Ch.242Chapter 242 – Adventure in an Empty House

– Trudge, trudge…

“………”

Using the excuse of having too much to do after returning after a long time, I had barely managed to delay my response and began walking through the back alley with Poppy.

“Um… hey, Poppy.”

“…What is it? Sir.”

“Well, you know… never mind.”

Normally this would have been quite reassuring, but the problem was that Poppy had been walking while staring intently at my face with her head thrust forward since earlier.

“If you have something to say, say it, sir.”

“……It’s nothing.”

I wanted to say something about this behavior, but her gaze was so ominous that I couldn’t bring myself to speak.

“Nothing at all…”

“……..”

The bright-eyed Poppy who used to pant excitedly whenever she saw me was nowhere to be found, replaced by the cold gaze of a hunting dog looking at its prey.

Moreover, knowing that the being giving me such a look was the ruler of the netherworld, it was a bit difficult to treat Poppy like I used to.

– Flinch…

“…Hmm.”

So when Poppy suddenly stopped walking, it was only natural that I flinched and stopped in my tracks as well.

“……..”

“P-Poppy…?”

But there was something strange about her as she stood still, looking at me quietly and making a snorting sound.

“Why did you stop suddenly?”

Instead of continuing to walk, she was standing with her hands behind her back, carefully examining me from head to toe.

What’s gotten into her?

It’s truly embarrassing to admit, but right now I can’t even escape the back alleys of London without Poppy.

So I need her full cooperation…

“…Let’s go, master.”

“…Y-yeah.”

Just as I was thinking this with a troubled expression, Poppy suddenly raised the corners of her mouth slightly and began walking again.

‘Somehow… it feels like our roles have been reversed…’

I was starting to feel like we’d been going in circles for a while now, and the feeling that I was moving according to Poppy’s commands made me feel strangely uneasy. That’s when it happened.

– Swish…

“…Ah?”

Poppy, who had been walking slightly ahead of me, suddenly stuck out her foot and tripped me.

“Ow ow ow…?”

Of course, having become completely ordinary, there was no way I could react to her nimble movement, and I found myself rolling onto the back alley floor in the blink of an eye.

“…Poppy?”

Having instantly become covered in dust, I shifted my gaze to Poppy with a slightly dazed expression.

– Press…

“Eek?”

Poppy, who had somehow climbed on top of my stomach, suddenly grabbed both my arms, gathered them above my head, and began pressing them down forcefully.

“Why, why are you doing this?”

“…….”

“C-could you please stop…?”

At that sudden action, I asked in a frightened, shrinking voice, and Poppy, who had been staring down at me for quite some time, began to mutter in a low voice.

“You’re really weak.”

“…….”

“Why are you so weak?”

The moment I heard those words, cold sweat began to run down my forehead.

“My master… used to be strong enough to toy with someone like me with just one finger.”

“Uh, umm…”

“Why are you weak?”

As I stared into her eyes that were like an abyss, my mind began to turn blank, but having experienced such situations many times before, my mouth was already smoothly spitting out excuses.

“W-well… I lost my power because of that incident two years ago…?”

“…….”

“I used up all my remaining power to revive, you know? So I have to live as an ordinary person for a while…”

As Poppy listened quietly to those words, a strange light momentarily flashed in her eyes.

“S-so… could you help me out… Poppy…”

Watching her reaction, I whispered those words and then swallowed dryly as I waited for her response.

– Swish…

After a few minutes, Poppy quietly released the pressure she had been applying to me, and with a faint smile, whispered in my ear.

“So that’s what happened?”

“…….”

“…Sir.”

Somehow her polite speech no longer seemed grammatically correct, but that didn’t matter.

“Get up, sir.”

“…Yeah.”

“I’ll protect you for the time being.”

Without her, I would probably be torn to pieces and discovered in various parts of the world years later.

“Don’t leave my side. Okay?”

Even though my pet was holding my hand with a sinister smile and leading me forward, I had no choice but to accept the situation.

“Answer.”

“…I understand.”

“Thank you for responding.”

What’s going to happen to me from now on?

[What do you think?]

[Probability of master-servant role reversal: 100%]

Ignoring the message from System Lady that appeared before my eyes at that moment, I began walking again with Poppy, who was wearing a chilling smile.

