abcnovels
Chapter 68: The Beginning of the War
Chapter 68: The Beginning of the War
Chapter 68: The Beginning of the War
“Brother Adler~”
“… Huh?”
A few days after the feigned illness incident involving Charlotte Holmes, thanks to Gia Lestrade’s hospitality, we stayed in her slightly shabby house for some days.
“Let’s play house today!”
As I blankly gazed out of the living room window, looking at the pouring rain, Lestrade’s younger sister ran up to me, tugging at my sleeve.
“Playing house?”
“Yes! Last time, we played hospital. This time, let’s play house!”
“Alright, I don’t have anything else to do anyway…”
“Yay!”
Having nothing particular to do and enjoying playing with the kids, I smiled and replied to her. She began running around the room with a bright smile when she heard my response.
Though it hadn’t been long since I started looking after Lestrade’s siblings as a way to repay her hospitality, this little one had taken quite a bit of liking to me.
“You’re the best, big brother!”
“… Heh.”
By the way, unlike her older sister who always seemed cold and wore the same expression 24/7, this girl looked cheerful and acted lively all the time.
Perhaps, it was like comparing a cat to a dog?
Despite their strikingly similar appearances, watching the younger sister’s diametrically opposite behavior often made me imagine Gia Lestrade acting in a similar way, and I’d inadvertently burst into laughter.
“Well, let’s first move to a different spot…”
“Sister, what are you doing?”
As I watched her energetically running around and tugging at my sleeve every now and then, a voice echoed from the distance.
“… Huh?”
“Didn’t elder sister warn you to keep your distance?”
It was the youngest sibling, a boy, of the Lestrade family, speaking with a sulky expression on his face.
“And sister once clearly said, that big brother is bad.”
Perhaps it was because he lost his parents too early(?), he seemed to regard his elder sister, Gia Lestrade, as a motherly figure.
Perhaps the reason he viewed me with such disdain, unlike the second sibling, was because he strictly adhered to Gia Lestrade’s advice.
“… So, play house with me.”
Or perhaps he felt that I had stolen Gia from him.
Judging by that hostile look in his eyes, it seemed more likely to be the latter.
“But brother Adler is kind, isn’t he?”
“What?”
“Think about it. If elder sister thought he was a bad person, she wouldn’t have dated brother Adler or left us in his care.”
Knowing the situation, the second sibling just scratched her head, then approached the third and youngest of the siblings and began to retort in a cheerful voice.
“Still…”
“Listen, just lend me your ear for a second.”
Even so, as the third sibling grumbled, looking displeased, the second sibling smiled slyly and began to whisper something into his ear.
“Hey.”
“Um, yes?”
Although I was too far away to hear what they were saying, watching their cute expressions reminded me that they were still kids after all.
“Pay attention.”
“……..!”
“If you interfere one more time…”
The reason I liked kids was because of such moments.
In both the world I originally lived in and this current one, human relationships always bothered me a great deal. However, children with pure hearts always reciprocated when I helped them and never made things difficult for me.
“Let’s do our best, shall we?”
“… Yes.”
“Big brother! Come over here!”
With those thoughts in mind, I smiled softly. Then, I looked up to see the second sibling signaling me over with a cheerful grin on her face.
“Hey, you play the son.”
“… Okay.”
“Big brother, you’ll play the dad, and I’ll play the mom…”
As the second sibling briskly assigned roles and designated the third sibling as the son, I observed his expression turning dark in real-time. Just as I was about to nod in agreement with the role given to me…
“… No, that’s not right.”
“Tsk~”
“The age difference is too big.”
Rubbing her eyes, Charlotte Homes emerged from the bedroom and approached us with a cold smile on her face.
“I’ll play the role of the mother.”
“Bu, but…”
“The daughter role suits you more.”
“………”
The second child fidgeted with her fingers with a seemingly pitiful expression, but then she started to gaze intently at Charlotte, who didn’t back down no matter what.
“… Tsk.”
For a brief instance, her eyes turned cold and she clicked her tongue in annoyance.
“Making that face won’t help. A mother should know how to make a child, no?”
“… I hate you, sister!”
