Ch.159Chapter 159 – Crawling ■■

“…I knew you would say that.”

“”………””

Sharlotte, who had just returned after briefly looking around the professor’s mansion, opens her mouth while giving Adler and Lestrade, who were standing at the entrance, a contemptuous look.

“At least you didn’t kill him. You must have shown great restraint, Officer.”

Lestrade’s police uniform with torn buttons hanging loosely, and her face flushed redder than ever.

And the red handprint on Adler’s face made it easy to guess what had happened between them in that short time.

“It was my first time…”

“……..”

“It was my first time, I said…”

Thanks to this, as Sharlotte turns her head to the side after giving a smile close to a sneer, Lestrade finally begins to mutter in a shrinking voice.

“I agreed to accept expressions of affection… but I never wanted it to be like this…”

“Look, that wasn’t intentional on my part…”

“Don’t talk to me… I want to kill you…”

When she raises her flushed face and whispers with tremendous killing intent, Adler, who was trying to make excuses, closes his mouth.

“From now on, whenever I think about my first kiss, I’ll always remember today…”

“…….”

“I wanted my first kiss to be… romantic and feminine…”

“…What?”

“Didn’t I tell you to shut up?”

Sharlotte glances at them from the corner of her eye.

“Come to think of it, it’s strange.”

“…What?”

“I mean Lestrade Inspector’s curse. Why couldn’t it affect Issac Adler’s transformation magic?”

She begins to mutter, tilting her head in newfound curiosity.

“Um, Miss Holmes. This magic wasn’t cast by me…”

“If the curse nullifies all of the officer’s abilities and anomalies, it should have canceled that magic too… It’s a bit strange that it was only broken after a kiss like in a fairy tale.”

“…Is that really important right now?”

“Of course it is, Officer. This is an excellent opportunity to examine one of the hypotheses I’ve had for a long time.”

At those words, a question mark briefly appears on Lestrade’s face as she keeps her head down with a flushed face.

“‘My curse that prevents me from loving anything had no effect on you.'”

“That’s…”

“‘My sister is the same. My sister, who couldn’t feel stimulated by anything, can only feel stimulated by you.'”

Meanwhile, Sharlotte begins to whisper in a low voice as she slowly walks toward where Adler is standing.

“And now, you’re openly ignoring even Officer Lestrade’s absolute ability that can directly resist Professor Moriarty.”

“Y-yes, that’s true…”

“Shall I make a guess?”

“W-what?”

Having approached right in front of Adler, she whispers in a cold voice into his ear with narrowed eyes.

“…Could it be that Professor Moriarty first showed interest in you because her curse was ineffective only against you?”

Cold sweat begins to drip from Adler’s forehead upon hearing those words.

“It seems my guess is correct.”

“…….”

“To be honest, I thought you were just an incubus who luckily survived the Crusades. But that’s not it, is it?”

Sharlotte wipes his cold sweat with her sleeve and begins to poke Adler with her black mana.

“You’re still hiding a lot from me, aren’t you?”

“……..”

“I’ll forgive you if you confess now. Okay?”

At that moment, a red warning window appears before Adler’s eyes.

[I trust you understand the boundaries of what should and shouldn’t be revealed.]

“……..”

[Please keep anything about me secret.]

After reading the contents of the warning window, he was about to open his mouth with a resigned expression.

“Miss Holmes, as I said before…”

– Swish…

“…What are you doing?”

Sharlotte, who had been quietly observing Adler from the side, suddenly brightens her eyes and grabs his arm.

– Swish, swish…

“Hey, my arm isn’t a toy…”

Adler’s expression, which had been looking at her with a troubled face, soon becomes blank.

“Oh…”

He realized that the system window that had appeared before his eyes had disappeared after being caught by his hand waving in the air.

“…So there it is, after all.”

At that moment, Sharlotte Holmes begins to mutter with a dark smile.

“An entity that gives orders.”

The hair all over Adler’s body stood on end with goosebumps.

“What’s wrong? Did you think I wouldn’t notice something like this?”

And for good reason, what Sharlotte had just done meant that she had already deduced the existence and significance of the system and even devised ways to interact with it.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“…Your flustered look is cute.”

As Adler looked at her with frightened eyes at this realization, Sharlotte quietly smiled and stared at him.

“Well, I’ll be going now.”

“…What?”

“The case is wrapped up anyway. There are still a few unsatisfying points that I don’t understand, but I have no justification to dig deeper.”

Leaving behind Adler, who had a blank expression on his face at the completely unexpected situation, Sharlotte turned around and began heading toward the exit of the mansion while muttering.

“…But I am curious.”

“About what…”

“I took the liberty of asking Professor and Mr. Freud some questions just now, and I received some very interesting answers.”

She suddenly stops walking and begins to mutter in a low voice.

“What did they tell you?”

“Well…”

Thanks to this, Adler, who had been wearing a questioning look on his face for a moment, couldn’t help but open his eyes wide at Sharlotte’s subsequent answer.

“Mr. Freud says he never told the professor to run around the house naked at night and pounce on the dog.”

“Uh…”

“Nor did he tell her to climb up to the second floor with strength unimaginable for a woman of her age and watch her son with a creepy gaze for 10 minutes.”

After staring blankly for a while, Adler begins to mutter with an exasperated expression.

