Ch.8Chapter 8 – Cleanup

“You’ve come, my friend.”

As I leave the hospital lobby and head towards the café where Professor Moriarty was, she greets me while taking a sip of her freshly brewed coffee.

“Well done. How does it feel to make a queen your slave…”

Suddenly she stops speaking, frowns, and starts rummaging through her pocket.

“…this coffee is bitter.”

Eventually, Professor Moriarty pulls out a portable sugar packet from her pocket and mercilessly pours sugar into her coffee.

“Adler, my boy. Do you know what sugar and crime have in common?”

As I stare blankly at her, she asks this while opening a second packet.

“I’m not sure.”

“They both stimulate the brain’s pleasure center, causing it to release dopamine as a reward.”

After saying this, Professor Moriarty takes another sip of her modified coffee and happily tilts her head from side to side.

“Hmm… would you like some of this natural drug?”

A woman in her early twenties giggling while eating something sweet—a normal and cute sight. Looking at just that, she seemed no different from anyone else.

“So, you feel like that when committing crimes.”

“Actually, it’s several times more intense. A thrill runs through my entire body to the point where I can’t control myself.”

But no matter how cute she appeared, Moriarty was still Moriarty—the pure embodiment of evil, untainted.

“But lately, I had lost that feeling. Even drinking coffee with 12 sugar cubes gave me no joy in life.”

And now this woman puts her coffee down beside her and begins to stare intently at me.

“Then you appeared before me. You, who stimulates my pleasure center just by being in my sight.”

Her gaze deepens. It’s difficult to explain, but if I had to describe it, her eyes were darkly gleaming.

“It’s a feeling I haven’t experienced in a very long time.”

Though I felt an inexplicable chill, I maintained my composure as best I could while the professor tapped her finger on the table and muttered.

“Even though I didn’t personally subjugate the queen or make her lie face down on the floor. Yet my heart is racing.”

Her voice was as excited as when we first met.

“And I didn’t even commit serious crimes like murder, kidnapping, or imprisonment. Truly remarkable.”

“…Isn’t turning a kingdom’s queen into a slave serious enough?”

“Is it? Anyway, this is the charm of being a crime consultant. I understand now.”

The feeling of corrupting Moriarty, who still retained traces of an inexperienced young professional, was peculiar.

It wasn’t quite enough to feel sinful, but somehow I felt like I was being swept away with her in a massive current.

“Professor.”

After briefly closing my eyes, lost in indescribable emotions, I opened my mouth again to change the subject.

“You’ll get fat that way.”

At that, she had been tilting her head while drinking her sugary coffee in front of me, but now she froze.

“…Do I look that way to you?”

In truth, she didn’t look fat. If this was her usual eating habit, it seemed like all the sugar she consumed went to her chest rather than her stomach.

“…A little?”

But since the world would be in danger if she collapsed from poor health before becoming the final boss, I said that, causing Professor Moriarty to start contemplating with a serious expression.

“I’ll cut back by one packet from now on.”

Then, with a slightly dejected expression, she makes this declaration and stands up.

“Well then, shall we leave this crime scene?”

As she said, it’s time to leave this place. Holmes is still over there. It would be disastrous if the professor and she met now and everything got complicated.

“So, how was my crime consulting today?”

As I stand up simultaneously with Moriarty and walk the streets of London, she poses a question to me.

“Would you like me to evaluate it?”

When I asked in return, she makes an interesting expression.

“It’s my first time being evaluated by someone.”

“Before that, I have a question.”

To her expectant gaze, I posed one question.

“What exactly was that document?”

Professor Moriarty contacted me at dawn today, with only a few hours left until morning.

But just before the queen arrived, she successfully bribed a nurse to hand me documents detailing various misdeeds of the prince who was to be the Queen of Bohemia’s marriage partner.

I wondered how the professor had obtained those documents that played a crucial role in subjugating the queen.

“They were documents I fabricated.”

“What?”

