Chapter 183: The Korean Interpreter (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 183: The Korean Interpreter (7)
“Do you undelstand what I am saying, yes?”
“First of all, why don’t you just stop using that weird speech style already? You aren’t fooling anyone.”
“… Uh, okay.”¹
The man, who had been using broken English with a thick accent and animated gestures to insist he was just an ordinary interpreter, abruptly stopped. The icy chill in Charlotte’s voice made him shiver, warning him to choose his next words very carefully.
“I mean…”
“I’m not joking around. What the hell are you trying to accomplish?”
Charlotte muttered, her tone still freezing, as she directed an intense glare toward Adler.
“Your disguise skills are good enough to fool even me. Now you expect me to be deceived by this pathetic act? Do you take me for a fool?”
“……..”
“Look here, Adler. Are you testing my patience?”
“… N-No, I’m not.”
As she leaned forward and snapped at him, the man began sweating profusely. He fidgeted with his fingers and muttered under his breath.
“I’m really not Adler…”
Immediately, Charlotte’s eyes narrowed dangerously as she scrutinized him from head to toe.
“… Or perhaps, you wish to assign me a task that cannot be entrusted to Adler?”
“Cough, cough…!”
As she asked with a venomous undertone, Adler, who had been gauging her expression, gave a slight nod after a dry cough.
“… The sun is shining so brightly today.”
“It’s evening.”
Adler, trying to act nonchalant as he looked outside, was promptly silenced by Watson’s correction. Before he knew it, the doctor had silently approached his side.
Swoosh—
“Our client must be having trouble seeing, Holmes…”
Watson sat right next to Adler, crossing her legs as she pulled the pistol from her holster.
“Maybe drilling a hole in his eye sockets would help his vision?”
Click—
As the loaded pistol was rested against the desk, Adler shivered, finally taking notice of the elite doctor sitting beside him.
“Please, don’t do this…”
“… So, what task are you trying to assign?”
Charlotte sighed deeply at his miserable appearance. Letting out another small breath, she opened her mouth to speak.
“Let’s hear it.”
“……!”
Adler’s eyes widened, and a bright smile tugged the corners of his lips into a joyful curl.
“So, you see, regarding the case I was involved in…”
Soon, his head started bobbing from side to side as a vivid eyewitness account began spilling from his lips.
“… Keep your head still.”
However, before his story could even truly begin, Charlotte’s sharp advice cut him off, making him freeze.
“That’s the Professor’s habit, isn’t it?”
“…….”
“Have you ended up just like her?”
“No, no! It’s not like that…!”
Adler, momentarily frozen, quickly shook his head and stammered out an excuse.
“It’s just because I’m happy…”
Trailing off, he started scratching his head awkwardly.
“Please pretend you didn’t hear that last part.”
“”……….””
“… Shall I start explaining again?”
Caught between the dark glares of Charlotte and Watson, Adler felt the chilling atmosphere intensify. He began his testimony with a trembling note in his voice.
*
“… So far, that’s what I’ve experienced.”
“Hmm.”
“How does it sound? Roughly, what do you think…”
After a long explanation of his experiences, Adler finished speaking and cautiously asked Charlotte for her reaction.
“It’s just a common kidnapping case.”
“… Is it?”
“Honestly, I personally find it quite uninteresting.”
Adler began fidgeting restlessly upon hearing her response.
“Wh-Why might that be…?”
“After all, everything needed to solve the case is already there, isn’t it?”
Charlotte spoke in a listless voice while gazing directly into his trembling eyes.
“Let’s set aside the mastermind, the victim’s information, and the cause of the incident for now.”
“But…”
“The most important thing—the location where the victim is being held—is clearly known, isn’t it?”
Adler tilted his head slightly at the question.
“Why do you think that?”
“You said you’ve been to that place. Therefore, you obviously know the location.”
“Ah.”
“It’s not even funny anymore…”
Charlotte almost lost her patience at his careless response, but she quickly composed herself and muttered in a low voice.
“You should have gone to the police with this. The facts are clear, so why on earth did you come to a consulting investigator?”
“Um…”
“Do you think I’m a chess piece you can move at your whim?”
Adler bowed his head as if ashamed by her heated questioning.
“… Haaa.”
Charlotte, frowning at his dejected look, finally sighed and spoke.
“If you really want to entrust me with this utterly trivial case, I have one condition.”
“What is it?”
Adler immediately looked up, and Charlotte directed an intense gaze toward his blackened left eye.
