Ke Xue Bartender

Chapter 245 Remembering an Old Friend

"Welcome everyone to Mycroft Inn. I am the planner of this gathering, Hiroyuki Kanaya."

The person who greeted the tour group members in the hotel lobby was a middle-aged man wearing a detective hat, a Sherlock Holmes-style coat, and holding a pipe in his hand, but his body shape was really nothing like Sherlock Holmes.

He has a plump figure, a chubby face, two thick, curled mustaches on his lips, and he looks very kind when he smiles.

After a brief greeting, Kanaya Hiroyuki clapped his hands and said:
"Okay, now that everyone is here, let's get down to business."

Because Conan's name coincides with Conan Doyle, the tour group members gathered around him finally turned their attention to Hiroyuki Kanaya, and there was anticipation in everyone's eyes.

After all, this trip also comes with a mysterious grand prize related to Sherlock Holmes.

"I believe that you must all be loyal fans of Mr. Holmes, so you have gathered here. Therefore, I have specially prepared a big prize! That is——"

“Sherlock Holmes is published for the first time. This is a rare first edition of Conan Doyle’s famous work, A Study in Scarlet!”

The eyes of everyone in the room were instantly focused on the thick book in the hands of the hotel waitress. Except for a few non-Sherlock Holmes fans who had sneaked in, the rest of the people showed fanatical expressions and exclaimed "Wow" in unison.

To ordinary people, this is just an old book, but to Sherlock Holmes's fans, it is a priceless treasure.

"However, only the most loyal fans of Sherlock Holmes are qualified to own this book. Therefore, I have set up a double test. Those who pass the test will own this set of rare and out-of-print books that are absolutely not available on the market."

"The first test is to test whether you are really a loyal fan of Sherlock Holmes. What the waitress is giving you now is the 1000 questions about Sherlock Holmes that I set up..."

The maid was distributing a thick stack of documents to everyone present. Just seeing the thickness of the documents, Maori and his daughter felt a headache and secretly thanked their luck that they were just accompanying personnel and did not have to fill in this questionnaire.

If the two of them were asked to do this Q&A, it would be no different from torture.

Conan, who received the thick questionnaire, was full of interest. He stared at the questionnaire in his hand eagerly and couldn't wait to start working.

As long as it is related to Sherlock Holmes, let alone 1000 questions, even if it is or , he will finish them all.

"In order to be fair, please give your cell phones and reference books to the waitresses to prevent cheating. In addition, your rooms are equipped with cameras and bugs. If cheating is discovered, you will be given zero points and kicked out of the hotel."

"The deadline for submission is before tomorrow's dinner. Only those who answer more than 990 questions correctly can participate in the second trial after dinner—"

"Sorry, what if you can't answer 990?" asked a tour group member.

"Hmph," Jin Gu Yuzhi sneered twice, his amiable appearance instantly disappeared, and his expression became serious, "Of course I ask that guy to get out of my hotel immediately, because such a rude guy has no right to stay here!"

But he soon returned to his smiling face and continued to introduce:
"As for the second trial, it will test your reasoning ability. Stupid people are not qualified to call themselves fans of Sherlock Holmes. For this reason, I have set up a very difficult reasoning question and answer session. The person with the highest score will win the ultimate prize of this event! Please try your best to use your wisdom!"

The next night.

The tour group members gathered in the living room and after enjoying dinner, the inn owner Jingu did not show up.

"Miss, please call him out quickly. It's already nine o'clock. How long do we have to wait?" A lady in the tour group complained and asked the maid to call Jingu.

"But my master wants me to entertain you all until he arrives..." the maid said in embarrassment.

"Really? If I had known he would come so late, I wouldn't have had to stay up late to answer questions last night. Damn it!"

"I'm so sorry, but the master should be down soon."

"Mr. Kanaya must want to prepare a surprise for us, Miss Shimizu, please be patient for a while." Another member of the tour group also advised.

Conan, who was sitting at the dining table, tilted his head, somewhat confused.

He remembered that there were no surprise activities on this trip. Could it be that events have changed again?

There was a thick stack of answer sheets in front of him. He stayed up all night last night to finish all the questions in one go, and he was sure he would get full marks. He was just waiting to make a splash today, but Mr. Kanaya hadn't shown up yet... He had a vague feeling that something bad was going to happen.

The time came to midnight and the hands had passed 12 o'clock.

"I can't stand it anymore! That bastard is just fooling us! He wasted my entire day answering these tricky questions - damn it!"

The oldest uncle in the tour group slammed the table, tore the thick stack of answer sheets into pieces, and left angrily.

"It seems that the rumor is true. The man doesn't want to give away the treasured book at all, so he deliberately makes the questions difficult every time. In fact, his purpose is just to gather fans of Sherlock Holmes here and show off to them that he owns the book."

The fat lady who claimed to be an astrologer also stood up and walked towards the door in disappointment.

"Sorry, I have to go to bed too."

"Me too……"

In the blink of an eye, only Mori and his group, Hattori Hirako, and a college couple were left at the table.

At this moment, the male college student who stayed at the table suddenly said:
“Maybe this is part of the game.”

The tour group members who had already reached the door stopped and looked back in confusion.

"Think about it, isn't patience an essential quality for a good detective? Maybe Mr. Kanaya is testing our patience. As expected of Mr. Kanaya, he really understands."

"Oh, if you want to leave, please feel free to do so. I will wait for you anyway. But if I get that book, don't be jealous then." Kento Toba said leisurely.

Conan looked at the male college student in surprise and suddenly remembered something.

He had also seen this man in Poirot's Bar.

He seemed very angry at the time and was complaining about something to the man at the bar.

He didn't pay much attention to it at first, but when his ears automatically caught sight of "Holmes", they immediately perked up.

It turned out that the man was criticizing a book called The Laughter of Irene Adler.

"...Irene is the only woman Sherlock recognizes. They have a deep bond. How could she laugh at Sherlock? This book is rubbish! The guy who wrote this kind of rubbish is unforgivable!"

That's what the guy seemed to have said at the time, and his expression looked quite angry, even a little ferocious.

However, like all drinkers who release their emotions at the bar, after drinking the man's wine, he calmed down and showed a transcendent expression as if he had attained Buddhahood.

By that time, I was no longer surprised by this situation and even joined in their conversation.

There's no way around it. He would be very interested in any topic related to Sherlock Holmes.

After that night, he had a better opinion of the man because he seemed to know a lot about Holmes.

"In the case of Captain Black Peter, Holmes deduced from the rum in the room that the suspect was a sailor, and then investigated from this direction and quickly identified the murderer."

"If there are whiskey, brandy and rum in the house, the person who drinks rum is most likely a sailor who goes to sea all year round."

"For sailors wandering on the sea, rum is the water of life, bringing them courage, joy and wealth. It is because of the company of rum that they can survive the long sea voyage."

"It was because Holmes knew this that he was able to determine the murderer's identity and solve the case quickly."

The man said this.

(End of this chapter)