༺ The Blooming Detective (3) ༻
– Beep…!
“… Huh?”
Lestrade, who had been sitting by the window catching her breath, suddenly widened her eyes in surprise at the unexpected sound of machinery.
– Beep-beep…!
“Meow.”
“Wha, what was that?”
The tiny mana receiver that had fallen from her ear due to her abrupt descent from the outer edge of the window became a toy for a passing cat in the yard, rolling around and ringing while the cat played with it.
“… Hello?”
– What took you so long to answer?
Worried that the two inside the mansion might hear the sudden noise, she quickly grabbed the device, and not long after, Rachel Watson’s concerned voice began to resonate from the receiver.
“It, it wasn’t working before…”
– You didn’t put in aura instead of mana now, did you?
“… Ah.”
Lestrade who had been mumbling and hesitating, made a flustered face upon hearing those words.
“I, it was out of habit…”
– It’s fine. I’m just glad that we were finally able to establish a connection.
“But how did it activate suddenly?”
Then she scratched her head, puzzled by the sudden phenomenon.
“The cat couldn’t have activated it…”
“… Meow~”
Watching her with a somewhat disdainful look, a familiar red cat with a collar around its neck bared its fangs and then jumped over the fence, disappearing from sight.
– Anyway, show me the current situation.
“… What?”
Lestrade tilted her head for a moment and looked puzzled as she heard the re-emerging voice.
– When you activate that device, we are able to share our vision. The operational time is very short, though.
“Is… is that really possible?”
– It seems the experiments Holmes did with the mana stones weren’t just to induce drug-like hallucinatory symptoms in her body.
To her incredulous tone, Watson replied with a voice filled with a hint of pride.
– It’s a revolutionary invention developed by my little friend. Once commercialized, it could cut London’s crime rate by more than half.
“Indeed, if that’s true… just by having the police carry them, it would be a huge help in gathering evidence and preventing most crimes…”
– Of course, the downside is that the wearer might lose consciousness within 5 minutes due to the strain the device will put on the user.
“… What in the bloody hell did you say?”
Lestrade, who was nodding quietly at her words till now, made a bewildered face and couldn’t help but curse at the casually added comment from Watson that was totally out of pocket.
“So it’s basically useless then…?”
– No, you, you’re the strongest girl in all of London, so you can handle it.
“Ah…”
– That’s why we contacted you and no one else.
Only then did she realize just why they had employed her help, and even went so far as to flatter her so much, and her expression began to stiffen in real time.
“Seriously, you guys really are…”
– Charlotte… no, it’s for London.
“……….”
However, she couldn’t help but close her mouth when she heard Watson’s serious remark, mentioning that it was for the good of London.
“… Ha—”
She let out a quiet sigh, slowly stood up from her spot, and shifted her gaze toward the window.
“By, by the way.”
Lestrade began again, donning a somber expression on her face.
“Did you all send me here… for another, explicit purpose, in addition to the handling of the device?”
– What?
“Or was the device itself just a ruse to make me come here?”
The image of Adler, kneeling and kissing the feet of Miss Smith to repay the debt of her family, still lingered in her vision vividly.
“Listen, there’s something…”
– …….?
“… The truth you guys talked about…”
Because of this, she tried to ask a question in a voice slightly more solemn than before.
“… Wait a moment—”
However, her expression quickly turned blank.
“”………..””
As, at that very moment, she was able to notice the mansion’s servants, sprawled about on the floor with weapons in hand.
– Click…
“He, heuk…”
In the middle of the room, Adler, who was quietly wiping off the blood smeared around his mouth, was looking down at Clarissa Smith, who was sitting on the sofa with her eyes, now donning a blood-red hue, trembling violently.
– Wh, what…
“… Huh?”
Even after rubbing her eyes for quite a while and shifting her head back and forth, the scene before Lestrade remained unchanged, her gaze starting to become vacant due to what she witnessed.
“Looking at you now, you seem quite delicious too.”
“… Are you kidding me?”
His tail, quietly swaying from side to side, and his fangs, now in full display as they jutted out, clearly reflected in her eyes.
.
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.
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“Why… why are you doing this?”
“I wanted to use the most non-violent method possible.”
In the midst of chaos, as Miss Smith began to speak with clear terror in her eyes, Adler responded in a soft tone.
