103 – Corpse Thief (2)
“Egg Money, you’re crazy! No, how dare you light a cigarette in front of an adult? Ok? Look, Miss Holmes, you can’t smoke a young lady if she smokes, you understand? Ok! Hey, Holmes, I’m sighing when you’re talking like an old man! A young lady can’t use that, you know? Huh? Hey, Holmes!”
Alan Quartermaine was a man who seemed to have embodied Queen Victoria’s strict moralism, no, it had degenerated into a slightly more vicious direction.
Mycroft told me that he was also famous for his frequent travels and fighting against shamans in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, and that he became a little sane.
Of course, Holmes could confidently say that he was a sufficiently rational person and was not the kind of person who would get angry at incompetent people.
However, it took a truly superhuman amount of patience to stay temporarily with Watson at Mycroft’s mansion and ignore the old man who kept nagging him like a mosquito every time they discussed the future.
Of course, if it weren’t for his own business, it might have been fun to watch. In fact, he often mixed up his stories with nagging comments, as if his stories of witnessing and sometimes fighting against all kinds of strange things in the world were not completely false.
“No, Mycroft, I thought she was a true young lady because she was your younger sister, but what on earth is this? As an older brother, you have to educate your younger brother properly, Mycroft! What did you do as an older brother when a grown woman walks around like that and smokes cigarettes in front of adults? Her Majesty would be shocked if she found out, Mycroft, you know? Huh!”
“…… “Still, I’m a sincere child, so please forgive me, Lord Quartermaine.”
“If I were a good girl, I would have introduced her to my son, but it would be difficult if I did that, you know? I… I… I shouldn’t say this in front of you, but if you keep going like that, I’m sure your husband will be eaten too, Mycroft. I’m giving you and that girl advice as an adult. I learned a little about physiognomy from Africans! Right now, that girl is the one to eat the man, you know that? I told you this last time, right Mycroft? You said that when I was young, I once confronted Queen Asha, who lives forever in Africa, right? “You know the eyes are similar to that of the Shaman Queen, right?”
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“…… “Just calm down for now. You have to think about your age.”
“Oh my, Mycroft, you are so polite, but how can your younger brother be like that…” … “No way, no way!”
Actually, watching Mycroft get flustered was quite fun in itself. Unlike Holmes himself, who does not care about the opinions of those around him or social relationships, Mycroft Holmes, who works as a civil servant and has to interact face-to-face with many superiors, always has a low posture in front of Sir Alan Quartermaine, whom Her Majesty the Queen has personally dispatched as a bodyguard. I had no choice but to take it.
Above all, the direction of the old man’s nagging was not limited to Sherlock himself.
“Wow! “Miss Watson, what are you doing!”
“Yes? Hi! Bird… A sandwich… Article… a little-“
“Miss, you should be polite when eating. If you keep eating like a pig, it won’t work, huh! Anyway, young people these days do things that we couldn’t even imagine when we were young, they don’t listen to adults and do whatever they want. “I told you yesterday to dress neatly, Miss Watson!”
“Sin… sorry-“
“Anyway, young ladies these days, whether it’s Holmes or Watson, can’t use that, you know? People should know etiquette and behave according to etiquette, but they act arbitrarily and don’t pray regularly, and only look for what’s comfortable, huh?”
“Ho… Holmes! “I hate that old man!”
“For the first time, I cannot help but sympathize with you, Watson. “It may be an insult to my brain to think like Watson.”
“There’s no need to add an afterword… ….”
At first, unlike Holmes, even Watson, who still maintained good feelings about the excellent hunter, had no choice but to break down in front of Lord Quartermaine’s nagging, who scolded him every time he ate a meal or snack.
As if running away from the crying old man who was still nagging him, Watson hugged Holmes and patted his child as if to soothe him, while Holmes responded calmly.
The height itself was possible because Holmes himself was taller. Of course, Watson’s huge lump of flesh pressing against his chest felt cumbersome in many ways.
What frightened Holmes more than anything was whether the old man had any awareness that he was actually protecting Mycroft.
