༺ The Professor and the Slave ༻
“… Mr Adler.”
Jane Moriarty – looking down at Isaac Adler, whose eyes had already closed, in front of her – quietly opened her mouth to call out to him.
“Get up.”
Usually, her assistant would respond to such calls with a subtle smile on his face, or with a slightly tense yet cute expression— an expression that she found to be endearing.
“………”
But now, there was no answer in response to her command as he lay there before her like a corpse.
And the cause for that behavior of his was all too clear in Professor Moriarty’s eyes, without any need for examination or investigation.
“… Isaac.”
Moriarty’s hand, kneeling in front of Adler, brushed over the brutally mutilated abdomen of her assistant, the injured organs, and the red handprints on his neck.
｢Please save me, Professor.｣
And then, the hastily written message, unlike Adler’s usual writing style, he had written to her appeared before her eyes; soaked in his incessantly leaking blood.
“Look here…”
At that moment, a voice mixed with laughter and bloodthirst came from behind the professor, who was blankly staring at the scene.
“Who are you?”
A human silhouette, wrapped in multilayered shadows, was tilting its head, displaying a chilling smile to her.
“… That doesn’t really matter.”
Professor Moriarty, who had been quietly observing the scene, finally stood up from her place.
“What you need to know right now is only one thing.”
The expression that had appeared on her face when she heard Adler’s faint whisper, as he closed his eyes before her, was nowhere to be seen any longer.
“… Today, you won’t be able to escape from this place in one piece.”
She took a brief moment to take in her surroundings, but that only served to intensify the turmoil within her, the turmoil that was churning more than ever before.
“For the first time in my life, I feel something this strongly, other than concern…”
And then, in the very next moment.
“”……….!!!””
Professor Moriarty’s body began to emanate a powerful grey aura, something one could hardly believe a human could possibly produce.
“… So that was the true extent of your powers, huh…”
“Huh, weren’t you human?”
Charlotte Holmes, who had been glaring daggers at the mysterious figure and waiting for a chance to strike, quietly retreated once she felt the pressure that Professor Moriarty leaked on the surroundings as she invoked her mana.
Meanwhile, Jill the Reaper, who had been laughing until then, showed a slight hint of surprise on her face obscured by shadows.
“What, are you turning into a dragon or something?”
“………..”
“Guess not? You look pretty human to me.”
Then, she showed a disappointed expression on her face, clicking her tongue in the process.
“I want to fight, but… it’s not the weekend yet, so it’s not really feasible.”
Jill the Reaper, chuckling with a twinkle in her eyes, waved her hand in a gesture of farewell.
“Well, see you on the weekend, I guess…?”
With that, her legs began to melt into the ground, as though merging with it…
– Gwoosh…
Professor Moriarty’s grey mana rushed towards her at a terrifying speed. However, Jill the Reaper was a tad bit quicker in her escape…
“Be careful on the night roads until then…”
Jill the Reaper whispered those threatening words in a chilling voice to Professor Moriarty, who was coldly glaring at her.
– Bang!!!
“… Huh?”
Her pupils suddenly constricted with the echoing sound of a gunshot.
“I should have… from the start… Cough—”
Colonel Rose, who had been lying on the ground until then, smiled faintly upon seeing the scene.
“I should have aimed for the head…”
Charlotte Holmes, after infusing her malfunctioning pistol with her black mana, forcibly fired a bullet, directly hitting Jill the Reaper in the head.
“Ugh…”
It was unclear whether aiming for the head, as Colonel Rose had suggested, was the right move or if it was due to the effects of Charlotte Holmes’ unique mana…
… However, the shot was enough to momentarily halt Jill the Reaper from merging into the ground…
“What did I tell you?”
Jane Moriarty began to murmur to her, with an expression as if she had anticipated all of this from the very start, in a voice that was unexpectedly emotional for an emotionless being like her.
“Didn’t I say you wouldn’t be able to leave in one piece?”
“… Cough—?”
Her mana began to seep into Jill the Reaper, who hadn’t been able to completely hide her body in time.
– Clench, clennch…
“Isaac Adler is mine.”
Struggling for a moment, she ultimately began to melt into the ground once more and vanished from this place like smoke vanished into the air.
“You’ve touched what you shouldn’t have,”
Professor Moriarty, who had been obsessively infusing her mana even as all traces of Jill the Ripper disappeared from the scene, finally withdrew her grey mana and spoke even as the surroundings calmed down.
“… The next time we meet, you’ll pay the price for your transgressions in full.”
“Stay back!”
From a distance, police officers, accompanied by doctors, started rushing into the room.
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“Mr. Adler.”
A soft voice echoed in his ear.
“Mr. Adler…”
“… Hmm.”
The voice was soft and pleasant to the ear, but for some reason, it felt as though the voice demanded an immediate response from me.
“Professor.”
Without even realizing, I responded to that voice and opened my eyes, and a familiar welcoming face came into view.
“… Is this, perhaps, heaven?”
“Stop talking like an idiot.”
For a moment, I stared blankly at her enchanting face. But when I jokingly asked that question, the professor responded with a small chuckle stretching her lips.
“There’s no way we would be in heaven.”
There were dark circles under her eyes that seemed more pronounced than ever before.
“To be precise, you didn’t die. It’s been a week since I rescued you from that place.”
