Becoming Professor Moriarty’s Probability Chapter 101

༺ Professor Moriarty’s Probability ༻

 

 

  “Adler.”

   

  The moment a wave of killing intent zeroed in on them from the end of the silent hallway, only one thought colored the professor’s mind. 

   

  Isaac Adler… standing bravely before her to defend her from any signs of danger. No matter what, she must not let her beloved assistant die. 

   

  “… Adler, be careful!”

   

  Since she had monitored Adler continuously for the past few days, she was able to grasp far more of the situation than he ever could… owing to her unique observational skills. 

   

 

  That ominously eerie and persistent gaze had repeatedly confirmed the sight of Adler losing his senses, half-devoured by the distraught girl who had lost her sanity, and subsequently turning into a vampire as he slowly regenerated his mangled body. 

   

  In other words, the owner of those eyes knew that Isaac Adler was a vampire, effectively making them one of the select few individuals in the entirety of London aware of that fact. 

   

  Nevertheless, the unblinking pair of eyes had, for the past few days, quietly observed the bloody interactions between the girl and Adler from behind that peeping hole.

   

  The professor was well aware of the fact but paid no heed to it. 

   

  She was slightly miffed at her assistant, who had audaciously drunk copious amounts of alcohol and had undermined her prestige under the effects of his inebriation. More than anything else, however, she didn’t believe that Isaac Alder could be toyed with by such an insignificant variable. 

   

– Bzzzzztt…

   

  However, when the supposed owner of those persistent eyes spread a fog throughout the corridor – eerily identical to the morning mist that engulfed the entirety of London at dawn every day – Professor Moriarty was forced to reassess the threat such a seemingly insignificant variable possessed. 

   

  “I’m immortal, so I’ll be fine, Professor.”

 

  “Be silent, Adler. Just come behind me quickly.”

   

  When she was at the height of her travels… to quench the thirst brought forth by her curse— curious regarding anything that may assist in her pursuit of satisfaction, she had also attempted to analyze the mysterious fog’s composition.

   

  But the result was a failure.

   

  Even the renowned magical analysts of Britain had failed to analyze the composition of the mysterious mist. So, it was only natural for her, someone whose expertise didn’t lie in analysis, to face significant difficulty in dissecting the mysterious mist.

   

  In truth, the realization that she was able to easily obliterate the fog with the all-devouring nature of her grey mana was one of the primary factors that ultimately led the professor to lose any and all interest in the fog. 

   

  “Rather, you should come behind me instead, Professor. You can’t use magic right now, so you’re vulnerable.”

   

  Nevertheless, the owner of those eyes was artificially spreading the very fog that even she had failed to analyze.

   

  And… as Adler had mentioned just now, she was currently unable to use her mana… the very same mana capable of easily clearing away the dreadful fog. 

   

  “Adler, before I get any angrier, ple…”

   

  Faced with such an unfavorable situation, cold sweat started trickling down the professor’s forehead as she silently reached forward when…

   

– Swish…

   

  The killing intent felt from beyond the fog, thick enough to fully obscure a person’s vision, suddenly intensified and immediately, the presence inside the fog inched closer— so close that one could make out a silhouette of the presence. 

   

  “………!”

   

  In the next moment, seemingly out of nowhere, a gun gleaming in a silvery light could be seen amid the fog. 

   

  “No…”

   

  For the first time in her life, the professor threw herself forward to save someone.

   

  “……… Ah.”

   

  And immediately after her subconscious action, countless thoughts began racing through her mind. 

   

   

  “………”

   

  

– Bang!!!

  

  However, as the gunshot echoed down the hallway and reached her ears, such thoughts were cut short, left adrift in the transience of eternity.

  

  “… Ugh.”

  

  Almost immediately, she felt a burning sensation blaze through her chest and her legs gave out in the next instant, causing her to collapse where she stood.

