Ten minutes later, a KaibaCorp field team had arrived at the villa.
"It's definitely Zigfried Lloyd."
A team member came out, carrying a laptop, to Mokuba outside. The smell inside was too much, so Kira and Mokuba had already gone outside.
"He's dead?" Mokuba asked. "Because of a Shadow Duel?"
"No, I think it was illness."
The team member reported.
"And it wasn't recent. The exact time is hard to determine, but judging from the body, he's been dead for at least three months."
Mokuba was stunned.
Three months?
But they had just seen Zigfried Lloyd, talked to him, even played a duel.
If the real Zigfried Lloyd had died three months ago, then who did they see?
Who did they duel against?
Thinking of this, Mokuba broke into a cold sweat. Instinctively, he glanced back at the villa, which now seemed even more ominous.
Zigfried's resentment before death, his twisted expression, his deathly pale face—all flashed back, making Mokuba shiver.
It was as if the vengeful spirit still lingered, glaring at them from the shadows.
"Kira..."
Mokuba looked at Kira.
"Did we just..."
"See a ghost? Probably." Kira said.
Mokuba: "..."
Could you not say something so scary in such a calm tone?
"What's wrong?" Kira said casually. "Didn't we just discuss how ghosts aren't that rare?"
Mokuba was speechless.
True. Before the duel, they had just been talking about how the previous Duel King was a 3,000-year-old ghost.
So what Kira meant was, ghost or not, it's already been beaten—nothing too scary.
"But what I'm wondering is, why?" Kira thought, stroking his chin. "Why did he end up like this?"
In this world, people have souls, but it's not easy for them to become vengeful ghosts. Normally, the dead return to the afterlife, and someone like the Pharaoh only hung around for 3,000 years due to extraordinary circumstances and supernatural power.
Zigfried Lloyd was a genius and a capitalist, but hadn't dealt with the supernatural. His words and actions in the duel suggest someone helped him.
Someone gave him the power to persist as a soul after death and to start a Shadow Duel with Kira.
Kira, having read many ancient texts, especially on dark powers, understood: for a soul to persist and gain Shadow Duel powers is not something just any dark duelist can grant.
Whoever did this must be very powerful.
In short, taking care of Zigfried was only the first step. The real mastermind behind him hasn't even shown up and probably won't let this go.
Looks like KaibaCorp still has a lot of trouble ahead.
But that's Kaiba's problem.
Kira had been paid well by Kaiba, with a warehouse of cards and even a jet plane, so he didn't mind helping out when Kaiba was away, or when he had time.
Sometimes, there's even extra cash to be made.
Like today, with Zigfried's Valkyrie deck.
The Valkyries may not be that strong, but their rarity is top-tier. There's only one because Zigfried printed them himself; it's his exclusive deck.
And while their power is average, the Valkyries' advantages go beyond skimpy costumes. The two broken god cards Zigfried just used—draw-five-with-a-side-of-opponent-monster-silence Nibelung's Treasure, and the turn-skipping Mischief of the Time Goddess—are both rule-breaking fake cards.
Now Zigfried is dead, and the poor Valkyries are masterless, so Kira reluctantly takes them in, giving them a new home.
"What's your plan now?" Kira asked Mokuba.
Mokuba understood that there was more to the Zigfried incident, that someone else was behind it.
He thought for a moment. "I'll ask Leon if he knows anything."
"Leon?" Kira didn't recall the name.
"Oh, Leon Wilson. Real name Leon von Schroeder."
The surname jogged Kira's memory. Zigfried's biological younger brother, who in the original KC arc used a Fairy Tale deck and dueled Yugi in the KC Cup finals, gaining Yugi's recognition. Zigfried said his brother's talent and skill far surpassed his own.
Back then, Leon was just a child but made it to the finals. Now, so many years later, he's a pro, active in the European circuit, often topping the leaderboards and winning championships, now considered Europe's number one duelist.
The Schroeder family fell on hard times, and after the KC Cup, Zigfried went to jail and never recovered. But his brother, thanks to his talent, became a star in the dueling world.
This character only briefly appeared in the KC arc, but is beloved by fans—especially those with a foot fetish. In his duel with Yugi, even though he lost, he did something no one else has done:
He took off Dark Magician Girl's little boots.
"Well, good luck with your investigation. If there's nothing else, I'll head back to the Academy."
As he spoke, Kira remotely called his jet plane through his duel disk system. The jet from Kaiba could auto-pilot to his position.
"Let me know if you need anything."
"Alright." Mokuba nodded. "Thanks again, I'll let my brother know."
Just then, another subordinate hurried over.
"Sorry to interrupt, sir, but we found a clue." He said. "The surveillance system at the house entrance was still running. We pulled the footage and found someone visited five days ago."
"Oh? Who?" Mokuba asked.
Zigfried had been dead for three months, so anyone entering the villa during that time was suspicious.
"Facial recognition says his name is... Ryuya Saito? Just a local thug from a nearby town."
"A thug?" Mokuba was surprised. "A Shadow Duelist?"
"No, just a normal thug."
"That's odd." Mokuba muttered.
"Looks like I'll be getting back to the dorm late tonight," Kira said. "Do you have an address? I can go check it out, and politely ask Mr. Saito what he knows."