Ch.147Chapter 147 – Identity Revealed

# “We’ve arrived…”

*Crash!*

As soon as the carriage, which had been racing at considerable speed along the rocky country road, came to a halt, the passenger inside hastily tossed a coin to the driver and rushed outside.

“Haa, haa…”

The identity of the woman gasping for breath, despite not having run the long distance herself, was none other than Rachel Watson.

Just minutes ago, she had discovered that her husband was actually already married, and because of this, she had completely lost her mind—London’s most pitiful bride-to-be.

*Click…*

“…Should I report this to the police?”

As she walked toward the old cathedral with bloodshot eyes and a raised gun, the driver who had been staring blankly at her began to contemplate this internally.

“That won’t be necessary.”

“Eek.”

Rachel Watson turned around slightly, then whispered with a gentle smile in her eyes.

“This isn’t something for ordinary people like you to get involved in.”

“Ah, y-yes, understood…!”

Of course, Watson was likely distinguishing between those involved with the supernatural and those who weren’t, but the driver, who had been marinating in her menacing aura for hours, understood it somewhat differently.

“I-I… didn’t see anything…!”

“……?”

“W-well then… goodbye…!!!”

And so, the driver trembled while staring at Watson’s doctor’s coat fluttering in the sunset as if it were mafia attire, then hastily drove away from the scene.

“…Well, it doesn’t matter.”

After watching his retreating figure with narrowed eyes for a moment, Watson began hurrying toward the cathedral, muttering the legal knowledge that Sharlotte Holmes had mentioned recently.

“Since demons aren’t humans but harmful creatures, anything done to them is legal.”

It was fortunate that the timid driver, who had already been memory-manipulated twice after carrying Adler, Professor Moriarty, and Lupin, didn’t hear those words.

*Step, step…*

And so, holding her breath, Watson slowly approached the cathedral door while twirling the gun in her hand.

‘…Should I go in and pretend?’

For a split second, the image of her cunning fiancé fleeing after sensing her killing intent the moment she entered the cathedral flashed through her mind.

‘No, let’s not.’

But acting as if nothing had happened would be a bad move.

Watson always prided herself as an elite who was second to none, but she knew very well that her acting skills were quite terrible.

Even if she wore a mask to hide her expression while acting, her fiancé would notice something suspicious within seconds.

‘…Then should I shoot as soon as I enter?’

That didn’t seem like a bad idea.

Though not as good as that short gunslinger girl who served as Adler’s henchman, Watson’s shooting skills were almost comparable.

It would be no trouble to put a tranquilizer bullet into her fiancé’s thigh as soon as she opened the door.

‘But then, people around might stop me…’

The problem was that the people inside the cathedral were among the strongest in London, a city overflowing with mysteries and supernatural phenomena.

A renowned detective who, despite denying it, clearly used something akin to long-extinct black magic.

A master thief who had international warrants for mysteriously swiping jewels from around the world.

And an unidentified university professor who could somehow dominate those two beings with just one finger.

For Watson, who was an ordinary person despite being an experienced former soldier, blocking a bullet fired by surprise would probably be no trouble for them.

“…Haah.”

Knowing this well, Watson finally gave up on the surprise attack and sighed as she began turning the doorknob.

“Well, I have no choice.”

Her final plan was quite simple.

“I’ll just have to get up close and shoot……”

It was a characteristically straightforward and definitive solution, but it would never be carried out.

“……Huh?”

Because nowhere in the cathedral interior, which had become a complete mess as if a major battle had taken place, could she see her fiancé.

“So you came.”

Only Holmes, Watson’s partner, remained, greeting her with an indifferent voice while smoking enough cigarettes to make the cathedral air acrid.

“Holmes.”

“…Yeah.”

“I’d like to request a case from you.”

As Watson’s cold voice echoed through the cathedral after a long silence, Holmes began walking outside with an expression that suggested she had expected this.

“Actually, I wanted to tell you right away, but I’ve been under some special constraints until now.”

“…….”

“…So as an apology, I’ll waive the consultation fee.”

Watson quietly put her gun back into her pocket and began following her.

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A few minutes later.

“This is…”

“The villa where you were with your fiancé until recently.”

Watson, who had followed Holmes into the familiar-looking villa, quietly tilted her head at those words.

“You’re probably wondering why I brought you here?”

“……..”

“Since it’s just between you and me, I’ll set aside unnecessary intellectual vanity. The reason I came here is…”

“Fingerprints.”

But Watson interrupted her with a low voice.

“You came for evidence that the conservative, outdated police department still doesn’t value much, even though you published a paper on it years ago, right?”

“…Y-yes.”

When she finished speaking rapidly and stared at her partner, Sharlotte nodded with a slightly surprised look.

“I read it when we weren’t close yet because I wanted to learn more about you. By the way, I found that paper quite impressive.”

“Ahem.”

“Anyway, you came to collect evidence mentioned in that paper, right?”

“…Of course.”

