༺ The Blue Carbuncle (3) ༻
During the time Isaac Adler and the mysterious girl faced off at Lestrade’s house…
“What do you mean, Miss Holmes?”
“It seems like you really didn’t notice.”
Lestrade, who had been walking down the snowy streets of London alongside Charlotte, began to raise her voice, her face showing shock at the revelation that Holmes made.
“You’re saying that Inspector Candidate Baynes is an imposter?”
“Shh, do you plan to announce that to everyone in this neighborhood?”
“But… No matter how much I think, it just doesn’t make sense.”
“Why?”
“I’ve known her for a long time, so I am positive that Inspector Candidate Baynes is no different from her usual self today.”
Lestrade, with a look of disbelief, turned her gaze toward Charlotte.
“Could it be that you’re mistaken this time, Miss Charlotte Holmes?”
“… Not in the least.”
“Then could you please explain your reasoning?”
“I was just about to explain that actually.”
With a firm shake of her head, Charlotte looked at Lestrade, who still seemed unconvinced, and began to explain in a soft voice.
“I remember you mentioning Inspector Candidate Baynes several times in the past. According to you, she was an incredibly sharp girl, right?”
“That’s right. She maintained the highest score ever in the history of August Academy, up until you took the entrance exam, that is.”
“Do you think such a girl would just passively listen to Adler’s and my deductions with listless eyes, in front of evidence overflowing with clues, without chiming in and arguing?”
“Well…”
Lestrade scratched her head, at a loss for words after hearing Charlotte’s argument.
“… I was so engrossed in handling the duck in the kitchen that I didn’t even notice that.”
“Of course. I clearly saw you secretly drooling when you took the duck to the kitchen.”
“………”
“Maybe you should clean off the feathers on your clothes already…”
Blushing ever so slightly at Charlotte’s sharp observation, Lestrade brushed off the traces of the poor duck from her clothes.
“Wasn’t Inspector Candidate Baynes known to be sloppy by nature?”
“How did you know that?”
“Because the person impersonating her probably only saw that aspect of hers and made the mistake of thinking her to be a dimwit. They probably didn’t have much time to study her properly.”
“Ah…”
Lestrade, somewhat convinced, tilted her head and raised another question.
“… But she might have stayed quiet to appear modest, right?”
“You mentioned it before, right? Inspector Candidate Baynes is an avid fan of Watson’s adaptation of my case files.”
“Yes, that’s right, I had visited her room and found quotations and case files of your detective work piled up like mountains.”
“Do you think such a person would miss out on a rare opportunity to showcase her skills and gain recognition just because of mere modesty? To keep up appearances?”
“… Certainly not.”
Lestrade, at long last, seemed convinced by Charlotte’s explanation and nodded in agreement.
“So, how did she disguise herself? If she used disguise magic, I surely would have noticed.”
She looked puzzled and questioned Charlotte again.
“That’s true. Due to your natural detection abilities, you’re called the nemesis of mages, after all.”
“Then…”
“Rather, the fake Baynes took advantage of exactly that aspect.”
Charlotte Holmes responded with a cold smile stretching her lips.
– Swoosh…
“Wh, what the hell is that?”
As she pulled out an incredibly thin leather mask resembling a human face from her coat, Lestrade looked shocked and couldn’t help but ask.
“It’s a disguise tool called Human Skin Mask. It’s quite unfamiliar in Europe, including England, but it was widely circulated in the martial arts world of the ancient Qing dynasty.”
“… So, you wear it directly over your face?”
“Cheap ones are noticeable even at night, but high-end products like the one I have in my hands here are hard to distinguish unless you’re an expert.”
Charlotte answered while holding the mask and added as she gently put it on her face.
“It’s an item that can completely fool Europe’s security methods that have been developed over the past few centuries through banning magic or identifying magic.”
“My god…!”
“It’s not without reason that detectives become wary when Chinese people get involved in the cases they are investigating.”
Lestrade looked horrified as the mask seamlessly merged onto her face with just a slight touch.
“If such things start circulating in England, wouldn’t that be a major issue?”
