Ch.270Side Story – The Adventures of Isaac Adler (6)

“I think I’ve managed to escape pursuit for now…”

Inside the carriage, I rested my chin on my hand and muttered with a sigh as I watched the scenery gradually approaching the border.

“The question now is what to do next…”

I had narrowly avoided being kidnapped by using the system that had been revived after such a long time.

However, simply crossing the border won’t solve everything.

It’s not just the Extraction Alliance that’s after me now.

The karma I’ve accumulated in this world as Issac Adler is too great. At this point, if some village girl I’ve never met stabbed me with a knife for abandoning her, I’d have to just accept it as my due.

“I suppose Switzerland is the best option right now.”

Anyway, to escape the immediate crisis, I chose Switzerland, which borders the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as my next asylum destination.

Truthfully, I’d like to return to my only hope, Auguste Academy, but rushing into England alone in my current situation would be tantamount to suicide.

Among nearby countries, France is Arsène Lupin’s territory, and Italy is unsuitable as a hideout due to the connections between the professor and the mafia.

Given the era, going to Germany would be dangerous too. And heading to Romania or Poland would take me too far from England.

In contrast, Switzerland maintains excellent neutrality even in this world.

Befitting a world with magic, it’s one of the safest countries in Europe, covered with powerful ancient protective magic and mana-reducing barriers.

So, if I can successfully seek asylum in Switzerland, I should be able to maintain my safety for a while, even from those terrifying people who are now my enemies.

‘…Of course, that’s assuming I can safely make it there.’

The problem is that those pursuing me are likely well aware of this fact.

Once I enter Switzerland, it would be extremely difficult for anyone to forcibly extract me through violence, unless they’re as physically powerful as Zia Lestrade.

Therefore, if I were the one doing the pursuing, I’d probably try to settle things before reaching the border…

“Huh? What?”

Just as I was thinking this, keeping my guard up…

“Wh-what! Whaaaat!”

Suddenly, a panicked scream came from the coachman driving the swift carriage provided by the Queen.

‘…Shit.’

Speak of the devil? It seems I unknowingly raised a powerful flag.

“Huff.”

Realizing we were under attack, staying in the carriage would be suicide, so I took a deep breath and jumped out.

“…!”

When my body hit the ground and rolled, an intense pain surged through me, but it wasn’t unbearable.

After all, I’ve been slashed with knives, tortured (somewhat sexually) in the professor’s basement, and even jumped from a waterfall.

“Shit, this fucking hurts.”

No, after rolling a few more times, I reconsidered—it was absolutely not something I could just endure. Maybe I should have just let myself be kidnapped?

“…Ugh.”

Anyway, having made my emergency escape, I needed to quickly devise my next move. Should I hide in the nearby bushes? Throw myself into the flowing river? Or perhaps…

‘…Come to think of it, there was a simpler solution.’

As I frantically looked around, I remembered the emergency liquor bottle in my pocket and quickly began searching for it.

“…?”

But strangely, there was nothing in the space where the bottle should have been.

“Ah.”

Looking confused, I finally spotted the shattered bottle a few meters away and let out a short cry of despair.

“I’m screwed.”

It seemed the bottle had fallen out and broken when I jumped from the carriage and rolled.

‘…No, it’s still okay. I could lick up what spilled.’

But for the sake of my free will, I had to set aside my pride. Ignoring the intense pain throughout my body, I gritted my teeth and began crawling toward the bottle when—

*Crunch…!*

The bottle I had been looking at was completely shattered under someone’s foot.

“Finally.”

“……”

“Finally, we meet again.”

Feeling momentarily dejected by the situation, I slowly raised my head at the excited voice coming from in front of me.

“Heh, hehehe. Heh…”

What I saw was a red-haired girl looking down at me with dead eyes and a creepy smile.

“I’ve been waiting for this day. I prayed and prayed that you would come as close as possible to where I was, from England. Finally, finallyfinallyfinallyfinally…”

As she trembled with excitement while muttering, I stared blankly up at her for a moment before tilting my head and asking:

“…Who are you?”

And then came a brief silence.

“Adler, don’t you remember me?”

“Ha, haha. Well…”

As the red-haired girl threw the question back at me with murderous eyes during that silence, I racked my brain but couldn’t recall anything.

“Damn, who is she?”

“…Really?”

When I inadvertently muttered this, the red-haired girl began speaking in a hollow tone.

“I’ve been waiting for years in Romania, thinking only of you.”

“……”

“You’ve forgotten me?”

There was nothing I could do but stare.

If she wasn’t in my memory, she must be someone the original Adler met before I possessed him.

I’m not at fault for that part…

“You said you fell for me, that you fell for me reading romance novels in the library.”

“Ah.”

“You even took my first kiss in the library… You saved my life, risking your own, and then you lied to make me seem ungrateful, even making me splash water on you…”

As I was pouting at these thoughts, cold sweat began to form on my forehead as the red-haired girl’s story continued.

“And now you say you’ve forgotten? What about me, who’s been building strength in Romania all this time, living only for you…?”

That’s right. The person standing before me was the victim from the first case I handled after possessing this body, aside from the Queen—a pure-blooded Vampire targeted by Lady Joanne Clay.

She was a key figure in the ‘Red Mana Alliance’ whom I had seduced on Professor Moriarty’s orders, then lied to by saying I was disgusted with her to send her to Romania to save her life—Miss Diana Wilson.

‘Why is she appearing here?’

As far as I knew, Diana Wilson should have been recuperating in Romania, unaware that she was a Vampire.

After all, being a pure-blooded Vampire, anywhere but Romania would be unsuitable for her, giving her a life with a time limit.

Yet here she was attacking me at the Swiss border, looking like a Vampire more powerful than Lady Joanne Clay, even commanding what appeared to be Vampire subordinates.

How did this happen?

“Sh-shouldn’t you be in Romania?”

“I’ve become a perfect pure-blooded Vampire now. I no longer have a time limit if I’m not in that damn place.”

Wilson leaned toward me with obvious panic and whispered in a low voice, her eyes glowing red.

“Oh, but it was the perfect place to build my power. Did you know half the Romanian government is already under my control?”

“What?”

“Well, it was all possible thanks to Professor Moriarty’s full support. Haven’t you heard?”

Only then did I realize roughly what had happened, and I cursed inwardly.

‘…Damn it, Professor!’

To think he had already established connections in Romania too. If that’s the case, I absolutely cannot be captured here.

Because if she’s on the professor’s side, I’ll probably be dragged back to England…

“Well, never mind. Let’s go to Romania together now.”

“What?”

“I roughly know your situation. I’ll protect you now, Adler.”

As I trembled at these thoughts, I momentarily doubted my ears at Wilson’s statement.

“Anyway, I do owe you my life…”

“…What if I refuse?”

“Sorry, but you don’t have a choice. I’m just willing to treat you more kindly if you cooperate willingly.”

And just as I was quickly beginning to think that recuperating in Romania might not be such a bad idea after all—

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”

A very familiar voice came from right behind me.

“Not while I’m alive and have eyes to see.”

“…Huh?”

Lady Joanne Clay had appeared from somewhere with Silver Blaze, and was glaring at Diana Wilson with her own glowing red eyes.

“…Well, if it isn’t the half-breed.”

“You’re the first person I’ve met who calls the noble blood of the British royal family ‘half-breed.'”

“Whatever. I’ve claimed that one there, so get lost.”

“I was thinking the same thing. What shall we do about this?”

And a few seconds later, the Vampire civil war that had ended after the Crusades era resumed right before my eyes.