“If that’s true, then what was the story we heard from our client?”

“Honestly, I’d love to investigate further, but when I contacted our client, I found they’re already full of thoughts about ending this case.”

Saying this, Sharlotte shows Adler the unilateral declaration of case cancellation that the client had just sent, and continues with a rather displeased expression.

“They said they don’t understand their mother and Mr. Freud, so they’re going to become independent and study abroad in America.”

“Well, that makes sense…”

“In other words, our opportunity to investigate this case has come to an end.”

Then, she mutters with a sigh.

“Well, this kind of thing happened a lot when I wasn’t famous. And honestly, there are several more important cases that have come in. It’s a matter of priority.”

“……….”

“Though personally, I would like to search this house thoroughly.”

After concluding with a regretful look, Sharlotte glances at Lestrade who had been standing beside her.

“If Officer Lestrade would be willing to turn a blind eye, I could investigate a little more…”

“…That would be a crime.”

“Tch.”

“Let’s agree to move again if additional requests or criminal activities are reported…”

Without fail, she rejects Sharlotte’s proposal and begins to follow her toward the exit.

“…Mr. Adler, don’t just stand there, come along.”

“………”

“I’ll listen to your explanation slowly on the way…”

As she says this and turns her still-reddened face toward Adler, her eyes soon become blank.

“…Huh?”

This was because Adler, who had been standing behind her until just a moment ago, had disappeared without a trace.

“Where did he go this time…”

“…Let’s just go.”

As Lestrade, who had been wearing a blank expression for a while, tries to head into the mansion, Sharlotte grabs her arm and quietly shakes her head.

“He’s gotten used to us paying attention to him.”

“……….”

“I’ve heard that you need to push sometimes, not just pull.”

After hearing her sincere advice, Lestrade tilts her head for a moment before opening her mouth.

“I don’t need such knowledge… but I understand.”

“…Why don’t you need it? Watson emphasized that it’s an essential rule of romance.”

She whispers while looking at Sharlotte with a slightly wary gaze, then quietly steps out of the mansion.

“Because I… am already married.”

“Ah…”

“…I don’t need such shallow dating knowledge.”

Sharlotte’s expression, who had been standing still blinking her eyes for a moment, began to crumple in real-time.

“Is that a challenge…?”

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‘…I still can’t get used to this form.’

I, who had been watching Sharlotte and Lestrade leave the mansion and catch a carriage while in cat form, turned my body and began to walk lightly down the corridor of the mansion.

‘How does the professor know such magic?’

When I analyzed the magic circle the professor had shown me, I could tell it wasn’t just a simple shape transformation but high-level magic on the level of polymorphing.

I don’t know how she can use such systematized magic in this world where mana stones have just been discovered and research on magic has just begun, but it’s beneficial for me.

If I just draw the magic circle that the professor drew on her desk earlier, I can now transform into a cat form that’s advantageous for reconnaissance and escape whenever I want.

‘I need to find the cause soon…’

Normally, I wouldn’t dig into a case that’s already closed like this, but this case is different.

[Erosion Rate: 55% -> 60%]

[Erosion Rate: 60% -> 65%]

[Erosion Rate: 65% -> 70%]

Despite my direct intervention in the case to create a plausible conclusion, the erosion rate has increased by 30 percent in just a few hours.

Like the previous case of the speckled band, I need to understand why this is happening.

– Lick.

– …Hehe♡

Judging by the moans leaking from above, it seems the professor and Freud will be spending a hot night in the laboratory for a while.

Even if I have to stay up all night, I must uncover the cause of the increasing erosion rate today…

“…..?”

As I was walking down the corridor with a serious expression thinking such thoughts, I soon began to quietly tilt my head.

“Meow?”

It wasn’t visible when I was human.

But with cat’s eyes, I could see that the study located beyond the corridor was undulating with an ominous black color.

“………”

Not the cold, emotionless form of smoke that Sharlotte emits, but a sticky and emotional form of smoke that looks exactly like what Gil the Reaper emits in his shadow state.

– Step, step…

Before I knew it, I had begun to slowly walk toward the mansion’s study filled with that smoke.

‘…Huh?’

Although I had transformed into a cat, my eyesight remained the same, so it didn’t take long to realize that it wasn’t smoke but tentacles extending and undulating.

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“…No.”

“Pardon?”

Meanwhile, at that time.

Jane Moriarty, who had been waiting at a nearby coffee house, sipping coffee with lots of sugar, expecting Adler to return to her arms soon after leaving her side again without a word.

“That must not be touched, Mr. Adler…”

“What are you suddenly talking about…?”

“Not all beings originating from ancient times are like me…”

Microny Holmes, who had been watching her with an interested expression, begins to look at the professor, who had risen from her seat with a pale face, with a puzzled gaze.

“…Issac is in danger.”

Leaving those words to her, Moriarty disappears as if dissolving into smoke.

“Sigh, what now.”

Microny Holmes, who had been staring at where she disappeared for a long time as if it were ridiculous, quietly opened her mouth again after a while.

“…But why is everyone just sitting there blankly after hearing that?”

“””………..”””

“She said Adler is in danger.”

It was only seconds later that the customers who had been filling the coffee house all rose from their seats and returned to their duties as national agents.