Ch.221Chapter 221 – Valley of Terror (4)

“Pfft! Puhehe…”

“…Puhehe.”

As soon as the inspection ends and the carriage door closes, Watson and Lupin, who had been biting their tongues to hold back their laughter, burst out laughing simultaneously.

“Stop laughing…”

Meanwhile, Adler, with a face flushed bright red, scolds them.

“Feisty, aren’t you?”

“…I’m not joking.”

“With that pretty face, your anger isn’t scary at all.”

But when Lupin and Watson don’t even blink, Adler sighs, hangs his head in resignation, and begins to mutter.

“Everything else is fine… but why did you have to make me wear a skirt? I could have cross-dressed perfectly fine with pants…”

“Tsk. No professional pride. What woman would wear pants in this weather?”

“But still…”

“Stop muttering. I was trapped naked in your briefcase for days.”

When Watson shoots back with slightly raised eyebrows, Adler falls silent, apparently at a loss for words.

“You look quite cute when you’re sulking…”

“Ah, shit. I told you to stop…”

“Would you look at that? What kind of woman speaks so crudely?”

Lupin, who suddenly embraces Adler from the side, speaks while glaring at Adler’s irritated expression.

“I even developed a voice modulation spell for this, but if your speech gives you away, it’s all been a waste of time.”

“………”

“Now, try speaking again. What if someone touches your body like this?”

Gritting his teeth and trembling, Adler finally squeezes his eyes shut and opens his mouth.

“Kya, kyaak…”

“Pfft…”

“…Please stop.”

“Puhahahahaha!”

At the shy cry that escapes his lips, Lupin begins to laugh hysterically, tears streaming down her face.

“That’s enough.”

Just then, a cold voice comes from beside Lupin.

“Do not deceive my master.”

“Tch…”

At the threat from the hound that emerged from Adler’s shadow, Lupin quietly clicks her tongue and sits demurely.

“Wh-what…”

“…?”

“Y-you…”

At that moment, Watson’s slightly frightened voice comes from the front.

*Shak…*

But before she can finish speaking, the guard dog quietly lowers its tail and hides behind Adler’s back.

“”……….””

And then comes silence.

“Poppy, what’s wrong…?”

“…Was I mistaken?”

In the midst of that silence, while Adler and Watson are muttering with puzzled expressions.

“You’re ridiculously strong, so why are you hiding behind Adler?”

Lupin asks with a displeased expression from the side.

“What are you talking about? Master is strong.”

“…Adler?”

“He could subdue someone like me with just one finger. If that weren’t the case, I would have no reason to follow him.”

When the guard dog answers as if it’s obvious, Watson furrows her brow and speaks.

“No matter how I look at it, he seems weaker than you… he even loses to me in pure strength.”

“Nonsense. I’ll show you directly.”

“…?”

With that, she sighs and then approaches Adler, who is tilting his head with a puzzled expression.

“P-Poppy? What are you doing?”

*Squeeze…*

As she grabs both his arms and pushes herself against him, Adler, suddenly pinned beneath the guard dog, asks with a slightly bewildered expression.

“…Master?”

Meanwhile, the guard dog, who had been pressing down on her master with all her might only to find no resistance, also looks confused.

“Y-you’re joking… right?”

“…This is no joke, Master.”

Then she quietly bares her teeth and whispers in his ear.

“Please show me how you subdue me so you can discipline those disrespectful females.”

And the next moment.

“If you don’t resist, I’ll bite you.”

“….Huh?”

Opening her mouth wide, the girl brings her head to Adler’s neck, her blue eyes glowing.

“Eek…”

Completely terrified by this sudden predatory behavior, Adler begins to push her away with all his might, but.

“………”

Naturally, the guard dog didn’t budge an inch.

‘…Master is weak?’

As she was momentarily stunned by this incomprehensible situation, such a thought crossed the guard dog’s mind.

“I’m a little scared… would you please get off me now…”

Adler asks in a trembling voice to the guard dog sitting on top of him.

“……….”

The girl stares blankly at Adler for a moment after hearing those words, then buries her face in his neck.

“…Chomp.”

“Hee, heek…”

Shortly after, sharp teeth begin to sink into Adler’s neck.

‘MasterisweakMasterisweakMasterisweakMasterisweak…….’

“S-save me….”

And so, once again, Adler is betrayed by the one he trusted.

“Shouldn’t we… stop her?”

“…How could we stop someone stronger than us?”

As Watson looks at him with slightly pitying eyes and mutters this, Lupin responds in an indifferent voice.

