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August 21st, 2009
10:46 pm - Umineko no Naku Koro ni episode 5: End of the golden witch - PART III
No clue how far I am into the game. At least it has been enjoyable thus far.
I've broken the 100 mark for number of screenshots taken, from Part I through Part III.
This is PART III.
Rain starts falling hard on Rokkenjima, effectively trapping everyone on the island.
Rosa is fast asleep on the sofa, so everyone else leaves the room so to not disturb her.
In the rose garden, Maria is still where her mother left her, searching for her rose. Someone approaches her from behind and calls out with a voice that Maria doesn't recognize...
Genji informs Krauss and Natsuhi that a survivor from a shipwreck has washed ashore Rokkenjima and is now in the Ushiromiya household. They are surprised, but accept the unexpected guest. As Genji leaves, Natsuhi asks him if the survivor is a man. He replies that it's a young girl.
Back in the family room, the adults are excited about the arrival of a castaway. Magical Gohda Chef wheels in tea with Kanon. Nanjo informs the group that the girl is unscathed and doing fine.
"...Uu. Ships are scary after all. Falling, falling. It's just as Battler said..."
"Maria-chan, please keep that a secret from Battler-kun."
Eva calls the guest house to summon the rest of the kids.
The mystery girl finally makes her appearance before the family, having taken a bath and changed into Jessica's old clothes. She looks to be about the age of a middle school student.
Krauss warmly welcomes her to Rokkenjima.
The girl introduces herself. Furudo Erika. She thanks the Ushiromiyas for their hospitality and letting her stay.
"Wait a sec. ...Who is this?"
Meta-Battler is extremely confused.
Bernkastel explains that she put herself into the game as a game piece. Battler wants her out immediately, but Lambdadelta insists that she stays.
"Furudo Erika will declare that she is the detective."
"The detective is not the culprit. No evidence of any sort is needed to prove it. ...It's early to say so, but it means that there's no need to suspect this child any bit. With this, even if I appear as a human game piece, you should still be able to deduce the same as always, right...?"
"...It's Rule 7 of Knox. "The detective is prohibited from being the culprit". The original text has an exceptions clause, but this time I'm declaring "the detective isn't the culprit" in red, so you shouldn't think about exceptions. I hate wordplay, so I'll say it in red for you. Furudo Erika is not the culprit."
Note: The original rule 7 is worded thus: The detective must not himself commit the crime.
"Sure, I'll comply. Furudo Erika has not influenced the game up to this point. She's an extra who first appears in this round, through and through. She did not exist in the world up to this point, nor did she influence it."
"Of course, I'll plus one to the number of people up to this point for you. So don't worry. Furudo Erika only increased the head count by one. Not counting her, the number of people on the island is exactly the same as in the preceding games."
"...Whoa... ...W-Who is she...?"
"Uu. A guest. She came by falling, falling."
"Huh? Falling, falling...??"
"Isn't that so. In short, it means that the number of people in this reception room now is the number of all people on the island."
The head count has returned to 18.
The cousins introduce themselves to Erika. Erika is given the room next to the cousins' room on the second floor of the guesthouse to stay in.
Later, Natsuhi begins to doubt Erika's story. Genji investigates and finds that the girl appears to have fallen from the aft of a pleasure boat and no one else onboard noticed, according to the Coast Guard.
Beatrice is amused by the arrival of Erika, knowing that she is Bernkastel's game piece. She believes that since Erika is human, she cannot win against Beatrice, the Golden Witch, the Endless Witch.
It is 16:55.
It is now 19:00.
Erika is given a seat at the opposite end of the dining table. She blends in well with the Ushiromiya family (save for Jessica) and even asks for chopsticks to show off her Japanese-ness.
Magical Gohda Chef tells her that regretfully, the next course is soup.
And dinner ends on a light note.
On her way out to the guest house, Erika spots the giant portrait of Beatrice hanging in the hall and seems to be captivated by it...
Everyone is now discussing the Witch's Epitaph at the guest house. Erika reasons that since the epitaph is placed within the Ushiromiya residence, it is only meant for people of the household to solve. Perhaps the epitaph is Kinzo's way of choosing the next head of the Ushiromiya House.
"I'll put on some coffee. Those who want it, raise your hand. Maria, you may not! You wouldn't be able to fall asleep...!"
"Uu uu!! Maria likes it black!!"
The meta-Battler admits that he still haven't figured out the epitaph even now. Bernkastel chuckles and claims that she has solved it, because if there is a solvable riddle, then irregardless of difficulty, the Witch of Miracles will definitely solve it.
Bernkastel and Lambdadelta take Battler to the 'sea', which feels like space, but filled with countless sparkles that are the pieces. Bernkastel summons one of them.
The piece projects Eva from episode 3. Since she was able to solve the epitaph, it means that her deduction wasn't wrong, therefore an important hint to the riddle.
Riddles are meant to be hard; otherwise they would be pointless.
Eva believed that 'hometown' most likely does not refer to Kinzo's childhood home but rather the family tree. She also said, "There's no need for the sweetfish to be there, but it's a great hint." Then Eva went into the library to research something, which means that her hypothesis can be confirmed by a certain book.
Once you understand the true meaning of the river of sweetfish, the rest of the riddle comes apart fairly easily.
Once Eva read that particular book, she finally understood what the downstream village meant. She was certain of the answer, but it had less than six characters (letters).
By re-reading the answer with six characters, it revealed the Key to Golden Land.
By following this clue, 'the six chosen by the key' becomes 'the six characters removed from the original text', and the rest of the epitaph can now be interpreted as removal of more characters from the remaining text.