  

– Hiss…

  

  Luckily, there was no further gunfire. The fog soon began thinning out, seemingly going out through a window opened somewhere one’s eyes could not see. And… along with the disappearing fog, the assailant also seemed to have vanished in silence. 

  

  “… Cough.”

  

  However, the professor, her face several times paler than her usual self, was left in a dire state. 

  

  Due to her subconscious action of shielding Adler with her body, she received a fatal shot that almost pierced through her chest, hollowing it out. 

  

  Moreover, the silver bullet filled with ominous magic, seemingly prepared for Adler, was still erratically vibrating in her chest and inflicting damage to her body. 

  

  “… Ah.”

  

  For the professor, it was a pain she had never felt before in her life. And… it was probably the last time she would ever get to feel such pain. 

  

  “Ahaha… Ahahaha…”

  

  Coming to that realization in an instant, laughter mixed with gurgled blood burst out of the professor’s lips in erratic rhythms. 

  

  “Ahahahahaha…”

  

  The thought that she, who had reigned supreme from the moment she opened her eyes, had been reduced to this state by a single blonde-haired boy was simply unbelievable. 

  

  She had this thought just before… but now she was sure. If her past self from a few months ago were to see this ridiculous, almost blasphemous, sight, she would probably try to kill her future self with a look of utter disdain and disgust in her eyes. 

  

  “… Hahaaa.”

  

  With those thoughts reigning havoc in her mind, the professor forced herself to keep her eyelids open— eyelids that had become too heavy and were stubbornly trying to keep themselves closed. And what first appeared in her sight… was her beloved assistant, who seemed to have finally got himself out of the influence of the smoke.

  

  “Professor…?”

  

  As he spotted her and began moving slowly toward her collapsed figure, a hypothesis she didn’t even want to imagine suddenly surfaced in her mind.

  

  ‘… Could all this have been his act all along?’

  

  For a doubt that had just popped up in her head on the passing, it was fairly credible, all things considered. 

  

  Normally a gentle and innocent lamb, but behind that facade, there lay an enigmatic boy with an undeniable dark side to him.

  

  That boy had never once shown his true feelings… ever since the very first day he met with her professor. 

  

  Even when he smiled brightly and whispered words of love in her ears, or when his eyes darkened and he subtly touched her in places he should never lay his hands upon, there was always a primal fear etched deep within his expression— a primal fear directed at her.

  

  The professor knew this all too well but had deliberately ignored it all along.

  

  The changes that Isaac Adler brought into her life were an irresistible drug for her— a life filled with endless boredom and unquenchable thirst. 

  

  Every time he deceived her with coercion and half-hearted lies, she would act oblivious to his actions. Just so she could keep him by her side.

  

  ‘Yes, from the beginning, who you loved was…’

  

  However, on the day he jeopardized the professor’s well-planned murder plot at Charlotte’s mansion, he showed his true feelings for the very first time. 

  

  And on that very same day, his eyes also took on the color black, the color the professor hated the most in the world. 

  

  After that day, the professor was unable to act oblivious any longer. 

  

  ‘… Was Charlotte Holmes.’

  

  Adler’s affections were directed not at her… but at the girl named Charlotte Holmes. And the reason he was concocting these bizarre cases was for the sole purpose of helping that little girl grow. 

  

  It was just as the little girl said— the one being used here… was she herself. 

  

  ‘… Did he design this case for her as well?’

  

  The professor’s expression turned bitter as she contemplated up to that point.

  

  ‘This is the worst.’

  

  When Jane Moriarty saw Adler’s right eye being ever so slightly tainted in her own color, perhaps finally showing faint glimmers of the feelings he truly held for her deep within, she had harbored a sliver of hope.

  

  Hope that…

 

  Perhaps her reformed assistant, just for the sake of his own survival, would create a kingdom of crime for her in London— a proposition he had once spuriously claimed. 

  

  And in that very kingdom, every morning, he would greet her with a bright smile— eyes dyed in her color, not Charlotte’s.

