Chapter 196: The Five Orange Pips (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 196: The Five Orange Pips (2)
Whoosh—!
“Argh…”
A pillar of fire soared, towering toward the heavens and illuminating the London evening with a hellish glow.
Within that terrifying inferno—a blaze that would have inflicted fatal wounds on any ordinary creature—a low, pained moan began to echo.
“Ugh… ah…”
Surprisingly, the faint silhouette of a human began to flicker amidst the flames.
Thud.
The owner of that silhouette, who had been tightly embracing someone, staggered out of the fire. They soon lost their balance and collapsed forward.
“A-Adler…”
A faint voice emerged from the figure's embrace.
“Wh-Why did you…?”
“Cough, hack.”
“Why did you wrap your arms around me…?”
Inspector Lestrade, trembling in the arms of the blond boy who had thrown himself into the line of fire to save her, whispered in a shaking voice.
“You said… you lost your memory…”
Despite the devastating explosion, her injuries were limited to superficial burns on her face, neck, and limbs.
“… Well.”
This was only possible because Isaac Adler had unfurled his devil wings—a secret he had never before revealed—to shield Lestrade from the blast's destructive force and searing heat.
“Because you were in danger… D-Did I suddenly remember b-b-because of that?”
“A-Aah…”
However, because of his sacrifice, Adler’s condition was worse than it had ever been.
“No…!”
His body was mangled; bones and organs had been displaced by the impact of the blast, and where his flesh wasn't torn, it was perforated by shrapnel. It was easier to find the few unscathed patches of skin than the places that hadn't been scorched.
Moreover, the wings he had revealed were now completely broken, burnt to a crisp and smoldering, while his usually lively eyes were unfocused and trembling.
Quite literally, he had been reduced to a state barely recognizable due to his fatal wounds.
“Why… why did you go to such lengths to save me…?”
“…..?”
“… Y-You should have stuck to the contract! You should have left me! We don’t even love each other!”
Despite her usual resilience, Gia Lestrade began to shake violently. The realization that she had been protected instead of being the protector—and that her savior was now dying before her eyes—broke her. Tears welled up as she began to scream hysterically.
“You… You said we were a happily married couple…”
“Tha-That…!”
“That aside… we have quite a serious matter on our hands…”
Adler looked at her with a weak smile. His expression shifted to one of concern as he reached out a trembling hand to touch Lestrade’s face.
“It looks like a scar will form on your pretty face.”
“……!”
“If that really happens… the men of London will truly try to kill me…”
Adler gently caressed the burn mark on her cheek, offering a quiet smile to the inspector, who could only stare at him blankly.
“Uh, uggh…”
Tears finally spilled over.
“Ugh… hhh…”
For a girl who had never cried no matter how dire the circumstances, the dam finally broke. Tears streamed down her face for the first time in her life.
“… Huh.”
But what truly shocked Adler as the light slowly faded from his eyes was not just her grief.
“This is troubling…”
Tssssss…
Gia Lestrade’s trademark eyes, once as white and pristine as an unblemished snowy field, began to change.
They were taking on the exact color of his hair.
Ssssss…
However, he could not witness the full transformation. His eyelids grew heavy and slowly closed.
“Inspector… you were not supposed to like me…”
“… Are you a fool?”
Lestrade, looking at him through a veil of tears, spoke with a breaking voice.
“I really hate you… Isaac Adler.”
“… Ha ha.”
“I hate you more than anything in the world…”
Though it might have been a true statement just a few months ago, it carried no weight now as she buried her head in Adler’s chest and sobbed.
Whooooosh…
After some time had passed…
“……..”
Unable to withstand the agonizing pain tearing his body apart from the inside out, Adler lost consciousness. Lestrade, still cradling him, slowly lifted her head.
“Who… is it?”
She began to growl, her gaze locking onto each silhouette that slowly emerged from the shadows.
“Who did this… exactly who the bloody hell was it!!?”
“”………””
“Better start talking before I tear everything apart.”
Usually reserved and professional, the chilling aura she now emitted made everyone present flinch. No answer came.
“Is it you?”
Amidst the obscured figures, Lestrade’s eyes narrowed on the shortest person. She hurled the question in a low, predatory growl.
“You couldn’t snipe me for days, so you resorted to this?”
“Master… Master… Master… Master…..”
However, the only response was the broken, repetitive whimpering of Moran, who had lost all sense of reality upon seeing Adler’s condition.
