Chapter 482 Detective Conan 48
For dinner, I served Texas barbecue with bread and potato salad.
Since it was a time-consuming dish, this time I simply used my [Material Copy] ability to duplicate food I had stored in my inventory and served it as-is.
"We came to find treasure in the mansion, but it feels like all we’re doing is eating. I’m worried I might gain weight at this rate."
"But it’s so delicious I can’t stop."
"How on earth do you cook so well?"
After finishing dinner, everyone rested in the living room, chatting about food or discussing the riddle.
Having spent the entire day searching the mansion, they seemed to think there was no point in wandering around anymore.
"We need to make some progress on the riddle before we can find anything, but at this rate..."
"Exactly... This is tough..."
Despite hearing Kogoro say that, Haibara had spread out a deck of playing cards and was examining them closely.
Haibara was actually the one who had come closest to the treasure, but she herself didn’t seem to have realized it yet.
"I keep telling you, it’s not playing cards. That’s too obvious."
Kogoro kept poking at Haibara like that.
Haibara sighed and put the cards away.
"Sigh... Maybe you’re right."
I spoke to everyone.
"As you all know, the treasure hunt ends at noon tomorrow. We need to be back home by evening so you can rest enough to get through Monday without any problems."
Then Kogoro asked me.
"Can’t you give us one more hint?"
I thought for a moment and then said.
"Hmm... Alright. I wasn’t going to give any more, but I’d also like to see someone win the prize, so I’ll give you one final hint."
At those words, everyone swallowed and listened intently.
"This is something I found while cleaning before. Those of you who searched thoroughly might have seen a room on the far left with a grand piano. It’s been completely wiped clean now, but before it was erased, it said this: ’I’ve finally found it. The trump card for deciphering the code at the Karasuma mansion.’"
"Huh? That’s it?"
"Yes. But there’s a reason I called it a hint, so think about it carefully."
At that, Haibara quickly spread out the playing cards again.
Kogoro also thought for a moment, then began looking at the playing cards along with Haibara.
They had finally found a clue.
"Is there something about the playing cards?"
Ran asked Kogoro curiously, and Kogoro answered.
"Jin said it yesterday—something we can all see, and that we even saw yesterday. Plus, ’trump card’ in English is literally a playing card."
"Dad, really... You said it wasn’t playing cards this whole time."
"Ahaha... I, I did say that."
At Ran’s words, Kogoro looked embarrassed and scratched his head awkwardly.
"Anyway, from here on out, it’s all about who finds the connection between the playing cards and the mansion. That person will take the prize."
When Kogoro said that, Haibara looked at him with disdain.
After all, she had been right all along.
"Good grief... For once, you actually said something correct. I can’t share any more information from now on. It seems we’re almost there."
"R-right..."
But while they were talking, the Detective Boys were still lost.
"There must be a hidden mechanism in the grand piano."
"Right, definitely. Maybe if you play certain notes, a secret passage will open."
"Let’s go check it out right now."
I stopped the kids.
"No. It’s time for bed. Don’t forget the rule—no wandering around at night."
At that, the kids looked very disappointed.
"Ah, we were so close..."
"Can’t be helped, it’s the rules. But let’s be the first ones to check it out tomorrow."
"Yeah, let’s do that."
The next day, people started coming into the living room one by one, and some of them looked like they hadn’t slept well.
"Dammit, I stayed up all night thinking and didn’t get a wink of sleep."
Kogoro was especially bad off.
"I’m the same... I went to bed too late. I just can’t figure out what the connection is between the playing cards and the mansion."
Ran also seemed to have had trouble sleeping.
At that moment, I heard the sound of a piano in the distance.
It seemed the kids were enthusiastically playing the piano.
’What a racket.’
When breakfast time came, everyone came down to the dining room.
"We pressed every key, so why won’t the secret passage open?"
"Maybe you have to play a specific song?"
"Then we’re doomed. None of us can play the piano well."
At the kids’ words, Conan just kept sighing.
He seemed quite annoyed at being dragged along with their wild goose chase.
For breakfast, I served soup and sandwiches.
"It tastes good, but I don’t have much of an appetite because I didn’t sleep well."
"Same here... And we’re running out of time..."
At that point, Conan, apparently deciding he couldn’t just stand by, spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.
"By the way, there’s only a clock in the dining room, so it’s hard to tell the time. It would be nice if there were clocks in other rooms too."
