Chapter 203 Winter is coming

"Bankers, real estate developers, tycoons..."

At the port, as Maori Ran said, Maori Kogoro, who got up late, still had a simple piece of bread in his mouth. While he was busy tying his tie, he did not forget to look around and observed the people who were talking to each other not far away, and muttered, "... So many rich guys are here." The

famous detective swallowed the bread in a few mouthfuls, wiped his hands casually, and took out the invitation letter again in the helpless expression of Conan Edogawa at his leg. At the bottom right of the black hot-stamped letter, the ship outlined in gold completely overlapped with the multi-layered luxury cruise ship in the port.

"Ship of Fools..." Kogoro Maori looked at the ship, then at the font on the card in his hand, and his eyebrows were wrinkled. "Why such a strange name, and this mask... I really don't understand these guys."

In addition to the tickets, the letter sent to Maori's detective office also contained masks equal to the tickets. The letter said that in order to ensure the experience of this trip, all participants were required to wear masks before arriving at the port. The

famous detective was wearing a mask that completely covered his entire face and had no decorative features except for the special patterns on it. After the face and the iconic mustache that appeared countless times on TV and newspapers were covered, the man looked no different from other people.

"It should be adapted from "Ship of Fools", right?"

Edogawa Conan raised his head and asked. He was also wearing a slightly large mask on his face. If you look closely, the pattern is completely different from that of Maori Kogoro. However, the little boy still had his usual classic blue suit and red bow tie, so anyone who was a little familiar with him could recognize him at a glance.

After receiving the other party's puzzled look, the boy continued to explain, "It is a satirical poem published in 1494 by an Alsatian author named Sebastian Brandt. Many imitation works appeared after this poem, so many people also say that Brandt is the founder of 'fool' literature. That poem..." "

I remember... "The Ship of Fools" is set on a ship with 111 fools, which presents the situation that the world is full of various stupidities and evils."

The little boy with glasses was about to continue speaking, when he heard another voice coming from not far away. He turned around and saw a black-haired man wearing a white mask with the same pattern waved at them, and then walked towards this side. It was a

familiar voice, and Conan Edogawa recognized who it was at the first time.

Tsukiyama Asari wore a hat with a long brim today, and the shadow cast by it just covered the eyes, hiding his face, which was already blocked, under the shadow. However, without the mask required by the uniform, it was not strange to dress like this on a sunny morning when summer was approaching.

"I was waiting for you in front, but I saw you didn't show up for a long time, so I came out to look for you." The man explained with a smile. Because the weather has warmed up recently, even if it was still a little chilly in the morning, he still only wore a loose short-sleeved shirt and casual pants. A section of his muscular arm was exposed under the cuffs, and with the black bag slung across his body, he looked like a college student who was out for a visit. "Are you talking about the Ship of Fools?"

Why do they all look so young? Conan Edogawa looked at each other and subconsciously thought of the Japanese public security officer who was almost thirty years old and still had a baby face, "Yeah! We're talking about the name of this ship."

"111 Fools..." After casually greeting Tsukiyama Asari, Kogoro Mori looked at the ticket over and over again, pouting in dissatisfaction, "There are exactly 111 passengers boarding the ship. What does this mean? Does it mean that we passengers are all fools?"

Conan Edogawa twitched his mouth and was about to speak when he was interrupted for the second time.

"Maybe this is a metaphor for the later Burgundy society."

Yueshan Chaoli heard this voice and his abdomen twitched subconsciously. Fortunately, the mask that fits well completely blocked the momentary unnaturalness on the man's face. He looked to the side, pretending to be interested in the decorative patterns of the ship, and did not immediately meet the man's dark green eyes.

[...Shameful.]

The system came out and complained in a low voice, and then shrank back with the cute white-haired boy who was also scared by the FBI agent, causing the criticized person to twitch his mouth again.

"In fact, the theme of 'Ship of Fools' had already deviated greatly from its original meaning when it came to Burgundy society." Subaru Okiya explained as he walked towards everyone. Because of the mask on his face, he did not wear the glasses he always wore, so he had no inconvenience in moving around.

"The passengers on the Ship of Fools during that period were mostly so-called ideal heroes, moral role models, and social examples. They began a great symbolic voyage on the Ship of Fools. Even if they did not gain wealth through the voyage, they would at least become the embodiment of destiny or truth. I think this ship might have this meaning."*

"Destiny and truth? No wonder they invited my famous Mouri Kogoro! What a great name!" Upon hearing this, Mouri Kogoro immediately put his hands on his hips and laughed. Only after he finished laughing did he suddenly realize something and looked at the pink-haired man next to him, "Why are you here too?!"

