Chapter 253: Family Gathering (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 253: Family Gathering (2)
“…….”
Entering Auguste Academy alongside Charlotte, Moran, and Inspector Lestrade, Adler found himself utterly speechless at the scene before him.
“This is…”
“…Utterly disastrous.”
The academy’s halls were littered with bodies. Students, staff, and even the guards lay scattered about, foam frothing at their mouths.
“…They’re still alive.”
“But every single one of them is unconscious.”
Lestrade and Moran spoke almost simultaneously, examining the fallen with furrowed brows.
“For reference, Auguste Academy—though weakened—remains Europe’s premier institution for magical education.”
“The Professor herself chose to hide herself here, not to conquer it.”
Their explanation cast a heavy shadow over Adler’s expression.
“For someone to wreak this kind of havoc…”
“…It could only mean that, at the very least, they’re on par with the Professor.”
His trembling voice echoed through the unnaturally silent halls of the academy.
“…..Let’s go.”
“I-it might still be a better choice to flee while we can.”
Yet, as Adler took a step forward, Moran grabbed his arm. Her voice was urgent as she tried to dissuade him.
“Even if we can’t win head-on, we can still run. I can assure you of that, at the very least.”
“………”
“So, please… before it’s too late…”
However, Adler turned his head slightly, his gaze meeting Moran’s with calm, unwavering resolve.
“Moran.”
“…Yes.”
“This is my choice.”
Hearing his answer, Moran bit her lip in silence, her hesitation written all over her face.
“And I’m not going to force that choice on you. If you don’t want to, you can still leave this place…”
“…Haaah, I’ll stay with you.”
Moran interrupted him, tightening her grip on his arm as she firmly corrected herself.
“My choice is you, Master. It’s always you.”
“The same goes for me.”
“…And for me too.”
Lestrade and Charlotte, standing behind them, quietly echoed her sentiment, their voices resolute.
“Let’s just stick to the plan… stick… to the plan.”
Watching the three of them with a mixture of gratitude and worry, Adler let out a deep sigh before resuming his steps.
“…I’ll be counting on you ladies.”
He was heading toward a final confrontation he lacked the courage for, yet one he knew he could not avoid.
*
Just a few minutes later, outside Professor Moriarty’s office.
“…Should we launch a surprise attack?”
“No, it would be pointless.”
“It’s obvious they’ve already sensed our presence by now, anyway.”
Inspector Lestrade, her face tense with worry, asked in a low voice, only for Charlotte and Moran to reply with icy gazes.
“Haah, never thought I’d see the day where I’d be moving for her sake.”
“”………””
“Alright then… I’ll count to three.”
Muttering with a look of sheer disbelief, Inspector Lestrade’s expression hardened as she began to count.
“One, two…”
As her count began, an atmosphere of intense tension settled over the group, heavier than ever before.
“…Three!!!”
The moment the count ended, the three women burst through the door at once.
“Ugh?”
“What the—?”
But to their surprise, the door they’d been so ready to break down had already disappeared without a trace.
Thud, crash…!
The result? Everyone except Charlotte, who had sensed something fishy at the last second, ended up tumbling onto the office floor in an undignified heap.
“”……….””
A brief, awkward silence followed.
Clap, clap, clap…
Breaking that silence, an odd, rhythmic clapping sound suddenly echoed through the room.
“Splendid, absolutely splendid…”
“You…”
“Honestly, you’ve exceeded my expectations. Not only did you survive that place, but you even managed to find your way to me.”
The voice, strange yet somehow familiar, made Charlotte break out into a cold sweat.
“No wonder my daughter considered you such a formidable adversary.”
Her eyes widened as she finally caught sight of the shadowy figure obscured by the smoke filling the room.
“………”
And there, kneeling at the figure’s feet, bound in grey chains that pulsed with sinister energy, was none other than Professor Jane Moriarty herself.
“Pl-please… spare me…”
Beside her, similarly bound and looking on the verge of tears, was Lovecraft, adding an almost absurd touch to the scene.
“Y-you…”
Charlotte stammered, her voice a mix of hostility and disbelief as her gaze met the figure’s sharp grey eyes.
“Allow me to formally introduce myself.”
A calm, confident voice reached her ears as the grey mist in the room began to dissipate, revealing the figure hidden within.
“I am James Moriarty.”
Immediately, Charlotte Holmes prepared herself for battle, her energy surging to its peak in an instant.
“…Welcome to my former kingdom.”
“What?”
But as her eyes took in the scene before her, she froze, uncharacteristically dumbstruck.
What am I even looking at right now?
The sharp, reptilian grey eyes.
A figure who, despite his advanced age, exuded an air of dignity and charisma—though there was something chillingly unsettling about his appearance.
And that expression, a leisurely smile plastered across his face, was eerily reminiscent of someone else.
This old man, who seemed like a version of Professor Jane Moriarty aged with wisdom and experience—an image Charlotte desperately wanted to dismiss as impossible—was now studying her with a look of genuine curiosity.
