Chapter 117: The Hound of the Baskervilles (5)


    The day after a horrific incident struck Baskerville Hall, sending tremors of fear across all of Ennd.


    - Shivering relentlessly...


    "Miss Watson."


    "...Aaaaahhh!?"


    As Watson, wrapped in a nket on the mansion''s lobby sofa, shuddered, she screamed and convulsed when someone tapped her shoulder.


    "Why do you get so startled, making a scene...?"


    "I-I was just taken aback!"


    Adler, staring nkly at her response, muttered as he scratched his head, prompting Watson to sigh deeply and chide him.


    "Come here and sit down.""...Why?"


    "Don''t talk back, just hurry up."


    As she fiercely red at Adler, tapping the seat next to her, he tilted his head in puzzlement before quietly sitting beside her.


    - Click...


    At that moment, Watson''s gun pointed at Adler''s side.


    "What are you doing now?"


    "Did you orchestrate this incident?"


    By now, Adler, ustomed to having a gun or knife pressed against him, asked with a smile, to which Watson coldly threw her question.


    "Who? Me?


    "Don''t y dumb."


    "I truly don''t know. I just came to rest here before the academy''s vacation ends."


    "Haa..."


    However, as Adler tried to deflect her interrogation with a sly tone, Watson quietly sighed and leaned closer to him.


    "The bullets in my gun are silver."


    "...Eek."


    "You better speak the truth before I put a hole in your side."


    Her voice dropped to a whisper, and Adler began to sweat profusely, trembling.


    "Please save me..."


    "Speak up if you want to live, you damned vampire male..."


    "...I didn''t tell Miss Watson."


    Yet Adler soon whispered back with a teasing stick out of his tongue.


    "...Holmes?"


    Following his gaze, Watson turned her head and, finding her partner with a weary expression from a night of investigation, widened her eyes in surprise.


    "Where have you been until now?"


    "I''ve been searching the moors with Inspector Lestrade."


    "...Both of you are out of your minds. To wander the moors fearlessly after witnessing such a dreadful scene."


    With her spirited reply, Watson shook her head in disbelief and red back at Adler.


    "Listen. Holmes, whom you''re so fond of, is troubled by the legend of the Baskerville family."


    "I''ve never heard of such a thing."


    "And yet, instead of confessing, you''re denying it?"


    "Watson, it''s not like that."


    But Charlotte muttered irritably from behind, staggering towards the firece.


    - Dripping audibly...


    Then she picked up the kettle beside her, tilting her head back to gulp down the coffee inside.


    "Holmes, I told you not to do that."


    "...Is she always like this?"


    "Only when there''s a case. She''ll probably chain-smoke cigarettes after this."


    Adler, watching her odd behavior, heard those words and walked toward Charlotte, who was fumbling in her pockets.


    "Hey, my story isn''t over yet..."


    "Ms. Holmes, it''s time you quit the habit of smoking when things aren''t going well with a case."


    Then, Adler, ignoring Watson who had risen to her feet with a pistol in hand, snatched the cigarette that Charlotte had pulled out.


    "Surely you''re not going to im that it''s a healthy herb this time?"


    "...I''m not in the mood for jokes."


    Charlotte, with a grim look in her eyes, pressed her finger under her eyes where dark circles had formed and muttered.


    "I had a rough idea of what was going to happen, and everything was falling into ce until this interference, which is quite displeasing."


    "Hmm, interference, you say?"


    "....Surely you''re not asking because you don''t know, Mr. Adler?"


    Then, she took a step closer to Adler, squinting her eyes quietly.


    "Are you aware that a scent different from your usual sweet smell is emanating strongly from your body?"


    "Could it be Ms. Holmes is also in heat....."


    At Charlotte''s words, Adler, who was about to retort without thinking, soon realizes his slip of the tongue and quietly shuts his mouth.


    "...I''ll let thatment pass. It''s not entirely incorrect, after all."


    "Excuse me?"


    "The important thing is that your body is giving off the scent of a beast, Mr. Adler."


    Charlotte then buried her head in Adler''s chest, inhaling his scent and whispering.


    "How do you n to exin this?"


    "...It seems you''ve be so sensitive that you''re mistaken."


    "The closer I smell, the more certain it bes. Especially since you''ve tried to cover it up with perfume or something."


    "...Could it be that Ms. Holmes also believes in the existence of that demonic hound?"


    Adler, with his hand on her shoulder as she continued to sniff his scent on tiptoe, whispers in a soft voice.


    "If that''s the case, you should see this first."


    Simultaneously, Adler pulls something out from within his clothes.


