The fact that I had the same scar as Taylor John’s victims…
To be honest, I didn’t quite understand the situation.
While it was most likely that I — or rather, the original owner of this body — had been one of Taylor John’s victims, it wasn’t a simple conclusion to draw.
‘For starters, I’m a man.’
Until now, all of Taylor John’s victims had been women. Specifically, single women from the high-ranking upper class.
‘The timeline doesn’t match, either.’
I first possessed this body around last year. Since I was in a state of extreme confusion at the time, I didn’t remember the exact date, but it was likely around July or August.
However, Taylor John only resumed his activities early this year. The time when I was attacked was much earlier than his resurgence.
‘I can’t definitively say it wasn’t him… but it’s true that something feels off.’
Was my scar really a mark left by Taylor John?
‘As I thought, I need to meet Detective Baron again.’
I needed to examine more detailed information regarding the traces Taylor John left behind.
Until then, I couldn’t be certain of anything.
“Hayes! Miss Lure!”
While I was lost in thought, the carriage seemed to have reached its destination. The carriage came to a halt, and Mr. Jackson, the driver, called out to me from the front.
“We’ve arrived at the village!”
“Thank you, Mr. Jackson.”
“It’s nothing. I’m just sorry I can only see you off this far.”
“We’re grateful enough that you gave us a ride. Take care, Mr. Jackson!”
After thanking Mr. Jackson, we stepped down from the carriage. We had arrived at the village below the Grand Duke’s Castle.
“Now we just have to find a way back to the capital…”
“It’s a bit daunting. We won’t be able to take the train, right?”
The train we took to the North was a special train specifically chartered by the Grand Duke. This was because there were no regular trains traveling to the North during ordinary times.
Of course, I didn’t have the money to charter a train myself.
The thought of traveling all the way back to the capital without a train was overwhelming.
As I stood blankly in the street, feeling lost…
“There! The errand girl over there!”
“Me? Are you talking to me?”
A man I had never seen before called out loudly to Lure.
At first, I thought he had mistaken her for someone else, but Lure soon recognized him.
“…Oh, are you the man from the post office?”
“Yes! Miss! You’re the one who came looking for a telegram a few days ago, right?”
Only then did I realize when Lure had met this person.
‘Ah. Is he the person she met when she used the telegram as an excuse to lure the guards to the village?’
“You waited so long back then, but you never got the telegram you were waiting for. I couldn’t stop worrying about it!”
“Oh, I didn’t realize you were so concerned.”
Lure showed a sheepish expression.
Naturally, that telegram was just a convenient excuse she had made up from the beginning. Since there was no telegram to begin with, there was no way one would have arrived — .
“But you won’t believe it! That telegram arrived yesterday evening! Two of them, even!”
“What?”
They arrived? The telegrams?
“A Private Investigator Hayes staying at the Grand Duke’s Castle. Isn’t this the person you were looking for?”
“Uh, yes, that’s right… Did a telegram really come?”
“I’m telling you, it did! Come, come this way and collect them.”
With bewildered eyes, we followed the post office worker inside.
The man rummaged through the files on a shelf in the back for a while before pulling out two envelopes.
“The first one is a telegram sent from the Capital’s Second Telegraph Station at 7:00 PM yesterday. The sender is listed as Mr. Arthur Peterson.”
The letter, featuring the distinct font of a rugged typewriter, read as follows:
[**I was so preoccupied that I forgot to even reward the detective. I hurried to the office, but you were absent, so I asked Detective Baron for your whereabouts. Please forgive my rudeness. Please come find me as soon as you arrive in the capital. I have prepared a reward that will satisfy you.**]
“Ah, finally.”
This was the news I had been waiting for.
I had been severely strapped for cash lately.
Although I had successfully resolved the case during this trip to the North, Marie was technically a collaborator rather than a client, so I couldn’t receive a separate reward.
And I couldn’t exactly ask for money from a Grand Duke who was so broke he had considered marriage for money.
‘I wonder how great the reward Chairman Peterson prepared will be? Surely he wouldn’t just hand over the price of a whole mansion, right? That would be too much, so I should say I’ll only take half. No, since I have to give Lure a share, maybe I should say I’ll take about two-thirds?’
“You’re about to drool, Boss.”
“Ahem, cough.”
At Lure’s pointed remark, I quickly fixed my expression.
“I’ve read it. What’s the second telegram?”
“This one was also sent from the Capital’s Second Telegraph Station, under the name Detective Baron, at around 9:00 PM yesterday… but before that, let me confirm one thing.”
“What is it?”
“Are you really the Investigator Hayes mentioned in this letter…? I mean, are you the detective himself?”
‘Ah, come to think of it, I haven’t verified my identity.’
