The man asked with a desperate face.
“Are you Detective Heiss? The one who appeared in the newspaper?”
I shot a quick “See that?” look toward Lur and nodded stylishly.
“Yes, I am that very Detective Heiss. And this is my assistant, Miss Poiren.”
“Ah, Detective Heiss!”
The man’s plump hand suddenly grabbed mine.
“You are my only hope now. Please, you must help me!”
“Now, please calm down first. It would be best to take a seat.”
I soothed the client and offered him a chair.
“Lur. Could you bring some tea?”
“Yes, Sir!”
While Lur was bringing the tea, I calmly observed the man sitting in front of me.
The man was middle-aged with a somewhat plump build and a particularly round face.
He was dressed in a high-end suit and had a flashy appearance, wearing a gold bracelet, a gold ring, and even a gold necklace. It was certain that he was wealthy, but the gold jewelry felt a bit excessive.
“Ah, you wear a wristwatch?”
I suddenly noticed a familiar object among the man’s gold bracelets.
“Most people usually use pocket watches.”
Since it was almost the first time I had seen such an item since coming to this world, I felt strangely glad to see it.
“Haha, that’s true. I wish wristwatches would become more popular.”
“You seem to have a practical personality?”
“Ah, it’s not exactly like that…”
The man scratched his head as if embarrassed.
‘Darn, I never get it right in one go.’
“Actually, all the jewelry I’m wearing, including this wristwatch, is worn to give consumers confidence. So to speak, I’m a living billboard.”
“Oh, is that so?”
I habitually chimed in, but I didn’t really understand. What on earth did that mean? Was he saying he was a traveling salesman selling watches?
“A company president can’t recommend products that even they don’t use, can they?”
“Uh, so…”
I struggled to slowly digest the information.
The client wiped his sweat once with a silk handkerchief and said with a kind smile.
“I’m late with my introduction. My name is Arthur Peterson. I run a small jewelry company. I also do a bit of investing on the side.”
“Uh, no way… That Peterson from Peterherring?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
I couldn’t stop my mouth from hanging open.
What? Running a small jewelry company? Investing a bit?
If this was modesty, it had reached the level of deception.
*****
“I-I’ve brought the refreshments…”
Lur’s hands were trembling as she brought the tray. I didn’t feel like blaming her. I was just as nervous.
‘Why is the chairman of a major corporation here?’
Arthur Peterson.
He was someone that even I, who was not familiar with this world, couldn’t help but know. In this era where the class system remained, he was the God of Investment who had crawled up from the bottom.
He was an icon of success stories, said to have risen from a factory worker to a chairman who owned factories by repeating successful investments with incredible insight.
‘But right now, he’s my client.’
So let’s stay calm for now.
It didn’t matter how successful he was socially. Since he was someone who came seeking my help, I had to show a reliable appearance.
I should act like a detective.
“So, Mr. Peterson. What brings you here?”
“It’s a murder. A young man I cared for was murdered.”
Mr. Peterson grabbed the body of the teacup with his bare hands, seemingly indifferent to the heat, and gulped it down.
‘Murder, huh…’
“Could you explain in more detail? Who is the victim?”
“His name is Allen Hessington. He just turned twenty, a boy who was still young—no, barely an adult. He wasn’t supposed to go like this…”
Mr. Peterson bit his lip hard and said.
“I first met Allen six years ago at a small orphanage I visited for a donation. That boy was a genius. He possessed both outstanding talent and passion, but because of his poor background, he couldn’t display his talent. He reminded me of my own younger days.”
A wealthy man who rose from the bottom felt a sense of kinship with a young genius at an orphanage.
It was a plausible story.
“Allen was dignified even in his shabby clothes at that humble orphanage. He looked me straight in the eye and told me. He said that if I invested in him, it would be the most successful investment I had ever made. He promised he would make it so. Haha, wasn’t he quite the cheeky little brat?”
Mr. Peterson laughed as if reminiscing about the past.
