Professor Killings

The Professor Killings were a series of killings that occurred in the British Empire prior to the events of Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Bōken and Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2: Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Kakugo.

The Killings

 * Main article: The Resolve of Naruhodō Ryūnosuke

When chief prosecutor Klimt van Zieks heard that a fellow noble was victimizing the rest of England to make himself more well off, he felt a deep sense of regret and frustration at being unable to do anything about it exactly because the perpetrator was a noble. So he went on a hunt with his large dog, Balmung, and became known as the "Professor". Another prosecutor, Hart Vortex, eventually found out about Klimt and decided to have him kill the current Chief Justice to take his place and create a perfect society.

At the time, three men from Japan were studying abroad: Genshin Asōgi, widower Yūjin Mikotoba and Seishirou Jigoku. Genshin, who was studying to become a detective, figured out the Professor's identity despite the fact that he became close friends with the van Zieks. He approached Vortex about it, begging him to move the police force into action, but Vortex wouldn’t have any of it without “decisive evidence”. Incensed by this, Genshin snuck into Klimt's mansion one night, cornering him. He proposed that they duel, and Klimt agreed on two conditions: that he be allowed to write a will, confessing his sins; and that Genshin agrees to help his wife, who was pregnant. They dueled, and Genshin won. He ran out of the mansion leaving Klimt's corpse behind. Unfortunately, a number of the servants spotted Genshin running. This was the most concrete thing they had, however, as there wasn’t enough evidence. Meanwhile, a notorious criminal, Selden, stole Balmung's dog collar, which had been a gift from the Baskerville family upon Klimt's marriage, and hid it in his flat.

Wanting to tie this up and protect Klimt van Zieks’ secret to keep the law running as smoothly as possible, Vortex roped Detective Tobias Gregson and Doctor John H. Watson into a forging scheme, he didn't want the people to know that a fellow British noble was responsible for the killings. First, Gregson would collect a group of thugs together and attack Genshin Asōgi, stealing his trademark ring. Second, Gregson, with Vortex’s help, would argue for Klimt’s autopsy report would not be done to a noble with the House of Lords. Third, Watson would keep his assistants, Courtney Simon and Yūjin Mikotoba, busy during the dissection and pretended to find the ring in Klimt's stomach, coming to the conclusion that Klimt had swallowed it to provide proof for his killer.

Despite the discrepancies in Klimt’s death, dying of a stab wound to the heart rather than having his throat torn apart by a hound, he was treated as the last of the Professor’s victims and Genshin Asōgi was arrested and tried as the Professor. A secret trial was held by orders of the Queen and Jigoku felt like he was the defendant when he was a witness. Genshin was forced to wear a metal mask and keep his identity hidden. However, he still had Klimt van Zieks’ will, which not only admitted his identity as the Professor but also pointed to Vortex as the one who threatened him to continue killing. Vortex realized this, so he approached Genshin for a deal: keep the will secret and accept a Guilty verdict at the trial, and he would arrange for Genshin’s escape from prison so he can go back to Japan. Genshin refused to agree until Vortex brought up the prospect of never seeing his family again, and then caved in. Genshin did one last thing, however: he wrote his own will, asking that all his personal affects be sent overseas to his son. He also hid part of Klimt's will in the hilt of his sword, Karuma, hoping that it could one day be found and reveal the truth. Then he had asked Yūjin for one last favor: to visit a certain address.

Hart Vortex was replaced with Klimt's younger brother, Barok, as prosecutor due to his insistence and he won, Genshin sentence was death. Vortex involved Simon, as the coroner who "confirmed" Genshin’s death after execution; and Harry Barricade, who kept the current prison warden of Berkly Prison Everyday Mittlemont busy, to aid in Genshin’s escape. Mittlemont was supposed to check on the body, nail the lid on the coffin and sign off on it. But the night Genshin was executed and Mittlemont went to check on the coffin, he found something odd: the lid had already been nailed on. He didn’t think too deeply about it, assuming the vice-chief had come and checked it already, then signed off on it. Barricade received Genshin's will and the other part of Klimt's.

Once Genshin was buried, Vortex and Jigoku, who jumped on board after Vortex promised him the Minister of Foreign Affairs' position back in Japan, would head to Lowgate Cemetary, right next to Berkley Prison, to help dig him out and begin his journey back. However, just as Genshin was coming out of the ground, a grave robber named Enoch Drebber appeared in the cemetery that night and saw what appeared to be the Professor rising from his grave. It was there that Vortex told Jigoku the plan was over, and they had no choice but to shoot Genshin to keep him dead for real. Jigoku hesitated, but he eventually shot Genshin Asōgi with gun Vortex just gave him, killing him, causing Drebber flee.

Yūjin did as Genshin told him and found a woman there about to give birth. He helped deliver the baby girl, but the mother died shortly after. Seeing a chest with a certain "B" crest on it in the corner of the room, Yūjin realized one more dreadful thing. The newborn girl he was holding was the child of Klimt van Zieks and a woman of the Baskervilles. As he had to return to Japan, he left the baby in Sherlock Holmes's care. He named this girl Iris after his own deceased wife, Ayame Mikotoba.

