Maximise the hostility between Charlotte Hols and Professor Moriarty - Progress: 100%
All quests have been cleared.
Congratulations.
The following ssages manifested before when I threw myself into the waterfall.
Finally...
A year ago, just looking at the endless list of quests would make sigh involuntarily, 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 NOPressing this button would let return to my original world while retaining all the mories of this one.
How many tis had I longed for this mont, enduring hardships brought upon half by my own choices, and half by sheer misfortune?
“........”
Yet now, faced with the decision, my hand froze, refusing to move properly.
It wasn’t simply guilt or hesitation holding back, nor was it the empty stares of the won watching from afar.
... I didn’t expect this.
Was it because I had pushed my already frail body to the limit by climbing that hill covered in thick snow?
My arm wouldn’t move properly. It seed my body, driven to the brink of death, had finally reached its limit.
Excuse ? Aren’t you going to use the Return Ticket?
Mr Adler?
As I failed to stretch my hand forward, the system began bombarding with questions with urgency. Yet, I couldn’t even manage to part my lips anymore to reply.
In exactly 7 seconds, your body will be torn to pieces by the rushing torrent!
Quickly use the Return Ticket, please!
- Tremble...
Even so, spurred on by the system’s panicked warnings delivered in bold red font, I summoned the last dregs of my strength to extend my hand forward.
- SSSHHHHH...!
“Ugh...”
But at that exact mont, the mighty torrent of the waterfall swallowed whole.
Hey!!
As the impact flipped my body over and over, my consciousness began to fade.
“..........”
In that state, I stared blankly at my outstretched fingertips, reaching toward the system window.
- SHAAAAA...
Abruptly, as my entire body beca 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. Didn’t think I’d miss them like this.
Ironically, flashing before my eyes were the images of Professor, Charlotte, and all the connections I’d made over the past year, gathered together.
But...
But even that was fleeting. My consciousness abruptly cut off, and a deep, sombre silence engulfed .
.
.
.
.
.
- Swish...
As Professor Moriarty, who had been sitting at the edge of the cliff for quite so ti, staring below, finally rose to her feet, the blank gazes of the other won simultaneously shifted to her.
- Step, tumble...
Leaving them behind, Moriarty began descending the waterfall, staggering as if possessed by a ghost.
“This... this can’t be how it ends.”
Cold sweat, uncharacteristic of her, trickled quietly 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 fragnts might have drifted after falling from the waterfall.
After all, Adler was an immortal, unkillable by nature. If she could quickly locate him and restore him, there would be no significant issue. Or so she thought.
“... Th-this.”
“........?”
Just as Professor Moriarty coldly settled on her assessnt and hastened her pace, she paused at Watson’s trembling voice coming from the side.
“A... letter?”
Watson, still bleary-eyed as though not fully sober, held a letter found wedged between the rocks. Her entire body quivered as she lifted it.
“... Oh, no!”
Monts later, she scread, tossing the letter away and bolting down toward the waterfall.
“ADLEEEERRRR!!!”
Her belated, anguished cry echoed against the falls, causing everyone, including the professor, to flinch.
- Swish...
In that charged mont, Professor Moriarty, her hands trembling in a manner unlike her usual self, picked up the discarded letter Adler had left behind.
To my dearest Professor.
Of all the letters, the one she happened to pick up was the one Adler had addressed to her.
Outmanoeuvring the pursuit and suppression of the British police to perfect your kingdom of cri— I am certain you will accomplish this flawlessly, even without my involvent.
I have transferred all my assets into your na, and the transition of my trusted subordinates has already been finalised through this will.
When a devil perishes, they vanish completely from existence, so there’s 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 particularly short nor long, with a slow, deliberate gaze. Then, much like Watson, she flung it to the ground before resuming 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 unease was quite simple— Adler’s presence, his aura, which she could normally sense no matter where in the world he was, had been completely absent since 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 in mind, she hurried her steps towards the base of the waterfall.
“Adler!! That’s enough; co out now!! This isn’t funny!!!”
“... Please! It’s getting dark already!”
Not just the professor, but every woman present scoured the entire area around the waterfall, scraping 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 ti passed— days, then months, and eventually a year— since the day the supernatural phenona that had plagued the world mysteriously ceased, and even Watson’s moirs were published...
“Where on earth... could he have gone...?”
Adler never reappeared in the world.
.
.
.
.
.
Thus, a few more weeks passed since the publication of Watson’s moirs.
“.........”
Sitting in her study, her face void of the 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 none other than the gift box Adler had delivered to her office a year ago, calling it a farewell present.
At first, she had refrained from opening it, intending to tease him upon his eventual return.
However, now, after taking a year-long leave to search every scrape of the world and failing to find him, the unopened box had taken on a different significance for her.
That implication— if she opened the box, it might confirm that Adler was truly gone— was an irrational thought, unbecoming of her normally logical and cold mind.
Yet, to the professor, who had been left utterly worn down by a year of wandering, rationality no longer mattered.
- Thud...
Lost in such thoughts, her hand reached out and picked up the box of sugar cubes on the desk.
She took one of the neatly cut cubes from inside and placed it in her mouth.
“... Ugh.”
Yet the sugar, once one of the few pleasures left in her life just a few years ago, tasted unbearably bitter now. So bitter, in fact, that she couldn’t bring herself to swallow it.
“Urgh...”
Gagging, she spat the sugar out.
“........”
Wondering if the sugar might have gone bad, she tried another piece and another, but they all tasted the sa.
“... Are you watching this?”
Realising the truth, Moriarty lowered her head, pulling sothing out 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. And in her trembling hands was—
“Killing people has beco tedious. Consulting for cris holds no appeal anymore either.”
— One of the few belongings Adler had left behind in this world— a piece of his clothing.
“I can no longer find interest in anything... unless it’s you.”
Though it had been washed away by the waterfall and further 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 mont, the sound of the only door to her study opening echoed from 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 Hols stood there – her appearance every bit as broken and hollow as Moriarty’s own – her drained face aid at the back of the professor’s head with trembling resolve.
“Hols...”
In her line of sight, Moriarty took in the nurous needle marks that covered Charlotte’s neck and arms, as well as the deeper shadows beneath her eyes.
It was clear from this 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 even conceive from the seed of a devil like Adler, the chance of imdiate success was infinitesimally slim.
“........”
Though Moriarty recognised 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, and 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 the drawer of her desk. Charlotte’s finger instinctively tightened on the trigger of her gun, ready to fire.
“”.........””
Nonetheless, when Moriarty wordlessly pulled out a long, slender object, Charlotte’s cold, emotionless eyes faltered for the briefest of monts.
“That’s...”
Reflected in her slightly dimd but still golden irises were—
“Surely not...”
— A newly comrcialised pregnancy test, refined and safe, 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 , it succeeded not long ago.”
Her finger, hovering on 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 seed to be an eternity, the barrel of Charlotte’s gun, which had been aid 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 reclaid the professor’s study once more.
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