Ch.253Chapter 253 – Meeting the Parents (2)

“…….”

I had just entered Auguste Academy with Sharlotte, Moran, and Inspector Lestrade when I found myself at a loss for words, staring blankly.

“This is…”

“The situation is serious.”

Students, faculty, and even security guards were all sprawled about with foam at their mouths.

“…They’re still alive.”

“But they’ve all lost consciousness.”

Inspector Lestrade and Moran examined them with furrowed brows, speaking simultaneously.

“For reference, Auguste Academy is still Europe’s premier magical education institution, though somewhat diminished.”

“That’s why the professor chose to blend in rather than conquer this place.”

Hearing their explanation, Adler’s expression hardened.

“If someone could cause this much havoc…”

“…They must be at least as powerful as the professor?”

His trembling voice echoed through the deathly quiet academy.

“…Let’s go.”

“W-we might be better off escaping while we still can.”

As Adler attempted to step forward, Moran grabbed his arm and urgently tried to persuade him.

“Even if we can’t win a direct confrontation, we can definitely help you escape. We can guarantee that much.”

“………”

“S-so… before it’s too late…”

But when Adler turned slightly to look at her, his eyes were detached.

“Moran.”

“…Yes.”

“This is my best choice.”

When he answered thus, Moran bit her lip quietly.

“And I have no intention of forcing that choice on you, so if you don’t want to, you can leave now…”

“…I-I’ll stay with you.”

She corrected herself, gripping his arm tightly in response to his kind voice.

“M-my best choice is to be with you, master.”

“The same goes for me.”

“…Me too.”

Lestrade and Sharlotte quietly agreed from behind.

“Just stick to the plan… just the plan.”

Adler looked at them with concern, then sighed deeply and began walking.

“…I’m counting on you.”

Toward his final connection—one he lacked the courage to confirm, yet absolutely had to.

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Just minutes later. Outside Professor Moriarty’s office.

“…Should we rush in?”

“No, it would be pointless.”

“It’s obvious they already know we’re here anyway.”

When Inspector Lestrade, looking extremely tense, asked in a low voice, Sharlotte and Moran answered with cold gazes.

“Hah, I never thought the day would come when I’d be acting for ‘her’ sake.”

“”……….””

“Well then… I’ll count to three.”

Inspector Lestrade muttered in disbelief, then changed her expression to a cold one.

“One, two…”

As the countdown began, the atmosphere around them became more tense than ever.

“…Three!!!”

When the tension peaked, the three women simultaneously charged at the door, but…

“Huh?”

“Ah?”

Surprisingly, the door they had been standing in front of moments ago had already disappeared.

– Crash…!

As a result, everyone except Sharlotte, who had sensed something suspicious just before charging, tumbled ungracefully onto the office floor.

“”……….””

A brief silence ensued.

– Clap, clap, clap…

In that brief silence, strangely rhythmic applause suddenly began to echo.

“Excellent, truly excellent…”

“You…”

“Honestly, you’ve exceeded my expectations. Not only did you survive there, but you even came looking for me.”

At that alien yet somehow familiar voice, Sharlotte quietly began to break into a cold sweat.

“No wonder my daughter considered you an enemy.”

She spotted a blurry figure obscured by the smoke filling the room and her eyes widened.

“………”

Professor Jane Moriarty was kneeling before them, her entire body bound with gray chains.

“P-please… help me…”

Next to her, also bound, was a whimpering Lovecraft.

“Y-you…”

Sharlotte stammered quietly as she met the professor’s gaze, half hostile, half bewildered.

“Then allow me to introduce myself properly.”

A leisurely voice floated toward her from the gradually dissipating gray mist.

“I am James Moriarty.”

Sharlotte Holmes, who had immediately raised her energy to maximum in preparation for battle…

“…Welcome to my former kingdom.”

“Huh?”

…momentarily stopped thinking and stared blankly at the scene before her.

‘What am I looking at right now?’

Sharp, gray eyes reminiscent of a reptile.

A dignified and charismatic appearance despite his considerable age, yet with something unsettling about it.

And an expression wearing a perpetually relaxed smile that resembled someone else’s.

The elderly gentleman, who looked like a possibility she absolutely didn’t want to consider—as if Professor Jane Moriarty had gained years and experience—was observing Sharlotte with interest as she entered the office.

