Shirou's Ten Questions / Shirou and the Clue He Finds

Alibi: The train conductor can testify on his behalf, but this does not include the sixteen or seventeen minutes the conductor spent in other carriages.

Eighth place:

Tricia Fellowes is a British citizen.

Motive: The deceased may have been involved in matters concerning the previous head of household the Animsfia family.

Alibi: Olga Marie and the train conductor can testify that she was feeling unwell that night and went to bed early.

Ninth place:

US Colonel Tom, an American.

Motive: None.

Alibi: He chatted with Caules until 1:30 a. m., and after returning to his room, he did not leave. Caules and the train conductor testified for him.

Suspicious circumstances: There were two lighters in the deceased's room. Shirou asked the colonel for a light, but he didn't have one. Later, the train conductor said he needed a lighter.

10th place:

Kairi Shishigou, a Japanese man.

Motive: Unknown; the suspect claimed to be a bodyguard hired by the deceased.

An alibi can be obtained from the train conductor, who can testify that the passenger never left the compartment.

11th:

Antonio, an Italian.

Motive: None.

Alibi: His British male servant testified on his behalf.

There is no counter-evidence, except that the murder weapon might be considered suitable for his temperament (see the question of whether Frederick was the first to raise doubts).

12th:

Isola, the Red-haired Miss, is British.

Motive: None.

Alibi: The train conductor and the maid Alya, can testify for her.

Suspicious points: She is clearly familiar with the colonel; Shirou overheard their conversation, and the two seem to have a close relationship, yet she refuses to offer any explanation.

Thirteenth:

Alya, a German, is an artificial maid belonging to the Einzbern Family.

Motive: During the Holy Grail War, the Einzbern Family had the Greater Holy Grail stolen by the deceased.

Alibi: The train conductor can testify that she was sleeping earlier, was woken up by the conductor at approximately 12:38, and went to Rin's place.

The testimonies of the passengers and the train conductor confirm that, apart from the sixteen or seventeen minutes when the train conductor left, no one entered or left the deceased's room between midnight and 2 a. m.

"What do you think of these materials?" Shirou asked, looking at Mr. Frederick. "To make the information clearer, I made corresponding adjustments."

Mr. Frederick made a face, stuck out his tongue, and then handed it back to Shirou.

"This material doesn't prove anything," he said.

"Alright, I have ten more questions here. With this sheet, perhaps you'll understand something." Shirou said, handing him another sheet of paper with a slight smile.

Chapter 1257 Shirou's Ten Questions

Mr. Frederick looked at the other sheet of paper that Shirou handed him, which listed ten questions related to the case.

1. Whose handkerchief is embroidered with the letter A?

2. Does the lighter belong to the colonel, or to someone else?

3. Who is the person in the red cape?

4. Was the person impersonating the train conductor male or female? Was they a vampire?

5. Why does the dented gold watch show 1:15?

6. Did the murder occur at that time?

7. Even earlier?

8. Or even later?

9. Can we be certain that more than one person killed Darnic?

10. Are there any other explanations for the thirteen stab wounds on his body?

"Ah, so the handkerchief is one of the items on this form?" Mr. Frederick asked, referring to the form.

"First, there are women whose names start with 'a': Olga Marie (AnimuspAere), Rin (ArcHisorte), the maid's name Alice, the English lady's name Isola, and oh yes, there's another maid, Alya."

It's hard to say right now. But I think I'm leaning towards the Red-haired Miss. Maybe people call her Isola. Besides, there are already some suspicious points related to her. The conversation you overheard is definitely a bit strange, and her refusal to explain is also a bit odd."

"I think it's most likely that it belongs to those two young ladies. It's an extremely expensive handkerchief; only noble ladies don't care about the price when buying things," Shirou said.

"Hey, can you please stop talking about their partner? You have to drag those big shots into this."

"Of course, we can't rule out the possibility that it was that maid," Shirou said.

"No, no, just as she said herself, that handkerchief belongs to someone in the upper class. Perhaps someone would trade a kidney for a cell phone, but no one would trade a handkerchief for it, that's the point." Mr. Frederick waved his hands repeatedly.

"As for the second question, the American-made flip lighter, was it dropped by the US Colonel, or someone else?"

"That's unlikely. Americans don't usually resort to assassinations; they prefer to gather intelligence, wait for the right moment, and then send a large force to crush the enemy. I'm inclined to believe that the lighter was left behind by someone else, intended to implicate that American soldier."