“Just leave them be, she’s just mounting him.”

“Hmm…”

Thanks to this, Adler’s modulated cries continued to echo inside the carriage until they reached their destination.

*Rustle, rustle…*

“Haaauuugh…”

“…This seems a bit excessive for just mounting.”

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How much time had passed since then.

“……..”

“…I’m sorry.”

Adler, with deep teeth marks on his neck and disheveled hair and clothes, finally receives an apology from the now-sane guard dog as he steps out of the carriage on trembling legs.

“I didn’t know you would play along with the joke to such an extent.”

“…Poppy. Stop growling and go inside.”

“Then… I’ll be on standby again.”

Finally, looking at Adler with a slightly different gaze than before, the guard dog melts back into his shadow.

“Hey. After what happened, does that thing still look like a puppy to you?”

“…Poppy is big like a wolf, but she is a dog.”

“Sigh…”

Watson, who had been glancing at the scene and scolding, sighs and shakes her head at Adler’s gloomy response.

“So, what’s the purpose of coming here in drag?”

“…We need to divide the group inside this hideout.”

When she finally gives up trying to convince him and asks the question, Adler, still rubbing his sore neck, answers in a low voice.

“What kind of group is it?”

“Well… from what I’ve heard, they’re quite a delinquent group. Extortion, threats… they even commit sinister acts of terrorism against companies that don’t pay tribute…”

“That’s completely… no different from a gang.”

“Yes, I heard they’re almost at that level.”

Then Watson asks again with narrowed eyes.

“So are you planning to use your beauty as a weapon? You’ve really gone all the way, haven’t you?”

“No, it’s not like that…”

“All the members are women, they say.”

Instead of the flustered Adler, Lupin answers her.

“So that’s why you disguised yourself as a woman…?”

“…If I want to join as a spy, I need to look like a woman, don’t I?”

“Well, that’s true, but… are you going to stay as a woman from now on?”

“Just until the case is solved.”

Adler says with a sigh.

“Isn’t this too dangerous…?”

“I have the world’s greatest thief as my escort. And if things go wrong, there’s also Poppy in the shadows.”

“The one who just pounced on you like a dog?”

“…That was mounting. It’s a dog’s instinct.”

Saying this, Adler stands at the entrance of the hideout and changes his expression to a determined one as he grabs the doorknob.

“Anyway, look forward to it. I’ll show you an incredibly delinquent side.”

“In a gang hideout, you mean.”

“…According to the information, these people like violence and delinquency. So…..”

Then, after taking a deep breath.

*BANG…!!!*

“No, you don’t need to go that far…”

“Hello!!”

As he kicks the door open and enters the bar, the gazes of the rough-looking members drinking inside all turn to him at once.

“I’m Irene…!”

Adler begins to introduce himself energetically while looking at them.

“…Khegh.”

But before he can finish, he collapses to the floor.

“”……….””

And then begins a slightly awkward silence.

“Cough, cough…”

“Uh, um… you see…”

In that silence, Watson, who notices blood flowing from Adler’s mouth, begins to desperately make excuses while sweating profusely.

“She’s been sickly since birth… she’s been diagnosed with a terminal illness.”

“N-no, that’s not it. I’m totally delinquent… ugh.”

“…She wants to live her last few months as a delinquent.”

Hearing this, the members look at each other blankly.

“Could you possibly accept her…”

“Uuugh…”

Their fierce expressions gradually begin to soften.

“…Kid, come sit over here.”

“You’re pretty cute…”

“Wanna do strength training with big sis?”

“Th-this isn’t what I meant…”

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A few days later.

“””………..?”””

The expressions of Professor Moriarty, Holmes, and their group, who had completed their angry voyage and arrived in America in search of traces of Adler, all began to freeze.

“Mr. Adler… what is this appearance?”

“What on earth has he been doing?”

“…He’s finally lost his mind.”

This was because the following article was prominently featured in an American weekly newspaper they had opened in hopes of finding any sightings of Adler.

[Intruders Break into Our Newspaper Office, Editor-in-Chief Seriously Injured]

– Yesterday morning, an incident occurred where Mr. Stanger, the editor-in-chief of our company, was severely beaten with clubs and seriously injured…

– The perpetrators stated that the editor-in-chief had defiled “Irene Adler” by looking at her with impure eyes, and their current whereabouts are unknown…

Alongside a photo of Adler, looking completely resigned, surrounded by women holding clubs, having been transformed into something utterly dainty.