Chapter 75: Summons
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 75: Summons
“It’s unfair.”
In the heavy silence, a sullen Adler began to speak, stealing glances at the sharp gazes still fixed upon him.
“I didn’t intend for things to turn out like this.”
“So, are you saying everything up until now has gone according to your intentions?”
“No, that’s not it…”
“In that case, Mr. Adler, just how much of this was actually planned?”
“Um, well…”
Pinned down by the fierce glares of both Holmes and the Professor, Adler began to stutter under the weight of their relentless questioning.
“Speak honestly. Did you try to seduce that woman again to get your way?”
“Even for a thief, she wouldn’t have attacked you so brutally without reason. Just what on earth did you two do?”
As both the Professor and Holmes pressed him simultaneously, cold sweat began to pour down his body.
“…He hit her!”
Suddenly, a young voice rang out from behind them.
“”………?””
“I—I told you not to leave the room…” Adler hissed.
“Brother Adler hit the suspicious person!”
At the young girl’s sudden intrusion, everyone—including a startled Lestrade—turned their attention toward her.
“…Can you explain why he did that?”
“The suspicious person was about to attack Brother Adler! He was just resisting and hitting back!”
Despite the suffocating atmosphere, the young girl continued her story with a confident voice.
“Brother Adler did nothing wrong! It’s all that suspicious person’s fault!”
“…See? What did I tell you?”
Adler’s face, previously drenched in sweat, brightened at her sincere testimony.
“But sis, you were sleeping until big sis arrived—”
Stomp!
“Ouch!”
While smiling bashfully and waving at Adler, the girl stomped hard on the foot of the third sibling, who had been muttering beside her.
“I’m just a victim here,” Adler insisted.
“Um…”
“And for the record, I hate that thief.”
Thanks to Adler’s desperate defense, no one heard the small groan escaping the young boy’s mouth.
“So, there are actually women you dislike?”
“I’m only human, Professor. It’s natural for me to have people I dislike, just as it’s natural to have people I like.”
“But there must be a specific reason you dislike that woman, right?”
The Professor, staring intently at Adler, slowly tilted her head and threw out the question.
“Well, Miss Holmes…”
He started to answer as if hating her was the only logical conclusion, but he abruptly cut himself off.
“…Cough, cough.”
If he were to say something like, 'Among Holmes’s admirers, no one likes a blockhead character like her,' right here and now…
“What about Miss Holmes, Adler?”
Adler could vividly imagine the consequences. Professor Jane Moriarty had already sensed something; her expression was cold as she waited for his answer. He knew exactly what she would do if those thoughts left his mind.
“That person tried to frighten me by impersonating Miss Holmes,” Adler improvised, quickly pivoting his words to suit the Professor. “She was planning to knock me out and drag me to her bedroom.”
As he spoke, he slightly lifted his shirt, revealing clearly defined bruises that immediately caught the Professor’s eye.
“However…”
“Indeed. It seems I am truly about to lose my temper today.”
The next moment—
Crash!
The sound of shattering glass echoed through the living room.
Drip…
Watson and Lestrade, who had been sitting quietly, immediately stood up, their expressions tense.
“………”
The Professor had crushed the porcelain coffee cup in her hand through sheer physical strength. Ignoring the blood dripping from her palm, she began to emit an eerie, grey mana.
“…Professor?”
“I don’t understand,” she muttered in a low, vibrating voice.
As Adler hesitantly tried to start a conversation, the Professor’s voice grew darker.
“Why should I have to watch my adorable assistant get beaten up?”
“………”
“He chose me first, not you. So why?”
A billowing wave of mana erupted from her body, heavy enough to instill primal horror in anyone nearby. Cold sweat began to drip from everyone’s forehead—except for Lestrade, who remained frozen.
“And you—why are you keeping Mr. Adler around if you can’t even protect him properly?”
“………”
“I have the confidence to protect Mr. Adler. If he spent every moment with me, I could ensure not even a single strand of his hair was touched. And yet, how many times have you already put him in danger?”
“All of that was within my calculations…”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
The Professor’s voice turned sub-zero.
“Tell me, then… what is the meaning of those bruises marring his stomach?”
“That is…”
“Because you left him in the care of a greenhorn like you, dirty flies have started swarming around him. They even had the gall to harm him.”
Losing her usual elegant composure to raw fury, Moriarty’s voice sharpened into a blade.
“Adler is not someone to be marked by such baseless, filthy lowlifes.”
“………..”
“Do you understand me, Holmes?”
Cold sweat trickled down Charlotte’s cheeks. She remained speechless.
“If you understand, then hurry up and make a wager with me.”
“That is…”
“You can decide the terms, or Mr. Adler can. Just hurry up.”
The Professor’s eyes, fixed on Charlotte and Adler, shone with a darkness deeper than ever before.
“Let’s wage an all-out war for the right to take care of Isaac Adler.”
“…You think we can decide such an important wager in such haste?”
“Don’t worry. I won’t leave this mansion until the matter is settled. Take all the time you need.”
“Um…”
In the midst of an atmosphere spiraling toward total disaster, Adler spoke up in a small, crawling voice.
“So, how about we wager on who catches the owner of this card first?”
“”………..””
“The one who catches the thief first wins. Something like that?”