The post office in this town didn’t seem very thorough. I suppose it was lucky he was checking now. I nodded coolly.
“Ah, yes, that’s right. I am Investigator Hayes. I was the one who asked my assistant, Miss Lure, to go look for the telegram.”
“Then, could it be that the Arthur Peterson who sent the first telegram is… really *that* Mr. Peterson? The Peterson from Peterherring & Co.? Is he really your client?”
It seemed it wasn’t a matter of identity verification but pure curiosity. It was a bit flustering, but to be honest, it didn’t feel too bad.
“Ahem, well… please understand that it’s difficult for me to speak freely about my clients.”
At my practical confirmation, the man made a fuss.
“My goodness! To think such a big-shot detective would visit our post office!”
As I watched him with a satisfied look, Lure stepped in.
“Listen! Our boss is a busy man! Are you going to keep wasting his time after shamelessly peeking at someone else’s mail?”
“Oh, my apologies.”
Only then did the man hand over the letter.
‘He said it was from Detective Baron, right? I wonder what’s written in it.’
When I opened the letter, I saw a sequence of words created by a typewriter just like before, but something was strange.
[**UF.FX.BD.AD**]
“…? Is this the telegram?”
Is something wrong with this?
“Ah, that’s a code telegram.”
The post office worker said as he glanced at the letter.
“Since telegrams are charged per character, people usually shorten them as much as possible. Those who don’t have that much money often send telegrams in code like this. Here, we have a codebook. You can find the content by looking through this!”
The man pointed toward a thick book.
Lure opened the book and began examining the contents.
“Let’s see… A is regarding greetings/schedules, B is social/introductions, C is family/household matters, and F is related to business/contracts.”
So the first letter indicated the main category, and the second letter indicated the specific phrase. Lure began slowly translating the meaning of each letter for me.
[**UF.FX.BD.AD**]
UF : Harvested a large pumpkin.
FX : Information has been leaked.
BD : I’m sorry, but I had no choice.
AD : There is important news, so please visit quickly.
“…Are you sure something isn’t wrong?”
I could roughly understand everything from the second code onward.
He leaked my information to Mr. Peterson, and he’s sorry for that. The important news must be some new information he found regarding Taylor John.
But what on earth does the first one mean?
“Did the detective give the wrong code for the telegram? Maybe it was ‘US’ instead of ‘UF’.”
“But ‘U’ is entirely made up of phrases related to crops and harvesting. Changing ‘pumpkin’ to ‘cucumber’ doesn’t make the sentence any less weird. And it doesn’t seem likely that he would have said or heard ‘U’ incorrectly.”
It was just as Lure said.
The post office worker, who had been listening, chimed in.
“When the desired phrase isn’t on the list, people often substitute it with another phrase that has a similar meaning. Perhaps that’s the case with this letter as well?”
That sounded quite plausible.
“Then does ‘Harvested a large pumpkin’ actually mean ‘Obtained great information’?”
“But FZ is listed as ‘Obtained great information.’ If that’s what he meant, there would be no reason to speak in riddles.”
“Hmm, that’s true.”
Why did this detective have to be so poor that he’s making me overthink like this? I scratched my head in frustration before eventually giving up.
“Well, I can just hear it from him in person. I’m heading back to the capital anyway.”
“Right. Let’s just ask the detective directly when we get there.”
As the conversation was winding down, the post office worker cut in once more.
“Um, so is the great detective leaving for the capital now?”
“…Yes. That’s right.”
Why does he keep jumping into the conversation?
Sensing that I was starting to get annoyed, the man waved his hands in alarm.
“Oh! Please don’t misunderstand! I don’t mean anything bad by it. It’s just that traveling to the capital with such a small party in this weather is no easy task. I thought perhaps I could be of some help.”
“Help?”
“This is a post office, after all. We regularly send carriages back and forth to the Imperial Capital. A post office carriage is scheduled to depart in three days, and if you’d like, I can arrange seats for you and your assistant.”
That was certainly an enticing offer.
‘Walking in this weather is a suicide mission, and I don’t have the confidence to ride a horse all that way.’
It would be convenient if we could hitch a ride in someone else’s carriage.
“As you may know, post office carriages are famous for their speed. If you catch a ride, you’ll be able to reach the capital very comfortably and quickly.”
“That’s a good offer. How much should I pay for the fare?”
“Money! I’m not making this offer for something like that! It’s just… if you could resolve a small worry of mine while you wait for the carriage, I would be more than happy.”
He was beating around the bush. In the end, he was asking me to solve a case in exchange for the carriage fare.
“…Let’s hear it first.”
“You made the right choice!”
Looking delighted, the man rummaged through the shelves in the back and rushed over to us holding a letter.