“But I’m not one of those idiots who doesn’t react even if I’m attacked first.”
“Do, don’t come closer…”
His expression didn’t seem angry, nor did it seem excited.
“Besides, the situation is urgent.”
It was a reflection of utter apathy, one devoid of any emotions, as he continued with a calm tone.
“I need to pull her out of the darkness as quickly as possible.”
“Ah, ah…”
“I want to show her the light once more.”
But the menacing aura emanating from Isaac Adler reached not only Lestrade but also the Baker gang, who were watching through Lestrade’s eyes.
“To do that, even if it means sullying my very soul…”
Adler gave a serene smile in such an unusually menacing state.
“I’ll do whatever it takes.”
“Ahh…”
As he reached out towards Clarissa Smith, the terrified girl began to back away, flailing her arms covered in sleeves.
– Thud…
“… Eek.”
However, in no time, her legs got caught by Adler’s merciless hands.
– Ha~
“……..!”
As Adler, who had been holding her leg, bit into her foot with a gaze as cold as frigid ice, Miss Smith’s eyes widened into saucers.
– Bite…
“Kyaa…!”
Soon after, a frail scream echoed out of her lips.
“What, what are you doing…!”
– Bite, Bitte…
“St, stop it…!”
The cute face that always held a proud, mischievous smile was now marred by pain and fear.
– Ggeuk…
“… Ahh—”
Yet, Adler, applying even more strength on the hand that was holding her leg, strongly bit into her foot.
“Stopp…”
As she began to lose all sensation in her legs, feeling it grow cold, the somewhat defiant look in Miss Smith’s eyes vanished completely.
“Please… stop…”
Then, she began to sob and mumble.
“I, I was wrong…”
“……….”
“I won’t do it again… I, I promise…”
Adler, quietly releasing her foot from his mouth, looked down at her with the same impassive gaze as before. Smith began to plead in a tear-choked voice.
“Never touch her again.”
“It, it was a mistake from the start. The one I was aiming for…”
“… I will kill you if you touch her.”
As she tried to retort with a slightly aggrieved look in her eyes, Adler whispered to her with a chilling smile.
“Whoever it is, whoever tries to hurt her, I will definitely kill them.”
Then, a brief silence ensued.
“… Then, please get up quickly.”
“Huh?”
Miss Smith – too terrified to even speak, with her body trembling uncontrollably in fear – stood up abruptly with a mere gesture from Adler.
“Wha, what—”
“You have to go and undo the sorcery you cast.”
“… What did you do to my body?”
Thanks to that, she made a flustered expression and then asked with a trembling voice.
“Rather than convincing you, it seemed more efficient to force you to act.”
At those words, Clarissa Smith’s face began turning pale as she lowered her gaze.
“Thi, this… could it be…”
“You’re a sorcerer, so you should have a rough idea about it, right?”
A bat-shaped seal was engraved on the sole of her foot.
“You… a vampire…”
“… Shush.”
As Miss Smith, whose legs had already lost all strength and was thus about to slump down on the ground, was grabbed by the nape of her neck by Adler, he whispered those words in her ears; her body still trembling violently, as she heard his voice laced with clear amusement.
“Do you want me to tear your neck apart like the servants?”
At that, she hurriedly shook her head from side to side with great intensity.
“Okay then, let’s go.”
“Uh…”
“First, let’s undo the sorcery first, and then you can confess.”
Holding her hand that was covered by a sleeve, Adler quietly walked towards the mansion’s entrance.
“That, that sorcery…”
“……..?”
However, just before opening the door to board the carriage, Miss Smith started mumbling in an intensely quivering voice.
“I don’t actually know the cure for it either…”
Adler, who momentarily stared blankly at her, soon chuckled and gently stroked her head.
“No, there is one, I am sure of it.”
“… Huh?”
“Miss Clarissa Smith, the best sorcerer in all of Europe, surely can’t fail in undoing such a simple sorcery, right?”
Upon hearing those words, she began to mumble again, eyes cast downward.
“Sorry… it’s designed in a way that even I can’t undo…”
– Swish…
“… Heuk.”
But soon, she stopped speaking and began to hiccup.
“You surely can’t fail, right?”
