Chapter 106: Dad
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 106: Dad
Creak—
The hospital door swung open with a low groan. As a slender girl timidly poked her head through the narrow gap, Adler’s gaze wavered ever so slightly.
“........”
His reaction was only natural. The girl was none other than Celestia Moran, and she was currently staring at him with an unmistakable chill in her eyes. Nestled in her arms was a lifelike cat doll—the very vessel housing Princess Clay.
“Welcome.”
“...Master.”
Adler forced a smile and offered a welcoming gesture, cautiously gauging her mood. Moran’s voice, however, was colder than arctic snow.
“Why are you calling me 'Master' all of a sudden...?”
“You said you wouldn’t abandon me.”
Watson frowned, her suspicion deepening as she watched the young girl address Adler as "Master." No matter how she looked at it, the situation was highly questionable. Meanwhile, Moran continued to press Adler with a piercing stare.
“Then why? Why are you abandoning me when you promised you wouldn't?”
“Miss Moran, I’m not quite sure I follow.”
“You said you wouldn’t die. You told me last time that you would never... die. And yet...”
Caught off guard by her disjointed interrogation, Adler asked with a hint of confusion, “Who’s dying? It seems there’s been a misunderstanding here...”
“...I heard everything the two of you said.”
Before he could deploy his usual silver-tongued rhetoric, Celestia Moran drove the point home.
“I have sharp ears, Mr. Adler. For a sniper, hearing is just as vital as sight.”
“That’s actually a bit terrifying...”
“Doesn't the fact that you can no longer receive life-sustaining treatment mean your condition is terminal?”
She tilted her head, posing the chilling question with total sincerity. Both Adler and Watson’s expressions darkened simultaneously.
“Why are you breaking your promise, Master?”
“...It’s 'Dad,' not 'Master,' Miss Moran.”
As Moran’s expression grew increasingly somber, Adler quickly shifted gears, whispering into her ear in a chiding tone.
“Yes...?”
“I’ve told you to call me that from now on.”
Glancing at Watson to gauge her reaction, Adler urged Moran to speak. After a moment of hesitation, Moran looked down and responded in a subdued, bashful voice.
“...D-Dad.”
“That’s right.”
A shy blush crept up her cheeks. Hearing her reply, Adler gently patted her head, causing her to squirm with embarrassment.
“As you can see, this is the nature of our relationship. I’m simply raising her out of pure goodwill, like my own daughter. It’s nothing suspicious... despite what Miss Watson might be thinking.”
“...Honestly, it sounds even more suspicious now.”
“Miss Moran, putting that aside, you’ve completely misunderstood the situation.”
Watson’s gaze remained frigid, so Adler gave up on trying to look good in front of her and focused entirely on Moran.
“A misunderstanding...?”
“It’s true that I can no longer undergo life-sustaining treatment. Just as you heard.”
“...Uh.”
Moran’s eyes began to well up with tears. Seeing this, Adler hurried to finish his explanation before another misunderstanding could take root.
“But that doesn’t matter anymore. I’ve found a definitive cure.”
“Really...?”
“Yes, it’s true.”
He caressed Moran’s cheeks with a bright smile. Her skeptical gaze wavered as she looked up at him.
“What is it? The cure...?”
“You heard it yourself, didn't you?” Adler added with a twinkle in his eyes. “Dr. Frankenstein’s elixir. If we can recreate that, I can be completely restored.”
“Ah...”
“Right, Doctor?”
He turned to Watson for confirmation. She pondered for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh and reluctantly nodding.
“See? Even the doctor agrees.”
“...That’s a relief.”
Moran quietly wiped her tears with her tiny hands and buried herself in Adler’s embrace.
“But how will you make it?”
“Hmm?”
“The essence of life—don’t you need Dragon’s Tears for that?”
She suddenly pulled back, looking at him with a grim expression.
“I looked it up in the library. Dragons have been extinct for a long time. They’re just fossils in museums now.”
“........Hmm.”
“How do you plan to collect their tears?”
Stunned by her sharp questioning, Adler let out a nervous chuckle. “Dragons haven’t actually gone extinct yet.”
“Really?”
“They’re practically teeming in the Eastern Lands of the Rising Sun.”
As he spoke, sweat beaded on his forehead. Watson watched him with a look of pure incredulity.
“...Dr. Frankenstein had a large supply of them, didn't she? Dragon’s Tears are easier to find than you’d think.”
“Ah...”
“Just give it a year at most, and we’ll be able to acquire some easily. Of course, the key is staying alive until then...”
“Don’t worry about that.”
Moran’s previously gloomy eyes suddenly radiated excitement.
