Ch.245Chapter 245 – Adventure in an Empty House (4)

“Sniff… Hic… Sob… Is that really true?”

“Y-yes! It’s true, I tell you! This time I won’t die. I swear.”

As I hurriedly try to comfort Moran who has fallen into a state of panic with tears streaming from her eyes, she stops crying and begins to stare at me blankly.

“But… you did the same thing before.”

“Huh?”

“You promised you’d never leave… but you disappeared.”

She mutters with dark eyes.

“No, that was… um…”

“……..”

“Anyway, I came back, didn’t I?”

As I fumble for words, trying to gloss over it, a cold gaze suddenly flies my way.

“B-but listen. I’m really sick, that’s true.”

“…!”

Feeling like I might end up back in the bag if I delayed any longer, I hurriedly opened my mouth again, and Moran’s eyes widened once more.

“You can’t be sick…”

[You’re truly garbage…]

As tears begin to well up in her eyes again, System criticizes me with cold text.

‘This isn’t something I should be doing to a child…’

I started feeling guilty inside, but my survival instinct was mercilessly sounding the alarm, so I had no choice.

It’s quite conscience-pricking, but I have to make the most of this situation.

“The reason is… um… right, there’s someone making me sick. That’s why I’m ill.”

“……..What?”

“Actually, the reason I disappeared briefly two years ago was all because of that guy.”

As I continued speaking with determination, the color drained from Moran’s face instantly.

“Who is… that fucking bastard?”

She asks with an expression so chilling it’s impossible to imagine coming from a 14-year-old child.

“…Where did you learn such language?”

“Who is that bastard making my master sick?”

I tried to discipline her because I was concerned, but Moran had already lost it.

What kind of education did the princess and Silver Blaze give this child over the past two years to turn that gentle child into this?

[Did you really think she was such an innocent child?]

[You really are hopeless, you know that?]

‘…You’re quite talkative today.’

Making a mental note to have a word with those two later, I pushed aside the messages that appeared before me again and spoke to Moran, who still wore a creepy expression.

“I was actually planning to go catch that person… but you all kept holding me here.”

“…You were going to go alone?”

“Yes.”

“You insane…”

“*cough, cough*”

As Moran growled with flashing eyes, she flinched and stopped mid-sentence when I looked at her nervously and coughed again.

“T-then… if I kill that bastard… will you stop getting sick, master?”

“Y-you don’t need to kill them. Just…”

“Yes! I’ll torture them as painfully as possible without letting them die!”

“…We just need to capture them alive.”

“Then if I flay their skin and pour hot water…”

I felt slightly uncomfortable with how violent Moran had become, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything to her as she clutched my hands tightly, sniffling, afraid I might disappear somewhere.

“Anyway, will you help me?”

“Yes! I’ll take that bastard…!”

“…So, you’ll get me out of here, right?”

Watching the situation cautiously, I subtly asked Moran that question.

“Of course.”

“Phew…”

When Moran immediately answered with a kind smile, I sighed in relief.

“…’I’ will accompany you 24 hours a day. No problem.”

“Uh…”

“Let me know when you need to use the bathroom. I’ll help clean up after you.”

But at her matter-of-fact statement, I quietly began to sweat again.

“By the way, where is that bastard?”

“Ah, about that…”

To Moran’s question as she gripped my arm tightly while getting up from the bed, I quietly answered with a smile.

“America.”

“America?”

“Providence, Rhode Island.”

It was fortunate that I had looked up Lovecraft’s address on a wiki site in the real world, just in case.

“…If it’s America, um, that means…”

“Hmm?”

“Going all the way there… just the two of us, master and me.”

As I smiled wickedly at the thought of personally going to punish Lovecraft, who once separated me from this world, Moran, who was holding my arm and walking out of the room, suddenly lowered her voice and began to mutter.

“Hmm…”

“Right? Master?”

I actually wanted to bring the princess or Silver Blaze along for safety, but with Poppy as a guard, Moran alone should be enough.

“…You mean JUST ‘the two of us’ are going, right, Master?”

“Yes, that’s right. No, I mean, yes.”

Moran was staring at me with dead eyes, trying to guide me to answer that way, but I still want to believe it was my own choice.

“I knew it, Master.”

– Creeeeak…

As I was having my own mental victory and smiling shyly while avoiding Moran’s gaze, I opened the door and.

“”………””

“Oh.”

I froze in place when I discovered the princess and Silver Blaze already standing at the entrance, fully armed and dressed for going out.