"So you're saying," Frederick said, "That both clues are due to the killer's carelessness. I agree with Mr. Frederick. The handkerchief might be an oversight, because no one would admit it's hers or his. But the lighter is a false clue; proving that isn't difficult, after all, that US Colonel acted quite honestly."

"Your reasoning is good," Shirou said.

"The third question, who wears that bright red cloak?" Mr. Frederick continued. "Frankly, I haven't found a single clue about it. What's your opinion on this, Waver?"

"No," Waver said coldly, withdrawing from the case and not wanting to get involved in anything.

"Then we have to admit, on this point, we lost. The next question, at least we have a clue. Who is the man or woman who disguised themselves as a train conductor? It could be a female prisoner, but it could also be a train conductor in disguise. Well, it's safe to say that there are many people we can't connect to."

People like Kairi Shishigou, the US Colonel, the Italian, and Caules are all too tall. Even that Old Boss Li too. The Lord and Miss Olga Marie are too young."

"Then only Old John's male servant, Red-haired Miss, Alya, and the governess remain, but none of them seem likely! Red-haired Miss and the male servant have never left their room;

Alya went to the Lord's room and then stayed in her own private room; Lady Olga Marie told us that her governess had taken her medicine and gone to sleep. Therefore, everyone has an alibi, and it seems impossible for anyone to be the culprit; it's utterly absurd."

"If no vampire got into the car, then it must be one of those four, unless someone who came in from outside found a hiding place. But we all think that's impossible."

Mr. Frederick, however, moved on to the next question on the list.

"The fifth question: Why did the clock hands point to 1:15? I've come up with two explanations. One is that the murderer staged the scene to prove his alibi, and later, hearing people coming and going outside, he tried to escape but it was too late; or... wait a minute, I have a new idea..."

While Mr. Frederick pondered deeply, Shirou and Waver awaited his latest discovery with utmost respect.

"I've figured it out," he finally spoke. "The one who moved the watch hands wasn't the person in the train conductor's uniform! It was what we call the second murderer, the left-handed one—in other words, the woman in the bright red cape! She arrived late, and to avoid suspicion, she moved the watch hands and smashed the gold watch."

"Brilliant!" Waver said. "You have a wonderful imagination."

"Yes, first of all," Shirou said sarcastically, "She poked him in complete darkness, without turning on the lights, and didn't expect him to be dead. But somehow she guessed that there was a watch in his cloak pocket, so she took it out, blindly turned the hands, and then knocked it flat."

Mr. Frederick looked at him coldly.

"Any better ideas?" he asked.

"Not yet," Shirou replied.

"However," he continued, "I think you haven't noticed the most interesting thing about that watch, sir."

"Is this the sixth question you need to answer?" Waver asked. "To this question, did the murder occur at 1:15? My answer is no."

"I agree," said Mr. Frederick. "The next question is, is it earlier than 1:15? I say, yes. Waver, you think so too, don't you?"

Waver nodded.

"Yes. But the answer to the question, 'Later than 1:15?' is also yes. I agree with your reasoning, Mr. Frederick, and I think Mr. Shirou would agree as well, though he may not want to admit it. The first murderer committed the crime before 1:15, and the second murderer committed the murder after 1:15. As for the left-handedness issue, should we take steps to find out who among the passengers is left-handed?"

"I haven't completely ignored this," Shirou said. "You may have noticed that I ask every traveler to sign or leave their address. But that's not conclusive evidence, because some people do certain things with their right hand and others with their left. Some people write with their right hand but play golf with their left. However, it might help a little. Except for Lord Rin El- Lord El-Melloi, who refused to write, all the travelers wrote with their right hand."

"Lord Rin - El-Melloi, impossible, absolutely impossible!" Mr. Frederick exclaimed, standing up abruptly.

"I doubt she has the strength to stab that left-handed man. You said it would take a lot of force to do that."

Chapter 1258 Shirou and the Inspiration He Gains

"Even if it's facing a dead person lying there?" Shirou asked.

"No, that's not what I meant. But I think she should be stronger than a girl, and Lord Rin El- Lord El-Melloi young lady who has never lifted a finger since childhood, so she's probably much weaker."

"Yes, because of the magic-suppressing field, all Magecraft is difficult to activate, and continuous Reinforcement Magic is even more impossible. Perhaps this is a matter of the influence of the mind on power," Shirou said. "Lord Rin El- El-Melloi possesses strong and patient qualities and a powerful will; otherwise, she wouldn't have made it this far in the Clock Tower. However, let's put this matter aside for now. Next question."