Of course, she knew from their first meeting that the old man was an opium addict. Holmes himself had a wide range of knowledge in many fields, but when it came to drugs, he could confidently call himself an authority.
Of course, she was not an opiate addict. She didn’t go around smoking opium. She didn’t think it was appropriate for her own brain activity, and she used to make her people look stupid.
Holmes himself occasionally drank or ingested rhodinum and other drugs, but did not fall to the same level as the opium dealers in London.
However, it was good that Sir Quartermaine was an opium addict. However, it was difficult for even Holmes to bear the sight of the old woman secretly smoking opium in broad daylight, especially in the shared drawing room, and dozing off all the time, intoxicated by the languor her opium brought her.
“That old man, are you really okay? “Mycroft?”
But Holmes had to endure it for now. No matter how unreliable the sight in front of him was, Mycroft didn’t say anything.
Respecting her brother’s judgment for now, she had no choice but to ask vaguely.
“…… It’ll be okay… That’s it. “Because my skills are good.”
“I’m going to turn.”
Of course, even Mycroft stuttered and gave a less-than-convincing answer, and Holmes had to wrap his head around it.
The old man’s shameless attitude was admirable.
“This…” This is my personal remedy, but you don’t know……. “It’s an elixir that comes down to Africans”
“It’s opium, right?”
“Ah… No, not opium, but the elixir of African shamans—”
“Opium, that’s right.”
When she slowly rolled up her arms and showed the clearly visible injection marks on her left arm to the stubborn old man, the old man avoided Holmes’s gaze.
Of course, like a shameless old man, he belatedly increased his moral standards.
“Egg money, that… What are you doing now, Miss Holmes? A young lady can’t use that, you know? Ok! No matter how old I am, I still carelessly show my skin to others, huh? And why is the young lady doing drugs like that, huh!”
“It’s really going to spin.”
Strangely enough, while dealing with this old man full of old-fashioned morals, Holmes discovered that he missed Mr. Moriarty.
When I think about it, it was also true that I always felt comfortable dealing with teachers. She didn’t want to admit it, but apart from a few minor things, she felt comfortable with him and even enjoyed him.
Aside from the fact that he was a vicious villain, he was a person who always respected whatever he did and was not bound by outdated moral concepts.
More than anything else, unlike the old man who reacted as if his daughter was performing in a striptease just because she could smoke a cigarette, his attitude of lending her a cigarette without saying a word was all the more impressive.
As expected, that person is special, special to me, and someone that no one can replace.
Holmes once again added rational confidence in his hypothesis.
If there was no one to compare it to, he might pass it by indifferently, but when faced with the worst case, he couldn’t help but remember it even more in Holmes’s heart.
Of course, from James Moriarty’s point of view, it was not because he was an enlightened person of his time, but the influence of memories of his past life was greater, but he had no way of knowing this as Holmes.
But there was no doubt that it once again made her aware of the specialness of James Moriarty.
However, Holmes calmly decided to ignore Lord Quartermaine’s nagging as just that of a senile old man and concentrated on preparing to catch the body thief.
“But is it really necessary to do this? I don’t know. Above all, it is difficult to say that Professor Knox is really involved in body smuggling—”
“Watson, don’t think about useless things. “I’ll do the thinking, so you can just move me.”
“But still… Holmes, are you really okay? I still have to graduate……. “I really want to follow in my father’s footsteps and become a doctor. If I get caught, I’ll get fired.”
“Don’t worry, Watson. If that doesn’t work out, I’ll help you open a business without a license. Above all, even if you don’t become a doctor, there will be no problem because people’s health will be protected.”
“… “What does that mean?”
“Quiet, just pull it out quickly. “I’m going to lie down.”
Holmes silenced Watson’s grumbles, made sure he was wearing a white dress properly, and then lay down with his eyes closed.
Watson seemed to be a little tired of Holmes, who was acting like a pale corpse, and gave him a quick poke on the cheek, but he was shocked because Holmes had bruised him, so he covered his friend with a body cloth and secretly took him to the medical department of the University of London for dissection. They began moving the body to the morgue.
