༺ The Battle Intensifies (2) ༻
“Adler, take a look at this.”
“… What is it?”
“Quite a few interesting things have been published in the weekly newspaper.”
As I walked away from the hospital and went down the street, I heard the cheerful voice of Professor Moriarty.
“Is that so…”
“Don’t be like that, just take a look.”
I was quite a bit distressed by the incident that had just occurred, however, I had no choice but to stop walking when she thrust the newspaper right in front of my face.
“There are a lot of strange events happening in London these days.”
Then, the professor muttered under her breath while avoiding my gaze.
“Are they as strange as what we’ve experienced over the past few months?”
“They’re in a league of their own, but in my opinion, these incidents come infinitely close to their level.”
I looked at her with a slightly annoyed expression, and she, noticing my mood, nudged the newspaper still close to my face and mumbled.
“For example, in the eastern part of the city, rainbow-colored rain fell all day yesterday.”
“Rainbow-colored rain?”
“That’s not all. All across the cemeteries in England, there have been simultaneous howling sounds, and there have been sightings of humans resembling wolves…”
“Ah…”
Hearing those words, my head began to throb frantically.
‘It’s beginning, isn’t it?’
Till the end of the first semester’s summer break in this world is practically just a tutorial period if you compare it to any traditional game.
Since, starting from the second semester, precursors of bizarre phenomena would start appearing at random, and from the second year onward, strange cases would burst forth almost on a daily basis.
‘And the more you fail to solve them, the more the world goes to hell.’
The problem currently was that… although it was just the end of the summer break, events that would normally happen at the end of the second semester had already started occurring in real-time.
For example, the incidents that Professor Moriarty just mentioned were a few of the original episodes in the game, known as Rainbow Rain, Howling Cemetary, and Reconstructed Wolf.
Of course, these incidents were devised by the story department, who colluded with the design team to shamelessly insert my modeling of Isaac Adler into the official narrative as a worthless character, so their quality and the gimmicks that are utilized are at an utterly crude level.
To be frank, even the incompetent London Metropolitan Police Force could solve these without Charlotte needing to step in.
However, that was not the issue at hand.
Rather than getting involved in cases that didn’t require my supervision, I should be focusing on the grave fact that the appearance of cases that should only be occurring later down the storyline was now being rushed for some reason.
‘It must be because of the erosion…’
There was no such thing as an Erosion Rate in the game system I had designed.
Certainly, the probabilities of being kidnapped, confined, or subjected to something censored by question marks were also not present in the game system I had implemented,
However, all of those were just possibilities that could be introduced at any time, given the nature of the system that presents the current probabilities drawn from one’s karma.
But from what I’ve observed so far, this Erosion Rate seems to be a bit different from everything else in the game system.
‘Every time beings that shouldn’t exist in this world appear before me, the erosion rate increases…’
The first alien entity, a deviant to this world’s storyline, to reveal herself was Jill the Ripper, and of course, there was no setting established for her.
Then came the Phantom Thief Lupin, whom the clueless story team tried to insert into the canonical story, prompting me to foam from the mouth in anger and relegate her to a DLC story instead.
Honestly, I hated the idea of Lupin popping up in a game based on the Sherlock Holmes series so much that I wanted to remove her entirely, but it was already too late as the illustrations and modeling had been completed.
“Hmm…”
Upon further reflection, the Erosion Rate that often pops up as a red warning before my eyes seems to be caused by characters who are not part of the Sherlock Holmes series.
The rate increased exponentially with the appearance of fictional characters from other stories like Lupin or real-life figures like Jack the Ripper.
‘… And it also slightly rose when the plausibility of the cases began to collapse.’
What could be the reason for these non-existent characters suddenly appearing in the game?
And if the Erosion Rate kept rising steadily, what on earth would happen to this world?
‘… Whatever it is, judging by the hastening of these bizarre incidents, it’s plausible to deduce that it’s not going to end well for anyone.’
Even though I ended up with this cursed body, these damned eyes that couldn’t settle on anything, and was ignorant of many things in a world that I myself designed, I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.
As long as it was a world I created with my own hands, it was my responsibility to protect it.
To accomplish that, I needed to build the kingdom of crime at a pace that had to be several times faster than what it was currently progressing at.
Only then would I be able to wage an all-out war against those unwelcome invaders.
“……..”
And, to do that, the most crucial person was…
“… Isaac Adler.”