“It’s okay. The Human Skin Mask has one fatal flaw.”
Charlotte Holmes started peeling off the mask from her face and began her explanation as if to comfort Lestrade.
“Unlike disguise magic, this Human Skin Mask can’t perfectly express facial emotions.”
“… Why is that?”
“A human’s face has a very delicately arranged skeletal and muscular structure. Therefore, when you finely classify the number of expressions one can make, there are over a thousand different types of facial expressions or more.”
Speaking so, Charlotte stretched out the mask’s skin.
“But when you use this, the number of expressions you can make becomes limited and confined.”
“I see…”
Her eyes sharpened ever so slightly as she looked at Lestrade, who finally seemed relieved.
“Despite all that, the fake Baynes showed almost impeccable acting skills, eye movements, and voice modulation that made it nearly impossible to distinguish her from the real Baynes.”
“… That’s a bit scary.”
“I only realized it near the very end myself. If someone hasn’t used the Human Skin Mask like me or Adler, distinguishing them might be nearly impossible.”
And with that, silence ensued for a brief while.
“Hold on.”
“Yes?”
Suddenly stopping in her tracks, Lestrade’s expression turned cold and expressionless as she spoke,
“If someone that dangerous was impersonating Inspector Candidate Baynes using the skin mask…”
“……..”
“… Then where is the real Baynes right now?”
After a moment, she quietly exhaled and looked in the direction of her house.
“Don’t worry. The Human Skin Mask is not made of the face of the person you’re trying to impersonate or any human for that matter. It’s artificial, well, in most cases.”
“But still, if the imposter is out there pretending to be the real person so openly, something must have happened to Baynes!”
“Calm down. Inspector Candidate Baynes will be safe.”
However, as Lestrade emitted a cold and chilling aura, Charlotte gently grasped her shoulder and whispered softly, trying to calm her down.
“I think I have a lead on who’s behind this.”
“… Still, I think I need to go home.”
However, Lestrade murmured with a slightly trembling voice.
“Isaac Adler and my siblings, left at home, are in danger right now.”
“I told you not to worry, didn’t I?”
Charlotte Holmes forcefully pulled her close and whispered to her in a quiet voice,
“Don’t underestimate the intelligence of my fated nemesis.”
“… Pardon?”
“Mr. Adler, unlike you, has been aware of everything from the very start.”
“But his combat abilities…”
“… Shush.”
Charlotte then gently placed a finger on Lestrade’s lips.
“Let’s focus on the case at hand.”
“Ducky… where are you…?”
From not too far away, near the scene of the original incident, a sobbing woman’s voice could be heard.
“Please come back… ducky…”
Silently straining their ears to that sound, Charlotte and Lestrade slowly began to move forward.
“Tsk.”
“Ho, honey.”
“… I really have a useless wife.”
Then, they stopped and hid themselves at the emergence of a new voice.
“Tha, that’s a bit harsh…..”
“What?”
“… Kyaa?”
Upon hearing a scream, Lestrade slightly raised her head.
“I should just…”
“Ugh…”
A man, who appeared drunk, raised the bottle he was holding high as a woman on the ground trembled with her eyes tightly shut.
– Crash!!
“… Eep.”
However, he soon threw the bottle against the street wall, spat on her, and walked past the woman.
“Don’t even think of coming home until you find it.”
“……….”
“You understand, right, Miss?”
“… Yes.”
The woman sitting on the ground hurriedly nodded in response to his harsh voice.
“”…………””
And then, silence ensued.
“… Excuse me.”
“Are you alright?”
Charlotte and Lestrade, who had been observing the situation quietly until then, approached the woman sitting on the ground with silent steps and spoke.
“……”
Hearing their words, the woman looked up at them with blank eyes.
“If you’re alright, can we talk for a moment…”
“… Did master send you?”
“Pardon?”
The two, who were helping up the fragile-looking lady who obviously looked like a noble, tilted their heads in doubt at the words they heard.
“It, It’s been a long while since master reached out to me… He rarely contacts these days…”
“…….?”
