Ch.246Chapter 246 – Adventure in an Empty House (5)

# A Few Weeks Later

A few weeks after Inspector Lestrade and Watson had left London for America with Sharlotte…

“Hey, Holmes. How did you end up exchanging those letters?”

“…Letters?”

“All I told you was the surname Adler mentioned and a few characteristics…”

Watson, who had just arrived in Providence, Rhode Island and was walking down the street, posed this question to Sharlotte, who wore a cold expression beside her.

“I’m curious about that too. How did you find someone in just a few weeks when even my entire police network couldn’t locate them…”

“It was nothing special.”

Sharlotte answered with an expression suggesting it was trivial.

“If you’re looking for an introverted person with voyeuristic tendencies, a nasty habit of criticizing others’ work, and a love for horror novels, it’s quite obvious what they might be doing.”

“Ah…”

“So I examined a year’s worth of review records from American magazines. Several suspicious individuals emerged.”

“You went through all that in just a few weeks…?”

“I’m more surprised that there were so many people like that…”

Watson and the inspector stuck out their tongues in astonishment at her words, each for different reasons.

“By the way, was Lovecraft among them?” the inspector asked with curious eyes.

“…No. There was no one with that name.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Would such pathetic individuals use their real names when spewing disguised criticism?”

“I suppose… that makes sense.”

The inspector and Watson nodded in understanding.

“Then how did you find this person using a pseudonym?”

“People do such things because they crave attention. So I compiled snippets of their opinions into reviews and sent them to magazines across America. Eventually, I received letters.”

“Ohhh…”

“At first, they all used pseudonyms, but with patience and by playing along with their nonsense, they all fell for it.”

Sharlotte pulled out a letter from her pocket, smiling coldly.

“My target took the bait a few weeks ago.”

“As expected, your skills haven’t rusted despite your two-year absence.”

The inspector quietly praised her as she glared coldly at the letter.

“…Let’s not talk about that.”

“Ah, um.”

The inspector immediately fell silent and averted his gaze as Sharlotte responded with a chilling expression.

“”………””

An awkward silence ensued.

“…Anyway, we’re almost there.”

Sharlotte, walking quietly through the silence, narrowed her eyes and began to slow down.

“The address in the letter was around here. Probably somewhere nearby…”

“…Huh? Isn’t that it?”

Just then, Watson stopped in her tracks with wide eyes, pointing to a distant hill.

“…Seems we’ve found it.”

Sharlotte spotted a clean-looking mansion and turned her steps toward it with a sardonic smile.

“Excuse me… everyone?”

“”……?””

“Are we really going there?”

As Sharlotte and Watson headed toward the culprit who had made Adler disappear, the inspector’s voice came from behind them.

“Yes, we are?”

“Do you think… someone could actually live there?”

“…What are you talking about? That’s the only habitable place around here.”

Watson chided the inspector, who wore an uneasy expression.

“But… well… even so…”

“What’s wrong with you? Did you eat something bad?”

“…No, nothing.”

The inspector began following them reluctantly with a disgruntled look.

“……..”

Sharlotte observed her quietly for a moment before turning away and continuing forward.

“So what do we do? Should we knock? But we’re here to ambush…”

“…Since we were technically invited as friends, it should be fine.”

A few minutes later, they arrived at the mansion.

“I guess so? Then…”

Watson was about to knock on the door following Sharlotte’s response, but Inspector Lestrade, frowning beside her, reached for the door first.

“What? But…”

– Creeeeak…

“Oh? It’s not locked?”

Watson looked bewildered as the door opened too easily under the inspector’s hand.

“…Let’s go in.”

“W-wait a minute. There’s no need to draw your gun already, is there?”

“I can’t remain defenseless in a place like this.”

Watson tried to stop the inspector, who had already drawn her gun, as they both entered the mansion.

“…Why are you so tense? It’s just a clean, ordinary mansion.”

“You call this clean and ordinary?”

Inspector Lestrade responded incredulously to Watson’s comment.

“I thought that as a doctor, your sense of hygiene would be above average, but was I wrong?”

“No, that’s not…”

Watson’s voice trailed off as she finally realized something was amiss.

“…Inspector.”

“Yes, Miss Holmes.”

“What does this place look like to you?”

Sharlotte, observing her surroundings with sharp eyes, asked in a low voice.

“What does it look like? It looks like a collapsed ruin, of course.”

“Huh?”