His proposition was instantly met with frosty stares from everyone in the room.
“Why are you all looking at me like that?”
“Are you crazy?”
“Have you lost your mind?”
Disbelieving voices followed one after another.
“This isn't just anyone; it’s a person who dared to lay hands on you.”
“This is not a situation where we should divide our forces for a mere bet.”
“Huh?” Adler’s gaze wavered.
“We will not be at odds when it comes to catching this thief. It is distasteful, but sometimes a detective must tread into the shadows.”
“We’ll throw her in the basement and treat her like livestock, just the way she likes it. Doesn’t that sound fun?”
The memory of a quest that could only be cleared by being kidnapped by the thief floated through Adler’s mind as Holmes and the Professor miraculously reached their first-ever agreement.
“I’m not so sure… that’s a good idea…”
“Stay still.”
“I reject that proposal.”
Unable to confess his secret desire to experience being kidnapped at least once, Adler shut his mouth at the chill in their voices.
“Suggest another wager.”
“If I choose, there will be complaints. You choose, Mr. Adler.”
Quietly sighing to himself, Adler stood up.
“I understand, but I don’t think we can proceed with this right now…”
“What?”
“I don’t think I can suggest anything, considering the position I’m in.”
Just as he grumbled with a shameless expression…
Squeak…
The firmly shut front door began to slowly swing open.
“Mr. Adler, you’re quite quick.”
“”…………””
“Or perhaps, you’ve already noticed?”
As the figure stepped through the door, everyone’s eyes widened in shock.
“I’m sorry to interrupt the start of your war, but I need to borrow Adler for a moment.”
Mycrony Holmes stood at the entrance, her eyes inexplicably wide and a beaming smile on her face.
“Sister, how can you do this? You just declared neutrality!” Charlotte voiced her question, her tone filled with weariness and unease.
Meanwhile, Moriarty began to whisper in a chilly tone, wiping the blood from her hand. “I don’t think I can tolerate any more uninvited guests.”
“I’m sorry, but I have no choice.”
Mycrony, with one eye slightly open, looked at them calmly and raised her hand.
“I didn’t come here to ask for your permission.”
Suddenly, countless presences revealed themselves from every direction.
Clink…
“Do you know the most common and fatal weakness of both detectives and villains?”
As the Royal Knights and the British Guard—those who serve the Royal Family directly—began to surround Lestrade’s house, the faces of the two women contorted.
“State authority.”
Mycrony Holmes whispered with clear amusement as she watched the scene unfold.
“…I don’t understand.”
Lestrade, staring blankly, mumbled in total incomprehension.
“Even for you, you shouldn’t be able to exercise this much power.”
“………..”
“The power your position holds is unofficial; you can’t wield it openly like this!”
In her confusion, Lestrade unconsciously grabbed Adler’s arm.
“Exactly what is going on with Isaac Adler?”
“……….”
“Why is everyone so desperate to have this man?”
“It’s okay.”
Adler politely pulled his arm away and walked toward Mycrony Holmes.
“We don’t really have a choice now, do we?”
The eyes of everyone in the room narrowed instantly.
“We’ll have to postpone the bet for a while.”
“””…………”””
“I’ll be back soon, so everyone should behave themselves.”
As Adler moved toward the smiling Mycrony, the room fell eerily quiet.
*
“…Ah, Professor Moriarty.”
The moment Adler stepped outside, he stretched his arms toward the sky, basking in the fresh air with a bright smile.
“You should come, too.”
“Hmm.”
“Charlotte, you as well.”
Mycrony Holmes, walking beside him, casually invited the Professor and Holmes to join them.
“…Excuse me? Miss Mycrony?” Adler stammered.
“……….”
“The message I sent… I asked you to get only me out of there, didn’t I?” Adler whispered hurriedly into Mycrony’s ear, his breath hitching.
“Is that so?”
A perplexed Mycrony Holmes looked at him with wide eyes.
“I never received such a message.”
“What?”
“How could you send or receive signals from a mansion surrounded by such a thick mana barrier? Even if Merlin himself were resurrected, it would be impossible to transmit a message from that place.”
“What are you…”
Adler finally noticed the grey barrier engulfing the mansion. Cold sweat began to break out.
“…Wait, then why are you here?”
Mycrony answered with a quiet smile.
“As a British citizen, I can hardly refuse an order from Her Majesty the Queen, can I?”
“…..What?”
The British Guard and the Royal Knights, bringing a covered carriage, began to approach Adler.
“Step aside.”
They stopped in their tracks at the cold voice of a figure who had suddenly appeared at Adler’s side.
“We will leave of our own free will.”
The Professor, looking fiercer than ever, pushed back the Guards and Knights with her intimidating presence alone.
“All I can do is attach the Professor and my sister as your protectors,” Mycrony Holmes whispered softly to Adler as he stared blankly at the scene.
“Be strong.”
As she stepped back, Adler’s complexion turned several shades paler.
“”…………””
He couldn't help it. The two women he had just bid farewell to moments ago were now quietly watching him from either side.
“…Hehe.”
Looking into their dark, intense eyes, Adler forced out an awkward smile.
“So it’s come to this, huh…”
Grabbing both women’s arms at once, he finished the thought he hadn't been able to voice earlier.
“…A new mystery is upon us!”