Ch.243Chapter 243 – Adventure in an Empty House (2)

“Ugh…?”

My head hurts. A pain like my skull might split open spreads throughout my body.

‘…Why?’

Because of this, even after opening my eyes, I maintained a dazed expression for quite some time before finally beginning to look around with that question in mind.

“Huh.”

And in less than a few seconds, I discovered Celestia Moran beside me, searching through something with a stunned expression.

“Um… Moran?”

“Quickly quickly quickly quickly quickly…”

“Hey…”

I tried to speak to her softly, wondering what she was doing, but Moran didn’t seem to hear me at all.

‘…Where is this place anyway?’

So I scratched my head absently and took a careful look around, discovering that I was in a secluded alley.

‘I was definitely on Baker Street just a moment ago…’

Judging by the throbbing at the back of my head, it seemed Moran had knocked me unconscious and brought me here.

She could have just asked me to follow her, why did she become so violent?

“…Found it.”

While thinking this and watching her with an anxious expression, Moran pulled something out of an excessively large bag.

“I wish I had silver chains instead…”

“……!?”

What she held was a very sturdy-looking rope.

Holding it in her hands, she stared at my face silently while approaching me.

“W-what are you going to do?”

Wiping away the cold sweat that had started forming, I tried to ask the question with a deliberately calm expression, but.

– Grip…

“Eek?”

Ignoring my words, she grabbed both my arms together and started tying my wrists with the rope, making it impossible for me to maintain my composure any longer.

“Listen, Moran. I know it’s my fault for not showing my face for the past two years…”

“……”

“B-but… this kind of harsh treatment is a bit too much…..”

In this spine-chilling situation, I tried whispering in Moran’s ear with the most pitiful expression I could muster, but.

– Tighten…

“Aagh…”

Moran didn’t even listen to my words, focusing only on restraining me.

“…I-I’m just an ordinary person now anyway.”

“……?”

“I can’t use magic… I can’t run away……”

My entire body was already starting to go numb from the lack of blood circulation, so I had no choice but to reveal this fact to stop the rampaging Moran.

“……..”

Only then did she pause in restraining me, and as she looked at me with a blank expression.

– Embrace…!

“…Gack.”

Then with tears welling up in her eyes, she hugged me quite forcefully.

“Hic… sob… ugh…”

“Ah, um…”

“Where… where have you been all this time…”

As I looked down at her burying her face in my chest while crying and sniffling.

‘…Thankfully, she’s still a child.’

Although her body had grown remarkably, I patted the back of Moran, whose mental age was still that of a child, and inwardly sighed with relief.

‘I thought she had changed like the other women…’

“…Master.”

But then, suddenly raising her head and asking me in a low voice.

“But, did you really lose your powers?”

“Huh? Yeah… I just told you, didn’t I?”

“…Really?”

Having answered her question without thinking, I then quietly smiled with my eyes and wiped away the tears flowing down Moran’s cheeks with my hand.

“Now I couldn’t run away even if I wanted to.”

Despite this, I whispered in a low voice into the ear of Moran, who still looked anxious and frightened.

“……..”

And then came silence.

“…I see.”

In that silence, Moran, who had suddenly stopped crying and was now staring at me quietly.

“That’s good.”

“…Huh?”

“I was just wondering if I should knock you out again and find silver chains right now.”

“Moran? As I just said, there’s no need for this…”

As she suddenly started tying me up with the rope again, I tried to stop her with a panicked voice, but.

– Thud…!

“…Huk?”

At that moment, her powerful punch landed in my stomach.

“Ugh, urgh…”

– Tighten…

As I collapsed to the ground, Moran began tying me up even more tightly and meticulously.

“M-Moran… what are you doing…..”

“…Haa.”

To her, I asked timidly with a dumbfounded expression.

“…Rest.”

“Eek.”

This time, after being struck in the neck by Moran’s hand chop, I fell forward toward her with my pupils dilated.

“There are too many eyes here.”

“Ugh…”

“I’ll protect you.”

Moran, who lifted me onto her shoulder without much effort, then opened the large bag beside her and put me inside.

“…Forever.”

With those final words, as the bag closed, I lost consciousness.

‘Moran… even you…..’

Feeling quite betrayed inside.

“You only have me, don’t you, Master?”

‘…Still better than you.’

I tried my best to ignore Poppy’s form that had suddenly appeared right beside me until my consciousness faded.

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Several hours later. In a small mansion in a sparsely populated forest, slightly removed from London.

– Creeak…

Moran opened the door, looked around briefly, and entered the mansion, followed by a long silence.