“Even I couldn’t obtain legally recognized evidence documents within a few hours.”

Professor Moriarty’s answer was shocking.

“But now the contents of those documents will become fact.”

“Why?”

“By now, the second prince of Scandinavia should have died from an unidentified mana poisoning delivered in an anonymous letter.”

“………”

“The cause of death will be announced as drug overdose. The evidence submitted by the queen will become the established theory. The dead cannot refute, after all.”

In short, she had silenced him permanently.

By the way, mana? Could it be that Professor Moriarty is also a mana user?

“What do you think, Adler? This perfect crime I specially designed for you, my assistant.”

As I quietly pondered, the professor asked me with an expectant expression.

“The score for this rehearsal is…”

To make her a plausible final boss, I needed to be firm here.

“Out of 100 points, you only get 50, Professor.”

Hearing this, Professor Moriarty tilts her head sideways with wide eyes.

“Why?”

“Why do you think?”

“…Because I killed a bad person?”

To her seemingly different way of thinking, I began speaking in a tone like scolding a child who had done wrong.

“Because you directly intervened in the case.”

“Ah.”

“Due to your Curse, all your crimes become perfect crimes. If you abuse that as a trick, you’ll soon get bored.”

“I see. You’re right.”

She nods with an understanding expression.

“But you looked like you were in danger, so I had no choice.”

“………”

“I can’t let my portable sugar dissolve so soon.”

At her subsequent words, I could only keep my mouth shut.

“What’s wrong, Adler? Are you feeling ill?”

“No.”

“That’s surprising. A man like you who could get any woman he fancied into bed within a day while walking through London, responding like this.”

“Please don’t sexually harass me, Professor.”

“Ha ha, hahaha…”

She had been asking me with her hands behind her back and head tilted, but upon hearing this, she burst into laughter at whatever she found amusing and took the lead.

“Professor. I said 50 points earlier, but actually everything else was flawless.”

“…Really?”

“The dialogue you instructed me to say, and how well you grasped the psychology of the queen who still had feelings for me. Just don’t intervene directly again.”

“Then, what should I do if something like this happens again?”

She suddenly turned around and asked, having heard my words.

“I don’t want to lose points from you again.”

After pondering her smiling question for a moment, I answered in a low voice.

“Let’s start spinning a web in London’s back alleys.”

“A web?”

A compelling final boss needs charming executives.

“We’re crime consultants. We need subordinates who will get their hands dirty for us.”

“………”

“Let’s create an underworld organization that will plunge London into darkness someday, Professor.”

Hearing this, Professor Moriarty’s eyes began to gleam darkly again.

“Indeed, you are the best assistant.”

Is it a good or bad sign that I’m starting to get used to that look in her eyes?

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A few days after the “Bohemian Queen’s Scandal” case ended.

> This is the story of a scandal that shook the Kingdom of Bohemia and how Sharlotte Holmes’s clever plan was mercilessly shattered by one man.

In the boarding house at 212B Baker Street, Rachel Watson was typing intently on her typewriter.

> Holmes often used to laugh with her characteristically arrogant smile, saying men weren’t wise, but I haven’t heard her say such things since this incident.

As she reached this passage, she continued typing while trying to suppress her laughter by twitching her lips.

> And whenever she speaks of Issac Adler or that half-photograph, Holmes always uses the honorable title of ‘that man’…

“Watson.”

“Eek?”

Suddenly, Holmes’s monotone voice came from behind her.

“Oh, when did you get here?”

“Just now. By the way, didn’t you promise the queen? That we wouldn’t publish that case as a story.”

“I’m just writing it as a hobby. For future descendants to see someday.”

“…Do you really have to write it?”

To Holmes who asked with a frown, Watson replied with a mischievous smile.

“It’s the story of our Holmes’s first love, of course it should be recorded.”

“You seem to be misunderstanding something. I don’t love him. It’s just an unsolved mystery…”

“Yes, yes, then let’s change it to the story of your ‘first defeat.'”

