Episode 22

I can calculate the paths of the stars, but not the madness of the martial world.
–Isaac Newton¹

Old masters with serene and unwavering energy flowing subtly through their entire bodies.
Could they be acquaintances of my master? Even if so, it hardly matters now.

I spoke with the most irritating smile I could muster.

“I politely requested you to remove your masks, yet you cannot even grant this humble disciple’s request?”

I asked everyone to remove their masks to feign confusion and lure the hidden culprit out of the ‘shadows’.
Of course, there is no need to expose the faces of the VIPs who are clearly not the culprits.
However, asserting that this space is under my and the police commissioner’s command will ease the investigation.

“You clearly said they could keep their masks on if they wished.”
“Does that mean it’s okay to arouse suspicion?”
“It’s a waste of time to act as if you suspect us when you clearly know there’s another culprit.”

This was unexpected.
I thought they’d try to suppress me with words like ‘How dare you’, yet they calmly take my honor hostage.

“I apologize for the discourtesy.”
“I’ll let it pass. I did many foolish things in my youth too.”

When the oldest-looking man among the three spoke, the two behind him chuckled softly.

“I heard you lost quite a bit of money back then.”
“Hey, you scoundrels. I merely carried the market on my own.”

The old man cleared his throat and continued speaking.

“Anyway, this place is already chaotic enough, and if the three of us show up, it will be hard to control the commotion. So, today, you just check the faces of these two and let it go.”
“Understood.”

Before I even finished speaking, two members of The Royal Combat Society, who had been laughing behind us, swiftly removed their masks and put them back on.

“…?!”
“See? You were surprised.”

The three old men began to chuckle as if they were amused.

“I’m getting hungry. We should have some snacks until the culprit is revealed.”
“Gregson. Please guide our guests from The Royal Combat Society to the dining room.”

As soon as Inspector Gregson heard the words ‘The Royal Combat Society’, he rushed over and politely greeted the three old men and their entourage.

“Oh, elders.”

I called out to them once more before they moved away.

“Do you still have questions?”
“I noticed that the number of fellows from The Combat Society on the second floor earlier was one short.”
“What are you implying? Are you suggesting one of us killed the young lad?”
“Of course not. I just thought you, as their colleagues, might have an idea as to their whereabouts.”
“……”

None of them, while following Gregson, managed to respond to my question, which I threw at a moment when they let their guard down.

“It’s an important question, but if it’s difficult to answer, that’s fine. I plan to find out on my own. Enjoy your meal.”

I could guess why they remained silent.
Now, I just need to find evidence to support this hypothesis.

“…Who on earth are those two for everyone to be so surprised? It was too fast for me to see their faces without the masks.”

Watson asked with a bewildered expression.

“I’ll tell you later. Let’s solve the case first.”

When I looked up, I saw the needle I threw earlier stuck in the mirror like a nail.
Since it wasn’t lodged too high, I lightly leaped and carefully took off the paper skewered by the needle.

“…As expected.”

I checked the material of the burnt paper scrap and the ink remaining on the corner.
As I suspected, there was a small secret hidden in this masquerade ball.
The method the culprit used to kill Drake must be related to that secret.

“It, it wasn’t me…”

Meanwhile, the debutante facing Drake was still left alone on Ring number 7.
She was about to half-faint from the shock of witnessing her opponent’s upper body explode before her eyes.

“Rest assured, we know. Wait below.”

I removed her mask and sent her down the ring.
Pretending to hold her hand, I checked her pulse and confirmed it.
She doesn’t possess the strength to blow away Drake’s upper body in one strike.
Moreover, with the spear she held, causing such damage to the corpse is impossible.

“In the meantime, you’ve divided them well. Very good.”

Looking down, I saw the inspectors of Scotland Yard controlling the debutantes and chaperones.
Most had removed their masks as I instructed, but a few posthumous indexes, including Lady Sunshine, whom I sparred with earlier, still wore their masks.
It’s understandable that Lady Sunshine would cause a commotion if she removed her mask, but she seemed to maintain an attitude of letting others doubt her if they wished.

The reason must be one of two things.

Either she is very confident in her martial achievements.
Or she had a confrontation with the deceased Drake, and removing her mask recklessly would make her an obvious suspect.

In fact, if you think about it that way, I would also be included as a suspect, but right now, the Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police guarantees my identity, so there’s no problem.

Anyway, since the preparations are complete, shall we start the verification?

‘Horrible.’

No matter how many times I saw the crime scene, it was dreadful.

A corpse that still stood on its two feet, but with the upper body completely missing. At its feet, the blood that had flowed down formed a small puddle.
It was suspicious whether a bomb inside the stomach had exploded, but considering that the lower half stood upright in place, that couldn’t be the answer.

“What do you see, Watson?”
“It looks like something expanded from inside and blew the upper body away.”
“Yet the legs are still standing.”
“Even using directional explosives wouldn’t explain it. It should have fallen over from the shock.”

We approached the corpse.

