Legend of the Golden Witch: Difference between revisions

The rest of the Ushiromiya family is en route to the annual family conference; [[Eva Ushiromiya|Eva]], [[Hideyoshi Ushiromiya|Hideyoshi]], [[George Ushiromiya|George]], [[Rudolf Ushiromiya|Rudolf]], [[Kyrie Ushiromiya|Kyrie]], [[Rosa Ushiromiya|Rosa]], and [[Maria Ushiromiya]] all meet at an airport in order to make the initial flight to Niijima. In addition, [[Battler Ushiromiya]] meets at the airport to attend his first family conference in six years. After catching up, the family departs for Niijima. Upon arrival, the family boards a small ship that takes them to the conference area proper: Kinzo's private island, [[Rokkenjima]].

The family convenes with the other family members already on the island: [[Krauss Ushiromiya|Krauss]], [[Natsuhi Ushiromiya|Natsuhi]], and [[Jessica Ushiromiya]]. They also meet the many servants working on the island that day: [[Toshiro Gohda|Gohda]], [[Kanon]], [[Shannon]], [[Genji Ronoue|Genji]], and [[Chiyo Kumasawa|Kumasawa]]. After tea and lunch, the younger members of the family move to the [[guest house]] to play and talk amongamongst each other. The adults remain in the main building in order to discuss the issue of Kinzo's inheritance. Under the guise of being worried about Kinzo's health, the greedy adults bicker with each other over how to divide the inheritance after Kinzo dies. The conversation turns into accusations of embezzlement directed towards the eldest son, Krauss. As the argument gets increasingly heated, Krauss's wife Natsuhi flees the room. The siblings continue to argue, throwing various accusations back and forth for some time. As Krauss regains control of the situation, he suggests that the siblings take a break of their arguments by trying their hand at solving [[the witch's epitaph]], a riddle inscribed beneath a large portrait of [[Beatrice]].

Meanwhile, Maria reveals to Jessica, George, Battler, and Shannon that she had copied the witch's epitaph into her notebook. Maria persuades the group to attempt to solve the epitaph while they relax on the beach. The group manages to make some progress by deducing that the epitaph's first few lines refer to various places surrounding [[w:Odawara|Odawara]], however their conversation veers towards the existence of magic. When Battler and Jessica begin to deny the existence of witches, Maria becomes increasingly upset, forcing George to intervene. After Maria is calmed, she offers Battler and Jessica [[scorpion charm|scorpion charms]] which she claims will help ward off any malevolent magic. Before the group can return to solving the epitaph, thea storm begins to set on the island and the group retreat towards the [[guest house]].

As the storm reaches Rokkenjima, Kinzo proclaims that [[Beatrice]] is on her way. As an offering to her, he removes his ring symbolizing his role as head of the family and throws it out of his window. Meanwhile, Kanon retrieves the cousins from the guest house for dinner in the [[Ushiromiya main building|main building]]. Despite Kinzo's absence, the family begrudgingly eats their dinner. When they are finished, Maria procures a [[Beatrice's letter|letter that she claims she was given by the witch Beatrice]]. Its authenticity is seemingly proven by a wax stamp that was created by Kinzo's ring. Despite this, the family is adamant that Beatrice doesn't exist and, in actuality, someone at the table had given Maria the letter and they begin to heatedly argue with each other.

Some time later, Rudolf approaches Kyrie and Battler and claims that it is likely that he will be killed that night. Meanwhile, Krauss shows Natsuhi a gold ingot that he once found that he keeps hidden away, supposedly proving the existence of both the gold that Beatrice gave Kinzo decades ago as well as the existence of Beatrice herself. This leads to an argument between the two and Natsuhi leaves in tears. Jessica later approaches Natsuhi and shares a brief moment of intimate affection with her. This moment ends with Jessica giving Natsuhi the scorpion charm that Maria had given her earlier. In the [[rose garden]], George proposes to Shannon. HeGeorge requestsclaims thathe shewill surmise Shannon's answer to his proposal theby followingwhich dayfinger byshe placingwears the ring he gives her on athe correspondingfollowing fingerday.

The followingnext morning, Gohda, Rosa, and Shannon are nowhere to be found. After some searching, Kanon, Genji, Eva, and Hideyoshi discover a [[Demonology in Umineko no Naku Koro ni#Seventh pentacle of the sun|strange symbol]] written in blood on the door of the storehouse. After opening the door, they find the corpses of Krauss, Rudolf, Kyrie, Shannon, Gohda, and Rosa. Rudolf, Kyrie, Rosa, and Gohda have had their faces destroyed and are recognizable only due to their clothing. Krauss and Shannon, on the other hand, have only half their faces destroyed and are still somewhat recognizable by what remains. Furthermore, Kinzo is missing from his room.