Chapter 11: Declaration of War

"How did you get here, Miss Holmes?"

I threw out that question while trying hard to suppress my flustered emotions. Holmes, glancing around the room till now, walked forward and opened her mouth after hearing my words.

"I am planning to enroll in this academy."

"…Are you serious?"

"Since the puzzles that need to be solved aren't appearing elsewhere, it only seems right for me to come here."

Holmes' grey eyes fixed on me. There was an inexplicable feeling that her gaze was able to pierce through everything in existence. While I was staring back without avoiding that gaze, she suddenly shifted her eyes toward Professor Moriarty.

"Do you have a fondness for sugar?"

With that, she flashed a subtle smile while asking that question.

"It's almost obsessive, how frequently and cleanly you tidy up the room, but there's a lot of sugar powder scattered around the room."

At that remark, Moriarty wore an intrigued expression and opened her mouth.

"Not all people who enjoy cleaning have an OCD, student."

"That's true. But it's too perfect to be just a hobby."

Holmes, who had swept her finger across the sofa where the dean had collapsed with a hole in his head a few days before, tilted her head and mumbled.

"Considering the cleaning was done so immaculately that no evidence would be found even if someone had died here, I must have been mistaken about something."

Then, she looked at me and Professor Moriarty, a playful smile dancing in the depth of her eyes.

"I can understand. A mild case of dissociative identity disorder and delusions are among the initial symptoms of a patient afflicted with mana addiction."

"It's also a chronic issue for detectives. Aren't you reacting too aggressively to a light joke?"

With her hand resting on her chin and tilting her head forward, Moriarty began to whisper in a low voice to Holmes.

"Judging by your fingernails and the area around your eyes, it seems you enjoy experiments involving Mana Stones. Mana Stones are an energy source remarkable enough to shake human history, but continuous contact with them can induce symptoms of mana addiction."

"There's really no need for your advice. It's something I constantly hear from my roommate."

"I'm just saying this because it seems you're already halfway there into the realm of a severely addicted patient. If you don't take care of your health and continue these experiments, even those brilliant eyes of yours might become dizzy and dull pretty soon."

Seemingly out of nowhere, Moriarty pulled a sugar cube from the pocket of her shirt and handed it to Holmes with a gentle smile on her face.

"If you have nothing to do in your free time, why not indulge in sugar like I do?"

"I will have to decline for the advancement of investigative studies."

"Not quite as much as my assistant, but you are quite an interesting individual as well, student."

However, after gracefully being refused, Moriarity popped the sugar cube into her own mouth as if she had been waiting for this very moment and spoke while savoring the taste of the sugary delight.

"Have you no plans to become a graduate student, like Mr. Adler?"

"I have no intention of participating in a slave system that is being legally implemented in the 19th century,"

"Ahaha. Hahaha…"

Bursting into laughter, Professor Moriarty suddenly posed a question to me in a soft voice.

"Is that child the one you referred to as 'Holmes' back then?"

"Uh, yes. That's right, Professor."

Recalling now, on the first day I possessed this world, I unintentionally spoiled Moriarty's life by mentioning 'Sherlock Holmes'.

And I even called her Professor Moriarty's 'nemesis', her antithesis.

"You quenched my thirst, and now you've brought a sweet beverage as well…"

"...…"

"I'm reaching the point where I might not be able to live without you, Mr. Adler."

Had she not been the final boss, and had she not been my assigned professor, I would have been quite delighted by that statement.

But her poker face, which always had a faint smile as its base, had never wavered for even a second, making it impossible to tell whether her words were sincere or not.

'Anyway, what should I do about this?'

That aside, the current situation was quite dangerous for me, although I haven't shown it outwardly.

In the original game, Charlotte Holmes was supposed to set foot in this academy only a year later, but here she was now, already present on the academy grounds.

"So, are you a first-year freshman starting from now on?"

"Actually, I haven't enrolled yet. Due to a slight complication, I am currently considered an outsider, but I will be a student here from the next semester."

Even Professor Moriarty, who should have left the academy by now under normal circumstances, was still in this place. An unprecedented situation truly unfolded at this moment— one that was utterly unpredictable.

"But I don't sense any mana from you. How were you able to enroll in this academy without the ability to use mana?"

"Let's say, a recommendation letter from the Queen of the Bohemian Kingdom, and some discreet pressure from a person who is essentially the British government itself, was sufficient enough for that."

"Are you admitting to having fraudulently enrolled in front of me?"

"Being a fraudulent enrollee who broke the all-time high score on the entrance test, that sounds a bit off, doesn't it?"

Watching the two geniuses, who even at this moment were engaging in a sharp battle of wits with radiant smiles on their faces, cold sweat broke out on my body.

For now, right in this instant, I needed to settle the situation before it escalated further.

"Miss Holmes, I'm sorry, but the enrollment into the club just ended," I interjected.

Because of my timing to step into their conversation, both of their gazes focused on me.

"So…"

"It's strange. 'Red' mana is extremely rare. There shouldn't be anyone in London who can wield it."

In the midst of this back and forth, Holmes moved right in front of me and displayed her open right hand.

"Except for me, of course."

Soon, from her hand, a fiery red mana began to rise, as if blood was being burnt, taking on the form of flames.

'What?'

Could it be that Holmes was a vampire? Did the insane story department add some backstories without my knowledge?

No, more than that, she wasn't supposed to be a mana user, was she?