– Crunch…!

– Munch…!

Surprisingly, he was sitting at the professor’s desk, lovingly petting her babies who were frantically biting his hands with wary expressions.

“Oh, good children.”

“…..???”

“No, I misspoke. Oh, bad and violent children.”

As an unnervingly kind voice emerged from the cold-looking elderly man, Sharlotte’s mind went completely blank.

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As silence hung over the office…

“Get your hands… off my children!!!”

“…Hmm.”

When the professor, bound in gray chains, shouted with tremendous killing intent, the elderly man who had introduced himself as James Moriarty turned his gaze toward her with a contemptuous expression.

“Daughter, you should have informed me when you got married.”

“Shut up!!!”

“Ah yes, given my condition, you probably couldn’t contact me properly. Still, I’m quite disappointed.”

The elderly man continued in a gentle voice.

“I heard you refused your duty to propagate our species until the end.”

“Grrr…”

“And that adorable rebellion was ultimately because of that.”

The professor, growling like a dragon, answered with flashing eyes.

“Yes… I exterminated not only you but all dragons remaining in the world.”

“Hmm. Yes, that’s what you should have done. We are the most magnificent of all dragon-kind…”

“But how!!! How are you here…!!!”

“…Do calm down.”

But as the professor was about to lose herself to rage again, the elderly man wagged his finger with a seemingly hurt expression.

“Mmph…”

“I see temperament is indeed hereditary…”

He muttered, looking at the professor who was still emanating killing intent despite having her mouth sealed, then continued with a satisfied smile.

“That makes me even more curious. Who could possibly be the mate who mounted a child like you?”

“……..”

At those words, the professor froze with a blank expression.

“Obviously a dragon even more powerful than you?”

“……..”

“Lies don’t work on me, child. Extermination, you say? Then you wouldn’t be able to bear children.”

The elderly man nodded with certainty and began his interrogation.

“Or did you simply use the male for breeding purposes?”

“……..”

“Well, I wouldn’t have minded thousands of years ago, but it doesn’t matter now. I’m satisfied that you’ve finally decided to change your mind and take the lead in propagating our species…”

The professor’s expression grew darker at his words.

“…Still.”

The elderly man, whose face had brightened considerably, suddenly looked toward the entrance beyond Professor Moriarty and Sharlotte’s group, whispering softly.

“I should at least see the face of the one who changed my daughter so dramatically.”

Hearing this, the professor quietly gritted her teeth and lowered her head.

“Isn’t that right? You there?”

He suddenly raised his voice, calling out to someone.

“Stop hiding and come out now.”

“……..?”

“I’ll show special mercy and won’t harm you.”

At his words, Professor Moriarty looked puzzled for a moment.

– Slide…

A few seconds after he finished speaking, a blonde-haired boy with an extremely tense expression peeked his head out from behind the door.

“……..Huh?”

Her face became stupidly blank for the first time in her life.

“Ah, aah, ah…”

Meanwhile, in this situation, slowly opening his mouth while sweating profusely…

“…Hello there.”

It was Issac Adler.

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“So, what’s your lineage?”

Cold sweat ran down my entire body. My stomach felt like it was caving in, and my lungs felt like they would burst at any moment.

“Red Dragon? Blue Dragon? No… judging by your appearance, perhaps Gold Dragon?”

The ‘James Moriarty’ I faced was truly beyond imagination.

He wasn’t even emitting any killing intent, yet simply being near him made it several times harder to breathe than when the professor was at her most threatening.

“I thought your kind had gone extinct about 1,200 years ago due to excessive greed, but it seems a descendant survived?”

This man, who was likely the cause of the global supernatural phenomena, was persistently questioning me.

“Why aren’t you answering?”

And my response to him had to be…

“Don’t be nervous, just speak.”

Only one.

“I, I-I, I am… well…”

After hesitating briefly, I fidgeted with my fingers and answered in a low voice.

“…I’m human.”

A long silence fell over the office.

“…What?”

“Kyah?”

“Kyaah?”

The sight of the supreme being who could tear me apart at any moment and the two babies presumed to be my children all tilting their heads in unison was truly spectacular.

“What did you just say?”

The die was cast.