Ch.100Chapter 100 – Peace in London

“…Hehe.”

“Stop laughing and explain yourself, Mr. Adler.”

After being frozen in place for quite some time, Adler breaks into an awkward smile as the professor, who had her hand on his shoulder, quietly leans in.

“What exactly did you just do to me?”

“……..”

“Frankly speaking, if you weren’t Mr. Adler, you would be dismembered by now.”

Her voice and expression were cheerful, but her eyes were anything but.

“As you know, I’m not particularly patient.”

– Crack…

“So, convince me quickly.”

Instead, the professor’s pale hand, which was now slowly wrapping around his neck and tightening, conveyed her emotions.

“Why did you do such a thing?”

And so, a moment of silence began to flow between the two.

– Crackle…!

While staring into the professor’s eyes and thinking faster than he ever had in his life, Adler catches a fleeting anomaly that passed by in an instant.

“…Hmm.”

The very moment when Professor Moriarty, who had been squeezing his neck, suddenly emitted a spark mixed with golden and gray light from her body and frowned with a groan.

“As I thought, you couldn’t completely escape my attack after all.”

After quietly confirming this phenomenon several more times, Adler relaxes and begins to mutter in a low voice.

“At first you resisted to some extent, but you couldn’t handle all the mana that kept pouring in, so you’ve been gradually releasing it outward.”

– Crackle, crackle…

“Well, how could one person’s mana capacity be greater than half of London’s women combined? That’s impossible.”

Despite the professor just staring at him without any response, Issac Adler begins to chatter in an even more excited voice.

“Still, you’re amazing, Professor. Not only is your mana capacity vast enough to withstand the initial onslaught, but you also figured out the principle of the attack and came up with a countermeasure in such a short time.”

– Crackle…

“Even skilled bluffing on top of that.”

He gently caresses the professor’s cheek and whispers in her ear with a bright smile.

“Do you know that you’re absolutely my ideal type, Professor?”

“…That’s enough.”

“I don’t want to stop.”

Then, quietly giving her an eye-smile, Adler grabs her arm.

“…But unfortunately, it seems like it’s time to stop now.”

“Why?”

“As I said earlier, if I don’t fix the error in this case, things will get quite troublesome.”

When the professor looks at him with a puzzled expression, Adler strokes her head and adds:

“My curse is actually one that causes big problems if the puzzle isn’t perfect.”

“…Weren’t you unaware of what a ‘Curse’ even was until recently?”

“I still don’t know exactly. But the curse placed on me is a different kind from those curses.”

As the professor quietly receives his stroking and tilts her head side to side while asking questions, Adler watches her habit with an expression that suggests he finds it cute.

“If we continue like this, both Sharlotte and you will be in danger.”

“…Hmm.”

“You understand, right? So you need to stay put?”

After patting her head while standing on his tiptoes, he raises his hand again to restrain her.

– Snap…!

Once again, the cheerful sound of snapping fingers echoes.

“…Huh.”

But there was one difference from a few minutes ago: the golden chains not only failed to bind Professor Moriarty, they didn’t even show signs of being summoned.

“Why isn’t this working…?”

Issac Adler tilts his head with an innocent expression for a moment, then taps his hand repeatedly.

“…Mr. Adler.”

The professor, who had been quietly watching him, opens her mouth with a cold smile.

“That fascinating magic you used.”

“…Yes.”

“There’s no reason I couldn’t do it too.”

Adler looks blank for a moment upon hearing those words.

“…That’s impossible.”

“Why?”

“I succeeded because I could gather mana approaching half of London’s women. But Professor, you…”

“Don’t have such vast amounts of mana?”

A sardonic smile appears on the professor’s lips.

“Oh my, Mr. Adler.”

“………”

“Do I look like I’m unable to handle your attack and am releasing mana?”

“Then could it be that you really…”

As Adler begins to break out in a cold sweat at the amused voice that comes from her mouth:

“You weren’t leaking my attack all this time, but rather you’ve been pouring your own mana into me?”

“…And simultaneously into all the vessels of women you’ve acquired, connected to the seal engraved on your lower abdomen. I’m thoroughly preparing to ensure you never do such a naughty thing again.”

She answers with a kind look to his question asked in a shrinking voice.

“Then just how… large is your mana capacity?”

“Mr. Adler.”

As Adler, who has turned pale, asks with a terrified expression, Jane Moriarty gently caresses his collar and whispers:

“Even if river water flows into the sea, the sea doesn’t overflow.”

“……….”

“…If anything, the river might flow backward.”

Just as the predatory aura begins to frost over in her eyes as she looks down at her assistant:

“…Eek.”

Trembling, Adler looks up at the professor, then suddenly grabs both her arms and pushes her toward the wall.

“What are you doing?”

“…Since you’re pouring all your mana into me, you can’t use magic either, Professor.”

