Ch.154Chapter 154 – The Crawling Man (5)

# Shortly after Sharlotte and her companions left the professor’s mansion in the university town.

“”………..””

Under the gloomy sky, two women quietly watched as they boarded a carriage and slowly headed toward Cambridge University.

“What brings the lizard who’s unusually absorbed in playing house here?”

“I find it more surprising that the behind-the-scenes power of the British government, famous for being a recluse, has shown herself here.”

The women were none other than Professor Jane Moriarty and Microny Holmes.

“I collapsed from anemia several times on my way here. My health has been deteriorating lately, perhaps from overwork.”

“…Not overwork, but because someone completely forgot about you and left you locked in a basement, starving for weeks?”

“My, how mischievous. You’re bringing up such unpleasant memories…”

With a smile on her face, now several times paler than before from lack of sunlight, she glanced at the professor who maintained a composed expression and muttered.

“…Still, I’m less pitiful than a certain professor who desperately tried to hold onto a marriage prospect just before reaching marriageable age, only to have the marriage stolen by a fresh young schoolgirl.”

“…I’m planning to file a lawsuit. There’s abundant evidence proving the marriage registration was switched by someone else. So…”

“My, how ugly.”

After rebutting her in a monotone voice, Jane Moriarty frowned silently upon hearing that small mutter.

“If it was really switched, why would Adler’s side remain quiet~?”

“………”

“Are you surprisingly naive or foolish, or just unwilling to accept defeat~?”

“…So, why have you appeared before me to irritate me like this?”

As she asked this question while looking at Microny with lifeless eyes, a flash of lightning illuminated the sky.

– Rumble…!

“Oh my, how frightening.”

As thunder and lightning crashed all around, Microny Holmes smiled and began to walk forward.

“I just came to help a poor little kitten who must be trembling by now.”

“…What a coincidence. I’m here for the same reason.”

After finishing their words, they narrowed their eyes and checked each other’s hands.

– Help me

“It seems my assistant made a mistake while requesting help.”

“…Indeed. Typical of him to call only when in trouble without even explaining the situation.”

Their voices grew increasingly cold.

“It seems he’s completely forgotten about that disaster from before.”

“Apparently Mr. Adler doesn’t consider locking a frail patient in a pitch-black warehouse to be an evil deed~”

The two women’s pace quickened as they headed toward the mansion.

“If we clash now, all of London might be blown away, so shall we accomplish our goal first~?”

“…I don’t like it, but given the urgency, I’ll tolerate it.”

A dramatic agreement was reached between them.

“Yes, you heard that? Everyone can withdraw now.”

“………”

“What? How could a frail patient like me face a mythical being alone?”

Immediately after their agreement, Microny, who had withdrawn numerous forces waiting around the area, winked and entered the mansion.

“…Just as I cannot deceive your eyes, you cannot deceive mine.”

“Hehe.”

Of course, until the moment the mansion door opened, a strange, chilling tension flowed between them.

“I don’t quite understand what you’re saying…”

“……..”

But that tension instantly vanished at the sight before them, replaced by a heavy silence.

“Meow.”

In that silence came the sound of a dull cat.

“…A threatening letter.”

The two women stared blankly for a while at Issac Adler, who was sitting demurely on the desk, wagging his tail and meowing, before they began to read the long message left in front of him.

“Your precious Adler has been replaced with a cat.”

“Meow.”

“If you want Adler back, reconstruct the case written below into a plausible crime…”

The professor and Microny’s gazes grew increasingly blank.

“…The deadline is tomorrow.”

“If you fail, Adler will remain a cat forever… it says?”

Their gazes simultaneously turned toward Adler.

“Me-meow~”

Watching their reactions carefully, he flipped onto his back on the desk, raised his hands, and struck a cat pose.

– Lick, lick…

“”………..””

But when the professor and Microny just stared at him without any reaction, he began licking his hands and washing his face like a cat.

– Swish…

“Ha, haaak…!”

When Professor Moriarty quietly reached out her hand toward him, Adler bared his teeth and hissed urgently.

“You’re an excellent actor, but even the greatest actors can’t properly convey an exaggerated performance.”

“Ah?”

“…You might feel suicidal again if you continue.”

“Ah…”

He stared blankly at the professor who repeated his earlier soliloquy while giving him a chilling smile.

“Um, well… you see…”

“…Mr. Adler, cats don’t speak human language.”

As his complexion gradually paled and he tried to speak again with trembling eyes, the professor gently stroked his head and whispered in his ear.

“I’m saying this because I might kill you if you speak human language now.”

“…….”

