Ch.247Chapter 247 – Adventure in an Empty House (6)

“Haa, haak…”

Lovecraft, who had just finished her makeup while exhaling strange breaths, steps outside her room for the first time in a while with deeply flushed cheeks.

“…Mr. Sherinford must be waiting downstairs.”

– Creeak…

“Being a pretty boy is nice… but perhaps having that distinctly superior British physique wouldn’t be bad either…”

Eventually, she descends the stairs that somehow creak despite appearing perfectly normal, her mind filled with all sorts of fantasies.

“Ehehe, ehehehe…”

After reaching the first floor with that eerie smile, she doesn’t immediately reveal herself but instead peeks her head out slightly.

“…Huh?”

However, Lovecraft soon tilts her head with a puzzled expression.

“He definitely said… he’d be waiting in the living room…”

The living room, where she was certain Mr. Sherinford would be waiting, was inexplicably empty.

‘C-could it be that he left because I took too long!?’

As a result, she stands there with a blank expression for quite some time before starting to whimper and mutter to herself.

‘I-I worked so hard… for today…’

Memories of her great adventure—going all the way to the library to borrow books on making friends and applying makeup—begin to flash through her mind.

“I should have… just come out normally… what was I thinking with the makeup…”

– Swoosh…

“…….?”

But at that moment, she begins to sense a presence beside her.

“Hieeeeek!?”

When she instinctively turns toward it, she’s startled so badly that she loses her balance and falls face-first onto the floor.

“”………..””

Three women who had been hiding in the corner of the living room look down at Lovecraft with contempt.

“Just to be sure, this isn’t the one, right?”

“She looks rather pathetic to be the cause of supernatural incidents.”

“Huh? Uh?”

The women’s eyes narrow as they look at the pathetic, gloomy-looking girl who has appeared before them.

“She’s cute… but somehow I don’t want to get close to her…”

“I agree.”

“W-w-what, what are you doing in someone else’s house saying such mean things…”

In this situation, Lovecraft whimpers with an aggrieved expression.

“…Sherinford, you know him?”

“What?”

At Sharlotte’s cold remark, Lovecraft freezes in place with wide eyes.

“Wait, y-you… could it be…”

“My chubby sister once told me that if I had been born a boy, she would have named me Sherlock or Sherinford.”

“Ah……”

“Well, I was born a girl, so I became Sharlotte Holmes.”

As soon as the name “Sharlotte Holmes” comes out, Lovecraft stops breathing entirely and stares blankly up at Sharlotte.

“Then… you all…”

“It would be better not to resist.”

“I could shatter that frail body of yours in ten seconds.”

“Hiiiiiiiiiiiieek…!!!”

After alternately looking at the officer and Watson who whispered with menacing expressions, and Sharlotte who was already emanating killing intent, she turns pale and gets up from her spot.

– Crash, bang…!

Eventually, she hurriedly begins climbing back up the stairs she had descended.

“Where do you…”

“…Wait a moment.”

When Watson, with fire in her eyes, tried to chase after her, the officer suddenly stops her.

“It’s dangerous.”

“What? What’s dangerous?”

“…You probably can’t see it.”

The officer then mutters while looking at the stairs with an uneasy gaze.

“This isn’t an ordinary staircase.”

“Then?”

“It’s covered in slime, with strange tentacles and feathers everywhere.”

At those words, Watson momentarily feels a chill and steps back slightly.

“Actually, this whole place is like that. I didn’t mention it for the sake of your mental health…”

“Ugh, that’s awful.”

“While you might see sofas, chairs, and fireplaces, in my eyes…”

In this situation, the officer continues with a tense expression.

“I see nothing but an empty, desolate yet sticky ruin.”

After she finishes speaking, an eerie silence begins to flow through the living room.

“…But that doesn’t mean we can give up after coming this far.”

“Ah, wait…..”

Meanwhile, Sharlotte breaks the silence and begins to step forward.

– Grooooowl…

“It’s dangerous!”

When the tentacles covering the stairs immediately react and begin to writhe, the officer urgently points her gun and shouts, but.

“Don’t make such a fuss.”

“Huh…?”

As the writhing tentacles soon subside without incident, the officer tilts her head with a dumbfounded expression.

“As long as we step exactly where Lovecraft stepped, there won’t be any problems.”

“Ah…”

“How can you remember that?”

“I always observe.”

Sharlotte’s eyes were already burning with intensity as she answered and began climbing the stairs faster.