“What are you two…”

“My subordinates are searching for ship passage to America. Wait in the living room for a moment.”

“I’ve already contacted the Werebeast community in America. Accommodations and security won’t be an issue.”

How do they know our destination?

“These days, wiretapping in London is basic common sense.”

“…There are fewer people who don’t do it than those who do.”

What kind of crazy talk is this?

“Who gave you the right to do such…”

As I was struggling to process London’s spiciness that I was experiencing again after two years, Moran began to growl fiercely again with a contorted expression.

“Isn’t it better if Adler is safer?”

“Yes, what if he disappears before our eyes again?”

“……..”

But when the two women brought up the ‘safety’ argument, she flinched and quietly closed her mouth.

It seemed that the incident from two years ago had left quite a trauma on her.

This is making me feel guilty.

“…Master promised he wouldn’t do that.”

“Ha, you still haven’t noticed how deceitful that guy is.”

“Our master lies as easily as he breathes.”

“Gasp.”

Despite defending me while clinging tightly to my arm, Moran gaped in shock at their words.

Seeing that reaction, it was somewhat comforting to know that at least some of her innocent childhood self remained.

[No, she was never innocent!?]

[And that’s how you’ll get eaten!!!]

[Raise the child properly!!!]

Let’s ignore System’s frustrated messages. These aren’t suspicions one should have about a 14-year-old child.

“…It’s true this time, Moran.”

“See? Master says it’s true.”

“”……Sigh.””

Anyway, after a long argument, it was finally decided that all three loyal followers would accompany us to America.

‘I wonder how I’ll meet the Inspector, Sharlotte, and the Professor…’

I’m already feeling drained just from meeting these people, and I have no idea how to navigate what’s ahead.

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Meanwhile, at 221B Baker Street.

“…Holmes. Why did you call us here?”

“I’m a busy person. Please get to the point.”

“…You came.”

Watson and Inspector Lestrade, who had arrived there after receiving Sharlotte’s urgent call, asked her with puzzled expressions as she sat quietly in an armchair.

“Would you like to smoke an Arcadia cigarette for old times’ sake? Ah, Inspector, you too if you want.”

“You know I quit smoking! And you promised to quit too…!”

“…I don’t smoke things like that.”

But when Sharlotte offered a cigarette pack with hollow eyes, they grimaced in disgust.

“That’s a shame. Smoking for about 3 hours a day has the effect of clearing the mind…”

“While your lungs rot away. Enough, just get to the point.”

“…I was about to.”

Sulkily putting the cigarette pack back into her pocket, Sharlotte then held up a letter envelope that had been placed on her desk.

“What do you think this is?”

“Um… a letter?”

“Yes, a letter. But with letters… what matters is who you exchange them with.”

After saying that, Sharlotte handed over the letter, and Watson took it out of the envelope and began to read.

[Hello, Ms. Sherinford. I’m contacting you after seeing your critique of the short story I submitted to the magazine.

My goodness, I never thought there would be someone in the world who would appreciate my literary technique and worldview like you.

As you noted in your critique, the novels being written in America these days are mere kindling that don’t even have entertainment value, and the ignorant masses only consume such vulgar things in a deplorable trend… (omitted)]

“…What is this?”

She stops reading, disgusted by the gloomy and dark content of the letter.

“You exchange letters with someone like this? Even using a pseudonym? Wait, you weren’t even interested in this kind of thing in the first place?”

“Watson, have you already forgotten what I said?”

“What?”

At her question, Sharlotte answers with a snort.

“What matters with letters is ‘who’ you exchange them with.”

“…!”

At those words, Watson unconsciously turned her gaze to the end of the letter, and her pupils contracted greatly.

[Your fervent supporter, Rebecca Phillips Lovecraft]

“This is…”

At the last paragraph of the letter was a name with a surname all too familiar to her.

“I found him, Lovecraft.”

In the ensuing silence, Sharlotte muttered with a chilling smile.

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Around the same time, in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

“Achoo!”

Lovecraft, who was holed up in a corner of a mansion there, began to sniffle after sneezing.

“…Someone must be talking about me.”

– Rustle…!

As she muttered absently, her notebook suddenly began turning pages on its own.

– Stop talking nonsense and do what you’re told.

“Ah, I understand. I understand, so…”

At the creepy writing that appeared on the new page, she mumbled while drawing a complex magic circle on a paper beside her.

“…Oh, but I accidentally got some saliva on it.”

– Then erase that part and draw it again from the beginning.

“Just kill me instead…”

– Really?

“…I’m sorry.”