While Adler was wearing a malevolent smile on his eyes, his eyes showed a form of madness that was totally unlike him. He gently gripped her throat and asked her the same question once more.
“… Right?”
Without realizing it, the eyes of Miss Smith, filled with terror, began to tremble violently once more after seeing the madness that was evident in those eyes of his.
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– Screech…!
About 30 minutes later…
“So, what’s your answer to the question I asked earlier?”
Having handed seven gold coins to the coachman, thereby reaching the boarding house in just half the time it would have taken normally, Adler posed the question in a low voice to the still trembling Ms. Smith who was seated beside him.
“I, I already told you…”
Then, as she disembarked from the carriage, she began to answer with a quivering voice.
“That sorcery was specially crafted, the solution is…”
“…….”
“I, I think I need to take a look first.”
However, upon meeting Adler’s madness-fueled gaze, she changed her tune, sweating and forcing out a smile.
“Yes. It is surely curable…”
Upon hearing that, Adler, wearing a refreshing smile, began to step into the boarding house.
“As I’ll kill you if you can’t break the sorcery.”
“… Eeek.”
“So please do your best.”
The moment he said those words and opened the door to the boarding house.
“”……….””
A rather unusual atmosphere greeted Adler.
“Why are all of you like this?”
Miss Hudson and Rachel Watson, sitting in the living room near the entrance with grim expressions, slowly raised their heads in response to his question.
“Well…”
“Yo, you might want to take a look for yourself.”
Then, from their mouths emanated a sorrowful tone, tinged with a hint of ominous uncertainty.
“What’s with this tense atmospher…”
– Swish…!
“… Eek.”
However, without the energy to think deeply, Adler immediately made a stern face and grabbed Miss Smith’s arm, starting to ascend the stairs.
“Miss Holmes!”
Then, Adler roughly opened the door to the room of Charlotte Holmes, whom he believed to be anxiously awaiting his arrival.
“I’ve brought someone to treat you…”
But soon, the light in his began to fade after seeing the scene before him.
“… Miss Holmes?”
There, Charlotte Holmes, who was lying on the bed, had blood trickling from her mouth and her body was utterly cold.
“Charlotte.”
Staring blankly at her for a moment, a desperate Isaac Adler rushed to her side to check her pulse.
“……….”
But no matter where he felt, there was no heartbeat to be heard.
“Ah…..”
The eerily cold temperature of her body spoke volumes about what had transpired in that brief span of time he had not been by her side.
“… No.”
A deafening silence thus ensued.
– Swish…
Adler held onto the rigid hand of Charlotte, clenched his teeth, and lowered his head.
“I’m sorry.”
Then, from his mouth began to emanate a trembling voice.
“I’ve ruined you.”
“……….”
“If only I hadn’t interfered in your life, none of this would’ve happened…”
As Adler muttered, his body began to tremble quietly.
– Drip…
Not long after, a single tear dropped onto Charlotte’s face.
“… Until the very end, I only did terrible things to you.”
Adler, who had been hanging his head, bit his lips hard and opened his mouth, attempting to wipe away the tear he had left on her face.
“Miss Smith.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve heard of a sorcery that allows one to sacrifice their soul to grant life to another.”
Upon hearing those words, Miss Smith looked utterly flustered.
“But…”
“I’ll break your stigma.”
“Um…”
“If you want, I’ll give you all of my money, everything.”
Adler began to plead with a fervent voice, with his eyes bloodshot.
“So, please perform that sorcery right this instant.”
“……..”
“Please…”
Then, Adler began to gaze intently at her.
“… I don’t think it will work.”
“Why?”
However, when Miss Smith shook her head, Adler, who started to emit a quiet intensity, leaned in towards her.
“Because she’s not dead.”
“… What?”
Then, she made a shocking statement while scratching her head.
“She’s simply in a comatose state because she completely drained her mana circuits.”
A question mark seemed to form on Adler’s face.
“She wasn’t subjected to any type of sorcery in the first place.”
“………?”
“Of course, to anyone other than an expert like me, it could easily seem like she had been subjected to a genuine sorcery…”
At this point, his gaze began to look distant.
“I can assure you with certainty. She’s faking her condition right now…”
“… Hmm.”
Suddenly, with a frown, Charlotte Holmes began to lift her heavy body from the bed and stretch her limbs.