“…Whether I have any sanity left or not.”

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“Um, Officer.”

“…Yes.”

“I’ve been feeling creepy since earlier… it’s not just my imagination, right?”

Watson, who safely climbed the stairs following Sharlotte, asks the officer while sweating from the sudden anxiety that has overcome her.

“It’s probably because of the terrifying energy flowing from that room.”

“I thought so…”

“If even a normal person like Miss Watson can feel it… the power of the being inside must be beyond imagination.”

The officer glances at Sharlotte while also sweating.

“So wouldn’t it be better to retreat for now? We could formally request support from the American Bureau of Supernatural Investigation, and prepare more thoroughly…”

“…A support request to a place that has become practically useless after no supernatural incidents for the past two years won’t change anything.”

“But…”

“If you really want to, go request support. I’m going in as is.”

“…If you insist, I have no choice.”

But when Sharlotte shows her stubborn determination, the officer sighs and turns to Watson.

“But Miss Watson is a civilian, so it would be better to send her away…”

“I-I’m coming too!”

“Haah…”

At Watson’s immediate response showing the same determination, the officer shakes her head and takes out her baton.

“Then, I’ll open it.”

As she says this and approaches the door from which the creepy energy is leaking, tension begins to circle around Sharlotte and Watson’s expressions.

“Hup.”

In this situation, Lestrade takes a slight deep breath and raises her baton above her head.

– Crack…!

“Hands up!!! Don’t move an inch…”

Eventually, she smashes the doorknob with one strike and flings the door open, shouting orders and aiming her gun inside the room, but.

“…Huh?”

She stops speaking with a bewildered expression.

– Drip, drip, drip…

“Ugh, uugh…..”

Lovecraft had cut her arm with a knife and was letting blood drip onto a strange magic circle drawn on the floor, tears in her eyes.

“W-what are you…”

“We need to stop her!!!”

As the officer hesitates at this suspicious and horrific sight, Sharlotte shouts urgently and throws herself toward Lovecraft, but.

– Whoosh…!

“Kuk!?”

At that moment, gray flames suddenly rise from the floor.

“W-what is this? The professor?”

“No… it’s a bit different.”

Forced to retreat by the flames, Sharlotte mutters in response to Watson’s comment from behind.

“But… why does it feel so similar…”

– Rustle…!

“…Huh?”

But at that moment, a notebook on the desk begins to open frantically.

– At last, at last!!!

“That’s…”

As countless words saying “at last” begin to appear in the notebook, Sharlotte’s eyes widen, and at that very moment.

– Boom…!

“Mmph?”

“Cough, cough…”

Suddenly the magic circle glows, and a massive dust cloud envelops the room.

“Ugh… what is…..?”

“My, my mind…”

“Ah….”

The three who couldn’t avoid being covered in the dust all sit down with pale faces.

“Ah, ugh… aah…”

“W-why… is this power… coming to me…”

“Ha-hallucination… gas…? Is it…..”

Eventually, their faces begin to contort with fear as if they’ve seen the most horrifying thing in the world.

“…Ahem.”

A mysterious figure who had somehow appeared watches them quietly from within the smoke, flexing their hand with a smirk.

“Perfect…”

“Urgh…”

Eventually, with a satisfied expression, the unidentified person grabs Lovecraft, who was lying on the floor, and begins dragging her toward the door.

“It’s unfortunate, but you all need to disappear from here.”

This person completely closes the window right next to the door while their eyes gleam coldly.

“…I’m going to meet my filial daughter, and you might get in the way.”

After muttering this, they quietly leave the room with a chilling smile.

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Meanwhile, at that time.

“Hey, System.”

[Yes.]

Issac Adler, who had been blankly watching all of this from a bush near the mansion, asks the system with a dazed expression.

“Is what I’m seeing right now real?”

[You saw it yourself.]

“No, but… but…”

It was because he had witnessed with his own eyes a person who absolutely should not exist in this world.

[It is the person you’re thinking of.]

“……..”

[He’s also the cause of the professor’s rampage in the original ending.]

“…Damn it.”

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“…Impossible.”

At that time, in Professor Moriarty’s office located in London.

“Surely, surely…..”

The professor, who had been blankly staring at the unusually heavy rain pouring outside the window, was muttering with an expression of utter disbelief.

“I killed my father with my own hands?”

“Kya?”

“Kyaa?”

She said this with a pale face while tightly embracing her precious children whom she cherished more than anything.