Ch.177Chapter 177 – Korean Interpreter

– Creeeeak…

“……?”

After seeing the message that appeared in the system, I had been staring blankly for a while.

“Professor? You’re still here…?”

“…….”

“I thought you’d already left. Did you forget something?”

I noticed Professor Moriarty peeking her head through the doorway of the hospital room—I’m not sure how long she’d been standing there—and asked with a puzzled expression.

“Professor?”

“……….”

But for some reason, she just stood there with her head poking through, staring at me.

“Why are you suddenly…”

– Click…!

As a question mark appeared on my face, Professor Moriarty quietly entered the hospital room and closed the door.

– Thud…

Then, she walked over to the bed where I was lying down and quietly sat beside me, staring at me intently.

“Is something wrong?”

I tilted my head as I looked back at her and cautiously asked a question, but no answer came from the professor.

– Slide…

After some time had passed.

“Adler…”

I slightly raised my head at her words, and was immediately startled.

“Is this how it’s done?”

“…..!?”

Tears were flowing from the eyes of Professor Moriarty, who was sitting demurely beside me.

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“There is nothing I cannot solve.”

“P-Professor!?”

When she first shed tears, Professor Moriarty’s expression was quite confident.

“I am one who knows all the secrets of the world. Would shedding tears be so difficult for me?”

“Uh…”

“Now then, Adler.”

That clueless young detective who had become even more of a thorn in her side recently, Issac Adler, had said he would never be able to cry in his lifetime.

“Lick it.”

“What?”

But now, she was shedding a perfect liquid from her eyes that no one could deny was tears, both anatomically and chemically.

“Lick it.”

Even the professor thought that if these tears were recorded in history as the most tear-like tears in the world, it would not be an exaggeration.

“Um, well…”

– Slide…

“Y-Yes…”

Filled with such a sense of victory, the professor leaned forward and stared at Adler, who hesitated momentarily before closing his eyes and sticking out his tongue.

– Lick…

And then, the sound of his tongue moving began to echo throughout the hospital room.

“…Lick it thoroughly.”

“Yes…”

How much time passed like that?

“Mmph?”

“Yes, that should be enough.”

“…Enough for what?”

“The treatment, of course.”

After playfully biting Adler’s tongue as he was licking her tear-stained cheek, she began to mutter with slightly reddened cheeks.

“You may have a terminal illness now… but consuming dragon tears is said to extend one’s lifespan, isn’t it…?”

“………”

“Ah, I’ve been researching that very thing. And today I finally succeeded.”

Adler listened to her words in a daze.

“The tears I shed now… should be identical in composition to those shed by a dragon.”

“Professor…”

“So your lifespan issue is solved. Now we can focus on how to turn London into a kingdom of crime together…”

“That’s wrong…”

He interrupted the professor’s triumphant statement, shaking his head.

“What’s wrong…?”

“Well, these aren’t tears.”

“……?”

The professor looked puzzled for a moment at his response, then smiled and asked:

“What are you saying? These are scientifically perfect tears.”

“…That may be true. But they have no magical effect whatsoever.”

“Why not?”

At her puzzled expression, Adler sighed and answered.

“Dragon tears… only have magical power when they’re shed out of genuine sadness.”

“………”

“It seems dragons themselves don’t know this setting… I mean, don’t know this. It’s extremely rare for dragons to feel sadness in the first place.”

Professor Moriarty looked blank for a moment at those words.

“Is that… how it works?”

“……”

“Then… I just need to cry while feeling sad?”

“More precisely, tears need to be induced by sadness. Not forcibly secreting fluid from your eyes using magic like you did, Professor.”

“…Wait a moment.”

She closed her mouth and began to stare at her student sitting before her.

“………”

And silence flowed between them for a while.

“……!?”

In that silence, the professor, who had been concentrating so hard that her eyes became bloodshot, suddenly looked surprised.

“I don’t understand…”

“What?”

“I was just imagining you disappearing from my side. It made my breath catch and my chest tighten.”

She began to mutter while breaking into a cold sweat.

“But for some reason, no tears are coming…”

“……”

“Why? I need you. If you were gone, I would surely be sad…”

Looking at her, Adler smiled bitterly and said:

“You don’t need to force yourself.”