“It seems an expert’s eyes can’t be deceived after all.”
“………..”
“I starved for several days, submerged myself in ice water before you arrived, and even endured terrible pain to twist my mana circuits, all to mimic the effects of a sorcery-induced condition.”
While blinking his eyes rapidly and watching that scene, Adler quietly opened his mouth to speak,
“You tricked me?”
“… There’s no way I would fall for such a lame trap after all.”
And thus, utter silence ensued.
“Surprise…!”
Charlotte whispered with a faint smile and began to gauge Isaac Adler’s reaction.
“… I was a bit harsh, wasn’t I?”
“………”
“I’m sorry, but I had no choice.”
Then, she began to murmur with a guilty expression on her face, involuntarily avoiding Adler’s gaze as he intently watched her.
“To solve this case, I truly had no other option.”
“……….”
“And then….”
It was at that moment – when she hesitated, wondering if, as a consequence of daring to test Adler’s firm resolve, which had never wavered for an instant from the very beginning, his feelings towards her might have turned cold and rigid – that…
“… Kya?”
Adler, who had been standing still, suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace.
“Uh…”
“… I’m really, really, really relieved.”
Charlotte, slightly taken aback as she was nestled in his embrace, held her breath as she heard the deep gratitude in Adler’s voice.
“As long as you aren’t dead, that’s all that matters to me.”
Burying his face into her neck, Adler murmured softly.
“No matter what happens, that’s enough for me.”
Moments later, Charlotte slowly began to raise her arms.
“… Isaac Adler.”
Gently wrapping her arms around his waist and looking straight into his eyes, she began to whisper.
“If the me, from a few months ago, were to watch this very moment, I surely would have tried to admit myself to a mental hospital.”
“……….”
“Yet, despite that, I feel I must say this right now.”
Their eyes filled with each other’s colors, silently locked onto each other.
“I love you.”
Then, a moment later, Charlotte Holmes’ firm yet trembling voice echoed throughout the room.
“Even though I used to pride myself on being misandrist, asexual, and more logical and rational than anyone else…”
“… Miss Holmes.”
“The very Charlotte Holmes, who was cursed to be incapable of loving anything in this world…”
Before he realized it, the warm breath flowing from Charlotte’s parted lips, which had come close to his nose, gently touched Adler…
The moment those words ended, both Charlotte and Adler naturally leaned in, their lips meeting without even thinking about who leaned in first.
“”………..””
It wasn’t the forceful and one-sided movement like before, but rather an intimate intertwining as they timidly explored each other with their tongues.
“… Wha, what.”
On the side, Clarissa Smith was watching them with a piercing glare.
“What in hell is… this…”
She shielded her eyes with her sleeve-covered hand, peeking every now and then to watch the passionate scene, which was a bit too passionate for being a mere kiss.
“……….”
How much time had passed like that?
– Swish…
“Ar, are you crazy…”
As Adler collapsed onto the bed, pressing Charlotte beneath him, Miss Smith began to back away, her cheeks flushed to the tips of her ears.
“… Where are you going?”
“Heek?”
But then, Charlotte’s cold voice reached her, and she had to halt in her tracks.
“Sorry, but this elaborate plan wasn’t just to catch you.”
“Wha, what…”
While caressing Adler’s cheek, who had already fallen asleep with a smile on his face, as he was enveloped in her own black, smokey aura, Charlotte quietly started to whisper with the corners of her lips raised
“It’s time to remove the biggest obstacle.”
“… What?”
“So can you send just one letter for me, little girl?”
As Miss Smith stealthily glanced toward the exit, Watson entered the room and quietly blocked the entrance of the boarding house while casually fiddling with her pistol.
“… To, to whom?”
“Why act so when you already know.”
Saying so, Charlotte tossed her a sheet of paper and a pen, while smiling a triumphant smile.
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That evening, at August Detective Academy…
“…… Hmm.”
Upon opening the letter delivered to her, a cold smile surfaced on Professor Jane Moriarty’s face.
“I see…”
The brief message, written in Clarissa Smith’s handwriting, reflected in her pale grey-hued eyes.
“… Interesting.”
A few minutes after reading, Professor Moriarty rose from her seat, put on her coat, and started preparing to leave for her destination.
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