Conan's grammatical investigator

Chapter 1407 Visit
After driving from day till dusk, everyone finally arrived at their destination.

Among the mountains at the border of Gunma Prefecture and Saitama Prefecture, a beautiful Western-style house stands on an open space on the top of the mountain.

Under the setting sun, the stone bricks on the exterior wall of the villa emit a warm glow, which contrasts with the shadows in the corners to form a beautiful landscape painting.

While Ran Mouri and Kazuha Toyama got off the bus and went to the villa to enjoy the beautiful sunset, Officer Otaki told them the deeper reasons why Heizo Hattori attached so much importance to this incident.

It turned out that half a year ago, a maid here died in the forest near the villa. Her body was tied to a wooden stake stuck in the ground, hanging upside down with her head facing down.

According to nearby villagers who found the body, when the body was discovered, its skin was extremely pale and it was hanging upside down, so people passing by from a distance several times thought it was a scarecrow.

After the autopsy, the police found that the maid died of excessive blood loss, but there were no other external injuries on her body except for two small holes on her neck.

This can't help but remind people of the magical creatures such as "vampires" described in some foreign fantasy movies.

"Do you suck vampires?"

"Are you saying that the murder was committed by a vampire?"

Kogoro Mouri widened his eyes in surprise and asked Officer Otaki.

Seeing this, Officer Otaki smiled and waved his hand, "That's just a rumor circulating nearby... Because this area was once ruled by a lord."

"Lord?" Kogoro Mori frowned in confusion.

At this time, Hattori Heiji interrupted Maori Kogoro and asked, "Hasn't the murderer been arrested yet?"

As a staunch materialist fighter, Hattori Heiji is not affected by those strange legends at all.

Conan, who was standing shorter, frowned, his eyes darkening slightly.

Officer Otaki shook his head, "No..."

"Although the initial suspect was Mr. Torakura Sakuya, the owner of this house, because the murdered maid once privately told others that the master's recent behavior was creepy and she felt that her life was in danger at any time..."

The stubborn Maori Kogoro immediately said seriously: "So it is indeed that master..."

Just before he finished speaking, a figure stood silently beside the crowd and said calmly: "The murderer is not the master, because the master has an alibi."

Everyone turned to look and saw an old man with glasses, wearing a suit and a bow tie, standing there upright.

"Because the master was sleeping in the room during the estimated time of death of the maid, Ms. Shimizu, and has a clear alibi."

"And the irony is that the person who can prove the master's alibi is exactly the chef who heard Miss Shimizu complain..."

Suddenly, the old man changed the subject and said respectfully to the sturdy Otaki, "Welcome everyone, may I ask if you are the police officer Otaki of Osaka Prefecture?"

Otaki nodded and responded, "Yes, so you are the client?"

"Yes, I am the housekeeper of this house."

"My name is Koga, and I'm an old classmate of Hattori Motobu's father."

The old man came up and showed off in front of everyone how he got in through the back door.

At this time, Conan took the initiative to approach the old man and asked, "What does it mean that the old man is so creepy recently?"

With the blessing of Conan's must-answer buff, the old man narrowed his eyes, looked down at Conan and replied: "The master has been very strange recently, for example, he seems to want to avoid the sun and sleep in the room all day long..."

"He even stopped using the silverware that he loved so much. He said he was allergic to silver and ordered everyone to throw it all away in the warehouse."

"The other day, the chef put his favorite garlic in the soup, but he was so angry that he smashed the bowl on the spot and shouted angrily, 'This will make the blood rot, don't add it to food in the future.'"

When Maori Kogoro heard this, he shrank his shoulders in shock and said in amazement: "This is just like..."

"Yes, I think Miss Shimizu should think of him that way?"

"This is just like the legendary Vampire..."

As soon as the old man finished speaking, he was heard by Mao Lilan and Toyama Kazuha who happened to come back from strolling nearby.

"Vam...Vampire!" x2
The two girls screamed at the same time, and even their small movements of pinching their hands out of fear were unusually synchronized.