“But…”

“There’s no need to force something that won’t work.”

At Adler’s resigned voice, the professor’s eyes began to waver.

“T-Then… are you g-going to d-die…?”

“What?”

“Even when my kingdom of crime is complete, you won’t exist there…?”

Her complexion began to turn pale.

“That’s, that’s… I don’t want that.”

“Professor…”

“W-Wait. I have some useful things in my old rare… I mean, storage. If we experiment one by one…”

She hurriedly stood up and began walking toward the exit.

“N-No!”

“…What?”

“Why would I die?”

Adler quickly called her back and began to explain with a bright expression.

“You must have overheard what I said earlier, but that was all a lie.”

“……..?”

“It was a lie to quickly awaken Sharlotte. Why would I die?”

“But demons who fall in love…”

“Come on, I’m a demon. Would I really try to die knowing that?”

The professor, whose complexion had turned pale, began to look uncertain.

“It’s true that I haven’t been feeling well lately, but I already have a solution prepared.”

“A solution… you say?”

“Yes, I have a way to avoid death.”

Upon hearing those words, she quietly opened her palm and quickly drew a magic circle.

“Say that again.”

“What?”

“What you just said, say it again.”

Adler scratched his head for a moment before answering.

“Um… I have a way to avoid death.”

At that moment.

– Whoosh…!

The professor’s palm began to burn with a green light.

“…Hmm.”

As she quietly observed the vivid color, a smile slowly returned to her face.

“It seems that was the truth.”

“What kind of magic is that?”

“A lie detection spell.”

She smiled broadly as she answered Adler’s question.

“As expected, you are my wicked assistant.”

“…….”

“That idiot detective is just a toy for me, right? He’s been played by you from beginning to end, hasn’t he?”

When she asked in an unusually excited voice while moving closer to him, Adler nodded with a smile.

“Of course, Professor…”

[Well, a return ticket is a way to avoid death, so it’s not a lie.]

“Haha…”

But at the system message that appeared before his eyes, Adler felt a slight pang of conscience.

“Well, let’s put this conversation aside… I have some very good news to tell you.”

However, the professor, too excited by the fact that her assistant wouldn’t die, failed to notice his expression and pressed her cheek against his to deliver the news.

“A new puzzle.”

“…Huh?”

“We’ve received a crime request.”

After looking blank for a moment, Adler tilted his head and asked:

“What kind? Murder for hire? Evidence tampering? Or just designing a trick?”

“Well… this is quite an unusual request.”

Seeing his interest, the professor answered with a completely happy expression.

“We need to find an interpreter.”

“What?”

“The clients have kidnapped an Asian person and want to find someone who can speak their language.”

Cold sweat began to form on Adler’s forehead as he tilted his head in confusion.

[Chance of true identity being exposed: 50%]

“No way…”

“What’s wrong, Adler?”

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Meanwhile, somewhere in the increasingly gloomy back alleys of London.

– Creeeeak…

“Have you… found an interpreter…?”

A man who entered through one of the many secret passages scattered throughout the area saluted and answered his colleague’s question in a low voice.

“…We’ve entrusted the request to a reliable source.”

“Good work…”

The man nodded with satisfaction and glanced toward the back of the room.

“…Since this is a request directly from a government, we’ll be paid handsomely.”

“Mmph, mmph…”

In the direction of his gaze, an Asian woman was tied up with a gag in her mouth.

“I’m surprised. I thought this was a request from illegal slave traders trying to catch an escaped slave…”

“…Judging by her appearance and clothing, she was probably upper class in her country. She doesn’t look like an escaped slave.”

“Then…?”

The two conversed while casually watching the woman glare at them with burning eyes.

“The requesting country is also in Asia.”

“Ah, so…”

“It’s probably related to international relations. Either way, it’s good for us to expand our client base…”

Hearing their conversation, a tear began to roll down the woman’s eye.

“Oh? Do you think she understands our language?”

“What does it matter if she does? She only babbles in an incomprehensible language…”

“…If we inflict a bit more pain, do you think English might suddenly come out of her mouth?”

“That’s not a bad idea…”

Shortly after, faint screams began to echo from the abandoned building in the back alley.