Ch.101Chapter 101 – Professor Moriarty’s Probability

“Adler.”

The moment a killing intent began to emanate from the far end of the corridor, only one thought crossed Professor Moriarty’s mind.

That she must not leave Isaac Adler, who was bravely standing in front of her, exposed.

“…Be careful.”

Having observed the situation by stealing glances at Adler over the past few days, the professor, with her characteristic powers of observation, had noticed more than Adler himself.

For instance, she had noticed that Neria Garideb’s room was slightly smaller than indicated on the mansion’s blueprints,

and that the cause of this discrepancy was an unnaturally thick wall with a hole through which a pair of eyes occasionally gleamed.

Those eerily persistent eyes had witnessed Adler being half-devoured by a girl who had lost her mind, transforming into a Vampire and slowly regenerating his body multiple times.

In other words, the owner of those eyes was one of the few people in London who knew that Isaac Adler was a Vampire.

Nevertheless, that unwavering pair of eyes had quietly observed the bloody interactions between the girl and Adler from that hole for days.

The professor had been well aware of this fact but hadn’t particularly cared.

She was slightly upset with her assistant who had impudently drunk alcohol and damaged her dignity, and she never imagined that Isaac Adler would be manipulated by such a trivial variable.

– Tsuzuzuzu…

However, when the person presumed to be the owner of those eyes released a fog into the corridor—almost identical to the fog that always covered London at dawn—Professor Moriarty had to reconsider.

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

“Quietly get behind me.”

During her curious explorations to satisfy her thirst for knowledge, she too had once attempted to analyze the composition of the fog.

But the result was failure.

Even the most renowned magical analysts in England had failed to analyze it, so it was not easy for her, whose specialty wasn’t analytical magic, to identify it.

In truth, once she realized she could erase the fog with her gray mana that could suppress anything, her interest in the fog had largely disappeared.

“If anything, you should get behind me, Professor. You can’t use magic right now.”

Regardless, the opponent was artificially dispersing a fog that even she had failed to analyze.

And as Adler pointed out, she couldn’t use her mana that could easily erase the fog.

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

Cold sweat began to form on the professor’s forehead as she quietly reached forward in this situation.

– Swish…

The killing intent from beyond the impenetrable fog suddenly intensified several times, and a presence drew close enough for a silhouette to become visible.

“………!”

And then, when a silver-gleaming pistol suddenly emerged from within.

“No…”

For the first time in her life, the professor threw herself forward to save someone else.

“………Ah.”

In the next moment, countless thoughts began to flash through her mind.

What have I just done? How terrible will it feel to be shot? What happens afterward?

“………”

If the people she had killed until now, or if her past self from a few months ago were watching this scene, what expression would they have?

– Bang!!!

But when the gunshot echoed through the corridor, those thoughts instantly vanished.

“…Ugh.”

Feeling her chest grow hot, she collapsed to the ground, her legs giving way.

– Tsuzuzuzu…

Fortunately, there was no additional gunfire. The smoke gradually began to thin—perhaps a window was open somewhere behind them—and their attacker quietly disappeared.

“…Cough.”

But the professor’s condition was not good, her face several times paler than usual.

Having instinctively shielded her assistant completely, she had suffered a critical wound with the bullet nearly piercing through her chest.

Moreover, the silver bullet, seemingly prepared by the attacker to deal with Adler and infused with magical power, was still quietly vibrating inside her chest, creating wounds.

“…Ha.”

For the professor, it was the first pain she had ever experienced in her life and probably the last life-threatening crisis she would ever feel.

“Aha… Ahaha…”

Realizing this, laughter erupted from the professor’s mouth along with blood.

“Ahahahahaha…”

That she, who had reigned at the pinnacle since birth, had ended up like this because of just one blond-haired boy. It was truly unbelievable.

As she had thought earlier, if her self from just half a year ago saw this ridiculous sight, she would probably look at her future self with contempt and try to kill her.

“…Haha.”

Thinking this while forcibly keeping her eyelids open as they kept trying to close, the professor’s vision caught her assistant, who seemed to have finally escaped the effects of the smoke.

“Pro…fessor?”

As he began to slowly walk toward her after discovering her, a supposition she didn’t want to imagine suddenly occurred to her.

‘…Could all of this have been his act?’

For a question that had just arisen, it was a quite plausible conjecture.

Usually a kind and gentle lamb. But beneath that facade lurked undeniable dark fragments of an unknowable boy.

Such a person had never once revealed his true feelings since first meeting the professor.