As I was lost in deep thought, the very person, Professor Jane Moriarty, kept poking my cheek with her finger.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Your pinkie came loose.”
“… Ah.”
“Please set it right again.”
As I asked with a deliberately cold gaze and an equally frigid tone, she held up her pinkie and muttered with a bright smile on her face.
“… There.”
“Thank you.”
It was a truly strange thing.
Ever since the incident from before, I found myself avoiding the professor’s gaze every time I saw her.
“Don’t slyly hook two fingers.”
“Was it that obvious?”
I found myself becoming irritable at her without even realizing it properly.
‘… I shouldn’t be like this.’
I should just smile slyly, as I usually do, and wink at her a few times.
All I had to do was occasionally whisper the words she wanted to hear from my mouth, an exceedingly simple task in usual times.
“……..”
However, just as I could no longer regard Charlotte as merely an object of admiration after the ivory box incident…
Had I, in the end, fallen in love with the professor as well?
‘… I’m such a scumbag.’
A sense of guilt began to creep into the depths of my conscience, but it was already fast too late for me to do anything about this situation.
If I were to now say that I loved both of them…
Either London would utterly vanish from the map of Britain, or I would be physically split in half and distributed to both parties; it’s one or the other, nothing else.
In other words, I must choose one of them, in the end.
“…….”
Fortunately, having won the last wager, it seems that I could, at the very least, postpone the decision for some time.
But I wouldn’t be able to do that forever.
Eventually, the judgment day would come, the day when I must choose one of them.
‘… Perhaps at the Reichenbach Falls, that’s the place where it would all end.’
I couldn’t foresee when such a moment might occur, however, I could guess the location.
Surely it wouldn’t be a bad ending where I fall over the waterfall, caught between the two, right?
‘… Perhaps, I really should devour London myself and take them both for myself.’
As I pondered on and on, arriving at such a fanciful possibility, at that very moment…
– Clutch…
Out of the blue, Professor Moriarty grabbed hold of my hand.
“What is it…”
“… I’ve been thinking about it for a while now.”
An odious feeling crossed my mind, and I tried to shake off her hand. However, Professor Moriarty didn’t let go of my hand no matter what.
“But no matter how much I think about it, I truly believe that I love you.”
“What?”
“My eyes not changing color must either be due to my constitution or perhaps because my mana is far too strong for it to be tainted by you.”
Her grey eyes began gazing at me with a smothering intensity.
“Despite everything, don’t you too think it’s a bit too harsh to deny that I love you just because this pair of eyes of mine don’t turn golden, dyed in your color?”
“… Then, just love me a bit more, I guess.”
“If you were to die, I wish to die with you; that’s how much I love you, Adler.”
At the words that blitzed out of her mouth, I became momentarily speechless, ultimately closing my mouth shut. And then, seeing me keeping my silence, Professor Moriarty began to whisper in my ear.
“… Even though I want to hold you accountable for turning a naïve person like me, who knew only mathematics and murder, into this lovestruck fool, I simply can’t prove my feelings.”
“………”
“And, after giving it a lot of thought, I’ve come up with a very simple and clear solution.”
Puzzled by her statement, filled with the brim with meaningful suggestions, I soon decided to just listen to the rest of her words in silence.
“… Once this case is over, let’s spend the night together, okay?”
“What?”
Registering the following words that left Professor Moriarty’s mouth, I had to stop in my tracks, unable to continue my thoughts due to the shock.
.
.
.
.
.
“What did you say…?”
After standing dazed on the quiet street for some time, Adler managed a forced smile on his face and posed the question. And to such a question, Professor Moriarty responded with a calm expression on her face.
“I’m suggesting that we have intercourse, Adler.”
“……….”
“If I receive your affection directly, perhaps my eyes will eventually turn golden, won’t they?”
Muttering to herself with clear excitement in her eyes, she started bobbing her head from side to side as she looked at Adler, who had simply frozen in place.
“Why did I not think of this from the very beginning, it truly puzzles me.”
“………”
“I don’t understand why I overlooked the most certain, clear, and rational method that leads directly to victory.”
It seemed that it wasn’t just Charlotte who had realized the oversight.
“What do you think, Adler?”
“Well…”
“Since you have tainted my innocence with your ideology, isn’t it time to stain my body with your color as well?”
“Let’s just calm down for a bi…”
However, as his previously stalled brain quickly started to race upon hearing her next words, he desperately tried to turn down the conclusion she had reached but…
“… But if I were to become pregnant, would you take responsibility?”
