Shirou and the Mind-Boggling Mystery / Shirou and the Murder Weapon That Appeared ...

My conclusion is affirmative. I agree with the view that we can accept the explanation of the Kairi Shishigou.

"You mean you think? Based on your intuition?" Mr. Frederick said, still unconvinced.

"Inference should not rely on any factors other than evidence; what I focus on is probability!"

If Kairi Shishigou were to travel with a fake passport, he would immediately become a suspect. As a Magus operating on the fringes of the Mage's Association, the first thing the authorities would do upon arrival is to detain Kairi Shishigou. No one would vouch for him, and the authorities would have every reason to use this opportunity to imprison him, then slowly interrogate him to verify the accuracy of his information, thereby stripping him of all personal value. Finally, they could pin the charges on him to settle their score."

"The Mage's Association wouldn't do that, would they..." Mr. Frederick wanted to argue, but even he himself seemed a little skeptical.

"Can't they?" Shirou countered.

"Well..." Mr. Frederick shrugged.

While preserving ancient traditions is Magecraft's honor, from the perspective of humanity's current moral values and social order, the world of Magecraft is indeed backward and closed. An unsound system breeds many dark aspects, and if it's about reaching the root of the problem, Magecraft are all capable of easily sacrificing an entire city and killing thousands or tens of thousands of people—lawless and unscrupulous.

Shirou continued:

"If this case involves more travelers, it would be quite difficult to thoroughly uncover the truth, and in most cases, we might not even try, especially when none of these people seem suspicious. However, the situation with Kairi Shishigou is much simpler, regardless of whether his claimed identity is true or not. Therefore, I say that if he is lying, it will be exposed."

Chapter 1248 Shirou and the Devastating Mystery

"So you don't suspect that Kairi Shishigou is the culprit?" Mr. Frederick asked.

Shirou shook his head.

"That's not true. You've misunderstood me. As far as I know, anyone would have a reason to want to kill Old John. But what I'm saying is that we can accept the identity of Kairi Shishigou, and his story about Darnic choosing and hiring him might not be entirely untrue, though not certain, but it's quite possible. Because Darnic also contacted me and my teacher."

"If we accept that this is true, we must investigate whether there is any evidence. And sure enough, we found corroboration in a not-so-reliable place: the testimony of Miss Alya, the maid. Her description of witnessing the person in the train conductor's uniform matched perfectly. So, is there any further evidence to confirm what the two said? There's also the train conductor's armband that Old Boss Li found. In addition, there is another strong piece of evidence that you may not have noticed."

"What confirmation?" Frecrec asked.

"That's something both US Colonel. and Caules mentioned—that the train conductor passed by their compartment. They didn't seem to take it seriously, but Mr. Hartless insists that he never left his seat except at the times already mentioned. And Caules's compartment was at the end of the train near the restrooms, so Hartless had no need to go to that end of the carriage. In other words, he never passed by the compartment where U. S. and Caules were sitting and chatting."

Therefore, the story of a short, pale-skinned, handsome man with a effeminate voice wearing a train conductor's uniform has been directly or indirectly corroborated by four witnesses.

Shirou made his own deduction.

"Actually, there's another small problem," Waver chimed in. "If what Alya said is true, why didn't the real train conductor mention seeing her when the bell rang to go to Old Boss Li's place?"

Mr. Frederick waited impatiently for them to finish speaking.

"Alright, alright, my friend," he said impatiently to Shirou. "While I greatly admire your curiosity and your methodical approach, I must point out that you haven't yet touched upon the crux of the matter. We all agree that such a person does exist. The question is, where is he?"

Shirou shook his head, a look of disapproval on his face. Famous detectives like to keep things mysterious, like Holmes, always asking questions they already know the answers to, never revealing the truth they knew from the beginning until the very last moment.

"You're wrong. You've got it backwards. Before asking 'Where has this person gone?' you should first ask yourself:"

'Did this person actually exist?' Because, you see, if this invisible person never existed in the first place, then he could have disappeared so easily! So, first I need to confirm that there really was such a flesh-and-blood person on the train."

"Now that this fact is clear, yes, then where is he now?" Frederick cried out in distress.

"Sir, there are only two answers: either he is still cleverly hiding in a place on the train that we would never expect; or, as some have said, he is two people. That is to say, he is both the person Mr. Old John is wary of and one of the passengers on the train, disguised so well that even Mr. Old John cannot recognize him."

"That's quite right," Mr. Frederick's face brightened, but quickly returned to its somber tone. "However, I have a different opinion."

Shirou interrupted him before he could finish speaking:

"This person's height. Is that what you mean? Apart from the priest and Mr. Old John's servant, all the passengers on the train are tall: Italians, US Colonel, Caules, and Kairi Shishigou. Even that Chinese old man is at least 1.78 meters tall. So it can only be the priest and the servant. This assumption is really not very reliable."

