Ch.279Side Story – The Adventures of Isaac Adler (13)

“Ah, I see they’re starting to come here now.”

London. The principal’s office located on the top floor of August Academy.

“I didn’t think they would never visit this place outside the regular storyline.”

There, a woman with hollow eyes was manipulating a translucent system window floating before her, shaking her head and crossing her legs.

“Well, even though they’re the protagonist I selected…”

At that very moment, her system window suddenly turned red and began emitting threatening warning messages.

[Warning ▣]

> Unidentified entity has accessed the system path.

> Unauthorized access attempt detected.

> Enhancing automatic security protocol….

The woman stared blankly at the scene, then sighed deeply and grabbed her head.

“This again.”

She reached for the system window and began entering complex commands.

[Error occurring….]

But despite her efforts, the system window, now consumed by something, began displaying messages from an unidentified figure.

> Don’t think you can keep me confined forever.

> Someday I will surely escape from here….

To explain for those who don’t know, the sender of that message was none other than “James Moriarty” in his sealed state.

Despite being sealed, he was constantly doing his best to infiltrate the world’s “system.”

“Why does he keep doing this when all he can do is leave messages like this…”

And pitifully, the woman sitting at the desk in the principal’s office had been dealing with his intrusions and ramblings alone for several years.

> I don’t know who you are over there….

[Rebooting the system…….]

After wrestling with various commands for a while, the woman finally prescribed what seemed like a cure-all remedy for all errors, then bowed her head and sighed.

“…I used to work in the field when I was younger, why am I stuck here dealing with an old man?”

It was quite unfortunate for her, but even after rebooting, the system window remained red.

“Huh?”

However, this time it wasn’t simply because the sealed old Dragon had sent spam messages.

[Notice ▣]

> The highest administrator has accessed the system path.

> Authority transfer request has been approved.

> Accessing system message….

The woman stared blankly at the notifications appearing before her eyes, then suddenly stood up with wide eyes.

“No way.”

After uttering those words of desperation, the woman quickly began adjusting her appearance.

[GLARE: Hello there.]

And shortly after. The “highest administrator” finally revealed themselves.

“Oh my, you’re here.”

The profile picture next to the message showed a rather cute-looking girl snapping her fingers, yet the woman was inexplicably bowing and scraping to the owner of that profile picture.

[GLARE: Nothing much. Just wondering something.]

“Yes, yes, you can ask me anything. Perhaps another dimensional case for me to solve…”

But her expression quickly froze.

[GLARE: Is dimension management not going well these days?]

This was precisely the kind of statement no middle manager ever wants to hear.

[GLARE: Seems like there are quite a few difficulties.]

“Ah… Haha, not at all. Everything is proceeding according to plan.”

The woman restored her expression with superhuman speed and waved her hand dismissively, but for a long time afterward, there was no reply from the other side.

[GLARE: Don’t forget that your dimension is one of our highest priorities.]

A bead of cold sweat began to trickle down the woman’s forehead as she read the message that finally arrived in that suffocating situation.

“Ah, of course. Certainly. Yes, yes.”

As someone who knew exactly when direct intervention from “higher up” had begun, she naturally couldn’t help but react that way.

[GLARE: By the way, the reason I contacted you today is because I have important information to deliver.]

Fortunately, without further questioning, the entity that had contacted the woman began to get to the point.

[GLARE: Of the four fragments of the Great Being that our dimension is securing, including the eyes, the locations of two have been newly identified.]

[GLARE: It’s been confirmed that the most powerful part, the body, exists on Earth, and the most dangerous part, the brain, exists in your dimension.]

> file: <Minater Sia>.pdf

> file: <James Moriarty>.pdf

As she checked the files that were sent, a shadow of concern crossed the woman’s face.

“As I suspected, I was right.”

Meanwhile, another message began to appear.

[GLARE: The location of the final fragment, the heart, is still unclear. I’ll share any additional information if it comes up.

Nodding quietly at those words and about to close the message window, the woman frowned quietly at the message that appeared just before closing.

[GLARE: Oh, right.]

“Yes?”

[GLARE: You know that dating and romantic relationships between system administrators and protagonists are prohibited, right?]

The blatant warning was written in the message before her eyes.

“Oh, of course. How could there be any question about that?”

The woman, failing slightly at managing her expression this time, still answered with upturned corners of her mouth, and with that final message, the communication ended.

[GLARE: Let’s maintain the proper role of the system.]

And for a moment, silence descended upon the principal’s office.

“That…”

The woman who had muttered in a low voice amid that silence, soon shook her head and rose from her seat to walk toward the window.

“…Sigh.”

The London sky reflected in her eyes was already showing the sunset fading away.

“Manage but don’t intervene.”

Another low voice escaped from the lips of the woman as she quietly took in the scenery.

“I really don’t like that rule.”

It was at that moment that the system window floating before her began to operate in a complex manner.

[Warning ▣]

> This command may cause critical chaos to the world.

> Do you still want to proceed? Y/N

> Dimension administrator authority confirmed. Starting system update…….

*****

“Mr. Adler.”

“Yes?”

“Do you know anything about Auguste Dupin?”

As I boarded the smuggling ship prepared by Professor Moriarty and set out from Switzerland toward London, I quietly tilted my head at the professor’s sudden question but opened my mouth to answer.

“The first detective?”

“……”

“And I know that he’s the founder of the Auguste Detective Academy.”

I voiced information that I should obviously know at this point, but the professor seemed unsatisfied, quietly frowning as she replied.

“It seems you only know the tip of the iceberg.”

In fact, I already knew that much.

The reason I was desperately trying to return to London was because of her existence.

In the original game, “Auguste Dupin” was a kind of Easter egg and the master of the omake room.

To put it differently, she’s an NPC that allows you to use developer privileges.

In other words, if I can safely arrive there, I can use developer privileges to restore the current situation to normal without any problems.

‘But how much does Professor Moriarty know?’

Naturally, the “omake room” is a clear bonus prepared for players after the ending.

Therefore, only “players” should know its true nature, so how does the professor, who belongs to this world, know about Dupin?

“Um, Professor…”

After glancing at the professor for a while, I finally couldn’t contain my curiosity and tried to ask her a question.

“I understand what you want to ask, but please be patient for a moment.”

At that moment, I quietly closed my mouth at her murderous voice from beside me.

“It doesn’t seem like the right situation for that now.”

No, even if I hadn’t heard her murderous voice, I would have closed my mouth.

“What is that?”

“…Huh.”

The night sky above the deck, which had already grown dim, was completely covered with bizarrely shaped tentacles.

“Ah, hello.”

And at that point, a somewhat familiar voice suddenly came from behind us.

“It’s been a while.”

Turning around at that voice, the professor and I couldn’t help but frown in unison.

“So you were alive?”

“Hmm, worst possible timing for an entrance.”

Lovecraft, who had been missing for years, was pointing his pen at us with his characteristic gloomy smile.