On the first night, sacrifice the six people chosen by the key as tributes.
On the first night, kill the six characters that are the key.
On the second night, the remaining ones shall tear apart the two who are together.
On the second night, tear apart the two characters that are next to each other in the remaining text.
To fulfill the requirements of the epitaph, the text has to contain at least 11 characters to start with. The Ushiromiyas are getting excited about possibly solving the epitaph.
These events occurred prior to October 5th, 1986, in game 5, so they are all controlled by Bernkastel, who played for Battler for the first day. Perhaps that's why game 5 Battler seems smarter in deduction this time.
Battler wonders if Kinzo really put the epitaph there or it was the work of Beatrice, loyally carrying out Kinzo's will. To force the Ushiromiyas to solve the epitaph, she threatens them with death if they fail. Indeed, the only one who has survived is just Eva in the third game.
Beatrice wants someone to solve the epitaph.
Yet she challenges them with a seemingly unsolvable riddle.
Solving it is a 'miracle' in itself...
What does Beatrice truly mean by the epitaph?
It is 21:47.
Eva jokingly says that if she finds the gold, she'll give Erika 1,000,000 yen of it for her help. Everyone is tired out from the day, so they go upstairs for sleep, leaving behind Battler and Rosa.
Rosa notices that only in the line about tenth night, "Land of Gold" is used instead of "Golden Land" like in the preceding lines. She wonders if the ten nights mean ten stops between Kinzo's hometown and the Golden Land. The names of the places at the stops may be clues to the riddle.
Battler bumps into Erika in the hallway and they enter the library together. Erika insists that she is only interested in solving the epitaph, not the gold. She's also thinking along the same line as Rosa, so she's in this room to look for an atlas.
It is now 22:00.
Natsuhi is alone in Kinzo's study room, worried about the rest of the family finding out that Kinzo is dead. Beatrice, Ronove, Virgilia, and Gaap join her. They admit that it is likely the truth will be exposed since the magical barrier on the study room is breaking down. They suggest changing their strategy and pre-emptively moving Kinzo out of the room, which Natsuhi vehemently objects to. In the end, Natsuhi has no choice but to collaborate with the witches on a new plan.
Ronove wonders if the mystery man who called Natsuhi earlier is another one of Bernkastel's game pieces.
"You shall not stop thinking, you shall not surrender...! I hear your complaints, so you shall not give up...! Your absolute will, for absolutely overcoming this hardship, shall create an absolute result...! That is the very power of the Witch of Absolutes."
Natsuhi must deal with the family members until the typhoon passes, for at least another 36 hours. Her headache is getting unbearable...
Battler and Erika have pretty much solved the epitaph by now. Battler is reveling in the possibility that he'll inherit the gold and become the next head of the Ushiromiya House. Erika then reveals her true motive for solving the epitaph.
"...Ushiromiya Jessica made me upset. So I wanted to make her know her place, and decided to solve the epitaph. ...From there I was led by my feelings now. ...Can you deduce it?"
Battler realizes that if he announces that he solved the riddle, the family will split into warring factions, those who support him (his immediately family) and those who refuse to recognize him (Jessica's immediate family).
Then he notices a silhouette in the rain.
OH SHI-
IT'S SEAN CONNERY
Kinzo grins at Battler and points to the guide sign toward the Golden Land, telling him to go.
Erika doesn't notice him since she's facing the other direction.
With a flap of his cape, Kinzo vanishes into the night.
Battler and Erika set off for the Golden Land.
Kinzo sees that his epitaph has been solved, but by someone no one could've foreseen. He roars with laughter about how he witnessed a miracle of miracles right here, at the very end of his life.
"Beatriceeeeeee! I've won this beeeeeeet! Waahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaah!!!"
No, Kinzo didn't win a beet.
At the end of the underground tunnel, a beautiful room filled with 20 billion yen worth of gold greets the guests. Battler is overwhelmed, while Erika remains composed.
The average salaryman earns about 200 million yen in a lifetime. The 20 billion yen of gold is enough to feed and furnish a hundred people who will never have to study or work for a single day in their lives.
When Eva found the gold and Rosa witnessed it in episode 3, the news never leaked out and no one else observed it. So by Schrödinger's cat, the box was never opened, and it all might have been a delusion.
Lambdadelta reassures Battler in his discovery of the gold.
"It's a waste of time to repeat things for fun, so I'll do you a service in advance. This mountain of gold is the real deal. The ingots stored here are all genuine pure gold! There are absolutely no trickeries, like replicas or imitations!!"
Battler tries to explain the appearance of the supposedly dead Kinzo.
"I was probably in a state of excitement over solving the epitaph's riddle. So then, I saw something and mistook it for Grandpa."
"For instance, maybe some sheets or covers were hanging between the trees in the dark, and they could've seemed like Grandpa clad in his pitch-black cape to me! As a result, I mistakenly thought that I had a conversation of some sort with Grandpa."
Lambdadelta doesn't retort in red, so the game continues on.
As Battler calms down, he realizes that only solving the riddle was important to Erika. She won't care about anything else that happens afterwards. She will announce her discovery to everyone else, and then...the real shitstorm will descend upon Rokkenjima.
In fact, Erika is already rehearsing her anticipated speech to the Ushiromiyas.
"...just by having the epitaph there and no more. I can only deduce so much. ...How's that, everyone?"
It is now 22:47.
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Comments:
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/90281692/15027420) | | From: | ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) suruma |
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| Date: | August 25th, 2009 09:28 pm (UTC) |
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Oh my god, I don't know how many times I blurted out with "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUU----" during this part.
Thanks for the summary! ;~; |
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