The fragile-looking noblewoman, who had been sobbing and suffering due to her husband’s violence just mere moments before, was suddenly muttering those words with a straight and impassive face.
– Whoosh…
“…….?”
“Wha, what are you doing…”
Then, in front of the two girls who tilted their heads in confusion, the woman abruptly pulled up her upper clothing and began biting the hem of her garment as if it was natural for her to do so.
“”………..””
The expressions of the bewildered Charlotte and Lestrade instantly turned cold at what they saw.
“… Not surprising anymore.”
“That is…”
It was because they had discovered a golden seal on the exposed, pale belly of the fragile-looking woman, identical to the design of the seal engraved on their lower abdomen.
“Why arnt you gweethng your senior? (Why aren’t you greeting your senior?)”
The noblewoman, still holding the hem of her clothing in her mouth, muttered while pointing at her seal.
“Kidrssh theesh daysh arh rwallry cwazy. (Kids these days are really crazy.)”
Her gaze began to sharpen ever slightly.
“Wwo arh ywu? Ywu tuo. (Who are you? You two.)”
“”…………””
.
.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, at that time…
“Brother Adler~”
The second sibling, after hastily wiping off the blood on her hands with her sibling’s clothes, came into the living room with a plate full of duck meat.
“Let’s play a Christmas game…..”
However, as soon as she walked into the room, a bright and cheerful expression on her youthful face, her voice began to fade.
“… Ugh.”
Because the girl who looked like Baynes, was gasping for breath and lying near Adler’s feet, who had been sitting on the sofa. It seemed she had taken a few more blows from him in the meantime.
“Lift your head.”
“Ugh.”
Isaac Adler, looking down at the girl with a cold gaze, grabbed her slender chin and forcibly lifted her head.
– Slap…!!!
In the next moment, the ear-piercing sound of a sharp slap filled the living room.
“……….”
The girl, whose head whipped around from the shock, touched her cheek with her hand, making an awkward expression as if it was the first time in her life she had been hit by someone like this.
– Snap!!!
However, Adler roughly grabbed her arm and lifted it, then forcefully slapped the exposed cheek of the girl once again.
“Ah…”
– Whoosh…
Thanks to this, the girl’s entire body lost all strength, abruptly, causing her to lose balance and fall toward Adler’s legs once more.
“Using this anesthesia spray was your second mistake.”
“………..”
“These sprays tend to contain alcohol.”
Isaac Adler wrapped his hand around the girl’s hair tightly and shook the spray he confiscated from her, his eyes already dyed blood red.
“I have a bit of a problem with alcohol, you see.”
“Haah… Ha…”
But the girl, stretching her body and resting her cheek against Adler’s leg, couldn’t even reply. She just gasped for breath with her body quivering.
“… Excuse me.”
It was right when Adler, who had been silently observing the girl, bared his fangs and was about to move his head toward her neck that…
“Could you hit me one more time?”
The girl, who had been lying on Adler’s legs, slightly raised her eyes and began whispering in a faint sweet voice.
“Ah, this time on the other cheek…”
As Adler stared blankly at her, she tilted her face slightly, exposing the uninjured cheek.
– Slap!!!
“… Ah.”
But Adler, pulled on her hair to expose the previously red swollen cheek and slapped her hard causing the girl’s body to quiver as she held back her tears.
“… Excuse me.”
With her head buried in Adler’s legs once more and tears welling up in her eyes, a tearful voice came from the girl’s mouth.
“I’m sorry, but just one more time.”
The girl quietly wiped away the blood flowing from her split lip, a result of her being slapped so hard, and mumbled faintly with her swollen cheek, the edge of Adler’s pants sticking to her mouth.
“A bit harder…”
‘… I didn’t think Lupin was such a masochist.’
As Adler tilted his head and thought to himself, he soon raised his hand once more.
– Slap!!!
“… So cool.”
“Sister, please snap out of it already!!”
Advanced chapters available on genesistls.com
Illustrаtiоns on our discоrd – discord.gg/genesistls