At that, Kogoro and Haibara looked at the clock.
’That brat did that on purpose.’
Conan had deliberately given a hint loud enough for everyone to hear, since he couldn’t just let them all fail.
Conan smirked at me, as if asking, "That saves them, right?"
’Good grief... I guess this is what you’d expect from the main character. He’s got quite the cunning mind.’
At that moment, Kogoro suddenly stood up as if he had realized something.
"Wait, ’Two travelers look up at the night sky’—could it mean..."
Finally catching the clue, Kogoro strode over to the clock hanging in the dining room and adjusted the hour and minute hands so that both pointed upward at 12 o’clock.
"That’s right! That way, two travelers are looking up at the sky! But the next part is..."
Then Ran recited the next line.
"It was surely ’When the demon descends upon the castle, the king takes the jewel and flees.’"
"So that means 13 to the right or left, but which direction..."
At that moment, Haibara spoke.
"If the king takes the jewel and flees, then that would be the diamond king. The diamond king is looking to the left, so it must be to the left."
"Oh, so that’s what it meant!"
Kogoro moved the minute hand 13 ticks to the left.
"The next line is ’The queen spills tears into the holy grail and begs for forgiveness,’ so that would be the queen of hearts. The queen of hearts..."
At that, Haibara sighed and said.
"Left."
"R-right..."
Kogoro moved it another 12 ticks.
"The soldier stained his sword with his own blood’ is the last line, so that would be the jack of spades. Ai-chan, which way is the knight looking?"
"Right."
This time, he moved the minute hand 11 ticks to the right.
Suddenly, the clock in the dining room fell to the floor.
Clatter!
"Huh? That’s it?"
As Kogoro looked disappointed, Conan approached and examined the fallen clock.
"No. Look at the parts where the clock’s plating has worn off. The core of this clock is all gold. At this weight, it’s probably about 8 kilograms—worth around 200 million yen."
"W-what?! 200 million yen!!???"
Everyone was shocked at Conan’s words.
But Haibara was an exception.
"But that’s strange. Didn’t you say the mansion was worth 4.5 billion yen? Compared to that, 200 million yen seems a bit underwhelming for an inheritance, don’t you think?"
"Now that you mention it, yeah. I didn’t think about it because it was such a huge amount, but since the mansion was worth 4.5 billion yen, 200 million does seem a bit..."
At that moment, a tremor shook the building, as if an earthquake had struck.
Rumble!!!
"Oh no, is it an earthquake? Everyone, quickly take cover under the tables!"
At Kogoro’s words, the kids and everyone else quickly took shelter under the tables.
After the shaking continued for a while and then stopped, we came back out.
"What timing... Anyway, I’m glad it wasn’t a major earthquake."
Just as we were feeling relieved, the caretakers and security guards suddenly rushed into the dining room with startled expressions.
"Jin-sensei! You need to come outside quickly. The mansion is..."
"Huh? What do you mean? Did the earthquake from earlier collapse the mansion?"
"Well... It’s a bit hard to explain... I think you should just see it for yourself."
At those words, we hurried outside.
The outer wall of the mansion had crumbled away, and inside, the main body of the building was gleaming brilliantly in the morning sunlight.
Amazingly, the entire mansion was covered in gold.
"Unbelievable..."
"Wow... It’s beautiful..."
"So the mansion itself was the inheritance."
As everyone gazed at the mansion in awe, I examined the building and said one thing.
"Hmm... This has to be at least 100 billion yen."
"W-what?! 100 billion yen!!!? Ran, set a wedding date with Jin right now!!!"
Hearing the words "100 billion yen," Kogoro’s eyes went wide, and he shouted urgently.
Ran was flustered by his words.
"W-what?! I’m still a student!!"
"So what if you’re a student? In the old days, people got married at 15!"
"That was a long time ago! It’s not like that now!"
As Kogoro and Ran bickered, Conan sighed, watched them for a moment, then changed the subject and asked me.
"But bro, what about the treasure hunt prize?"
"The prize... From what I’ve observed, this can’t really be credited to just one person. So I think it’s better to split it. Everyone agrees, right?"
At that, Kogoro looked disappointed, but there was no helping it—that was the truth.
"Ah... What a waste... If I had looked at the playing cards more carefully..."