The Death Bringer curse
Hart Vortex then started to bring a curse upon Barok van Zieks. In his desire to create a world of order and safety for the people of London, he created an organization that go after those that managed to escape guilty verdicts and kill them. The first of them was Chalan Musgrave, head of a criminal organization in a trial that Barok headed. Musgrave bribed the Jury and was crushed by a concrete block under a construction site three days after; rumors began to spread that this “Death Bringer” was actually Klimt’s ghost attached to Barok, bringing down justice where the latter could not. These rumors were spread by Vortex, as he knew Barok would cling to that moniker to hold onto something of his brother’s. Vortex involved people like Gregson, who would carefully investigate the targets and come up with the best way to eliminate them. Ann Sasha, London's most notorious assassin, was the primary assassin. John Watson was involved as well, he changed the autopsy records of those killed by the Reaper, Courtney Simon (with her surname now Sithe) took his place after Watson was invited overseas. Gregson and Watson only accepted doing as Vortex says on the condition that Barok would not be held responsible for the Reaper killings. Barok eventually took a five year leave of absence as he was unable to bear the burden and pressure that came with being labelled as the Reaper.

The Assassination Exchange Program
Vortex began to realize being Chief Justice wasn’t enough to fulfill his desires of an orderly, crime-free London; he had to become attorney general no matter what. But to do that, he would need to cut off a few loose ends: those of Detective Gregson and Dr. Watson specifically, as they were the only remaining individuals that knew the truth about Klimt’s autopsy. To do this, he blackmailed Jigoku with the truth of Genshin's death, and created a “Target Switch” assassin program. Using the recently established Japanese-Anglo Alliance treaty that allowed criminals in a foreign country to be extradited to their consulate, England and Japan would switch assassins.


 * Main article: The Adventure of the Great Departure

First, England would send Ann Sasha, disguised as exchange student Jezail Brett, to murder John Watson. Once that was established, Japan would send Genshin's son Kazuma, who inherited Karuma, to murder Tobias Gregson. Under the condition of Genshin’s study abroad, Kazuma readily accepted it. To solidify this deal, and to prove as a kind of contract, a transmission was sent from England to Japan containing these four names. A disc with said transmission on it would later be a government secret Robert Crogley would obtain for Cosney Megundal.

Asougi’s “Death” and Sherlock’s Resolve
Sherlock Holmes had a habit of listening in on transmissions between England and Japan, and that was how he found out about the four names. Given notorious assassin Sasha had been missing for months and he heard news of Watson’s death, he was afraid that the four names on this list were the names of victims. Holmes realized that Kazuma was going to kill Gregson. Kazuma's best friend, Ryūnosuke Naruhodō, exposed Sasha for killing Watson. She was supposed to be extradited to Shanghai, China but she was killed by Heita Mamemomi.


 * Main article: The Adventure of the Unbreakable Speckled Band

Having board the S.S. Alaclaire, Holmes resolved to prevent Kazuma’s study abroad by any means possible. Holmes took his chance when Kazuma seemingly got killed by Nikomina Borschevic, intending to leave him in Hong Kong as a “corpse” and have him sent back to Japan. He then convinced Naruhodō to take up Kazuma’s place as the transfer attorney, knowing that this meant Kazuma wouldn’t be able to come to England for at least a few years. In reality, however, Kazuma was just knocked out and suffered amnesia. He had to adopt the Masked Disciple persona by orders of Vortex.

Holmes would later convince Tobias Gregson to transfer to France and take Gina Lestrade with him, hoping to protect him this way. It wasn’t until he overheard Naruhodō, Yūjin, and his daughter Susato talking that he realized that Ann Sasha hadn’t disappeared and had actually killed Watson, making him realize that Kazuma and Gregson’s relationship would've likely been the same.

Tobias Gregson's death

 * Main article: Twisted Karma and His Last Bow

Gregson was given a “Death Bringer” mission for 10/31, aboard the S.S. Balabrock as it headed for France. The target was Seishirou Jigoku, and in a twist of fate, the assassin sent with him was Kazuma. Kazuma grew incensed after hearing the truth about Genshin’s trial from Gregson and attacked him. However, Kazuma then decided to leave it at that, disembarking in France and staying the night. On Jigoku’s end, however, he had no idea Kazuma was still alive at this point, and was determined to complete Japan’s end of the target switch agreement with his own hands. Jigoku shot Gregson, froze his body, and tried to pin the crime on Everyday Mittlemont, but Barok van Zieks took the fall instead.


 * Main article: The Resolve of Naruhodō Ryūnosuke

With the help of Susato, Yūjin, Holmes, Iris, Kazuma, Barok, Lestrade, and Sithe's daughter Maria Goulloyne, Naruhodō exposed Jigoku for his crimes. Then after exposing Vortex behind the Death Bringer curse, receiving the Genshin's and part of Klimt's will from Harry Barricade, he found the last part of the will in Karuma, exposing Vortex behind as the mastermind behind the Professor Killings. Vortex attempted to say that they can't reveal any of this to the public because it will lose their trust in the law and that he did all this for the greater good, but Holmes revealed that he was telecasting the whole trial to Queen Victoria who stripped Vortex of his position as London's Chief Justice so he can be put to trial.

Trivia

 * All of the cases in both Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Bōken and Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2: Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Kakugo have a connection to this case.
 * The cases involving Japan and Kazuma's trip are the assassination exchange program Vortex orchestrated.
 * The incident with Crogley and Megundal revolved around discs encoded with a government secret, the above program. Even the password to exchange one of them from Hatch Windibank is PROFESSOR.
 * The mysteries involving Sōseki Natsume in John Garrideb's boarding house revolve around Balmung's stolen collar.
 * The murder at the World's fair happened because Elyder Meningen knew about Drebber and Sithe's role in the incident.
 * The twisted lip man and red-headed league incident happened along with Gregson's murder.