“Or is it you?”
Lestrade’s cold gaze shifted to the figure emitting the darkest energy.
“You always wanted to kill Adler, didn’t you?”
“…….”
“So, did you finally do it?”
A chilling voice drifted through the smoke.
“I never wanted to kill Adler in such a trivial way… A bomb? That’s not my style…”
“……..”
“At the very least, I wanted to butcher that delicate body with my own hands…”
As Britain’s most notorious serial killer muttered those words, the murderous intent of everyone present instantly targeted her.
“… Right, there was a similar incident before.”
Undeterred, Jill the Ripper began to mutter to herself, her eyes gleaming with a strange light.
“The day I first saw that detective whelp when I sneaked into his house… Something similar happened then, too…”
“…….?”
“… It was the first time someone had beaten me to the act, and it was quite displeasing.”
Ignoring the suspicion and killing intent pouring in from all sides, she began to growl in a tone far more feral than Lestrade’s.
“But you lot… I really don’t like your attitude…”
Rustle…
“I’ll just slaughter everyone here.”
Swish…
Far in the distance, amidst the aftermath of the fire that was slowly consuming the surrounding brush, a burning pile stirred. A figure in a white hood darted out, attempting to vanish into the opposite thicket.
“”……….””
Silence fell.
In that silence, the eyes of the women who had witnessed the movement turned as cold as arctic ice.
Thud, thud…
Excluding Lestrade, who refused to let go of Adler, they all began walking toward the bushes in unison.
Although Professor Moriarty and Charlotte were absent, the forces gathered here were capable of toppling an entire military division. As they advanced with eerie, hollow expressions, the bushes ahead began to quiver violently.
Swoosh…
A moment later, the grass hiding the intruder was violently swept aside.
“”…….””
As soon as the area was cleared, their expressions darkened.
“… He’s dead.”
“He bit the pill.”
The mysterious figure, wearing a white conical hood, lay there as a cooling corpse, foaming at the mouth.
“… I don’t know what coward is behind this.”
Watching the absurd scene, Jill the Ripper’s shadow muttered in a voice that promised death.
“But let’s see if they remain so brazen when I move the entire royal court against them.”
As her shadow dispersed into the air, the other women also began to scatter, each departing with their own grim objectives.
This was the prologue to the assassination attempt on Isaac Adler—an event later recorded in Watson’s memoirs as The Five Orange Pips, a case that would bring terrifying repercussions across the entire nation.
*
The news of the explosion at Gia Lestrade and Isaac Adler’s honeymoon residence spread across Britain within a single day.
Grind, Creak…
Already aware of the situation through her network of informants, the most renowned detective in London set aside even her prenatal care. She ground her teeth as she rifled through a stack of documents.
“Stop everything you’re doing. Right now.”
Fizz, sizzle…
“… New orders.”
Professor Jane Moriarty, who had temporarily retreated to her lair to study the complexities of interspecies pregnancy, received the news belatedly. The spark in her eyes died, replaced by a cold void as she issued new commands to her minions across the country.
“Look at this… these bastards have finally crossed the line.”
“”……..?””
Early that morning at the Diogenes Club, Mycrony Holmes broke the sacred rule of silence for the first time since the club’s founding. Her voice was thick with murderous intent.
“… Gather every demihuman active in the back alleys by nightfall.”
Silver Blaze, her eyes utterly dead, abandoned her role as a mere spokesperson for the demihumans. For the first time, she took to the front lines herself.
“… Find them.”
“… Find them all, please.”
The vampire leaders of both London and Romania, who had been secretly consolidating their power, emerged from hiding and mobilized every one of their subordinates.
“… This isn’t the time for thievery, children.”
“”…….?””
Even a certain phantom thief in France sent a bombshell announcement to her global secret organization.
“… Cancel all schedules for this week.”
“What?”
“I’m going to Britain.”
“…..???”
To make matters worse, a certain Empress, tossing aside state affairs, secretly decided to head for British shores upon hearing the news.
“… Oh.”
Thus began a global fervor.
“How did it turn into such a disaster…?”
At the very center of the storm, the man responsible for it all woke up in a cold sweat in a hospital room that had become far too familiar.
“The Five Orange Pips incident…”
[Warning!]
Erosion Rate — 70% → 80%
“A case that was supposed to remain unsolved…”
Isaac Adler, having inadvertently set the entire world in motion on his behalf, looked increasingly distressed.