Chapter 174

Following Holmes' words, everyone subconsciously looked at William, only to find that the astrologer's entire aura and expression had turned cold in an instant.

"I think I should reintroduce myself." William had a gentle smile on his face, but it was accompanied by a chill. "Nice to meet you. I'm Albert James Moriarty. I can explain why the principal has been looking for me so frequently in the past six months. In fact, although it's about the business of occupying the stalks, I'm more like a confession ceremony in the church."

"I will be responsible for counseling those who are confused, and the principal has been repenting every day for the past six months for what he has done."

"So the clue about Sherlock's disguise potion points to you." Fujimaru Ritsuka frowned and pointed the pen at Sherlock. "Then there is a loophole in his self-introduction - Sherlock said that he only got to know everyone three years ago, but if he didn't know William before, how could he have thought of looking for a disguise potion!"

"That means Sherlock is covering for Albert - and it's not a lie." Quan pointed this out, "For example, to Sherlock, William is William, and the others are everyone - as long as it fits the character setting, it's not a lie. And Albert may have entered this school as William and then found out that there are William's acquaintances here... This also explains the fact that they stayed together for a long time."

"When the principal came to me to take the blame, I learned the truth I had been looking for." Albert's face was filled with joy from the bottom of his heart, but in such an environment, there was a creepy feeling, "The death of William and Louis five years ago was caused by Principal Olf."

"The motive has been revealed, and because it involves the lives of relatives, it should be the biggest motive at the moment." Holmes put away his photos. "I'm not sure if other people have similar motives, but Albert's case involves two lives - it should be the biggest motive at the moment. No one should have a bigger motive."

"...Not necessarily." Fujimaru Ritsuka shook his head. "It's too obvious, and if this is the motive, then it's directly the duo of Sherlock and Albert - but I don't think it should be the case; considering the condition of the corpse, the murderer must be related to the legend. If there is really someone related to this legend, then this motive can surpass Albert."

"If it's just a matter of a deceased relative or friend, I have a lot of evidence here." Fujimaru Ritsuka smiled. "What you haven't found out through investigation or questioning - I have a lot in the principal's office."

"Then the deceased would have become a scum of Milverton's level, wouldn't he?" Holmes complained.

"Okay, next one."

"I went to the witch's area. There were only two clues there." Marquez showed the evidence photos he took. "One of them was a flower essence extractor that had stopped working. Although it stopped working, we could see that the raw material was the Chrysanthemum flower, which was found in the garden. It was also introduced that its essence could reverse the effects of items, but it would not change the original shapes of these items."

"I don't know where this clue is related to."

"The second clue is that the witch has a big pot still boiling potion, but we don't know what potion it is."

"I may know who the clue about the Chrysanthemum flower points to." Albert took out a photo of a cigarette war. "I saw this in the library. The tobacco inside should be Morpheus tobacco, which has a calming and hypnotic effect. But I smelled it and the smell of the tobacco is the same as Morpheus tobacco, but it can refresh the mind and has the effect of causing the user to be anxious."

"Witch's potion... By the way, can someone help me look at the photos of the principal's office?" Fujimaru Ritsuka suddenly seemed to remember something and took out a photo, "This is the photo I took before searching for evidence - there should be no problem inside the principal's office, right?"

“The portrait of the former headmaster is wrong,” Holmes pointed out. “That portrait should be of the first headmaster.”

"Wait a minute, if you look at it this way, after the first principal, all the principals of SDA have the same face." Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at Arisa, "And the faces in the portraits are getting younger and younger... Oh, Arisa is the witch who has been here since the school was founded!!!"

"You are providing the principal with a rejuvenating potion, right? That pot is cooking with the rejuvenating potion!"

"So the principal lived a long time, right?!"

"It's really possible that the real murderer is related to the alchemist's death case."

"Wow, this time span..."

"Next, please welcome Albert."

"I went to the library. The first clue was also a letter of employment. Mr. Holmes joined the library ten years ago, which was on April 9, U309." Albert began to present his evidence in a very cold tone. "The borrowing register recorded the names of all suspects, but only Sherlock and Marquez borrowed books from the restricted area. Marquez's borrowing permission for banned books was given by Alyssa."