However, another possibility remains: don't forget the 'fair skin and feminine voice' description. This gives us another option. Perhaps it's a man dressed as a woman, or conversely, he's not a woman at all; a tall woman wearing men's clothes will inevitably appear shorter."

"But... in fact, Old John should have known the other person's identity; he said he was a man," Mr. Frederick said.

"Perhaps he knew. Perhaps this woman intended to kill him, and had previously disguised herself as a man to achieve her goal. Old John may have guessed that she was going to use this tactic again, so he told Kairi Shishigou keep an eye on a man. However, he had already mentioned 'speaking like a woman.'"

"That's possible," said Mr. Frederick, "But... could it really be a vampire? Has he gone into the shadows?" Mr. Frederick clutched his head in frustration.

"Sir, perhaps you could also listen to the contradictions I noticed when I went to perform the autopsy with my teacher."

He discussed in detail some of the inferences he and Waver had drawn from the wounds on the deceased.

There were thirteen different knife marks. Some were left by a left-handed person, near the armpit, while others were left by a right-handed person, pointing to the opposite side. If one of them were to stab, he would have to switch from left to right, sometimes with a weak and feeble motion, sometimes with a strong and powerful motion, and sometimes with intense anger, before he could deliver a fierce blow.

Secondly, there was physical evidence found in the deceased's room: cigarette butts from rolled cigarettes, a handkerchief embroidered with the letter A by a woman, and two different lighters, one provided on the train and the other a flip-top lighter made in the United States...

Mr. Frederick held his head in his hands, exclaimed "Ah!", and then lifted his head again.

"I understand," Shirou said sympathetically. "I completely understand how you feel right now. Your head is still spinning, isn't it?"

"The whole case is nothing short of a fantasy," Mr. Frederick exclaimed.

"Absolutely. Absurd, unimaginable, impossible. I've thought so myself before. But, sir, the case has already happened, that's how it is! No one can deny the facts."

"I'm completely confused!"

"How can I not be confused, sir? The way this case twists and turns sometimes makes me think that perhaps the truth is actually very simple. But that's just a thought..."

"Hmm... there are two murderers, or maybe two vampires..." Mr. Frederick mumbled. "They're lurking on the Mystic Train..."

The thought popped into his head, and it almost made him cry.

Chapter 1249 Shirou and the Murder Weapon

"Now let's make this fantasy even more mysterious," Shirou said enthusiastically. "Last night, there were two strange, mysterious passengers on the train:

One was a train conductor whose appearance matched what Mr. Lion Kagari described, as well as what Alya, the US Colonel, and Mr. Caules had seen.

There was another woman, tall and slender, wearing a blood-red cloak; Hartless, Red-haired Miss, Caules, and I myself had all seen her; one could even say that the perfume the US Colonel smelled might have been on her! The cold they felt might have been coming from her."

Shirou finished explaining the information about the two invisible men, he asked in return:

"So who is she? Nobody on the train admits to the bright red cape, and she's disappeared. Is she the same person as the fictional train conductor? Or is she some kind of very unique individual? Where are these two people? By the way, where did the train conductor's uniform and the red cape go?"

"Ah! That makes a lot of sense!" Mr. Frederick jumped up eagerly. "In any case, we must search the passengers' luggage now. Yes! That might uncover some useful clues!"

Shirou stood up and said:

"I can predict the future."

"Do you know where it is?"

I have an idea.

"So, where exactly is it?"

"You will find the bright red cloak in a man's luggage, and then the train conductor's uniform in Alya's luggage."

"Alya? You think the culprit is...?" Mr. Frederick's eyes widened. "You were so kind to that young lady before, so you suspect her?"

Shirou waved his hand and said:

"It's not what you think. This is how I see it. If Alya is guilty, the train conductor's uniform might be found in her luggage; but if she's innocent, the uniform is definitely with her."

"But... what's going on?" Mr. Frederick began, but didn't finish his sentence.

"What's that sound? It's getting closer!" he shouted. "It sounds like a locomotive starting up."

The sound grew closer, filled with piercing shouts.

Ta-da!!

"Whoa!" The door at the end of the food cart was suddenly pushed open, and Old Boss Li barged in.

"You scared me to death!" he exclaimed. "It was absolutely terrifying! I opened my briefcase and there was a knife inside, and it was covered in blood!"

As they were talking, the old man leaned forward, and Mr. Frederick quickly caught him.

Shirou stepped forward to help, and the two of them dragged the unconscious Old Boss Li, to the sofa.

Mr. Frederick said to a waiter who ran over:

"Let him lie there for now," Waver said. "If he wakes up, give him some brandy, understand?"

"Yes, sir," the waiter replied.

Then he hurriedly left with the other two. His entire interest was focused on the case, and he had no interest in the middle-aged woman who had fainted.

