Chapter One: Night Falls as Usual in Tokyo

Page 1 of 3

Tonight, Tokyo slipped into night as usual. Neon lights flickered on, their civilized glow once again erasing the stars from the sky.

While the citizens of Tokyo enjoyed their nightlife, deep within a secret underground chamber—hidden from anyone’s gaze—was where Moriarty now found himself.

“An ordinary person possessed by a spirit and separated from their body, yet still able to communicate normally with others—you’re the first I’ve ever seen, and perhaps the only one in existence. At least, I’ve never recorded such a case.”

The woman sat at the table, propping her face with one hand while casually stirring a beaker with the other. Her gaze fixed on the man bound to the chair, a strange mixture of concern and curiosity flickering in her eyes as the dark green liquid sprinkled with silver dust bubbled quietly. One wrong move and the potion might spill, burning a hole in the carpet.

“It’s like you were originally a simple cup of coconut jelly milk tea, forcibly mixed with a cup of pearl taro balls, shaken and then split into two.”

“By all logic, your soul should be in disarray, your language system shattered; your speech should be a meaningless jumble of nonsense. Yet you remain as pure as that coconut jelly milk tea. Isn’t that astonishing?”

“You should count yourself lucky. If I hadn’t come wandering by on a whim, such a rare specimen would have remained undiscovered. Traveling all the way from abroad, collapsing in a back alley, and then meeting me—the only person in the world who understands your value—it would be a shame not to experiment on you. Oh ho ho ho ho!”

“Miss… beautiful lady, I don’t quite understand your words. Spirit possession, soul separation… do such things truly exist? As you can see, I was merely visiting Tokyo…”

The man tied to the chair, Moriarty, looked pale, beads of cold sweat on his forehead. His hands were bound behind the chair, and his speech slurred with nervousness.

Yet inside, he was calmly analyzing the situation.

About seventeen years old, with a good height and build, likely from an upper-middle-class family.

Somewhat vain. Wearing what appeared to be a uniform of fine fabric, but he couldn’t recall any school with such attire.

Crystal ball, mirror, voodoo doll… a classic combination, resembling some branch of the Romani tradition.

She said she only occasionally came to this city, yet the workshop was tidy, with no dust in the corners—did she have servants? By the way, was there a city named Tokyo in Europe?

She claimed she alone could see his problem. Spirit possession—did that mean he had merged with his older self during the Holy Grail War?

He was not particularly powerful nor knowledgeable, and yet she openly displayed magical tools without secrecy. Where had this wild magician come from? What was the Holy Grail doing here? Was this really Europe?

“Heh, believe it if you want. No one else in Japan can save you. You’re quite good-looking—what country are you from, and what’s your name? How about becoming my slave? As compensation, I’ll dispel the spirit aura within you. Of course, if you refuse, that’s fine, but I won’t be so considerate in my experiments.”

Britain had completely abolished slavery about forty years ago—wasn’t it back in 1833? Where did this barbarian come from?

Moriarty forced a smile and casually replied, “As you see, I am French, teaching in England—a university mathematics professor. You may call me Sherlock Morlay. I was merely traveling here when I suddenly blacked out in an alley and woke up tied to this chair.”

“To be frank, my family awaits me at home… How about this: I have some acquaintance with a certain James Moriarty in England, a colleague at my university. Allow me to write him a letter; he will pay my ransom, and then you can release me.”

Unexpectedly, the woman’s expression turned strange.

Her once interested tone hardened abruptly. “Sigh… so you’re insane after all. Moriarty is here, yet you don’t mention knowing Sherlock Holmes?”

“I thought I found a specimen, but it’s a dud. Forget it. Capturing you as a male servant isn’t bad; at least you have a handsome face.”

She stood, casually throwing some powder into the beaker. With a “pop,” a pink cloud rose, transforming the thick, dark green liquid into a light pink potion.

She then peeled a heart-shaped chocolate and dropped it into the beaker, watching the change without turning back as she said, “Remember your future master’s name: Akako Koizumi. Your clothes are quite vintage, but not suitable for a male servant. I’ll have the butler find you a new set later…”

“Miss Akako Koizumi, understood.”

Page 2 of 3

The man’s voice sounded behind her. Akako Koizumi startled, about to turn, but suddenly felt a heavy blow to the back of her head. Her vision darkened, and she collapsed.

Moriarty casually slipped the knife used to cut the ropes back into a hidden compartment in his belt, then tossed Akako Koizumi onto the chair and tied her up again.

Was there something wrong with his speech? He recalled carefully, checking for any slip-ups while surveying the room’s furnishings.

There was a bookshelf—he could check it for information later—and over there, some magical materials. Wait, what was that?

Moriarty glanced at the calendar hanging on the wall behind the chair and couldn’t help but feel speechless.

What kind of world was this? It was already 2003, yet slavery hadn’t been abolished in the Far East? But if that was the case, Sherlock should have been dead long ago. That didn’t add up—how could this wild magician from the Far East know Sherlock?

