Chapter 234: The Professor's Sorrow
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 234: The Professor's Sorrow
Maximize the hostility between Charlotte Holmes and Professor Moriarty.
- Progress: 100%
All quests have been cleared.
Congratulations.
The following messages manifested before me the moment I threw myself into the waterfall.
Finally…
A year ago, the mere sight of that endless quest list would have made me sigh in despair, but now, at last, I’d managed to scrape through. Just barely.
And now, only one thing remained.
Would you like to use the Return Ticket?
[ YES / NO ]
Pressing this button would allow me to return to my original world while retaining every memory of this one.
How many times had I longed for this moment? How many hardships had I endured—half brought upon by my own choices, and half by sheer misfortune?
“……..”
Yet now, faced with the final decision, my hand froze. It refused to move.
It wasn’t simply guilt or hesitation holding me back, nor was it the hollow stares of the women watching me from the distance.
… I didn’t expect this.
Was it because I had pushed my already frail body to the limit by climbing that snow-covered hill?
My arm wouldn’t move properly. It seemed my body, driven to the absolute brink of death, had finally reached its breaking point.
[Excuse me? Aren’t you going to use the Return Ticket?]
[Mr. Adler?]
As I failed to reach out, the system began bombarding me with urgent prompts. Yet, I couldn’t even manage to part my lips to reply.
[In exactly 7 seconds, the rushing torrent will tear your body to pieces!]
[Quickly, use the Return Ticket! Please!]
– Tremble…
Spurred on by the system’s panicked warnings flashing in bold red, I summoned the last dregs of my strength to extend my hand.
– SSSHHHHH…!
“Ugh…”
But at that exact moment, the mighty torrent of the waterfall swallowed me whole.
[Hey!!]
As the impact flipped my body over and over, my consciousness began to fade.
“……….”
In that hazy state, I stared blankly at my outstretched fingertips, still reaching toward the system window.
– SHAAAAA…
Abruptly, as my entire body was enveloped in a bright flash of light, I allowed myself to relax, closing my eyes in serenity.
…Funny how I want to see them now. I didn’t think I’d miss them like this.
Ironically, the images flashing before my eyes were of the Professor, Charlotte, and all the connections I’d made over the past year, gathered together.
But…
Even that was fleeting. My consciousness abruptly cut off, and a deep, somber silence engulfed me.
.
.
.
.
.
– Swish…
Professor Moriarty, who had been sitting at the edge of the cliff for a long time staring into the abyss, finally rose to her feet. The blank gazes of the other women shifted to her simultaneously.
– Step, stumble…
Leaving them behind, Moriarty began her descent, staggering down the slope as if possessed.
“This… this can’t be how it ends.”
Cold sweat, uncharacteristic of her, trickled down her pale cheek.
“…It’s just another one of his theatrics. It must be.”
“”………””
“Or perhaps he pushed himself too far, thinking he could escape.”
In her mind, calculations were already nearing completion—estimating where Adler’s remains might have drifted after the fall.
After all, Adler was an immortal, a being who could not die. If she could quickly locate him and restore him, there would be no significant issue. Or so she told herself.
“…Th-this.”
“……..?”
Just as Professor Moriarty settled on her assessment and quickened her pace, she paused at the sound of Watson’s trembling voice.
“A… letter?”
Watson, her eyes bleary as if she weren’t fully conscious, held a letter she had found wedged between the rocks. Her entire body quivered as she lifted it.
“…Oh, no!”
Moments later, she screamed, tossing the letter away and bolting down toward the base of the waterfall.
“ADLEEEERRRR!!!”
Her belated, anguished cry echoed against the falls, causing everyone, including the Professor, to flinch.
– Swish…
In that charged moment, Professor Moriarty—her hands trembling in a way they never had before—picked up the discarded letter Adler had left behind.
To my dearest Professor.
>
Outmaneuvering the pursuit of the British police to perfect your Kingdom of Crime—I am certain you will accomplish this flawlessly, even without my involvement.
I have transferred all my assets into your name, and the transition of my trusted subordinates has already been finalized through this will.
When a devil perishes, they vanish completely from existence, so there is no need to wander in search of my corpse.
Instead, I’ve arranged for my final gift to be delivered to your office in advance, so please be content with that.
I’m sorry, and I truly loved you. My dear Professor.
>
• Your ever faithful assistant,
Isaac Adler.
The Professor read through the letter, which felt neither short nor long, with a slow, deliberate gaze. Then, much like Watson, she flung it to the ground and resumed her steps.
“Utter nonsense…”
This absurd letter—it had to be nothing more than Adler’s attempt to sever ties with her.
“…How dare he, without my permission.”
And yet, despite her words, a faint unease gnawed at her from the inside out.
“To think he dares to end things so flippantly…”
The reason for her growing dread was simple—Adler’s presence, his aura, which she could normally sense no matter where he was in the world, had been completely absent since the moment he jumped.
Of course, the Professor dismissed this as either a temporary disruption or the result of Adler’s body being so utterly obliterated that it could no longer maintain its form. With this thought, she hurried toward the base of the waterfall.
