Chapter 128: Monster Showdown (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 128: Monster Showdown (2)
“Mr. Adler.”
On the very evening a young man’s machinations began to plunge London’s underworld into absolute chaos, the mastermind himself was receiving a visitor.
“…It’s been a while since we’ve met face to face.”
“Has it?”
Isaac Adler sat in his lair, looking up at the woman standing before him. She was dressed neatly in a white dress shirt and a sharp necktie.
“””…………”””
Recognizing the female voice, Silver Blaze, Celestia Moran, and Princess Clay—currently in her cat form—all turned their gazes toward the entrance. However, they quickly looked away, losing interest almost instantly.
“I would like to meet with you more often…”
“I know you don’t mean that, Madam Caroline.”
“…Madam?”
Their lack of interest was understandable. The visitor was none other than Caroline Augustus Milverton, the woman Adler had recently broken and turned into his exclusive informant.
“I’m still in my twenties, Master. Such a remark is discourteous…”
As Adler’s subordinates shifted their intense gazes away from her, the tension in Caroline’s body dissipated. She began to speak more freely, but she was silenced by a cold command in the very next breath.
“Down.”
“Uh.”
-Shiver…
A sudden heat bloomed in her lower abdomen the moment she heard the command. Caroline collapsed, breaking out in a cold sweat as she looked up at him.
“Why would someone so much older than even my seasoned, mature professor act this way?”
“But, but…”
“Being twenty-nine means I’m still in my twenties, doesn’t it?”
Looking down at her with a frigid gaze, Adler let a hint of mockery color his voice.
“That isn’t the issue here.”
“…Then.”
“Do you still think I was being discourteous to you?”
With a downcast expression, Caroline quietly nodded. Observing her reaction, Adler gripped her chin, gently stroking her jawline as he whispered.
“To think a mere slave dares to believe her master is being discourteous…”
“………”
“And surely, you agreed to become my ideal slave that day, did you not?”
For a fleeting moment, a flash of humiliation and anger crossed Caroline’s face. She immediately looked away, unable to meet Adler’s eyes.
“…Oh. Was I perhaps mistaken about the terms of our agreement?”
“That, that’s…!”
“Or have you already forgotten? The only reason the British government and the various high-ranking nobles haven't ended your life is because you are my property.”
Adler pulled a familiar-looking contract from his coat. As he spoke, his tone grew increasingly cold, and Caroline’s face turned deathly pale. Her eyes trembled with a mixture of anxiety and raw fear.
“…Maybe I’ll just sell her to some pot-bellied nobles instead.”
“I'm sorry! I was wrong!”
Despite her miserable state, Adler continued to murmur indifferently. Desperate to please him, Caroline began to hastily rub her cheek against Adler’s boot.
“Please, I realize my mistake. I apologize for speaking out of turn as a mere slave, Master.”
“…Well then, you’ll have to excuse me for a moment.”
Staring down at the pleading woman, Adler began to press the tip of his boot into her lower abdomen.
“Hmm…”
“Ah.”
A mischievous expression played on his face as he tormented her, increasing the pressure. Caroline’s entire body began to shudder. She clenched her teeth, enduring the relentless teasing and the crushing humiliation.
“Go on then. Finish your report.”
“Yes… A few days ago, you asked… Aaah… to be informed of the findings regarding the Baskerville estate case.”
She did her best to suppress the moans escaping her lips, striving to prove her utility as a slave by reporting diligently.
“The suspect, Gloria Mortimer, has gone missing. Investigators believe she perished in the swamps while attempting to flee. However, I believe it is highly probable that she is alive and in hiding.”
“Hmm…”
“And the only survivor among the victims, Helen Baskerville, has moved her residence to August Academy. It appears an anonymous professor wrote her a letter of recommendation to enroll.”
“…So, you made a deal with her,” Adler murmured to himself, his expression momentarily blank. Soon, however, he shifted his gaze back to Caroline and asked in a low voice, “Are there any signs of the investigation taking a different direction?”
“The suspect is too obvious, and there’s no other evidence to go on, so…”
“Any unusual occurrences?”
“Yes. Not only has a werewolf appeared for the first time in centuries, but a significant number of hybrid vampires have been spotted in the nearby regions. There is a high probability that the Vatican will dispatch their knights to investigate…”
Having finished her report, she cast a sneaky glance upward to gauge Adler’s reaction.
“Well done.”
Amusement flashed in Adler’s eyes as he quietly stroked Caroline’s hair.
-Squeeze…
He gave her necktie a sharp tug. Caroline closed her eyes tightly, her body convulsing.
“As long as you keep working hard like this, your life won’t be in danger.”
His calm voice resonated in her ears.
“…Haaah.”
With gritted teeth and a look of agitation, Caroline exhaled roughly as he finally withdrew his foot. Her tense body finally found a moment to relax.
“Oh, and one more thing…”
But Adler’s sharp voice cut through her brief moment of relief.
“…Why do you keep lying about your age?”
“……!”
“The truth is, you aren’t twenty-nine. You turned thirty this year, Madam Caroline Augustus Milverton.”