“… A date.”
“What?”
Eventually, her voice, barely audible, burst out.
“Promise me that this weekend… this weekend, just the two of us, without anyone else, w-we will go on a date.”
“……..”
“Then… I might consider taking the case.”
Charlotte started twirling a pen in her hand, fiddling with it to distract herself from her nerves.
“Uh, um…”
“Well, if you don’t want to…”
Seeing Adler hesitate, she added in a blunt tone.
“No, no… I’ll go on the date…”
“Really?”
“Yes, of course.”
“… How can I trust you?”
As Adler whispered in a low voice, Charlotte quietly snorted and turned her gaze away.
“……..”
However, beneath the desk, her legs were swinging back and forth in joy, completely contrary to her indifferent expression.
“Pfft…”
“What’s so funny?”
“Oh, it’s just that…”
Adler could not hold back a chuckle. However, Charlotte’s frigid words brought him back to his senses.
“I’ll go on the date, but this case isn’t as trivial as Miss Holmes deems it to be.”
“Why?”
He whispered to Charlotte, who could only offer a puzzled look.
“This case might seem trivial at first glance… but it’s actually a complex issue involving international relations.”
“Oh, such cases are routine for me.”
At that, Charlotte chuckled before retorting with a smirk.
“Just to give you an idea, I’ve assisted over five heads of state directly. If you widen the scope to include national officials, you couldn’t count them on both hands. And you dare to suggest that a mere international incident is a challenge for me?”
“… Of course, that’s not all.”
Adler interrupted her, scratching his head as he added,
“The moment Miss Holmes decides to intervene in this case, someone smarter than Miss Holmes will forcefully get involved as well.”
“… It would do you good to take back that remark.”
As soon as he finished, Charlotte glared menacingly at Adler with an expression far more chilling than anything he had ever seen.
“Why?”
“I can overlook most insults that come out of your mouth. But if you dare suggest that Professor Moriarty is smarter than me…”
“You should listen until the end, Miss Holmes.”
Adler interjected with a gentle smile.
“You can’t possibly know the ranking of the smartest women in London I have in my mind, can you?”
“There is no woman smarter than me in London.”
“Really?”
Teasing Charlotte with a playful expression, Adler quickly continued as he sensed the killing intent emanating from her.
“Even if we consider Professor Moriarty an exception, you must acknowledge that there are others above you.”
“There can’t be…”
Charlotte, frowning at Adler, started muttering under her breath. However, her words soon trailed off.
“… Have you remembered?”
“Could it be…”
Just as she was about to ask him a question, uncertainty filling her eyes—
Knock, knock, knock—
“”……..?””
Suddenly, the sound of knocking echoed from the door.
“Who is it? Didn’t I put up a sign saying we’re not taking any more clients today?”
“… Mrs. Hudson should be out grocery shopping at this time.”
Alerted by the recent attacks from the Professor, Watson and Charlotte shifted their sharp gazes toward the door as they rose from their seats.
“Oh, it seems she has already arrived.”
“What?”
Just then, as Adler sighed to himself—
Click!
Surprisingly, the locked doorknob started turning.
“……..”
A chilling silence descended upon the room.
Creeeak—
As the door slowly opened, the expressions of Watson and Charlotte—who had been reaching for a pistol and a hunting whip, respectively—tensed simultaneously.
“Hello~”
“Ah.”
“…….”
The moment they saw the face peeking through the slightly opened door, they were momentarily stunned.
“Everyone’s gathered here, huh~?”
With a lethargic smile, the person silently stepping into the room was…
“Adler, could the person you mentioned be…”
“……”
“… My sister?”
It was none other than Mycrony Holmes herself.
“Well, that being said~”
As Adler sweated nervously at the arrival of the other Holmes sibling, Mycrony Holmes was the first to speak, gazing intensely at him.
“Our dear Mr. Adler does not seem to know what a promise is~”
Her eyes, ever so slightly parted, gazed at him with a chill so intense he felt as if he had been plunged into the depths of the Arctic Sea.
“… Is it because he’s a devil who interprets contracts as he pleases?”
“Mm, hmm.”
In such a spine-chilling situation, Adler quietly cleared his throat and turned his gaze toward Charlotte.
“T-Ta-da~!”
He murmured in a low voice with a timid smile.
“Behold! T-The v-v-v-variable… I have prepared for Miss Holmes in this case!”
After that, silence drenched the room in its chilling embrace for a long, long while.
*
Footnotes