“…So it’s you.”

“You should at least knock before entering.”

A moment later, the cold voices of women broke the silence.

– Step, step…

Moran passed by Lady Clay, who wore a bored expression as if she had lost interest in everything in the world, and Silver Blaze, who was crouched by the fireplace with a thoroughly haggard expression, without acknowledging them, and quietly sat on the sofa, placing the bag she had been carrying on the table.

“What is that?”

“Did you bring another corpse you couldn’t dispose of properly?”

Clay and Blaze looked at the sight indifferently.

“I brought a slightly late Christmas present.”

“A present? You?”

“……?”

As Moran responded to them in a calm voice and opened the bag, their puzzled gazes immediately turned to the bag.

– Click…

At that moment, Moran unlocked the bag.

“”………!?””

And in the brief silence that followed, the eyes of the two women, who had been quietly tilting their heads, suddenly widened.

– Rustle…

Golden hair suddenly poking out from the bag began to sway as if looking around.

“What is this…”

“…That hair, I’ve seen it somewhere before.”

Clay and Silver Blaze stared blankly at the sight.

“…Stop hiding and come out.”

The expressions of the women froze completely the next moment.

“…P-peekaboo.”

Holding the opening of the bag with both hands, a face emerged with a quite embarrassed expression.

“Adler has arrived…!”

Their expressions were like they had seen a ghost because it was the face of the very person who had driven them into a nightmare-filled life of guilt for the past two years.

“…Ta-da.”

Trying to lighten the mood in the face of their ghostly expressions, Adler quietly trailed off, reading the room.

“”……..””

And silence fell again.

“Ah, ahaha…”

– Rustle…

“Haha… ha…..”

In that silence, Adler, who had been laughing awkwardly, flinched as if experiencing trauma when the two women rose from their seats and began walking toward him.

“”……….””

Meanwhile, the two women approached right in front of him and looked down at him with expressions as if possessed by ghosts.

– Rustle…

Among them, the first to reach out was none other than Lady Clay.

“Mmh.”

As she reached out and began stroking Adler’s cheek, he quietly moaned, perhaps due to the cold temperature characteristic of vampires.

– Rustle…

“…Ah, um.”

Meanwhile, Silver Blaze quietly buried her head in his neck.

“No, well… you see…”

As Clay silently stroked his cheek and Blaze silently sniffed his neck, Adler tried to make some excuse with a flustered expression, but.

“I had some things to take care of…”

– Drop…

“…Huh.”

At that moment, a droplet fell in front of his eyes.

“Uh…”

Adler raised his head slightly to find the source and immediately froze.

“You… idiot.”

Because the proud Lady Clay was not just sobbing but had tears flowing from her eyes as she stared at him.

“No matter… no matter how hard I looked for you….”

“…….”

“I thought… I thought you were dead……”

As she lowered her head with tears dripping, cold sweat began to form on Adler’s forehead again.

“…Master’s scent.”

“Huh?”

Amid all this, he began to feel moisture on his shoulder.

“Master’s scent Master’s scent Master’s scent Master’s scent Master’s scent Master’s scent…….”

Silver Blaze, who had been quietly burying her head in his neck and sniffing, was muttering like that while shedding tears like Clay.

“As days passed… it was fading from my memory…”

“……..”

“…I was afraid I wouldn’t recognize you when we met again.”

Upon hearing those words, Adler, with a sympathetic smile, tried to extend his arms to embrace them.

“I’m sorry……”

– Grip…

“…Ah.”

But Adler made a slightly embarrassed expression as he just then remembered that his body was tightly bound with rope.

“Everyone, now is not the time to share the joy of reunion.”

At that moment, Moran, who had been quietly observing the situation, spoke up.

“…Then?”

“Don’t forget that the Professor and the Detective are only a few hours away from here.”

At her words, the expressions of the two women who had been crying immediately hardened again.

“…Pack your things. Oh, and the Master too, of course.”

“”………””

“He’s ours now.”

The look in their eyes as they gazed at Adler had already completely clouded over.

“…Come to think of it, you seem to have weakened a lot.”

“…The scent of weakness is coming from Master.”

“Help me.”

Adler was already regretting returning here for the third time, but of course, nothing would change because of that.

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Meanwhile, at that time.

“…..As I thought.”

After carefully investigating the building from which Moran had urgently kidnapped Adler for several hours, Sharlotte narrowed her eyes and muttered quietly.

“Besides Moran, there was someone else here.”

It was the moment when her animal instinct was awakening again after a long time.