Baker Street: The Breakpoint Of Gift Shower (1)

The gift of a fortuitous encounter is always given to one who does not deserve to receive it.
Especially the secret manuals bestowed by a blind goddess are, in most cases, utterly absurd.
-William Shakespeare, -

In truth, on my way to Beppo’s home, I harbored a faint expectation.

Because I thought that if the culprit or an accomplice was waiting nearby to watch or intimidate the investigator, I could catch him and conduct an interview.

However, the trace of someone’s presence I had sensed from afar right after leaving Gelder Workshop had vanished completely by the time I rode a carriage out of Stepney.

They merely watched Gelder Workshop from a distance, so that they could flee at any time if their target used lightness skill and charged, but they didn’t proactively try to hinder my investigation.

The type skilled at stealth arts, and unwilling to shoulder risk beyond what was necessary.

That was different from being cowardly. True to the sort who committed a gloomy crime like kidnapping, they were simply using their wits.

A craven who pounced only when there was a chance to win.
Seeing as they did not know Gelder Workshop’s cash situation, they were not without openings, but they seemed to have a fair bit of knack.

“Well, by now they’ll be admiring themselves and letting their guard down, so it won’t be difficult to catch them.”

But even so, they were merely underworld riffraff of the market streets.

If they had been confident they could bear the consequences, they would have robbed Gelder Workshop outright, or kidnapped Gelder instead of a mason.

Even if not, if they had sufficient Kung-Fu force, they could have made money by other means.

The fact that they kidnapped Beppo, an Italian immigrant treated more harshly by society than a German immigrant, meant they did not want to make the affair too large.

Unless they had some separate grudge against Beppo.

“I’ll have to keep this possibility in mind as well, for now.”

Of course, what mattered now was not motive, but bringing Beppo back safely.

Frankly, I wanted to set to work at once, but it was already late today, so I could not go meet the Postmaster General. Perhaps tomorrow.

More than anything, Watson, whom I had left at the boarding house, weighed on my mind.

“Shall I return to Baker Street for now?”

I decided to prepare a simple and swift move to find the culprit.

10:40 at night.

An unexpected person was waiting for me when I returned to the boarding house.

The moment I opened the door and stepped onto the first floor, there was Poppins, the palace maid who attended Her Majesty, sighing as if the earth would cave in.

And beside her, for some reason, Watson and Mrs. Hudson were both fainted, stretched out on the floor in matching sprawls.

“Um, what on earth……has happened here?”
“Well……the truth is, um……”

We were so flustered, neither she nor I even managed a proper greeting.

But my stupefaction lasted only a moment.

When I confirmed the two large boxes, which I presumed the workers waiting out front had carried into the first floor, I could deduce, to some extent, why my housemate and landlady had fainted.

“It seems they were startled by the gift Her Majesty bestowed.”
“I can think of no other reason, indeed.”

Unlike the imperial palace maid who previously brought the royal decree, Poppins did not look down on me and kept her manners.

In the case of an imperial palace maid, since she was tasked solely with conveying commands on Her Majesty’s behalf, she had to look down on anyone, but Poppins’s position, attending Her Majesty and handling this and that, seemed a little different.

Judging by the fact she allowed the boarding house owner or Watson to see the contents of the bestowed gifts before I arrived, she was either flexible for someone working at Buckingham, or careless with her work.

Either way, this sort was easy to deal with and easy to speak with.

If I had questions, I could ask them.

In any case, now that I had grasped the situation, it was time to observe etiquette, as befitted a proud martial gentleman of the British Empire.

“……Then, may we begin?”
“Yes.”

With an awkward face, the palace maid drew out a scroll made by hammering pure gold thin.

The second royal decree from Forbidden Palace.

I straightened my attire, then flicked my coat sleeve with my right hand.

-Flap!

When I knelt and bowed my head, Palace Maid Poppins unfolded the royal decree and began to read it aloud.

“By the Mandate of Heaven, the Queen decrees. In praise of the merit of granting inspiration through a Sword Debate Chess match wherein wondrous methods of battle and deep understanding of Kung-Fu were interwoven, and in accordance with the promise, bestowed gifts are granted; thus, Little Heavenly Demon Sherlock Holmes shall henceforth strive even more in training and diligent effort. By Royal Command.”
“Your Majesty’s grace is boundless. Long Live The Queen, God Save The Queen.”

Perhaps her pride had been rather wounded, for there was nothing written such as that she had lost, or that she had learned a move.

To say I had given inspiration, and to tell me to devote myself to training and diligent effort—phrasing that seemed, in roundabout fashion, to claim her own skill was superior—briefly soured my mood, but the other party was the Queen Of The British Empire.

I struggled to control my expression and force a smile before the palace maid.

Thanks to the acting skills I had long honed, I likely showed no sign of what I was thinking.

“Then, I have delivered the royal decree and the bestowed gifts, so I will return to Buckingham. Have a comfortable night.”

As if embarrassed, the palace maid glanced at the fainted Mrs. Hudson and Watson, turned, then looked back to me.

“Your left arm has looked uncomfortable for some time. Are you having some sort of problem?”
“It is nothing. In the course of testing a new Kung-Fu, a problem arose briefly in my blood paths and nerves. In a few days, I will be able to move it normally.”
“I see…….”