"Did you just say Vampire?"

"P-Please tell me what's wrong with the vampire?"

Vampire, as a proper noun, immediately reminded the two girls of the terrifying creatures that only appear in fantasy works.

Hattori Heiji looked at the two of them and complained in his heart that he came back at such an inopportune time.

"I mean bumper, bumper!"

"Uncle Maori's rental car accidentally damaged the bumper, and we are discussing how to solve it!"

In order to prevent Toyama Kazuha from giving up and clamoring to go back, Hattori Heiji used his talent for pretending to be ignorant and made up a pun.

The English word for bumper is bumper, which has a similar pronunciation to vampire.

The two girls were indeed easy to fool. When they heard that it was a bumper, they smiled with relief.

"What? It's the bumper..."

"Heiji, you guys should go in and take a look, this place is like a castle~"

While strolling around just now, the two girls had already gone around to the courtyard behind the villa to take a look.

At this time, the old man also looked up at the gradually dimming sunset in the distant sky, and murmured: "It's almost time for the master to get up..."

"Until dinner is ready, please take a look around the museum."

The old man turned his head and opened one eye to look at everyone.

"The most important inheritance distribution ceremony will be held after dinner..."

……

Next, under the guidance of the butler Koga, everyone took a brief tour of the interior of the villa.

Although it is a villa in the deep mountains, there are still many management personnel, and it is not at all as gloomy and desolate as the villa in the deep mountains in my impression.

The interior of the villa is also decorated in Western style, with a classical style, quite reminiscent of the style of Western aristocratic families in the last century.

Koga showed everyone around and then brought them to the restaurant, saying that dinner would start soon and they should wait here for a while.

After saying that, Koga left first.

Mao Lilan and Toyama Kazuha stood behind the host seat and were quite moved when they saw the maid placing the knives, forks, plates, etc. meticulously on the dining table in accordance with Western table etiquette standards.

"I've only seen this kind of scene in movies or TV series, and I've never experienced it myself~"

"That's great, it feels like we've all become nobles!"

Conan, who was standing behind the guest seats, glanced at Mao Li Ran and complained in his heart: Don’t you have to do this?

During the Twilight Annex incident, the scene was similar to this.

Even that villa is more retro and luxurious than this villa.

Just as everyone was waiting for the host to arrive, a slightly unhappy female voice came from the door. "Hey, who are you guys?"

"I said, you guys are not my brother's illegitimate children or something like that?"

Everyone turned to look, only to see a woman with dyed brown hair glaring at them with raised eyebrows.

"How could this be possible?"

A square-faced man wearing glasses walked up to the woman and said with a smile, "If it was really an illegitimate child, my brother wouldn't have called us here..."

"That's not necessarily true."

Another old woman in a purple dress with her hair combed back came over. "Given Hakoya's personality, it's not impossible that he really has an illegitimate child outside that we don't know about..."

"Like the one I brought back from outside a few years ago, a woman who was much older than me, and the child she gave birth to..."

As she spoke, the old woman glanced meaningfully at the maid who had just placed the tableware on the table.

Next to the old woman, the pretty boy with dyed yellow hair smiled and said, "But that fiancée's luck was really bad. She died in a car accident before they could get married officially..."

"Oh~ But this is a good thing for you, right?"

The pretty boy smiled and looked at the man and woman who had just spoken in front of him, obviously with a sarcastic tone.

But he didn't notice that even the expression of the "old baby" beside him changed slightly.

Just when the pretty boy was feeling smug, a burly figure suddenly appeared behind him and grabbed him by the collar.

"You bastard! If you dare to say something like that again next time, I won't let you off easily!"

Another new face, with a beard, and looks like a member of this family.

However, facing the man's threat, the pretty boy still said: "What, what's wrong? Don't you feel lucky too?"

"Why? Could it be that you are really in love?"

"Are you in love with that mistress with a child?"

Facing the provocation of the pretty boy, the man clenched his other hand's fist and was about to start fighting.

But at this moment, a woman with glasses and pink lips leaned against the door frame and said calmly, "Let's stop talking about the mistress, okay?"

