Chapter 498 - 498: 498: Holmes! You really are a f*cking genius!

"A contradictory man?" Kasenhis repeated in confusion.

"Although Voldemort is less than human, the worst kind of beast, I suspect that deep down he may have desperately needed a father figure. To the point that when he learned his name, Tom Riddle, came from his father, he fell into a deep internal contradiction."

"On one hand, he was probably extremely arrogant. After all, you said his father was an ordinary person while he himself was a wizard. He looked down on his father and hated him. But on the other hand..."

Holmes took a tactical sip of water, then continued.

"Because of his childhood as an orphan, he longed for a father who could shelter him from the wind and rain. That desire was buried deep in his subconscious. So even years later, after he personally killed his biological father, that desire still remained there."

"So?" Kasenhis asked. "What's your basis for that?"

"If he wanted a new name, wouldn't it have been easier to simply invent one from scratch? Why keep his original name and just rearrange the letters? Wouldn't creating an entirely new name have been better? It might even have sounded better than... this."

Holmes swallowed, then raised both arms to shoulder height and spoke in a deliberately rough voice.

"Ah, welp, guess I am Lord Voldemort from now on~."

He shrugged.

"The name just sounds stupid."

Kasenhis burst out laughing at Holmes's surprisingly excellent performance.

Once he calmed down again, he asked, "So, what else do you need?"

"What we really want to know is why you somehow have even less of a sense of humour than Sherlock now," Peanut complained.

"Being a teacher drains the life out of people. You two freelance detective bastards wouldn't understand," Kasenhis said bitterly.

"Back to the point. I refuse to believe you've gone this long without a single clue. For example, why did you conclude that this so-called cultural object had to be involved? That itself counts as a clue. Tell me about that," Holmes said, becoming serious again.

"He's extremely arrogant. He thinks very highly of himself and practically considers himself a god. So ordinary objects wouldn't be worthy of becoming his Horcruxes. Anything he chooses as a Horcrux has to be either extremely valuable or personally significant to him."

Kasenhis paused to think, then continued.

"For example, one of the original founders of our school. This is one of her relics, and until recently, it was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes."

As he spoke, he released Hufflepuff's Cup from inside his flask and showed it to the two of them.

"Wow. That definitely doesn't look cheap," Peanut remarked.

"I'm more interested in what's magical about the cup," Holmes said, briefly going off topic.

"Oh, it continuously produces fine alcohol," Kasenhis explained.

Holmes nodded.

"Not bad. That really does suit you."

Then he returned to the subject.

"So you think his next Horcrux might be a relic belonging to another founder of your school?"

Kasenhis nodded.

"To be precise, he's already ruined relics belonging to two of the four founders. I suspect a relic belonging to a third founder is also one of his Horcruxes."

"And the third relic is...?"

"No idea."

Holmes suddenly leaned back against the sofa, then bounced upright again.

"And that is exactly why I think this ridiculous excuse for a clue is ridiculous. But I'm a civilised man, so let's talk about your third founder instead. Male or female?"

"Female."

"Alright. Let's assume this female founder liked beautiful things. What sort of relic might she have left behind? Let's make a random guess. How about some kind of precious jewellery?" Holmes said slowly as he wrote in his notebook.

"You're the professional here. I'll listen to you."

"You should," Holmes muttered under his breath before looking up again.

"A relic, an inheritance, would normally be passed down to that lady's descendants. We need to investigate her... That sounds a little strange. What was this lady's name?"

"Lady Ravenclaw."

"Alright. We need to investigate Lady Ravenclaw's descendants. Did any of them die under mysterious circumstances within the last century, after Voldemort was born and old enough to enter school and gain basic combat ability?" Holmes asked.

"Hmm... she only had one daughter. She's currently a ghost at Hogwarts. There aren't any other living descendants."

Kasenhis thought of Ravenclaw's ghost and answered somewhat helplessly.

"In that case, our deduction becomes both simpler and more difficult."

"Simple because Lady Ravenclaw has no living descendants, which means her relic must have remained at the school she founded, Hogwarts Castle. We may even be able to narrow down the time more precisely."

"How long was Voldemort at Hogwarts? What's the length of schooling?"

"Seven years."

"Okay! Then the time of the crime was during those seven years!"

Holmes excitedly thumped the sofa and continued.

"But the difficult part is that there were no strange deaths... The bathroom murder case you asked me to deduce last time doesn't count. That victim was most likely just extremely unlucky."

"Without a specific death, we can't lock down a specific location or point in time. All we can know is that he obtained Lady Ravenclaw's relic while he was at Hogwarts and turned it into a Horcrux."

"But that doesn't mean we're completely stuck. Sometimes, having no clue is itself the best clue."

"You don't know what relic Voldemort stole. That means even you yourselves don't know what relic was hidden where, correct?"

After rattling all of that off in one breath, Holmes took another large gulp of coffee.

"Correct. We don't know either." Kasenhis shrugged.

"Exactly!"

Holmes's eyes lit up.

"A relic so obscure that even the school itself doesn't know about it must have been hidden in some forgotten corner where people rarely go. That's the only way such a valuable object could have remained buried by time for so long."

"All you need to do now is return to Hogwarts and search those forgotten corners. Places people rarely visit, mysterious areas that even you yourselves don't properly know about."

"You'll definitely find some trace of it!"

Holmes said this with absolute certainty.

"Anything else?" Kasenhis asked instinctively, completely absorbed in the explanation.

"If you want to know more, we can drive you back to Lily Dale for free and you can ask a medium. Those ridiculous clues you gave me are only enough to deduce this much," Holmes said irritably.

"No, no, this is already plenty, Holmes! You really are a fucking genius at deduction!"

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