Hearing this, Holmes responded seriously.

“Watson.”

“Yes?”

“I haven’t lost yet.”

And then came silence.

“I just received my academy enrollment documents. I’ll probably be able to enroll within a few weeks. So, if I enter there and meet him who ran away… then…”

As she spoke, Holmes gradually turned her gaze sideways, and Watson, who had been staring at her, twitched her lips again and muttered inwardly.

‘I didn’t know Holmes had such a cute side.’

From their first meeting, this arrogant genius girl had disparaged Auguste Academy’s founder, Dupin, as a woman whose brain didn’t work well.

And as if to prove that statement wasn’t wrong, she had solved numerous cases in just days and generously credited most of them to the police.

With a manner of speaking that didn’t match her physique and age, always using adult-like speech, and seeing through everything with languid, weary eyes, she had been an unapproachable existence to Watson until a few days ago.

“…If I do that, it’s at least a draw. Do you understand now?”

But now, this girl who seemed to have seen it all was getting worked up like a teenage girl going through puberty.

‘That’s good.’

Holmes had always been listless when there were no cases, and despite all persuasion, she continued dangerous mana stone experiments.

But recently, such behavior couldn’t be seen in her.

The current Holmes was burning with passion thanks to Issac Adler, the first person to defeat her.

‘…But that man is dangerous.’

On the other hand, Watson was worried about Holmes.

While it’s true they had seen unexpected aspects of Issac Adler in this case, it remained unchanged that he was still London’s foremost scoundrel and trash.

“And my going to the academy isn’t just because of ‘that man.'”

“What?”

“There are rumors of suspicious incidents happening at the academy recently. So I’m going to investigate that as well…”

“Yes, Holmes. You’re absolutely right.”

So Watson, who had been watching Holmes with slight concern, eventually gave her an oily smile and made a fighting pose.

“Good luck!”

It was time to trust Holmes.

Although she was still mentally immature, the fact that she was London’s greatest detective remained unchanged.

“Hmph.”

And Holmes, who was looking at Watson with narrowed eyes, proved this fact once again.

“This isn’t the time to tease me, Watson.”

“…Huh?”

“Because it’s not me who has a man, but you.”

Hearing this, Watson froze with her hands on the typewriter.

“W-what? W-what are you talking about, Sharlotte?”

“If I were you and secretly meeting a man, I wouldn’t smell of perfume when rushing out claiming there’s an emergency patient at the hospital in the middle of the night.”

“T-that? That’s just strong perfume I sprayed during the day…”

“Nor would a hastily packed medical bag have a bouquet of flowers sticking out instead of a stethoscope.”

“…………”

“If such situations continued for weeks, even that ignorant Inspector Lestrade would notice, let alone me.”

As Holmes continued speaking, Watson’s face grew increasingly red until she hurriedly stood up and pushed Holmes’s back.

“Alright, you should go now. Didn’t you say you were preparing to get your uniform fitted?”

“I just got back from fitting it.”

“Then go downstairs and have a meal. Mr. Hudson has prepared food.”

And so, Watson sent Holmes, who was scratching her head, out of the room.

“We’re not dating…”

After looking around briefly, she begins typing again with a blush on her face.

> It’s been a while, you.

“Still, I’m worried about Holmes.”

She says this while changing the typewriter mode from writing to receiving and inserting a low-grade mana stone.

“…If only Issac Adler were as kind and pure as him.”

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“What’s wrong with you?”

“……..”

As I was about to enter Auguste Academy with Professor Moriarty, a sudden anomaly occurred.

[It’s been a while, you.]

When I unconsciously raised my hand that had started tingling, I discovered a message appearing on it.

[The 21st evening. Meet me at 7 PM at our usual place.]

I squeezed my eyes shut as I felt my mind growing distant.

“…Who the hell are you?”

I had completely forgotten that the original Irene Adler had a fiancé.