Ch.40Chapter 40 – The Case of the Missing Silver Blaze (2)

“…Hmm.”

My head hurts.

No, it’s not just hurting—it feels like it’s about to split open.

“……..?”

I grab my head as I get up, and a somewhat familiar scene enters my vision.

– Rustle…

“Huh.”

But still unable to grasp the situation having just woken up, I hear something rustling below.

“…Meow.”

A red cat doll sitting demurely on my lap was making cat noises while avoiding my gaze.

“Princess?”

As I reach out with drowsy eyes, she avoids my touch and glares at me sharply.

‘…Come to think of it, did I bring Princess with me?’

Only then did I realize that I had left her in the opium den room because I was preoccupied with Rachel Watson.

Judging by how filthy she looks, she must have escaped on her own and returned to where I am.

“I’m sorry.”

“……..”

When I scratch my head and offer an apology, she turns her head away and keeps her mouth shut.

“Anyway, what am I doing right now…”

But since figuring out the current situation was more important than appeasing her mood, I turned my head and was immediately struck speechless.

“……….”

A rather pretty girl with ears on her head, covered in wounds, was sitting quietly beside me.

– Tremble…

Her face was pale, her eyes and expression nearly lifeless, and she was constantly shivering as if having chills. Looking at her, it seemed she had been caught up in some terrible incident.

“Excuse me…”

But there was something more important than that.

“Who are you?”

The main issue was that I had no idea why this injured beast-person with animal ears was sitting quietly next to me, or what her identity was.

“………”

So while still holding my throbbing head, I carefully asked her a question, and she slowly raised her head and began to look at me with blank eyes.

– Drip…

“Uh?”

Suddenly, tears started flowing from her eyes.

“Excuse me, why are you suddenly…”

“…Adler.”

Just as I was about to speak again out of some inexplicable guilt, a cool voice began to sound from behind me.

“Meow!”

“How could you not recognize your client?”

Startled by that voice, Princess jumped to the floor. As I turned my gaze away from her to look behind me, Professor Moriarty was sitting at the office desk organizing documents and looking at me with her head tilted.

“…Even though you brought her here yourself.”

Those familiar bite marks all over her neck and arms.

“Ah…”

Only then did fragments of memory flash through my mind—how I had downed the brandy Rachel Watson handed me in one shot and started acting loopy.

‘…Shit.’

What on earth did I do?

.

.

.

.

.

“Don’t tell me you don’t remember what happened yesterday?”

“……….”

“Somehow, you seemed slightly different from your usual self.”

Professor Moriarty hands a newspaper from her desk to Issac Adler, who had been frozen in place sweating profusely for quite some time.

[Racing Girl Silver Blaze Missing! Kidnapping or Escape…]

“…Silver Blaze.”

After quickly reading through it, Issac Adler mutters with a blank expression.

“Late at night, you barged into my office and placed something on my expensive sofa.”

“……….”

“At first, I thought you were practicing pantomime. But when you snapped your fingers, that girl appeared.”

Professor Moriarty, who had been kindly explaining what happened yesterday, now asks with sparkling eyes.

“How were you able to use such perfect invisibility magic? Even that young detective’s stealth techniques cannot deceive my eyes. But I couldn’t read your magic at all.”

“……..”

“What exactly are you, Adler?”

“Perhaps you just weren’t feeling well?”

Obviously unable to answer that he was the developer of the magic system, Issac Adler avoids her gaze and deflects.

“There’s no way I could beat you with magic or anything else, right?”

“…Hmm.”

Hearing this, the corners of Professor Moriarty’s mouth slightly turn upward.

“By the way, what are those wounds?”

Eventually, feeling her penetrating gaze that seemed to see through everything, Adler desperately tries to change the subject.

“That happened right after you placed that girl on the sofa.”

Professor Moriarty answers while gently stroking her neck.

“You pounced on me.”

“…What?”

“You grabbed both my arms forcefully and knocked me to the floor.”

Issac Adler’s pupils began to shake as he was momentarily speechless.

“And then you started biting all over my body for quite some time.”

“…Surely not.”

“Does it seem like a lie?”

When he denied her words, she slightly lifted her top to show him.