"Miss Holmes, it is not acceptable to impersonate a mana user while hiding magic stone powder between your fingers,"

Lost in my thoughts, it was only through Professor Moriarty's words that I was finally able to grasp the truth.

In the original work, Holmes, who loved chemical experiments and even published papers in scientific journals on the path of alchemy, was a master of magic stone research in this game.

The red mana she had just manifested was likely artificially created using magic stones, replicating only the color of the mana.

Although that alone was quite impressive… If she were to publish what she was doing now as a paper, the academic world might be turned upside down.

"It's strange," Holmes argued, "The announcement clearly stated that anyone who can wield 'red mana' is eligible. It didn't say anywhere that using magic stones is not allowed, nor that they would select only one person."

"Your point is entirely valid, Miss Holmes."

But that didn't mean I could just admit her into the crime consultation club. So, I began to slowly counter her argument.

"However, if expensive magic stones are needed every time you use mana, that would be quite burdensome, even for me,"

"I can bear that burden."

"But it would still be a burden on my conscience. And the number of members we recruit is after all within my authority as the club president."

Upon hearing these words of mine, Holmes began to stare at me intently.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked in a low tone.

"..."

Even though she had asked me that question, Holmes didn't press further. She just kept her mouth shut and continued to scrutinize me closely.

'Come to think of it, is this the first time I'm seeing her up close?'

When we first met, she had been disguised as a nun, and when I saw her briefly in the hospital, there had been no chance for me to take a closer look.

But now, as we faced each other at such close range, I could clearly see why she was the protagonist.

'…She's beautiful.'

Apart from appearing slightly haggard due to her mana addiction from excessive magic stone experiments, she had the kind of appearance that anyone would acknowledge as that of a beautiful girl.

Her shiny, short black hair. The cool smile gracing her plump lips. The quietly shining grey eyes that seemed to suck in the soul.

And atop her uniform, she wore what seemed to be her trademark— a black detective coat.

As a huge fan of the original Sherlock Holmes series, it was hard for me to look away from her.

".....?"

As a result I, who had been blankly staring at her for a while, soon realized that her gaze was directed downward.

"…Holmes?"

Wondering what she was looking at, I was about to ask her a question when Holmes suddenly and wordlessly lifted my left hand.

"This wound is…"

"Oh, this?"

It seemed she was looking at the burn mark I had received while rescuing her during the last incident.

"The mana circuit was damaged, Other parts have recovered but this spot just couldn't be helped."

"...…."

While holding my hand and inspecting it from various angles, she asked in a faint voice after hearing my explanation.

"Does this mean you can never use magic with this hand for the rest of your life?"

"Sacrificing the ability to use magic in one hand is a small price to pay for saving London's genius girl."

"...."

Upon hearing that reasoning of mine, Holmes who had lowered her eyes quietly, seemed to be on the verge of speaking something.

"About that incident…"

"Holmes, it's time for you to leave."

At that moment, the voice of Professor Moriarty, who had been resting her chin on her hand until then, reached my ears.

"I have a long discussion to have with my assistant, Mr. Adler."

"I see. Then I should be on my way as well."

Only then did Holmes gently release my hand which she had been holding till then. She withdrew her gaze from me and turned around.

"…But, Mr. Adler…"

As she was heading towards the exit, she suddenly threw a question.

"What exactly is your relationship with that genius professor standing next to you?"

"That is…"

"Are you with her against your will, perhaps? If that is the case…"

"Miss Holmes, you should break the habit of blindly becoming jealous when the person you are fond of isn't your own assistant."

At those words, Holmes tilted her head and asked back,

"Are you suggesting that I am fond of Mr. Adler?"

"Otherwise, you wouldn't have secretly attached a miniature mana receiver to the handle of the office door as you were leaving."

With a flick of Moriarty's finger, there was a snapping sound, and the door handle was thus enveloped in smoke.

"…I'll admit to that, but I can't agree with what you said about Mr. Adler. I am simply curious, nothing more."

"I'm sorry, but Mr. Adler chose to become 'my possession' of his own free will,"

"Well, a person's free will can easily be obscured if they are in a mentally compromised state."

"We even drafted a contract not long ago. Both legally and magically, he is mine and mine alone…"

"Could I review that contract? I have a feeling that there might be dozens of potential legal issues with it…"

Holmes and Moriarty's gazes crossed once again.

"I never expected someone as wise as you to be so irrational."

"In this world nothing is absolute and in fact, I am a very emotional person."

"No, there is an absolute and that absolute will be me."

While I was watching this unexpected verbal duel unfold with an anxious heart, Moriarty turned her gaze to me and asked,

"Isn't that right, Mr. Adler?"

"...Yes."

In that fleeting moment, after considering countless thoughts, I finally nodded in response. Moriarty frowned slightly as she looked at me.

"...…"

And then, Holmes, who was standing on the other side of the room, did as well.

'What the fuck'

I wasn't sure why but in the settling silence, I felt like I was being suffocated to death.

"Ah, right."

How much time had passed since then?

"Mr. Adler, you should be careful."

"Inspector Lestrade, who had applied to the London Police Department, will be returning to the academy soon."

Hearing those words, my already aching head seemed to throb even more painfully.

◈ Quest List

– Freeze: Get a confession from Inspector Lestrade.

"When she sees you, she might try to beat you to a pulp."

I couldn't even begin to imagine Lestrade, the strongest fighter at the academy, confessing her feelings for me with a flushed face.