    "...This is."


    Charlotte tilts her head quietly as she sees the red cat hanging limply in Adler''s hand.


    "As you know, it''s my pet."


    "Meow, meow~"


    "See?"


    As Adler gently strokes the cat''s belly and gives a hint, the awkward meowing continues to emanate from the creature.


    "I hugged this little one all day yesterday, so it''s only natural that the scent of a beast would cling to my body."


    "Is that how you''re going to y it?"


    "...Yes?"


    "Never mind."


    Charlotte Holmes, after looking down at Adler for a moment, turns away with a cold expression.


    "Not even ying around."


    "........."


    "I thought you might be making a proposal, so I came, but I really don''t understand what this is all about."


    After muttering to herself, Charlotte leaves the mansion, and a moment of silence begins to flow.


    "Tsk, tsk..."


    ".........?"


    "Are you pretending not to know, or do you really not understand?"


    Amidst the silence, Watson nces at Adler with a cold murmur.


    "What is it?"


    "...Can''t you see that Holmes is quite upset with you?"


    Adler quietly smiles bitterly upon hearing that.


    "I briefly saw her in the early morning, diligently nning for childcare..."


    "...Oh, don''t worry about that."


    Then, Adler quietly begins to ascend the stairs.


    "The reason I called you all here was to find the answer to that."


    ".....What do you mean?"


    "By the time this case concludes, I should be able to provide an answer to both Ms. Holmes and Ms. Lestrade."


    He finishes his sentence and, as he reaches for his room''s doorknob, he adds in a low voice.


    "...Perhaps, to you as well."


    Watson''s expression fills with suspicion at his meaningful statement, but Adler had already entered his room.


    .


    .


    .


    .


    .


    "Sigh..."


    Having entered his assigned room, Adler exhales a sigh and sits down on the bed.


    "...Professor."


    After a moment, he quietly scratches his head and opens his mouth.


    - Mr. Adler.


    "What is it that you called me so early in the morning for?"


    Professor Moriarty, who had almost forcibly established a direct line ofmunication with Adler, conveyed her voiceced withughter.


    - What other reason would a criminal consultant have to contact me so suddenly?


    "...By any chance, have you been watching everything?"


    - You''ve even started to charm a puppy now.


    "Ha ha..."


    Adler lets out an awkward smile at her matter-of-fact statement.


    "...If you keep this up, I might just get offended."


    - That would be troublesome.


    "Please announce yourself before spying next time."


    - However, that''s not what''s important right now.


    As he attempts to gently chide the professor with a slightly serious voice, she quickly shifts the conversation elsewhere.


    - It''s about the n you''re devising, there''s a very important key missing.


    "Yes?"


    - It''s your real identity.


    Adler''s eyes widen at her words.


    - Even when you went there, I thought my assistant had finally realized his true identity.


    "........"


    - But seeing your actions, it seems that''s not the case.


    The now familiar even-toned voice of the professor reaches his ears.


    - Did the new pet you''ve started keeping in the basement of the hideout give you any hints?


    "...Ah."


    - Mr. Adler, but be careful. It''s necessary to firmly consider who is in the position of being kept.


    Despite the distance, her statements piercing through everything, Adler nods slightly dejected.


    - Remember this. As long as you don''t realize your own identity, you''ll never win against Charlotte Holmes in that case.


    "...Yes."


    - The hint is surprisingly close, so do make an effort, Mr. Adler.


    Professor Moriarty whispers to him in a very gentle voice.


    - And try to keep those irresistible actions in check.


    With that sincere piece of advice, she quietly ends themunication.


    "........."


    And then the silence begins to fill the room.


    "My real identity..."


    In that silence, pondering about the ''real identity'' that both Mycrony Holmes and Professor Moriarty mentioned, Adler''s eyes catch something suspicious.


    "...Hmm?"


    On a small table in the corner of the room, there lies a letter that wasn''t there a few hours ago.


    "This is..."


    Filled with curiosity, Adler picks up the letter, and his face slowly contorts.


    [If you value your life and purity, leave the wilderness immediately.]


    "What the hell..."


    It was a threatening letter, made of cut-out printed letters.


    .


    .


    .


    .


    .


    Meanwhile, at that very moment.


    "......."


    A girl with ck, bushy hair was gazing intently at Isaac Adler, who was reflected in the mansion''s window, from within the brush of the forest.


    - Swoosh...


    Then, in the blink of an eye, she, now enveloped in darkness, astonishingly transformed into the shape of a ck, monstrous creature and vanished towards the /genesisforsaken