Ch.128Chapter 128 – Strange Decisive Battle (2)

“Mr. Adler.”

On the evening when London’s underworld began to descend into chaos due to one boy’s schemes.

“…It’s been a while since we’ve met face to face.”

“Has it been?”

Someone in a neat white shirt and tie enters the hideout of Issac Adler, the protagonist and instigator of that chaos.

“…………”

Silver Blaze, Celestia Moran, and Lady Clay (currently in cat form) all briefly shift their gazes toward the entrance upon confirming the visitor’s voice is female, but quickly avert their eyes.

“I’d like to meet more often…”

“I know that’s not what you really mean, Madam Caroline.”

“…Madam?”

They realized the visitor was Caroline Augustus Milverton, who had recently surrendered to Adler after an incident and become his personal “informant.”

“I’m still in my twenties. Master, such remarks are disrespectful…”

“Get down.”

While she was speaking casually after Adler’s subordinates quietly withdrew their killing intent, his cold command cut through the air.

“Ugh.”

Caroline immediately felt heat in her lower abdomen and collapsed to the floor, looking up with cold sweat running down her face.

“I wonder why someone who’s considerably older than my professor acts this way.”

“B-but…”

“Well, 29 is still technically in your twenties.”

Adler looked down at her with cold eyes, muttering with a hint of amusement.

“But that’s not the issue.”

“…Then.”

“Do you still think I was being ‘disrespectful’ to you?”

When Caroline, who had been hanging her head with a sullen expression, quietly nodded, Adler grabbed her chin and gently stroked it with his finger while whispering:

“A slave exists to be disrespected by their master.”

“………”

“And didn’t you clearly agree that day to become my perfect slave?”

Caroline momentarily showed a humiliated expression and avoided Adler’s gaze.

“Oh? Was I mistaken about our contract terms?”

“T-that’s…!”

“Or have you already forgotten that the only reason the British government and various high-ranking officials haven’t ended your life is because you’re my property?”

As Adler’s voice grew colder while pulling out a familiar-looking contract from his pocket, her face turned pale and she lowered her head with trembling eyes.

“Maybe I should just sell you to some pot-bellied nobleman.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

When Adler muttered indifferently, she hurriedly began rubbing her cheek against his foot.

“I-I was shortsighted. I sincerely apologize for the disrespect from my slave mouth, Master.”

“…Well then, allow me to be disrespectful.”

Adler, who had been looking down at her, extended his foot and began poking her lower abdomen.

“Hng…”

“Ugh.”

He bared his canine teeth and started tormenting her abdomen more deliberately with a mischievous expression. Though her entire body trembled, she gritted her teeth and endured.

“Now, continue your report.”

“Yes. The investigation results of the Baskerville estate case you requested a few days ago… ungh. The culprit, Gloria Mortimer, is missing. The investigators believe she died in the marshlands while fleeing, but I think there’s a possibility she’s still alive and hiding somewhere.”

“Hmm…”

“And Helen Baskerville, the only survivor among the victims, has apparently moved to August Academy. An anonymous professor wrote her recommendation letter.”

“…So that’s the deal he made.”

After muttering to himself briefly, Adler asked in a low voice:

“Is there any sign of the investigation developing in other directions?”

“The culprit is too obvious, and there’s no special evidence coming to light…”

“No notable peculiarities?”

“No. Between the reappearance of werewolves after centuries and the sightings of numerous ‘half-vampires’ nearby, the Vatican might dispatch knights…”

After finishing her report, Caroline cautiously raised her head to gauge Adler’s reaction.

“Well done.”

Adler looked at her as if finding her cute, and quietly stroked her head.

He smiled and tugged at Caroline’s tie, causing her to close her eyes tightly and tremble.

“If you continue to work this diligently, your life won’t be in danger.”

Adler’s calm voice echoed in her ear.

“…Haa.”

She had been gritting her teeth with a restless expression, but as soon as Adler removed his foot from her abdomen, she exhaled roughly and relaxed her body.

“Oh, and…”

At that moment, Adler’s sharp voice penetrated her vulnerability.

“Why do you lie about your age?”

“……!”

“You’re not actually 29, but 30 this year. Madam Caroline.”

When Adler mentioned this fact that she had been concealing through various means, Caroline’s body began to stiffen.

“Do you know how many years apart we are—me, who hasn’t even graduated from the academy, and you, who’s been called a legend in social circles for the past decade?”

“Ah…..”

“So why do you keep tactlessly requesting private meetings, or sending letters drenched in nostalgia saying you want to do odd jobs at the hideout?”

