The Pirated Onmyoji of the Detective World

As Kogoro Mouri looked at him with surprise, Yuu Aragaki shook his head slightly before turning to Conan and asking, "Conan, did you discover something?"

Standing at the cave entrance, Conan nodded and said loudly, "I think the reason this cave collapsed might be because of the typhoon near Shikishima a few days ago!"

"what!"

Upon hearing Conan's words, many people widened their eyes, revealing an expression of disbelief.

"Look, the rock walls around this cave, although some places haven't completely collapsed, there are obvious signs of loosening. Moreover, this place is located near the sea, and due to the typhoon a few days ago, it's very common for it to collapse under the erosion of the waves."

Under Aragaki Yu's satisfied gaze, Conan continued to explain his analysis.

"But these are just your wild guesses. How can you take a child's words seriously?" someone among the villagers said with dissatisfaction.

"No, of course there's evidence for all of this!" Faced with everyone's questions, Conan remained calm and composed. "Uncle Mori, didn't you tell me all of this?"

"Wh-what? You bastard!" Kogoro Mouri, who had noticed that everyone's eyes were on him, could no longer stand Conan's nonsense. He rushed to Conan's side with a dark face, wanting to teach him a lesson.

"Huh?~~"

thump!

Unexpectedly, he was met with a tranquilizer dart from Conan's watch.

Immediately, Kogoro Mouri staggered to the entrance of the cave, sat down with his back to the cave, and leaned against the collapsed pile of rocks.

To others, it seemed as if Kogoro Mouri deliberately walked up to Conan and sat down.

"That's right, Conan is right! Of course, none of this was caused by the ghosts of the Navy."

While everyone's attention was focused on Kogoro Mouri, Conan took the opportunity to hide behind a rock and used his voice changer to imitate Kogoro Mouri's voice.

"What! Could this be the legendary Sleeping Kogoro?"

"Really!"

……

The villagers gasped in astonishment upon witnessing this scene.

"Does everyone remember when that ghost ship appeared?" Conan asked in Kogoro Mouri's voice.

“It was after that typhoon that night!” Village Chief Takeo Mikami replied with a frown.

"That's right! I think that Dragon God might have been hidden in this cave before!" Conan suddenly threw out a point that caused an uproar among the villagers.

Even Aragaki Yu and Miyano Akemi pretended to be surprised.

However, Aragaki Yu was indeed faking it, while Miyano Akemi was genuinely a little surprised.

After all, he had personally gone down into the cave and seen the scene inside with Aragaki Yu, which allowed him to accept the fact that the Ryujin-go had been stranded in the cave all along.

Unexpectedly, Kogoro Mouri was able to discover the truth through reasoning and speculation.

Mr. Bintian, the lighthouse keeper in the crowd, suddenly changed his expression, as if a secret he had kept in his heart had been exposed.

Uehara Yasuo, who had been secretly watching Mr. Binda, also showed an expression of "I knew it" after seeing his unnatural expression.

“Think about it carefully,” Conan continued, speaking in Kogoro Mouri’s voice, “why is it that only the bottom of the Ryujin’s hull shows signs of rust?” He continued, “This means that the Ryujin didn’t sink during its disappearance; instead, it remained aground near Shikijima. Only in this way would the rust only appear on the hull, the part most exposed to the water. And Shikijima is a place where such a large ship could have been hidden for so many years without being discovered…”

"Mr. Mori, could it be that you're saying the Dragon God has been in this legendary cave all along!"

Some quick-witted villagers, who were familiar with the history of Shikijima, immediately understood what Kogoro Mori meant.

"But how could the Dragon God have entered this cave?" another villager asked, expressing their confusion.

"What if this mysterious cave has another entrance? Especially if that entrance is above the sea," Conan said, making a startling statement.

"How is this possible!?"

"According to legend, a sound like the wailing of naval ghosts can be heard coming from the cave." Seeing the excited look on the faces of the surrounding villagers, Aragaki Yu also spoke up.

