Gosick Episode 06

Synopsis
After Avril fully recovers from the ordeal she faced, Kazuya takes her to the marketplace.

Avril starts to talk about ghost stories, including the tale of a gray wolf that can speak the language of humans. She states that the wolf is located in the botanical garden on the top of the library, and this surprises Kazuya, knowing that Victorique, the only inhabitant of the library, is referred to as "The Golden Fairy of the Library".

It appears that Kazuya and Avril have different ideas on who the "gray wolf" is; Avril believes that the gray wolf likes sparkly things, while Kazuya knows that the gray wolf he is familiar with likes sweets instead. Nonetheless, Avril holds firm to her beliefs and heads to an outdoor store to look for something that sparkles.

Soon, however, something else draws her attention.

Nearby, a magician is performing some simple tricks to please a small crowd that has formed around him. His last trick involved summoning a bird from inside his top hat, which instead yielded a dead bird. The disgruntled crowd walks off from the boring act, including Avril.

Kazuya is left momentarily to accompany the magician, who then performs a quick trick; transforming his textbooks into an Arab-style headdress, much to the young student's shock. Before he could ask for his textbook, the magician leaves with a grin on his face with the bird - which is actually still alive.

Kazuya catches up with Avril with the new headdress adorning his hat, and he and Avril are called by a woman in a nun's outfit. In an instant, Kazuya distinguishes the scent of alcohol from the nun while Avril is drawn by a intricately-designed plate on display. Upon a closer look, Kazuya thinks that the plate might be expensive judging from the design, and doubts that either of them could buy it.

The nun then hands over to them a music box to look into. Avril curiously turns the knob to power the music box, but a puff of smoke and a few pigeons escape from the music box. Also, to the horror of the nun, the expensive plate disappears.

Because of what just happened, Kazuya rushes back to the library to look for Victorique, only to find a mess; candy wrappers are scattered across the floor and Victorique leaves them behind while reading many books at once, one of her hobbies. Kazuya scolds her for being too disorganized, and proceeds to pick up her trash, while Victorique picks up the peculiar hat that Kazuya received earlier. Initially, she is not that interested with the hat, but Kazuya still urges her to wear it.

Soon, Kazuya decides to tell Victorique the case he witnessed.

Victorique finds the case as too boring, not even worthy of requiring "reconstructing the fragments of chaos". She then decides to follow Kazuya's request, removing her lace headband and replacing it with the headdress.

Soon, the elevator doors opened, and Grevil emerges from the elevator, greeting the usual pair... only to show an expression of shock at the sight of Victorique wearing a headdress, mistaking Victorique for a certain "Cordelia Gallo". Victorique, however, clears things up by removing her headdress, much to Grevil's annoyance.

Kazuya wonders who Cordelia Gallo is, but Victorique answers his previous question instead: "she is the sister, and she is the culprit". She explains that the music box is rigged to explode on trigger, and the pigeons he saw earlier are hidden under the sister's clothes; she thinks that the sister's manner of sitting is contributed by the fact that she is hiding a box (of pigeons) from under her skirt, and she uses the diversion to hide the plate on the same place.

With Victorique's explanation done, Grevil leaves. Kazuya wants to know more about Cordelia, but Victorique has returned to her hobby.

Kazuya returns to the dormitory, where he reads for the first time news about Grevil not "being successful" in solving the case he handles. He also notices an article regarding "the descendants of the Gray Wolves" that will have a gathering at the upcoming solstice festival to be held in a town called Horovitz.

He shows the news to Victorique and invites her to come, thinking that it would sate her hunger for mystery, and it appears that he is right to refer her to the said article. She was so interested that she trips herself in carelessness upon rushing to the book where she could find out more about the subject. Because of this, however, Kazuya ends up doing her job after she receives a headache due to the fall.

According to Victorique, the tale of the Gray Wolves is a supernatural tale that has been persistent throughout Sauville's history, and is rumored to live on the Alps Mountains. As she reads on the book on her hands, Kazuya thinks that he has sparked the interest of Victorique regarding the mystery, but she has been rubbing her forehead for too long. He playfully flicks her forehead, but it instead infuriates Victorique, triggering yet another argument that ends up in Kazuya leaving Victorique alone.