Adler glanced at her somewhat transparent white shirt and makeup that had clearly taken hours to appear natural.

“Ms. Caroline.”

He quietly leaned toward her ear and whispered:

“You’re making me uncomfortable, so please stop acting so desperate.”

The moment she heard those words, lightning struck in Caroline’s mind.

“Excuse me. If you understand, please leave now.”

“………”

“Everyone, please escort Ms. Caroline out. The back alleys can be quite dangerous.”

In her eyes, shocked by the impact throughout her body, she saw Adler’s subordinates quietly approaching her.

“………”

From the youngest Moran to the oldest Lady Clay—all of Adler’s subordinates, still young enough to attend school, moved forward while giving her contemptuous glances.

This was an incomprehensible situation for Caroline Augustus Milverton, who until just a few months ago had been called the queen of social circles and an unfading flower, whose hobby was toying with numerous young men.

‘…Just you wait, Adler.’

She gritted her teeth as she walked out of the hideout, emanating a cold chill toward Adler.

‘I’ll make you pay for treating me this way…’

It was the moment Caroline Augustus Milverton unwittingly became entangled in the massive storm about to sweep through London.

“…Hmm.”

Whether it was truly coincidental or part of Adler’s plan as he quietly watched with gleaming eyes from behind, no one would ever know.

.

.

.

.

.

“…Phew.”

That night. The streets of London were shrouded in mysterious fog as usual.

“I never thought I’d end up doing something like this…”

A woman was walking through those streets, holding her breath, covered in a black robe.

“…Adler.”

The woman was none other than Caroline Augustus Milverton, who had suffered the greatest humiliation of her life at Adler’s hands just hours ago.

“I just need to ambush him and destroy the contract. He took it out from his pocket earlier, so he must still have it…”

Her goal was to kidnap Issac Adler, using mercenaries hired with emergency funds she had been saving for escaping abroad and creating a new identity.

“Let’s see if you can still talk back with that irritating expression when you’re tied up and kidnapped.”

The situation was completely reversed compared to the siege at Caroline’s mansion months ago—similar yet somehow different.

“…!”

While feeling the irony of the situation but still burning with revenge, she and her mercenaries were walking slowly when her eyes suddenly widened.

“Hehehe…”

In the distance, she spotted Issac Adler walking into the park with a relaxed expression.

‘Is it a trap?’

He was completely defenseless—no subordinates, not even armed.

As she watched Adler casually strolling along the park path, admiring the scenery, Caroline momentarily became suspicious.

‘…So what?’

But then she remembered the mana users she had hired behind her with all her emergency funds, and was about to step forward with a cold expression.

*Shiver…!*

“Eek?”

“……!?”

It was at that moment when a chilling sensation from all directions enveloped her and the mercenaries.

.

.

.

.

.

“W-what…”

Caroline Augustus Milverton looked around slowly with a pale face, the killing intent too intense to be dismissed as mere creepiness from the park’s gloomy atmosphere.

“………”

As she identified the sources of the eerie gazes coming from all directions, she began backing away with a dazed expression.

“What kind of assignment is this? Does this benefit Bohemia’s national interests?”

“…Royal orders.”

For instance, unidentified operatives barely concealing the Bohemian royal insignia, focusing their gaze from the alley right behind her.

“………”

Next to that block, pretending to be homeless, the increasingly depressed vampires of the radical Red Mana Alliance serving Romania’s master.

“Strange beings are gathering one after another. We should issue a warning alert for London even now…”

*Leave it be.*

“…Mr. Microny?”

The personal guard forces of the British government’s shadow authority, gathered on that building and communicating via radio.

“…I want to get beaten like a dog soon.”

The French phantom thief who was awkwardly mixed in among those forces, quietly beginning to smile as he spotted Adler in the distance.

“Princess, why are you taking a walk in the middle of the night…”

“It’s a perfect night for slaughter.”

“…You shouldn’t make such brutal jokes.”

Not far away, Gil the Reaper—Britain’s worst murderer—advancing openly with royal knight escorts.

*Crunch, crunch…*

Even Dr. Frankenstein’s only masterpiece was already hiding in the park, biting her nails while voyeuristically watching Adler.

*Growl? Grrr…*

*Adler……*

*Haa, haa…*

Numerous strange beings who had been hiding throughout England and were drawn to London by an unknown attraction were staring at Caroline as she tried to walk toward the park.

“…Is this hell?”

It was the beginning of the decisive battle of strange beings, with a time limit set for next Sunday.