“I say it’s a case, but it’s not really that big of a deal. It’s more like I’m the only one caught up in a strange suspicion. But I just can’t seem to shake that suspicion!”
The man thrust the envelope in front of my eyes. Strangely, the sender’s name had been erased, but the recipient’s name also looked quite unusual.
“Utu…?”
“The name is probably unfamiliar to a detective active in the capital, right? It’s because he’s from one of the minority tribes.”
“A minority tribe…”
Come to think of it, I had heard that there were constant wars with minority tribes back when the Grand Duchy was still just a territory.
It seemed the Grand Duke had completely triumphed, so wars no longer broke out, but that didn’t mean all the people living there had died.
“Utu is a man from a minority tribe who lives in an isolated house far from the village. He came to this village and settled down about two years ago, but there are many suspicious things about that fellow.”
After saying that, the post office man hurriedly added, as if anticipating what I would say.
“Oh, please don’t misunderstand me, sir. I don’t discriminate against people just because they’re from a minority tribe. But the more I interacted with Utu, the more I felt he was a strange person.”
“I won’t misunderstand, so please tell me. What exactly was this Utu like to make you feel that way?”
“Utu doesn’t seem to like mingling with people much. He only has minimal conversations with the villagers, and he tries not to associate with outsiders at all. Even though he was an outsider himself! In extreme cases, he even uses violence to drive people away. Many people fear him because he acts so hostile if anyone even gets near his house.”
“Hmm, that is a bit suspicious.”
“Right? He acts exactly like someone who has something hidden in that house. Or like someone who is being hunted. Of course, I am a man with absolutely no prejudice, but since it’s hard for people from minority tribes to find jobs, they often drift through the bottom of society and fall into illegal work. I keep thinking that might be the case for Utu. Above all, Utu rarely leaves his house, so I have no idea what he does to earn money!”
I wasn’t sure if racial prejudice truly played no part in his suspicion, but the circumstances were indeed quite suspicious.
“The suspicious things don’t end there. Utu’s wife is a woman named Madam Portia, and she is a completely different person from her husband. Anyone can see she looks like an Imperial, and her manner of speaking is very beautiful and refined. She seems to have an outgoing personality and likes mingling with people. But whenever Utu sees his wife interacting with others, he gets incredibly angry. Just like a man who’s pathologically jealous.”
“Hmm, was someone perhaps hitting on his wife?”
“It wasn’t like that! Just because Madam Portia had a brief chat with my wife at the market, or patted a child’s head because they were cute, Utu would scream at her not to do such things.”
“That is certainly a bit much.”
“Madam Portia doesn’t go out often either, so among ourselves, we suspected that Utu might be keeping his wife confined in the house.”
“So? Is what you want to commission me for to check if Madam Portia is really being held captive?”
“No. That’s not it. The problem is this letter. Actually, just this morning, this suspicious letter was delivered to our post office.”
The man waved the letter.
“I know I shouldn’t have done this. But when I saw this suspicious letter with the sender’s name erased, I grew suspicious that it might be related to a crime. So…”
“You opened it.”
“Yes. I thought I’d take a quick peek at the content and, if it was nothing, reseal it and hand it over. But look at this, sir!”
The post office worker opened the envelope and showed me the contents.
“Isn’t it suspicious?!”
“This is…”
This was what was written in the letter:
[**331244441233 1781 1744 92123325123301 21169344. 2512 21933312353616. 13338201122101 138233011793.**]
“Suspicious, right? A letter made of nothing but numbers… anyone can see it’s a code!”
It certainly looked that way.
“At first, I thought about running straight to the police! But what would I tell them? That I secretly opened someone else’s mail and found it full of numbers? They wouldn’t listen!”
Lure chimed in.
“Well, who knows? Maybe the police are racist, too? If so, they might just arrest Utu…”
“Then they would just up and arrest him without even checking the contents of the letter. What if that letter is just a recipe for hometown food sent by Utu’s mother who doesn’t know the Imperial language? In that case, I would become a rotten racist who ruined someone’s life based on a hasty suspicion! I would be miserable for the rest of my life!”
The post office worker began to sob.
“I don’t know what on earth I should do!”
Seeing him like this, he didn’t seem like a bad person, even if he was a bit meddlesome and prone to prejudice.
“I understand. I’ll take this request.”
“Really?!”
“Yes. I’ll go meet Utu and confirm his innocence. If he’s innocent, I’ll hand this letter over to him. If not, I’ll turn the letter over to the police.”
“If you could just do that, I’ll finally be able to sleep peacefully! Thank you so much, sir!”
However, I was unable to keep that promise.
Because at the moment I accepted the request, Utu had already been murdered by someone else.