But that laughter soon withered away.
“Allen was an amazing boy. He wasn’t a child who deserved to be despised as a mere orphan. He deserved to rise to a higher place. I wanted to send Allen up there with my own hands. Even if it meant doing something a bit reckless.”
“Reckless? What exactly did you do?”
“I sent Allen to the Imperial Military Academy.”
Lur, who had been listening quietly, gasped.
“The Imperial Military Academy? That’s a school where only nobles can enter!”
“Ah, that’s not the case, young lady. The law changed a few years ago.”
“Huh? Is-is that so?”
Of course, I wouldn’t know, but if Lur, a native of this world, didn’t know either…
“It seems it’s not very common for a commoner to enter.”
“Yes. Allen was the first commoner to enter the Imperial Military Academy.”
“Hmm…”
I felt an ominous feeling from the very beginning of the story.
“I thought sending Allen to that school would give wings to his future. No matter how much money I earn, I’m eventually mocked as a vulgar upstart, but I thought Allen would be different. I thought he would truly overcome his status. That’s why I forced him into the Imperial Military Academy, but…”
Mr. Peterson’s face became grief-stricken, and he lowered his head.
“I never dreamed that my greed would lead to Allen’s death.”
“Hmm…”
I didn’t know how to comfort him.
While I hesitated, Lur asked.
“Then, was Mr. Allen Hessington murdered at the military academy?”
“Allen was murdered in his room at the academy dormitory.”
A different emotion began to dwell on Mr. Peterson’s face, distinct from the sadness that had been there until now.
“The dormitory is inside the military academy. Entry by outsiders is strictly controlled. Circumstantially, Allen was murdered by a fellow dormitory student! By one of those high and mighty noble lords!”
Anger dyed Mr. Peterson’s face bright red.
“Allen, that boy, was not the type to earn resentment from anyone. He was always full of confidence, cheerful, very smart, and even kind-hearted. You won’t find a boy like our Allen anywhere. He wasn’t a boy who should have been murdered like this. Such a child was murdered because of the ridiculous sense of superiority of those noble students!”
“Mr. Peterson…”
“I will have my revenge. I will surely avenge Allen with my own hands! I will catch that disgusting culprit, tear him to pieces, and scatter them over Allen’s grave!”
The sociable and round impression from a moment ago was nowhere to be found. Mr. Peterson raised his voice and poured out raw anger.
“But, but…! I didn’t have the ability to catch the culprit. So I decided. I would hire the best detective to catch the culprit!”
“I see. So that’s why you came to me…”
As I nodded solemnly, Mr. Peterson suddenly went quiet.
“…Isn’t it?”
“Ahem. That is, until this morning, I didn’t know the detective’s name…”
Mr. Peterson said, clearing his throat.
“I had hired another detective. He wasn’t a legendary detective, but he was a famous one with good skills, ranked within the top 500 in the detective rankings.”
I nodded awkwardly. Well, I wasn’t that famous yet.
“But what that detective said was…”
Mr. Peterson said, grinding his teeth.
“That it seemed to be an accidental death.”
“What?”
“Allen’s cause of death was suffocation. There were no particularly noticeable external injuries, and it happened in the middle of the night when Allen was alone in his room. It’s said that no one nearby noticed any disturbance.”
“That is, well…”
“To dismiss Allen’s unfair death as an accident for such a reason! Does that even make sense?”
“……”
‘With those circumstances, it sounds like an accidental death.’
Suffocated alone in a room without a single external injury. Then it’s an accident. Didn’t he just get food stuck in his airway while eating something?
‘…What should I say?’
It seemed my client, overwhelmed by grief over the death of someone he cherished like a son, had started hallucinating that the deceased was actually murdered.
Just as I was wondering how to gently suggest that he should see a psychiatrist rather than a detective.
“There is a dying message!”
Mr. Peterson blurted out words that couldn’t be ignored.
“…A dying message?”
