Gosick Episode 18

Synopsis
As the train continues on its journey to the Old Masquerade, Victorique decides to explain to Kazuya and the two ladies who helped them get up the train what actually happened during the murder of Simon Hunt. Using a length of rope, she ties up the hands of the two strangers and covered them with a handkerchief. With Victorique's command, the younger of the two pulls away her hand, with ease.

Victorique explains that the hands of Morella and Simon when the trick is performed were tied using a slipknot, a knot commonly used by escape artists, and it would make it easy for Morella to stab Simon inside the box.

However, with that part of Simon's death solved, Victorique is certain that there is still a piece of the puzzle missing.

While she begins to feel the chills of the night, Victorique, Kazuya and the two ladies are accompanied by a blond young man and an older burly-looking man.

It turns out that the incident that sunk the Beelzebub's Skull has caused a surprising increase in passengers inside the train, and with even the hallways packed with people, the two men decide to try their luck with getting a more comfortable space. They were fortunate in the end, and in his joy, the well-built man decides that it is best to introduce themselves to each other.

The soft-spoken girl with a plaid skirt takes her turn first. According to her, she is an orphan looking for her own birthday, and participates in the Phantasmagoria to look for someone who knows her birthday in her fears of being lost in Hades.

The "orphan" soon gives the turn to introduce to the older lady beside her. She calls herself "the scarecrow", someone who acts as a lookout on a farm.

Kazuya suspects that the introduction is some kind of game, and even the burly man knows of it, so he decides to play along. The gruff man calls himself a "knight", a man racing through the land with this trusted steed, finishing off his enemies left and right.

The last of the four strangers soon spoke. The young blond man introduces himself as "the woodcutter", a timid man who is not interested in achieving great feats.

With the four finished in their turn to talk about themselves, they turn to Kazuya and Victorique. Victorique swiftly describes her and Kazuya as "an ancient, proud Gray Wolf and his dullard servant". Kazuya is offended by being called a dullard, but a flick on his forehead is more than enough to silence him.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Brian Roscoe speaks about the Masquerade. He and Cordelia Gallo stand on the shores of what was once the only access point to the Beelzebub's Skull, now completely surrounded by water. Brian soon wonders if the Wolf Cub (Victorique) will be able to recover the Memento Box, and Cordelia expresses her confidence that her daughter will accomplish the feat; in fact, Victorique must, for it will be the key that will protect her from the incoming war.

With their mission now in the hands of a young girl, Brian Roscoe and Cordelia Gallo can only watch from a distance and give their trust to her.

Later that night, Kazuya reads in the newspaper about the disappearance of a certain Miss Leglant, a case that is going on in Sauville while they travel in Lithuania. He soon asks Victorique about what she was about to say before being cut off by a fit of colds. Victorique tells him that it involves a specific memento box... a memento box of someone's life. And she needs to find the truth about it.

All of a sudden, all of the train's lights inside are turned off, and the train suddenly veers uncontrollably.

It only took a short moment, and when the lights are turned on again, Kazuya finds himself sitting on Victorique's little thighs, hurting the little girl a bit. The "scarecrow" notices that Victorique has been sneezing far too often and decides to look for a change of clothes for her and Kazuya. Meanwhile, the "orphan" shows a frantic expression in her face for a while, as if something in her possession is missing. Soon she calms herself; she then asks the "knight" to follow the "scarecrow" and ask her to borrow something on her behalf. As the "knight" leaves, the "woodcutter" decides to follow him, but the "knight" asks him to stay, as it is a knight's duty to fulfill a princess's request.

The train continues on its course, and the "scarecrow" is looking outside while holding a certain object in her hand. Soon, the "knight" confronts her and asks her if she is going for a rendezvous at such an unusual place. The "scarecrow" is forced to attack the "knight", but his quick reflexes are more than enough to counter the woman's attack.

The "knight" stabs the "scarecrow" with the very weapon she wielded and demands that the thing she stole be returned to him. However, the "scarecrow" only responded with a devious grin.

Kazuya and Victorique have no idea about what is going on between the "knight" and the "scarecrow", and even the "orphan" is getting impatient. Kazuya decides to apologize to the "orphan" for having her personal life exposed, and this short conversation seems uncomfortable for Victorique.

Soon, Kazuya sees a woman dressed in yellow roll down outside, and before he could tell more about what he saw, Victorique stops him as the "knight" comes in with a change of clothes.

They decide to use the clothes they got from the "knight" and changed in the storage room, where Victorique confirms that she has an idea of what Kazuya saw a moment ago. She also confirms that the person he saw tumbling down outside is the "scarecrow", and suspects that she works for either the Ministry of the Occult or the Academy.

Victorique realizes that they are in the middle of a sinister masquerade, and they should be able to escape unharmed if they are lucky. Also, she needs to gather more fragments of chaos, since she suspects that in the middle of the masquerade is something very important.

Victorique soon exits the room where she changed her clothes and emerges dressed in a French maid's outfit; meanwhile, Kazuya is dressed like a manservant working in some rich family estate. Kazuya momentarily takes the time to praise how Victorique looks, but it only awarded him a kick in the shin from the embarrassed girl.

Kazuya and Victorique soon pass by the radio room, where the "woodcutter" is seen listening to someone, although he later dismisses that fact. The "orphan" and the "knight" soon appear and were actually looking for them since they are taking too long. The "woodcutter" soon proposes drinking until the next morning, an offer that the "knight" did not refuse. Of course, Victorique and Kazuya tag along as well.

