A/N I wrote this for my English class. We had to write a mystery story and I wanted to do mine based on Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracles. I realize some of the names are not correct, like Angela Ledore because she's not married to Henry. I also had the original name of the town as Stallmur but I'm changing that to the real name, Stansbury. So if you see Stallmur it's probably because I missed it. I tried not to copy the idea of Professor Layton exactly, so I changed the name of Hershel to Randall and Randall's name is Landon (it's close to his name in other versions but it is Lando in other games). I'm also changing that. Again, if you see where I've messed up on changing the name please tell me on both of those. I'm trying to fix them. I could only write on 10 pages so I'm sorry if it's short. But I think overall I did alright on it so I decided to upload it. I've used character names from the Diabolical Box (Anton). And I understand it moves to quickly but again, I only had 10 pages to write on.
In April 1983, a small town in England was the talk of the decade. That town is Stansbury and its home to the most perplexing puzzle any archaeologist has found. The Norwell Wall, said to lead anyone who solves it to riches, is deep in the forest of Stansbury. Believe it or not, an eighteen year old boy solved it, but riches were not what he found.
I, Hershel Layton, live in Stansbury. Before the incident, this town was nice. Now no one trusts anyone. Before, no one had to look their doors. There were few rich people, no one really needed money. If you needed anything you would ask your neighbor and they would help you. Everyone lived in a small cottage; omit a few who lived in mansions. Stansbury was old fashion, and I loved it. Now no one sees it in the same way. My best friend, Landon Ascot, went on an expedition after he solved the wall; but he never returned. Rumors started that he was murdered by his servant, Anton Triton, or that he was kidnapped because someone wanted his money. Only our friend, Angela Ledore, and I know of his trip; and we plan to find him.
Landon told me that when he got home, he'd leave a note on my window telling me he made it. The first thing I did was check it. No note. He probably forgot. "I'm heading to Landon's house mum!" I yelled before running out the door. As I headed to his house, I stopped by Angela's and got her. She was on her porch. "Did you get a note from Landon this morning?" I asked her. She jumped out of her seat and almost onto the ground. "Hershel! You scared me!" she yelled at me. "No I did not, did you?" I shook my head, "Should we go to his house?" She nodded her head and ran towards me.
After a few minutes of awkward silence, I noticed she had a small relic around her neck. "Where'd you get that?" I asked, pointing to the necklace. "This? Landon gave it to me for our 6 month anniversary," she responded. "Oh, so what did you get him?" She replied smiling, "A poem I wrote for him. He said he reads it every night before he goes to bed." A few moments later, we approached his house. "Can we sneak in through his window? I'd rather not have another run in with his father like the last time," I asked. She answered my question by grabbing the vines under his window and pulling herself up them. Once inside, she peek her head out the window and exclaimed, "He's not in here!"
The Ascot's were one of the few families that lived in a mansion, and theirs was no doubt the largest. Landon's room was three stories high. Being the horrible climber I am, when I tried to climb up the vines I fell, knocking the air out of me. "Are you okay, Hershel?" she asked me. "I'm fine! But I can't climb up there. Look for some clues about where he headed!" I stood there waiting for her, when the Ascot's servant, Anton, came out.
"Hershel? May I ask you what you're doing out here?" he asked me. "Um, Landon told me to wait for him outside and then we'd go to town together," I lied. "Oh okay. Would you mind helping me plant some flowers? I haven't heard from Master Landon all day, he must still be asleep." I agreed and helped him plant flowers. While helping him I found a small gold coin near one of the unplanted flowers. "What's this?" I whispered to myself. It looked like it had the symbol of the Azran on it. Anton was paying no attention so I stuck it in my pocket. "Are you done with your half?" Anton asked me, brushing the dirt off his pants. "Yes," I replied, doing the same. Anton went back inside. Not a minute after Angela climbed out of the window, "I found I map!"
Back at my house, we sat on my bedroom floor trying to decipher the map Angela found. "Maybe this is where he went," Angela said. "Maybe, there are two things that cancel that hypothesis out. First, he has plenty of maps lying about his room and- "Angela interrupted me with, "Yes, but this is a map of Stansbury." "You didn't let me finish. This map is old and probably very rare. Why would he leave this map, the one leading him to the treasure he's been trying to find for years, at home?" I asked her. "You don't know maybe he had two? He was very secretive about this, he didn't want anyone stealing his treasure," Angela said with a big grin on her face. "Okay, maybe we should follow it," I said.
We talked about what we would need to bring when my mother chimed in with a, "Hershel! Did you know you're friend Landon is missing?" Angela and I looked at each other shocked. We promised to tell no one because we didn't want to worry anyone and we wanted to solve this by ourselves. We walked into the living room to see my mom getting the broom out. Sweeping was a thing she did when she was nervous. "No, where did you hear this?" I asked curiously. "Mrs. Ascot went into his room and didn't see him in there. She said she walked all around the house, inside and out, and town and he was nowhere to be seen," she explained, "Then she stopped by here and told me to tell you that he was missing. She thought maybe he would be here. I told her he wasn't and I guess she's either still looking for him or contacted the police." I then asked her why she was nervous. She sighed before replying, "You were the last one over there and I'm afraid they'll suspect you. Anton told them what happened, about you waiting on Landon and you being nervous. I know you would never kill your best friend but Mrs. Ascot doesn't trust anyone." I looked at Angela surprised. I ushered her back to my room and said, "Fingerprints! You left fingerprints when you looked through all his stuff. They're going to suspect you too!" "The only way to solve this is find him, we leave tomorrow Hershel, no exceptions," she said sternly.
A/N: I changed it up a bit from the original. But I hope enjoyed what you read so far. I promise it gets more interesting. Please review and tell me whether I should upload the rest or not.