"So, you're members of the Mystery Research Club, and since Akechi Goro is your club adviser, you heard about this from him?"
"Yes, that's right. We're rather interested in mysteries involving Western-style mansions, so the moment Akechi-kun mentioned your request, we wanted to volunteer and give it a try. You know, Akechi-kun's consultation fees have been getting higher by the day... Oh, we don't mean anything by that..."
They put it very tactfully, but Mamiya Mitsuru's eyes genuinely lit up.
Mamiya Mitsuru had heard, more or less, that Akechi Goro was an internet-famous detective whose prices were inflated accordingly, though his age meant he knew little about the internet and social media.
No one knew whether the castle actually contained treasure, whether that treasure was merely an elder's joke, or whether it had long since weathered away into something worthless.
Its value remained sealed inside a black box. Before it was opened, no one could say what it truly meant. That was why, despite living here for so many years, no one in the Mamiya Family had ever seriously invited a detective or anyone similar to properly investigate the place.
As long as it remained unsolved, they could still fantasize. But if they solved it and found nothing but little trinkets that had once been valuable, then all their fuss over it would become a joke instead.
Having said all that, Shimabukuro Kimiye did not keep pressing her request. She simply watched Mamiya Mitsuru, who had fallen into a dilemma, with a smile on her lips.
"...The Mamiya Family's circumstances are rather unusual. You couldn't call them poor, certainly not. To maintain an old castle of this size for so many years, their family fortune must be considerable. But if you took that to mean they were sophisticated collectors or