"I am also the child of my father and his mistress..."

"But from a legal point of view, as long as the heirs only have brothers and sisters left, I can also get a considerable share of the inheritance."

At this point, the woman with glasses raised her lips slightly, "Then please give me your guidance..."

The woman's aloof and amusing attitude makes it seem like she doesn't get along well with other family members.

Conan and others who were not far away looked at this family's "high-quality" way of getting along with each other, and all of them drooped their eyes.

Hattori Heiji: "It looks like there will be a dramatic battle for inheritance later..."

Maori Kogoro: "I agree..."

……

After a while, the appetizers for dinner were set out and everyone sat down on both sides of the long dining table.

On one side of the dining table were the annoying relatives of the owner of the villa, and on the other side were outsiders including Conan.

"The master hasn't gotten up yet, but he told me before that everyone doesn't need to wait for him and can eat directly."

The pretty maid who had just arranged the tableware informed everyone and then stood beside the empty host seat and waited quietly.

Conan glanced at everyone at the table and sorted out everyone's identity in his mind.

The owner of this house, Torakura Sakuya, has four siblings, including two younger brothers, an older sister and a younger sister.

The two younger brothers are the square-faced man wearing glasses and the muscular man with a beard.

One of the elder sisters is an old woman wearing revealing cleavage clothes; the other younger sister is the woman with glasses who claims to be the daughter of a mistress.

The other pretty boy and the mean woman who spoke at the beginning were the old woman’s lover and the square-faced man’s wife respectively.

However, these people seemed to have mentioned in their conversations that the child born to the owner of the villa and his ex-fiancee was also currently living in this house.

Although it seems that this child has no inheritance rights, it is still worth paying attention to...

Conan was looking around when he suddenly discovered that there was an empty seat in the corner of the dining table on his side.

"Um...Excuse me, there seems to be an extra seat here?"

Conan looked at the maid standing next to the main seat and asked innocently.

The maid glanced at the empty seat in the corner, then turned to look at the old woman sitting on the side and said, "This is the seat that Mamoru Tora requested..."

At this time, the old woman gracefully put down the knife and fork in her hand, smiled and said, "Humph, don't think you are the only ones who prepare in advance..."

"I have also invited a distinguished guest to attend the ceremony, but he said he will arrive here later."

A heavyweight guest?
Conan and others frowned, not understanding what kind of guests would be invited to such an occasion?
Generally speaking, when it comes to estate distribution, lawyers are definitely the most professional.

But the other party said a heavyweight guest, could it be a famous lawyer?

When it comes to famous lawyers, the first person that Conan thinks of is Eri Kisaki, who is known as the "Queen of the Legal World."

That is Xiaolan’s biological mother.

Haha, it can’t be such a coincidence that Uncle Mori and Aunt Hibiki, the pair of enemies, are gathered here, right?
Putting aside the questions from the important guests for the moment, everyone began to talk about the inheritance distribution ceremony.

It turned out that not long ago, the owner of the villa, Torakura Sako, was diagnosed with cancer and may have less than half a year left.

So, Tokura Sakoya convened this meeting and said that those who were absent would automatically lose their inheritance rights.

Among the five brothers and sisters whose surname is Tonkura, only Tonkura Sakuya has the best financial situation.

Not only did he once open a private hospital and make a lot of money, but as the eldest son in the family, most of the family property left by his ancestors was also controlled by him.

Therefore, when they heard that the inheritance was to be distributed, no one dared to be absent and all showed up.

"If we estimate conservatively, Hakoya's current assets are around 10 billion yen..."

"One, one billion yen!"

Kogoro Mouri was so frightened that his eyes widened and he couldn't even speak clearly.

Conan in the corner had his eyelids drooping, holding a piece of beef cubes in sauce in his mouth, thinking to himself: This isn't that much money...

At this moment, the muscular man with a beard sitting opposite interrupted the old woman and said, "But isn't Big Brother too slow?"

"Why don't you go and call him..."

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival everyone!