"As for the ninth and tenth questions, can we be certain that Old John was killed by more than one person? What other explanations are there for the stab wounds? In my opinion, medically speaking, there is no other explanation for those stab wounds. Suppose a man first gently stabbed the body, then stabbed it harder, first with his right hand, then with his left. About half an hour later, he stabbed the body several more times. Of course, this hypothesis is invalid."

"Yes," Shirou said, "That doesn't hold true. But do you think the hypothesis that there are two murderers would be valid?"

"As you just said, is there any other explanation?"

Shirou leaned back in his chair.

"From now on, everything is in here." He patted his forehead and said. "We've studied these issues thoroughly. The facts are before us, and everything is in perfect order. Passengers have come here one by one, taking turns to give their testimonies. We know everything we can know, from the outside world..."

He smiled kindly at Mr. Frederick.

"We seem to be joking, don't we? Can you really figure out the truth by sitting like this? Alright, I'm going to put my theory into practice right here, right in front of you. You two must do the same. Let's all close our eyes and think quietly... Old John was killed by one or more passengers. Which ones were they?"

For a full fifteen minutes, neither of them spoke.

Mr. Frederick and Waver began to sit quietly and think, as Shirou had suggested. They tried to draw a clear and correct conclusion from a series of contradictory details.

Mr. Frederick closed his eyes and began to think:

"I've racked my brains, what more can I think of? This year is really unlucky, one murder case and another Snow Spirit's rampage, and of all things, I've run into both. I really want to get out of this place of trouble as soon as possible."

But as soon as Snow Spirit's rampage stops, the relevant departments of the Mage's Association will arrive immediately. They are notoriously difficult to deal with, arrogant, conceited, and volatile. They will make a big fuss. Because Darnic is also a big shot, it will definitely spread throughout the world.

And... how should he tell his daughter Luviagelita Edelfelt about meeting Shirou? If he doesn't tell her, she'll be very angry. But if he does tell her, she'll pester him to tell her the whole story, which is really troublesome. Frederick thinks that taking Shirou home with him might be the best solution.

From this point on, Mr. Frederick's train of thought continued down an old path, a path they had traversed hundreds of times.

Waver was thinking in his mind at this moment:

'What exactly happened to Rin in this world? Without my help, she doesn't seem to have fully mastered the Moon Spirit Marrow Fluid, but why would she seek out a maid from the Einzbern Family? Ugh, my head hurts, and my stomach hurts too... Damn it, whatever, don't drag me into this!'

His thoughts had completely veered onto personal matters, and he had become utterly listless.

On the other side, Shirou's mind was racing. He spoke up:

"But, after all, why wouldn't it be? If that's the case, well, if that's the case, everything makes sense."

His eyes opened, and a glint of light flashed in his amber pupils.

"Okay, I've thought about it. What about you?"

After a quarter of an hour of contemplation, the two began to speak loudly.

"I've thought about it," Mr. Frederick said somewhat sheepishly, "But I can't come to a conclusion. How to interpret this case is your job, not mine, lad."

"I told you from the beginning that it was all yours," Waver said, annoyed.

Shirou smiled and nodded. "Then I will explain my reasoning for this case."

"I reviewed everything that had happened before, as well as the testimonies of each passenger, and then came to a conclusion: although somewhat vague, I had found an explanation for covering up the truth. This explanation is very strange. So far, I cannot be sure that it is true. In order to prove its correctness, I decided to conduct some experiments."

"I would like to raise a few questions that may be enlightening for us."

It all started with something Mr. Frederick said to me. And right here, it happened during our first meal together on the train.

The gentleman pointed out that on this train, we were surrounded by people of different classes, ages, and nationalities. It was quite rare to see such a diverse group of people at such a time. The other two carriages were almost empty. In our carriage, there was even a Spain who had missed his train.

I think this is a very important matter. There must be some reason that brought them together."

"Is that so? I see." Although Frederick didn't understand what was going on, he still smiled with satisfaction. In any case, he deserved some credit.

"Several other small things also gave me some inspiration. For example, the relationship between the passengers on the train and the former Lord El-Melloi, also known as Mr. Kaineth; Mr. Lion Kagari's method of protection; Caules's account, that Old John himself destroyed the charred letter we found; Miss Isola's real name; and why the governess pretended to be sick and stayed home;

And... the real reason why Darnic was stabbed thirteen times.

At this moment, the other two were staring at Shirou.

"What insights do you gain from this fact?" Shirou asked them.

"Not at all," Mr. Frederick said frankly, then asked Waver, "And you, Waver?"