“……….”

Seeing his own bite marks all over her body, Adler momentarily felt dizzy and tightly closed his eyes.

“I never imagined I would end up in such an intimate situation with you.”

“…I have committed an unforgivable sin.”

“Thanks to that, while I was lying there dazed, you called me by my name.”

By now, a broad smile had appeared on Moriarty’s face.

“Then you even stroked my head.”

“………”

“It was a strange feeling to be called by name and have my head stroked by my assistant.”

Adler stared blankly at her, having lost even the energy to respond.

“I recorded the entire process.”

“Ah.”

“I also recorded when you embraced me and whispered that you loved me more than anything in the world, just as I was starting to feel anemic from your continued blood-sucking.”

Speaking in a cheerful voice, she rises from her seat, her body covered with Adler’s marks.

“…Pro-Professor.”

Then, she slowly approaches Adler.

“Although you were in a mentally weakened state, it was quite an enjoyable time, Adler.”

– Slide…

“Thanks to you, I was able to put aside my desire to kill you for a while.”

“W-Wait…”

As Moriarty’s smiling face suddenly turns expressionless while picking up his hand, Adler unconsciously tries to back away.

– Sizzle…

“…Argh!”

But the next moment, a terrible pain begins to be inflicted on the back of his hand.

“Adler.”

“S-Stop…”

“Adler.”

“Professor…”

“Adler.”

“…Yes.”

After staggering momentarily, Adler answers in a shrinking voice to her continued monotone calls.

“I too have patience.”

Her voice, which somehow seemed slightly trembling, flies into his ear.

“So don’t ever do this again.”

But as if it never happened, she whispers in a monotone voice again and gently caresses Adler’s hand, from which gray smoke was rising.

“…Compared to what you did yesterday and the marks you left on my body, this is an extremely light warning.”

The engagement mark he had engraved on his hand with Rachel Watson was now damaged, overlaid with her gray mana.

“But this is…”

“…?”

“…Nothing.”

Adler, who was about to speak while staring at it, quietly lowers his tail after seeing Moriarty’s darkly shining eyes, still full of his bite marks.

“Well, shall we begin?”

Then, with an enlightened smile, Adler claps his hands.

“A new case… case, Professor.”

“You really are interesting.”

Silver Blaze, who had been sitting quietly trembling on the sofa until then, slowly turned her gaze toward them.

.

.

.

.

.

“…Thank you for helping me avoid making the wrong choice back then.”

A few minutes later.

“But… you don’t need to help me anymore.”

Silver Blaze, wrapped in Adler’s outer coat and holding a cup of sugared coffee made by Professor Moriarty, finally speaks in a trembling voice.

“I killed someone. That’s a clear fact.”

“”……..””

“So, I want to go turn myself in now.”

She tries to stand up unsteadily.

“I don’t want to burden kind people like you anymore. So…”

“Wouldn’t that be self-defense?”

Adler, who had been sitting quietly, stops her with gleaming eyes.

“…Self-defense?”

“Judging by the numerous whip marks and bruises on your body, I can’t see the dead man and you as being in an equal relationship.”

“………”

“And seeing that some marks are quite old, it seems you’ve been suffering continuous abuse for at least several years…”

At this, Silver Blaze’s expression grows cold.

“That’s only natural.”

“What do you mean?”

“For beast-people to be treated that way.”

Adler’s head tilts to the side.

“The abolition of the inter-species slavery system is just a facade. Discrimination against beast-people is still rampant in society.”

“………..”

“There are still cunningly twisted laws remaining. It’s clear that claiming self-defense won’t make any difference.”

She speaks to him in a trembling voice.

“A kind person like you might not know, but that’s the reality.”

Tears were already welling up in her eyes again.

“…So I wanted to change it.”

“”………..””

“I thought if I just worked a little harder, I could change things…”

Speaking in a trembling voice, she finally bursts into tears.

“It hurt so much…”

And silence descends upon the office.

“Please let me turn myself in. Now that things have come to this, I want to take full responsibility…”

“…Miss Blaze? May I call you that?”

Adler, who had been quietly watching her, finally speaks.