When the professor, who had been observing Adler with a curious expression, asks casually, he begins to speak in a trembling voice:

“Then let’s fight with physical skills.”

“………”

“No matter how powerful a magician you are, Professor, you must be physically weaker than me, right?”

The last hope gleams in his eyes.

“Despite appearances, I’m a vigorous teenager, Miss Moriarty.”

“Oh?”

“I’m confident I can subdue a gloomy professor who’s only done research in places without sunlight…”

But even that last hope soon fades.

– Squeeze…

“Uh oh…”

Professor Moriarty easily shook off Adler’s grip on her arms, grabbed his arms instead, and pushed him against the wall.

“This, this is strange…”

“There’s nothing strange about it, Mr. Adler.”

As Adler, who had been looking dazed for a moment, begins to struggle with all his might, the professor applies a bit more pressure to his arms and begins to whisper in a low voice:

“You’re not a vigorous teenager, but a dying patient.”

“…Ah.”

“And even if that weren’t the case, you want to fight me physically?”

She brings her face close to Adler’s with a contemptuous expression.

“Before meeting you, I hid the fact that I was a magician.”

“………”

“…Then how many people do you think I’ve killed without using magic, using only physical skills?”

Professor Moriarty asks in a whisper, her eyes darkening.

“…You lewd male fox.”

As her hot breath touches his ear, Adler, whose head is buried in her chest due to their height difference, swallows dryly and looks up at his legal owner.

“I’m a Vampire, you know.”

With those words, for a while, the corridor was filled with squelching sounds instead of human voices.

.

.

.

.

.

“………”

“Mr. Adler. Lift your head.”

Dozens of minutes later.

“…Mr. Adler.”

Adler, who had been walking down the corridor with his head bowed, bearing one bite mark on his lower abdomen, one near his ear, and several on his neck, quietly turns his gaze sideways as he wipes his moist lips.

“Are you sulking because I treated you too one-sidedly?”

Then Professor Moriarty, also wiping her moist lips, asks the question.

“But you were the one who wagged your tail first, giving off a seductive scent.”

“………”

“I’m human too, and unfortunately, I couldn’t resist such temptation any longer.”

She gently caresses Adler’s neck and whispers.

“We’ll continue the rest after the case is over.”

– Shudder…

“…And after that, we’ll continue living together.”

At those words, Adler, who had been quietly trembling, opens his mouth.

“Aren’t you disappointed?”

“About what?”

“…I attacked you just now.”

Professor Moriarty answers in a calm voice.

“I realized that all such actions of yours had unavoidable intentions behind them.”

“That’s…”

“…You called it a curse.”

And then, she mutters while staring at the empty space in the angle that Adler often flinches and looks at.

“Is it perhaps forcing you to create puzzles?”

“……….”

“Then perhaps even our relationship?”

After a long silence in response to her question, Adler finally answers in a barely audible voice:

“…It seems I’ve come too far to use that as an excuse.”

At that moment, a fleeting emotion of relief crosses the professor’s face.

“Professor, I…”

“…Wait.”

Just as Adler, who hadn’t noticed it, was about to say something in a slightly serious tone:

“Where is she?”

“Pardon?”

“…Miss Neria Garideb.”

The professor, who had paused her steps, asked Adler in a sharp voice.

“When you were interrogating me earlier, she headed somewhere as if entranced.”

“And?”

“I had sprinkled some magic stone powder on her back beforehand, so I was tracking those traces…”

At that sudden change in atmosphere, as Adler was tilting his head:

– Hissss…!

Suddenly, from the far end of the corridor in front of them, thick smoke begins to billow out.

“Mr. Adler, be careful.”

The professor, who was watching that smoke with a wary look as it rapidly engulfed the corridor like the unidentified fog that completely takes over London’s streets at dawn, takes Adler’s hand and begins to back away.

“I have an immortal body, so I’m fine, Professor.”

“Just come behind me quietly.”

“You should come behind me instead. You can’t use magic right now.”

But a small quarrel begins between Adler and the professor, who were trying to send each other behind themselves.

“Mr. Adler, before I get any angrier, quietly…”

– Swish…

“……!”

In the midst of that quarrel, as the professor belatedly senses a presence in the fog and turns her gaze with wide eyes:

– Bang…!!!

A single gunshot filled the mansion.

“”……….””

And then, a heavy silence began to flow.

.

.

.

.

.

“Professor…?”

As the smoke that had filled the corridor disappeared along with the presence, Adler, who had been frozen in place, saw the scene before him.

“That was close… Mr. Adler.”

A familiar but unusually faint voice reaches Adler’s ears as he stares at the scene with disbelieving eyes.

“You almost… got hit by a silver bullet…”

Professor Moriarty had collapsed in front of him, coughing blood with a silver bullet lodged in her chest.

“Fortunate, really……”

Adler’s sanity snapped as he stared down at her for a long time.

[Ending 10: Peace of London]

“…No.”