Dust to Dust, Earth to Earth / Engineering Pony

I'm sure she knows more than I do.

You've investigated for so long, I don't believe you can't see that the deceased woman left this place some time ago, and that her condition when she returned wouldn't be the same as when she left.

You should investigate all of this, including the relationship to the dead person, the time and reason for the woman's departure.

Instead of staring at me, a bystander who just happened to be passing by.

Finally, let me say this: Mr. Detective, if your justice serves the interests of these nobles, then it is worthless in my eyes.

After speaking, Suika pointed to the door, her attitude of expelling the other party was very clear.

Holmes opened his mouth, then stood up, hastily said "Sorry," and walked out of the room.

"Have you found a clue?" Watson asked with some concern, seeing Holmes's dark expression from outside the door.

Holmes then looked at Poirot

"Is that Candle Knight still at the arena?"

"Candle Knight, let me ask you something!" Poirot picked up the communicator and contacted the people outside. Soon the message came: Candle Knight had left the arena after the match, citing frostbite on his hands during the game as the reason.

Holmes then moved the surveillance footage back from the moment the woman last entered the room, and found out what she looked like when she left.

Seeing the other person stumble away, covering their face, and the resolute expression on their face when they returned, I understood what Suika meant.

The answer was laid out before them: everything matched perfectly except for the missing crucial clue.

Chapter 248 Dust to dust, ashes to ashes

However, the video in this surveillance footage only showed the woman leaving and returning; other surveillance footage did not show any trace of the woman. Therefore, when he first saw this, he subconsciously assumed that she had left the arena and then returned.

I never imagined she would intentionally avoid the surveillance cameras to do anything.

Now it seems that this matter is very likely related to the Candle Knight or even that exhibition match.

At that moment, a message reached their ears.

The other Frost Knight in this morning's exhibition match was trained by the family of the man who died.

Based on this, it's highly likely that the woman was asked to do something for the Candle Knight before the competition, then she was turned against him and betrayed her master upon her return.

Such incidents are common in Kazimierz.

So why did Ms. Suika insist on getting involved in a game that wasn't hers to play?

I returned to the crime scene once again.

He crouched down and examined the two corpses. After seeing the wounds on the woman's body, he recalled Suika's words, and a look of understanding appeared in his eyes.

It has been previously investigated that the woman comes from a lower-ranking family and is the man's secretary and bodyguard.

Based on the examination just now, this woman has many old scars.

It now seems highly likely that this man was responsible.

So, women are asked to accomplish something impossible, and when they fail, they are humiliated by men, or even subjected to further abuse.

In the end, the woman stabbed the man to death and then committed suicide.

This scene was witnessed by the girl next door, who then conveniently hid the most crucial piece of evidence.

This makes sense, which is why she said that the justice she served for those in power was worthless.

Because in this case, the victim was also a perpetrator.

"Report, news has come from the Candle Knight that someone did indeed try to poison her before the match at noon, but she discovered it."

She originally planned to follow the clues to find the mastermind behind it all, but with the competition just around the corner, she didn't make a move.

After the competition, to avoid being poisoned again, she chose to leave the arena.

News from the Candle Knight also came over; the match was nearing its end.

Holmes stood up, walked over to Watson, and said something. Watson looked at his partner in astonishment for a moment before speaking.

Are you sure?

After saying "I'm sure," Holmes looked at Poirot.

Then he shared his opinion, and Poirot was shocked.

"Are you trying to overturn your own judgment? You know all of this perfectly well."

"No, I gave this answer precisely because I firmly believed in my own judgment. Now, be happy, I will be leaving the Great Knight Territory tomorrow to travel and see more places."

I really don't want to see these sordid affairs among the nobility anymore.

After saying this, Holmes led Watson away.

Poirot watched the two figures disappear into the distance, lost in thought. Just then, the final cheers echoed from the arena, signaling the end of the day's matches.

"Sigh, I hope this case won't become a stain on my record..."

After a sigh, Poirot announced the lifting of the ban.

The doors to the VIP room opened one by one, and nobles or wealthy individuals emerged from the room to leave.

Just then, another disturbance occurred.

It turned out that some people who came out of the open rooms discovered that their wives, daughters, or mistresses were following other men out of the other rooms.

These people would normally leave at different times, so they would never see each other.

But this time, we were unexpectedly left at the last minute, so we bumped into each other when we went out.

Not everyone can accept wearing a fresh green hat on their head.

As a man myself, I simply don't believe that another man and a woman could spend an entire day in the same room and still have a purely platonic friendship.

So the scene suddenly became lively, with the men throwing white gloves at each other and even getting into a fight, which gave Poirot a real headache.

After finally managing to persuade him to stop, he felt completely exhausted.

That evening, the police department released the results of its investigation into the murder that occurred in the arena. An assassin with stealth-type Originium Arts infiltrated the arena and assassinated a high-ranking member of the Armorless Union and his maidservant who served as his bodyguard.

The arena stated that, in order to prevent such shocking incidents from happening again, it will redeploy its security forces to ensure the safety of its customers.