“There’s no smell of gunpowder.”

The overpowering stench of blood covered it, but various fragrances emanated from the torn clothing of the corpse.
Among them, I could distinctly identify ammonia and alcohol, along with the scent of several herbs.

“Smelling salts?”

Watson was the first to respond.

“You identified it correctly.”

I rummaged through the bloody corpse’s pants pocket and took out a small perfume bottle.

This was the source of the smell.

“Doctors often carry it around, don’t they?”

Watson nodded.

Smelling salts, a mixture of ammonia, perfume, and alcohol, were used to revive unconscious patients.
Watson identified the smell because she was familiar with it.

Before my regression, I also kept a bottle in my room in case the side effects of the drugs caused me to pass out.
Back then, on days without interesting cases, I often drowned myself in morphine until I passed out, and Mrs. Hudson, the maid, or Watson, who returned late, would wake me with smelling salts.

However, in this world, smelling salts were used for more varied purposes.

Ammonia gas stimulates the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract, inducing an inhalation reflex.
As a result, users experienced a temporary enhancement in muscle strength due to specific muscle stimulation. Blood flow to the brain also increased.
For these reasons, many debutantes risked chemical burns to their respiratory systems to use smelling salts before duels to boost their condition.
This was not illegal, and neither the The League of Gentlemen nor The Royal Combat Society had ever expressed negative opinions.

Of course, if the smelling salts contained excessive ‘additives’, it was a different story.

“The ones we doctors carry aren’t this potent.”

Using smelling salts containing elixirs that temporarily unleashed the body’s potential was strictly forbidden in official duels.
If caught using them, one would face severe penalties, such as being banned from participating in all duels and chess matches for several months.
And the smelling salts that Drake carried in a perfume bottle—

“Yes. As you said. This is quite severe.”

It seemed more appropriate to define it as a doping agent extracted and mixed with all sorts of elixirs, rather than calling it smelling salts.
Including not only narcotic components but even more dreadful substances.

Of course, using it once or twice doesn’t endanger one’s life.
Especially for someone like me, who has taken a custom-made detoxifying pill crafted by White Larva and has a tolerance to several deadly poisons, there’s even less of a problem.

“Bloody hell, of all times for the withdrawal symptoms.”

Therefore, I decided to use my body as a test subject solely for justice, not personal gain.
Given the unavoidable circumstances of my withdrawal symptoms, this was inevitable.
This is all part of the process to uncover the criminal, so even Inspector Henderson will overlook it.

-Spray…

As I sprayed the contents of the perfume bottle on my face, my energy center began to tremble.
A sensation as if my meridians expanded twofold instantly.
A boldness and thrilling sense of omnipotence filled my chest.

To use such drugs against a lady with lower martial achievements than oneself.
I couldn’t even begin to imagine how cowardly the scoundrel of the Drake family had been.

“Are you fine, Holmes? Even with such strong drugs.”
“It’s fine in small amounts. More importantly, Watson, could you slap me hard?”
“…What?”
“You can pinch me, too. Anything to confirm my sense of pain. It’s all to reveal the criminal’s identity.”
“If you insist…”

Watson removed her gloves and swung her slender palm like a whip.

-Smack!

The resounding sound of the impact. I was taken aback by the unexpected speed of the strike.

“Just to be sure, tell me you didn’t just channel your internal energy?”
“I-I most certainly did not.”

If she had hesitated just a bit longer before hitting, I would have been less offended.

“In truth, it doesn’t really matter. Because it doesn’t hurt at all.”
“…Is that true?”

I nodded.

As expected, among the components of the mixed drugs in this perfume bottle, there was a poison that completely numbs a person’s sense of pain.
Since it wasn’t a life-threatening component, and I hadn’t used White Larva to create an antidote yet, I could test its efficacy.

“That’s impossible. That blow just now contained my full energy—”

-Drip.

When something flowed from my nose, I wiped it with a handkerchief, only to find a streak of blood.

“…Holmes. You seem a bit tired.”
“……”

It seems she still holds a grudge over the time I left her stranded on the rooftop and walked away lone…

“Anyway, that unravels all the mysteries.”

Nonetheless, the case is as good as solved.
Having confirmed the last clue, all that’s left is to identify the culprit and hand them over to the police.

I infused my voice with energy and shouted.

“Thank you for your patience. The time has finally come to introduce you to the murderer.”

I instructed the officers to clear the body and move one of Wenham’s ice sculptures onto the ring.

“All debutantes still wearing masks, please come up to Ring number 7 without exception.”

Including Lady Sunshine, those who did not follow the instructions and retained their masks climbed onto the ring one by one.
Even though they refrained from complaining in front of the police commissioner, they all stared at me sharply.

But I didn’t mind.
If I just wrap up the deduction as usual, everything will be over.

I walked to the center of the ring, pointed at the masked debutantes one by one with the end of my cane, and said,

“The culprit is among us.”

The murderer is hiding within a 5-yard radius of me and is expected to be caught within 5 minutes.