“You’re a vampire, right? As far as I know, vampires get healthier by drinking human blood.”
“That’s usually the case, but—”
“That’s why Miss Silver Blaze and I caught a bunch of people and locked them in the hideout’s basement!”
“...What?”
The innocent smile on her small face was suddenly bone-chilling.
“They’re all from the back alleys, so there’s no need to worry about the police. They’re carefully filtered prey... chosen by Princess Clay herself, so there can be no mistake.”
“.........”
“And we only captured females. According to the Princess, female blood is healthier for a vampire than male blood...”
Adler looked down in silence, then shifted his gaze to the toy cat in Moran’s arms.
“Meow?”
“...Sigh.”
The doll puffed out its chest proudly and tilted its head as if questioning his stare. Adler let out a deep sigh and glanced at Watson, who stood frozen in shock at Moran’s horrifying revelation.
“...Release them all.”
“Huh?”
“We already have enough blood bags. You don’t need to exert yourself, Miss Moran.”
Moran slumped, looking dejected. “But I had already finished the basic training...”
“It’s alright.”
“...Yes.”
“And next time you do something like this, get my permission first, okay?”
Adler scolded her gently. She lowered her head like a frightened puppy and nodded obediently.
“Still, I’m touched, Miss Moran...”
Adler chuckled faintly and patted the girl’s head.
“After all, you did it for me. Thank you.”
“...Umm.”
Celestia Moran looked up at him with a warm smile, her voice timid and low.
“Can I keep calling you... um, Dad, from now on?”
Adler tilted his head, and she nervously tapped the floor with her foot, mumbling under her breath.
“...My father used to hit me when I called him Dad. He said he didn’t want someone like me calling him that.”
“Miss Moran...”
“You won’t hit me if I call you Dad, right?”
Adler looked down at her with a kind gaze and whispered softly, “Call me whatever you like.”
“Ah...”
Moran averted her gaze shyly. With a trembling voice, she spoke.
“Dad...”
She murmured the word and awkwardly embraced him, her eyes fixed on the ground.
“........”
Adler stroked her back with a fatherly smile. Moran lifted her head slightly, her eyes twinkling.
“I should get going now.”
She gingerly stepped out of his embrace, a subtle change in her gaze compared to when she first entered. She bowed her head in farewell.
Pitter-patter...
Without looking back, she hurried out of the room with swift, light steps.
“Young children are so pure. It’s quite endearing.”
“.......”
“Don’t you think?”
With the fatherly smile still on his face, Adler turned to Watson, who had been silently observing the entire scene.
“...So, these days, training back-alley women to be blood bags for their master is considered 'pure'?”
“That’s only because she hasn't had the chance to learn the better things in life...”
“And speaking of which, do you really think you can do it?”
Adler’s face turned sheepish as he tried to make an excuse, but it immediately darkened at her next question.
“I’ll have to find a way somehow.”
Adler stood up and began to mutter to himself.
“I don’t want to die like this either.”
He gazed at Professor Moriarty, who was fast asleep in the bed across from Watson. His voice carried the faintest tremor.
“So I’ll have to try my best. I’m not sure if I can find the Dragon’s Tears in time, but...”
“........”
“Still, I can’t just abandon a child with nowhere to go.”
As he finished with a faint smile, Watson sighed, her gaze never leaving him.
“It’s not just about that.”
She looked toward the door Moran had just exited.
“Youngsters grow up faster than we think, don't they?”
“Is that so?”
“You might want to keep that in mind moving forward...”
Adler walked toward the door with a relaxed smile.
“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind...”
As he reached for the doorknob, his expression suddenly froze.
[Warning!]
[Probability of being Devoured in Reverse — 25%]
“Eh?”
A message in a rigid, mechanical font had popped up before his eyes.
You really have a lot on your plate, don’t you?
‘If I get devoured, so be it, but what on earth is "Devoured in Reverse"...?!’
Isaac Adler stared in confusion at the newly categorized probability—a single word's difference from the previous one—as he stepped out into the hallway.
“...Huh.”
His jaw dropped again the moment he left the room.
“Isaac Adler.”
Gia Lestrade, who was supposed to be at the courthouse, was inexplicably leaning against the hospital corridor wall. Her gaze was intense and frigid.
“...You’re coming with me.”
Hearing her icy voice, Adler quietly slipped behind Celestia Moran, who was already standing guard with a wary look in her eyes.
“What brings you here, savage big sister?”
“Sorry, but I need the runt to step aside. Stay out of this.”
“...I told you not to call me a runt.”
With those words exchanged, only moments after Adler had left his room, the corridor was instantly drenched in the prelude of a fierce commotion.