Chapter 151: The Crawling Human (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 151: The Crawling Human (2)
“Ah, goodbye…”
“…….”
The moment Adler spotted Watson standing behind Charlotte, he reflexively slammed the door shut while shouting a hasty farewell.
Clunk!
“… Ugh.”
However, before the latch could click, Watson lunged forward with superhuman speed, catching the door with her bare hands. Seeing her sudden, erratic movement, a look of pure panic crossed Adler’s face.
Swoosh—
In the next instant, Watson reached into her pocket, her expression as stiff as a board.
Thunk!
“… Eh?”
Lestrade, who was standing next to Adler, reacted instantly. She pulled him back and grabbed Watson’s hand to stop her. A chilling silence settled over the group.
“What are you doing, Inspector?” Watson asked, her voice dangerously low.
“I’m on escort duty.”
Watson’s brow furrowed in confusion. “I didn’t realize the Yard was in such dire straits that an Inspector has to personally escort a criminal.”
“… I’m sorry.”
Lestrade could only mutter the apology, doing her best to avoid Watson’s contemptuous gaze.
“But a contract is a contract…”
“What?”
“…A—A wife must protect her husband.”
Hearing that, the faint light remaining in Watson’s eyes died out completely.
“This fucki—”
“Calm down, Watson,” Charlotte interjected.
“These fucking bastards are driving me insane!” Watson finally exploded, screaming at the top of her lungs. Beads of sweat began to pour down Adler’s forehead.
“…Wh-What’s the problem here?”
A frightened voice echoed from the stairs behind the two women.
“Just the usual chaos of 221B Baker Street, Mrs. Hudson,” Adler called out weakly.
“S-Should I call the police?” Mrs. Hudson, who had been enjoying her afternoon tea, poked her head out with a worried, frail expression.
“…Ah, it should be fine since the Inspector is already here.” Spotting Lestrade next to Adler, the landlady relaxed slightly and retreated back to her tea.
““………””
Silence returned, heavier than before.
“Hey, listen.”
““……..?””
“So, what brings you two here?”
Adler and Lestrade fidgeted as if standing on pins and needles. They looked up in disbelief when Watson’s voice suddenly rang out—not with rage, but with a cheerful, upbeat tone that didn't match the daunting atmosphere at all.
“I, I… followed Isaac Adler here…”
“There’s… a new… mystery…”
“A mystery? Oh, you’ve come to help our Holmes, then!”
Just as the two were about to explain, Rachel Watson clapped her hands together, interrupting them with a broad, forced smirk.
“Holmes, what do you think?”
“…Watson.”
“Don’t you think it’d be more fun if the four of us went together instead of just the two of us? I’m already feeling my heart race in anticipation!”
“What do you think about having some brandy and just relaxing for today?” Charlotte asked, her voice soft and laced with concern.
“Eh? Holmes, what are you talking about?” Watson leaned toward her, eyes wide. “I’m perfectly fine right now. There’s no need to rest.”
She finished the sentence with a stern, unblinking stare.
“…If you say so.” Charlotte sighed, yielding to the pressure.
“Shall we go then, Mr. Adler? Miss Lestrade?”
Watson began descending the stairs with an unnaturally bright expression. Charlotte watched her back in silence, unable to stop herself from whispering.
“…Are you really okay?”
“Eh? What do you mean?”
“I mean, we’ll be working with Isaac Adler on this case, so…”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“You know why. Neville and Adler are—”
“Holmes.” Watson stopped halfway down the stairs and turned, her voice soothing yet firm. “My fiancé isn’t the jealous type who would fuss about me being with Adler.”
“Are you serious right now?”
“Why are you acting like this?” Watson’s brow furrowed, a flicker of genuine anger finally surfacing. “Isaac Adler—the scum of London known for playing and discarding women—and Neville St. Claire—the pure-hearted man who only has eyes for me—are completely different people, aren’t they?”
“……”
“Why do you keep talking like they’re the same person?”
With that, she snapped her head back around and marched toward the boarding house entrance.
“…Seriously, treating me like that just because you're in a bad mood… I’m offended.”
Silence fell over the hallway once more.
“Maybe we should just go back…” Adler murmured, shivering with a sense of primal dread.
“…Isaac Adler.”
Adler stiffened as Charlotte’s voice hissed into his ear.
“Don’t you have something to say to me…?”
“…Eek.”
*
Evening of that day.
“We’ve arrived, everyone…”
Charlotte and Watson sat in the front, with Gia Lestrade at Adler's side. Surrounded on all sides, Adler had endured their relentless, sinister glares for the entire carriage ride. The moment they reached their destination, he scrambled out of the carriage, trying to break the tension with a lighthearted tone.
“Well, the most intellectual university town in England welcomes us! Shall we head out?”