After the incident, Poirot, the police officer who closed the case, was accused by several nobles of intentional imprisonment, which forced him to resign and retire to his hometown.

Another detective who endorsed the story, Mr. Holmes, fled to Victoria with his assistant after the incident and never returned to Kazimierz.

Suika, on the other hand, remained an insignificant bystander, disappearing from the case.

Back at the hotel, she stood on the balcony looking down at the brightly lit cityscape.

Beneath the facade of peace lurked a stench of evil that was nauseating.

"Tsk, the first day almost ruined my good mood... Ugh, Shanghai- chan..."

Holding the doll, Suika tried to rub it against her clothes.

But Shanghai clearly didn't want her clean clothes to have marks left by the Suika, so she tried her best to stop it.

After playing around for a while, Suika's mood finally improved.

She looked out into the darkness of the arena; to be honest, the tickets she saw today had provided quite a bit of entertainment.

Besides the official matches, I also witnessed unfortunate souls who were betrayed, just like my own Tokiomi.

Two people with names very similar to the great detective from my previous life, and their case-solving process.

And finally, there's the incredibly delightful family drama from the aristocracy.

Aside from being confined indoors and unable to move around, today's events were quite interesting.

However, she only wanted to experience this once; she didn't want to go through it again.

Thinking of this, she took out the spherical prop that the woman had used to deflect her hand stab.

She had almost finished studying this thing when no one was around.

This little thing has a simple function: to reflect long-range physical attacks back.

The only things that can trigger the effect are various kinds of arrows and darts.

It's not exactly a great tool, but for ordinary people, it can save their lives in most situations.

But she used this very prop, which was supposed to protect her life, to end it all.

Thinking about it this way, it's incredibly ironic.

She shook her head, then squeezed the ball so easily that it burst into dust that scattered in the wind.

"Shanghai, let's go to that Martin's hotel again tomorrow. Watching the game alone is a bit boring."

After picking up Shanghai and spinning her around a few times, Suika collapsed onto the bed...

Chapter 249 Engineering Pony

The next day, after Suika got up, she sat on the bed, waiting for Shanghai to tie a bow for her while turning on the TV to see if there was any fresh gossip to eat.

However, it is obvious that this is the most important Knight's Tournament festival in all of Kazimierz, and it is only the first day.

No negative news could possibly appear on television.

Even if the person who died in that arena was a high-ranking member of the Armorless Union, it would be insignificant in the face of the overall situation of a nation.

Forget about making it a front-page headline; it wasn't even mentioned once in the entire 30-minute morning news program in Kazimierz.

"The so-called big shot doesn't seem that big at all." Suika stood up, walked to the dressing table, looked at the bow she had tied, nodded in satisfaction, then fixed Shanghai ribbon on her head, picked up Ibuki Gourd and Hina Doll, and leisurely walked out the door.

As soon as I stepped outside, I saw a waiter standing there.

"Huh?" Suika was speechless when she saw the envelope in the other person's hand.

"Dear guest, our boss has heard about what happened yesterday, and he hopes that this minor unpleasantness will not negatively affect your schedule in Kazimierz."

There's a discount card inside. Customers can get a 20% discount when shopping at any of the stores under the Commercial Union. It's also the owner's small apology for yesterday's unpleasant experience.

The attendant said humbly.

"I was locked in that little room for a whole day yesterday, and you think you can just give me a measly 20% discount card? Do you think I'm short of that little bit of money?"

Suika didn't take the envelope at all, but waved her hand.

"I'm very happy that your boss is willing to apologize for what happened yesterday, but I'm very dissatisfied with the compensation."

Oh well, yesterday's game was pretty exciting after all.

Although being stuck indoors was a bit boring, there were still ways to pass the time.

Forget about discount cards, I don't need your little bit of money."

After saying that, she walked down the corridor and left the hotel.

Inside the hotel, the person who had watched the entire process via surveillance nodded, then picked up the list of murder suspects in front of him and crossed Suika off the list.

After leaving the hotel, Suika headed towards the bar, as she had originally planned to go directly there.

But halfway there, I suddenly saw a familiar figure.

"Maria!"

Suika never expected to see Maria here.

She was sitting in front of a street stall, wolfing down her breakfast.

Judging from the way her tail was wagging from time to time, she was in a pretty good mood.

Hearing someone call her name, Maria looked up and saw Suika. She smiled and waved to Suika.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out she was eating a hamburger.

"You're eating this for breakfast?" Suika asked, pointing to the hamburger in her hand.

"The burgers here are absolutely delicious, especially the signature 'Tumor Beast' burger. I dare say there's no better one in all of Kawaleriel."

Maria pointed to the sign above the store and said with a proud look.

Although I don't know what she's so proud of, it's clear that it has piqued Suika's interest.

"Since you've put it that way, I have to give it a try."

"Boss, could you please bring me the signature 'Tumor Beast Burger' and... a glass of this juice?"

She glanced at the drinks menu and was very disappointed to find that there were no alcoholic beverages, so she had no choice but to reluctantly choose the same drink as Maria.

Soon the food was served to her.