In the train's dining area, they sit in a table while a jar filled with raisins is placed in the middle. After vodka is poured into the jar, the jar itself is lighted. Victorique tells her companions that it is a game that involves quickly snatching raisins using one's hand from a flaming jar and stating a wish after one eats the raisin.

Kazuya decides to go first, but Victorique insists — in a rather painful way — that someone else should take the first turn. The "woodcutter" decides to go first, and after eating the very hot raisin, he tells that he wishes to see his hometown in spring. The "orphan" soon takes her turn and wishes for the "woodcutter" safety in his trip home. She drank from her glass twice, and Victorique shows alarm in her face as the "orphan" empties her glass.

However, it is too late to warn the "orphan". She staggers to the floor as she finds it hard to breathe. As Kazuya checks the "orphan"'s condition, Victorique confronts the "woodcutter", whom she suspects as the one who poisoned the "orphan".

According to Victorique, everyone's glasses have poison in it, and it is placed at the bottom of the glass. It takes time for the poison to disperse throughout the whole glass itself, so the "woodcutter" quickly drinks his before the poison could spread. The "orphan" was unlucky, since she almost emptied the glass, so she was able to drink the poisoned water as well.

The "knight" is enraged by what the "woodcutter" has done and attacks using the dagger he got from the "scarecrow", but the "woodcutter" fires his pistol, causing the "knight" to fall to the ground with a bleeding side.

Victorique is unfazed in front of an armed man as she exposes the identity of the "woodcutter" as a Lesglant, and asks him about the one responsible for the masquerade inside the train. Before the "woodcutter" could answer, the "orphan" arms herself with a revolver and fires at the "woodcutter", hitting him on his leg. She then picks up a red box from the "knight"'s pocket — the same red box that she was looking for earlier — and walks off.

Kazuya tries to pursue the "orphan", but the "knight" stops him. He realizes that they will die with the rest of the train, and reveals that the train is rigged to be derailed at the designated time. The "knight" thinks that killing everyone is better than to have someone from the Ministry of the Occult steal the box in the "orphan"'s hands.

The "knight" decides to pursue the "orphan" and locks Kazuya and Victorique in the dining area.

Meanwhile, the "woodcutter" tells them to go to the locomotive and stop the train. Kazuya decides to do that job himself, but Victorique insists on accompanying him. Kazuya soon carries Victorique to the locomotive and discovers that they are pursued by the "knight". Fortunately, they jumped to the coal chute before the train enters the tunnel, while the unfortunate "knight" fails.

Victorique and Kazuya finally reach the locomotive, where the "orphan" is. She is severely weakened by the poison she ingested earlier, and Kazuya goes to the "orphan". Although she refuses Kazuya's help, Kazuya remains stubborn in reminding the "orphan" on how important life is. The "orphan" soon sees that there is no time, so in her final words, she tells Kazuya and Victorique about the bomb in the next bridge. The "orphan" finally succumbs to the poison, with the word "Mother" escaping from her last breath.

As Kazuya's head hangs low over the "orphan" dying, Victorique picks up the "orphan"'s gun and tries to fire at the target several hundred meters away. However, after two shots, she misses. Victorique realizes that firing a target at that distance would be impossible, and the make things worse, there is only one bullet left. Kazuya decides to try it himself, but Victorique is determined to fulfill what her mother Cordelia has entrusted to her.

Kazuya soon takes her to the front end of the train. With the bridge fast approaching, Victorique aims at the trigger mechanism in the middle of the bridge, only dependent with the theories of holding a gun. Kazuya then helps her stabilize her aim, and in one shot...

...they saved the train.

The train soon stops on its own after the only people who are feeding the train fuel have been killed by the "orphan", and the passengers leave the train unharmed. Victorique soon confronts the "woodcutter", whom she identifies as the brother of the Leglant who mysteriously disappeared. It turns out that he was used by the Ministry of the Occult as an impromptu spy in exchange for the safety of her sister who is in the ministry's custody.

And it all returns to the memento box.

Victorique decides to open the contents of the box, and it contained a person's umbilical cord, a self-portrait, a perfume bottle, and a note that says "Don't turn around": symbols of birth, the juvenile years, falling in love, and failure, respectively. She notices that the Memento Box is not yet complete, and its owner is still alive.

And the memento box is found under an old house, in a "nameless village". The owner of the Memento Box is none other than Jupiter Roget, from Saillune. It reveals that Jupiter Roget is, like Victorique and Cordelia, a Gray Wolf from a "nameless village". A revelation that would shake the balance of power in the government.

With the fragments of chaos reconstructed, Victorique decides to give the Memento Box to the "woodcutter", as she knows that he needs it to save his sister.

Kazuya still has worries that the Memento Box is going to fall in the Marquis' hands, but Victorique is assured, now that she has solved the riddle given to her by her own mother.

However, she is now more determined to push on, now that she holds the trump card in her hands.

Adapted from
This episode is adapted from Volume VI of the light novels.

Characters
(in order of appearance)
 * Kazuya Kujō
 * Victorique de Blois
 * Morella (in flashback)
 * Simon Hunt (in flashback)
 * Brian Roscoe
 * Cordelia Gallo

New Characters

 * "the Orphan"
 * "the Scarecrow"
 * "the Knight"
 * "the Woodcutter"

Trivia

 * This episode is the only episode adapted from an entire volume of the light novels.

Unanswered Questions

 * What is the trump card that Victorique is holding?

Quotes

 * "Nothing is impossible for a Gray Wolf" — Victorique