“So, I’ve been in this hospital room for a whole week?”
“Yes, you were quite close to never opening your eyes again.”
She murmured in a slightly somber tone, then pointed at Princess Clay lying on the distant desk.
“Fortunately, that remarkable child was carrying a large amount of your blood..”
“Ah…”
“That’s not all. To save you, I summoned doctors from everywhere. It was a major surgery that lasted for a whopping 17 hours.”
“… I see.”
“Now, I’m practically broke because of it.”
However, Professor Moriarty, even as she said those words, was laughing softly and tilting her head in her usual cutesy manner.
“… Professor.”
For a moment, I blankly watched her, then quietly spoke.
“You’re so cute.”
“……?”
“You tilt your head from side to side, just like a lizard. I find it cute every time I see you do that.”
For a moment, her expression became vacant after hearing my daring words.
“… Do you have a death wish?”
“Well, yes, but not really.”
Then, I replied with a smile at her murmured response.
“It’s something I wanted to say at least once before dying.”
Then, a chilling silence ensued…
“Professor, I don’t think I’ll live for long.”
In that silence, while still looking at the unchanged probability of my certain death, I began to speak in a calm voice.
“I think I might die soon.”
“Mr. Adler?”
“I at least hoped to see you become the Queen of Crime before my death…”
There was no change in the professor’s expression.
Well, of course, that’s how Jane Moriarty should be.
Unfeeling. Emotionless. Unchanging.
“I’m sorry, Professor.”
“………..”
“For not being with you till the end.”
With a relieved heart, I sincerely apologized to her.
“……….”
Then, Professor Moriarty, who had been silently staring at me, quietly rose from her seat.
“Mr. Adler.”
She then sat down next to me and held my hand.
“That won’t happen.”
“… Why?”
There was a certain gleam in her eyes as she spoke her next words.
“Because this London is my territory.”
Soon after, her pale hand began to gently caress my cheek.
“You belong to that territory; you are my possession.”
Her expression remained unchanged even as she said those words.
“But you dare think of dying without my permission?”
However, for some reason, the atmosphere felt different than before.
“I’ll say it again. You won’t die.”
Overwhelmed by the atmosphere, I looked up at the professor and at that very moment, she leaned closer and whispered softly in my ear.
“Because… I’ve decided that you won’t.”
That was the exact moment…
… A miracle transpired.
“It’s the first time I’ve genuinely wanted to protect someone.”
As the message appeared before my eyes, I couldn’t help but look at it with a dazed expression. Then, I could feel Professor Moriarty gently brushing my head and gripping my hand tightly with a dark smile on her lips.
“… I’ll take responsibility for you.”
If the professor was like this, perhaps she could truly take responsibility for me for a lifeti…
– Probability of ??? — 40% → 60%
No, scratch that shit. I am fucked…
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“… Excuse me, Professor.”
Isaac Adler, who had been sweating profusely under Professor Moriarty’s caresses for quite some time, opened his mouth as if he had suddenly remembered something.
“By the way, how was the case resolved?”
“Are you talking about Silver Blaze’s request?”
With that, Jane Moriarty began her story, tapping Isaac Adler’s forehead with her finger.
“Of course, I took care of the aftermath. Thanks to Colonel Rose’s blind cooperation, it was easier for me to solve everything.”
“Oh…”
“Articles exaggerating the racial discrimination of demi-humans that took place at her racetrack hit London consecutively for the past week.”
“… The atmosphere outside must be quite intense right now.”
“The Demi-Human races all over England are on the verge of rioting. And the epicenter of it all should have just finished her interview by now.”
“You mean Miss Blaze?”
As Adler quietly listened to the story, a spark of energy returned to his eyes, causing Professor Moriarty to slightly furrow her brows.
“She’ll probably be here in a bit.”
– Knock, knock, knock…!
“Speak of the devil…”
Just then, a knocking sound began to resound from the door of the room.
“Prepare the contract magic. Surprisingly, you’re better at it than I am…”
With a smile once again stretching her face, Jane Moriarty headed towards the door but suddenly stopped in her tracks.
“… What is it?”
Then, tilting her head, she looked out of the window with a cold light in her eyes.
– Screech…
At that moment, the door opened, and Silver Blaze, with droopy ears and tail, entered the room.
“M, Mr. Adler…”
Moments later, after glancing between the professor and Adler for a moment, she opened her mouth in a trembling voice.
“I’m sorry…”
Silver Blaze, her tail completely hidden between her legs, continued to speak with a choked-up voice.
“I couldn’t hide it… my eyes…”
Only then did Adler notice that her eyes were tinged with a familiar golden hue and his mouth fell open in utter shock and bewilderment.
“I found out late about what happened to you that day… through my colleagues…”
“Um, excuse me…”
“Before I knew it, my heart…”
Overwhelmed by fear and unable to finish her words, Silver Blaze knelt before Adler, burying her face in her hands as she spoke again.
“… I’ve committed a grave sin.”
The reporters swarming the hospital were reflected in Professor Moriarty’s eyes as she stared out the window with an expressionless face.
“As per our contract, you can do whatever you want with me…”
“… Please, punish this foolish and worthless Demi-Human.”
It was the beginning of a scandal that shook the entirety of England, a scandal that not even the British government itself or the Bohemian royalty could hope to cover up.
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