“Yes. Before he died, Allen left a message pointing to the culprit!”
If that was the case, the story changed.
“Are you sure it’s a dying message? You didn’t misinterpret something, did you?”
“The detective will understand once you see it. It was truly a clear dying message that anyone could see. Allen was murdered!”
‘Is it really a murder?’
My heart began to waver at his conviction.
But there was something to clarify first.
“That’s strange. If such a clear dying message exists, why did the detective you hired ignore it?”
You said he was a famous and skilled detective?
“I also found that strange and looked into it. It turns out there was a disgusting hidden story.”
Mr. Peterson laughed as if it were absurd.
“As a detective with a high reputation, he was receiving sponsorship from many nobles, and they didn’t want the honor of the dignified military academy to be tarnished. They wanted to just bury the death of an orphan student.”
“So… the detective hid the truth?”
“That’s right.”
‘…I can’t say that’s impossible.’
It’s a dirty business, but similar things often happened even in modern times. Not to mention in a world like this where a class system openly exists.
“After experiencing that, I didn’t know who to trust anymore.”
Mr. Peterson sighed as he spoke.
“No one is unaware that the police are the henchmen of power. They are the ones who would take the lead in burying this case to represent the interests of the nobles. Since this happened, I couldn’t trust a famous detective sponsored by nobles, and yet I wasn’t confident in entrusting it to an unproven, unknown detective.”
“Finding the right person must have been difficult.”
“Time was passing even while I was worrying, and I was becoming more and more anxious. At this rate, Allen’s death would be buried. Just as I was thinking that, like fate, a newspaper article caught my eye.”
Mr. Peterson gestured toward the newspaper lying on the desk.
“Right after reading that newspaper, I realized.”
His calloused finger was pointed toward my chest.
“That you, Mr. Heiss, are a detective who is both competent and hated by the higher-ups!”
“Excuse me?”
This is news to me?
I know I’m competent, but what’s that about the latter part?
“Didn’t you, Detective, catch Tom Chapman, the culprit of that sensational drug scandal?”
“Yes, that’s true, but…?”
“Even so, your name wasn’t in the headlines.”
“My name is written on page three, though?”
“That was just tucked away in a corner because they had to. This is not the proper treatment for a rising star detective. It’s very unnatural.”
W-was that so?
It was my first time being in the newspaper, so I didn’t realize.
“Undoubtedly, someone, someone with great power, blocked your media exposure.”
“That…”
Mr. Peterson said as if concluding.
“You are hated by the higher-ups. You don’t have a patron to protect you either. So it’s you. You are the only one I can trust.”
Mr. Peterson cried out, clutching my hand tightly.
“Mr. Heiss. I’m begging you. Please, find Allen’s murderer! If you do that, I will become your backing! I will give you every reward I can possibly give!”
“……”
To be honest, my head wasn’t working well.
‘I’m hated by powerful people? Why on earth? Since when?’
My head was complicated enough just thinking about myself, but thinking about the case Mr. Peterson requested made it even more complex.
‘This case… can I solve it?’
Suffocation without disturbance or external injury, and a dying message left in contradiction to that. The case itself was difficult, but interference was also expected.
Doesn’t it mean there are people who want to turn this case into an accidental death? Can I overcome them?
While I couldn’t think of anything properly because of the tangled thoughts, only the intense heat felt through my gripped hand was vivid.
His desperation was conveyed not to my head, but to my fingertips.
“…Understood.”
After deep consideration, I decided.
“I will take this case.”
Not a single worry had been resolved yet, but one thing was certain. If I were to refuse such a request, I wouldn’t have the right to call myself a detective.
“Ah, thank you! Thank you, Detective!”
“…I will promise you one thing.”
I pulled my hand from Mr. Peterson’s grasp and shook his hand firmly.
“If a culprit exists, I will find them.”
This was neither bluffing nor a lie.
If there is a culprit, I can find them.
As long as these eyes are not blind. Without fail.
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