The villagers around them, who were chattering and questioning Kogoro Mouri's deductions, were all taken aback when they heard Yuu Aragaki's abrupt words.

Conan, who was about to speak again but was suddenly interrupted by Aragaki Yu, also peeked out and looked at Aragaki Yu in surprise.

But then he saw Yuu Aragaki's gaze sweeping in his direction, which startled Conan so much that he quickly shrank back behind the rock.

"Whoo~"

Conan calmed himself down and then, following Aragaki Yu's words, continued to explain in Kogoro Mouri's voice: "Ahem, that's right! I think the wailing of the legendary naval ghosts that everyone often hears is the best evidence that there is another exit to this cave."

"How...how could this be?" The villagers all looked puzzled.

"Actually, the sound that came from the cave, like the wailing of the dead sailors, was just the sound of the sea breeze passing through the narrow cave!"

"what?!"

"Xiaolan, why don't you explain this to everyone? I think your teacher should have taught this concept in your physics class this semester!"

"Huh?!" Ran, who had been hiding behind Aragaki Yu and Miyano Akemi out of fear, looked at her father with a bewildered expression after her name was suddenly called.

Chapter 116 The Disappointed Crowd

Finally, after Ran's scientific explanation, most people reluctantly accepted Kogoro Mouri's (Conan's) statement.

Seeing the villagers' thoughtful expressions, Conan summarized in the voice of Detective Mori: "So, during the shipwreck three years ago, the Ryujin-go (Dragon God) may have entered this legendary cave to seek refuge. However, due to some unforeseen circumstances, the Ryujin-go became trapped inside. For example, a landslide caused by a typhoon completely sealed off the entrance. Then, during another typhoon a few days ago, the cave walls became unstable, and the walls that had blocked the Ryujin-go were washed away. Thus, the Ryujin-go was swept out of the cave, becoming the mysterious ghost ship everyone talks about. This is also the reason for the cave's collapse now."

As Aragaki Yu listened to Conan's explanation, he looked at the rock where Conan's body was hidden with considerable surprise.

Things took a turn for the worse than he expected. He had planned to secretly provide Conan with some information, but unexpectedly, even with many key clues missing, Conan still managed to deduce most of the ins and outs of the incident.

Moreover, Conan's analysis seemed extremely convincing.

Even Yuu Aragaki, who was standing nearby, began to wonder whether the cave's collapse was caused by the typhoon or by the battle between Yoto Hime and the naval ghosts.

Everyone froze in place.

Village chief Takeo Mikami couldn't help but reach out, his hand trembling as he pointed to the completely buried cave, saying, "So... does that mean all the gold nuggets are in this cave!?"

"Perhaps." Hearing Village Chief Mikami's words, Conan also looked towards the cave. Because he had so little meaningful information, he still hadn't been able to find the whereabouts of the gold nuggets that had mysteriously disappeared from the ship.

However, Conan was certain that the whereabouts of this gold nugget must be connected to this cave in some way.

"I think there's someone who knows this better than Mr. Mori!"

Just as Conan was getting confused, Aragaki Yu's voice came over again.

Upon hearing this, Village Chief Mikami rushed to Aragaki Yu's side, grabbed his arms tightly, and demanded, "Who is it? Who are you talking about?!"

The other villagers also looked at Aragaki Yu with curiosity, their faces showing excitement.

Even Conan couldn't help but step out from behind the rock, looking at Aragaki Yu with a puzzled expression, wondering why he had said such a thing.

Aragaki Yu frowned slightly as he looked at the hands of the village chief Mikami gripping his arm. He couldn't help but shake his arm and break free from the village chief's grasp.

Urged on by the crowd, Shinjuku turned his gaze to Mr. Hamada, the lighthouse keeper hiding in the crowd, and said calmly, "I think Mr. Hamada should know all this best, oh no, I should say Mr. Aoki!"