He turned to the bookshelf.

A full set of “The Complete Sherlock Holmes” leaned in the corner.

…

Sympathetic magic was one of the few magics Moriarty knew. Its principle was roughly to use magical energy to resonate with the lingering thoughts within objects to extract information. In modern terms, it could be called “quantum wave rapid reading,” though its scope was not limited to books.

After resonating with books such as “A Global History,” “The Complete Sherlock Holmes,” and “Modern Encyclopedias Even Monkeys Can Understand,” Moriarty finally grasped the situation.

During the Holy Grail War, he and his friend Henry Jekyll fought for the final wish. Both their desires were somewhat mad—Jekyll wished to remove evil from all human souls, turning humanity into a purely good race, while his own was…

The words still echoed in his mind.

“I will fasten iron collars on evil. When the crowd marches forward with torches at night, I will be the pack of beasts lurking in the shadows behind them, ensuring they do not slacken. And when evil grows too large, I will reduce its scale to prevent it from becoming a great harm.”

In short, the Dark Emperor who controls all evil, using appropriate pressure to drive civilization forward.

Thus, the Will of the Planet, having listened for too long, could no longer bear it and flushed these two down the Holy Grail’s drain.

But since he had come, he would make the best of it. Having arrived in this small Far Eastern country, survival here was the first priority.

First, he decided to assume the identity of Sherlock Morlay, a Frenchman living temporarily in Japan. Carrying the name James Moriarty in modern society was asking for trouble—wherever he went, he would attract countless eyes.

Also, judging from the woman’s words, he needed to be wary of local slave catchers…

He searched Akako Koizumi and found the “mobile phone” mentioned in the books. After sympathetic magic unlocked its password, he used it to search for information online.

The browser was instantly flooded with news headlines.

“Tokyo Police’s Savior! Genius High School Detective Solves Another Cold Case”

“The Sherlock Holmes of the Heisei Era? A Look into His Life”

“Tokyo Police Powerless? Special Interview with the Metropolitan Police Department! Hear What He Has to Say”

“Why is there another Holmes here? Is this never-ending?”

He muttered as he scrolled through the pages, glancing sideways at Akako Koizumi tied to the chair.

Page 3 of 3

“Miss Koizumi over there, I know you’re awake. Since you tried to alter my mind with a spell earlier, I had no choice but to knock you out. Care to chat?”

“How do you know I’m awake?” Koizumi opened her eyes, her tone low and questioning. “Also, don’t you think snooping through a lady’s phone is terribly rude?”

Morlay kept his head down, scrolling his phone. “I didn’t know if you were awake or not; I guessed. If I’m right, great; if wrong, no one knows and it’s not embarrassing. As for the phone, given your previous actions, I prefer to call it a trophy.”

“I suggest you return it.”

A wave of heat swept through the room.

“Oh?”

Morlay looked up. Akako Koizumi stood, her face dark and dripping with menace. The ropes binding her had turned into black ash on the floor. A blazing white flame hovered at her side, half of her face shrouded in shadow.

“Does the Romani tradition include fire magic…? Then I must have been mistaken. May I ask, Miss Koizumi, what school do you come from?”

“Don’t insult me by calling it magic. Red Magic—Akako Koizumi.” She glared furiously at the laid-back, irritating man before her. “But it seems you’re from around here. Good. It seems Europe still has magic traditions. After I capture your soul, I will pry your secrets out one by one.”

“Hah, magic, huh? Do you even know what magic is? Red Magic sounds like a branch of the Seven Luminaries system, and frankly, it’s unimpressive… just a small rural family’s pedigree, and your knowledge shows it.”

Morlay raised his left hand and snapped his fingers. “Water.”

With a crisp shattering sound, a jet of water suddenly shot from behind Koizumi!

She spun around in alarm, conjuring a ball of fire that flared wildly to shield her. The moment water met fire, she realized—this was no magic!

“Bang!”

A heavy blow struck the back of her head again. Darkness swallowed her vision, and she collapsed helplessly.

“You lack dueling experience—looks like you got too cocky in a small town.”

Morlay stepped around the unconscious Akako Koizumi, casually grabbed an umbrella, and shielded himself from the water streaming from the ceiling’s sprinkler.

Earlier, while Koizumi was unconscious, he had moved the chair she was tied to directly under the sprinkler, adjusting the water tray so that the flow would target the back of her head when she stood up.

Just then, he had used his left hand to distract her while secretly throwing a glass rod from the table with his right, shattering the sprinkler’s trigger glass and faking a water summoning.

About to leave the underground chamber, Morlay paused, then returned to dismantle a makeshift slingshot fashioned from a hair tie lying in the corner. After inspecting the room once more, he pulled several bills featuring Yukichi Fukuzawa from Akako Koizumi’s wallet.

“Sorry, miss. I’ll repay you when I get the chance.”

With that, “the Frenchman” Morlay moved Koizumi to a dry spot, humming a tune as he pushed open the basement door.

“Au revoir, Miss Koizumi~”