That night, Kazuya toils for the evening to copy the textbooks that he has "donated" for a magic trick; as he writes on, he thinks of making up for being rude to Victorique by bringing her some sweets. Soon, however, he notices a moving trunk pass by his window. He instantly knew who it was, and he heads down to confront no other than Victorique.

Kazuya reminds Victorique that she cannot leave the school at night, especially since the gates are locked at that time. He inspects Victorique's luggage and is shocked to find out that she appears to have packed up for a camp outside, with a change of clothes, toiletries, a tea set, a cot, several books and a stuffed toy to accompany her through the trip. Kazuya then notices that Victorique's face has been swollen, and he instantly thinks that she has a sore tooth. With Avril allowing him to learn a secret passage out of the school, they leave.

However, Kazuya later finds himself aboard a train heading to Horovitz. Victorique still declines talking to him at that time, and thinks about their journey to Horovitz instead of going to the dentist.

Soon, they are accompanied by an utterly familiar nun in Kazuya's eyes. The woman introduces herself as Mildred, and admits to be heading to Horovitz as well.

They later reach Horovitz and Kazuya rents a room for the two of them. The inn owner advises them to stay inside for the night, because of the activity of the Gray Wolves at night. He confirms that the Gray Wolves live on the nearby mountains and they hunt people at night. Kazuya assumes that they are wolves, but the inn owner tells him that they are humans...

...with long golden hair, rosy cheeks and a small physique... just like Victorique.

This realization shakes the inn owner's calm.

Soon, the sister heads down to ask for blankets and a phone call. As the man reluctantly shows the way, Victorique proceeds to go up despite the heavy luggage. Kazuya offers his help, but Victorique strongly refuses.

Kazuya and the other decide to rest for the night, however, it was unsettling for Kazuya, who has just heard the sound of wolves howling. He leaves his room to investigate, when he sees Victorique in her sleeping clothes. She appears to be sleep talking when she first talked to Kazuya, but she manages to wake up, marching back to her room and throwing things when he tries to enter her room.

He then takes the time to ask an important question: "Why have you decided to come here?"

Victorique is startled by the question.

Rain begins to pour outside as Kazuya confronts Victorique about her intentions to go to Horovitz.

As Kazuya closes the window to her room, Victorique decides to answer Kazuya's question: she wants to prove the innocence of Cordelia Gallo... her mother.

Victorique explains that her mother is a dancer, and her home town is the Village of the Gray Wolves. The Marquis of the Blois family is interested in the unique ability of the Gray Wolves into his bloodline, and he turned her into his mistress. However, the Marquis discovers that Cordelia has committed a crime that led to her exile from the village, and after her escape, Victorique is burdened with the regret the Marquis has felt for introducing Cordelia's blood into the Blois family.

After Kazuya momentarily made Victorique smile, she announced that this will be a war between the Village of the Gray Wolves and her mother... and she will not return home unless Cordelia wins.

The next day, a carriage takes Mildred, Kazuya and Victorique with three other men on a mountain trail. As the three men talk about a village on the end of the trail, Mildred glances at Victorique.

Soon, they leave the carriage, surprised at what awaits them at the end of the journey: a large fort in the middle of the mountains. The moat soon lowers, and a group of men armed with swords welcome them. The armed men soon mutter about Victorique having the spitting image of Cordelia and her presence being ominous.

Kazuya prepares to protect Victorique from the welcoming party, when the men are held off by an elderly man. The man spoke that they should not be rude to the guest, who is still part of the Village of the Gray Wolves...

...despite her mother Cordelia being a murderer.

Characters
(In order of appearance)
 * Avril Bradley
 * Kazuya Kujō
 * Victorique de Blois
 * Grévil de Blois
 * Sophie

New Characters

 * Cordelia Gallo
 * Mildred Arbogast
 * Alan
 * Derek Banks
 * Raoul

Referbacks

 * The necklace Victorique wears in Episode 01 holds the picture of her mother Cordelia.

Cultural References

 * Flicking one's forehead is a gesture by the Japanese on people of their age range.

Unanswered Questions

 * What is the unique ability of the inhabitants of the Village of the Gray Wolves?
 * What is the crime that Victorique's mother has committed?