The entrepreneur who had invited him before gave him three tickets, but because Mouri Ran did not come, he gave the extra one to Tsukiyama Asari, so it was not surprising that the cafe owner appeared here.

"I'm here on behalf of my mentor." Subaru Okiya still had that smiling face, "He has a research project that is about to be completed,

so he can't accept the invitation." Maori Kogoro nodded, accepting this reason.

The few people waited until there were not many people left at the port before boarding the ship. After the tickets were checked, their luggage was taken to the side for inspection. Edogawa Conan took this opportunity to observe the people on the ship.

As a member of the organization, Toru Amuro didn't have to worry about how he got on the ship, because the organization naturally gave him a backdoor, but the other policemen were not sure.

Conan Edogawa frowned, because of the news from the organization, he was worried that the organization would really imitate the incident of the dusk villa and use illegal drugs in the villa on the island. After dealing with this kind of thing for seven years, Kasugawa Shugo finally went to work with injuries. However, this police officer's leg injury was so severe that it was estimated that it would be difficult for him to pretend to be a waiter and sneak onto the ship like before. Moreover, it

was unknown how many of the crew members this time were members of the organization, and pretending to be a crew member would be even more restrictive, and as a policeman, it was impossible for him to receive an invitation letter.

I wonder how they are going to get on board...

The boy was thinking when he heard a commotion behind him. He stopped and looked back with the others. At the entrance of the cruise ship, a man with half-long black hair tied neatly behind his head and wearing a formal suit that looked like a butler's uniform was bowing and saying something.

"I'm so sorry..."

The man, who was also wearing a mask, apologized in a low voice to the man in front of him, but it seemed that he did not get forgiveness.

"It's so annoying." In front of the man who looked like a butler, a man sitting in a wheelchair had a bandage wrapped around one side of his calf. He used his other leg that could still move to dodge under the wheelchair, causing the heel of his casual shoes, which were not dusty at all, to collide with the metal, making several noises, thus attracting more people's attention.

"If I had known you were so useless, I wouldn't have brought you here." The man was wearing a casual suit that was more formal in style. He turned his face away with some annoyance, not wanting to see the mask on the other person's face. "Hurry up and take care of all these things for me. Hey, do you hear me?"

"Yes, young master."

The young man who looked like a butler quickly answered. He was about to reach out to push the other person's wheelchair, but the latter pushed the new model wheelchair forward a long way.

"No need!" The bad-tempered young master curled his lips, and his grayish black curly hair trembled a few times as he moved. He angrily controlled the wheelchair and walked to the passenger cabin, "Don't bother me before lunch."

"Yes."

The butler bowed slightly to the other party again, then took out two invitation letters from the inside pocket of his clothes and handed them to the waiter who was waiting for inspection responsibly, "Here are the invitation letters. We are here on behalf of the master and the lady."

The waiter nodded, but did not seem to care who they came for. She only looked up and down at the invitation letter which served as a certificate for boarding the ship, and showed a standard smile, "Sir, please come this way. Just hand over your luggage to us. It will be delivered to your room after inspection."

Upon hearing this, the waiter next to him walked over and took the suitcase over and placed it on the cart next to him which was full of large and small boxes.

"That guy has a really bad temper..." Seeing that the noise had ended, Maori Kogoro retracted his gaze and muttered, "This kind of rich young master is a trouble... What are you still looking at?"

"No, nothing."

Hearing Maori Kogoro's question, Edogawa Conan quickly retracted his gaze. He recalled the pair of honey-colored eyes that appeared from the mask when the man sitting in the wheelchair passed by, and he couldn't control his expression for a moment.

That poor butler, judging from his figure and hair, couldn't he be Mr. Hagiwara...

And that black-gray hair, was he wearing a wig or did he dye his hair for boarding the ship?

The boy looked up at Tsukiyama Asari, who knew him much better than he did. He turned his head away, looking as if he couldn't bear to look at him. He had obviously recognized the two guys who were so brazen that they were about to become the victims and suspects in a suspense drama. They

are simply abusing their power for personal gain, Officer Kasugawa...

The author has something to say:

Hagiwara (on the surface): A hardworking and considerate housekeeper~

(OS): Hardened, my fist is hardened!

*Source: "Madness and Civilization - A History of Madness in the Age of Rationality"