  

  ‘… It’s my complete and utter defeat.’

  

  However, it seemed that was nothing but her delusion.

  

  Like most of the cases they had encountered so far, if Adler had truly designed this case as well, he couldn’t have failed to anticipate such an ending.

  

  The price paid for drinking seawater, blinded by the unquenchable thirst, was far too cruel for the professor.

  

  “That was a close call… Adler.”

  

  The professor, gasping for each breath, mumbled as she gazed hazily at Adler’s legs— his legs that had finally reached her, close enough to see them clearly, even through her blurred vision. 

  

  “You almost… got hit by a silver bullet for a second there…”

  

  Was it because she didn’t want to confirm the expression of contempt and disdain that would surely be etched on Adler’s face? Or was it because she lacked the strength to lift her head? No matter the reason, she was just unable to look up at the moment…

  

  “It’s fortunate, truly so fortu…”

  

  With a resigned smile, the professor murmured in a fading voice, and eventually, her eyelids slowly began to close; unable to withstand the overwhelming sleepiness that drenched the canvas of her mind in white.

  

  “Isaac… Adler.”

  

  In that situation, sensing her imminent death, she murmured Adler’s name; a slight tremor in her eyes. However, her voice, now as faint as it could possibly be, failed to reach him.

  

  “You are…”

  

  Yet, perhaps, since it was the very end of their story in this world, he might look at her with just the faintest of sincerity and affection… 

  

  Jane Moriarty, harboring that small hope, tried to carefully lift her head.

  

  “………”

  

  But now, unable to even move her lips, all she could do was curl her lips in a lonely smile and let the strength drain from her body. 

  

  “… This… can’t be…”

  

  “……..?”

  

  And at the end of their story, at the end of their short yet wonderful path, her ears were met with Adler’s trembling voice filled with despair and sorrow. 

  

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

   

  “Professor… Professor Moriarty!”

  

  “……….”

  

  “You’re not seriously hurt, are you? I know you’re not. Stop this nonsense, it’s not fun.”

  

  In the professor’s narrowing field of vision, as she was losing consciousness, she saw the face of Isaac Adler, contorted with a myriad of emotions as he pulled her into his warm and gentle embrace. 

  

  “Please, just tell me it’s a joke…”

  

  Adler, whose right eye had eventually been stained in her color, buried his head in her chest with tears streaming out of his quivering eyes. 

  

  “Please… It’s my fault…”

  

  In Adler’s voice, for the very first time, the genuine sentiment he felt towards the professor was unmistakably conveyed.

  

  “Don’t die……”

  

  

  Professor Moriarty, having finally witnessed the true emotions that Isaac Adler had been concealing all along, mustered her very last bit of strength to speak to him.

  

  

  With those fleeting words, the professor quietly closed her eyes… forever… a tender smile of joy and peace on her lips.

  

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  

  No one knew how much time had passed in the still room…

  

  “… Is this the only possible solution?”

  

  Adler, still holding the lifeless body of Professor Moriarty that was rapidly losing its warmth, looked up into the void and asked in a flat and emotionless voice.

  

  

  

  Then, a message filled with incredulous rewards appeared before his eyes.

  

  

  “… What if…”

  

  Adler, still gazing at the message, gently stood up on his feet. With the professor’s lifeless body held tightly in his embrace, he tilted his head to pose another question to the system. 

  

  “What happens if I refuse to accept this ending?”

  

  After a brief delay, another message appeared, seemingly scribbled in haste.

  

  

  “… I see.”

  

  Adler, leaving that message behind, began taking his steps towards the basement of the mansion drenched in utter darkness, muttering coldly under his breath.

  

  “Peace in London ends today.”

  

  

  “I have no other choice.”

  

  For the first time, anger twisted his face, and his right eye, dyed in the professor’s hue, shone with an ominous light.

  

  “I am Professor Moriarty’s probability, after all.”