Even when he smiled brightly and whispered words of love in ordinary times, or when he made subtle contact with darkened eyes, fear of her was always etched deep in his expression.

The professor knew this well but had deliberately ignored it until now.

The changes that Isaac Adler had brought to her life were like an irresistible drug to her, who had been full of boredom and thirst.

Whenever he deceived her with force and deception and whispered lies, she simply pretended not to notice.

‘Yes, from the beginning, what you liked was…’

But since the day he first revealed his true feelings at Charlotte’s mansion, where he had taken advantage of her assassination plan.

And simultaneously, since the very day his eyes turned black—the color the professor hated most.

The professor could no longer pretend not to notice.

‘…Charlotte Holmes.’

The person Adler liked was not her but a girl named Charlotte Holmes, and the reason he orchestrated incidents was solely to make her grow.

As she had said, it was she herself who was being used.

‘Did you design this incident for her?’

The professor’s expression turned bitter as her thoughts reached this point.

‘Worst case.’

Even when Adler, whose right eye had recently been slightly tinged with her color, had shown a tiny bit of sincerity, Jane Moriarty had harbored a slight hope.

Perhaps her assistant, who had changed his mind, would create a criminal kingdom in London for her, as he had improvised to survive.

And in that kingdom, would he not greet her every morning with a smile, his eyes tinged with her color, not Charlotte’s?

‘…I’ve been completely defeated.’

But that seems to have been just an illusion.

If this incident was also designed by Adler, as most of the previous incidents had been, he couldn’t have failed to anticipate this outcome.

The price for drinking seawater with eyes blinded by thirst was too harsh.

“That was close… Adler.”

Thinking this while gasping for breath, the professor murmured, looking at Adler’s legs that had reached right in front of her.

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

Was it because she didn’t want to see his expression with a mocking smile? Or because she didn’t have the strength to lift her head?

“Fortunately, really……”

The professor’s eyelids, which had been struggling to stay open with a resigned smile, finally began to close slowly, unable to withstand the overwhelming drowsiness.

“Isaac… Adler.”

Sensing death in this situation, she murmured Adler’s name with slightly trembling eyes, but her voice, already diminished, did not reach him.

“You are…”

Nevertheless, perhaps because it was her last moment, she harbored a small hope that he might show a slightly sincere expression.

With this small wish, Jane Moriarty tried to carefully lift her head.

“………”

But when she couldn’t move even her lips, let alone her head, she gave a lonely smile and relaxed her body.

“…No.”

“……..?”

It was at that moment that Adler’s trembling voice reached her ears.

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.

.

.

.

“Professor. Professor Moriarty!”

“……….”

“You’re not badly hurt, right? I know you’re not. This isn’t funny, so please stop.”

In the professor’s narrowing field of vision, she saw Isaac Adler embracing her with a distorted expression.

“Please, please tell me this is a joke…”

Adler, whose right eye had finally been permanently colored gray, buried his face in her embrace, tears flowing from his eyes.

“Please… I was wrong…”

His true feelings, clearly felt in his voice, were directed toward the professor for the first time.

“Please don’t die……”

“You were…”

Having finally witnessed the true nature of the emotions Isaac Adler had been hiding all along, Professor Moriarty summoned her last strength and told him.

“…the only oasis in my life.”

With those words, the professor quietly closed her eyes, a tender smile on her lips.

.

.

.

.

.

How much time had passed since then?

“…Is this the solution.”

Adler, who had been holding the coldly cooling Professor Moriarty in a daze, looked into the void and asked in a monotone voice.

[Ending 10: Peace in London]

[Reward: Permanent death of Professor Moriarty, Liberation from the mission as plausibility, Increase in mana vessel size, Choice of desired route, Dr. Frankenstein’s Essence of Life that can perfectly restore lifespan, Choice to return to original world or stay.]

Then, an ending message with truly formidable rewards appeared before him.

[This is the best happy ending I can offer you now.]

“…What if.”

Staring blankly at the message, Adler quietly rose from his seat while holding the professor, tilted his head, and asked once more.

“What happens if I refuse to accept this ending?”

After a brief delay, another message appeared, somehow seeming hastily scrawled.

[You know very well.]

“…I see.”

Turning away from the message, Adler headed toward the dark basement of the mansion and coldly murmured.

“The peace of London ends today.”

[You’re giving up the only happy ending?]

[Are you stupid?]

“I have no choice.”

His face contorted with anger for the first time, his right eye glowing darkly in exactly the same way as the professor’s.

“After all, I am Professor Moriarty’s plausibility.”