"Besides the cigarette holder I mentioned earlier, there is also a glass medicine bottle on the table. The medicine inside should have been consumed, but the color of the medicine attached to the wall of the bottle can be a clue for us to find its effect." Albert paused for a moment, and suddenly raised a provocative smile to Holmes. "In addition, I found a newspaper that was torn into pieces and pieced together in your drawer--"

"The above report on the deceased emphasized that he was a close friend of Mr. Holmes."

"I feel like the pile in my hands is getting heavier." Fujimaru Ritsuka shook her head helplessly and took over the process on behalf of Tsukioka Tsumugi. "Now that Albert has finished speaking, then... what's next?"

"I went to dormitory 3101, which is Marquez's area." Sherlock tucked his hair behind his ears, held up a photo to everyone, and smiled meaningfully. "First of all, I want to report our detective - he doesn't seem to be innocent either! Well, I searched the mailbox on Marquez's owl's feet and found his reply to Marquez."

"The two of them have been in contact since the Great Environment was still under the ban on alchemy. In addition, the issue you two discussed in this letter involves the content of creating life through alchemy. Please explain it to me, Mr. Detective."

"This is just a normal discussion." Quan looked Sherlock in the eyes naturally and answered, "Even if it is forbidden knowledge, as long as you have a heart to learn, it is something you can obtain."

"Really?" Sherlock even smiled at Quan in a gentlemanly way, and turned to Marquez, "Then, next question - may I ask Marquez, why did you borrow the "History of the Development of Alchemy" from the restricted book section? This is the only book that records the names of all the people involved in the death of the alchemist at that time."

"Because the experience of promoting development is gained from past history." Marquez answered Sherlock's question calmly, "Do you have any other questions?"

"There is a bottle of tranquilizer on Marquez's table. Judging from the shape of the bottle and the color of the medicine, it should be the same kind that Mr. Holmes drinks." Sherlock grabbed a few more photos to show everyone, "Also, I found that the life-size mirror in the closet was knocked off. I don't know why."

"I never get medicine from Elisa, so my medicine is indeed sourced from Marquez." Holmes admitted that his medicine was sourced from Marquez.

"...I think we should deprive the detectives of their rights?" Fujimaru Ritsuka slowly walked to the blackboard with the photo in his hand. "The main reason is that the theme of the letter is a bit dangerous... Well, let's talk about the discovery in the principal's office first. First of all, there are bloodstains on the back of the portraits of each principal, and the bloodstains on the back of the portraits of the first and current principals are clearer."

"It says 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth' - an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, which is basically blood debt paid with blood."

"Then after opening the photo frame on the desk, you can find a confession letter - it is related to the death of the alchemist." Fujimaru Ritsuka looked serious, "The deceased admitted in the letter that he was the murderer of the case. Then I didn't have time to search other places, so I searched the desk. There were many things on the desk -"

“Put it directly on the table?”

"No disguise?"

"There were still disguises, but my visual skills were better." Fujimaru Ritsuka's eyes drifted slightly, "Anyway, I found that there was something wrong with the depth of the drawer, and then I took out a lot of handwritten incident reports or mission reports from it - first of all, the legendary alchemist and android, Luke and S's deaths were caused by him; secondly, William and Louis' deaths were also caused by him; in the middle, there was also a case where the deceased was John H. Watson."

“These are the three cases where people were clearly named.”

Holmes: "Watson is my best friend."

"Now the three suspects have a motive for murder, and the detective has become innocent because he discussed dangerous topics with the suspects." Fujimaru Ritsuka took a whiteboard marker and wrote with a smile, "First of all, I think the witch can be sorted out as a suspect; then considering the current evidence, there should be three groups of motives - William and Louis point to Albert and Sherlock; and finally Watson, points to Holmes."

"Then the earliest death of an alchemist... may be related to the detective and Marquez." Fujimaru Ritsuka pursed his lips and looked at the handwriting he had written, "Because now they are the only ones who are directly related to this topic, and they are even discussing the alchemy of creating life - not everyone can face taboos in a normal state."

"Do you agree with me?"

"That should be it." Holmes nodded.

"We have no opinion."

Sherlock and Albert put down their pens.

"I have no objection." Alyssa nodded.

"Then - we'll proceed directly to the second search phase." Fujimaru Ritsuka couldn't suppress a smile on his face, "At the same time - the assistant detective will be promoted to acting detective!"