Ch.75Chapter 75 – Summons

“It’s unfair.”

In the heavy silence, the sullen Adler, glancing at the gazes still directed at him, cautiously begins to speak.

“This wasn’t my intention.”

“Are you saying everything until now was your intention?”

“No, that’s not what I meant…”

“Then how far did your intentions go, Mr. Adler?”

“Uh, well.”

But Adler begins to stammer under the fierce questioning of the professor and Sharlotte who were staring at him intently.

“Be honest. Are you once again wagging that frivolous tail of yours in search of a new escape route?”

“No matter who you are, there’s no way the thief would have just attacked without reason. What exactly did you two do?”

As the professor and Sharlotte simultaneously press him with questions, cold sweat begins to form on his body.

“…He hit him!”

But at that moment, a voice comes from behind them.

“”………?””

“I-I told you not to come out of the room…”

“Adler oppa hit a suspicious person!”

At the sudden appearance of the second sister, everyone, including the startled Lestrade, turns their attention to her.

“…Can you explain why he did that?”

“The suspicious person was about to attack Adler oppa! So oppa resisted and hit him!”

Despite the tense atmosphere, the second sister continues her story confidently.

“Oppa did nothing wrong! It was all that suspicious person’s fault!”

“…What did I tell you?”

Adler’s expression brightens at her sincere testimony, after having been sweating nervously until then.

“Sis, you were sleeping until big sis came…”

– Crunch…!

“Ow.”

While smiling broadly and waving at Adler, the second sister forcefully steps on the third sister’s foot as she mutters beside her.

“I’m just a victim here.”

“Hmm…”

“And you know, I really hate the thief.”

But thanks to Adler’s desperate defense that had already begun, no one heard that brief groan.

“Is there a woman you dislike?”

“I’m human too, Professor. I have people I like and people I dislike.”

“But there must be a reason?”

The professor, staring at Adler, slowly tilts his head side to side as he asks the question.

“Well, Holmes…..”

About to answer as if it were obvious, Adler hastily stops himself.

“…Ahem, ahem.”

If he were to say here and now, ‘Among those who like Holmes, no one would like such an idiotic character,’

“What about Miss Holmes? Mr. Adler.”

Professor Jane Moriarty, already sensing something amiss, was questioning him with a cold expression, and Adler could vividly imagine what she might do.

“…Because that person who transformed into Miss Holmes tried to rape me.”

So Adler, employing his specialty of improvisation, twisted what he was about to say.

“He punched me in the stomach to knock me out and tried to drag me to the bedroom.”

As he said this, he slightly lifted his clothes, revealing the still-visible handprint that caught the professor’s eye.

“Even so…”

“This is truly maddening.”

And the next moment.

– Crash!!!

At that moment, the sound of glass shattering echoed throughout the living room.

– Drip…

Watson and Lestrade, who had been sitting quietly, rise from their seats with tense expressions.

“……….”

The professor, having shattered the coffee cup she was holding with just the strength of her grip, was quietly emitting gray mana, ignoring the blood flowing from her hand.

“…Professor?”

“I don’t understand.”

When Adler cautiously addressed Moriarty, the professor began to mutter in a monotone voice.

“Why must I simply watch as my adorable assistant gets beaten?”

“………”

“He liked me first, not you. So why?”

As she emitted mana so intense it sent chills down everyone’s spine, cold sweat began to flow from everyone’s foreheads except Lestrade’s.

“And you, why do you keep him if you can’t properly protect Adler?”

“………”

“I am confident I could protect Adler from even the slightest harm by staying with him every moment. But how many times have you already put him in danger?”

“That was all within my expected range…”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

The professor’s voice grows even colder.

“Then what about those marks engraved on his stomach?”

“That’s…”

“Because I entrusted him to a novice like you, dirty flies have started swarming around Adler.”

Eventually, Moriarty begins to speak with a murderous voice, having lost her usual refined manner of speech.

“Adler is not someone who should be marked by such filthy, lowborn creatures that occasionally land on him.”

“………..”

“Do you understand me, Holmes?”

Cold sweat runs down Sharlotte’s cheek.

“If you understand, let’s make a wager right away.”

“That’s…”

“You can decide, or Adler can decide. So hurry.”

The professor’s eyes, as she leaned her head toward where Sharlotte and Adler were, were darker than ever before.

“Let’s have an all-out battle for the qualification to take care of Issac Adler.”

“…Do you think such an important wager can be decided so quickly?”

“Don’t worry. I won’t leave this mansion until the subject is decided.”

“Um…”

In that atmosphere heading toward catastrophe, Adler speaks up in a timid voice.

“How about we make a wager on catching the owner of this card?”

“”………..””

“Whoever catches them first wins. Something like that.”

His suggestion is met with cold stares from those around him.

“Why are you all looking at me like that?”

“Are you crazy?”

“Have you lost your mind?”

Then came voices of disbelief.

“This is the person who tried to rape you.”