“So please, for the time being, have the courage to act like a cat rather than like garbage who unilaterally beat a woman who proposed to him and then married another woman?”

Adler trembled and quietly nodded at her cheerful voice accompanied by a smiling eye expression.

“…Cats don’t nod when humans speak.”

“Me, meow.”

“Nor do they answer by making meowing sounds.”

Jane Moriarty brought her face close to his and whispered in a cold voice.

“Do you want to die? Or would you rather beg to be killed?”

“………”

“If you’re going to do it, wouldn’t it be better to do it properly?”

Adler, who had been trembling, lowered his wagging tail and began to whimper.

“Don’t be too harsh.”

“……..”

“But Adler is cute, isn’t he?”

Microny, who had been watching him with narrowed eyes, spoke in a low voice.

“But don’t you think it’s too dangerous to keep Adler, who’s turned into a cat, in a mansion like this?”

“……..!?”

“As it happens, I know a good spell…”

The corners of Professor Moriarty’s mouth, who had been looking at Microny with a serious expression, slowly began to rise.

“Is that perhaps a shrinking spell?”

“…My, professor, do you have mind-reading abilities too?”

“I also know a decent spell.”

“Really? May I ask what it is?”

“…Ugh?”

Realizing that the situation was taking a strange turn, Adler desperately tried to get up, but his body was already powerless.

“It’s a spell that turns humans into animals.”

“Hmm…”

The last thing Adler saw before losing consciousness was the darkly shining eyes of Jane Moriarty and Microny Holmes, who were smiling with almost identical expressions.

“…Meow.”

“Now it seems he can only make cat sounds even if he wants to speak human language.”

“…My. Such terrible words. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that, hehe.”

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Several hours later.

“So, why did you come here?”

“…Do I have to share information with you?”

Professor Jane Moriarty, who was about to knock on the door of a small laboratory attached to the university town, quietly glanced at Microny Holmes, who was smiling beside her, and asked.

“Not necessarily, but I don’t understand why you came here when we’re already busy manipulating the crime scene.”

“…I’m here to meet someone essential for making this case harmonious and colorful.”

“In this shabby, unremarkable laboratory?”

Professor Moriarty began to smile at those words.

“It seems even you don’t know everything.”

“I’m an extremely lazy woman. Except for newspapers, I find gathering information too troublesome, so I don’t know much about what’s happening in the world.”

“A woman who holds the world in her hands and manipulates it at will claims not to know the world… how ironic.”

The professor burst into laughter and muttered in a low voice as she stepped forward.

“The key issue in this case is the ’cause’ of the professor’s actions. For some reason, our cute little kitten wants to present a cause other than the magically enhanced serum.”

“…The serum doesn’t have such effects in the first place, does it?”

“Right, which clearly indicates this bizarre case has a hidden mastermind.”

The professor’s eyes began to quietly shine.

“…Recently, I read quite an interesting book containing unfamiliar terms like ‘psychoanalysis’ and the fascinating concept of ‘dream analysis.'”

“Oh, is that so? How curious that I don’t know this book.”

“It was published just days ago, so that’s understandable.”

Hearing her words, Microny Holmes adopted an expression full of curiosity.

“In my personal opinion, it will likely become a book of outstanding academic value that will shake all of Europe before long.”

“But what does that have to do with the case?”

“The young fiancé of that poor professor who crawls around like a dog at night is the son of the author who wrote that book.”

“Aha.”

“I believe these two facts are very closely related to the case.”

Both women’s eyes began to shine coldly at the same time.

“Indeed… that might be the case.”

“Having been forced to take on an advisory role, I have no choice but to do my best. That’s why I’ve come here.”

“So you think the person inside is at least closely related to the cause.”

“If not, I’ll make it so.”

After saying this, Professor Moriarty began knocking on the door with a composed face.

“…Of course, the probability that there’s truly no connection is extremely low.”

– Who is it?

“I’m looking for Research Assistant Gregory.”

– Could you repeat that?

The corners of his mouth, having detected the thick scent of crime from beyond the door, were already slowly rising upward with a chilling expression.

“Would you understand if I said Gregory Freud?”

– …Please come in.

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“…Meow!?”

“Shh.”

At that very moment, a small cat with golden eyes poked its head out from between Microny’s breasts.

“…Do you want to go lower?”

“…….”

“If not, stay quiet, squeeze your legs together, and just suck blood.”

As soon as he made eye contact with Microny, who whispered in a chilling voice, he buried his head back inside with a dejected expression.

“…Mmm.”

“It’s about time for my turn.”

“There’s still one minute left.”