“Oh my…”
I rubbed my eyes, wondering if I’d seen wrong, and then the second sister screamed and, grabbing her younger brother’s arm, ran off into the distance.
“………..”
The atmosphere was thus drenched in silence.
“Miss Holmes, no matter what, how could you say that to a child?”
I tried to reason with her with a forced smile on my face, but Charlotte just tilted her head and looked at me.
“It’s strange.”
“Yes?”
“I spoke confidently just now, but perhaps I might be mistaken about the process of making a baby”
Then, an unsettling statement spilled out of her lips.
“That can’t be…”
“Look.”
I attempted to explain with a placating smile on my lips, but Charlotte, with a dark tone, began speaking as she pulled out a long stick from her pocket.
“It’s been weeks since the first attempt, but there’s been no news.”
“That… could it be?”
“It’s the test kit I requested from Watson. It’s state-of-the-art technology and operates with neutralized mana stones, so the chances of it being defective are extremely low.”
The single line drawn on the stick in her hand seemed extremely menacing to my eyes…
“What do you think the problem here may be?”
“… Well, I’m not really sure.”
“……….”
As I trembled quietly and answered in a low voice, Charlotte, who had a dissatisfied look, began to speak with her eyes gleaming with an intense light.
“… I think I need to go to the library.”
“Pardon?”
“I seem to have taken the methods of making a baby too lightly. There must certainly be a way to better understand genetics, so I’ll likely need the help of literature…”
“Wa, wait a minute.”
I hastily grabbed Charlotte’s shoulder, considering it a miracle that she hadn’t dealt with any cases related to sexual offenses till now, and began whispering urgently in her ear.
“When a man and a woman sleep, they just need to hold hands.”
“… What?”
“That’s the most reliable method.”
I said this hoping my words would buy some time until the system got corrected.
“… That didn’t work thought.”
However, the words that emerged from Charlotte, who looked at me intently, were rather unexpected.
“When I was young, my parents and sister told me the same thing several times.”
“Really?”
“So, I tried doing it today, behind Miss Lestrade’s back, but I didn’t feel anything different.”
“… Miss Holmes.”
Feeling as though I was trapped in a dire situation, I began to muster all the strength in my body and quietly opened my mouth to explain.
“It’s not something that works immediately. There’s also a possibility of failure.”
“……….”
“And, this is Lestrade’s house, isn’t it?”
The corners of Charlotte’s mouth began to rise gradually.
“It’s quite rude to do such things in someone else’s home.”
“… Is that so?”
“Yes, and after all, Miss Gia Lestrade is officially my lover in a way. So…”
“I understand.”
Then, she interrupted me naturally and began to softly whisper, gently stroking my hair.
“You mean to say that we should come to an agreement, right?”
“… Pardon?”
“Oh, there you are. You’re here at the perfect time. It seems that it’s not just the devils who know when to arrive at the right time.”
Hearing her words, I subtly turned to look behind and was met with a cold and impassive face.
“Mr. Adler.”
“… Miss Lestrade?”
For some reason, Gia Lestrade, who seemed to have left work unusually early, was approaching me with a menacing expression on her face.
“I heard you were late since you had to interrogate Miss Clarissa Smith, who was recently arrested, right?”
“Thanks to her being scared out of her wits, she confessed on her own, so there was no need for an interrogation.”
“I see. But that doesn’t explain why you’re here at this early hour…”
“Enough. I’ll ask you directly.”
Caught off guard and taking a step back due to her abruptness, her cold voice echoed through the room.
“Are you the one who completely paid off my family’s debts?”
Upon hearing those words, Charlotte’s gaze, gleaming with a dark and ominous light, quietly turned to me.
“About that…”
“………..”
“So…”
I began to feel the conspicuous absence of the system, which made the situation ahead seem even more daunting.
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“I need the truth. Otherwise…”
“You’re right.”
Lestrade, who had been pressing Adler for an answer as he hesitated, was momentarily taken aback and was silenced by his sudden response.
“I paid off your debt.”
“……….”
A palpable silence thus ensued in the house.
“… Why?”
Lestrade, who had been stunned into silence, asked with an incredulous look on her face.
“Why? Well, that’s because…”
Then, Isaac Adler answered nonchalantly, breaking into a slight chuckle.