"Hamada? Who is he? Why have I never heard of this name before?"

"He seems to be the lighthouse keeper who came to the island in recent years!"

"In that case, he really is a very suspicious person!"

"That's right, that's right! I even saw him going in and out of this cave before!"

"..."

Following Aragaki Yu's gaze, everyone looked at Hamada, who was hiding behind the crowd.

Hamada's face turned pale instantly when he was suddenly called out. Feeling guilty, he tried to turn around and run away, but found himself surrounded by the villagers and unable to move at all.

“That’s right, it’s him! My brother Aragaki and I saw him acting suspiciously during the day!” At this moment, Mikami Suzu, who had been silent for a long time beside the village chief, also spoke up.

Then, Mikami Suzuru vividly described the scene she witnessed during the day when she dragged Aragaki Yuu into the backstage area and spied on him from a corner.

Looking at the panicked Hamada, Aragaki Yu continued, "I think the exploding balloons on the stage were your doing. Your reason for wanting to drive Mr. Mori away is probably because you're afraid he'll find out about all this."

To avoid arousing suspicion and to discourage others from continuing their search for the gold, Yuya Aragaki had to find a way to convince everyone that the gold, worth one billion yen, had been buried deep underground along with the legendary cave.

"Damn it! Bintian, what's going on?!" The village chief, eager to know the whereabouts of the gold, squeezed through the crowd, grabbed Bintian by the collar, and demanded an explanation.

"I, I..." Looking at the fierce eyes around him, Bin Tian was so panicked that he stammered and couldn't speak.

"That's right! I think that gold must be buried in this cave!"

Just then, Uehara Yasuo suddenly stepped out from the crowd and spoke.

His gaze first lingered on Aragaki Yu, with a mixture of confusion and admiration, then he glanced greedily and regretfully at the buried cave, before finally glaring fiercely at Mr. Binda, who was being held captive by Village Chief Mikami.

Under everyone's gaze, Uehara Yasuo spoke up, "This guy, Hidaya, is actually named Aoki! He and I used to be crew members on the Ryujin!"

"What!" Upon hearing Uehara Yasuo's words, the people around couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, while Aoki turned ashen-faced.

"Three years ago, on that typhoon night, in order to keep the gold worth 1 billion yen for himself, that bastard Aoki actually pushed the ship owner and me into the sea! Later, just as Mr. Mori said, in order to avoid the typhoon, he sailed the Ryujin into this cave and got trapped here. Unexpectedly, now it is because of the typhoon that the sea exit of this cave has collapsed, allowing the Ryujin to see the light of day again."

Uehara Yasuo paused for a moment, then continued, "Luckily, I survived the sea disaster. For years, I thought that Aoki had taken all that gold and gone abroad to live a carefree life! But then I saw a news report in the newspaper about the Dragon God reappearing three years ago, and I wondered if Aoki was still around here. So I came to this island, and sure enough, I found him!"

"So that's why! The reason this guy stayed here all this time was to wait for the rumors from back then to die down so he could run away with that gold!" Village Chief Mikami looked at the aoki in his hand and said with great regret. He couldn't believe that the person who knew the truth back then had been right beside him all along.

“That’s right! I think he must have hidden that gold in that cave, because there are rumors of naval ghosts haunting it, and no one would go near it. According to my investigation, those university professors who came here to investigate this cave back then were probably killed by this guy Aota disguised as a naval ghost because they knew something!” Uehara Yasuo looked at Aota, who had fallen into despair, and said sarcastically, “Hahaha! This guy went to great lengths to get the gold, even going so far as to hide his identity, disfigure himself, and commit murder, only to be buried in this pile of ruins!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Aota collapsed to the ground as the village chief Mikami released his grip, staring blankly at the buried cave entrance, lost in thought.

Meanwhile, Village Chief Mikami, Mr. Kinoshita, and others looked at the cave where the gold nuggets were buried and were filled with regret.

……