When I covered it suitably, the palace maid nodded as if satisfied.

Judging by how Palace Maid Poppins tried to examine my condition closely, Her Majesty was certainly paying close attention to me.

Since fewer than a month remained of the time granted to learn the Ancient Tomb Clan’s secret manual, I suspected that if my condition seemed poor, she intended to offer indirect help through a palace maid.

As one of the ordinary Kung-Fu-gentleman class, not even a noble, I ought to be grateful for Her Majesty’s grace like the Sea, River Themes, but at this point, accepting Her Majesty Queen Victoria’s help could give the impression that I had failed to prove my aptitude, so I had to act as if it were nothing.

And speaking of the Ancient Tomb Clan’s secret manual reminded me of something, and separately from what I had just thought of, there was one more thing that bothered me.

“Before you leave, there is something I would like to ask.”
“What is it?”
“By any chance, among the bestowed gifts Her Majesty promised, is there not a Kung-Fu secret manual included.”

At my question, Poppins shook her head with a bewildered expression.

“What I prepared is only gold in a small box.”
“Gold……you say?”
“Yes. It is not written in the royal decree, but it is something Her Majesty granted to praise the exploits Little Heavenly Demon showed in this Vermilion Phoenix incident.”

After confirming the size of what the palace maid referred to as a “small box,” I had to grit my teeth to avoid showing how shaken I was.

“I do not know what is inside the large box, save for the butler who received Her Majesty’s order. If Her Majesty promised something separately, it will surely be in there.”

Palace Maid Poppins bowed her head once more, then departed Baker Street in a carriage with the porters.

“…….”

I stood blankly on the boarding house’s first floor for a time, not daring to even think of opening the boxes.

“No. Surely not…….”

As I stared at the size of the “small box,” things like the Ancient Tomb Clan’s treasures and secret manuals were erased from my mind for the moment.

A size as if one had cut off a man’s forearm and laid out seven of them.
Could it be filled to the brim with gold.

If so, that meant there were gold ingots inside weighing roughly the same as my body weight.

“This is no time to stand about.”

However, I quickly came to my senses and fetched a bed sheet with my sound right arm.

For now, Watson and Mrs. Hudson must not sleep on the floor and develop a twisted lip, so I had to take the two of them to someplace warm.

-Ts-ts!

I used Poltergeist, slipped the sheet between the two women and the floor, then carefully lifted and carried them to the first and second floors.

Perhaps the realm of my Poltergeist had risen unintentionally while moving heavy marble chess pieces at Forbidden Palace before, for I could place them, heavy, relative to ordinary objects, onto their comfortable beds more quickly and deftly than in the past.

A Kung-Fu gentleman of the British Empire is not permitted to lay hands carelessly upon a woman who is not his wedded partner.

Though it was troublesome, when one found a fainted woman, the proper manner was to use a stretcher or cloth with Poltergeist to move her to safety, then bring her to with smelling salts and the like.

However, if I woke those who had already fainted once, they might cause a commotion in the dead of night, so for now I decided to quietly check Her Majesty’s bestowed gifts alone.

“That will do.”

Only after tending to my housemates’ health could I open the small box with peace of mind.

“…….”

I shut the box at once and savored the emotion for three seconds, then offered an Ultimate Kowtow toward Forbidden Palace.

“……Long Live The Queen.”

The fact that I had protected London from the Vermilion Phoenix’s flames was not written in the royal decree, but Her Majesty acknowledged my exploits.

A moment ago, I briefly thought that the Queen Of The British Empire was merely proud, but it seemed I had committed a sin by failing to grasp Her Majesty’s deep intentions and entertaining misguided thoughts.

Thinking it over, there was no way I, a subject of the British Empire who lived giving thanks for Her Majesty’s grace, would harbor such irreverence.

Without a doubt, the wicked echo left by a fragment of the Pseudo Persona, which had leaked out through a loosened seal, had tempted me.

“Bloody Hell! Instead of giving thanks for Her Majesty’s grace, to pick apart each and every word written in the royal decree and try to be contrary! Will you not get out of my head at once!”

After I spread a Qi Curtain so as not to trouble the two sleeping women and the neighbors, and let out a Lion Preaching, my head cleared.

Thus, having won yet another fight with the Inner Demon, I turned my head toward the ‘large box’ the palace maid had left behind.

Gold could be bought with money, but what lay inside this would be Westminster Ancient Tomb Clan’s treasures and secret manuals, things unobtainable even if one piled up hundreds of millions of pounds.

Like the small box of gold, this one also did not look easy to carry with a single arm.

With my condition already poor, it seemed difficult to spend large amounts of internal energy to move it with Poltergeist, so it looked as if I would have no choice but to sleep on the first floor tonight, guarding the gold.

But there was no need to haul a bed down from the second-floor bedroom with groans.

I drew the Heavenly Demon Cane and carved away the corner of the large box.

-Slice.

When I removed the lid, the contents of the box revealed themselves.
They were—

“A Cold Jade Bed……I did not know such a thing truly existed.”

A stone bed made of blue jade, like the sea itself.

It was said to be the most secretive of the precious treasures that the Westminster Ancient Tomb Clan had kept for hundreds of years.