As Adler mentioned the fact she had desperately tried to conceal, Caroline’s body stiffened more violently than it had all day.
“Do you even realize the age gap between us? You have been a legend in London’s noble circles for a decade, while I haven't even graduated from the academy yet.”
“Ah…”
“And yet, you keep inappropriately requesting private meetings and sending letters drenched in thick perfume. You even go so far as to volunteer for menial tasks here at the hideout.”
Adler looked her over, noting her subtly transparent blouse and the impeccable makeup that must have taken hours to apply.
“Miss Caroline.”
He leaned close to her ear and whispered.
“…It’s burdensome. Stop behaving in such a frivolous fashion.”
His words struck Caroline like a bolt of lightning.
“Look at me. If you understand, leave now.”
“………”
“Everyone, please see Miss Caroline out. The back alleys can be quite dangerous, after all.”
A paralyzing shock coursed through her, making her stagger. She caught glimpses of Adler’s loyal followers approaching her side.
“””……….”””
From the youngest, Moran, to the oldest, Princess Clay, all of Adler’s followers were around school age. And these young women, every single one of them, were looking at her with pure disdain as they escorted her toward the door.
-Creak…
Caroline Augustus Milverton—who until a few months ago was the undefeated queen of London’s high society, known for toying with young men as a pastime—found herself in a situation she couldn't even begin to comprehend.
…Just you wait, Adler.
Grinding her teeth in rage and humiliation, she exited the hideout, eyeing Adler with an unprecedented chill.
I’ll make you pay for treating me like this…
It was at this very moment that Caroline Augustus Milverton inadvertently stepped into the massive storm that was about to engulf all of London.
“…Hmm.”
Whether it was truly a coincidence or a machination orchestrated by Adler—whose eyes gleamed subtly as he watched her go—no one could say.
*
“…Phew.”
That night, like any other, the streets of London were shrouded in a mysterious fog.
“I never thought I would resort to something like this…”
A woman walked down the street, her body cloaked in a black robe, her breath hushed.
“…Adler.”
The cloaked woman was indeed Caroline Augustus Milverton. She had suffered the greatest insult of her life at Isaac Adler’s hands just hours prior.
“I just need to ambush him and destroy the contract. He took it out of his pocket earlier, so he must still have it on him…”
She had liquidated the slush funds intended for her escape abroad and used the money to hire mercenaries. Her objective: the kidnapping of Isaac Adler.
“Let’s see if he can still gloat with his hands and feet tied.”
It was an ironic reversal of the roles from the night Adler had broken into her mansion months ago.
“…….!”
Aware of the irony but burning with a flame of vengeance, she advanced. Her hired mercenaries followed close behind.
“Haha…”
In the distance, she spotted Isaac Adler. He was walking casually into a park, an easygoing smile on his lips.
A trap?
He appeared utterly vulnerable—completely unarmed and without a single guard in tow.
…So what?
Realizing she had mana users hired with the last of her funds backing her up, her expression hardened. She was about to step forward when…
-Bzzzzt…!
“Ah?”
“”……!?””
In that instant, a chilling sensation—so potent it made her limbs go numb—struck from all sides, enveloping her and her mercenaries.
*
“What… what is this…?”
The unease was too powerful to be dismissed as the eerie atmosphere of the park. Caroline surveyed her surroundings, her face turning ashen as she felt the murderous intent brimming in the air. It was so intense it made her skin crawl.
“………”
As she realized the source of the gazes fixed on her from every direction, terror filled her eyes and she began to back away.
“What on earth is this operation? Does this truly serve the interests of Bohemia?”
“…It is a royal command.”
In an alley directly behind her, unidentified agents focused their killing intent on her, their gazes barely concealed behind the insignia of the Bohemian royal family.
“………”
Vampires from the radical Red Mana League, disguised as the homeless, observed the park from the next block. They were acting under the command of their increasingly depressed master, who remained holed up in Romania.
“The monsters are gathering fast. We must put all of London on high alert n—”
—Leave it be.
“…Miss Mycrony?”
Atop a nearby building, private guards employed by a shadow figure of the British government were gathered, communicating via radio.
“…I can’t wait to be beaten down like a dog.”
Among those guards was the French Phantom Thief. She seemed oblivious to the gravity of the situation, smirking with a depraved expression as she watched Adler from afar.
“Princess, a walk at this hour…”
“It’s a perfect night for murder, don’t you think?”
“…You shouldn’t make such grim jokes.”
A bit further away, advancing openly with the Royal Knights of Britain as her escort, was the most notorious murderer in the country.
-Crunch, cruuunch…
Already hidden within the park, the sole masterpiece left by Dr. Frankenstein bit her nails while ogling Adler.
—Grr? Grrr…
—Adler…
—Hah, haaah…
Countless monsters, previously hidden across the British Isles, had gathered in London, drawn by an unknown pull. Every single one of them was now intently watching Caroline as she moved toward the park.
“…Is this… hell?”
It was the prelude to a monster showdown, with the coming Sunday as the deadline.