“Adler!! That’s enough; come out now!! This isn’t funny!!!”
“…Please! It’s getting dark already!”
Not just the Professor, but every woman present scoured the area, clawing at the rocks until their hands were raw and bleeding.
“Master… No… This can’t be…”
“……….”
Yet all they found were a few scraps of Adler’s clothing.
Even then, at first, none of them could bring themselves to believe in Adler’s death.
“Isaac…”
But as time passed—days, then months, and eventually a year—since the day the supernatural phenomena that had plagued the world mysteriously ceased, and even Watson’s memoirs were published…
“Where on earth… could he have gone…?”
Adler never reappeared.
.
.
.
.
.
A few more weeks passed after the publication of Watson’s memoirs.
“………”
Sitting in her study, her face void of its usual confidence and composure, replaced instead by an utterly lifeless expression, the Professor quietly turned her gaze to the side.
– Swish…
Her hand slowly rose, only to falter and drop back down, trembling faintly.
Her gaze rested on the gift box Adler had delivered to her office a year ago—his "farewell present."
At first, she had refrained from opening it, intending to tease him about it upon his eventual return.
However, now, after taking a year-long leave to search every corner of the world and failing to find him, the unopened box had taken on a different significance.
The implication—that opening the box might confirm Adler was truly gone—was an irrational thought, unbecoming of her logical mind.
Yet, to the Professor, who had been worn down by a year of wandering, rationality no longer mattered.
– Thud…
Lost in thought, her hand reached out and picked up a box of sugar cubes from the desk. She took one of the neatly cut cubes and placed it in her mouth.
“…Ugh.”
The sugar, once one of the few pleasures left in her life, tasted unbearably bitter. So bitter, in fact, that she couldn’t bring herself to swallow it.
“Urgh…”
Gagging, she spat the sugar out.
“……..”
Wondering if the sugar had gone bad, she tried another piece, and then another, but they all tasted the same.
“…Are you watching this?”
Realizing the truth, Moriarty lowered her head, pulling something from her inner pocket and pressing it to her face.
“Even the sugar that was once so sweet… is unbearably bitter without you.”
She looked pitiful and lonely, like a fledgling searching for its mother. In her trembling hands was—
“Killing people has become tedious. Consulting for crimes holds no appeal anymore, either.”
—one of the few belongings Adler had left behind: a piece of his clothing.
“I can no longer find interest in anything… unless it’s you.”
Though it had been washed by the waterfall and dulled by the passage of a year, leaving no trace of his scent, she still clung to it.
“So then…..”
Clutching it tightly to her chest, Professor Moriarty murmured in a trembling voice.
– Creak…
“……..!”
At that very moment, the sound of the study door opening echoed behind her.
.
.
.
.
.
“Ah…”
Professor Moriarty weakly turned her head, her expression twisting as she spotted the intruder who had entered her study with a gun in hand.
“……..”
Charlotte Holmes stood there. Her appearance was every bit as broken and hollow as Moriarty’s own. Her drained face was aimed at the back of the Professor’s head with trembling resolve.
“Holmes…”
Moriarty took in the numerous needle marks covering Charlotte’s neck and arms, as well as the deep shadows beneath her eyes.
It was clear that, similar to the Inspector or Watson, Charlotte had failed to carry Adler’s child.
Of course, it was to be expected. For a human to conceive from the seed of a devil like Adler, the chance of success was infinitesimally slim.
“……..”
Though Moriarty recognized this, she didn’t offer her usual barbed provocations or composed retorts. Instead, the air in the study was suffused with an arid, purposeless tension. The Professor’s utter lack of will to resist filled the room with a suffocating sense of despair.
– Rattle…
Breaking the silence, Moriarty suddenly reached for her desk drawer. Charlotte’s finger instinctively tightened on the trigger, ready to fire.
“”………””
Nonetheless, when Moriarty wordlessly pulled out a long, slender object, Charlotte’s cold, emotionless eyes faltered for the briefest of moments.
“That’s…”
Reflected in her dimmed golden irises was—
“Surely not…”
—a newly commercialized pregnancy test, refined and powered by mana-infused gemstones.
“I had intended to try this in front of Adler once we found him… but I couldn’t wait any longer.”
Charlotte stared blankly at the two vivid lines displayed on the test, her mind frozen in disbelief.
“…Using what I preserved of Adler’s essence within me, it succeeded not long ago.”
Charlotte's finger, hovering over the trigger, began to tremble violently.
“I’m two weeks along.”
At Moriarty’s confirmation, the spasms in Charlotte’s hand gradually subsided.
– Swish…
After what seemed like an eternity, the barrel of Charlotte’s gun, which had been aimed at the back of Moriarty’s head, lowered feebly.
“……..”
Standing there with her head hung low and lifeless eyes, Charlotte remained silent for a long while.
– Creak…
Finally, she grabbed the piece of Adler’s clothing that had been lying on the desk, clutching it tightly to her chest as she trudged out of the study.
“…See you in ten months.”
“………”
With that single parting remark, Charlotte left, and the long, oppressive silence reclaimed the Professor’s study once more.