“Because you’re my lover.”
“… Ahem.”
For a moment, Charlotte discreetly cleared her throat, exuding an icy chill, but Adler did his best to ignore it and continued his statement.
“As lovers, you should love me regardless of what I do, and in return, I should only have my eyes trained on you. That was our agreement, wasn’t it?”
“How is that related to the debt…”
“Isn’t it common sense to at least repay the debt of someone you’re in such a relationship with?”
Lestrade quietly trembled at that bold statement.
“It was an amount of debt that I might not have been able to repay even if I worked as an inspector for all my life…”
“It doesn’t matter. I might be broke now, but I have a lot of backing.”
“That’s not the point here.”
Her voice began to rise and she clenched her hands tightly.
“I appreciate you paying off the debt, but why did some of the debtors tremble at the mere sight of me?”
“Did you personally visit them?”
“I took a vacation and went to investigate the truth.”
At those words, Adler averted his gaze quietly.
“Well, I didn’t want Miss Gia’s parents and Miss Gia to be insulted.”
“That doesn’t mean…”
“There were also a few people who insisted on collecting the debt money directly from you.”
His eyes became slightly colder as he voiced his next set of words.
“… Some even demanded something other than money.”
“……..”
“As someone who should have his eyes only on you and you alone, I couldn’t just let something like that go now, could I?”
Adler murmured with a faint chill in his voice, followed by a discreet cough.
“I made sure to instill an adequate amount of fear and trauma in them so they would never dare to approach you again.”
“That’s a crime.”
Gia Lestrade interjected firmly, but her voice trembled slightly, unlike her usual tone.
“Some of them just saw me and wet themselves while rolling on the ground.”
“Just as I had planned.”
“Are you insane?”
In the face of her interrogation, Adler simply flashed a crooked smile in response.
“… Are the missing people also your doing?”
“If I were to confirm that here, both you and the young detective next to you would undoubtedly detain me, so I will refrain from answering.”
“You truly have lost your mind.”
Lestrade stepped closer to Adler with a stern expression on her face.
“I can detain you right now and start the investigation.”
“I don’t care. At best, a few thugs from the back alleys would get arrested.”
“Ha…”
At his subsequent words, she let out a cold sigh.
“I’m sorry, but this is who your lover is.”
Adler whispered softly to her and then quietly turned his footsteps and headed toward the bedroom.
“Of course, there’s no need for Miss Lestrade, known as the embodiment of justice, to understand such sentiments.”
“……..”
“Naturally, you know the reason behind it, right?”
“… Yes.”
When he slightly turned his head and whispered, Lestrade responded with her signature icy expression.
“Nonetheless, I still like you.”
Upon hearing that soft whisper, Adler wore a bright smile and entered the bedroom.
“……….”
And thus, silence ensued in the room once more.
“… Miss Holmes.”
“Yes?”
“Aren’t you going to investigate?”
Lestrade, who had been staring out the window, asked her in a soft voice.
“It’s an incident where the culprit is clear to anyone.”
“Even if we investigate as he said, the only ones getting arrested would be a few thugs from the back alleys, so…”
“Even so…”
At that, Lestrade, who was about to rebut with a displeased expression, was interrupted by a leisurely remark from Charlotte, who was quietly smiling at her.
“… I’m not sure if punishing those lowlifes who planned to kidnap your siblings was such a bad act.”
“……..!”
At Charlotte’s comment laced with laughter, Lestrade’s eyes widened, and she found herself at a loss for words.
“While I might be a bit distant from the police officers who pursue absolute justice, Adler always goes one step further whenever he acts.”
“……….”
“Sometimes he seems like a devil who could grasp the world in his clutches, yet at other times, he appears like an angel offering salvation to someone lost in despair. Truly, he’s an enigmatic man.”
Lestrade’s eyes subtly wavered.
“That’s the kind of person Adler is.”
“……….”
“As he mentioned, it might be difficult for you, who even has the nickname Holy Knight of Justice, to understand.”
Charlotte gazed intently at her and whispered in a soft tone.
“Therefore, I have a proposal for you.”
From her slightly moving lips, a smooth voice emanated.
“… Hand over the official position as his lover to me.”