“You’re making several misconceptions.”

“…Pardon?”

Silver Blaze raises her head quietly at his words.

“The moment you turn yourself in, it’s over for beast-people in England.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Well, aren’t you a celebrity with popularity rivaling my assistant Issac Adler?”

Professor Moriarty, who had been sitting quietly beside them, speaks with sparkling eyes.

“Y-You’re that Issac Adler…”

“If it becomes known that you, who is practically an icon and representative of beast-people, are a murderer, what kind of articles do you think the media will publish?”

“…That’s.”

“Especially at this current point when public opinion is already clamoring for the complete revival of discriminatory laws against beast-people due to increasing crime rates.”

“………”

After being shocked to learn that the person who saved her was Issac Adler, she trails off upon hearing those words.

“Your murder is no longer just your personal matter.”

“Ah…”

“Right now, you’re carrying a massive bomb that could turn all of England upside down.”

Her expression becomes blank.

“Miss Blaze’s second misconception is that despite all this, not the entire world is your enemy.”

Seeing her expression, Adler jumps into the conversation with perfect timing.

“I hear that hundreds of your fans, even excluding beast-people, are desperately searching the streets for your whereabouts. It was in today’s newspaper.”

“Ah…”

“There are at least as many people who like you as those who dislike you. Even I, who knows nothing about horse racing, know about you from overhearing conversations.”

“………..”

As she begins to quietly sob at his words, Adler whispers in a low voice.

“The efforts you’ve made so far haven’t been in vain, Miss Blaze.”

A tear streams down Silver Blaze’s face.

“And your final misconception is this.”

While patting her back, Adler begins to whisper gently.

“…I am not a good person.”

“What?”

“I should have told you this before.”

A sweet voice, impossible to discern whether it’s the voice of a demon or an angel, penetrates her ears.

“…The Professor and I are crime consultants.”

“T-Then…”

“It’s our first time consulting on a crime that’s already been committed, though.”

A frightened look appears on Silver Blaze’s face.

“…If you entrust us with your case, we can at least help you avoid legal punishment.”

“If things go well, we could even make it a perfect crime.”

“We might even be able to generate sympathetic public opinion for beast-people. If we’re lucky, that is.”

But at the same time, a faint heat was also rising in her eyes.

“The choice is yours. But you should decide quickly.”

“London’s greatest detective has probably already started investigating by now. If we’re going to intervene, we need to hurry.”

And when that heat overcame her fear.

“…What’s the fee?”

Silver Blaze asked them in a shrinking voice, but with eyes that had made some kind of determination.

“You catch on quickly.”

Professor Moriarty, who had been looking satisfied, answered with a dark smile.

“The fee is you.”

“If this ends successfully, you’ll need to join our side.”

And silence began.

“…It’s the first time since I lost my parents.”

After a moment, Silver Blaze breaks the silence and speaks while fixing her gaze on Adler.

“Someone who would embrace a smelly beast-person.”

“May I take that as a positive answer?”

“Whether you’re a good person or a bad person, I don’t care.”

And then, she quietly bows at the waist.

“…Please take care of me.”

“Beast-people’s factions make up the absolute majority of the back alleys.”

Professor Moriarty, who had been quietly watching, asks Adler in a low voice.

“Whoever can get them in hand and control them would become the king of the back alleys.”

“………”

“Was this your aim?”

In response, Adler answers while imitating her strange smile.

“Who knows, my Queen.”

At his changed form of address, the corners of Professor Moriarty’s mouth quietly turned upward.

“…I might really end up falling in love with you at this rate.”

“You flatter me.”

“So does that make you my consort?”

“That’s sexual harassment.”

The morning sunlight that had just revealed itself was quietly shining upon them.

.

.

.

.

.

Meanwhile, at the same time.

[Racing Girl Silver Blaze Missing! Kidnapping or Escape…]

“It’s all fine…”

At a coffee house right in front of the racecourse.

“It’s all fine, but…”

Sharlotte Holmes, who was reading the newspaper with a pipe in her mouth, was muttering in a cold voice.

“…Why is it another woman?”

Professor Moriarty wasn’t the only one whose patience was beginning to reach its limit.