Starting With The Sefirah Castle In The Anime World-Chapter 129 - : The Avenger Who Didn’t Avenge Herself Personally

The progress on Tsukikage Island was faster than expected.

The villagers only learned about the village chief's drug production and trafficking when the investigation began the following day.

That was also when they confirmed the existence of those dozens of corpses.

Upon seeing the bodies, nearly all the villagers involved in the identification erupted in shock and fury.

"I never would've imagined... I always thought that old man never left Tsukikage Island his entire life, why did he suddenly go outside in the end?"

The passing of the elderly was already tragic enough.

These were people from the same generation, yet they were murdered in such a cruel manner. Seeing this, the older villagers felt an overwhelming sense of grief.

The village chief they had elected had turned out to be the very murderer who killed their peers.

And it wasn't just the elderly who died.

Their children, sons- and daughters-in-law, and even grandchildren who weren't yet eight years old had all been killed in the same horrific way.

That realization filled them with rage.

Recalling the village chief's usual demeanor, as well as the worsening condition of the marine environment, the island's fishermen clenched their teeth in fury.

They had known that the environmental damage was the village chief's doing.

But they had originally assumed it was just industrial pollution, illegal waste disposal causing a massive die-off of fish in the surrounding waters.

That was what they had been protesting against all this time.

But now? Now that they knew the truth, they were on the verge of passing out from sheer shock.

The environmental impact of drug production lasted far longer than they had realized.

Long before they could recover from the damage to the marine ecosystem, they—fishermen who relied on the sea—would have already starved to death.

And the poppy fields discovered in the back mountains?

Those plants could even alter the geological conditions of the area.

If they contaminated the underground water supply, the consequences would be catastrophic.

The scope of this disaster was massive.

Even outsiders like Kogoro and Conan had caught wind of the situation.

"The village chief was actually running a drug trafficking operation...?"

"On top of that, he's involved in dozens of murder cases."

"..."

Kogoro didn't even know how to respond.

As far as he was concerned, these crimes all but guaranteed the death penalty.

Life imprisonment? That wasn't even an option.

There was no way a sentence like that could cover the weight of these crimes. The only possible verdict was execution.

"Miss Asai."

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Mouri shifted his attention, only to see that Dr. Asai had been staring blankly ever since hearing the news, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

"Miss Asai!"

He raised his voice, snapping Narumi Asai out of her daze.

"...Ah? Mr. Mouri, did you need something?"

"Do I need something? You look like you have a serious problem."

"Me?"

"Ever since you heard about the village chief's crimes, your emotions have been all over the place."

Narumi Asai let out a small breath of relief, thankfully, that was all he had noticed.

She couldn't control her emotions right now, but she forced herself to shake her head.

"It's just... I can't believe that such a large drug trafficking operation was hidden behind Tsukikage Island."

"And I never would've expected the village chief to be capable of something this outrageous."

Seeing her shocked expression and the way she had been zoning out just now, Kogoro Mouri couldn't really blame her.

Who could remain calm after learning something like this?

"Dr. Asai, it's no wonder you're having a hard time processing this."

"After all, this is a major case. The Metropolitan Police Department wouldn't normally act this fast, unless they had already been keeping an eye on Tsukikage Island for a while."

Conan, standing beside Mouri, nodded in agreement.

A large-scale operation like this had to have been in the works for quite some time.

Tsukikage Island had likely been on the Metropolitan Police Department's radar for a while, and this operation had probably been in planning for months.

Drug-related busts were always carried out with extreme precision.

The task force was deployed with a clear objective: to take down the traffickers as swiftly as possible.

They stormed both the village community center and the back mountains.

Once the raid was complete, the criminal investigators moved in to gather evidence.

The entire operation was executed swiftly and efficiently, completely unlike the sluggish response times usually seen in Tokyo.

There was no doubt that this plan had been meticulously prepared.

The goal was to catch the drug dealers off guard, which was why the raid resulted in a near-total annihilation of the armed traffickers and the successful capture of all major leaders.

Come to think of it, the letter that had requested Uncle Mouri's help earlier was that also related to the discovery of the drug traffickers?

Conan found that possibility highly likely.

Especially after learning that the supposed "client" had actually died over a decade ago.

"Uncle Mouri, do you think that person had already discovered the truth about Tsukikage Island?"

"Could it be that Seiji Asoh's death more than ten years ago was also connected to the village chief?"

"Was the client trying to lead you toward the case from back then?"

"Hmm... That's a real possibility."

Kogoro had to admit, Conan's theory made sense.

"The client paid the commission fee in advance and even used the name of Seiji Asoh, who's been dead for over a decade."

"And considering all the village chief's crimes, it's possible that Seiji Asoh was killed back then because of the drug trade."

"Someone must've recently found evidence of the village chief's operations and used a fake name to hire me for the investigation."

Listening to all of this, Narumi Asai felt... conflicted.

The reasoning was sound. The conclusion was correct.

But the problem was... she had originally planned to take matters into her own hands.

Yet, in the end, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police had handled everything.

They struck with overwhelming force, wiping out the entire drug operation in one decisive blow.

The village chief and all key figures were now in custody.

There was nothing left for her to do.

The task force and the investigators had done everything she had wanted to do and they had done it legally and justifiably.

That left her feeling strangely empty.

But... wasn't this a good thing?

It should be a good thing.

Even though the outcome and process had deviated completely from her original plan, the fact remained: the major drug traffickers had been caught.

And dozens of hidden murder cases had been brought to light.

Most importantly, she had gotten her revenge without having to stain her own hands or end up in prison.

From an objective standpoint, everything had turned out perfectly.

Aside from her personal feelings of awkwardness, there was nothing to complain about.

So, in the end...

It was best that no one found out she was the one who had sent that letter.