At that, Lestrade turned her head and fixed her gaze squarely on Charlotte.
“You asked me before, that if I could handle him…”
“……….”
“Though it’s a bit late, let me give you a clear answer right now. My response is Yes, I can handle him.”
Only then did Lestrade’s gaze meet Charlotte’s eyes, shimmering in a golden hue.
“However, looking at you, Miss Lestrade, it seems you find it hard to deal with him.”
“That’s…”
“But now, I’m here for him.”
Noticing the slight change in her eyes, Charlotte continued the conversation with a proud expression on her face, her eyes gleaming in Adler’s color.
“You don’t need to hypnotize yourself to say I like him to be with a man you clearly despise.”
“……….”
“So, Miss Lestrade, if you don’t mind, should we hold a press conference this afternoon to address this matter?”
Just as she was about to turn and walk away with her arms crossed…
“Of course, the content would be…”
“… No.”
Lestrade, who had remained silent until now, quietly spoke.
“It’s not okay.”
Charlotte quietly turned her head upon hearing her calm voice.
“… Because I like him.”
Was it her imagination? For a moment, the reflection of Lestrade’s eyes in the window appeared to be drenched in a golden hue.
“Well, there’s no need to deceive our emotions anymore.”
“I believe I’m more suited to be a lover, being older than you, who’s so young in age.”
“Are you saying that because of the legally acceptable age difference? If so…”
However, seeing that Lestrade’s eyes were still a clear white, Charlotte began to speak, a frown forming on her face.
“Of course, there are more reasons.”
But Lestrade firmly interrupted her.
“Even if it was forced upon me…”
She lowered her gaze and murmured with a slightly trembling voice.
“Because I’m in his debt.”
“………”
“With no money left, I have to repay him with my body.”
At those words, Charlotte’s face began to turn cold and icy.
“People might misunderstand if they hear that, won’t they?”
“I just spoke the truth, young detective.”
Soon after, the sharp gazes of the two women began to cross each other in the room drenched in silence.
“Wow! It’s snowing!”
“… Snowing?”
It was at this moment when Lestrade’s younger siblings, who had been playing house outside, saw the snow starting to fall from the sky and their eyes widened in surprise.
“Brother Adler! Let’s have a snowball fight~”
“… Why is it snowing all of a sudden?”
For reference, it was currently the middle of summer in London.
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“How is everyone doing?”
Just a few minutes before a snowfall so massive that it would later be categorized as a bizarre phenomenon, had completely blanketed London in white, amid a summer where it had been raining heavily for days…
“You, you are…”
“Who are you?”
“… Lower your voice. Miss Moran.”
In a hideout in a back alley, three high-ranking members of the Organization, who had been anxiously waiting for Adler, looked on with tense expressions at the figure that suddenly appeared at the entrance without a sound.
“I had no intention of meddling with the organization that my assistant was adorably building.”
“””………..”””
“However, given the situation, I have no choice but to meddle.”
The reason was that Jane Moriarty, leading the vampires dispatched from Romania, was whispering to them with her eyes gleaming in a greyish hue.
“Cooperate.”
“If I may ask, in what?”
Unlike the Princess and Silver Blaze who were frozen stiff with terror, it was Celestia Moran who bravely posed the question to her.
“In retrieving Mr. Adler.”
“I will cooperate.”
At her immediate response, Professor Moriarty muttered with a spine-chilling smile on her face.
“… I said that it wouldn’t take long now, didn’t I, Mr. Adler?”
The massive snowstorm, sparked merely by a change in one individual’s emotions, signaled the beginning of a massive war that would shake London and soon all of England.
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“Excuse me.”
Under Inspection.
And the cause of that massive war.
“Even if you’re under inspection, I know you can display simple probabilities. After all, I designed you that way.”
Under Inspection.
“Don’t be like that. I’m just asking for one time.”
Lying in Lestrade’s bedroom while wagging his tail, he poked at the system message that appeared before his eyes.
Under Inspection.
“Is it because I only summon you when I need to after creating you? Are you perhaps upset?”
Under Inspection.
“In that case, should I call upon you every night before I sleep to give you a little pat?”
It was now Isaac Adler’s turn to request something from the system.
The system is under the process of inspection.
“… Really…?”
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