‘Master is weaker than me Master is weaker than me Master is weaker than me Master is weaker than me……’

“Sigh…”

‘…Then, am I the master now?’

“Hey, Poppy.”

Watching Poppy, who was now deep in thought with a serious expression, I cautiously asked her a question.

“Do you know where my subordinates are?”

“Why? Sir.”

I couldn’t bring myself to say that I needed to reveal to them one by one that I was alive in order to avoid being dragged to the netherworld by someone.

“…Just, I miss them.”

“Tsk.”

“Ah, hahaha…”

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A few days after the being who had caused such a commotion in London over the past few years quietly returned to the city.

“……..”

At 221B Baker Street, where the genius girl Sharlotte Holmes, who had returned after a two-year hiatus with great newspaper fanfare, lived.

– Click…

Across from that location, in the uninhabited Camden mansion, a cold-looking girl was quietly mounting her air rifle on the windowsill and loading it.

“Huff…”

The owner of that air rifle, which bore marks of having been broken and repaired, was none other than Celestia Moran.

Having grown considerably over the past two years, she had remarkably reached almost the same height as Inspector Lestrade despite being only 14 years old. She put her eye to the sight and exhaled deeply.

“The target is… not yet here.”

She had lived as a recluse for a while, feeling guilty for contributing to her master’s death in ‘that incident’ two years ago, but recently she had returned to the Professor’s organization and had been obsessively taking on all the dirty work.

Even that was not out of loyalty to the Professor, but out of a sense of obligation to her children, who had her former master’s blood mixed in them.

‘…Can I succeed?’

The Professor’s order to her this time was none other than to snipe ‘Sharlotte Holmes.’

Her mission today was to eliminate the girl who had successfully inflicted critical damage to the Professor’s rebuilding organization immediately after announcing her return, having become more meticulous and ruthless than she was two years ago.

‘Even the Professor couldn’t properly finish her…’

However, Moran, who knew from years of experience that Sharlotte was not an easy opponent, was unusually tense.

‘…No, that doesn’t matter.’

But after calmly wiping the cold sweat from her forehead with her sleeve, she took a deep breath and focused again, putting her eye to the sight.

‘For the children’s safety…’

Moran was well aware that Sharlotte had visited the Professor’s study and office twice already.

And she vividly remembered the expression on her face after encountering her children, even though she had been watching from the adjacent building.

‘…My life or honor doesn’t matter.’

If by any chance the Professor were to be defeated by Sharlotte, no one knew what would happen to the children.

‘I must succeed today… without fail.’

Remembering this, Moran began to minimize her breathing as she waited for Sharlotte to appear at the window.

“……..”

How much time had passed like that?

– Swish…

“…….!”

Finally, a change was detected in her field of vision, which had not relaxed for even a second.

‘At last…’

As the shadow flickering in the window of 221B Baker Street grew darker, Moran’s heart began to cool, and.

– Slide…

Just a few seconds later, as the window in her sight opened wide, strength began to build in Moran’s finger resting on the trigger, but.

– Thud…!

“……!?”

At that very moment, her gun barrel tilted slightly and the air rifle leaned downward.

– Pik…!

The next moment, her sharp air bullet, fired almost silently, pierced through the wall in front instead of the window.

“”………….””

And then came the silence.

‘Have I been detected…..?’

In that silence, sweating coldly, she glanced sideways at the unidentified figure in a robe who had appeared behind her and pushed down her air rifle.

‘In that case…!’

She quietly reached for the emergency pistol in her pocket, but.

“Moran, keeping a gun in your pocket is a bad habit.”

“…….!?!?”

At that moment, she froze in place, startled by the all-too-familiar voice flowing from under the robe.

“The Professor used to constantly advise me about that.”

“…..Huh?”

Although years had passed, that kind voice that she could never forget was.

“M-m-m-mas…”

None other than ‘that man’s’ voice, the one who had taken her hand and pulled her up from hell.

“…Master?”

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“”…….?””

Meanwhile, at that time. In front of 221B Baker Street.

“What’s going on?”

Sharlotte, who had been hiding behind the sign with Inspector Lestrade waiting for Moran to snipe her fake bust, tilted her head and began to mutter.

“…Why didn’t she shoot?”

It seemed certain that something unexpected had happened to the plan.