Watson’s eyes widened as Inspector Lestrade answered with a disgusted expression while looking around.

“But to me it looks like a normal house?”

“…Same here.”

Sharlotte quietly agreed as Watson spoke with a confused expression.

“However, there’s one thing we’re overlooking.”

“We are? What?”

“The inspector’s Curse.”

“Ah…!”

Watson clapped her hands as if realizing something after Sharlotte’s words.

“No supernatural ability or anomaly works on the inspector. So…”

“…The true nature of this place is only visible to me.”

“Correct.”

“Wait, so this place… isn’t normal.”

Watson felt a chill and hid behind the inspector.

“B-but the anomalies should have disappeared after the incident two years ago… Why is this happening…”

“Oh my, who might you be?”

“…Eek!?”

Watson, who had been trembling and muttering, was startled by a voice suddenly coming from nearby.

“…We’re Lovecraft’s friends. We were invited.”

“Oh my, friends for my daughter?”

“You must be her mother?”

Meanwhile, Sharlotte asked the woman who had greeted them with a smile.

“Yes, Lovecraft should be in her room on the second floor.”

“Ah, then…”

“Please have a seat on the sofa. I’ll bring her down.”

The woman responded kindly and headed up the stairs with a pleasant smile.

“”……….””

A brief silence followed.

“…Urgh.”

Suddenly, the sound of retching broke the silence.

“Blegh…”

“L-Lestrade?”

Inspector Lestrade, uncharacteristically pale, was bent over and gagging.

“What’s wrong?”

“Th-that… just now… that…”

“What?”

Watson patted her back with a worried expression.

“That thing… I was the only one who saw it, right?”

“Wh-what thing…”

“…That ‘thing’ that just went upstairs.”

Watson began to sweat, her face turning pale at the inspector’s chilling response.

“What kind of place is this…”

“……..”

In this situation, only Sharlotte remained composed, staring at the second floor with sharp eyes.

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Meanwhile, on the second floor of the mansion.

“Huff… huff…”

– Good, now for the final stage.

“…Final stage?”

Lovecraft, hunched over her desk and breathing heavily, read the ominous message that appeared in her notebook with unfocused eyes.

“Isn’t drawing the magic circle… the end…?”

– The most important step remains.

“Wh-what is it…?”

The notebook commanded her in an authoritative tone.

– Sprinkle 4.444 ounces of your blood on the magic circle.

“Eeeek!?”

Horrified by the command, Lovecraft jumped up from her seat, stammering.

“N-n-n-n-no!!! Wh-why does it have to be my blood!”

– Don’t you want to regain power? As the contractor, your blood is necessary.

“C-c-c-can’t we use someone else’s blood? Huh?”

The notebook responded in an irritated tone.

– You talk big for someone with no friends to borrow blood from.

“N-n-n-no!?”

Lovecraft shouted, almost convulsing at the provocative message.

“I-I do have friends!!!”

– Imaginary friends?

“No, real ones!! We exchange letters, and they promised to visit soon!!!”

– Hmm…

“W-well, I invited them unilaterally… and they never replied…”

Her voice grew progressively smaller.

“Th-they’ll definitely come… probably…”

Just as her voice had become as tiny as an ant’s:

– Creeeeak…

“…Lovecraft.”

“Eek!?”

Suddenly, her door opened slightly.

“I-I told you not to open my door without permission…!”

“Friends have come to see you downstairs…”

“…Wh-what?”

Hastily stuffing the book into her pocket, she raised her voice again, then widened her eyes at ‘its’ words.

“I’ll brew some tea… come down when you’re ready…”

“……!!!”

As ‘it’ opened her door, dripping something, and turned to leave, Lovecraft, who had been fidgeting in place for a while:

“S-s-s-see? I was right?”

– Sigh…

“I told you I have friends!!!”

She threw the notebook she had been holding onto her desk and rushed to her dusty vanity with a bright smile.

“Hehe… Mr. Sherrinford…”

– Hey, finish the magic circle first…

“He’s definitely going to be handsome, good-looking, and rich…”

– This is maddening.

And so she began to apply makeup clumsily, unaware of what was about to happen.

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Meanwhile, at that moment.

“…Huh.”

Issac Adler, who was watching the situation from nearby bushes with his three henchmen:

“Why are they… here…”

He was sweating nervously as he observed Sharlotte, Watson, and Inspector Lestrade through the mansion window.

“…This isn’t good.”

Once again, as always, his plans were beginning to go awry.