“……..”
“The view of Cambridge is quite pleasing. Haha…”
The three women merely stared at him with icy expressions from inside the carriage.
“…Actually, I find Oxford more familiar than Cambridge.”
“Familiar?”
“Yes, I once studied abroad th—”
Adler, who was babbling anything that came to mind to drown out his anxiety, suddenly clamped his hand over his mouth.
“…It was a place I dreamt of, I mean. But I ended up enrolling at August Academy instead.”
“An Englishman studying abroad at Oxford?” Charlotte asked, stepping out of the carriage with an unusual gleam in her eyes.
“You must have forgotten. I’m not an Englishman—I’m a devil. Haha, haha…”
Adler desperately tried to defend his slip of the tongue as Charlotte closed in.
“…Come to think of it, you once said your soul had black hair.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about~!”
“Could it be that one day, your soul just changed…?”
“W-Wow! Look! An eagle!!”
Miraculously spotting a bird flying through the dark, cloudy sky despite the near-zero visibility, Adler pointed frantically into the air. Charlotte merely narrowed her eyes.
“So… Miss Holmes, which university were you originally going to attend?” Adler asked, pivoting the conversation with desperate speed.
“Me?”
“I’m very curious about that.”
“…If it weren’t for you, I might be tinkering with a thesis right now in that ‘pleasing’ Cambridge you see over there.”
“Eh? Ah… Miss Holmes, just how old are you…?”
“I was granted early admission by the Dean of Cambridge. It’s all water under the bridge now, though, because I ended up submitting my application to August Academy because of you.”
“Ah, haha…”
Adler offered an awkward smile, then quietly turned away from her dark, pointed gaze, only to be met by the cold, piercing stares of the two women behind him.
‘I’m going to wither away at this rate,’ Adler thought miserably.
[I’ll say this again… you brought this on yourself.]
Adler quickly dismissed the system message and turned back to Charlotte. “So, where is the client? Is it, by any chance, a board with instructions written on it?”
“Eh? Miss Holmes?”
“It seems like it can be physically touched and removed from sight…” Charlotte muttered under her breath, ignoring him. “If that’s the case, if I just had Adler’s hand, there’s a chance the curse could be countered. If I have the chance later…”
“Hey.”
“…I’m listening.”
He waved his hands in front of her face to snap her out of her eerie trance. She pointed forward, her hand outstretched.
“Our destination is right there.”
“…It’s not too far. I thought we were going into the university.”
“The client for this case is not a university professor, but his son and assistant, Mr. Trevor Bennett. His mansion is right in front of us.”
Charlotte smiled thinly and added in a low voice, “Just so you know, the client is a man. Surprisingly, it’s the first time I’ve accepted a request from a man since I met you, Adler.”
“……..”
“Of course, the fact that I’ve been deliberately refusing all requests from women might have played a role.”
Her eyes gleamed ominously as she walked past him. “…It’s a shame you won’t be able to charm the client this time, Mr. Adler.”
“Oh, come on. It’s not like I’m crazy about women or anything…”
“““……..”””
Adler clicked his tongue, but the immediate, sharp glances from all three women forced him to shut his mouth and follow along with a sullen expression.
*
“Who… are you? Who are all of you?”
“““……….”””
Isaac Adler’s gloomy mood didn't last long.
“Why are you looking at me like that? I would appreciate it if you stated your business.”
When Charlotte Holmes knocked on the door with a triumphant look, a strikingly beautiful, intellectual woman with black hair answered.
“…What are you trying to achieve by coming here?”
The woman adjusted her glasses, her eyes cold as she scanned Holmes and her group.
“That, that…”
Charlotte, usually so composed, began to stutter, taken aback by the woman’s sharp and profound aura.
“Uh, Mother! Sorry!”
“…Are they your friends, Trevor?”
A blushing boy hurried to the doorway from inside the mansion.
“Yes, Mother, they’re my friends…”
“…I thought I told you not to bring friends home without warning.”
“We were supposed to meet outside! Ah, I’m not letting them in…”
“…Sigh.”
The woman sighed, and the boy, sweating profusely, hurried to make excuses.
“I’ve finished arranging the papers. I won’t drink, and I’ll be back before it gets too late…”
“…Don’t stay out too late. Come back early.”
“Uh, yeah…”
The woman looked down at her son with displeasure, eventually shook her head, and retreated back into the house.
“““……..”””
Silence returned to the doorstep.
“So, is that the person?” Charlotte finally broke the silence, her voice turning chilly as she addressed the client. “The professor who allegedly crawls around the house in a vulgar manner at night and was even bitten by a dog?”
“…Indeed.”
Adler’s eyes, which had been dull with exhaustion, suddenly began to sparkle with interest.