Becoming Professor Moriarty’s Probability

“….. Tsk.”

“Ahem.”

Inside Silver Blaze’s hospital room, Charlotte was leisurely sipping milk tea, having come here for an early visit. Abruptly, her brows furrowed heavily, a dark look in her eyes, as she mumbled in a bone-chilling voice.

“In the end, it boils down to this, huh…”

“… What happened, Miss Holmes?”

Confused, I turned my head towards Charlotte and asked. She just slowly turned her gaze toward me, a palpable intensity in her eyes.

“Have you no conscience?”

“Pardon?”

“You thought I wouldn’t know? That you were behind this?”

I shrugged my shoulders, unable to understand what she meant by her statement. Charlotte just stared at me for some time after that, before answering,

“The KKK’s ship, heading towards a trap we had set, went missing early this morning.”

“……!”

“The reason for their disappearance is unknown. It literally vanished overnight.”

“But you don’t have a telegraph or a telephone nearby, how could you possibly have received such information?”

Hearing her answer, I was unable to hide the shock I felt as I questioned her. Charlotte just quietly stared at me for some time before she answered.

“… I tapped into the shipping company’s communications.”

“That… Isn’t that illegal…?”

“If you thought I was a model citizen who abides by all laws and rules, you are sorely mistaken.”

A smug expression was plastered on her face as she retorted, however, her voice soon lowered as she leaned towards me.

“But I don’t take things to the extreme as you do.”

“……..”

“Be honest with me here. You were aiming for this from the start, weren’t you?”

She added the next moment in a subdued voice, rhythmically tapping the desk with her index finger.

- Tap, tap, tap…

“From the moment you approached me with a way to arrest the KKK members in one fell swoop, you were gunning for this outcome, weren’t you?”

It was truly a great privilege to see Holmes’ habits from the novels in action.

“Aren’t you going to answer?”

Of course, it would have been many times more glorious if I wasn’t being interrogated by her.

Or rather, it was probably a good thing since it wasn’t something that you could experience normally?

“… You really underestimate others.”

As I smirked in silence, she frowned deeply and stood up from her seat.

“Who forged the letter in that unfamiliar handwriting you showed me, doing as you wished?”¹

“… Miss Holmes.”

“And who was it exactly that waited obediently in the boarding house just believing your words, instead of rushing into the KKK headquarters as they wished to?”

By the look on her face, she seemed quite angry about the whole affair.

“Why do you believe that I did this? I don’t have the power to sink a steamship now, do I?”

“… Haaah.”

“This is just my guess, but maybe those guys met a storm or natural disaster on the way and unfortunately sank into the sea? So, it’s like they received divine punishment, don’t you think?”

Of course, I couldn’t simply admit that I was behind everything. So I just responded with a sly expression.

Well, if you really think it through, my words weren’t completely wrong either.

After all, isn’t the professor a kind of natural disaster in her own right? So, I think it’s fairly acceptable to treat her like a storm, a natural calamity, right?

“From ships that passed on the KKK members’ vicinity, I heard an unbelievable eyewitness account.”

“Oh, what is it?”

“A giant sea monster seems to have appeared there.”

However, Charlotte seemed adamant about having her way on this matter.

“… It’s a hallucination, a hallucination, I tell you. It’s a phenomenon commonly triggered by sailors who have trauma with giant waves and encountering disasters at the sea.”

“For a hallucination, the testimonies seemed to be quite consistent though.”

“… It only makes sense for them since they went through the same natural disaster.”

“For some reason, they say all their memories are blurry too…”

“Did you eavesdrop to that extent? That’s really illegal, Miss Holmes.”

So, I kept up a forced smile as I countered her words as much as possible. But her eyes only narrowed with each of my retorts.

“… I’m disappointed.”

With that, she wore a cold expression and silently stood up while muttering,

“I don’t know what you mean by disappointed…”

- Step, step…

“…….?”

Of course, I had to try my best so that this case remains unsolved. I had no choice but to keep denying it until the very end.

- Swoosh…

“Miss Holmes?”

For some reason, instead of leaving the hospital room, Charlotte came closer to me.

“… Didn’t you just say you were disappointed in me?”

“Yes, I’m very disappointed.”

In the next second, she started whispering to me in a barely audible voice while she tapped into her mana and covered her body with an ominous black aura.

“But that’s all you can do. You’re just that kind of man after all.”

“Um, that… sounds somewhat offensive…”

“But what can I do? I love you and leaving you would only hurt me more. It’s my loss anyways, right?”

