. It is better to say that whether it is a prisoner or a secret method, the unsolved mystery is helplessly at the center of the incident, and the sense of existence even increases.

What is different is the quality of the enigma.

That's not a mystery that exists for someone to solve.

It was a circuit of magicians summoned like sweet honey to bring death and calamity. It is with the driving device of the mystery that the story gets back to its proper posture and pulls the curtain up.

-- The curtain of the tragedy (grand-guignol).

"That...... Can you let me come down ......?"

"""" Rejected. ””””

………… Probably.

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