Chapter 412
Mr. Andre, the Spy
When Andre Watson woke up again, he noticed a small figure standing beside him, hands behind his back, staring at him.
The child held a walking stick with a serious face, looking quite convincing.
“Ah…”
Detective Watson let out a hoarse sound, finally recovering.
But even now, his body was still trembling, and it took a while before he regained his ability to speak.
The chill still permeated his body, and fear lingered in Watson’s eyes: “What exactly happened… why is the King of the Wild Hunt here?”
“Probably because you were unlucky and ran into him,”
the child asked indifferently, “What are you doing here?”
“Oh…”
Watson struggled to sit up from the ground. Haina kindly lent him a hand—and at this moment, he saw the Gryphon with large patches of white feathers mixed in beside Haina, and his movements instantly froze.
In an instant, young Sherlock narrowed his eyes.
“Thank you, uh… Inspector?”
Watson asked tentatively.
Haina shook her head, “I’m not an inspector yet. You can call me Miss Haina for now—this is Arthur Conan Doyle.”
“Hello, kind lady and young sir. Thank you very much for saving me.”
Watson’s face was pale, his lips white.
But Haina noticed that his recovery speed was quite fast… After he woke up, his speech became fluent within a few breaths, and his complexion and mental state improved at a visible rate: “My name is Andre Watson, and I am a detective.”
“Oh, hello, Watson…”
Haina had only spoken halfway when young Sherlock suddenly interrupted her:
“—So, Detective Watson,” he called out, “May I ask why you’ve traveled all the way to this remote little village?”
Watson hesitated for a moment before realizing that the person leading the conversation was this child.
Perhaps he wasn’t a child at all.
…Perhaps he was a gnome?
Such strange thoughts suddenly appeared in Watson’s mind, and his mind subconsciously began to race.
—That fellow named Haina could obtain a young pure-blood Gryphon, which means she has at least touched the edge of the Fourth Tier. She only said she’s not an inspector yet, but didn’t deny being from the Inspection Bureau… And her posture seemed quite casual, indicating she probably wasn’t from the Military System.
If she wasn’t from the Military System, then at the Fourth Tier, she would enter the Arbitration. At that time, she could be granted knighthood by the Queen as a top combatant and talent reserve for Avalon, becoming a Knight and entering the Round Table Hall.
Undoubtedly, that was the peak of power an Ordinary Person could reach.
But she was very respectful towards that little child—
Watson was absolutely sure, that emotion was respect, and even a touch of fear. When the “child” spoke, she immediately stopped talking. She even looked at the other person tentatively for an opinion.
This undoubtedly indicated that this “child’s” status was extremely high.
A child who could command such respect and fear from a Knight could only be from the Royal Family. But undoubtedly, Avalon currently had no male royal family members of this age.
Then there was only one explanation.
This person who appeared to be a child had the mind of an adult. He was a gnome!
And most likely a secret manager for some Minister or organization!
“—Stop overthinking, Detective Watson. Please answer my question.”
The child impatiently raised the walking stick in his hand and poked his abdomen lightly. It was like being poked by an iron rod held by a careless child, causing him to wince in pain. But it also instantly jolted him from his thoughts and fantasies.
“Yes, Mr. Doyle…”
He responded subconsciously.
But as soon as the words left his mouth, he saw “Mr. Doyle” raise an eyebrow. Watson immediately knew he had made another mistake and instantly regretted it.
He could only force himself to continue, pretending he hadn’t seen anything: “I’m here to find Detective Sherlock Hermes.”
“…Hmm?”
Haina was taken aback and subconsciously glanced at Sherlock.
Watson immediately caught this subtle expression.
His heart immediately tightened.
—Why was she looking at that short person?
Was he related to Sherlock’s disappearance? Did he do it? Or was Sherlock related to him?
Or perhaps… he was Sherlock?
After this thought crossed his mind, new associations immediately appeared in Watson’s mind: That’s right, if Sherlock had turned into a child through a Ritual, he would have suddenly disappeared.
Then the Arbitration’s respect for him would be understandable. And his unceremonious attitude towards him, combined with a sense of disdain yet reassurance, was somewhat like Sherlock…
“I am Mr. Hermes’s apprentice,”
young Sherlock poked Detective Watson with his walking stick and said unceremoniously, “What do you want with him?”
“He’s disappeared… Someone suspects he was killed.”
Watson replied with a half-truth, “I was commissioned to investigate his whereabouts.”
“He’s fine. He’s just carrying out a secret investigation,”
young Sherlock replied calmly, “He’ll be back within two months at the latest. Tell your client—if such a client truly exists.”
Watson’s heart tightened. He opened his mouth, then closed it, falling silent for a moment.
Sherlock, however, sighed inwardly.
This idiot…
He had felt Watson wasn’t very intelligent before, and this impression was even clearer now.
Sherlock, who had already reached the Third Tier of the Path of Wisdom, could clearly perceive… that Detective Watson’s Path of Wisdom was only at the Second Tier.
He really wasn’t intelligent!
For an Ordinary Person, awakening an Extraordinary Profession from the Path of Wisdom seemed to indicate they were intelligent.
But Sherlock knew the other person’s identity—
He was the illegitimate child of a Mage Lord from Daffodil Territory and a Child of the Moon. As the result of a union between two high-tier Extraordinary beings of different Paths, he possessed innate adaptability to both the Path of Wisdom and the Path of Love.
However, Watson’s strength was not outstanding.
At least, not particularly outstanding on the Path of Wisdom.
With innate adaptability to the Path of Wisdom, he had only reached the Second Tier at his current age…
Generally speaking, a freshly graduated university student would be around this level!
Detective Watson’s father, Dr. Watson, a veteran Mage of the Fourth Tier, could hold his own against Fifth Tier powerhouses even within his Mage Tower. And what he was most respected for were his research achievements as a Doctor of Medicine—he had knowledge of dental diseases, digestive system diseases, and lymphatic system diseases.
Sherlock had even read Dr. Watson’s papers and learned a great deal from them.
Dr. Watson had written a monograph detailing the digestion speed of various foods within the human body. And after death, how various foods in different stages of digestion would appear in different environments after different amounts of time.
Dr. Watson had also written a paper discussing the types of injuries caused by different models of bullets hitting different parts of the human body at different distances, and what the direct cause of death might ultimately be.
This knowledge had been very inspiring for Sherlock.
He was also somewhat of a pen pal and external support for Sherlock. When encountering difficult cases, Sherlock would take pictures of some of the materials and mail them to the doctor, who would kindly provide detailed answers.
Dr. Watson had also written letters, hoping Sherlock would look after his child for him. Otherwise, he might be taken by the Avalon authorities as “hostage exchange.”
—Yes, Andre Watson’s true identity was that of a spy.
And he had long been exposed, and was under Avalon’s supervised surveillance.
(End of Chapter)