After using these methods, Old Boss Li woke up quickly; if the old methods had been used, she wouldn't have woken up so soon. A few minutes later, he was sitting up, sipping brandy from the glass the train conductor handed him. She spoke again:

"It's indescribably terrifying. I bet no one on the bus can understand how I feel. Someone was murdered in the room next to mine yesterday, and the murder weapon was in my bag. Ugh, it's so unlucky. Just thinking about that filthy thing makes my head spin."

The train conductor then handed the glass over.

"One more bite, sir."

"Don't you think I'm better? I've quit drinking, and I haven't touched a drop lately. My daughter and grandson won't let me drink either. But right now, I'm just using it as medicine anyway..."

He took another sip, then downed the liquor in one go, saying, "Hmm... I don't like foreign liquor, it's not as strong as Erguotou... I'll have another one!"

At this moment Shirou and Mr. Frederick, followed closely by Waver, had already hurriedly left the dining car and walked along the aisle toward Old Boss Li's private room.

The passengers on the train seemed to have been drawn to the aisle outside by the commotion. The train conductor, anxious and impatient, urged everyone to go back inside.

"What's not interesting?" He repeated this phrase in several languages.

"Excuse me, excuse me," said Mr. Frederick.

They forced their way through the tightly packed crowd of passengers and entered the private room where the murder weapon was found.

"Gentlemen, I'm so glad you've arrived." The train conductor breathed a sigh of relief. "They all wanted to come in. That Chinese old man was shouting so loudly, oh my god! I thought he'd been killed too! I ran in and saw him waving his hands wildly, yelling."

He yelled that he would find you, then ran out, shouting at the top of his lungs, telling everyone what had happened as he passed each private room."

The train conductor gestured and added, "It's right here, sir, I didn't move it."

A large checkered handbag hung on the handle of the door connecting to the next room. On the floor below, there was a small knife that had fallen down—a cheap, imitation Turkish knife. The handle was uneven, the blade was conical, and it was speckled with what looked like rust.

Shirou carefully picked up the knife.

"Yes," he muttered to himself, "There's no mistake, it's the murder weapon we're looking for."

Shirou examined it carefully and said, "Besides Old Boss Li's fingerprints, there's no one else's."

"Yes, this knife is the murder weapon used to stab Darnic," he said. "The knife matches the wounds on the victim's body."

"Oh, please don't say that." Mr. Frederick covered his face.

"This kind of coincidence has already suffocated us. Last night, two men murdered Old John together, and they even used the same knife. In the end, it just made things worse."

"Well, maybe it's not such a coincidence," Shirou said. "These are mass-produced, made-in-China knockoffs of Turkish-style knives sold in Istanbul. They're then shipped to Constantinople and sold in the market. They can sell at least tens of thousands of them a month."

"I only received a little comfort, just a little."

Shirou thoughtfully examined the door in front of him, then picked up his briefcase and pulled on it, but the door wouldn't budge. About a foot above the handle was a bolt; Shirou pulled it out and tried pulling again, but the door remained firmly shut.

"Don't forget, you've already locked the other side," Waver interjected.

"Yes, that's right." Shirou nodded. At the time, he was worried about letting Old Boss Li go in and ruin the scene on a whim. But now there was an even bigger problem. Shirou was deep in thought, his brows furrowed, as if he had something on his mind.

Chapter 1250 Shirou and the Chinese Old Man

"That speaks volumes, doesn't it?" Mr. Frederick said. "The man left through this room. As he closed the door, he touched this briefcase, and on a whim, hurriedly stuffed the blood-stained knife inside, inadvertently waking Old Boss Li, who then slipped out of his room into the hallway."

"According to you," Shirou muttered to himself, "This must be how it happened."

However, judging from his expression, he still seemed very doubtful.

"What's wrong?" Mr. Frederick asked. "Is there something else that's bothering you?"

Shirou glanced at him quickly.

"Hmm, it seems it didn't attract your attention? But it's alright, it's just a small matter."

The train conductor poked his head in.

"Chinese old man is back."

Shirou then realized that he had been so focused on the case that he had neglected the old man. However, he did not blame him, as his attention was focused on other matters.

"I'm just saying one thing and I'm leaving," he said, panting as he stepped inside. "I'm never staying in this room again."

"Ah! Even if you gave me a million, I wouldn't sleep here tonight. I know what you're going to say. I'll tell you right now, I absolutely refuse! Humph, I'd rather sit in the hallway all night."

The old man looked like he was about to collapse to the ground and burst into tears.

"Oh dear, if my daughter and eldest grandson knew what happened to me, they would definitely cry..."

Shirou immediately interrupted him.

"Sir, your request is perfectly reasonable. Your luggage will be moved to another private room immediately."

Old Boss Li immediately stopped crying.

"Really? Oh, I feel much better now. But honestly, my luggage is packed full, unless I ask someone to help me..."

Mr. Frederick spoke up.

"Okay, sir, someone will take all your luggage away. A berth of the same class will be arranged for you in another carriage attached to the Romania."