“This is no time to divide our forces for the sake of a mere wager.”

“What?”

Adler’s eyes begin to waver.

“When it comes to catching that creepy thief, we won’t clash with each other. Though it’s unsettling, a detective sometimes needs to step into the shadows.”

“I’ll treat her like livestock after locking her in the basement as she wishes. Doesn’t that sound fun?”

Adler’s mind was recalling the existence of a quest that required being kidnapped by the thief to clear, as he faced this miraculous first consensus.

“That doesn’t seem… like a good idea…”

“Stay quiet.”

“I reject that proposal.”

But since he couldn’t admit that he wanted to be kidnapped at least once, Adler quietly closed his mouth at their cold voices.

“Propose another wager.”

“If I select it, there will surely be complaints, so you choose, Mr. Adler.”

Sighing quietly, he suddenly stands up and opens his mouth.

“I understand, but what about this?”

“What is it?”

“I don’t think we can do it right now.”

Just as he said this with a slightly brazen expression.

– Creeeeak…

The firmly closed front door slowly began to open.

“Mr. Adler, you’re quite perceptive.”

“”…………””

“Or perhaps you already noticed?”

People’s eyes widen at the appearance of the person entering through the front door.

“Sorry to interrupt just as war was about to break out, but I need to borrow Adler for a moment.”

Microny Holmes was standing at the entrance, smiling with squinted eyes for some reason.

“Sis, how long has it been since you declared neutrality, and now you’re doing this?”

“I find it quite unpleasant to have any more uninvited guests interfering.”

Sharlotte glares at her and speaks with words full of caution, while Moriarty quietly wipes the blood flowing from her hand and begins to whisper coldly.

“I’m sorry, but there’s no choice.”

But Microny, with one eye slightly open, looks at them calmly and raises her hand.

“I didn’t come to ask for your permission.”

Then, countless presences began to reveal themselves from all directions.

– Click…

“Do you know what the fatal weakness common to both detectives and villains is?”

As the Royal Knights directly under the British Royal Family and the British Royal Guards began to surround Lestrade’s house, the expressions of the two women slowly distorted.

“It’s public authority.”

Microny Holmes watches them with a sardonic smile and whispers in an amused voice.

“…I don’t understand.”

Lestrade, staring blankly at her, begins to mutter in a voice that suggests complete incomprehension.

“Even for someone like you, you cannot exercise this level of power.”

“………..”

“The power of your position is unofficial. It’s not something you can exercise so openly.”

As she speaks, she unconsciously grabs Adler’s arm.

“What on earth has been happening to Issac Adler?”

“……….”

“Why is everyone so desperate to get their hands on this man?”

“It’s alright.”

But Adler politely removes his arm from her grip and quietly walks toward Microny Holmes.

“Can’t be helped, I guess.”

At this, everyone’s eyes narrow simultaneously.

“The wager will have to be postponed for a while.”

“””…………””””

“I’ll be back soon, so everyone needs to behave.”

As Adler finished speaking and headed toward the smiling Microny Holmes, the room became remarkably quiet.

.

.

.

.

.

“…Ah, Professor Moriarty.”

Just as Adler stretched his arms toward the sky with a bright smile, finally facing the fresh air outside.

“You come too.”

“Gasp.”

“Sharlotte, you too.”

It was then that Microny, who had been quietly walking, casually said this to the professor.

“…Excuse me? Miss Microny?”

“……….”

“What I requested in my message was for you to get me out of here alone?”

Adler, suddenly breathless, begins to urgently whisper in Microny’s ear.

“Did you?”

But Microny Holmes looks at Adler with a puzzled expression.

“I didn’t receive such a message?”

“What?”

“How could signals be sent and received from a mansion surrounded by such dense mana barriers? That would be impossible even if Merlin were resurrected.”

“What do you mean…”

Only now noticing the gray barrier completely surrounding the mansion, cold sweat begins to form on Adler’s forehead.

“…Wait, then why did you come here?”

To his question, Microny answers quietly with a smile.

“As a British citizen, I cannot refuse Her Majesty’s orders, can I?”

“…..What?”

The British Royal Guards and Royal Knights, who had brought a carriage covered with a tent, slowly begin to approach Adler.

“Stand back.”

But they halt their steps, startled by the cold voice of the figure who had somehow appeared beside Adler.

“We’ll board of our own free will.”

The professor was pushing back the guards and knights, emitting a more intense killing intent than ever before.

“All I can do is provide the professor and your sister as guardians.”

Microny Holmes whispers in a low voice to Adler, who was staring blankly at the scene.

“Good luck.”

As she steps back after finishing her words, Adler’s face slowly turns pale.

“”…………””

Because the two women he had just said goodbye to were quietly staring at him from both sides.

“…Hehe.”

After quietly observing those dark gazes, Adler gives an awkward smile again.

“So that’s how it is.”

Finally, grabbing both women’s arms simultaneously, he finishes what he had left unsaid earlier.

“…It’s a new mystery.”