Chomp…!
Womp…!
Most astonishingly, he was seated at the Professor’s desk, lovingly stroking her children as they gnawed furiously at his hand with small, determined bites.
“Oh my, aren’t they just precious?”
“…..???”
“No, wait, that was a slip of the tongue. Oh my, aren’t they naughty and violent?”
The cold, unnervingly kind voice that came from the old man’s lips made Charlotte’s mind go completely blank.
*
As silence hung over the office…
“Take your hands off the children… IMMEDIATELY!!!”
“…Hmm.”
Professor Moriarty, bound in grey chains, roared with a murderous aura, her voice trembling with fury. The old man, who had introduced himself as James Moriarty, turned his gaze to her with a look of amused disdain.
“My dear daughter, if you had gotten married, you should have let me know sooner.”
“SHUT UP!!!”
“Ah, right, given my… circumstances, I suppose proper communication wasn’t possible. Still, I must say I feel rather hurt.”
Speaking in an infuriatingly calm tone, the old man continued.
“As far as I recall, you flatly refused the duty of propagating our species, didn’t you?”
“Grrrr…”
“And that adorable defiance of yours, well, wasn’t that the reason for all the trouble you caused?”
At his words, the Professor, growling like an enraged dragon, glared at him with blazing eyes and spat her response.
“Yes… Not just you, but I wiped out every last dragon left in the world.”
“Hmm. Well, that’s proper. We are, after all, the mightiest among dragons…”
“But how!!! How the hell are YOU alive and here?!!!”
“…Calm yourself, child.”
As she began to lose herself to fury once more, the old man raised a finger and wagged it in mock disappointment.
“Mmph…”
“Ah, so temperament is hereditary after all…”
Muttering to himself as the Professor writhed violently, her murderous intent still radiating despite her voice being forcibly silenced, the old man eventually smiled in satisfaction and spoke again.
“That’s precisely what puzzles me, though. Who could possibly be the one who conquered a child like you?”
“……..”
The Professor froze for a moment, her expression blank, her body limp.
“Surely it must’ve been a dragon even stronger than you?”
“……..”
“Lying to me won’t work, you know, my dear. Claiming genocide, yet somehow having children? Impossible.”
With a confident smirk, the old man annoyingly bobbed his head from side to side, pressing her further.
“Or are you telling me you simply used a male for breeding purposes?”
“……..”
“Well, a few thousand years ago, perhaps that would have been frowned upon, but it doesn’t matter now. I’m just pleased that you’ve finally decided to set aside your stubbornness and lead the way in restoring our kind…”
At his words, the Professor’s expression grew far darker than before.
“…That being said.”
In stark contrast, the old man’s face brightened considerably as he suddenly glanced over her and Charlotte’s group, fixing his gaze on the entrance to the room. His voice dropped to a murmur.
“I must at least see the face of the one who changed my daughter so profoundly.”
Hearing this, the Professor clenched her teeth and lowered her head, keeping her silence.
“Don’t you agree? Whoever you are.”
Raising his voice abruptly, the old man called out to someone unseen.
“Stop hiding and come out already.”
“……..?”
“I’ll be gracious enough not to harm you, I promise.”
At his words, Professor Moriarty briefly wore an expression of confusion.
Swoosh…
Moments later, a blonde-haired boy cautiously peeked his head around the door, his face pale and tense.
“……..Huh?”
For the first time in her life, the Professor’s expression turned utterly stupid, her face frozen in a look of sheer disbelief.
“A… Aaa, Aaa…”
Meanwhile, amid this bizarre scene, the boy, drenched in cold sweat and trembling visibly, slowly opened his mouth.
“…H-hello there.”
It was none other than Isaac Adler.
*
“So, which noble lineage do you hail from?”
Cold sweat trickled down my entire body. My stomach churned as if it were being twisted into knots, and my lungs burned so fiercely I thought they might explode at any moment.
“Red Dragon? Blue Dragon? No… judging by your appearance, perhaps a Golden Dragon?”
The James Moriarty before me was beyond anything I could have imagined.
He exuded no discernible killing intent, yet just being near him made it several times harder to breathe than when the Professor unleashed her full murderous aura.
“I thought they were wiped out some 1,200 years ago due to their insatiable greed, but it seems a descendant has somehow survived?”
This man—who likely stood at the core of the world’s supernatural aberrations—was relentlessly questioning me.
“Why are you not answering?”
And the only response I could offer him…
“Relax, and speak up.”
…Was this.
“W-well, you see… that is…”
I hesitated, fidgeting with my fingers nervously, before mumbling in a low, trembling voice.
“…I’m human.”
A heavy silence descended over the office.
“…What?”
“Kyaa?”
“Kyaah?”
The sight of the most powerful being capable of tearing me apart on a whim and the two presumed-to-be-my-children tilting their heads in unison was, in its own way, quite surreal.
“What did you just say?”
The die was cast.