Her voice became chillier with each word she spoke.

“So instead of just leaving you like I really should, I thought we’d go on another date and try to re-establish our relationship.”

“… What do you mean.”

“I’ve booked the same room in the hotel we stayed at last time.”

As dark shadows danced in her eyes, Charlotte seized my arm.

“How dare you turn a case I started into an unsolved one and not expect it to end like this?”

“…….”

“Loosen your grip and be obedient. If you wash to walk freely on your two feet, that is.”

Right when I chuckled quietly at her bittersweet threat.

- Swoosh…

“… Eh?”

Suddenly, something popped its head out of my arms.

“You are…

“… Princess?”

It turned out to be the princess.

To be precise, the princess, usually coiled up in my arms in her cat form, was glaring at Charlotte with her head peeked out.

- Plop…!

Shortly after, she sprang out and revealed her true form.

“… You’d better let go of that hand.”

“Why should I listen to the words of a loser who has already been defeated by me?”

Charlotte, recognizing her identity instantly, began to growl in a low voice.

“Really…?”

Then, the princess, staring coldly at Charlotte, silently glanced sideways at me.

“… Chomp.”

“…….!”

Suddenly, she bared her fangs and bit into my neck.

“What are you doing…?”

- Gulp, gulp…

“… What in hell are you doing?”

Closing her eyes tightly with ecstasy, the princess methodically sucked my blood in a steady stream.

“I’m asking you something…..!”

“… Puhah.”

She finally detached herself from me when Charlotte screamed hysterically at her. Blood mixed with saliva dripped out of her mouth as she retracted her fangs, which she promptly wiped away with her sleeves.

“… Adler and I have a contract.”

“Contract…?”

“Isaac Adler must now offer his blood whenever I want, in whatever amount I want.”

She began pouring oil on the explosive situation with Charlotte without a care about the consequences.

“I’m sure the clever little detective understands what I mean.”

“…….”

“… But to clarify anyway, if you don’t let go of him and leave now, I’ll suck all of Adler’s blood right in front of you.”

And with those haughty words, silence descended between us.

“Did you… just deduced everything up to this point?”

Charlotte, after glaring at the princess with thick killing intent in her eyes, casually glanced toward me before asking in a low voice.

“… Because you helped me this time, I’ll overlook it just this once.”

Her voice no longer held its prior composure, now thoroughly drenched in an ominous melody.

“Keep in mind.”

“……..”

“The seeds are already sprouting within me.”

Leaving those words behind, Charlotte just silently exited the hospital room.

“Phewww.”

As soon as the door closed, the princess standing next to me leaked a sharp breath.

“Take it, Princess.”

“…….?”

“It’s the reward I promised. You may take as much as you desire.”

While I was observing her, I eventually extended my arm with a dejected look, muttering.

“I am now your free vending machine.”

“………”

“… Of course, you may feed on me till I die, if that is what you wish.”

For some reason, she just stared blankly at me when I said that.

“Hmph.”

After some time, however, she just turned around with a frosty look on her face and muttered in a barely audible voice.

“… I am full for today.”

Leaving those words behind, she transformed into dozens of red bats and scattered in every direction.

“What’s going on…..”

At that moment, as I quietly scratched my head in response to the Princess’s unexpected action,

- Rustle…

“… Huh?”

I heard the sounds of something moving beside me.

“Master…?”

Turning my head slightly, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling at the scene before me. Gently, I caressed the cheek of the greatest victim of this whole incident.

“… You’ve woken up at last, Blaze.”

Since I had already shown her a gallant side of mine, I resolved internally to maintain a cool image before my adorable maid rather than being a mere doormat for the time being.

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However, there was one crucial detail that Adler had overlooked due to all the chaos.

“I’m so relieved that there were no complications.”

“Ah…”

Conveniently, eerily so, it happened to be the last stretch of Silver Blaze’s mating period, something that accumulated due to her constant loss of consciousness.

- Thump thump thump thump…

MasterMasterMasterMaster…

“… Um, Blaze?”

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.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

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Meanwhile, someplace else,

“Hmm, hmm…”

Gia Lestrade, with a band-aid on her cheek and her face flushed unusually red, was standing in front of the hospital.

“… This must be the place, right?”

Held behind her back was a bouquet, famously known for being used extensively during proposals, that she had stayed up all night to prepare with her own hands yesterday.

1. Can one of the readers remind me in the comments what Charlotte is referring to here? I honestly have no clue, brain isn't braining right now.