"The ones who found the treasure are Detective Mori, Ran, and Haibara—three people. I’ll give 1 million yen to each of you. And I’ll give 10,000 yen to everyone else who worked hard, including the Detective Boys."
At that, the Detective Boys looked both disappointed and happy.
"Too bad, we could have found it too..."
"Can’t be helped, we were too focused on the piano."
"Still, I’m happy! I can buy a robot toy with 10,000 yen."
After paying out the prizes, I safely drove everyone home.
They were all tired from not sleeping well, but seeing them happy made me feel like it was worth it.
Before parting ways with Conan, I secretly called him aside and returned his watch.
Of course, I kept the original in my inventory and gave him a copy made with my [Material Copy] ability.
Without his wristwatch tranquilizer gun, he wouldn’t be Conan, so I had to give it back.
"You need it to fight the Black Organization, so I’m returning it. Don’t use it for anything stupid."
At that, Conan frowned and snatched the watch back.
"I don’t plan on using it for anything unless I have to."
As expected, he didn’t say he wouldn’t use it at all.
The next day, I invited the press to the mansion and revealed its true form to the public.
"Wow... I can’t believe it... The mansion itself was the inheritance..."
The reporters were equally astonished, but their focus was on what I planned to do with the mansion.
"Of course, since I found the inheritance, I’m going to sell it. I’ll put it up for auction in one month, so please show your interest. The starting price is 100 billion yen. It’s certainly worth that much."
At those words, not only did all of Japan become abuzz, but word also began spreading quickly overseas.
For the next month, I lived as usual while hiring workers to clean the outer walls that had fallen off the mansion.
Of course, I had the caretakers and security guards oversee it carefully to ensure no one damaged or stole anything.
Bang, bang, bang!
"The clock has been sold for 200 million yen. Congratulations."
Two items were put up for auction—the clock that had hung in the mansion’s dining room and the mansion itself.
The clock, as expected, only fetched its gold value.
"Next is the Karasuma mansion. Starting price is 100 billion yen."
"101 billion."
As the auction for the mansion began, someone suddenly bid 101 billion yen.
People murmured and turned their attention to the bidder—it was none other than famous Hollywood actress Chris Vanyard (Vermouth).
’Oh? What’s she doing here?’
As I looked at Vermouth with curiosity, she must have felt my gaze because she winked at me.
"101.1 billion."
There was another bidder vying for the mansion.
He looked like a slightly stout wealthy man, probably Chinese.
"110 billion."
But as soon as the Chinese man bid, she called out 110 billion yen, as if trying to overwhelm him with sheer momentum.
"Ugh... Damn it."
The Chinese man frowned and eventually gave up.
The others, intimidated by her momentum, simply watched and no one else raised their hand.
"Any more bids?"
Bang, bang, bang!
"Congratulations. The Karasuma mansion has been sold for 110 billion yen."
The auction ended more quickly than I expected.
I went over to greet her.
It had been a while since I’d seen her, and I had questions as well.
"Long time no see, Ms. Vanyard."
"Long time no see, Jin-sensei. You’re wearing a suit today instead of your onmyōji robes. It suits you quite well."
"Thank you. You’re as beautiful as ever as well, Ms. Vanyard."
Vermouth smiled and said.
"You flatter me."
I got straight to the point.
"Are you sure you’re okay with this? I know you’re a famous actress, but 110 billion yen is by no means a small amount of money."
"That’s true. But I’m not buying it with my own money anyway."
"What do you mean by that?"
"That’s a secret I can’t tell you, but you can just think of it as someone who wishes to remain anonymous."
This was clearly ordered by the Black Organization’s boss, "Karasuma Renya."
He must have decided to buy it back now that the mystery of the mansion he couldn’t solve had been uncovered.
"I see. Understood. I’ve already finished cleaning the mansion, so it’s ready to use whenever you want."
"Understood. I’ll pass that along."
With that short exchange, she left.
From this transaction, after deducting the purchase price, taxes, and fees, I only made 70 billion yen.
Because Japan has laws to prevent short-term speculative trading, the taxes were outrageously high.
’What a bunch of thieves!’
I cursed a bit, but still, I had made a lot of money, so I figured it was fine.
Now I could spend large sums freely without having to worry about public scrutiny.
I also gave generous bonuses to the caretakers and security guards who had watched over and maintained the mansion all this time.