Sharlotte, who had blushed slightly and cleared her throat at the sudden compliment, took out a magic stone from her pocket and quietly began infusing it with magical power.

“Watson, you should step back at least three paces.”

“…What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to try the easiest and most reliable method of collecting fingerprints.”

And the next moment.

*Poof!*

Suddenly, the magic stone in her hand shattered into fine pieces and began spreading in all directions.

“Cough, cough…”

“…Are you okay? If you feel any headache, go outside for some fresh air.”

“Ugh… I’m fine with this much.”

Watson, who had inhaled a small amount of powder despite standing several steps back as Sharlotte had advised, grabbed her head as she felt momentarily dazed and floating.

“But Sharlotte.”

“Yes?”

“You inhaled the magic stone powder right in front of you, so how are you so fine…”

But then she caught a momentary flicker in Sharlotte’s eyes and immediately adopted a cold expression.

“I told you not to misuse magic stones like that.”

“…Finely ground magic stone powder has a dual nature. Sometimes it can be used for dark purposes, causing hallucinations.”

“Don’t change the subject. Don’t tell me you still haven’t quit…”

“But with a slightly different application, it can also be used to reveal the truth, like this.”

Quietly ignoring her words, Sharlotte pointed to a cup on the desk while watching Watson’s reaction.

“In my case, whether I use it to stimulate my brain or to collect fingerprints, it’s all for revealing the truth anyway.”

“This is…”

“Issac Adler’s fingerprint.”

The fingerprint on the cup was glowing clearly as it reacted with the magic stone powder that had spread everywhere.

“A fingerprint that’s one of a kind in the world.”

“…What if, by chance, it’s a twin?”

“I’ve already experimented with that. Even in the case of twins born on the same day and hour, the fingerprints are different.”

At those words, Rachel Watson quietly closed her mouth and began to look tense.

“Now, I apologize for the intrusion, but I need to collect your fiancé’s fingerprints…”

“That’s not a problem, Holmes.”

When she suddenly opened her chest area, Holmes was startled and opened her eyes wide.

“There are plenty here.”

This was because her fiancé’s fingerprints were all over her chest in sticky makeup.

“…….”

“Isn’t what’s up here enough?”

When Sharlotte, who had been staring blankly at the sight, unconsciously moved her hand down to follow the fingerprints extending below the navel, Watson blushed slightly and then asked with a serious expression.

“…I suppose so.”

Sharlotte, having regained her senses, glared at the chest that was clearly different in size from her own with an annoyed look, then took out a sticky tape-like tool from her pocket.

*Stick…*

“Ugh.”

“Don’t make strange noises.”

Having successfully stolen a few fingerprints from Watson’s chest, Sharlotte Holmes continued.

“With two fingerprints this clear, comparison is very simple.”

“…….”

“I can just place them side by side like this and check.”

Sharlotte stuck the tape onto Adler’s fingerprint collected from the cup and whispered as she handed it to Watson.

“…Here’s the bitter truth you ordered.”

Not reacting at all to the unfunny joke, Watson took the cup and looked down at the fingerprints for a while.

“…Haha.”

Soon, an ice-cold laugh escaped from her lips.

“Aha, ahaha…”

This was because the fingerprints of Issac Adler and Neville St. Clair on the cup matched perfectly, without a single difference.

“Ha…”

The next moment, a voice more vicious and murderous than ever before came from Watson’s mouth, which had already stopped laughing.

“…That fucking bastard.”

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Meanwhile, at that time.

“…Why are my ears so itchy?”

“Are you seriously asking because you don’t know?”

Issac Adler, wrapped in Lupin’s cape, was fleeing through London’s skies from the professor who was in a foul mood.

[Chapter 2 Clear]

“Aha.”

“He’s saying ‘aha’ at a time like this…”

Lupin, who had been sighing at his cheerful voice, suddenly opened her eyes wide.

“Oh, dear.”

“Arsène Lupin!!”

At that exact moment, a shrill voice began to rise from the ground below.

“You are completely surrounded!”

“…This has become troublesome.”

“So release the hostage immediately and surrender quietly! Hurry!”

A twin-tailed young lady was shouting loudly through a megaphone, accompanied by personnel wearing police uniforms rarely seen in London.

“I never thought she would actually come all the way to England…”

“…Heh.”

“Excuse me?”

At that moment, Adler began to squirm in Lupin’s arms, who was looking at the girl with quite an annoyed expression.

“She’s cute…”

“You’re joking, right?”

Lupin looked at Adler with a cold expression for the first time, then began to whisper in a serious tone.

“Anyone but that woman would be fine, so think again, okay?”

Adler stared back at her for a moment, then answered with a bright smile.

“…But she’s exactly my type.”

“I’ll kill you and stuff you.”

“I don’t die even if I’m killed, what should I do about that?”

After sweating nervously for a moment at those words, Lupin whispered in a chilling voice into Adler’s ear as he peeked down from her arms.

“Taxidermy can be done while you’re still alive.”

[Game Over Crisis!]

“…Gasp.”